tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67996222011-08-01T19:49:24.751+02:00This blog has moved. Please update your bookmarks.Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1150201901087500022006-06-13T14:29:00.000+02:002006-06-13T14:31:41.100+02:00

Because of the way things are going, I've decided I might as well get a domain of my own.So through foresight and fortitude, I have now registered the domain www.matsgefvert.se; and I am now moving my blog to this location. This means that anyone who reads this site, will have to move over to the new one.Since it's ultra-brand-new, it may still take some 24 hours before the DNS servers throughout

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1149757654128932202006-06-08T10:52:00.000+02:002006-06-08T11:07:34.776+02:00

Threading, as I've mentioned before, is hard. Especially in non-managed languages, such as Delphi for Win32.Various people, including Allen Bauer, is thinking about how languages can be adapted to support thread-based development easier:"This increases the need for the average developer to be become more adept at writing multi-threaded applications. What if the compiler and the libraries made

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1149497649478437832006-06-05T10:53:00.000+02:002006-06-05T10:54:09.496+02:00

Yep. Can't stand it.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1149173493659664772006-06-01T16:41:00.000+02:002006-06-01T16:51:33.673+02:00

Serialization is the process of taking an object, and streaming the contents of that object into a file, or communications channel, or any other form of media; and then rebuilding that object on the other side, so that it takes up the exact same representation as it did on the sender side. Think of it as a Star Trek teleportation device, but for data objects - the data objects being

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1148412859018450092006-05-23T21:27:00.000+02:002006-05-23T21:41:16.163+02:00

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, I have a new job. Technically I'm not working there yet; I'll be starting the 19th of June running full focus on development in C++ and C#, which will be a difference for me personally, having worked with Delphi the past five years. We'll see how it turns out... I'm pretty confident I'll get up to speed quickly. I have a policy of usually not mentioning

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1148126840752946082006-05-20T14:06:00.000+02:002006-05-20T14:07:49.626+02:00

I will from the 19th of June be working at TietoEnator. Who-hoo!It'll be lots of fun. Can't wait. :)

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1148116354023027882006-05-20T11:06:00.000+02:002006-05-20T11:12:34.036+02:00

In a world that's increasingly being watched, monitored and put under surveillance, it's important to remember the basic right to privacy.Bruche Schneier sums it up in a very good article: "The Value of Privacy". Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? Who's watching the watchers?

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1147699687059869982006-05-15T15:22:00.000+02:002006-05-15T15:28:07.073+02:00

The BBC made a wonderful blunder (Daily Mail article, video feed) yesterday when they tried to interview technology expert Guy Kewney and instead got hold of his cab driver.The poor cab driver, waiting to pick up his next fare (probably the technology expert in question?) raised his hand when the studio executive asked for Mr. Kewney, and he was quickly rushed in to the studio, put in front of a

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1147004864745491892006-05-07T14:17:00.000+02:002006-05-07T14:27:44.760+02:00

I'm following a comic strip called Pearls Before Swine. I haven't quite figured it out completely yet, but it's a crazy strip about a rat, a pig, a zebra; and a couple of crocodiles who are intent on eating "da zeeba".The crocodiles way of talking is the killer. "Hullooo, zeeba neighba."It's sick, but I love it.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1146999612482231112006-05-07T12:50:00.000+02:002006-05-07T13:00:12.483+02:00

Last weekend, we completed the switch over to SourceGear Vault. Not being able to stand the abysmal VSS any longer (we threw out the 2005 update as quickly as it came in), we bought five licenses for Vault and migrated the entire VSS during the May 1st long weekend.Apart from a few strange quirks, the import worked very well. The entire database of 10-15 GB was imported straight into Vault with

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1146998982019238182006-05-07T12:23:00.000+02:002006-05-07T13:02:09.636+02:00

A while ago, I said that I had made up my mind to learn Ruby. Alas, it did not happen. Instead, I find myself learning C# for the .NET platform. Obviously, a lot of what you learn these days is based on the requirements of your profession which guides you gently (or by brute force, in the case of the Novell Groupwise APIs) into new fields of learning and computation.The book I bought, .NET

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1146391054948061002006-04-30T11:38:00.000+02:002006-04-30T11:57:34.960+02:00

Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror posted a very uncommon take on the process of software engineering. For anyone who has ever felt "buried under umpteen zillion backlogged emails, feeds, books, articles, journals, magazines, and printouts", it is a delight to read.Among interesting things mentioned, the Java API has swelled from 200 classes in in it's 1.0 version, to about 3500 classes (and

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1146388287662569222006-04-30T09:13:00.000+02:002006-04-30T11:11:27.733+02:00

