Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

I figured I would reinforce the view that I'm a Cthulhian cultist (check the comments here) and post this (I would have embedded it if only Google Maps allowed me to do so in the fashion I wanted).

Once again this proves that the boys over at Google aren't quite right in the head, and therefore lovable.

This moment was the apotheosis of the postmodern era — the era of images and perceptions

I forgot to write something about 9-11, which wasn't all that strange since I was travelling on the date in question.

9-11 to me is the Kennedy assassination of our generation. Everyone in my parents' generation tend to remember where they were when they heard Kennedy had been shot, and most people I know can tell you how and where they found out that the planes had hit WTC.

I was at work. At the place I worked then there was always a TV on, up in one corner of the room. Often muted, sometimes with the sound on. No one had really explained what it was doing there, and I'm not sure anyone knew. I heard someone say that a plane had crashed into WTC, so I got up from my desk and walked over to see if I could get details. At the time I thought it was a one-engine Cessna or something, some rookie or suicidal pilot.

As I walked over I looked up at the TV, and watched live on CNN as the second plane hit the South Tower. That image of the plane hitting the tower, the ball of fire, debris spraying out in all directions, has etched itself into my mind.

I've read a lot of the conspiracy theories around 9-11. I've also read stuff that while not spelling out suspected government involvement in 9-11 at least hints at it. My standpoint is that I just don't know. I find it hard to believe that any government could murder so many of its citizens to justify, for example, the privatization of the military.

In September of 2000, The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a non-profit organisation released the report Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century, explaining their view on how America should develop their armed forces. In it, they write that "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor". Jeremy Scahill writes about this in "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (scary but necessary reading), and points out, like many others have, that the presence of private security companies within US armed forces increased significantly after 9-11.

I don't believe the conspiracy theorists that tells us that the events of 9-11 was engineered specifically for this purpose. That Erik Prince and other madmen were somehow involved. But you have to realise that a lot of these organisations, be they PNAC or Xe Services LLC (formerly known as Blackwater) or others, have some troubling ties to the Bush administration (check out this list), extremist Christian groups and other people whose opinions in no way, shape or form should be able to influence how the world works. Undoubtedly they have had a say in how more and more of America's defense budget is funneled into private military companies.

It would be nice if, as we've become quote more civilised unquote, the world has become a better place over the years, if we're talking about war and hidden agendas. After all, the Internet allows us unprecedented access to information and news, from a variety of sources, so we should be able to see through any subterfuge on that scale. The control of the news flow is no longer in the hands of the few.

However, it seems to have become worse and worse. I'm not really interested in politics, which to me is sort of a weakness, since it would give me at least the semblance of a grasp on How Things Work, but I know enough to know that a lot people are in it for themselves, regardless of whether its on a private or national scale. I have yet to meet or see a single politican that I trust. And this is in Sweden, where we don't bother with concepts like war or terrorism. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in the US and have opinions outside of the party line, so to speak.

The internet is the trailer park for the soul

Back in July, I found a cool blog using Blogger's “Next blog” function. I just clicked around, and there it was.

So today I figured I would go for a repeat. Click around, and find something out there, again. Something worthwhile, something fascinating, something I would want to read.

You can probably guess where this is going.

I found zilch. Nada. Nichts. Noll. Ingenting. And so on. Or rather, I found a lot of blogs but they were all either in a language I don't read or horribly ugly or complete crap. Or at least two of the three. And sometimes maybe all three.

So I'm asking y'all, point me to some blogs. Preferably in English, but Swedish works too. Well-written stuff, please. Wow me. Pull me out of the trailer park and into high society.

I leave you with this quote:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

An important question

I could survive for 57 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

I think it's safe to assume it isn't a zombie

Things like this, to me, is the reason for the Internet's existence. I shall build an altar to the glory of Angry Alien Productions. Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Doth thou speaketh English?

Last night my boss called me, and said "You should go to the Nordic Telecom Summit" tomorrow. I said I had too much work to do at the office. For some reason the fall is always the busiest time of the year. He told me that didn't matter, and that I really should go. So I did.

There were some pretty good speakers, highlighting issues like the future of mobile broadband, developments in radio network interfaces, and the evolution of 3GPP networks towards LTE. All very interesting.

