Regrets

This is a slightly more personal post than most I've written, but I was moved to writing it after listening to the radio last night. The Danish radio channel P3 has a program called "Unga Bunga", where the two hosts Le Gammeltoft and Kjeld Tolstrup played some brilliant music. During the past week, Kjeld Tolstrup passed away only 45 years old, and last night's show was one long tribute to him by Le Gammeltoft and a lot of friends. Kjeld Tolstrup was, apart from being a radio host, the grand old man of the Danish DJ scene, whose influence on other Danish DJs and musicians in and outside Denmark cannot be overestimated - his passing away will leave not only the Danish music scene, but the international music scene, much poorer.

I never met Kjeld Tolstrup, and I've only rarely listened to him play. Yet, even so, he was a presence in the music/DJ scene I was aware of, and which I was happy was there. Now, he isn't there any longer, and I am sorry that I didn't use more opportunities to listen to him.

Regret is not a word I use often, since I find regret to be nonconstructive. I am of the philosophy that one has to look at where one is now, and operate from that point, instead of focusing on what one wish to have done differently in the past. I have, of cause, made wrong decisions in the past, and now pay the debt for it (both literately and metaphorically). Past choices will of cause limit future choices, but unless you can undo those consequences, focusing on the mistakes/unwise decisions, will only drag you down a dark path.

Still, due to past mistakes, I have come slightly risk adverse - this means that I try to avoid limiting my future options. If I have the choice between two paths, I will most likely choose the one that limits my future choices least, even if the other one is more interesting.

So, how does this tie up with yesterday's radio program?

Well, Kjeld Tolstrup was less than 10 years older than me when he died, and he managed to do so much for so many people - many more than I could ever hope to mean anything for, even if I lived till I was twice as old as him.
I am sure he didn't do that by being risk adverse - when he went to Ministry of Sounds and played, it carried much large risks than staying in Denmark, yet because he managed it, it also carried much larger rewards than anything he could have pulled off in Denmark.

This makes me think: Perhaps being risk adverse is actually more limiting than going down the paths that cut of choices? And perhaps those paths only impose limits in my mind, or expand my choices in other directions?

Who knows?

I certainly don't. But I will try to find out. I will try to make sure that I don't just make my choices based on being risk adverse, but instead make my choices based on what I'd prefer to do. I am sure this will be an interesting journey - and one thing I can promise is, there will be no regrets.

Goodbye 2010 - or, the year of being social

Jean-Paul Sartre famously told us "Hell is other people" (in his play No Exit), and while I am sure that we all agree with this sentiment from time to time, the reverse, "Paradise is other people", is also true. Think back on any great experience in your life, and I am willing to bet that other people played a major part in it.

Well, 2010 is now over, and looking back, it was certainly more a case of Paradise than Hell. And I contribute that to all the great people I had the pleasure of spending time with this year.

When 2010 started, I decided that I wanted to expand my social circles - not because I didn't have a number of great friends (I did, and still do), but because I think it's important for your personal growth to try to find new input, and to get different perspectives. I wasn't exactly sure how I would go around doing it, but it was definitely a goal for 2010.

In retro-perspective, I can only say that I've succeeded in that beyond my wildest expectations, and beyond any expectations anyone could reasonably have.

So, how did that happen?

Simply put: other people arranged stuff, and I turned up. Surprisingly how effective that can be, isn't it? Well, what kind of stuff did I turn up to?

1) Tech events of all sorts. Copenhagen is lucky enough to have several groups and companies willing to arrange free technical sessions of high quality, and it has been great to participate in those. Among the groups and companies whose arrangements I've participated in is CNUG, Microsoft Demark, Trifork, and Socialsquare.

2) Perth Skeptics. This might seem a bit weird, given I live across the world from them, but remember that I am half Australian. I spent January month in Perth, and during my stay there were two meetups - one in a park and one in a pub. During the later, the Perth Skeptics participated in the 10²³ homeopathy overdose campaign, and afterwards, I talked a bit about skepticism in Scandinavia (sadly lacking) and skeptic/science blogging (go on, do it!). Apart from meeting Kylie Sturgess I also got to meet a number of other Perth Skeptics, and definitely was happy that I took the time to participate.