I've gone on a book-buying frenzy the last few months. I suppose I've always wanted a library at home, but the only books I've had were random assorted books I'd found, along with all the books I bought during bible school. But no classics of any kind (well, except for Moby Dick).So, these are the books I've bought and currently on my reading list:Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky)Crime and

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1145718162071087672006-04-22T17:00:00.000+02:002006-04-22T17:03:13.180+02:00

Here's a really interesting site: Stuff On My Cat.It turns out that putting stuff on (or on top of) cats is incredibly fun. I don't know why.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1145198124782475422006-04-16T16:31:00.000+02:002006-04-16T16:35:34.166+02:00

By popular request, I have now released my not-so-aptly-named slide-show viewer "Yaargh" to the unsuspecting public.It is a small program which allows you to display JPEG pictures on the screen, slowly fading between them, instead of - as Windows does it - brutally cutting between them.While it draws a certain amount of CPU, it is exceedingly tiny, very simple, can read Zip files, folders and the

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1144608340901106372006-04-09T20:15:00.000+02:002006-04-09T20:45:40.973+02:00

I have an answering machine at home.Answering machines are great and wonderful miracles of the 20th century. They are, in short, little bright and happy devices that answer the phone for you. This one, a digital model, comes in bright silver color, and with a digital display on top that blinks in friendly LED digits, to inform me that I have new messages.The trouble is, I never have any new

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1144332260887878512006-04-06T16:02:00.000+02:002006-04-06T16:04:20.900+02:00

If I ever own a cat again, I have just determined I shall call him (or her) "Kaiser Wilhelm".On second thought, it had better be a "him", not "her".

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1143545752744207632006-03-28T13:24:00.000+02:002006-03-28T13:38:04.356+02:00

There's this part of winter that I dread; the time when everything starts melting and April rolls around. It's some strange weather phenomenon, I suppose, where everything turns gray: The sky is gray, the ground is gray, as is everything in between. The sunshine that manages to filter through the heavy, swollen clouds merely highlights the monochromatic world.They say that when God first created

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1143121860962345012006-03-23T14:44:00.000+01:002006-03-23T14:51:01.013+01:00

We backed down from VSS 2005 down to VSS 6.0 again on our systems. And, in doing so, cut the time for a Get Latest Version on our dpm folder down from 6 minutes to 11 seconds. A remarkable improvement, I'll say. Finally I can use the source code repository again without banging my head bloody against the wall.I'm thinking, we must have missed some kind of fatal setting somewhere in the VSS setup.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1142845889779827292006-03-20T09:52:00.000+01:002006-03-20T10:11:29.840+01:00

I'm sitting here waiting for our telephones to come online again after a power failure down in Stenungsund. It's remarkable how sensitive we are to power: Without it, our entire business would be gone and everyone would be back in the 1930's. Hooah.In the meantime, I'm listening to Cat Stevens' version of Morning Has Broken, one of my favorite hymns or songs of all time.Morning has broken, like

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1142499317163836122006-03-16T09:52:00.000+01:002006-03-16T09:59:32.580+01:00

I went into Gallerix the other day, and I found some wonderful photographs of two of my heroes. Of course, I couldn't resist buying them, frame them and put them on my desk.So beautiful. *snif*

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1142431164406522502006-03-15T18:25:00.000+01:002006-03-15T15:04:48.986+01:00

I enjoy watching Star Trek from time to time. I fell in love with Voyager and Captain Janeway, and I've lately been going through Episode I of Star Trek Enterprise with Captain Archer.One thing always amazes me, though. The crew of the Enterprise is so blatantly naive. They never hesitate to send a tiny away team to board an alien vessel. When they go down on an alien planet, they never recon

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1142239780389911682006-03-13T09:45:00.000+01:002006-03-13T09:49:40.403+01:00

I feel happy today. Happy, happy happy. I'm not sure why. Just a random incident of joy, I suppose. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds are singing. And all the children are playing and laughing, the beer is extra good, and the policemen are holding hands, dancing down the streets and singing "Släpp fångarne loss, det är vår!" ("Release the prisoners, it's spring"; although the

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1141818152501945642006-03-08T12:33:00.000+01:002006-03-08T12:46:03.510+01:00

If there's one single thing that new programmers should learn, as quickly as possible, it is to code defensively.That means: Expect that things go wrong. Expect that things will fail, spectacularly, at random occasions. Expect to get garbage over the serial port. Expect random disconnects over the network. Expect programs to get access violations. Expect houses to burn down, presidents to get

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1141732968859609832006-03-07T12:58:00.000+01:002006-03-07T13:04:27.456+01:00

