Google has recently added a new FAQ item detailing features missing from Gmail when the language setting is set to something other than English:
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=19933&topic=12900
(If you are from google, I would appreciate it if you didn't sue me.)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Swedish
Intermediate (2) Limited Working ProficiencyI think the above is a pretty much where I'm at with my swedish. Note:
Able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements. Can handle routine work-related interactions that are limited in scope. In more complex and sophisticated work-related tasks, language usage generally disturbs the native speaker. Can handle with confidence, but not with facility, most normal, high-frequency social conversational situations, including extensive but casual conversations about current events, as well as work, family and autobiographical information. The individual can get the gist of most everyday conversations but has some difficulty understanding native speakers in situations that require specialized or sophisticated knowledge. The individual's utterances are minimally cohesive. Linguistic structure is usually not very elaborate and not thoroughly controlled; errors are frequent. Vocabulary use is appropriate for high-frequency utterances but unusual or imprecise elsewhere.
language usage generally disturbs the native speaker
I say weird things a lot, in particular when I want to use a grammatical construction that I just learned. We learned something called the s-passive a few weeks ago, and later when I was at a store being offered a receipt, I said something retarded like "det behoves inte av mig" ("it is not needed by me"), instead of just the normal "nej, tack" ("no thanks")
can handle with confidence, but not with facility, most normal, high-frequency social conversational situations
Very descriptive of me. I'm pretty confident about using my Swedish, even though I sound like a retarded 7 year old. I'm prone to leaving two minute, completely incomprehensible messages on peoples answering machines, or going up to girls and asking them what they think about ice-cream :-)
vocabulary use is appropriate for high-frequency utterances but unusual or imprecise elsewhere
Also quite true. Whenever it gets to things I've never talked about, I always rely quite heavily on one of my favorite words in swedish, "sak", meaning "thing". Useful sometimes, but not when you say: "den där goda saken som stör i den där kalla saken." "that tasty thing that's in that cold thing" (icecream in a freezer). Actually, I managed to successfully communicate my desires when I added "som bestående av mjölk" ("that is composed of milk")
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Figures from History I, with Casey Rodarmor
And so I present to you Gil Schuller:
A man obsessed with those things that once assembled, could not be taken apart.
A man obsessed with those things that once assembled, could not be taken apart.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
People/groups that are mostly retards
According to google:
people in Monahans
u ppl
retribution paladins
this NU generation of "metalheads"
Poeple (sic)
My fellow airmen
Celebs
their target audience
Americans
politicians
Jay's fans
the French
rest of them
those that call themselves metalheads
the ones you like
the people who contribute to the internet
other women
the armmy
these guys
climate skeptics
druids
people on youtube
the viewers
people who play on legends
cnet reviewers
the alliances doing BG in the 70 brackets
paladin
the people of Air America
both
the kind of people that persistently question lesbian orientation as questionable
libertarians
scotish people
kids these days
all of you
my friends
people in Monahans
u ppl
retribution paladins
this NU generation of "metalheads"
Poeple (sic)
My fellow airmen
Celebs
their target audience
Americans
politicians
Jay's fans
the French
rest of them
those that call themselves metalheads
the ones you like
the people who contribute to the internet
other women
the armmy
these guys
climate skeptics
druids
people on youtube
the viewers
people who play on legends
cnet reviewers
the alliances doing BG in the 70 brackets
paladin
the people of Air America
both
the kind of people that persistently question lesbian orientation as questionable
libertarians
scotish people
kids these days
all of you
my friends
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Epicness that is LTH
The engineering college at Lund University, LTH, is a very special place. I always get the feeling that the students are the ones who own it, and not the professors or administrators. Each department has a student group called a 'sektion', that takes care of student life in that department.
D-Sektion (dator = computer) has a pub on campus called Idéet:
The feeling towards alcohol is much more relaxed here. The drinking age is 18, so *everyone* can drink, and it's pretty much a normal part of everyday life. I recently took part in the Nordic Collegiate Programming Contest (my team beat out all of Iceland, BTW), and after the contest they gave us beer and sandwiches.
One side effect is that students often throw parties on campus. It's a great feeling to actually go out to a party that's in the same building where you take classes.
I'm sure this was on campus somewhere:
Tidbits
I have a pink jumpsuit. Each section has their own color, and students have jumpsuits of that color. D-Sektion (dator = computer) used to have brown jumpsuits, but that didn't work out, for obvious reasons. We eventually asked for another color, and got pink. We wear our jumpsuits to most of the student parties and events. D-Sektion's mascot is the Pink Panther.
They are good for dancing:
(Joel is in orange for fysik)
I know a bunch of songs, all in Swedish. Most of them are about how great D-Sektion is. For example: "Dator, dator, vi är LTHs elite, alla andra lukta skit, a ha ha ha ha!" which translates as "CS, CS, we are LTH's elite, all the others smell like shit, a ha ha ha ha!" Oh, the poetry.