3) Likemind Cph. A monthly coffee meeting open to everyone, allowing people to network and meet new people. Great crowd, and even if it might seem a bit intimidating, everybody there are friendly, and willing to meet new people (otherwise, what's the point?). Here is a short video of the February meeting (which I didn't participate in). Here is the facebook page of Likemind Cph.

4) The Atheist Alliance International conference in Copenhagen in June arranged together with Ateistisk Selskab. It was a great event with some great speakers, but it also gave me the chance to meet some fellow pharyngulites (people who comments at Pharyngula). I even had five of them staying at my place during the conference. Among the people I managed to meet were Robert Dobbs/Ye Olde Blacksmith, who does some great metal stuff, Jadehawk, and Martin/Rorschach.

5) Last, but definitely not least, Twitter events in Copenhagen. I've in the past explained what Twitter is to me, but since then, Twitter has become so much more. A simple way of illustrating this is to state the fact that just during the last week alone, I've spent 3 evenings, including New Years Eve, with people I've met through Twitter and who I didn't know a year ago.

So, how did this come around, and what Twitter events am I talking about?

Well, as far as I can tell, we have a pretty unique Twitter culture in Copenhagen, and much of it is due to the work of the two twitters @laurajul and @morgenthaler, who decided to arrange some bi-monthly Friday bars for the Copenhagen Twitterati. These Friday bars have been a great success, and people have started to not only follow each other on Twitter, but also to actually become friends outside Twitter.

So, what does 2011 hold in store for me? I have absolutely no clue, but I am looking forward to experiencing it together with my friends, old as new, and see what it brings.

Happy New Year everybody, and may 2011 bring great friendships and much joy.

Recent and future reads

Just a little update of what I've read recently and what's in my reading stack these days.

Recent reads:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Infidel - my life
I must admit that my impression of Ali wasn't too good before I read the book. She seemed too right-winged and willing to pander to the racists in Europe. My impression of her changed after reading this book though, and I now have a much better understanding of her strategy and goals. What's more, her book got me to re-evaluate my own participation in the immigrant debate in my own country.

Richard Wiseman: Quirkology - The Curious Science of Everyday Lives
Quirkology is Wiseman's introduction to studies into humanity's quirks - studies quite frequently carried out by Wiseman himself. It's a light, but fun, read.

Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Klein's take on how ultra-capitalists have had a disastrous effect on the world, acting through shock and awe where-ever and when-ever they have the opportunity. Hyperbolic at places, it's nevertheless a real eye-opener.

Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater - The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Right from the title, Scahill is not afraid to call a spade a spade, and this is indeed what he does in this book, which explains how Blackwater has risen to its current position, and what it has cost the rest of the world.

Stephen Jay Gould: The Mismeasure of Man
Gould's classic takes on the entire concept of measuring human intelligence and to define peoples' intelligence by their race or gender. Originally written in 1981, my edition is the revised and expanded 1996 edition, where Gould included some essays addressing the atrocious The Bell Curve.

Christoper Hitchens: Hitch-22
My review of this book can be found here

Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson: Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts
A look into why people make mistakes, and how they justify those mistakes to themselves afterwards. It also offers some tips into how one can avoid, not mistakes, but rather the denial and self-justification afterwards.


Currently reading:

Barbara Ehrenreich: Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World
This is the European title of Bright-sided (which is more clever in my opinion). I am about 100 pages into the book, and so far I've enjoyed it.

Paul Krugman: The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

To-read pile:

Lone Frank: Den Femte Revolution - fortællinger fra hjenens tidsalder
I believe it is the same book as Mindfield: How Brain Science is Changing Our World. I borrowed this book from a friend, so it will almost certainly be my next read.

Kristin Cashore: Fire
I enjoyed her first book Graceling, so I am looking forward to reading this.

Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Even though I have been an avid science fiction reader since I was a kid, I've never gotten around to reading this book.

Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird
Been standing on my shelves for years. Time to get around to reading it.

Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Choices We Faces
Johnson's 1969 memoir of his White House years.