We recently upgraded from Visual Sourcesafe 6.0 to 2005.In retrospect, that may have been a major mistake.The abysmal performance of VSS 6.0 over VPN lines has now decreased even further. It took me over 30 minutes today, to run a "Get Latest Files" on our 2.0 branch of our main project. It usually takes, like 5 minutes or so. You really have to admire Microsoft for taking a produkt like VSS 6.0

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1141636620961124282006-03-06T10:15:00.000+01:002006-03-06T10:17:01.006+01:00

I've made up my mind. I'm going to learn Ruby.I also resolved to read more books. For instance, I think I should start with this one.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1141139764175203832006-02-28T16:08:00.000+01:002006-02-28T16:16:04.216+01:00

My interest in Mongolian Throat-singing is only increasing. My father gave me some music with a group called Ay-Kherel: Music of Tuva, which sports unforgettable memories like the fast-paced Kozhamyktar, and the still, serene Kadarchynyn Yry.Kadarchynyn Yry (Shepherds' Song) contains musical elements set against the vast plains of Mongolia. Lilya Soyan, the female vocalist in the track, is

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1141058286005581772006-02-27T16:51:00.000+01:002006-02-27T17:38:06.060+01:00

When I was a kid, I spent about one week every summer on the west coast in Sweden, in a little town called Strömstad; a quaint, little town that lives up tremendously every summer when hordes of tourists arrive. My grandparents used to rent a little cottage there, in a little community a few miles from the city, just by the ocean; for two weeks each year. One week out of those two every summer,

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1140123478778821722006-02-16T21:56:00.000+01:002006-02-16T21:57:58.790+01:00

I accidentally wrote this while taking the train home from Stenungsund today:Pete, Pat, Joe and MattWorked on some Delphi codeOn a TreeView branch they satBut couldn't find a node.Up spoke Matt and JoeExplained, Items must be nilPete and Pat said "No,It's allocated still."Pete and Pat then foundA pointer that was weakJoe and Matt, they looked aroundFixed a major memory leak.Pete, Pat, Joe and

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1139668427485121782006-02-11T13:56:00.000+01:002006-02-11T16:09:36.033+01:00

People sometimes wonder why I'm interested in quantum physics. The question is easy to answer, but to grasp the full understanding of why is a bit more difficult. For me, quantum physics is a way to understand the universe, answering the ultimate question of How It All Works, but even more so, because in unraveling these mysteries we jump from one outrageous conclusion to the next: The universe

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1139088852571854202006-02-04T22:21:00.000+01:002006-02-04T22:42:28.220+01:00

(September 25th, 1992) The Russian advance has taken a death grip on Finland. Lahti has been overrun, Kotka has fallen, Hanko invaded by airborne and seaborne troops, and Helsinki is isolated and surrounded. The defenses in Helsinki have fortified their positions as far as possible, but without substantial reinforcements, Finland may be lost.Northern Finland is still holding off the advance with

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1138881809926042102006-02-02T13:00:00.000+01:002006-02-02T13:03:29.936+01:00

I just had to quote this from President Bush's State of the Union speech:America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources -- and we are on the threshold of incredible advances.So

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1138740893754967812006-01-31T21:35:00.000+01:002006-01-31T21:58:07.993+01:00

In my reading of Churchill's Memoirs from World War II, I'm now going through the Blitz of London, or Germany's indiscriminate bombing of England, during the late 1940.It's very interesting reading. For one thing, it seems as though the whole of England was teeming with a spirit of stout defiance. All alone in the war, with no allies to count on, the British still defended their island with gusto

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1138482121116080612006-01-28T22:00:00.000+01:002006-01-28T22:04:50.260+01:00

For anyone who wants to see Google censorship in action:The English search page for Tiananmen square is here.The Chinese search page for Tiananmen square is here.Both results courtesy of Google, Inc.(From Johan Norberg via Markus Härnvi.)

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1138024854579572172006-01-23T14:56:00.000+01:002006-01-23T15:00:54.596+01:00

Two classic statements through time:"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one sees the Father except through me." "Most things are better than DCOM."Hooah.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1137948992588075392006-01-22T17:52:00.000+01:002006-01-22T17:56:32.606+01:00

The squid seller's callmingles with the voiceof the cuckooMy guess is, the haiku sounds a lot better in the original Japanese.(From Bruce Schneier, who recently seems to have taken an absurd interest in squids. And, besides, who knew that squids eat sharks?)

