Btw, gotta love flashmobs (although this seemed a bit TOO well organized)
FOLLOWUP
A little followup on yesterday's post - I updated my Samsung Galaxy SII with the officially released Android 4 and I kept an eye on the connection indicator to see if they had gone the same route as Apple. Nope, still only HSPA+ :)
Btw, gotta love flashmobs (although this seemed a bit TOO well organized)
Btw, gotta love flashmobs (although this seemed a bit TOO well organized)
I HATE ..
Time for another "I hate..." post.
I hate it when marketing departments screws with technology terms and twists them. The latest example is .. can you guess... that's right, Apple! Read this if you're interested in the technical aspect of it - or let me summarize. We all know what 3G is on cellphones today. It's pretty fast. So the next thing is ofcourse 4G which is really really fast. But there have been a technical debate about what defines each. Most people agrees that the technology called "LTE" is what really is 4G. Actually as far as I knew there wasn't anyone saying anything else. Well in the latest iOS update Apple and AT&T decided to redefine it and include HSPA+ as 4G. HSPA+ has been available for years through the 3G network. And yes, in perfect conditions HSPA+ can come up to the same transfer speed as LTE. But that don't make it 4G because it still uses the overcrowded 3G range. LTE is a new technology that uses new infrastructure which is what I, and every other sane tech nerd, call a new technology - when you need to change the infrastructure!
I mean, did Intel ever overlock a Pentium 3 CPU to ~2 Ghz and call it Pentium 4? Ofcourse they didn't since Pentium 4 is a completely different architecture!
But I guess the marketing departments at Apple and AT&T decided that doesn't matter and just went for calling HSPA+ 4G and BAM! overnight Apple has the most 4G capable devices in the world (but not a single one publicly available that actually uses the 4G network). Good work And it also makes it easier for them to sell the new iPad in europe as a "4G" device even though it can't handle European LTE!
Now the big question is how will they sell the iPhone 5.. I mean they can't brag about "it has 4G!" since the iPhone 4S already, by their definitions, has 4G!
Let these technical things be for technical people and let marketing do ads. I mean if technical geeks where to make ads it'd probably be something like this -
I hate it when marketing departments screws with technology terms and twists them. The latest example is .. can you guess... that's right, Apple! Read this if you're interested in the technical aspect of it - or let me summarize. We all know what 3G is on cellphones today. It's pretty fast. So the next thing is ofcourse 4G which is really really fast. But there have been a technical debate about what defines each. Most people agrees that the technology called "LTE" is what really is 4G. Actually as far as I knew there wasn't anyone saying anything else. Well in the latest iOS update Apple and AT&T decided to redefine it and include HSPA+ as 4G. HSPA+ has been available for years through the 3G network. And yes, in perfect conditions HSPA+ can come up to the same transfer speed as LTE. But that don't make it 4G because it still uses the overcrowded 3G range. LTE is a new technology that uses new infrastructure which is what I, and every other sane tech nerd, call a new technology - when you need to change the infrastructure!
I mean, did Intel ever overlock a Pentium 3 CPU to ~2 Ghz and call it Pentium 4? Ofcourse they didn't since Pentium 4 is a completely different architecture!
But I guess the marketing departments at Apple and AT&T decided that doesn't matter and just went for calling HSPA+ 4G and BAM! overnight Apple has the most 4G capable devices in the world (but not a single one publicly available that actually uses the 4G network). Good work And it also makes it easier for them to sell the new iPad in europe as a "4G" device even though it can't handle European LTE!
Now the big question is how will they sell the iPhone 5.. I mean they can't brag about "it has 4G!" since the iPhone 4S already, by their definitions, has 4G!
Let these technical things be for technical people and let marketing do ads. I mean if technical geeks where to make ads it'd probably be something like this -
GEORGE TAKEI
I really like George Takei. You know, that asian guy that played "Sulu" in the old Star Trek. I can't say I either like or dislike his acting or whatever, but I am a huge fan of his facebook-page. It's one of the big downsides to deactivating my account - I don't get to see the funny pictures and clips and his posts that are always full of Zen-isms. And I loved his roast of William Shatner!!