C.S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain
Part of "The Christian Challenge Series"

Henri Troyat: Catherine the Great

Tim Flannery: The Weather Makers
I bought it while in Australia in January, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
Another classic I haven't read yet.

Chrisopher Wanjek: Bad Medicine - Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Distance Healing to Vitamin O
I've started once on this book, but got distracted by other books I was reading at the same time.

Why I consider myself a skeptic, rather than atheist, activist

Last weekend, the Danish Atheist Society (Ateistisk Selskab) and Atheist Alliance International hosted an atheist conference, Gods & Politics, in Copenhagen.

I went there, together with a bunch of pharyngulites (people who comment at the Pharyngula blog), and had an informative and all-round great time.

Still, the conference reminded me of why I consider myself a skeptic, rather than an atheist. Or rather, why I focus on skepticism rather than atheism these days.

The reason for this is that being an atheist is not evidence of rationality.

During the conference I ran into both global warming deniers and 9/11-truthers, and even got accused of being dogmatic by the later, when I said that his claims were moronic.

Well, if maintaining a rational view on things is dogmatic, then I'd be happy to be so.

Skepticism on the other hand, requires rationality - otherwise it's denialism (denial of things, in spite of evidence).

As an atheistic skeptic, I will fight many of the same battles as atheist activists, since these battles are also skeptic battles, and I think that skeptics and atheists could and should work together to make the world move towards a more rational place. I just also think that many atheists can be harmful to the skeptical movement (Bill Maher is a good example of this), and I equally consider them a hindrance for a rational world.

In other words, if you're an atheist, I will work together with you, but I don't necessarily think that we're allies, just because we both don't believe in gods.

Four books per week and other goals

When I was younger, I used to be an avid reader, in periods reading on average a book per day (or even more). Yet after I started spending time on the internet, and especially since I got broadband, the number of books I've read have gone down drastically.

This has annoyed me for a while, and I've decided that I would try to do something about it.

Instead of just trying to read more, I've decided to make some reading goals for the rest of the year. They are:

1) Read four books a week. Given the fact that I might be more busy some weeks than others, I've decided that this number should be a four week average, by which I mean that at any time, I should be able to count the number of books read in the last four weeks, and find at least 16 titles.

2) Read at least one work-related book per fortnight. They tend to take me longer than other books, so I give myself 14 days for reading them. The general principle is though, that I should be reading a work-related book at all times (I tend to read several books in parallel)

3) Read at least one non-fiction book per week (including the work-related book). Not a hard goal, when combined with goal 2.

4) No more than one re-read is allowed per week. Like many other avid readers, I have a tendency to return to books. While this is enjoyable, I consider it cheating in this context.

I won't be making posts on how well I am managing every week, but I will certainly write something about it in the future.

Sorry for the silence

I am sorry that I haven't been blogging lately, but I've just spent 3 weeks visiting my family in Australia. Given the fact that I only see them once every couple of years, they had higher priority than my blog. Sorry.

I hope everyone have had a great New Year.

There are several posts in the pipeline, but they probably will have to wait until I get over my jet-lag.

Five things about me meme

Glendon has tagged me

The 5 Things Meme

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Studying economics. Not a great success, as people might have gathered from the fact that I don't do it any more.
2. Living around the corner from where I am living now. In the intervening time, I've lived in six other places, not of them around here.
3. Spending way too much time on the internet. The amount of time I spend these days is nothing compared to back then.
4. Worked in a ware house.
5. Partied too much, as 23 year olds earning money are wont to do.

5 things on my to do list today:
1. Clean up my kitchen - it's a mess.
2. Visit a friend and watch a DVD (already done).
3. Finish a book or two. I'm currently reading too many books.
4. Send of a few emails, that I should have sent off earlier this week.
5. Catch up on my sleep.

5 snacks I love:
[I don't really do snacks, but I'll give it a shot]
1. Does grapes count? I guess they do.
2. As must figs - dried or fresh.
3. Prawn flavored chips.
4. Brownies.
5. Cashew nuts

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire:
1. Travel.
2. Take some time off, and finish my degree.
3. Buy a bigger place.
4. Fill it with books, CDs and DVDs.
5. Continue with my life in general.

