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Single life is annoying

01.09.2011 21:37

I find life as a single guy quite annoying. I’ve been single all of my adult life, and the fact that I’m both overweight and shy when it comes to initial contact with strangers serve as hindering factors in getting any romance in my life.

So when a Facebook friend of mine (who shall remain unnamed for now) recently made a status update, saying that he had been single for so long that friends and family might think he was gay, it was a feeling I could totally relate to. I even commented on that status update, saying just that. But when, after a few comments from others, he revealed that he actually was gay, it became clear that his status update was made sarcastically, and I did something I later came to regret; I deleted my original comment.

The fact that he actually was gay, made my comment no longer relevant, since I’m not gay myself. I did have a period in my life when I wasn’t entirely sure, but after some soul-searching, I came to the conclusion that I prefer girls, and my uncertainty was just a phase of exploring my sexuality. Even so, I don’t mind people who are gay, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s just not my thing.

However, I did feel that my friend’s original comment in itself was a thought that has crossed my mind several times before, it was the real thought behind that comment that made me remove my response, instead of making a second response to clear things up.

As many intelligent people know, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and goes to show how one could have reacted differently (which is more or less the definition of hindsight). I felt bad about removing my comment ever since.

I just hope that by putting mtg thoughts into words and making them public might help me move on with my life with one less worry to bother me. I also hope that my friend (or anyone who saw the thing happen) might come across this post and understand why I did what I did, and perhaps let my indiscretion slide this time around (and even jokingly call me out on it if I ever do something like that again).

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Browser IQ

29.08.2011 17:47

Last month, several news media (even the reputable ones) reported that a study claiming that Internet Explorer users had lower IQ than users of other browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari), and that users of Opera and Camino browsers had “exceptionally higher” IQ levels. I primarily use Opera myself, but since I was on vacation at the time, and wasn’t that much online, the story never caught my eye until the aftermath earlier this month.

Just about every news media took the bait, never researching further into the story, which shows how strong the inclination of Microsoft-hate has become – a claim that users of Microsoft’s already-controversy-filled browser seemed likely to those who are against Microsoft on some level or another. I’m not too keen on either Microsoft or Apple, but I do see good market areas for their products – it’s like that quote about religion; “I’ve got nothing against God, it’s his fanclub I can’t stand” – it’s the herd of almost-religious followers of either side I’m very much against. I’m also kind of glad I was playing the high-resolution offline game (aka. “real life”) at the time, or I would most likely have been suckered in as well.

What annoys me the most about the story, is the follow-up by the joker who published the false study in the first place, trying to set people straight. In the aftermath, he had released at least two articles – “How the hoax started and propagated” and “Tell-Tale signs that should have uncovered the hoax in less than 5 minutes” (I have saved a cached version of these for your viewing pleasure, since the original site has been taken down and only redirects to some price-comparison site) – and the latter one seems rather arrogant towards researchers and those who believed the story in the first place. I’d like to point out flaws with each of the eight so-called “tell-tale signs” for you.

1. The domain was registered on July 14th 2011.

Sure, this might have revealed that the so-called research bureau hadn’t been in business longer than a week or two, but who does this as their first step towards confirming the truthfulness of a published study? For all we know, the new name/domain might have been a recent change, as companies all over the world change names all the time.

2. The test that was mentioned in the report, “Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (IV) test” is a copyrighted test and cannot be administered online.

Who knows these things? Sure, the test is probably under some level of copyright, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be administered online. There are several tests that are administered this way. For instance, most Cisco certifications (such as CCNA) is administered partially online. Granted, they are administered in a secured environment certified by their test delivery partner Pearson VUE, but they are nevertheless able to administer some of the exams online.

3. The phone number listed on the report and the press release is the same listed on the press releases/whois of my other websites. A google search reveals this.

Granted, the researchers with the news media might have tried calling the phone number listed in the report and press release, but there’s usually no need for this, unless they want to request additional information not already addressed in the press release or the report itself.

Also, you may want to look into what’s known as “call centers” (for incoming use).

4. The address listed on the report does not exist.

Unless you went to the address yourself (or live in the nearby area of the proposed address), used Google Maps/Streetview, or tried sending a letter to that address, how would you know? There are also streets that are small enough to not appear on larger map services, you know. (Especially streets that only have one or two street numbers assigned to them.)

Also, changes in street names or numbers are usually transparent to most people – just because a street changes its name doesn’t mean the address never existed in the first place. For all we know, the analytics bureau hadn’t updated their marketing materials for some time (or had overlooked that particular marketing template), which might have listed an older address.

5. All the material on my website was not original.

The researchers were addressing the received study, not going into detailed scrutiny of the website it was linked to. If you’re receiving financial advice from someone, do you audit their entire financial background before you act on the advice?