LTH's elite:
I have swum in The Lake The Lake (sjön sjön), the filthy pond in the middle of LTH. This was part of Nollning.
There's a tiny island in the middle, The Island The Island (ön ön--trust me, i works better in Swedish):
Nollning
The first 6 weeks of the year are called Nollning, which is basically the freshman integration period. The best translation of nollning would probably be hazing, except that it's all extremely friendly, enormously fun, and the upperclassmen go to great lengths to help the new students integrate and feel at home.
Even though I'm not a real nolla, I took part anyways. The first thing that happened was the upperclassmen thew silly pink baseball caps at us. We were then instructed to wear these hats at all times.
Then they taught us to count to 4 in binary, (which has been a long time coming for me, let me tell you):
and showed us the punkt formation and associated song, which we had to perform many times over the coming weeks:
My favorite part of nollning was probably the Regattan. Basically, every section builds these floating things, often confusingly referred to as 'boats', and floats them out onto Lake Lake. Eventually a cannon goes off, and they do their best to destroy each other's boats.
Last year's Regattan:
This year's was *unbelievable*. The PhD students built a huge styrofoam replica of Lund Cathedral, complete with towers that they could move up and down. Huge is an understatement, I think it was easily the size of the a school bus. It was obliterated almost instantly when the cannon went off, but it was an amazing sight, even as it was being gleefully torn apart by some civil engineers.
Nollagasque
The culmination of Nollning is the Nollagasque, a big dinner party where the nolla finally get to ditch their retarded pink caps for proper Swedish student hats (mossor). A student's history is told by the rings (spegat) hanging from the tassel of his mossa. Mine has one pink spegat, signifying a year studing computer science. Nollagasque was epic beyond measure!
Here's one of the last pictures of me in my nolla keps, before becoming a real Swedish student:
A fancy dinner in Kårhuset, replete with comically slow service:
And here I am, not only a nolla no longer, but also enjoying delicious meat with farsan:
You're supposed to burn your pink keps when you get your real mossa, but I saved mine...
Don't tell anybody :-)
D-Sektion (dator = computer) has a pub on campus called Idéet:
The feeling towards alcohol is much more relaxed here. The drinking age is 18, so *everyone* can drink, and it's pretty much a normal part of everyday life. I recently took part in the Nordic Collegiate Programming Contest (my team beat out all of Iceland, BTW), and after the contest they gave us beer and sandwiches.
One side effect is that students often throw parties on campus. It's a great feeling to actually go out to a party that's in the same building where you take classes.
I'm sure this was on campus somewhere:
I have a pink jumpsuit. Each section has their own color, and students have jumpsuits of that color. D-Sektion (dator = computer) used to have brown jumpsuits, but that didn't work out, for obvious reasons. We eventually asked for another color, and got pink. We wear our jumpsuits to most of the student parties and events. D-Sektion's mascot is the Pink Panther.
They are good for dancing:
(Joel is in orange for fysik)
I know a bunch of songs, all in Swedish. Most of them are about how great D-Sektion is. For example: "Dator, dator, vi är LTHs elite, alla andra lukta skit, a ha ha ha ha!" which translates as "CS, CS, we are LTH's elite, all the others smell like shit, a ha ha ha ha!" Oh, the poetry.
LTH's elite:
I have swum in The Lake The Lake (sjön sjön), the filthy pond in the middle of LTH. This was part of Nollning.
There's a tiny island in the middle, The Island The Island (ön ön--trust me, i works better in Swedish):
The first 6 weeks of the year are called Nollning, which is basically the freshman integration period. The best translation of nollning would probably be hazing, except that it's all extremely friendly, enormously fun, and the upperclassmen go to great lengths to help the new students integrate and feel at home.
Even though I'm not a real nolla, I took part anyways. The first thing that happened was the upperclassmen thew silly pink baseball caps at us. We were then instructed to wear these hats at all times.
Then they taught us to count to 4 in binary, (which has been a long time coming for me, let me tell you):
and showed us the punkt formation and associated song, which we had to perform many times over the coming weeks:
My favorite part of nollning was probably the Regattan. Basically, every section builds these floating things, often confusingly referred to as 'boats', and floats them out onto Lake Lake. Eventually a cannon goes off, and they do their best to destroy each other's boats.
Last year's Regattan:
This year's was *unbelievable*. The PhD students built a huge styrofoam replica of Lund Cathedral, complete with towers that they could move up and down. Huge is an understatement, I think it was easily the size of the a school bus. It was obliterated almost instantly when the cannon went off, but it was an amazing sight, even as it was being gleefully torn apart by some civil engineers.