5 places I've lived:
1. Copenhagen
2. In a boat, in Copenhagen's harbor.
3. On a friend's couch, for several months.
4. In a two roomed apartment en-suit with my brother. The fact that we still talk is a wonder.
5. Rented rooms, all over Copenhagen.

5 jobs I've had:
1. Cleaning
2. Ware house worker
3. Bouncer at parties
4. Weekend caretaker at a badminton club
5. Systems developer

5 people I'll tag: I'll skip this time, but any reader feeling up to doing this, please go ahead.

Reading stack

Since at least a few of my readers are people I know from reading forums like Readerville and BookBalloon, I thought I'd share what I've read recently, am currently reading, and what's in my towering to-read stack.

Recent reads include:

James Alan Gardner's Expendable (Amazon link).
A nice piece of science fiction about some members of the space exploration force, who are used to explore new planets, since they are considered expendable. Well worth reading if you are into science fiction.

Gleen Greenwald's Great American Hypocrites
I might make a longer review of this book, but generally I was slightly disappointed by it, though I still feel it should be required reading for journalists.

Lauri Lebo's The Devil in Dover
One of several books on the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial, but the only one written by a local. Lebo was one of the journalists covering the trial, and the book not only describes the trial, but also tells of Lebo's own discovery of the issues at hand.
I am working on a general book review of the books about the trial, so I will write more about it then.

Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
One of the classic books on how to get IT projects to work. A bit too America-centric at times, it's still a book that I would recommend to anyone who might have to lead, or even just work in, an IT project.

I'm currently reading:

Nassim Nicholas Taleb's The Black Swan
Lend to me by one of my co-workers, as he thought it was just up my alley. And it should be - in general I find this kind of books interesting, and I certainly agree with his core message. I just don't like the way he is selling it. Still, I'm working my way through it, and it's certainly giving me food for thought.

Gang of four: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Well, naturally the book's author is not written as "gang of four" on the frontpage of the book, but that's how they are known in the computer business. I've read this book before, but am re-reading it as part of the design pattern study group I've started at my work.

David Neiwert's Strawberry Days
David writes really well, and the story about the internment of the Japanese during WWII is a powerful story. The only reason I haven't gotten it finished yet, is because I keep getting distracted by other books.

Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D: A Survival Guide to Managing Employees from Hell
I've only included this in the list to warn people from spending money or time on it. In my opinion, it's badly written, and what's worse, the advice it gives is worthless.

My to-read stack:

Christoher Wanjek: Bad Medicine
Steve McConnell: Software Estimation - Demystifying the Black Art
James Surowiecki: The Wisdom of Crowds
Darrell Huff: How to Lie with Statistics
Robert Park: Vooddo Science - The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
Jon Krakauer: Under the Banner of Heaven - A Story of Violent Faith
Daniel Levitas: The Terrorist Next Door - the Militia Movement and the Radical Right
Edward Yourdon: Death March

Comments about my reads and book suggestions are of course always welcome.

Sorry for the silence

I know I've been quite lately, and I just want to tell you all that it's not because I've forgotten my blog - or even because I am closing it down. I'm just busy with real life.

I am still working at a time-extensive major financial project, which has its final deadline (so far) at the end of next month. On top of that I've started working on getting a MCPD (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer). Not that I really need it, but it's part of the overall strategy for my .NET department, which I helped formulate, so I'd better do it.

I've also started up a study group at work, where we study design patterns (from the classical GoF book). Most of us have already read the book at some stage, but the plan is to involve peoples' real life experiences, and tie the design patterns to real life solutions. For those interested, we use this study plan, which seems pretty well thought out.

At the end of the month, I'm going to JAOO, where the keynote speakers are quite interesting. I'm especially looking forward to hear Lars Bak from Google. He is part of the Google Chrome team, and it's going to be interesting to hear about his experiences.

Think of all the adventures ahead

Via Michael Jones, I came across this little thing.



create your own visited countries map

As you can see there, are huge areas of the world I haven't visited yet, including large parts of Europe. The later I hope to change a little this summer, but just think of all the adventures ahead of me...

