news letters

In mysterious ways, newsletters suddenly appear in my mailbox without me remembering subscribing to them. One of these are the ICT-newsletters from the Danish newspaper Politiken. However, I do not mind the letters from Politiken. In today's issue, Politiken refers to the suggestions from Utdanningsforbundet (Norwegian teachers's association) to ban use of camera cell phones from schools, as children take pictures in locker-rooms (and sometimes publish them on the Internet). The Danish teachers, however, will not follow the advice from their Norwegian colleges: “i stedet må lærere, forældre og skoleledelse påtage sig den udfordring, det er at lære børnene at bruge den nye teknologi på en fornuftig made” which means something like “instead teachers, parents and principals at schools need to face the challenge of teaching children to use this new technology in a sensible way”. I rest my case.

mobile teenagers

Statistics Norway's Norwegian media barometer 2003 shows that 100% of teenagers between 16 and 19 years old own their own cell-phone. Interviewing teenagers in the same age-group, my collegue Lin has still managed to find a few without a cell-phone. 80% of teenagers in the same age-group have access to the Internet from home.

My quest

I tell myself that writing a PhD is like working with a zillion smaller tasks. Maybe I can compare it with a major quest, but in order to get to the final level, I have to successfully solve a number of sub-quests. It’s my three-year long game: for each quest solved I earn points. There are a lot of tasks waiting, if I could only decide where to go now, what wizard to talk to, what path to take. I believe I will now turn to the little people.

Polls

Norwegian tabloids come up with the most stupid questions for polls. VG today asks the very bright question of whether the assassin of the Hamas leader [Yassin] creates peace in the Middle East



I wonder what Ariel Sharon would answer though. 16,6% of those who have voted seems to be of the opinion that assassins are favourable for peace processes.

Christiania

Det skjer mye i Christiania om dagen. Politiken publiserer en liten oversikt over hendelser i fristandens historie: april 2000: En gruppe på 20-30 svenske betjente, der er til konference i København, beslutter at besøge Christiania i civil. Men de afsløres hurtigt og jages ud af fristaden med sten og madrester. Københavns Politi kalder svenskernes optræden ”meget, meget usmart”. Fra Politiken. Jøss, hva tenkte de?

online

I am finally online from home. But my powerbook is physically connected to the RJ-45 cable. I think I would prefer airport connection at home as well. It works so smoothly at work, being able to walk around always connected, always online.

I can now work 24/7. Way cool.

I miss

Summer. When I close my eyes I can feel the sun shining, I see people enjoying life and I listen

wake up

"Fear of handling shit is a luxury a sewerman cannot necessarily afford". It's such a good idea to come up with a sentence now and then to wake up your reader. You managed H.M. Enzensberger.

IT and environment

To manufacture one personal computer you need 240 kg of fossile fuel, 22 kg of chemicals and 1500 kg of water. All according to a new report from the UN on how personal computers affect the environment ( article from Aftenposten). More info about the report Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing their impacts. I will try to be satisfied with my powerbook for years to come...

Finally

Finally #1: I have just had my last methods-seminar for the bachelor-students this spring! Don't get me wrong, I like teaching, but two seminar-groups on Thursdays and one group on Fridays for the last five weeks have been sort of too much of the same. Finally #2: my books from Amazon arrived. My order was shipped from Amazon/US the 3rd of February. Maybe I should have ordered from Uk, but I thought I'd take advantage of the inexpensive $ these days. Now I can't make up my mind: what book will I take home for the weekend. I can't take them all, as my backback is already full of spinning-clothes and powerbook.

girls and boys

From Sprayblog: 'Våre brukere kan velge mellom flere designmaler på bloggene. Vi har laget fire maler, to som passer for gutter og to som passer for jenter.'
In English: 'Our users may choose from several design-templates for their blogs. We have made four templates, two templates that are suitable for boys and two that are suitable for girls.'

I know I use girlish pink in my blog, but this just sounds stupid!

This is my music

MTV's This is our music was great yesterday (or was it Monday evening?). There were interviews with And the left handed (previously Larry and the left handed, but Larry has left the show), Pepe Deluxé and Uusi Fantasia. Such great music! Watch episode guide, interviews and And the left handed video.

25 minutes

My broadband-operator has given me two dates for when the installation/connection actually will be set up. As I have to stay home the whole day to wait, and tomorrow will be no good, I would like to know when they will actually come. I have sent an e-mail, but haven't received any answer. Thus, I called. I have waited in line for 25 minutes! 'You are number 1 in line'. There really can't be anyone answering phones there. Moreover, I have ordered a 2000 kb/640kb line but as a university of Oslo-employee, which means I originally saved 250 NOK each month. Now, however, they have reduced the price. Which is good for everyone else, but I definitely hope the uni-deal will be updated. I don't feel it's such a bargain when I save 50 NOK each month.

Right, I finally spoke with someone. Had to wait for 30 minutes. It sucks. As tomorrow is impossible, I will have to wait for another two weeks. I think I already hate my broadband-operator, Next Gen Tel my a**s

Cold dead hands rifle

Join the National Rifle Association and win the Charlton Heston Commemorative Rifle. Please don't! The NRA have a rather extensive and frightening web-site. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Right. I wouldn't say Grand Theft Auto kills people, but I cannot see there are many other things to use a gun for besides shooting.

Time

I think I need to say no thanks to a rather interesting project. An inmate at Bredtvedt kvinnefengsel (women's jail) needs a teacher for a course called 'Mediebruk, makt og samfunn' (media use, power, society). I was so much looking forward to finally working seriously on my PhD-project after spending most of February on giving lectures and leading seminars. There is time and there are all the exciting things worth doing. So what will I do? Learn to say no I guess...