And then the guy goes and does something like this...
It's hilarious shit! I wish Hollywood had more people like that!!
And then the guy goes and does something like this...
It's hilarious shit! I wish Hollywood had more people like that!!
REGARDING CAREMA
Sweet - http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/carema-foljde-de-etiska-riktlinjerna_6911371.svd
It's basically the findings of an investigation into how Carema have handled the care of elderly and they can't find nothing wrong that Carema isn't fixing and they also go as far as saying that the media was in some cases totally outright lying. :)
It's basically the findings of an investigation into how Carema have handled the care of elderly and they can't find nothing wrong that Carema isn't fixing and they also go as far as saying that the media was in some cases totally outright lying. :)
WOMEN'S DAY, HUH?
So it's the International Women's Day today.. what does that exactly mean? And does it mean every other day of the year is Men's Day? ..
I don't need a special day to remind me how much I love my beautiful Helena; the woman that keeps me on my toes at home instead of being the lazy couch potato I'd probably be; the mother of my wonderful child; the love of my life; the wonderful person that I wake up next to every morning... hm, I guess it took a special day for me to write it though :)
I don't need a special day to remind me how much I love my beautiful Helena; the woman that keeps me on my toes at home instead of being the lazy couch potato I'd probably be; the mother of my wonderful child; the love of my life; the wonderful person that I wake up next to every morning... hm, I guess it took a special day for me to write it though :)
PICTURES
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Time to post some pictures. I haven't done that in a while so there is alot to post.Here we have pictures from when we went out to have some fun in the snow, going sleigh riding down the slopes and whatnot.
Here are some pictures from Sams 2nd birthday which we celebrated a little bit but since it was a normal weekday we didn't have much of a party, but enough for him to know it was a special day.
Here are some pictures from the real birthday party we had on Sunday.
Password is the name of my current employer.
IT'S MY PARTY ..
Yesterday we had a birthday party for Sam. We were a bit unsure if we should invite family or friends with kids he can play with. Because after all it is his party, not ours. But we eventually decided to invite "people he likes to be with" which included my sister, mother and father and same for H. And some other friends and neighbours with kids. So about 20 people all in all. And our house suddenly felt a bit small!!
But next year will probably be different. He'll be three by then and hopefully have made friends at kindergarten that we can invite because I really wanna make his birthday parties about him!
I SPOKE TOO SOON
Right, so remember a few updates ago that I mentioned that "I've been sick enough for the whole year". Well I spoke way too soon on that one! After we'd gone to the cemetery on Saturday to honor Eden we went back here to watch some Star Trek now in Bluray. And all of a sudden I got this vibe that not all is right with me. And on sunday I woke up with a fever and banging headache. Popped a few iprens, drank alot of Coke, stayed in bed and watched F1. It was so bad I was totally delirious all sunday night! Monday was even worse, my fever spiked at 39.5! And my throat started to swell up. Tuesday not much better. Wednesday the fever went away but still very swollen throat and today my throat is dry as hell, I dont have much energy so I'm home from work one more day.
But I HAVE to go to work tomorrow! Call it work ethic or pride or whatever, usually it's in Sweden considered idiotic to come in and work one day, especially a Friday but I just can't stay home any more! And I've run out of Formula 1 races to watch!!
So now I've had the "common flu".. is this really so common? Down and out for almost 4 days!? What's up with that? And you have to appreciate the irony that I've just started working for this healthcare company...
EDEN
 |
| Me and Eden at the Beer & Whiskey festival year 2000. |
On the upside I learned alot of things from him and I learned to appreciate life more than I did before because all of a sudden it could be over. And I got to know Ricki whom I'm still great friends with, so atleast something positive about that. But I still miss him and find myself thinking "if that hadn't happen where would he be today and would my life have turned out this way?".. I know, it's irrelevat since it did happen, but still..
Going to Skogskyrkogården today with Eva and Ricki and Markus to pay our respects.
"To absent friend!"
