Well…. I’m here in Lausanne starting my intensive french class at 9am tomorrow. I’ll have to find me somewhere permanent to live within the next couple of days. That will be a challenge, but that’s what I signed up for anyway, so I might just as well get started.

I’m looking forward to 1 month ahead in time, when all this will be sorted out, and I can concentrate on meeting people and maybe enjoying actually learning theoretical stuff again. Not that I didn’t learn anything while working with programming, but when you learn to solve a specific problem right in front of you, it’s more of a practical approach of getting stuff to work that I had to apply.

The irony here is that it was exactly the lack of any practical knowlegde that got me so tired of school I had to take a break from the traditional education system two years ago. I wish it were simpler to find a balance between practical appliance and theoretical understanding.

With this in the back of my mind it wasn’t exactly an easy decision to go back to school, but there are other advantages of being a student than what you learn, I’d say, so I’m hoping studying here in Lausanne will be amusing and entertaining, and if I even manage to pick up a little theory as well, then that’s just an added bonus.

I was looking for some vim tips today when I fell over this helpful link. It’s worth sharing.

As a short remark I might add that the folks on programming reddit seems to have a problem with a little light humor… But hey, programming is serious business!

By mistake I included google analytics specific code in the header of the Minimalism Revisited Theme. If you’ve downloaded the theme before this evening, you might want to remove some of the javascript from the header, or download the theme again. Sorry ’bout that.

Coming home from Italy, an admission letter was waiting for me accepting my application to start on a computer science degree at l’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland this fall. It’s way awesome, and I’m currently doing everything I can to get myself somewhere to live, so if you know somebody who might want a co-lodger in Lausanne, let me know!

I’ve been working full time as a programmer for a while now, and I’be been feeling that it’s time to broaden my theoretical background, especially because I’d love to spend more time getting familiar with artificial intelligence and functional programming. It’s all very exciting right now.

I’m of hiking in the Italian alps the next 10 days. It’s the shit!

Just watched it. Good movie.

By the way the site has gotten a new design. I might write a little more about it later. There is still some minor issues to be fixed, but it’s a start.

I never thought my usb-key would come in handy, when I first bought it about a month ago. There had just been these incidents know and then where I really needed a way to move data around between computers without mailing stuff to myself.

How wrong I was…

You see, searching the internets one of those afternoons where I probably should have spent my time on something else, I stumbled upon www.PuppyLinux.org. This linux distribution is made with smallness and transportability in mind. The feature that really caught my eyes though was the ability to boot the entire system from my newly bought USB-key. That thingie might just as well come in handy I thought to myself and decided to give it at try. This is basically my impression.

Puppy linux is designed so it loads the whole system from the key over to the memory of the computer when you boot it. This makes the system fast as Mini with a rolls royce engine. Response time is stunning, and every little program starts as soon as I pretty much just think of starting it. It takes some ram to run it like that, for sure. The computer I tested it on had 512mb, and about 300mb were free when I ran the system with normal load.

This comes with a price of course, because the initial setup is dead-ugly, but I do honestly believe that it is due to the bad taste of the developer (who btw deserves praise, of course… even with a bad taste). I think it’s possible to customize it a little to make it look better, especially if I spend some time on it. So with that out of the way the price is probably simplistic applications, which it’s a lot easier to live with than ugly interfaces for me.

There is the basic range of applications for a standart system, like browser (SeaMonkey or something, I think. Stupid name, works fine), email, video and word-application (Abiword). Personally I would like to get konqueror installed. I like konqueror very much. I think it would be too much of a hassle though, with kde and everything…

Back to what I really want to talk about: The implications of USB-booting linux! The things here is that when you’re finished with some work on the computer, Puppy Linux offers to save everything you’ve changed to the cd. This means you can just plug the USB in the next computer and carry on from wshere you left. Cool eh?

So know I can just take my USB-key with me and whenever there was a computer with windows in sight, I can save the day, boot linux on it, and acces all my data and normal applications without a problem. Damn nice!

Here’s how you get it working in 3 easy steps:

1 Burn a cd with puppy linux
2 Boot puppy linux from it
3 Install puppy linux to the USB-key via a wizard on the system

And tzaping! - Transportable desktop.

I found an old Poem laying idle on my harddrive and figured it was time to share it with the world.

Life goes on inside my head
For all I know I could be dead
But as I listen to the wind
A voice is reaching from within
Don’t think of love it whispers me
Don’t pick a fight you cannot flee
But as I try I hesitate
I’ve been reluctant as of late
I’ve found that things won’t seem to clear
My desolation wanders near

I need someone to be with me
I need someone to set me free
From thoughts that haunt me night and day
From feelings I can’t keep away
To be a shield against myself
Against the phantoms on my shelf
To be a candle in the haze
A path that leads out of this maze

But who are you that I expect
To save my life in this aspect
And who am I to close my eyes
And wait for angels from the skies
To ask for all you have to give
To tie you down so I can live
A life outside obscurity
And never ever set you free
I should be fighting like a man
I should be tough and make a stand
Defy the weight that burdens me
I ought to love eternally

However I’m no noble knight
And I don’t want to face the night
To live these times of doubt and fear
While shadows keep on coming near
But I must find within my soul
The missing strength and self-control
So I can rest my fears and dread
Discover that there is no thread
Besides my own dependency
And when I do I’ll start to see

That love again will come alive
Not to guard me from what I’ve
Been fighting with along the track
Just to love and love me back
Just to care and be cared for
Just to give for evermore

I sat on a hilltop and gazed at the stars
and wondered a long time about just how far
I could go before loosing my mind
I never found out
but I gave it a try

Dagens bonusinfo: Jeg er gået igang med at lære lisp.

Lisp er et oldgammelt programmeringssprog som er alle andre programmeringssprog fuldstændigt overlegent (som så mange andre programmeringssprog, i følge internettet).
Om lisp har noget at have det i aner jeg ikke, men det er spændendeog giver mig lidt hjernegymnastik nu da jeg ikke har de ugentlige matematiktimer at spendere hjernevirvlerne på.
Noget af det jeg finder interessant ved lisp er muligheden for at programmere kode der skriver kode. Det giver en forfærdelig abstrakt mulighed for at lave komplicerede programmer hvis man kan finde ud af det. Det kan jeg ikke. Indtil videre i hvert fald, men det bekymrer mig ikke det mindste.

Lisp blev oprindeligt brugt af folk der arbejdede med kunstig intelligens, men i dag bruges det mest af folk der er absolut vil skille sig ud fra mængden ved at bruge et absurd sprog som de selv opfatter som meget bedre end alle alternativer. I ved, lidt som at stå på telemark i stedet for alpin ski, eller lidt som at tage til udlandet uden at kunne sproget i stedet for at blive hjemme og have det meget nemmere, eller lidt som at boycutte alt fjernsyn i stedet for bare at lade sig underholde, eller lidt som at høre progressive rockmusik fra 70′erne i stedet for at slappe af til hvad radio’en nu spiller, eller lidt som at vandre op og ned af et bjerg i 12 timer i stedet for bare at blive derhjemme og høre regnen piske mod ruden, eller lidt som at løse sine matematikopgaver i octomatics dengang man havde sådan nogle, eller lidt som at skrive sine egne børnebøger fordi man synes de fleste der eksisterer er for dårlige, eller lidt som at insistere på ikke at uddanne sig i danmark selvom alt andet er dødbesværligt, eller….

Hvad er der galt med mig?