6.  The website is made in WordPress. Come on now!

Just because someone’s website is made in WordPress, doesn’t mean that it’s not reputable. Network Solutions, Samsung, TechCrunch, Forbes, Ford, Rackspace, Spotify, eBay, Ben & Jerry’s, CNN’s Business 360, GE, Pepsi, OnStar, Best Buy, Fisher Price, and even Wall Street Journal, all use WordPress for some section of their websites (if not all), just to mention a few. Just the fact that they trust the WordPress publishing platform for a part of their business areas elevates the trustworthiness of WordPress, as far as I can tell, not the other way around. I mean, something like that doesn’t pull the trustworthiness of those companies downwards, does it?

7. I am sure, my haphazardly put together report had more than one grammatical mistakes.

Typos can happen to anyone. If you have someone who doesn’t have English as their first language (such as myself), grammatical errors are bound to happen at any time. Even if the domain WHOIS record for aptiquant.com currently lists “Tarandeep Singh Gill” (a foreign-to-America-sounding name, even for Canada) at the top of the registrant’s record, you don’t expect perfect grammar for any news source.

8. There is a link to our website AtCheap.com in the footer.

I’m sure this guy has never heard of sponsorships. Even an analytics bureau has to have income from somewhere – a business not related to the type of studies released by said bureau may just reveal where they get their money from.

And from what I could tell, AtCheap.com is a price comparison search engine, which has nothing to do with browser user analytics. For all we know, that site might’ve even assisted in reeling in users/participants for the study.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, a simple phone call or two might have debunked the so-called study at an earlier point, but I feel the reasons for discovering the validity listed by the original prankster in themselves are just a tad off.

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The Adjustment Bureau

08.07.2011 01:17

I got the chance to see The Adjustment Bureau today, starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, among others. And I have to say, I wasn’t dissapointed. I was previously a little bit hesitant about it being a good one, and in such situations, I download the movie from a file sharing site (I won’t name names, but you probably already know which one). But I can say, having watched it, I can say it has the quality worthy to be among the roughly thousand DVDs in my collection (meaning, I’m going to buy it on DVD in the next few months – I’ll probably wait until I get back from my vacation, though).

It starts out nicely; Matt Damon is David Norris, a United States congressman running for the Senate. Shortly after losing the election, while preparing for his losing speech, he runs into a woman named Elise (Emily Blunt), who he almost immediately gets a crush on. After running into her again on the bus ride to his job at a law firm, he finds himself chased by some men in suits and hats on several occasions, who seem to have some weird influence on the world, and one of their objectives is to prevent David from seeing Elise again, for unknown reasons (at first; the real reason is revealed later in the film).

This is quite a good “being-chased” action thriller, with certain religious overtones hidden behind it. But in contrast with the Left Behind series of books and films, The Adjustment Bureau tones this aspect down quite a few notches. I consider myself an agnostic, and I don’t like religion being thrust down my throat, as I felt with Left Behind (I bought the first movie of the series, more or less by accident, and without knowing what it was about – and I was severely disappointed and disgusted at the way a certain religious belief was being crammed down on me). Thankfully, this was not the case with this movie. The few religious overtones were introduced gradually, and, as I said, was being toned way down to a level that allows you to believe whatever the hell you want to believe. My personal belief is still intact, and I was left with a good feeling at the end of the movie.

The movie also set “if you have enough influence, you can nudge someone in the direction you want them to” kind of mood in the “Grand Scheme of Things” (or, as the movie called it, “The Plan”), yet people are still free to make their own choices, even if it’s on an unconscious level.

All in all, a good movie.

Rating: 8/10 ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 

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When does marriage begin?

26.06.2011 05:18

In recent news, I was astounded that a woman in France, named Karen Jumeaux, was allowed, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s blessing, to marry her boyfriend. To be more exact, her dead boyfriend. I had to check several sources, and yes, her boyfriend had been dead for two years (English version article – for those who want to read it in the original French, lookie here). At first, I thought it had to be a joke or prank of particular bad taste, but after reading it from several sources, I was baffled to discover that it might actually be true.

As I see it, marriage is a legally binding commitment contract between two consenting adults, regardless of gender. Adults being of legal age of majority (usually over 18), and consenting being agreeing to enter the contractual relationship at the time. And in my eyes, the contract would be terminated upon death (the whole “till death do us part” bit) or mutual agreement (divorce), even though the second should rather be avoided if possible.

Since one side (now Karen’s husband, unfortunately) is already dead, and no longer capable of consenting or signing any contracts of any kind, the purpose of this whole ordeal is senseless, to say the least. And in the strictest sense of marriage, she would actually be a widow even before the wedding took place.