BUSINESS IDEA
Wanna hear a great business idea? Start a shady company with multiple company names and addresses, sell incredibly cumbersome items like say a couch for $2500, offer to have it delivered to your doorstep for only $100 more and say "it'll be here in 8 weeks, we'll call you when it's ready for delivery". Then 3 weeks later call the customer and say "it's here already so you can pick it up yourself if you want, or wait 5 weeks because that's when we're suppose to deliver it, your choice but if you chose to pick it up yourself you won't get any money back".
Oh wait... Masku / Finnlandia / Läderinvest AB is already doing that :(
Oh wait... Masku / Finnlandia / Läderinvest AB is already doing that :(
DOCTOR'S ORDERS
Yesterday we took Sam to the doctor again to have another look at his eczema / allergies. They quickly said "that's not normal!" which is a good start in our opinion! Although they don't know if he's allergic to anything and the state he's in right now there's no use doing one of those prick tests. But we got more penecillin and 3 more creams to use on him and some histamines to stop the itching.
And we'll be doing that for 2 weeks and we'll go back for another visit to take a blood sample to see if they can figure out if there's something he's extremely allergic to. But until then it's just "keep on going as normal". I'm just happy he seems unaffected by it!
And we'll be doing that for 2 weeks and we'll go back for another visit to take a blood sample to see if they can figure out if there's something he's extremely allergic to. But until then it's just "keep on going as normal". I'm just happy he seems unaffected by it!
RETRO ALL YEAR
You know I'm huge on retro, right? I'm a sucker for 80's references and "the good old days". So this year is looking to be quite extraordinary!
First we have the blu-ray release of "Star Trek The Next Generation". Then we have tons of video-game remakes coming this year - Leisure Suit Larry, X-Com and Syndicate, all of which I played like mad "back in the day". So I'll get my share of retro this year :)
First we have the blu-ray release of "Star Trek The Next Generation". Then we have tons of video-game remakes coming this year - Leisure Suit Larry, X-Com and Syndicate, all of which I played like mad "back in the day". So I'll get my share of retro this year :)
STAR TREK THE NEXT LEVEL
I usually don't miss much Star Trek related. Or movie related. So when a friend of mine said "have you preordered the Blueray of The Next Generation?" and I'm all ????. I had no idea this was even happening so gimme a minute to handle it. It was just too good to be true!
The big problem is of course that like most TV shows between say 1970-2000 it was filmed with "normal" resolution cameras. Before, back in the days of the original Star Trek, it was filmed on 35 mm film which means taking it to bluray isn't a big issue, they "only" had to redo the f/x like the "this is the Enterprise in orbit" cut scenes. And TV shows after 2000 was mostly filmed in HD anyway so not a big problem transferring to bluray. But all this TV inbetween there is stuck in DVD quality. Until some smart enthusiastic person got an OK to reprocess every single scene of "The Next Generation" to HD quality which is gonna take alot of time but as a teaser they released "The Next Level" this week which is 3 episodes ("Encounter at Farpoint", "Sins of the Father" and my favorite "The Inner Light"). This is just meant as a teaser for us to see what is possible so we'll preorder the bix boxes coming soon.
And it kinda worked!! Most scenes of "The Inner Light" was very very bright (which is part of the story) so alot of stuff in the background got very very grainy. I didn't see that much of it in the other episodes. But apart from that, the f/x and everything made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Unfortunately I have two problems this time around that I didn't have when "The Next Generation" was released on DVD - back then I could afford it and I had the time to watch it. Now I'm not sure I have either :(
ECZEMA
So it seems that my worries wasn't in vain - my son has indeed inherited my eczema. It's not a huge surprise since it's in the genes on my side. And on every checkup I've made it a point to tell them I'm concerned he's inherited it and that the dry red hardened patch on his throat may not only be dry skin but actually eczema and everytime I've been told it's normal. As late 6 weeks ago we were told it's normal by the pediatrician. 2 1/2 weeks ago we were told it's not normal but probably a result of the tonsillitis. And now after 10 days of penicillin it's still bad and we saw a doctor on tuesday who said "no this is definitely eczema, I'll send you to a specialist". And I got the "no shit Sherlock"-feeling I hate.