The culmination of Nollning is the Nollagasque, a big dinner party where the nolla finally get to ditch their retarded pink caps for proper Swedish student hats (mossor). A student's history is told by the rings (spegat) hanging from the tassel of his mossa. Mine has one pink spegat, signifying a year studing computer science. Nollagasque was epic beyond measure!
Here's one of the last pictures of me in my nolla keps, before becoming a real Swedish student:
A fancy dinner in Kårhuset, replete with comically slow service:
And here I am, not only a nolla no longer, but also enjoying delicious meat with farsan:
You're supposed to burn your pink keps when you get your real mossa, but I saved mine...
Don't tell anybody :-)
Friday, November 7, 2008
Cavalcade of videoness
This time it's a photo montage from ESN Sea Battle 2008.
I and a guy named Oliver decided to collect photographs of the nationalities of students on board. It was good times :-)
youtube video
facebook video (much better quality)
I and a guy named Oliver decided to collect photographs of the nationalities of students on board. It was good times :-)
youtube video
facebook video (much better quality)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Korridor life!
Last night me and my corridor mates went out to a student run pub at Krischansta nation, so I took the opportunity to record a little video before we left. I hope you enjoy this authentic taste of student life at Lund University, Delphi housing complex, K building, floor 2 north.
link to video
PS Make sure you have the closed captioning option on, or you'll miss the sweet subtitles.
link to video
PS Make sure you have the closed captioning option on, or you'll miss the sweet subtitles.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
OBAMA
Actually, right after I found out that he won I immediately thought, "Alright bitch, now it's time to back it up."
But still, it feels pretty good. :-)
But still, it feels pretty good. :-)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
My life, as seen through the eyes of a keylogger
Playing a game:
(The uppercase Ws probably indicate that it was a game where you could run with the shift key.)
Another game, controlled with the arrow keys (well, at least two of them):
A text adventure:
Writing a blog post:
(The uppercase Ws probably indicate that it was a game where you could run with the shift key.)
qewwwwwwwwwwwwsawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ddddd wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwdwwwwww sssswsssswww<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>wWWW wwww W W WWWWdwwwddaawww
wwawaw w WWWddsww dddd WWWWwasaaaawwsdwwwwwwwwwww aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa w WWWWWWWddsasdswdwWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW wdwSAWWWWWWWWWW dw wwwwwww w WWWWWWWwwwwwwsaassdsw wsdqws
wwewweewwweeeewwwqsswsssssssqeeqewww wdsdawaasdw wwWAWwSwwddw www awawWWDdssdwww dwwwwwwwwwwwwwdwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww W wwwwwwwwwwwwwwddddd
ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddd
dddddddddddddddd w dddddddddddddddddadad dd qeeewwwwwwwwAnother game, controlled with the arrow keys (well, at least two of them):
xxx<right>xx<right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><left>
<right><right><right><right><left>x<left><left>
<left>x<left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><left><left>x<left>x<left><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><right>
<left>x x<left><left><left><left><left><left> <right><right>
<right><right><right><right><left><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><left><right><right><right><right><left>xx<right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right><right><left> <left><left><left><right><right><right>
<right><right><left><left><left> <left><left><left>xxxxxx<left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<left>xx<left>xx<left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left> <right><right> <left><left> <right>
<right><right><right><right><right><right>
<right><right><right><right>xxxcx<left>xxczasdrffvcvzx<right>xx<right><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>zzzzzzzzzzxx<right>
<left>zzzzz<right><right>z<left><left><left><left><right><right>
<right><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><right><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left><left>
<left><left><left><left><left><left><left>A text adventure:
wait
wait
wait
f
b
take gene's hat
take gene's clothes
take
x saloon
point to spear
take spear
f
f
f
f
examine beams
cover<cntrl>a<cntrl>kshoot s<del>chandelier
fuck juanita
save
<cmd>d
f
shoot fiona
cover
wait
wait
wait
f
shoot g<del>tank
shoot hoses
undo
cover
ex<del><del>l
examine train
examine turret
stand
shoot hoses<del><del><del><del><del>tank
cover
s<del>l
examine bolts
examine fiona
f<del>x control panel
l
wait
wait
stand
uWriting a blog post:
<up><up>At the ristk<del><del>k of further anl<del><del>liana<del><del><del>
enating my non-nerd readers, though they must r<del>number in the hundres<del>ds of thoug<del>sands, I wo<del>
ill share this link to an indie gam<del><del><del><del><del><del>y <del><del>ie gaming
blog:<down><down><down>
I had to close a bunch of windows for some reason:
<cmd><opt><right><cmd>w<cmd>tfaceboo<down><down>
<cmd><opt><right><cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w
<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>[<cmd>]<cmd><opt><right><cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w
<cmd><opt><right><cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w
<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w<cmd>w
<cmd>w<cmd>w<down><down><left><del><del><del><del><del><del><del>
<del><del><del><del><del><down><down><del>\\<del<del><del><del>
<cntrl> qu<del>quotes
<cmd><tab><cmd>a<cmd>x<cmd><tab><down><down><down>
Programming haskell, using vim:
:<del>:::<del><del><del>-><del><del>:-> <cntrl>jhhhI(<cntrl>jli<del>p <cntrl>j:w
Ad<cntrl>jki
(:-> <del>) :: <cntrl>j:w
A(e<del>Eq a, Ord a) => (a, b) -> T a b -.<del><del><del><del>b -> t<del>T a b<cntrl>jjA<cntrl>jA<cntrl>jkkkki, (:->)<cntrl>j:w
jjjdd:w
lli<del><del>(<cntrl>jA<del><del>) = <cntrl>j:w
Ainsert<cntrl>j:w
<cntrl>j:w
:w
A
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Stockpile
The other day, one of the girls in my corridor, Alva, and I were in the kitchen. She commented that she was looking for a spoon, but couldn't find one. I laughed nervously and said, "Are there no spoons?" in my most nonchalant Swedish.