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1137929090755511962006-01-22T12:23:00.000+01:002006-01-22T12:24:50.766+01:00

It seems like Mozilla finally released Thunderbird 1.5. I can't wait to download it... maybe it'll be better. Or at least less bug-prone.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1137284142667785072006-01-15T00:31:00.000+01:002006-01-15T01:29:10.270+01:00

By popular request, this is how I make meat sauce with pasta. (Comments within parantheses for Swedes.)You'll need:Some sort of pasta. Spaghetti, tagliatelle, farfalle... fresh or not, it doesn't matter much. Just be sure you like it, and stay away from macaroni at all cost.1 pound of ground beef (500 gram nötfärs eller blandfärs)1 small can of mushrooms, whole (champinjoner, hela)Either green

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1137153431032905362006-01-13T12:48:00.000+01:002006-01-13T12:57:11.046+01:00

Had an opportunity to try out McDonald's new Chili McFeast today.First of all, I was surprised at the size of it. I thought it would be roughly equal to the McFeast or Big Mac in size, but it was significantly larger than that. As with all large hamburgers, it suffers a bit from a certain "wobbliness"; it's not easy to hold and eat at the same time. I believe than an increase in size makes it

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1136826166349348422006-01-09T17:53:00.000+01:002006-01-09T18:02:46.386+01:00

(September 15th, 1992) The Swedish and Finnish resistance continues. Although Norrköping, Jönköping and Kalmar has been reduced to ruins, first signs of hope are appearing on the horizon with the increased Swedish mobilization. Skåne is mobilizing for defense, West Sweden as well. Units in the North are appearing and quickly moving south to aid.An initial airborne invasion around Hanko in Finland

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1136812474682281442006-01-09T14:00:00.000+01:002006-01-09T14:14:35.473+01:00

This is probably the first day this winter when temperatures dropped to -8 Celsius. (That's 17 Fahrenheit for you Americans).-8 C and colder means that it's cold, cold outside; and you have to start putting the heavy gear on (big parka jackets, gloves, long johns, winter boots). But it's nice... the cold, fresh winter air bites in your cheeks, and all of nature takes on a sparkling, glowing,

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1136297893484574692006-01-03T17:15:00.000+01:002006-01-03T15:29:14.806+01:00

People always say security is hard to get right. While I agree to this fact in principle, I also think it's relatively easy to acquire a fundamental layer of security that at least denies access to the majority of the population.Take Webshots, for instance. Webshots is a great service where you can download pictures into a little program and display it as wallpaper. The quality is excellent.To

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1135345628201268242005-12-23T14:46:00.000+01:002005-12-23T14:47:08.210+01:00

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1135082692493140182005-12-20T18:29:00.000+01:002005-12-20T13:44:52.503+01:00

People sometimes make fun of me (in a kind-hearted way, naturally) for being so Americanized. I don't exactly know how it happened; all I know is that I stood in the middle of a huge field in Montana and called out "I am an American!" and from that point on, it was all set in stone. :)It always pops up around Christmas-time. To me, it's entirely natural to play Bing Crosby and decorate everything

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1134768476400753882005-12-16T22:20:00.000+01:002005-12-16T22:31:35.753+01:00

Recently I've started reading a blog called Yu Hu Stewardess, a funny and sometimes very opinionated flight attendant working for an [unnamed] airline in the U.S.Having two friends who worked in the airline industry themselves - as, precisely, flight attendants - makes the reading much more interesting.Her fashion tip of the day is the Sky Belt. It's a belt made out of colored webbing, with the

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1134583367380889682005-12-14T18:52:00.000+01:002005-12-14T19:02:47.423+01:00

(September 11, 1992) The Russian advance continues. Kuusamo has fallen, Mikkeli has been overrun and Kotka is occupied. Airborne enemy forces keep appearing, encircling Hanko and threatening Helsinki.In Sweden, forces desperately defend Nynäshamn and Muskö while evacuating remaining forces. Eskilstuna and Oxelösund have fallen, and further seaborne invasions have taken place at Västervik,

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1134382427562954082005-12-12T11:05:00.000+01:002005-12-12T11:16:19.896+01:00

I'm up in Northern Sweden right now at a customer site and debugging our application.When we released the 2.0 version, some thought that the program was much slower than before. The main reason as to why is that the program was previously split apart into two programs, communicating through Windows messages. Now they're all integrated into one application, which means there's only one thread that

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1133972317859078802005-12-07T16:47:00.000+01:002005-12-07T17:24:29.133+01:00

This is a war diary written about the Operation Nordic Light scenario.(September 8, 1992) The massive buildup of Russian forces meant only one thing: A full-scale invasion of Finnish and Swedish territory. But the force and aggression was beyond what the national Government counted with.This has happened: Top national government officials has been assassinated. Spetznaz sabotage against crucial

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1133388231900578142005-11-30T22:40:00.000+01:002005-11-30T23:03:51.966+01:00