And then it gets worst when I tell people it's eczema and we're going to see a specialist, I've always gotten a "well good it's nothing bad/worse than that"! It's like people don't know what it means! It's a life long suffering with itching and scratching and bleeding and creams!! I'm really happy it almost went away when I hit puberty but it's come back in the past few years, so yeah, I still have to use prescribed creams and stuff all the time. So you bet your ass I hoped it was something else like chicken pox or something like that that would be bad for a week or two and then it's over, or even something else that there's a cure or treatment for, but eczema, you're never gonna get a treatment for that (unless there is some huge advances in genetics!) so that's a life long issue to deal with, one I hoped my son wouldn't.
Don't know when we'll get an appointment to see the specialist or even when we'll be able to test his allergies. Worst case is that he's as allergic to fur as I was and we'll have to get rid of the cats.
And then it gets worst when I tell people it's eczema and we're going to see a specialist, I've always gotten a "well good it's nothing bad/worse than that"! It's like people don't know what it means! It's a life long suffering with itching and scratching and bleeding and creams!! I'm really happy it almost went away when I hit puberty but it's come back in the past few years, so yeah, I still have to use prescribed creams and stuff all the time. So you bet your ass I hoped it was something else like chicken pox or something like that that would be bad for a week or two and then it's over, or even something else that there's a cure or treatment for, but eczema, you're never gonna get a treatment for that (unless there is some huge advances in genetics!) so that's a life long issue to deal with, one I hoped my son wouldn't.
Don't know when we'll get an appointment to see the specialist or even when we'll be able to test his allergies. Worst case is that he's as allergic to fur as I was and we'll have to get rid of the cats.
VERITAS
A few months ago I mentioned how annoyed I was with the current reporting about the company I work for, Carema. There was a borderline witch hunt from the media to take down the "evil greedy corporation" that they wanted to portray Carema as. As I said I work here so I know better.And I was surprised at how some stories were downright lies and that they never, even after Carema presented their version, wrote about that.
Well now an independant review company have gone through the media events and the result is here:
http://www.second-opinion.se/sites/default/files/RAPPORT%20Caremadrevet%20120201.pdf
This was ofcourse initiated by Carema but still, it points out alot of bad things about the reporting during this time. Not as if there is any chance any of the big media channels will ever write anything about the report, but there it is...
Well now an independant review company have gone through the media events and the result is here:
http://www.second-opinion.se/sites/default/files/RAPPORT%20Caremadrevet%20120201.pdf
This was ofcourse initiated by Carema but still, it points out alot of bad things about the reporting during this time. Not as if there is any chance any of the big media channels will ever write anything about the report, but there it is...
NO FACEBOOK FOR A WHILE
Finally suspended my Facebook account. I'll miss George Takei's funny posts, my wife and sisters statusupdates about all things irrelevant but funny to know.
But I won't miss the "I have to check my Facebook!" feeling when I go to bed or the cyberdrama that sometimes fuck things up in real life. And I won't miss an evil coporation forcing their will upon me, even if it was for free. So for now it's suspended. Maybe in the future I'll feel a need to have it but for now, not so much.
Everyone who wants to know what's happening with me and the family just have got to learn to check this instead. Sorry!
But I won't miss the "I have to check my Facebook!" feeling when I go to bed or the cyberdrama that sometimes fuck things up in real life. And I won't miss an evil coporation forcing their will upon me, even if it was for free. So for now it's suspended. Maybe in the future I'll feel a need to have it but for now, not so much.
Everyone who wants to know what's happening with me and the family just have got to learn to check this instead. Sorry!
TECH CHANGES
For alot of reasons I've given up my dedicated IP address I've had pointing to my server home, most of all because it was costing us money better spent elsewhere (see post about "soffa"!). So I repoint my kristoffer.com domainname here to Blogspot instead so everything except my image gallery is here instead. The image gallery is now at "stoff.gotdns.org" which is the dynamic IP address for my server at home.