The highlights of the day were more on a personal level though.

1. I realized as a guy from Google was speaking, that if everyone worked at Google (megacorp, anyone?), or all companies worked like Google, the world would be a better place. For nerds.

2. I got to ask someone from a competing company (that shall remain nameless) uncomfortable questions about their presentation regarding the future of services in IP backbone networks. She evaded the questions like she'd been in politics for twenty years. Cop-out.

3. All the presentations were in English, and some truly awe-inspiring Swenglish was heard from the speakers. My personal favorite, that wasn't really Swenglish either but just plain wrong and hilarious: "Everyone wants a pie of that business". Eh...what? I see what he was going for, but it misfired beyond description.

In all, a good day.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is one of my favorite movie sites. It gathers reviews from all over the BBI and from American newspapers, and displays an average percentage (the Tomatometer) to give you an indication of how movies have been rated.

Some examples from their list:
- Toy Story. 100%, on 49 reviews. My 50th wouldn't change that one bit.
- Jaws. 100%, on 34 reviews. Again. No change.
- The Usual Suspects. 89%, on 45 reviews. The best movie experience I've ever had. Should be a hundred, but what do critics know?
- The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus). 82%, on 33 reviews. The most visually stunning movie ever. A fairy tale for grownups.
- Fight Club. 81%, on 124 reviews. One of my favorite films, but still not much off what I would have said.
- 28 Weeks Later. 71%, on 173 reviews. Errr....no. POS. POS POS POS. So lame I don't know where to begin...
- Daredevil. 44%, on 202 reviews. This should have been a ten. Five. One. But then again, I can't be objective when it comes to childhood heroes.
- The Number 23. 8%, on 181 reviews. I thought this rating was very unfair after seeing the movie. But then again, I read a lot reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for this movie before seeing it, so my expecations were significantly lowered.

Can you find anything you really disagree with on their site?

I'm on their email list and get updates regularly. Today my eyes were drawn to the result for Max Payne. Zero. I repeat. Zero. So of course I had to go look. Turned out it was seven percent, but still. Seven. During the day it has gradually increased, and now stands at 15.

My favorite comment:

The film's best line sums up my feelings on it perfectly "Stay away from Max Payne." But they probably don't mean it the same way I do, huh?

Hilarious. I expect it to suck. I bet it could suck a golf ball through a garden hose. And I dare all of you to name a movie based on a video game that doesn't.

Heeeeere’s Beardo!

“Internet at home free workweek” was sort of a success. I was home sick two days, and couldn’t stay away completely. But outside office hours I was a good boy, and apart from the post below, which was sent from my phone, I didn’t write anything here at all. Yay for me!

Mmmm...madness...

Now, to be honest, if I were forced to go without Internet access or (horror of horrors) my cellphone for an extended period of time, I would probably freak out like Johnny here.

Hectic weeks ahead. All sorts of activities planned, from visits to our customer service to nerdiness to watching friends play live. On October 4th I’ll be playing some CDs when some other friends support M.A.N. Again, yay for me!

The mighty Come Sleep at KGB.
Jesper from Fingerspitzengefühl to the right.

The Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it

I’ve been a regular user of the Internet (the technical term is BBI, Big Bad Internet) since the early 90’s. I like the Internet. The whole idea of a basically unrestricted playground and repository of knowledge appeals to me on oh so many levels.

Currently I’m a fairly active member of Facebook and Helgon (the first one because I’m a follower, not a leader, and the second one to come closer to my inner goth) and post on a few music forums as well. I have a plethora of email addresses for various purposes (my beardy one, a serious one for sending out job applications and such, two for various games and an old one or two still sloshing about) and, as you know, recently decided to start this
blog as well. The BBI is my friend. We cuddle every day.

And therein lays the problem. Maintaining a digital presence is time consuming. I have no intention of ever stopping completely, but right now I have more important things to focus on, so as of now I’m declaring this “Internet at home free week”. I can check email and communities and stuff from work. As of Monday morning, I won’t turn my private laptop on until Saturday morning.