Light blogging ahead

As my few regular readers might have noticed, blogging has been light lately - this is due to the simple fact that I am currently working on a project with 2 deadlines this month. That means that blogging will be light the next couple of weeks as well.

Still, I have a few loose ends that I thought I should address. First of all, welcome to all of Skippy's readers.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about a new mathematical object. Since math isn't exactly my strongest area, I hoped that someone like Fox might step up and provide more details, which he did. However, a, to me, new blog thought that we didn't actually explain the most fundamental part of the new discovery, and took upon itself to explain it better - thanks Science and Reason.

Readerville is a book-related forum that I've been frequented since it opened up 8 years ago. Unfortunately it is coming to an end in its current form, and will cease to exist some time in the coming week. The Readerville site will continue, with the online version of the Readerville Journal, but the forum won't be there. Karen, who runs Readerville, is working on some kind of solution, and has enabled comments on the articles in the Readerville Journal.
It's always a bit sad when something that has been part of your life for a long time disappears - and in internet time, Readerville has been around forever, but some times change is also good - let's hope that's the case here.

New Skeptics' Circle is up

Am pretty busy these days, and since it's my birthday today, expect light blogging the next few days as well.

However, for some good blogging, head over to Bug Girl's Blog and see the newest Skeptics' Circle

Now, I'd better get back to cleaning my apartment, since I'm expect guests in a few hours, and my apartment is really not in an acceptable state.

End of Year Meme

Tyler DiPietro has tagged me with this meme from his new haunt

Basically I have to answer some questions about the upcoming year.

1. Will you be looking for a new job?

This is the sort of question that it would be unwise to answer truthfully, if I had planned to. Fortunately I can say truthfully that I don't plan to change job any time soon. In 2006 I shopped around a bit, but I am pretty satisfied with my current job.

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?

Yes. Or, sort of. Meaning that I probably won't exactly be looking for one, but I will certainly be open for one.

3. New house?

Do I look that rich? Houses are waaaaay out of my price range. I bought a nice little apartment (one bedroom, two rooms in total) at the end of last month, and have moved into it. So I doubt I will be moving anywhere next year.

4. What will you do differently in 08?

Spend more time with friends. Exercise more, among other things by driving my bike more. Other than that, I can't really think of anything.

5. New Years resolution?

Loose weight, exercise more. Maybe (just maybe) drink less.

6. What will you not be doing in 08?

Study much. I am kind of burned out from both working full time and study at the same time, so I will finish my current school stuff, and then take a break.

7. Any trips planned?

Not really, but I do plan on going traveling.

8. Wedding plans?

See 2.

9. Major thing on your calendar?

Not anything that I can think of at the top of my head.

10. What can’t you wait for?

Getting rid of Bush and Cheney.

11. What would you like to see happen differently?

Globally, I'd like to see less violence, and more focus on Global Warming. In my own life, I'd like to prioritize friends higher - periodically I've been too busy to see enough of them.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?

My shape. And I'll try to be less arrogant.

13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

Hmmmm..... Except for some personal things that I won't share, to protect other peoples' privacy, I can't think of anything.

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?

I am generally a nice guy towards other people, but I am sure that there is room for improvement, so that is certainly something to aim for.

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?

Yes. Less jeans and t-shirts and more pants and shirts (though probably not ties too often). I used to have a job where I had to wear shirt and tie, and as a reaction totally stopped wearing that sort of things after I changed jobs. Now, I think it's time to wear them occasionally.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?

I might drink less. And things of higher quality. What I certainly will do, is to buy less alcohol for the home bar.

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?

Don't particularly plan on it. I get along with them pretty well, but most of them live on the opposite side of the world from me.

18. Will you do charity work?

No.
Charity work is not something that's widespread in Denmark, as we pay for a welfare system through our taxes.

19. Will you go to bars?

Yes, though probably less so than during 2007.

20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?

Within reason, yes.

21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?

As a matter of fact, I do.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?

It's always hard to tell about yourself, but I don't think I've changed so much in the last couple of years.

23. Do you plan on having a child?

No.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?

I think I will have more friends by the end of the year than I have now, but my current friends are generally people I've known for at least five years, so I don't expect to loose any of them.

25. Major lifestyle changes?

More healthy living.