This is a war diary written about the Operation Nordic Light scenario of The Operational Art Of War. All events portrayed are fictional and exist only as played out in the computer game.(September 4, 1992) Tension is building in former Russia. Elements of the 4th and 6th Guards Army has been observed transferring units in Northern Russia, and the presence of strong Airborne Divisions in Estonia,

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1132517464172966652005-11-20T20:41:00.000+01:002005-11-20T21:16:04.013+01:00

I ordered Chinese takeout food today.When I placed the call to Tai Pak this evening, ordering one number 36 and one number 46, which roughly equates to Hung-Sin fish in soy sauce and squid with vegetables, respectively, I felt kind of like Lucy Kelson, the character played by Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice.SCENE: Lucy comes home - alone, again - calls up Mr. Wong down at the Chinese

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1131013684925839002005-11-03T11:20:00.000+01:002005-11-03T11:32:55.703+01:00

We practised precision shooting yesterday at the shooting club.Precision shooting with a .22 is a very serious competition. You have six minutes (we always seem to finish in three) to shoot five rounds into a target at 25 yards distance. The dashedly elusive 10-pointer is the goal.In the middle of it all, when I stood there, aiming and trying to line up for that perfect ten, the phrase "just

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1130779108191347432005-10-31T17:44:00.000+01:002005-10-31T18:27:57.603+01:00

There's a rather funny experiment you can do, if you've never done it before. It's a little utility called "tracert" (on Windows at least, on Unix it's usually called "traceroute"). It will display the exact path that your tiny little packets travel over the internet.Running the traceroute utility, someone said, is like sending out a large number of pirates with parrots. (Don't ask me where he

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1130709845645684452005-10-30T22:52:00.000+01:002005-10-30T23:18:46.810+01:00

I have too much tea in my cupboards.Since I haven't done any major cooking during the last few years or so (*shame*), I threw out some stuff that's gone stale. Macaronis from 2002... A package of instant soup from 2003... :)But I discovered I have far too much tea. I'm in a habit of buying new, interesting tea; thereby pushing the older tea back, so I don't find it.The teas I have stacked in

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1130707649106163132005-10-30T22:13:00.000+01:002005-10-30T22:27:53.166+01:00

When we left off last time, our computer had just been given the IP address of "www.cnn.com", as the first part in the process of connecting to it to fetch the main web page. It turned out that the IP address was 64.236.16.11, and the computer is now ready to connect to it.But in order to connect to it, we must first know what service we wish to use.On any given server, there are (usually) a

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1130073135677320042005-10-23T15:11:00.000+02:002005-10-26T22:44:06.353+02:00

Cats. In sinks.http://catsinsinks.com/

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1129833912514771032005-10-20T20:40:00.000+02:002005-10-20T20:45:12.526+02:00

In the last article, we talked a little bit about the internet itself. I tried to provide a little background on the whole thing, and I hope it wasn't too complex. Some of this will be clarified as we go on.We ended the last article when you typed in "www.cnn.com" into your favorite browser. I use Firefox, but that's not important right now.Let us now imagine that you press ENTER. What happens?

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1129568945211650442005-10-17T18:48:00.000+02:002005-10-17T19:09:05.246+02:00

Few people realize just how difficult it is, and how many separate processes that are involved, in the "simple" request of fetching a web page. It may seem like the Internet is just a big, gigantic "thing" that works. People may have heard about IP addresses, routers and so forth, but maybe not really understood what it's all about or how it all fits together.The web is an amazing tool. It has

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1129541601961762732005-10-17T11:29:00.000+02:002005-10-17T11:33:22.493+02:00

As I've mentioned before, UI design is hard.Take a look at this dialog, for instance.The text says "Do you want to move or copy files from this zone?" and gives you the buttons "Yes" or "No" to click on.Of course, the intention was to ask if the user wanted to proceed with the operation of transferring the files from the SharePoint zone to the desktop (whether that operation included moving or

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128807046400269832005-10-08T23:20:00.000+02:002005-10-08T23:30:46.456+02:00

Tim O'Reilly has written a very interesting article, called "What is the Web 2.0?"Trying to describe the frontier of the new business movement on the internet, he compares companies like Microsoft and Google and explains why Microsoft will never beat the latter. He comments on the trend of data ownership of companies like Wikipedia and Amazon.Com and explains how these types of applications are

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128669911046976442005-10-07T09:21:00.000+02:002005-10-07T09:25:11.050+02:00

Grasshopper left the pad today at 0300 hours; next stop Ladybug.Funny, the place seems a lot emptier without him.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128287397320362272005-10-02T23:02:00.000+02:002005-10-02T23:11:49.956+02:00