But for people visiting this site there won't be much change I hope.
Also took the time to update "My Travels" and "Mini Bio" page since they hadn't been updated for a very long time.
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
Sam is pretty pissed nowadays. The most frustrating thing for him is he want's something and he says it, he points to it and we, being the totally oblivious parents that we are, have no idea what he means. At the dinner table he can point at something and says "ia!" and we're sitting there guessing at everything that's on the kitchen table and after the 10th guess he gets upset and frustrated and then it goes downhill after that.
He understands what we're saying most of the time, you can clearly see that. We just wish we could understand him better and what he wants. As it turns out he's had an infection in his throat (tonsillitis) for weeks without us knowing that it was something medically wrong with him. In our defense we took him to the doctors before Christmas and they didn't think it was anything serious, it was last Monday that they actually did tests and since then he's been on penicillin and he's getting better.
But he still gets upset when we don't know what he's talking about. Then again who wouldn't...
He understands what we're saying most of the time, you can clearly see that. We just wish we could understand him better and what he wants. As it turns out he's had an infection in his throat (tonsillitis) for weeks without us knowing that it was something medically wrong with him. In our defense we took him to the doctors before Christmas and they didn't think it was anything serious, it was last Monday that they actually did tests and since then he's been on penicillin and he's getting better.
But he still gets upset when we don't know what he's talking about. Then again who wouldn't...
SOFFA
When we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago we spent a fortune on furniture and interior decorating. One of those things was a soffa from Ikea for about 10.000 Swedish crowns.Now, after our cats and son have done his part we're totally in agreement that we need a new one and this one in leather. Hopefully the hair from the cats won't build up like a massive core and everything our son spills will just clean right up.
So we spent last weekend looking around on the web and this weekend we spent going to all the furniture stores we could get to without Sam throwing a complete fit. It wasn't easy but eventually we found a soffa in leather that felt good and was big enough for us to lie in comfortably. And it cost us about 20.000 Swedish crowns. !!! I know, right!
I just hope that in 3 years time we're not back at this problem having to buy another soffa for 20.000 or more again!!
So we spent last weekend looking around on the web and this weekend we spent going to all the furniture stores we could get to without Sam throwing a complete fit. It wasn't easy but eventually we found a soffa in leather that felt good and was big enough for us to lie in comfortably. And it cost us about 20.000 Swedish crowns. !!! I know, right!
I just hope that in 3 years time we're not back at this problem having to buy another soffa for 20.000 or more again!!
CLEANING FACEBOOK
I haven't really decided to go totally off the Facebook grid 'cause I still enjoyed getting information on what's happening with friends and stuff. But I really do hate their Timeline thing.
So for now I've removed all of my friends (except my sis and wife) while I clean up my Timeline. And I may add everyone back later, not sure. But kudos to Facebook that has a feature for downloading all the info they have on you, I didn't know they offered that. I downloaded it and it was over 30 megs. Let's hope that includes alot of videos that I've "Liked" over the years or that is alot of information!!
So for now I've removed all of my friends (except my sis and wife) while I clean up my Timeline. And I may add everyone back later, not sure. But kudos to Facebook that has a feature for downloading all the info they have on you, I didn't know they offered that. I downloaded it and it was over 30 megs. Let's hope that includes alot of videos that I've "Liked" over the years or that is alot of information!!
ANOTHER "I HATE"-POST
Wanna know what I hate? People on trains / busses with backpacks!!
Somehow when strapping on a backpack just because you can't see it doesn't mean it aint there! Hardly a day goes by that a guy (and this is almost only guys!) backs into me with his backpack or stands in the way of the door not thinking that his backpack is sticking out another 10 inches. And since you can't give it a small nudge because the person carrying it can't feel anything smaller than a good push!
And then it gets even worse when it's jampacked! The other day one train never showed up so the next train was jampacked and ofcourse people had their backpacks and was standing in the way left and right. One was standing so badly that one person on each side wanted to get off the train and not seeing the other one they squeezed his backpack between them and more or less carried him off the train. It was fun to see but pretty scary for the person with the backpack!
