Don's Amazing Puzzle. I actually had to use a text editor to figure this one out. (You'll have to go and see - I don't want to spoil it for you.)

Cool stuff. Edge asks questions:

"To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."

Darn. Lappeenranta city decides to use MS Office instead of Linux and OpenOffice. It would seem the administrative cost of Linux is much higher than with MS due to networked support tools.

Neat stuff: The Powers Of 10 Java applet.

Joel is 1 years old today. Happy Birthday! I'll try to be a gread dad for you.

Joel just had his checkup. 81,7cm, 10,5kg. He's a bit longer and lighter than the average finnish (same age) child. (Looks ok to me :-)

Some rejected iMac designs.

Jakob Nielsen wrote an article for ZDNet called Users First! Redesign: When and How. It paints a good picture of the current web design situation. E.g. a redesign is usually not required for a year or two.

I just can't believe they are still studying mobile phone health risks. It's like the panic with the subliminal messages by using very quick images/sounds. They were B.S. too, but managed to create legislation to ban them. The money could be spent so much more wisely... sigh.. what a waste.

New Scientist: Planet reveals telltale signature of plant life. It's Earth, but the idea is to be able to identify life on other planets too.

J. Spolsky writes about his software rewrite by replacing his codebase function-by-function with better and easier versions.

I'm updating my CSS again. I was convinced by A List Apart to go for CSS. The new stylesheet is still very basic, but one has to start somewhere. I do like the way it works so well on browsers without stylesheets, especially my iPaq.

Funny thing actually... I told my wife about the blog entry of my computer specs. Her question: "Do you think a system like that will be still up?". That was a quick question, but does open up a bigger bag. Maybe not blogger, but I do believe that I can backup this blog and even use it as long as I live. 50 years. I may have to update the markup language tho. Wild thought; reading my 50 year old blog entries. (I will have problems with attachments, like images. Maybe that's something that needs improvement.) But 10 years should be easily doable. And now I want my own domain even more. (Hmm... 10 years at 100€...)

The Solar System Simulator. Great stuff.

For my kid(s): In early 2002, dad had a computer that had a 1200Mhz AMD CPU, 20GB of disk, 512Mb of mem, Voodoo3 video, a CD-RW (4x), 17" CRT, a wired keyboard and an optical mouse. My camera takes 1600x1024 pictures on a 32MB CF card. So quit complaining.

If and when I'll get an MP3 player, the NEX II from Frontier Labs might be it. The review on Slashdot sounds promising and I certainly prefer a CF capable unit.

Just read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It has a nice balance to it and works just great for younger readers. When I switched myself back to a 15 year old, the book was wonderful - having been a real geek at the time, the book really boosts your ego in a pleasant way. A few plot threads could have used more closure, but maybe the next books will explore them. I'm not sure if I'll read the next books... the characters, while mostly interesting, were a bit shallow, stereotypical.

It reminded me of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (the existence of a parallel London) and of course the Books of Magic (a nerd becoming a wizard). Both for much older readers tho.

Distributed robotics. Picked it up at slashdot. These robot coordinate their actions using virtual phermones. Original articles. I was thinking about distributed computing (like gnutella, napster...) more of an information issue, but doing it with physical robots makes it a lot more interesting. (This virtual stuff with information systems usually lacks physical form :-)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on DVD. An announcement tells us that there's 10 minutes of additional footage and a lot of extras. Also on slashdot. The BBC series is a bit too faithful to the book, and doesn't come out quite as funny as the book. As a TV-series it should have taken a more visual approach to the jokes. But it's still funny and the "computer" graphics are fabulous (they're animated).

Copyrights, DRM, digital media. After The New Yorker and winsterspeak visits this (old?) issue, I'll throw in some of my thoughts.

BigCos' defend their businesses by nature. When new technology comes along, they will fight it as long as they think it's cheaper for them. That part is understandable. A new business model costs a lot. But the goverment should take care that the common good (for humanity and individuals) is considered. Finland (where I live) is pretty enlightened, but with the U.S. pressing on EU with similar restrictions as DMCA, it's getting a bit scary here too.

If the U.S. is moving towards a very restricted content usage, wouldn't that mean that the internet (and information) will be walled? If you are only allowed "legal" content, and your devices won't accept other content. Sounds a bit like China or the Soviet Union. Not that it fully worked there, but they kept trying.

I guess these are the waves of history. If something is "too free", we wall it up - until it's all locked up and we'll free it up again. First too much then not enough. Etc. Ad Inf. And again. Recursive.

"May you live in interesting times"
an old Chinese curse

Found new music. Air - 10,000Hz Legend. I liked their video of "How does it make you feel?" (the one where a woman is sliced up), and had to get the album. A review sums it up nicely:

...an orgy of lo-fi meets hi-fi, of Beck meets Floyd, waving at Jean-Michel Jarre and Abba along the way.

Micropayments. Bad idea. It's an old issue, but since Kuro5in tells us the Danish are going for it, I'll throw some links. Clay Shirky's article The Case Against Micropayments (I agree with him totally), Jacob Nielsen's The Case for Micropayments (a bit off, as others have noted).

John Robb writes good things about K-Logs.

Extrapolating the SMS posting idea: MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). More text and a photo taken at the same time. Now would that be cool or what. If I get the chance, I'll try to create a prototype. (Depends of whether I get my hands on an MMS server, the API of it and an MMS mobile device.)

I suppose this is kinda funny. Kuro5in thinks about why the universe is a soothing blue-green color. I doubt the color will raise any deep evolutional response on earth.

Kuro5in takes on the Fermi Paradox too. Relates to the Manifold novels I mentioned reading a couple of days ago.

Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Reflected in the Work of Monty Python. I have to admit I'm getting more into this philosophy thing as I'm getting older.

SMS posting to a weblog. David Davies' Radio Weblog does it. Already for a year it seems. I hade the same idea a few days after starting my own blog. If SMS blogging could be something a mobile operator could offer - automatic setup and mainly SMS updates will create traffic for operators and value for users. Others could receive the updates via SMS too. (I bet someone in the U.S. is already patenting this...)

Nature.com report that a new observatory could detect hidden dimensions by detecting miniature black holes. The Standard Model estimates that there shouldn't be that energetic cosmic rays (i.e. the observatory should not find black holes). This is also slashdotted.

Although extra dimensions are not detectable, their consequences could well be. In theory, they would allow black holes to form at considerably lower energies than first calculated.

Dan Gillmor writes about how the `Google effect' reduces need for many domains. I have to agree. Search engines and especially Google have reduced the need to remember domain names.
(I don't even have one domain... I still don't feel it's worth it...)

I just finished reading the last part of Stephen Baxters Manifold trilogy. The parts are Time, Space and Manifold. The last part didn't quite have the impact of the first two, but it did complete the story nicely. It gets your head spinning with the multiple timelines that still (seem) to be logical. Overall the Fermi Paradox is approached from multiple angles - most sounding quite plausible.

But most of all the books got me thinking about the long term. And not just a few years ahead, like The Long Now. I mean how can minds survive in a universe that either cools down or crunches. Would it be eventually possible to create an information network (a mind) that would not require new energy? And is this a multiverse/universe that allows infinite states (opposed to one with finite states and thus pointless)?
(My previous comment relates to this one and has a couple of interesting links.)

Sigh... already 9 days and I'm still not well. This is some virus based cold that just won't quit.

I can't believe people are still trying this: Compression of near-random data. The Register noted the press release of ZeoSync. Usenet FAQ explains why it can't work.

This is just too much fun to be true. Some moron sent spam to get a job. And didn't know when to quit. Slashdot joins the fun.

Is it just me, or has the common cold become more vicious. It takes me at least a week to get well again. I'm probably just getting old. Sigh.

Jeol Spolsky writes about Fire And Motion. I can relate to his experiences with productive work hours.

Jacob Nielsen writes about Site Map Usability on his Alertbox site.

I just installed a weblogging SW (Movable type) at the office for a project I'm leading. We don't really use anything beyond email currently, so lets hope this works. I need to demonstrate blogs to quite a few people there.

A typical software project client? (478Kb wav)

Dave Barry wrote a funny story about "Learning to love the computer, warts and all".

At least once per day, without fail, my computer, like every computer I have ever owned, has some kind of emotional breakdown.

More articles about the Universe at Economist.com.
Sounds like we live in a multiverse, where quantum choices allow us to exist in this very unlikely universe where life is possible. Where the constants of the universe are just right for advanced information exchange (life) to exist. And a place for me.

Reminds me - again - of a fiction novel I read. Quarantine, by Greg Egan. It plays with the idea of men using quantum mechanics as a technology to reach any goal. Just flip a switch and wait for the outcome you want - forced quantum collapse. I may have to read the book again with a new perspective.

Man I hate being sick. I got a running nose that's making its second round around the globe. Thanks Joel.

Amy Wohl writes about Blogs, Klogs, and User Interfaces, based on John Robbs Klog group and an LA Times article. And how klogs just might be the future.

The Wisdom of Supermodels. Like really like deep.

"I wish my butt did not go sideways, but I guess I have to face that."

Stephen's Guide to the Logical Fallacies has a nice collection of different ways logic can fail. For example:

argumentum ad ignorantiam:
Since you cannot prove that ghosts do not exist, they must exist.

I noticed some time ago, that my Baby Stuff is a bad archive. After a few years, I will have to change the structure and destroy old links because the directory naming is no longer valid (baby/). Live and learn. On the other hand I still don't have my own domain to keep a permanent URL anyway. If this blogging thing is still fun after several months, I may have to get some hosting service. (Looks like weinitschke.com is already taken.)

Adam Curry is publishing stories at The MTV Chronicles about bands and performers. Cool stuff. The latest is about the Rolling Stones.
They never show any of the really cool stuff on tv!

Ars Technica discusses the future of the universe based on The New York Times article. (An article that expands your mind.)
Stephen Baxter is writing a fictional series called Manifold, where he creates models of the universe and analyses them using some of the theories as the NYT article. Manifold: Time and Manifold: Space are available. He is very optimistic concerning life in the universe. (As was the NYT article.)
I really enjoyed those two books - and will have to get the next one too when it's ready.

Finally got some Euros. I think they look cool. Better than our old Finnish money. But it will take a few days or weeks before I learn to think in Euros when valuating. (Now I constantly multiply by 6).

Genomic Art.

There's a first-hand account of the attempted shoe bombing. This is one of the reasons blogs are so cool.

For a few days Joel has been really walking. Not constantly, but he spontaneously gets up and takes several steps when he feels like it. It took about a week from the day he managed to balance himself.
And that's not all.
His first 2 teeth are finally visible. (3 months later than everyone expected. Sorry, no photo.)

Happy new year 2002!

We (me + wife + 11m son) had a nice new years eve. From our apartment on the 6th floor we can see quite a lot of Espoo. Rockets were flying near and far. And it was a pretty clear night, so the view was magnificent. The whole town was pulsing with joy.

Whoa... what a way to start a new year: the building in front of my apartment caught fire. No-one seemed to be inside, and the smoke smells mostly like burning wood.
And I finally got a chance to have a close look at how the Finnish fire department works. Relaxed and efficient. Maybe this new years eve didn't burn to many buildings.
Oh and it's about -20°C outside. Brrr.