This, by the way:
is the assortment of plates, spoons, and large glasses that I've been absentmindedly collecting over the past month or so. A cup of O'boy here, some icecream there, you know how it goes.
God I hope none of my korridor mates ever read this.
This, by the way:
is the assortment of plates, spoons, and large glasses that I've been absentmindedly collecting over the past month or so. A cup of O'boy here, some icecream there, you know how it goes.
God I hope none of my korridor mates ever read this.
Monday, October 20, 2008
I think I understand what he's talking about, but I still don't care.
At the risk of further alienating my non-nerd readers, though they must number in the hundreds of thousands, I will share this link to an indie gaming blog:
http://tigsource.com
It is excellent, and browsing the archives has led me to gems such as You Have To Burn The Rope, Rose and Camilla, and Iji.
http://tigsource.com
It is excellent, and browsing the archives has led me to gems such as You Have To Burn The Rope, Rose and Camilla, and Iji.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Holy crap! Episode 2 of "What the fuck is Casey talking about?" is out!
It happens to all of us... You're writing some Haskell, minding your own businesses... When all of a sudden, bam! The looming horns of a dilemma, threatening to impale you: do you use pattern matching to decompose an argument to a function? Or do you decompose it otherwise, so you can refer to the intact argument by name? A tough question, to be sure...
Lets say we want to duplicate the first element of a list. We could do it in one of two ways:
Lets say we want to duplicate the first element of a list. We could do it in one of two ways:
dupHead a = head a : aWoah, cowboy! These functions are way too long. Instead, let's use an 'as-pattern' so we can have our cake and eat it too:
dupHead (h:t) = h : h : t
dupHead a@(h:_) = h : aCryptorific!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I don't know anything about linguistics
But I like to think about it anyways.
One of the ways in which I've noticed that languages differ is in how 'interlocked' their utterances are. For example, if you take the English sentence "My car is red.", and interchange 'red' with any other adjective, without changing the rest sentence. However, if you wanted to change 'car' to something plural, 'are' would have to become 'is'.
However, in Swedish (you know, for instance) "My car is red." would be "Min bil är röd." and if you wanted to change 'bil' to 'hus', an neutral-gender word, you would have to change 'röd' to 'rött' and 'min' to 'mitt'. To change 'bil' to a something plural, you would use 'röda' and 'Mina'.
There are also other good examples, like noun cases. One of the hardest features of icelandic is that it possesses a complex system of noun declination for many cases that don't exist in English, like the dative and ablative.
So, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to just fuck all this Esperanto shit where we try to create new languages that are as simple as possible. Why not just create a language of complete and utter jaw-dropping complexity? So, that's what I'm going to do.
Of course, every good language needs a name, so it will be called Rezignanto, which means "one who gives up" in Esperanto. You're welcome to help out!
I think that the eventual goal should be that, given an utterance, one must change nearly every syllable in the utterance to swap a single morpheme.
Some ideas:
• complex vowel and consonant harmony rules -- like in Finnish or Turkish
• a baffling variety of cases -- we should integrate at least every one found at the bottom of this • wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_case)
• rampant agglutination
• at least a dozen tones
• 5 completely arbitrary genders
• nouns declined for number, case, definiteness, gender
• number declinations include one, one or more, zero, zero or more, and more than one
• variations of the relative speed of syllables can change the meaning of an utterance
Do you have any other ideas for good language features that would make it wor... better?
One of the ways in which I've noticed that languages differ is in how 'interlocked' their utterances are. For example, if you take the English sentence "My car is red.", and interchange 'red' with any other adjective, without changing the rest sentence. However, if you wanted to change 'car' to something plural, 'are' would have to become 'is'.