So please, if you're gonna go on a train or buss or something with alot of people and have a backpack - don't have it on the back! Take it off and carry it in your hand where you can see it and stop it from being such a bloody obstacle!
Somehow when strapping on a backpack just because you can't see it doesn't mean it aint there! Hardly a day goes by that a guy (and this is almost only guys!) backs into me with his backpack or stands in the way of the door not thinking that his backpack is sticking out another 10 inches. And since you can't give it a small nudge because the person carrying it can't feel anything smaller than a good push!
And then it gets even worse when it's jampacked! The other day one train never showed up so the next train was jampacked and ofcourse people had their backpacks and was standing in the way left and right. One was standing so badly that one person on each side wanted to get off the train and not seeing the other one they squeezed his backpack between them and more or less carried him off the train. It was fun to see but pretty scary for the person with the backpack!
So please, if you're gonna go on a train or buss or something with alot of people and have a backpack - don't have it on the back! Take it off and carry it in your hand where you can see it and stop it from being such a bloody obstacle!
FACEBOOK TIMELINE
It's that time again. Time for some big player to decide how the rest of us should think and behave to better suit their business ideas. This time it's Facebook deciding that we have to have the Timeline feature to display our Facebook profiles. I wouldn't be alot against it if it wasn't for the fact that they a) are forcing it upon us when we don't want it and b) that alot of messages sent to my wall as private messages before summer 2009 are now tagged as "viewable for friends" which means I have to go through several year removing more or less private messages in my Timeline to remove alot of stuff that the people who sent them might not want.
But I'm taking the time to do it but still thinking if it's not just time to delete my Facebook account. I just which there was some other nice way to tell everyone of my friends and family what's happening and show pictures of my son and stuff. Can't really ask people to check in my Imagevuex gallery everyday. And not every picture is posted there, most photos taken with my mobile is just for Facebook-fun...
Not sure what I'll do...
But I'm taking the time to do it but still thinking if it's not just time to delete my Facebook account. I just which there was some other nice way to tell everyone of my friends and family what's happening and show pictures of my son and stuff. Can't really ask people to check in my Imagevuex gallery everyday. And not every picture is posted there, most photos taken with my mobile is just for Facebook-fun...
Not sure what I'll do...
IN TIME
I recently saw "In Time". It's labelled a "sci-fi action thriller" on IMDB. I'm no huge fan of Justin Timberlake, but Olivia Wilde was in it so I gave it a shot. A bit of a spoiler about the premise of the movie here so if you don't want to know anything about the movie stop reading now.
* SOME SPOILER SPACE *
The premise is that in a not too distant future we will not have money. Instead the currency of choice is time. Everyone is born with one year that is activated at 25, meaning if you're a lazy poor person you'll die at when you turn 26. This in itself is an interesting idea and then you add how the "upper class" is using this system to control the lower class people and keep them in check. Simply raise the interest if you want to decrease the population in the slums etc. And then ofcourse there's a "Timekeeper" to make sure the system isn't tampered with.
All of this would have made for atleast 2 seasons of a good science fiction show. Instead they crammed it into a 2 hour movie and it just never got as deep as the idea deserves.
I don't regret seeing it though...
* SOME SPOILER SPACE *
The premise is that in a not too distant future we will not have money. Instead the currency of choice is time. Everyone is born with one year that is activated at 25, meaning if you're a lazy poor person you'll die at when you turn 26. This in itself is an interesting idea and then you add how the "upper class" is using this system to control the lower class people and keep them in check. Simply raise the interest if you want to decrease the population in the slums etc. And then ofcourse there's a "Timekeeper" to make sure the system isn't tampered with.
All of this would have made for atleast 2 seasons of a good science fiction show. Instead they crammed it into a 2 hour movie and it just never got as deep as the idea deserves.
I don't regret seeing it though...
STOP SOPA & PIPA
There are two bills in the US congress that threaten the very core of the internet - FREEDOM!