Even though the government defined that if she should find someone else, she would have to get a divorce (since her husband is already dead), this wedding shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Basically, if this marriage should be allowed, well, then they should also allow businesses to enter contracts with deceased people who showed their intention to sign a contract with said business, as long as the business can prove this, thereby getting money from the deceased person’s estate every month/year/whatever.

If that last scenario sounds idiotic to you, that’s because it is. And it’s the same thing with the marriage that happened earlier this week. The whole thing is just mind-blowing. Moronic at best. Dead is dead. You can’t change that.

And to Karen Jumeaux, and others in (almost) similar situations, just live your life with your good memories of your deceased partner. Don’t try to perpetuate something that cannot be, just accept the fact and move on with your life. And Karen, you already managed to have a son with your boyfriend before he passed away – isn’t that enough? Do you have to burden your son, both in his present and his future, with all this? Just leave it alone, as many others have done before you.

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Summer is here, and so is Monday

20.06.2011 20:09

Yes, summer is here, hot weather, ice cream (outside!!), brighter days, the whole shebang. Such things make my spirit lighter, even though “hot” around here means sun with anything above 13° Celsius (around 55° Fahrenheit), or above 15° C (59° F) without the sun. The picture above is of me enjoying the sun, composited over a panoramic view over Brosundet (the sound between the two main city islands in Ålesund), both taken on my way to work today.

Then again, although I don’t usually experience such things, today was also what could be called a “typical” Monday. About 10 minutes before I was due in a teleconference meeting (over the Internet – via WebEx), my laptop started to slow down on me. Every browser window or new program I wanted to run/open took at least a few minutes just to show some activity. This meant that I was also unable to connect to the meeting and participate. When I finally got to a point where I could connect, the meeting was already over. Shucks, indeed. Thankfully, I was able to get a second meeting, with a summary of the first, about 45 minutes later. This gave me enough time to reboot my laptop completely, just to root out any programs running in the background that was causing this slowdown.

Even if the client contact and I have such a good tone that we could brush it off in the end, such breakdowns in technology do darken my originally bright day.

On a brighter note, I was able to secure myself one ticket to see the sneak preview of the latest Harry Potter movie on July 13, just three days before I leave for USA. I just wanted to get it out of the way before I go, and in the time leading up to the movie premiere, I’ll be watching all 7 of the previous movies, 6 of them on DVD. I admit, I’ve downloaded “part 1″ of this two-parter illegally, rather than getting it on DVD, but that’s because I want to buy these two parts as a complete set, and not separately. I assume these last two in the series will be sold together as a boxed item once the last one is ready for release on DVD and Blu-ray.

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My nose is is burning!!!

16.06.2011 12:53

Whose bright idea was it to put menthol in nose sprays? You have to have a pretty sadistic soul to do such a thing to your customers.

Sure, it cleared up my sinuses once the burning sensation died down, but so would sniffing baking ammonium.

Next time I buy a nose spray, though, it will be without menthol or not at all, no matter what the salesperson says.

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IN THREE DEEEEEEE!!!!

14.06.2011 01:45

Over the last week, I’ve watched the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, just to catch up on the storyline, and on Sunday, I finally got around to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment in the story of Captain Jack Sparrow, based on the Disney ride of the same name. And since the early showing was the 3D version, I decided to go for it. I’ve heard so much hype about movies in 3D, and having tried it briefly on my visit to Disney World and Universal Studios two years ago (although only for 5-10 minutes at a time), I thought I’d give it a whirl.

To be honest, it didn’t impress me much. Sure, some segments had some “cheap 3D tricks”, such as pointing a sword in your face, and sitting in a small rowboat (making you feel like you’re sitting right across from the person). The beginning, with the 3D version of the Disney logo, and looking across the ocean in darkness, were quite impressive, but as the movie progressed, I got the feeling that I might as well could be watching the “regular” 2D version. And with the Norwegian tradition of subtitling everything in Norwegian when another language is spoken, it broke the illusion at a few points in the movie. Granted, the subtitles were “floating” in front of the movie (and was more or less unreadable when I removed my 3D glasses, just to double-check), but when a person was supposed to be closer to us in distance, at a eyeball’s measure being “in front” of where the subtitles were positioned, the illusion broke as soon as that person moved sideways to where the subtitles were. Also, the fact that the movie screen is a limited rectangle did its job of ruining the 3D illusion at some points.

The movie itself was pretty good, though. It did keep in canon with the rest of the movies, even though I missed seeing both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly from the previous movies, even if their characters’ stories are more or less done at this point. Only a few small cameo appearances would’ve been enough to satisfy me, though, just as some reassurance that their characters were still around.

In any case, I’ll be looking forward to parts 5 and 6, which are coming out in 2013 and 2014 (if the rough release dates listed on IMDb can be trusted).