I recently installed Mozilla Thunderbird as a replacement for Outlook Express. While I think Thunderbird probably is a better program, it is evident that some things have not been totally thought through - for me, mostly in the area of UI design and visual feedback.One design mistake is to make the caption for the email account bold. In email programs, bold text always signify that you have new

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128286046935081572005-10-02T22:37:00.000+02:002005-10-02T22:47:26.940+02:00

The big news in town is that the new road opened. Because of the deteriorating traffic situation through Skultorp, it was decided that a new road should be built. Since the road would go right through military training fields, they had to build 300-meter tunnel, where Leopard II armored tanks can drive over the road without bothering traffic.The grand opening was yesterday, the 1st of October. I

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128186092226415952005-10-01T18:21:00.000+02:002005-10-01T19:01:34.870+02:00

Once upon a time, Operating Systems used to be the 100,000 lines of code that kept your computer running, your files available on the hard disk, and which loaded and executed programs at your will (or, sometimes not). Depending on the size of the computer system they were running on, they may also have implemented multiple user sessions, timesharing, quota management and a number of different

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1128154482214264862005-10-01T10:13:00.000+02:002005-10-01T10:14:42.220+02:00

I'm trying out the Thunderbird RSS capabilities right now. Let's see if it's better than SharpReader.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1127599373029873792005-09-24T23:48:00.000+02:002005-09-25T00:10:34.126+02:00

Regiment's Day at T2 (Göta Trängregemente) was celebrated today in Skövde. A friend and I went to look at it; it was quite impressive. T2 is responsible for training soldiers and officers mainly in supply and logistics tasks, and is the only regiment in Sweden to do this. As a result, my home town Skövde is growing increasingly important for the military defense as several military installations

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1127407299057779392005-09-22T18:19:00.000+02:002005-09-22T18:44:42.083+02:00

I'm hacking together a little CMS (Content Management System) for a friend of mine, Victor. I took a look at several different CMS's already available on the Internet, such as CoWiki, Mambo, Drupal and several others. They are all pretty efficient, and incredibly powerful.But not easy.I browsed through them and a bunch of others, and I realized that there was no way whatsoever that I could put

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126989656758146852005-09-17T21:40:00.000+02:002005-09-17T22:40:56.806+02:00

One of the problems with my line of work is that I actually have very few people around me in my day-to-day life that understands precisely what it is that I'm doing.So what am I doing? Well, the short answer is that I'm developing CTI operator workstations for large, enterprise-scale corporations. Sounds exciting, huh? I still have problems explaining my line of work to women... their eyes sort

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126793732286382032005-09-15T17:13:00.000+02:002005-09-15T16:15:32.316+02:00

For some time, I've tried to understand the First World War and how it could break out. WWI rarely gets the attention it deserves because of the much bigger Second World War, but it is fundamentally important to understand it; not only because it shaped the world we live in today, but also because without it, WWII could never have happened.About ninety years ago, in the city of Sarajevo, several

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126537563698229102005-09-12T17:04:00.000+02:002005-09-12T17:06:03.706+02:00

With Delphi, Borland decided to include the source code to the Visual Component Library framework. This was a stroke of genius, because every once in a while, I find myself strolling down VCL lane and browsing through the source. Whenever I do that, I learn an immense amount of how Delphi works, and how the VCL wraps around the messy Win32 API; and I always find tiny little caveats and things I

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126343168716941042005-09-10T10:52:00.000+02:002005-09-10T11:06:08.783+02:00

Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries in North Carolina has posted two Special Bulletins recently on the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.They're available at MorningStar Special Bulletins page.By far the most interesting statement is this quote:The most common question I have been asked about this tragedy is, “Is this storm judgment from God?”

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126267291959812752005-09-09T16:48:00.000+02:002005-09-09T14:01:31.990+02:00

I have a song by Paul Wilbur called "Days Of Elijah" which I love very, very much. The text goes something like this (with a fast beat and a joyful tune):Behold He comesRiding on the cloudsShining like the sunAt the trumpet callSo lift your voiceIt's a year of jubilee!For our of Zion's hillSalvation comes!The song paints a picture of Jesus, riding in on the clouds towards Earth, and his face is

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1126131263037064662005-09-08T00:10:00.000+02:002005-09-08T00:14:23.053+02:00

Been working pretty much lately. Monday through Wednesday I was on Gotland, paying a visit to our business partner Datatal. Having just come home at midnight, I'm now going to get up in six hours to drive down to Stenungsund and work there for the remainder of this week; and which will continue for Tuesday to Friday next week.Yech.I like sleeping in my own bed, not in hotel rooms.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1125738438534591592005-09-03T10:59:00.000+02:002005-09-03T11:07:21.180+02:00