First we have the very publicized "SOPA" which is a very broad reaching bill that will enable copyright holders like the movie studios to censure websites in the states if they in any way host copyrighted material, talk about how to illegally obtain copyrighted material or even link to anything that has copyrighted material. That bill is being redrafted since there was so much opposition to it but as Jimmy Wales said in his tweet - "it's not off the table". And then we have PIPA which isn't that bad but would still make it possible to force sites like NataliePortman.com to go overseas and censure it for the people in the US.
I support them in spirit of what they are trying to do. I mean if I spent a fortune producing a movie only to see it on a torrentsite for download day after release I'd be pretty pissed off to. But they are still so broad and cover so many things that they would change how the internet works since people that run websites would need to go through them almost non-stop to make sure there are no copyright infringements anywhere. How much would YouTube have to work to keep it clean? And Facebook? And google search (cause let's face it, google is a great searchtool to find torrents.. if you're into that).
Everytime a dictatorship like oh I don't know ... say China blocks the internet for their citizens the west are quick to condemn it, saying "what gives them the right to control what their citizens can see on the internet". Well this will give the US government that power. And it won't be political but $$$.
So on wednesday some sites like Reddit and Wikipedia will be offline. As will NataliePortman.com. There isn't that much that we, as non US citizens can do, but this we can do!!
First we have the very publicized "SOPA" which is a very broad reaching bill that will enable copyright holders like the movie studios to censure websites in the states if they in any way host copyrighted material, talk about how to illegally obtain copyrighted material or even link to anything that has copyrighted material. That bill is being redrafted since there was so much opposition to it but as Jimmy Wales said in his tweet - "it's not off the table". And then we have PIPA which isn't that bad but would still make it possible to force sites like NataliePortman.com to go overseas and censure it for the people in the US.
I support them in spirit of what they are trying to do. I mean if I spent a fortune producing a movie only to see it on a torrentsite for download day after release I'd be pretty pissed off to. But they are still so broad and cover so many things that they would change how the internet works since people that run websites would need to go through them almost non-stop to make sure there are no copyright infringements anywhere. How much would YouTube have to work to keep it clean? And Facebook? And google search (cause let's face it, google is a great searchtool to find torrents.. if you're into that).
Everytime a dictatorship like oh I don't know ... say China blocks the internet for their citizens the west are quick to condemn it, saying "what gives them the right to control what their citizens can see on the internet". Well this will give the US government that power. And it won't be political but $$$.
So on wednesday some sites like Reddit and Wikipedia will be offline. As will NataliePortman.com. There isn't that much that we, as non US citizens can do, but this we can do!!
THAT'S MY 2 SICKDAYS FOR THE YEAR OVER AND DONE WITH
I very rarely stay home sick from work. Usually some cortison-based lotion, pill or spray helps with most things that go wrong with me. Last year when I had the shingles I still went to work, had to pop some Iprens towards the end but went to work regardless. But last week I got hit by a really nasty cold and woke up very early thursday morning and not only a soar throat - a really aching throat. Some Vicks and painkillers, an hour sleep and I then gave up on the idea of going to work. Took the son to kindergarten and went back to bed. And it was goooooooood! I stayed home on friday as well because I wasn't fully operational and maybe even contagious (have you seen Contagion yet? :) ) and got a lot of gaming done and just enjoying 8 hours off from work, wife and son.. well as much as you can while sneezing and wiping your nose all the time!
But now my 2 sickdays for the year are over and done with. I hope. 'Cause I think over the past 10 years that should be my annual average.
But now my 2 sickdays for the year are over and done with. I hope. 'Cause I think over the past 10 years that should be my annual average.
MOVIES AND EVEN MORE MOVIES
Me and H (which is what I write when I don't wanna write her full name, but I'm talking about my wife Helena, just for future reference) have really been plowing through lots of movies in the past few days!!
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR
I moved my blog here because it made it easier to update - I could simply send an e-mail to the blog and it'd be posted right away. Yet I didn't make a "happy new year" post.
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
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