However, in Swedish (you know, for instance) "My car is red." would be "Min bil är röd." and if you wanted to change 'bil' to 'hus', an neutral-gender word, you would have to change 'röd' to 'rött' and 'min' to 'mitt'. To change 'bil' to a something plural, you would use 'röda' and 'Mina'.
There are also other good examples, like noun cases. One of the hardest features of icelandic is that it possesses a complex system of noun declination for many cases that don't exist in English, like the dative and ablative.
So, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to just fuck all this Esperanto shit where we try to create new languages that are as simple as possible. Why not just create a language of complete and utter jaw-dropping complexity? So, that's what I'm going to do.
Of course, every good language needs a name, so it will be called Rezignanto, which means "one who gives up" in Esperanto. You're welcome to help out!
I think that the eventual goal should be that, given an utterance, one must change nearly every syllable in the utterance to swap a single morpheme.
Some ideas:
• complex vowel and consonant harmony rules -- like in Finnish or Turkish
• a baffling variety of cases -- we should integrate at least every one found at the bottom of this • wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_case)
• rampant agglutination
• at least a dozen tones
• 5 completely arbitrary genders
• nouns declined for number, case, definiteness, gender
• number declinations include one, one or more, zero, zero or more, and more than one
• variations of the relative speed of syllables can change the meaning of an utterance
Do you have any other ideas for good language features that would make it wor... better?
Monday, September 22, 2008
Today on cops,
which my Swedish roommates watch with great amusement, a perp was asked if he had any warrants. He answered, "I don't think so." I mean, Herregud, how disorganized do you have to be?
Friday, September 19, 2008
There is this great blog from Russia that you should know about.
It is called drugoi, or maybe that is the name of the person that writes it.
I cannot say, for it is in Russian!
There have been some pretty good posts recently:
display of military might in an asian country
Vladimir Putin is apparently the baddest man in the world
somewhere, there was a house that was on fire, and it was extremeley photogenic for a moment
and for a change of pace, enjoy these pictures of an airport in norway
It about everything, although you'll notice that recurring themes include Russia, Norway, and weiner dogs. Also, I am almost certain that it will make you feel cool and international when you read it.
I cannot say, for it is in Russian!
There have been some pretty good posts recently:
display of military might in an asian country
Vladimir Putin is apparently the baddest man in the world
somewhere, there was a house that was on fire, and it was extremeley photogenic for a moment
and for a change of pace, enjoy these pictures of an airport in norway
It about everything, although you'll notice that recurring themes include Russia, Norway, and weiner dogs. Also, I am almost certain that it will make you feel cool and international when you read it.
Monday, September 15, 2008
And now for another exciting episode of "What the fuck is Casey talking about?"
I just wrote the best quicksort in the history of time! Who cares that it can only exist in a highly inefficient garbage collected system with so much crazy hand-waving that we can only cross our fingers and silently entreat god that our nice Θ(n log n) algorithm is not overwhelmed by the torrential flood of fall-of-Rome-style extravagance in which we are awash!
import List
quicksort (pivot : rest) = quicksort lessThan ++ [pivot] ++ quicksort atLeast
where
(lessThan, atLeast) = partition (< pivot) rest
quicksort [] = []
Friday, September 5, 2008
My life is hard. Such a hard life.
It just hit me how profoundly easy my life in Sweden is.
Every day of the week, I wake up at around 11:15. I shower and dress, and then cycle to a nation for lunch. A nation is like a fraternity, but better in every way. Lunch is 30kr ($4.50 US and falling) and includes coffee and desert. Then, if it's one of the two days a week that I have class, I bike there and listen to someone talk about vikings for a couple of hours.
There are parties 4 nights a week, cheap pinball in the math building, mentor group activities, and people at DF to waste time with.
Of course, things are going to change next week when Swedish classes resume, but probably not that much :-)
Every day of the week, I wake up at around 11:15. I shower and dress, and then cycle to a nation for lunch. A nation is like a fraternity, but better in every way. Lunch is 30kr ($4.50 US and falling) and includes coffee and desert. Then, if it's one of the two days a week that I have class, I bike there and listen to someone talk about vikings for a couple of hours.
There are parties 4 nights a week, cheap pinball in the math building, mentor group activities, and people at DF to waste time with.
Of course, things are going to change next week when Swedish classes resume, but probably not that much :-)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The dark side of couchsurfing
As you may know, I went to Iceland for a week. It was so awesome, but the first day I stayed with an Italian woman named Sabrina I found through couchsurfing. It was a little stressful:
4 children. All of them crying, screaming, taking their clothes off, or hitting me. Some doing a few at once.
