July 28th, 2006
No, not really. At least no documented cases yet. But it does do wonderfully unexpected things sometimes. Like this "People behind KDE" interview with Belgian developer Olivier Goffart.
Q. Did you go to Akademy in Spain? Will you go to Dublin?
A. I didn't go to Akademy. The main reason is that I don't understand spoken English. I learnt English on IRC and by reading mailing list. (At the beginning i was using Babelfish to translate mailing lists)
Props for the commitment, Olivier!
July 25th, 2006
...stars of the 90s are using it. That's right, MC Hammer has a blog, can you dig it? It even looks like it was made in the 90s.
keep it real
July 7th, 2006
I don't do this link forwarding much, but I think this one surely deserves a lookie. I can't say it made me want to go to North Korea (or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as is the official name), but it sure is a sight to behold.
May 31st, 2006
May 30th, 2006
It was another classic damage control grocery mission. The time is 19:49, I suddenly remember I haven't had dinner and the store closes at 21. Since today was cleaning day (yes, that time of the month), I just wore a t-shirt, shorts and sandals around the house, it's practical for cleaning in case of spills and whatnot. It's also comfortable, if a little light for this time of year. It's also sunny out, and no sign of wind, so I hop on my bike and I'm off to the grocery store. At the checkout line, I recall that I haven't checked the balance in my account for a while and I have a rough ball park idea of how much is left on it. The ball park value was "hopefully about €50". For some reason I also decided to pick up some luxuries today - honey, a bag of oranges, noodles, jam, milk (still have some left), orange juice etc - aside from the base essentials (ie. tonight's dinner). My total adds up to about €23. I run my card through the card reader and punch in the code wrong. First sign of something amiss, I never get the code wrong. So I hit cancel, swipe again, type it in and confirm. It beeps. "Insufficient funds, pay otherwise." I ask to use a credit card, but for some reason Albert Heijn doesn't approve of them.
So there I am, in beach wear at the grocery store, explaining to the cashier in English that I only have €10 in cash. More of a tourist I could not have looked I bet. So I tell her I'll have to take some of the stuff back, she calls up a co-worker and we go over the problem again. I suggest paying part in cash, but even then I don't have the funds in my account. I pick €10 worth of groceries and pay for them, the guy scoops up the rest and takes it back. "Sorry about this." "No problem, have a nice day." Very professional.
I get back on my bike. All in all it's quite chilly out to be wearing a t-shirt and shorts. A light breeze flows through the street as well. I head home when suddenly I bump into a friend on the way. He's wearing jeans, a woollen sweater and a big coat. "My god, how obvious is it that you're Norwegian, look at you." While he was a bit overdressed, I was certainly underdressed for the weather in comparison with people out on the street.