I'm sure no one has missed how the events have unfolded in New Orleans. With the National Guard arriving on the scene, I'm sure the military presence will bring a sense of calm and order to how things are proceeding.What has struck me so deeply is that we've seen a large, American city actually be wiped out. When the Governor of Louisiana called out "Everyone must leave, now", I thought: Now this

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1125160795600499052005-08-27T18:32:00.000+02:002005-08-27T18:39:55.633+02:00

Sometimes I get this feeling that the world we live in is alive. I don't know why - maybe I'm just completely deceived (and likely so) - but somehow I believe that we, especially as Christians, should and could be in touch with Creation in perhaps a special way. Or maybe it's just the storytelling, romantic side of me that likes to think that we can perceive Creation the way God meant it to be.I

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1124965874321625012005-08-25T12:28:00.000+02:002005-08-25T12:31:14.326+02:00

I have a colleague at work who likes Swedish film.Like, for instance, Sällskapsresan.Fascinating.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1124628323856255082005-08-21T15:37:00.000+02:002005-08-21T14:49:53.190+02:00

The current military doctrine of the United States army is the use of overwhelming force. At the U.S.Army website, there is a document published called Field Manual 1, a document that serves as an introduction to the Army doctrines and core values.The concept of overwhelming force is ... well, it may be difficult to initially grasp exactly what it means. But Chapter 3 of FM1 details it in what I

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1124625841464012542005-08-21T14:02:00.000+02:002005-08-21T14:04:01.470+02:00

The United States Army is presently going through a large transformation. It is adapting and restructuring itself to meet the objectives of the 21st Century fighting force; in short, this means that the old 20th Century concept of building an army around divisions has got to go.Instead, the army is focusing on the brigade as the functional building block. Focusing on brigades means that you have

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1124279691766374012005-08-16T20:26:00.000+02:002005-08-17T13:54:51.773+02:00

Our company is currently preparing to upgrade our development system from Borland Delphi 5 to Delphi 2005. While the process is pretty much straightforward, there are a few issues that have come up.First of all, it's a big process. We meant upgrade to Delphi 6 when that came out, then Delphi 7, and now we have to upgrade to 2005 before it's all too late. Since we're planning on doing this in a

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1123406371964392092005-08-07T10:42:00.000+02:002005-08-07T11:20:47.710+02:00

When you play America's Army long enough, you're bound to see some extraordinary things happen once in a while. Yesterday on FLS Assault, I swear I saw Capt. Speirs.Capt. Speirs - for those of you who haven't watched Band of Brothers - was the meanest, toughest officer in the entire 506th PIR. Rumors flew that he shot enemy prisoners, killed his own men when they refused to obey orders, and he

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1123067812470189212005-08-03T20:15:00.000+02:002005-08-03T13:40:57.803+02:00

Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence takes place in a world a few hundred years into the future (the exact time is not known) when the polar icecaps have melted, flooded the whole earth and left mankind struggling to maintain its way of life. With increasing environmental pressure, legal sanctions against childbirth have been introduced; and as a result, robots provide much of the necessary

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1122832013450854572005-07-31T19:43:00.000+02:002005-07-31T19:46:53.456+02:00

Unfortunately, the saga continues.When Backup for Workgroups finally had completed the entire Emergency Restore operation, I rebooted my computer and was immediately greeted by a blue screen upon startup. Nothing worked. Totally gone. Not even any safe mode worked. The only option left to me was to reinstall Windows XP -- which of course killed my entire registry, and that means reinstalling

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1122204156142146532005-07-24T13:10:00.000+02:002005-07-24T13:22:36.146+02:00

We're finally back from Poland.I was gone for seven days and personally, I think seven days in Poland is just enough. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Poland in itself, it's just that when hardly anybody speaks English (a bit of broken German works sometimes) it gets to you after a while.But, all in all, it was nice. Gorzów Wielkopolski was a nice city. My good friend Bob fell

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1120833363212235262005-07-08T16:27:00.000+02:002005-07-08T16:36:03.216+02:00

This past week has been very warm in Sweden - not surprisingly since we're in the middle of July, though. Outside it's a steady 80 degrees, but inside my apartment it climbs to about 90 during the day.Swedes are generally ill-equipped to handle heat like this. After all, most of our housing is suited for the subzero temperatures in winter, when the north wind howls around the corners and bites

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1120555878706637852005-07-05T11:13:00.000+02:002005-07-30T11:29:57.316+02:00