Alright, so I’m cheating. Five days. Call it “Internet at home free workweek”. Longest. Title. Ever. Unless you count Red Sparowes.

Every head has its own headache

For a few years now I’ve suffered periods of chronic headaches (I know chronic is supposed to be “all the time”, and as such it can’t be periodical, but I don’t know how else to describe it). When it first happened, I had no idea what it was. My right eye got all bloodshot, and I had severe stabbing pains just slightly above and in front of my right temple.

I spent an afternoon at the emergency room, watching an endless parade of old men holding the hands of their dying wives, drug users zonked out of their minds and screaming incoherently, car crash victims, and so on. It was horrible and emotionally draining.

Finally some med student barely out of Anatomy 101 found the time to meet me, had me stand on one leg, made me touch the tip of my nose with my eyes closed, brushed my face with a feather, etc. At first they thought I had Horton’s, which is sometimes called “the suicide headache”.

After being bounced around between a few doctors, I finally ended up with a neurologist at Huddinge hospital, who is part of a team that work exclusively with headaches. The final diagnosis is that I have SUNCT (I’ve learned what the acronym stands for – Short-lasting, Unilateral, Neuralgiform headache attacks with Conjunctival injection and Tearing – but have yet to say it in full while drunk).

SUNCT manifests in a variety of ways. Some people suffer a few hours of attacks and then never feel it again, and some have it all their lives and no drugs help.

I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like me

For me it was periods of attacks, about two months at a time with dozens, sometimes up to a hundred short stabbing attacks every day. I had problems sleeping, couldn’t watch TV for a long time or sit by the computer. I read books, took walks. Cooked a lot. My neurologist prescribed me a few different drugs, before we tried Neurontin. It’s normally used as an enhancer drug for epileptics, when their regular meds can’t do the trick, but also has documented results for various kinds of nerve pains. Such as mine.

For a glorious list of possible side effects and such, go here.

The last time the attacks started was January of 2007. They still haven’t stopped. 19 months and counting. Whoop-de-fucking-do. I eat pills three times a day, at 08:00, 15:00 and 22:00, seven pills in total. 3+2+2.

I’ve had them for so long now that the headache feels like an integral part of me. Which is just sad. The pills go with me everywhere.

Today, while Googling around for Neurontin info I found out that it’s been linked to a couple of suicides in the States. At first I wrote this off as The Land of Law Suits nonsense, until I found this. For a few minutes I seriously considered not eating my pills tonight. Until I read the whole article. A 0.43 percent increase in suicidality. Ehm…hardly something to worry about. I hope.

Some great urban voodoo

OK. This is getting cree-he-he-heeepy. Earlier I pointed out that I had three headers starting with “A”. The last three headers begin with the letter “B” *cue stunned silence from readers, segueing into the X Files theme*.

Should the trend continue, I need one more header after this one not beginning with a “C”, and then three in a row starting with a “C”. Suggestions?

Further reference to the header: I recently finished The Best Book Ever. For the third time.

I’ve been quite the William Gibson fan since first sinking my teeth into Neuromancer (which is now required reading in some English college courses here). For those of you that don’t know, he coined the term “cyberspace”, and is considered one of the most influential science fiction writers currently active.

However, with Pattern Recognition, and more recently Spook Country, he has moved away from sci-fi, and into some sort of pop culture pornography thrillers. Pattern Recognition centers around Cayce Pollard, who works as a cool hunter for various clothing labels and is sometimes called in to determine whether a new logo for a company will work or not. She’s always right. In her spare time, she posts on a website dedicated to odd snippets of movie footage found hidden in various corners of the Internet.

I won’t say anything else. No spoilers. Read it. When I feel cocky about my own writing, I read the first page, which is available here, under “Excerpt”. The language is so good I go numb.

For more pop culture porn, check out Gibson's blog. Now, back to meatspace.

iGod

Talk to God. It's quite entertaining. Post comments here if you get any particularly interesting responses. It (or is that He? *cue suspenseful music*) accused me of being René Descartes.

And I'm thankful that it's been done by someone with a sense of humor, and not some religious fanatic. Though the idea of God being the sum of human consciousness as represented by the Internet is quite an interesting idea for a sci-fi novel...