Helene

I work at a Linux company, and it seems like most of my co-workers (including myself) use ubuntu as their operating system. With that as my background, I find this video very amusing.

After Barack Obama won the 2008 US Election, many people was astounded that they would be able to experience a black president in their lifetime. There is a common understanding that Obama’s candidacy was a hugely successful campaign, and the natural question is why was that so?

60 minutes have a made a report about this called “the inner circle” which interviews the key people involved in his campaign:

In this report several reasons are listed:

• The precidency campaign were decided and organized within days, not years.
• Grass route campaign that managed to get people involved and volunteering.
• Internet campaigning, using internet for making donations, facebook, twitter.
• They campaigned in states that were republican (enemy territory), believing they could win there.
• They organized ride to polls
• They got more people registered to vote.

Obama’s campaign managed to organize people at a level of sophistication that have never before been seen. The most important aspect in my opinion was the leadership displayed by Barack Obama that made all of this possible.

His inner circle stated the following:

• They didn’t have a lot of discussion about what the message was and what they wanted to do. Obama knew exactly what he wanted to say.
• Obama adressed the statements about the racism speech of Obamas former pastor, and it was by Obamas choice. There was no discussion about wether or not he should speak about it.
• Obama was clear about his opinions and values.
• There was no in-fighting, no leaks, almost no turnovers.
• Obama’s motto was “No drama”. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t strong opinions raised, but once they made a descision, they worked as a unit and didn’t look back.
• Obama stayed calmed and treated people well. He set an example for the rest of his people.

I really believe that one persons appearance and behaviour affects the people around him/her, and I believe that is one of the key reasons why Obamas campaign was so successful. His reassertive, calm and respectful treatment of people affected and inspired from above (Obama and his inner circle) down to the volunteers on the street. That’s the reason why they managed to organize and reach people on so many levels as they did.

So Congratulations Obama! I hope you will continue to be an example of good leadership in the years to come.

I lived in Melbourne, Australia in 2002 and took my masters degree in IT there. I look back upon that year with great fondness, and I miss australia. It’s a beautiful country and I sometimes regret moving back to Norway. I regularly browse pictures of melbourne, and yesterday I wanted to find the place I lived at when I was there. And to my great suprise I found the adress (I had forgotten it), and not only that, I got a great picture of the house there as well. I’m really impressed with todays technology. I can’t really understand how they were able to get a street-view picture of the house. They have to have enormous amounts of images in their database. Cudos to Google Maps!

Vis større kart

An ebook can be published in multiple formats. An ebook (file) format is a predefined data representation of how a digital book is to be stored and displayed on a computer/device. Ebooks today are published using multiple formats like Mobipocket, Microsoft Reader and Adobe Reader to name a few.

What these formats have in common is that they are proprietary (owned by a company). This means that to publish ebooks in a proprietary format one has to buy a (software) license to be able to publish books in that format. A publisher doesn’t have access to the format itself (the grimy details of how a table of contents is represented in data for example), and are locked to the limitations set by the format owner. The software provider has exclusive control over the format/technology.

So, the publisher owns the book (content), but have to use a specific software to retrieve it. To share the book requires the receivers to have software that can read it, and again may be locked to one software provider (can’t use competing software). Or a competing software producer have to purchase a license to obtain compability with the format in question.

Example of locked formats are mobi/prc and lit.

So what effect does all of this have on us book lovers?

• Ebook readers are locked to formats supported by their ebook device/reader. Ebooks aren’t always made available in all formats at once, so one have to wait until it do. There have been many incidents where Amazon ebooks aren’t made available to non-kindle people, or where a book is published in a different formats at later times.
• Operating system hassles. Ebook software which simplifies ebook transfers/management like Mobipocket Reader/Creator supports only Windows, and there’s a big Mac and Linux world out there.
• One becomes locked to software provided by the format owner.
• If an ebook device reads a format poorly, converting between formats can be a hassle.
• When ebook reader software becomes updated, previously purchased ebooks may become outdated/not supported/unreadable.
• When purchasing a new ebook reader, it may not support previously purchased ebooks.