26. Will you be moving?

See 3.

27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?

I can't think of anything. I live a boring life.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans?

None so far. Might go out and drink with some friends, but it could end up with me staying at home.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?

Not as far as I know.

30. One wish for 08?

A Democratic President in the US.

At this point I should tag people, but I think I'll skip that part for now. If anyone wants to be tagged, consider themselves being so.

7 random things about me

Since I've been tagged by both Grrlscientist and Shalini, I thought I should get around to actually do this meme.

The Rules are as follows:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


Seven Random or Weird Things About Me:


1. I dislike heights and speed - roller coasters are not a source of enjoyment for me.

2. I don't have a drivers' license. Living in a city with a great public transportation system, I've never really needed it.

3. Most of friends are into computers in one way or another, even though none of us were really into them, when we first met.

4. While my native language is Danish, my first language was really English. I just forgot it all while in kindergarten, and had to relearn it in school.

5. Even though Denmark is not well known for its sunny weather, I' most comfortable when the temperature is above 30 degrees.

6. I hate rain and cold. Slush makes me aggressive. Snow is fine, when looking at it from indoors.

7. My favorite drink is a single malt whisky, preferably from Isle of Islay, though I also love Talisker.

Seven Random (non-pseudonymous) Bloggers whom I read;


1. Martin at Aardvarchaeology

2. Anthony at Black Triangle

3. Spocko at Spocko's Brain

4. Cara at the Curvature

5. Viginia at Virginia Hughes

6. Mrs Tilton at 6th International

7. All the other bloggers on my blogroll who feels like answering this meme.

I apologize in advance if any of the tagged people already have done the meme, but I haven't been quite up to my blogreading lately.

A bit of pondering caused by google searches

A frightening large number of my daily hits comes from Google searches on Danish rapper Natasja Saad, whose death I covered initially here and a little more here. As I wrote at the time, she was a classmate of mine back in 7th to 9th grade, when we were early teenagers.

Since we parted ways, I followed her career both as a jockey and as a rapper/singer from a distance, and kept track of what she was doing. Her musical style wasn't necessarily what I normally listen to, but there was no doubt that she had talent, and this also became more and more recognized by others as well. Just before her death, she had had something of a breakthrough, getting a fair amount of air play on Danish radio, and everyone expected her next album to really make her name.

Instead she got killed in a meaningless car accident, most likely caused by a combination of a drunk and high driver and a lack of seatbelt.

Her album was almost finished when she died, and Natasja's mother asked the producers to go ahead and release it, since that was what Natasja would have wanted. The album was released in september.

I haven't been able to face her music except in those small doses played on radio. However, I came across the album the other day, and bought it, and am listening to it right now.

What can I say? I am sitting with tears in my eyes, but damn it's a good album. Natasja had opinions, political or otherwise, and wasn't afraid of including them in her music. While Natasja was closer to certain alternative places, like Ungdomshuset and Christiania, than I'll ever be, but I find many of her messages very relevant in the current political situation in Denmark. We could certainly use other musicians like her, who dare to tell the truth as they see it.

I've included some youtube videos of her music.







If people want more information about what's currently happening related to Natasja, then her Myspace profile is the place to go.

Light blogging ahead

As people might have noticed, I have been somewhat inactive lately. There is a simple reason for that - life is busy, and that means less time and energy for blogging.

Currently, I'm fairly busy at work, and on top of that I'm working on a paper for school. The paper is an evaluation on a new approach for restarting an algorithm for finding the modified Max-flow of a network, where one of the arches have been modified (if that didn't make sense to you, don't worry, I'm planning on blogging a bit on the max-flow problem in the future). On top of that, I'm under the weather, and have some personal stuff going on (all good, but time consuming).

All of this doesn't mean that I'm unaware that I'm soon to be the next host of the Skeptics' Circle. As a matter of a fact, after tomorrow's Skeptics' Circle over at Medjournal Watch, I'm up.

Since I have some serious issues with my public mail (public@kristjanwager.dk), don't, I repeat don't, send any emails to that address. I'll make sure to post a new one for posts related to the 75th circle, after the 74th has been held.