Ate a plate of foul, overdone pasta that I couldn't possibly have refused.
Your 6 year old daughter is beating me, like hard. She just hit me in the stomach. I almost puked. I don't think I'm allowed to deck her.
There's this Icelander, trying to build "many websites, with many themes, for pictures, articles, and whatever." It's all for "The Revolution", but I don't think things are going to work out. And I foolishly told him that I'm a computer science major. He's got me staring down the broken asshole that is Microsoft enterprise networking, trying to get his ass-shit working. He might as well be saying: "Hey, would you mind helping me nail these two boards together? I'd really like to jumpstart Iceland's space program."
She asked me to buy a carton of duty free camels for her sort-of husband, but he seems unconcerned with paying me back.
Here's a Haiku for my first day in iceland:
i can't fix your site
i just want to see a fjord
your daughter hit me
4 children. All of them crying, screaming, taking their clothes off, or hitting me. Some doing a few at once.
Ate a plate of foul, overdone pasta that I couldn't possibly have refused.
Your 6 year old daughter is beating me, like hard. She just hit me in the stomach. I almost puked. I don't think I'm allowed to deck her.
There's this Icelander, trying to build "many websites, with many themes, for pictures, articles, and whatever." It's all for "The Revolution", but I don't think things are going to work out. And I foolishly told him that I'm a computer science major. He's got me staring down the broken asshole that is Microsoft enterprise networking, trying to get his ass-shit working. He might as well be saying: "Hey, would you mind helping me nail these two boards together? I'd really like to jumpstart Iceland's space program."
She asked me to buy a carton of duty free camels for her sort-of husband, but he seems unconcerned with paying me back.
Here's a Haiku for my first day in iceland:
i can't fix your site
i just want to see a fjord
your daughter hit me
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
First joke in Swedish!
I was at a shoe store, and I asked the cashier how to say 'shoe' in Swedish. She said it was 'sko', and pointed to the name of the store, written on the insole of the shoes I was buying: "din sko"
"din sko" literally means "your shoe", so I said "det ska bli min sko": "It will become my shoe." It's better in Swedish, mostly because it rhymes. I think she was mildly amused.
Result!
"din sko" literally means "your shoe", so I said "det ska bli min sko": "It will become my shoe." It's better in Swedish, mostly because it rhymes. I think she was mildly amused.
Result!
Monday, August 18, 2008
I think I like the monarchy now.
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Clare told me that Pär, a swede, likes the monarchy because it protects Sweden from the president. That makes a lot of sense to me. I think that people need a god-like figure to worship, and to represent the state. They also need a president who can actually make decisions and lead the country. I don't think one person should have both jobs.
Red light district
The whores of Amsterdam are scintillating. Many are phenomenally attractive--perfect bodies, their blemishes hidden by the murky red light.
One lay on her side, moving her ass rhythmically for the passing men. It was so beautiful, like a beating heart laid bare.
They smile and beckon to you. To me their gazes were instantly recognizable: women have looked at me like that in the past. But each time it became a treasured memory, and now her eyes slip easily to the next window shopper.
One lay on her side, moving her ass rhythmically for the passing men. It was so beautiful, like a beating heart laid bare.
They smile and beckon to you. To me their gazes were instantly recognizable: women have looked at me like that in the past. But each time it became a treasured memory, and now her eyes slip easily to the next window shopper.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Interrupting Chicken
I don't think that Swedes like it when you interrupt them. They'll sort of look at you and keep talking.
It's too bad, since I think it's a pretty good way of talking. When you think of something good to say, you just start to say it, as long as the other person isn't saying something very good themselves.
PS I got some hiking boots for Iceland, and have places to stay for 4/7 nights. If some awesome couchsurfers get back to me soon, maybe I won't have to sleep in bus terminals for those three nights!
It's too bad, since I think it's a pretty good way of talking. When you think of something good to say, you just start to say it, as long as the other person isn't saying something very good themselves.
PS I got some hiking boots for Iceland, and have places to stay for 4/7 nights. If some awesome couchsurfers get back to me soon, maybe I won't have to sleep in bus terminals for those three nights!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Helvetica and busted camera
I watched Helvetica a few days ago, an excellent documentary about the ubiquitous typeface:
I love fonts. It's pretty retarded. I think my favorite is verlag.
Also, my camera broke, so I sent it to Malmö for repairs. There's no way it'll be back in time for Iceland, so hopefully I can borrow a camera to document the trip.
I love fonts. It's pretty retarded. I think my favorite is verlag.
Also, my camera broke, so I sent it to Malmö for repairs. There's no way it'll be back in time for Iceland, so hopefully I can borrow a camera to document the trip.
Iceland -- It's time.
I just bought tickets leaving on the 6th and getting back a week later. I have no idea where I'm going to stay, and otherwise know only that I will soak in the blue lagoon, and hike through some crazy moonscapes.
