K and I subscribe to Morgenbladet, a Norwegian weekly newspaper. The following is my translation of an excerpt from an article in the November 7 issue about political correctness and whether (and how) it hinders open debate. Continue reading “A rose by any other name”
Category: English
Katzenjammer
Not exactly fresh, but I guess I needed a week or so to recover.
Saturday before last, K and I did something extremely out of character—not only did we go out (which rarely happens), not only did we go to a concert (I think the last time was Suzanne Vega in August of last year), but we went to see a band we’d never even heard of: Katzenjammer.
2,600 years of progress
I just finished The Dreaming Void, the first book in Peter F. Hamilton‘s Void Trilogy. Overall an excellent book, but I do have a nit to pick… a rather big one, in fact.
To provide some background: the Void Trilogy is set in the same continuity as Misspent Youth and the Commonwealth Saga, about 2,500 years after the former, 1,200 years after the latter, and close to 2,600 years after our time. Continue reading “2,600 years of progress”
New history
I had my last day at Linpro last Tuesday (October 1st), and my first day at Systek last Wednesday.
Leaving Linpro was not an easy decision. On the one hand, I had some pretty good times at Linpro over the (almost) four years I worked there. On the other hand, almost all the people I joined Linpro to work with in the first place are long gone.
When you work on-site like I do, you don’t get to meet your coworkers (or should I say co-employees) very often. You show up at a social function and find out that half the people there are complete strangers—and half the people who were there the last time have left—well… it gives you pause. Suddenly, switching employers doesn’t seem like such a big change after all: you’re surrounded by strangers either way.
So you go for the option that gives you more freedom and more responsibility (the inseparable twins). You go for the option where you won’t have to suffer through the growing pains of a company that has doubled or tripled in size (you’ve lost track) since you started. You go for the option that puts you near the bottom, with a lot to learn, rather than near the top, with a lot to teach.
And you get ready to work your shiny metal ass off to climb back up that ladder.
Play nice!
The latest in Sun vs. NetApp is that the last of the three patents at the core of NetApp’s case is close to being tossed out by the USPTO. The other two have already been invalidated and withdrawn from the litigation.
A quick refresher: following the release of ZFS, NetApp sued Sun, claiming that ZFS infringed on six NetApp patents, including the three mentioned above; Sun retaliated by claiming that NetApp had somehow forfeited their right to implement NFS, and requesting a permanent injunction against further sales of NetApp products.
This latest development is good news to anyone who is opposed to software patents, and / or in favor of reforming the utterly broken US patent system. However, I must respectfully disagree with Groklaw’s take on the case. Continue reading “Play nice!”