Serious mail issues

I've become aware that I have some serious issues with my public mail account at the moment - apparently it automatically deletes all mails unread.

There is no setting for this, so I frankly don't have a clue what is going on. I will try to fix it ASAP (probably early next week), and it might very well end up with me closing and re-opening that particular account.

If I haven't reacted to something you've sent me within the last week or so, that's the reason. I simply haven't seen the mail.

Leave a comment if you think there is something I should be aware of.

A follow-up post on Natasja's death

The death of Natasja was frontpage news in Denmark, and some more information about her death has come out.

It seems like the driver of the car that Natasja was in was drunk, and probably high as well. On top of that it's speculated that he was speeding and that Natasja wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
If this is true, then this was not only a sad and meaningless death, it was a very avoidable death. If any one of these factors had been different, Natasja's death could have been prevented. There are three cardinal rules for driving:

a) Don't drive while under influence or while tired. This affects your reaction time and ability to make correct judgements.
b) Don't speed. In most places, the speed limits are set according to local conditions, and breaking them not only risk the health of you and your passengers, but it also risks everyone in the area.
c) Wear your seatbelt. It's a known lifesaver. It's speculated that Karen Mukupa was relatively unharmed in the accident because she was wearing her seatbelt.

Please, everyone, follow these rules if you are driving. You don't only risk yourself, but also everyone in the car, and everyone in your area.

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At the moment, Natasja's body is still in Jamaica, and her mother and friends are working on getting it to Denmark for a burial. It was feared that the cost of the transportation (100-200,000 kr., approx € 15-30,000) would have to be covered by the family, but it turns out that the insurance for musicians in Denmark will cover it. Instead her friends are collecting money for a proper burial for Natasja, and financial support for her mother.

A memorial concert is in the works, but no details have been released yet. Apparently a large number of Danish artists have contacted Natasja's manager, and said that they want to play at her memorial concert, so it will undoubtfully happen. For futher development in this matter, I refer to Natasja's Myspace page, which is updated with news.

Shortly before her death, Natasja had finished an album in Danish. It was set to be released on August 27th, but as of this moment, the album's future is uncertain, and no decisions will be made until after her burial.
My guess will be that the release will be postponed, but it will be released. I also predict that it will have good sales by Danish standards.

Update: Todays webpapers say that Natasja's mother has said that she think that the album should be released, since it would not be in the spirit of Natasja to waste all her hard work.

For a blogpost about Natasja, focusing on her music, I recommend this post by an old friend of mine, Matthias Wivel. Matthias didn't know Natasja personally, but he has known her music since the start.

Natasja Saad, 1974-2007

Edit: I had written the wrong year in the headline - obviously it was 2007.

I just found out that one of my old classmates from primary school has been killed in a car accident in Jamica.

Natasja Saad, aka Little T, was a dance-hall musician, who had her big international breakthrough last year.

She died while she was on the top of her musical career, which has spanned since I went to school with her. I haven't had anything to do with her since we were in the same class, but I have been following her career, and been happy that she finally got her well deserved breakthrough.

Damn it.

Update: I can see that many people have found this post through google. If people are looking for information of what will happen now, I suggest keeping an eye on Natasja's Myspace page, where there will be updates.

If you can read Danish, and bear it, I would also suggest reading all the comments at her profile. Those show how big an influence Natasja had on people. There is one post there that nearly made me break down, by one of our former classmates, who contained such anguish that it was nearly unbearable. Rasmus, if you ever read this, my thought goes out to you.

My thoughts also go out to Karen Mukupa, who was in the car with Natasja, and had the sad duty of telling Natasja's mother about the death. I've never met Karen Mukupa, but I remember talking with her when I was having a birthday party in 9th grade. She and Natasja then formed the dou No Name Requested, and had suddently gotten a job that evening, so she had to get Natasja there. She was very nice on the phone, and appologized many times to me for calling one of my guests away.

While Denmark has lost a great talent and I a piece of my past, Karen Mukupa has lost a childhood friend under the worst circumstances imaginable. Let's all hold her and Natasja's family in our thoughts in these hard times.

Update II: I have written a follow-up post



Picture by Jeanet Trebbien. Used with her permission.