Now, there is an open industry standard (format) for ebooks called EPUB, but at the time of writing it’s not supported by all ebook readers.  I also haven’t written about DRM. I will probably write about that at a later time.

The Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, has a nice posting about where his inspiration for Dilbert and other items come from. He states that his passions drives him, not him being in the lead seat deciding “Now I’m going to be passionate about this item”. He states “your passion finds you”.

Before creating Dilbert, Scott Adams used to be a regular Joe with a regular job. What sparked my interest is this quote:

When I had a full-time job, before Dilbert, I awoke at 4 AM, sat alone in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee, and waited. I did that for a year or two, just emptying my mind and freeing my imagination. I don’t remember the day I picked up a pencil and started drawing instead of sitting during those hours, but I’m sure I didn’t have a choice.

I have heard that statement before by Eckart Tolle. He also used to sit quietly in a meditative state, not doing anything, just letting the thoughts run free without pushing them to the forefront. Tolle has also stated that one needs to take the time doing nothing, to allow ideas to come forward, even if one has to wait a couple of years. That’s how the book “A New Earth” appeared to him. The book was waiting to be written, and at some point it came to Tolle so he could write it.

Oprah tries to meditate every day, doing nothing. She told that one day all she had time to was meditate while her dog was drinking out of the bidet. That was funny

So now I try to take some moments every day where I do nothing, except sitting there in solitude and quiteness. I find it a bit hard, and I only last for a cup of coffee, but at least its something. And apparantly I have to do that for a couple of years before some inspiration grips me. I want it to come sooner than that.

I was introduced to the mooncup by Merete. A mooncup is a silicone menstruation cup that one places into the vagina and it works like a tampoon except the fluid goes into the cup.

After I bought the mooncup, menstruation have never been the same. Now, I don’t really notice when I have the period. I’m not worried about leakages, I don’t have to think about changing tampons etc. all the time, I don’t notice that it’s there, I can take a swim with it, I can sleep with it. It’s easy to clean, and it saves the environment from unnecessary waste.

If your female and haven’t heard of it before - buy it! You will love it. I guarantee it.

Every book addict have come across periods where one doesn’t know what to read next. I have gone several years where I didn’t read books. I was tired of reading only mediocre books, and had lost the drive. When a ex-colleague told me about Robin Hobb (an author) and lent me some books, I was hooked again. That eventually lead me to buying irex iliad. Since I discovered ebook readers, I rediscovered books. I found a fountain of new authors and books. Still, it’s good to know where to look when a new dry period comes.

There are some websites that takes care of that need. They creates list based upon books you’ve read and suggests similar books that other people have found entertaining.

Beware that I have not tested these sites, so I would love to hear what your experience is.

http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com: Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our database of real readers’ favourite books (over 47,000 and growing) to suggest what you could read next. Doesn’t require a registration, though it probably would make it easier to come up with suggestions.

My impression: Very simplistic.

http://www.librarything.com/: Enter what you’re reading or your whole library—it’s an easy, library-quality catalog. LibraryThing also connects you with people who read the same things.

My impression: A site containing a lot for what book lovers search for.

goodreads.com: Have you ever wanted a better way to see what your friends are reading? keep track of what you’ve read and what you’d like to read? get great book recommendations from people you know?

shelfari.com: Shelfari is the premier social network for people who love books. Create a virtual shelf to show off your books, see what your friends are reading and discover new books

fantasticfiction.co.uk:  Find all the books (and in the correct order) by various authors.Contains information on forthcoming books. Look up an author and find book recommendations made by that author.

stopyourekillingme.com: Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books.

literature-map.com shows authors who produce work similiar to the author you input.

If none of these sites manage to arouse the book worm in you, then you have to be illiterate.