Searching my computer for 'iceland' yields the following pictures:
Searching my computer for 'iceland' yields the following pictures:
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bike ride in the Swedish twilight
I just came back from a bike ride east of Delphi. I left with Marta just before the sun started setting, but in Skåne and around this time of year that means you've still got three hours of light left.
Me and Marta lost each other after ten minutes biking through the forested paths, but I kept on.
The paths behind Delphi are very special. They weave between small housing complexes, and when I'm there I can't help but imagine raising a family there. Everything is so peaceful. The houses aren't too big, there's plenty of trees and grass.
Birdsong was everywhere, and the warm air felt as if it was caressing me as I rushed through it.
Me and Marta lost each other after ten minutes biking through the forested paths, but I kept on.
The paths behind Delphi are very special. They weave between small housing complexes, and when I'm there I can't help but imagine raising a family there. Everything is so peaceful. The houses aren't too big, there's plenty of trees and grass.
Birdsong was everywhere, and the warm air felt as if it was caressing me as I rushed through it.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Expressionless
When I was young, people would periodically say things like, "Smile more!" or, "You look angry, you aren't smiling." Of course, they weren't seeing anger or sadness, just the expressionless face of youth. (Although, perhaps I maintained it for a few more years than most.)
I followed their advice, and now I'm always using my face to communicate with and reassure the people around me.
I think I liked it better the way it was before.
I followed their advice, and now I'm always using my face to communicate with and reassure the people around me.
I think I liked it better the way it was before.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tower of Babel
I know! In order to rescue ourselves with the horrible post-tower-of-babel language-confusion we now find our world mired in, let's create a new lingua franca! I'll be called English 2, and it'll just be a *radical* simplification of English!
Tenses:
did go
will go
am go
have go
Fuck this went and going shit!
Tenses:
did go
will go
am go
have go
Fuck this went and going shit!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Onward to London
What can I say about London?
London is big, and London also *sprawls*. Many buildings don't have single addresses, but ranges of addresses: 4-6 Old Queen St., 77-79 Horse Guards Rd., etc. Everything is old, history is everywhere. The street and town names are different. But, not just different names, they belong to a whole different category. So many things were named so long ago, in old or middle English, that they have ceased to become words. They have now fully become names, as Edwin used to mean "rich friend", but now means only "Edwin".
Some British place names:
Bradninch
Dagenham
Dunnington
Morpeth
London
Some American place names:
Oakland
Beverly Hills
King's Point
Laurel Hollow
Bullhead City
When British people come to the US, the names sound like they belong to the towns and roads of Disneyland.
The flight to London wasn't bad at all. I didn't check any luggage, so I was able to get out of the airport quickly.
Leaving Heathrow:
I loved the tube. Unlike the raised, set apart, and distant BART of the Bay Area, it really seemed to be a part of the city.
There were buskers in the underground paths between platforms, which gave them the feeling of lively subterranean cities.
I especially enjoyed paying for things in pounds, even though everything was terrifically expensive. My first purchase was a 500ml bottle of current juice. Amusingly, the clerk asked me if I would like a glass with it. Ha! Little did she know that we Americans are quite used to consuming *huge* amounts of sugared liquid directly from grotesquely sized bottles. I drank the whole thing in about 20 seconds, and was enthused by the authenticity of the experience, and the confirmation of a negative stereotype about my culture.
Soon afterwards I got some fish and chips at a pub. It was heavenly.
I passed out pretty at the hostel pretty early that night. The next day I took a big bus tour of the city.
There were cranes, which I quite enjoyed.
Big Ben happened to be backlit that day, which was a pity.
Part of the tour was by boat.
On the bus, you could see into offices. The guys in one office were all smiling and talking together.
And that was that! I was only there for ~30 hours, but it was a great. I left as I came, on a mechanized conveyance. This one is taking me to St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar leaves for Paris.
London is big, and London also *sprawls*. Many buildings don't have single addresses, but ranges of addresses: 4-6 Old Queen St., 77-79 Horse Guards Rd., etc. Everything is old, history is everywhere. The street and town names are different. But, not just different names, they belong to a whole different category. So many things were named so long ago, in old or middle English, that they have ceased to become words. They have now fully become names, as Edwin used to mean "rich friend", but now means only "Edwin".
Some British place names:
Bradninch
Dagenham
Dunnington
Morpeth
London
Some American place names:
Oakland
Beverly Hills
King's Point
Laurel Hollow
Bullhead City
When British people come to the US, the names sound like they belong to the towns and roads of Disneyland.
The flight to London wasn't bad at all. I didn't check any luggage, so I was able to get out of the airport quickly.
Leaving Heathrow:
I loved the tube. Unlike the raised, set apart, and distant BART of the Bay Area, it really seemed to be a part of the city.