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Sponsor: casinos and gambling

13.06.2011 14:46

Once again, I’d like to put a spotlight on gambling. Last time I did this, I did so for my Norwegian audience, but this time, I’d like to focus on my international audience as well.

As you may be aware of, there are a lot of gambling sites out there, some of which are pure scams. However, there are also a lot of real sites out there, and fortunately, many great bonuses are offered by internet casinos. This does help getting the most out of your gambling experience.

There are also a wide variety of games on offer, much like real casinos and agents, and Casinos, Poker rooms and more are all part of gambling.

I don’t gamble much myself, aside from participating in two weekly lotteries on a more-or-less regular basis, but when I was on vacation to Las Vegas two years ago, I did get some first-hand experience with real-world gambling in an actual casino. I came out of the whole thing with a somewhat positive outlook on casinos, and I can certainly see the appeal of it all.

Then again, going to Las Vegas or any other bigshot gambling towns is out of reach for a lot of people, and most will only be able to go there a few times in a lifetime. This is where online casinos and gambling websites come into play. They make the Las Vegas experience come a little closer to your own home.

If you haven’t tried any such sites yet, why not try the party casino bonus code and receive a big bonus? Who knows? You might get something even more grand out of it!

Just remember to play it safe and play responsibly!

:-)

 

This post is sponsored by the company/companies featured in this post, and has in part been authored by this website’s owner, using key words and phrases provided by the advertiser. Please note that any gambling is done at your own risk, and NeonNero cannot be held responsible for personal losses at these advertisers. If you have become addicted to gambling, or know of someone who has, please seek professional help in your area.

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I’m going to New York!

03.06.2011 16:17

When I checked my account this morning, the funds I was looking for had finally arrived.

I ordered travel insurance, booked the flights and hotel to New York, confirmed my attendance to the fan meeting, and even booked additional flights, hotel and tickets for a detour to Winnipeg to catch two Blue Man Group shows on their North American tour, which has their absolute latest material. The stop in Winnipeg was their only tour stop within a two-week radius of the fan meet in late July, and I really wanted to experience it.

So there you have it. In case someone wants to hook up, I arrive in New York on the evening of July 16, then hop on the early morning flight the next day for Winnipeg (not a direct flight, though) to catch the 1 PM show (and the one at 8 PM), return to New York on July 18, and fly out on my way home on August 1. And, there’s the fan meet on July 30. To sum it up: Winnipeg on July 17, New York from July 18 to August 1.

Assuming, of course, that there are no problems when crossing the border (and I don’t expect there will be any problems – it’s just that little insubstanciated fear that lives inside me).

Now I really have something great to look forward to!

See you around!

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I’d like to go to New York… (another follow-up)

03.06.2011 04:06

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the second auction fell through, so I won’t be going on vacation on a sponsorship. At least not fully sponsored. And as you’ve probably noticed, I recently made a blog post in Norwegian containing links to casinos and betting sites. If you could read Norwegian, you’d also see that it was paid advertisements.

Yes, it has come to this. I have nothing against casinos or gambling myself, though, as long as you don’t overdo it, so it didn’t feel like I was selling my soul. My soul is very much intact, thank you. It is, however, a way to add a little extra cash to my account, for things like vacations.

It would also mean I have to force myself to write more, just to avoid my blog looking like some link farm for ads, which it isn’t supposed to be. I do have a couple of subjects lined up in the near future, though.

As for both auctions being a bust, they did bring my mood down for a while. Looking back now, I can see yet another reason for these auctions failing: Wrong crowd. I just don’t see any businesses acting as customers (only as sellers) on that auction site. Plus, the Norwegian auction site would probably have too small of an audience willing to give my auction as much as a second glance. The only direct responses to both auctions, using the “ask a question to the seller” feature, can be counted on a single finger for each of the two auction. In both cases, they were merely derogatory comments on the fact that I was looking for sponsors for my vacation, and were along the lines of “get a real job” and “what happened to saving up money”. Frankly, I don’t need that. If you’re so much against my inventive attempt of finding financing for my vacation, just ignore my auction, like the other couple of hundred people who only viewed the auction information.

But, like I said, it was the wrong crowd for those attempts. If I had started out a month or two earlier using something more global, like Ebay, I might’ve had more luck. Too bad it didn’t occur to me until it was almost too late.

On the brighter side, it would seem like a loan I applied for might get through (I was getting it for both some refinancing and possible vacation financing). If it does, I’ll be able to make it to New York after all. I’ll know something more definite in another working day or two. I know it’s cutting it rather close, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Given the short time before the actual vacation trip, an unusual late order for me, the prices are already on their way up.

At least I’ve done a lot of research into the whole thing already, so once the funding is in place, I’ll be able to materialize my plans in a very short time.

Fingers are crossed.

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