There were buskers in the underground paths between platforms, which gave them the feeling of lively subterranean cities.
I especially enjoyed paying for things in pounds, even though everything was terrifically expensive. My first purchase was a 500ml bottle of current juice. Amusingly, the clerk asked me if I would like a glass with it. Ha! Little did she know that we Americans are quite used to consuming *huge* amounts of sugared liquid directly from grotesquely sized bottles. I drank the whole thing in about 20 seconds, and was enthused by the authenticity of the experience, and the confirmation of a negative stereotype about my culture.
Soon afterwards I got some fish and chips at a pub. It was heavenly.
I passed out pretty at the hostel pretty early that night. The next day I took a big bus tour of the city.
There were cranes, which I quite enjoyed.
Big Ben happened to be backlit that day, which was a pity.
Part of the tour was by boat.
On the bus, you could see into offices. The guys in one office were all smiling and talking together.
And that was that! I was only there for ~30 hours, but it was a great. I left as I came, on a mechanized conveyance. This one is taking me to St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar leaves for Paris.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Okay, so, moving on: Packing & Departure
A couple nights before I left, Eric, Daniel and I found the carcass of a huge beast in the volleyball court behind Soda Hall.
We weren't sure what it was, and I was loathe to go nearer. Was it dead, or merely slumb'ring? Would it wake and violently seek to sate some dark hunger?
Eric insisted we press on...
It turned out to be a Sun Blackbox. Phew!
The next day, there was nothing to do but pack.
I don't think there is anything more stressful than moving. That night was no exception. Here's a nice picture of my bed, from the ceiling, before everything was dismantled:
I had to abandon my dance mirror in a park, which made me a little sad:
It took all night, which is a little pathetic, since I don't have much stuff. Pretty much everything I have fit in my car.
I don't do many thinks like my father. For instance, he thinks that practicality is worth nearly any amount of aesthetic degradation. I don't. But I do agree that marking ones luggage is a pretty good idea. Unlike my father, I put a bit of effort and thought into my mark--a strong yellow X, painted in the Soda Hall volleyball court.
My bag, almost ready to go:
My home at Amador Ave. was almost certainly the nicest I have ever had. I was very sad to leave it, and especially sad to leave Joseph and Elizabeth, my wonderful landlords.
The backyard, right before I left:
After I finished up, I said goodbye to Joseph and Elizabeth. Joseph told me about how much he hated the french when he was in NATO flight school right before the Korean War. Elizabeth was incredibly sweet as always.
And that was that. All that was left was to visit with dad, and then mom, and then drive to the airport. But, I won't speak of my family in such a public place.
Mixed feelings:
Then it was the airport:
Waiting...
The airport was nice. I met a woman who turned out to be the technology columnist for the London Telegraph, and we talked about London and how airport security is complete shit. Looking back on it, I'm really glad that I have this transitional memory of sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight. It's a punctuation mark in the paragraph that has been the last 25 years of my life.
Finally... Flight!
We weren't sure what it was, and I was loathe to go nearer. Was it dead, or merely slumb'ring? Would it wake and violently seek to sate some dark hunger?
Eric insisted we press on...
It turned out to be a Sun Blackbox. Phew!
The next day, there was nothing to do but pack.
I don't think there is anything more stressful than moving. That night was no exception. Here's a nice picture of my bed, from the ceiling, before everything was dismantled:
I had to abandon my dance mirror in a park, which made me a little sad:
It took all night, which is a little pathetic, since I don't have much stuff. Pretty much everything I have fit in my car.
I don't do many thinks like my father. For instance, he thinks that practicality is worth nearly any amount of aesthetic degradation. I don't. But I do agree that marking ones luggage is a pretty good idea. Unlike my father, I put a bit of effort and thought into my mark--a strong yellow X, painted in the Soda Hall volleyball court.
My bag, almost ready to go:
My home at Amador Ave. was almost certainly the nicest I have ever had. I was very sad to leave it, and especially sad to leave Joseph and Elizabeth, my wonderful landlords.
The backyard, right before I left:
After I finished up, I said goodbye to Joseph and Elizabeth. Joseph told me about how much he hated the french when he was in NATO flight school right before the Korean War. Elizabeth was incredibly sweet as always.
And that was that. All that was left was to visit with dad, and then mom, and then drive to the airport. But, I won't speak of my family in such a public place.
Mixed feelings:
Then it was the airport:
Waiting...
The airport was nice. I met a woman who turned out to be the technology columnist for the London Telegraph, and we talked about London and how airport security is complete shit. Looking back on it, I'm really glad that I have this transitional memory of sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight. It's a punctuation mark in the paragraph that has been the last 25 years of my life.
Finally... Flight!
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