Sometimes I get an urge to do something for the American troops stationed throughout the world ... like I really want to do something for them, support them and encourage them, since I so deeply sympathize with what they're doing.So a few nights ago, I sent an email to an organization called ASA (America Supporting Americans) and wrote down some of my thoughts and how I stood with the U.S. forces

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1120216496844211032005-07-01T12:58:00.000+02:002005-07-01T13:18:50.746+02:00

"Remember, if the fooking cable breaks and I tell you to go, don't bother looking around and asking 'Pardon?', because you'll fooking be talking to yourself!"...yelled the instructor as Special Forces Alpha Geek was about to jump from a hydrogen balloon over a field in Britain. It wasn't that that the balloon was filled with hydrogen (remember Hindenburg?), but the 600' cable that kept it

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1119883638091106842005-06-27T16:40:00.000+02:002005-06-27T16:47:18.096+02:00

The first real day of vacation was today (the first work day). And I'm already detecting little tiny tell-tale symptoms of wanting to go back to work.I think it's mostly just residual stress built up during the year which is now "dissipating" out. If last year's experience is anything to go after, then I'm going to experience one week of wanting to work, another week of being incredibly lazy, and

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1119251767085713312005-06-20T09:13:00.000+02:002005-06-20T09:16:07.090+02:00

I just found out Midsummer's on Friday and that we're off from work.Darn it. Nobody tells me anything.Then again, I don't keep too much check on holidays. I once booked 24th, 25th and 26th of December in my project plan.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1118923697169868032005-06-16T13:56:00.000+02:002005-06-16T14:08:17.173+02:00

By the powers bestowed upon me, I have during the past few days decided to wave my magic wand, sprinkle some magic dust and pronounce Dr. Michio Kaku my new favorite scientist.Dr. Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist at the City University of New York, has a way of explaining things so that it immediately becomes crystal clear to the reader. His light and entertaining articles cause his readers to

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1118689415901340002005-06-13T20:49:00.000+02:002005-06-13T21:06:33.023+02:00

So I spend more time sitting at railway stations than I used to. Which isn't necessarily bad; it's a good time to sit down with a cup of tea and do idle things, like reading books, watching people (and checking out possible hot chicks), and reflecting upon life.The central train station in Gothenburg has a café (one among many) where you can buy an Italian-inspired sandwich and sit down and eat.

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1118512773098934332005-06-11T19:54:00.000+02:002005-06-11T20:08:53.196+02:00

I'm sure we are all well aware of the friendly competition going on between Sweden and Norway. We tell our jokes about the Norwegians, and they tell their jokes about us.But, deeper down, I have - and I'm sure many with me - a respect for the Norwegians. I like their country; they seem to have done better than us in some of their political choices of recently; and, basically, I think they're fair

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1118319412325224872005-06-09T13:57:00.000+02:002005-06-09T14:16:52.330+02:00

Sometimes I wish I was back in high school. With the things I know now, and the person I am now, I would have had so much more fun.I keep imagining the scenario of German class, when everybody is back from vacation, and in a light-hearted introduction to the new year, the teacher asks around "Und was hast du auf Ferien gemacht?".Our German teacher was a somewhat elderly lady, with gray hair and

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1117879665270687722005-06-04T11:52:00.000+02:002005-06-04T12:07:45.276+02:00

There's this great plugin to Mozilla Firefox called StumbleUpon. It's a very dangerous tool, one which can lock you into sitting in front of the web browser for hours upon hours. With a single mouse click, you're whisked away to a completely random, but interesting, site on the internet on any possible topic.It works by people submitting links they think are cool. From these submissions, a huge

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1117394603475240832005-05-29T20:25:00.000+02:002005-05-29T21:23:23.526+02:00

Just watched the movie Phantom Of The Opera > with Emmy Rossum as the star.Excellent movie, easily a 9 out of 10 possible, although personally I like the first part best. The song, the scenography... it's all absolutely amazing.The Phantom, of course, is a man who, for most of his life, had to live with a seriously disfigured face and who endured endless abuse and exploitation as a child. Driven

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1117097273979363682005-05-26T10:39:00.000+02:002005-05-26T10:47:53.986+02:00

Sometimes I like to listen to a radio station from Chicago called WGN Radio >. I usually listen in the morning, which puts me right into the night shift over there in Chicago.It's almost always the same guys. The programming web page informs me that it's "The Stevie & Johnnie Show: Life After Dark", and then after 5am (which is... uhm... noon over here), Spike O'Dell comes along with "The Spike

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1116231609000787002005-05-16T12:08:00.000+02:002005-05-16T10:23:44.516+02:00

I don't know why this happened. Maybe it's because I ran into this interesting girl online, on one of those dating sites. Short profile, pretty face, and stationed in Alaska with the U.S. Coast Guard. Reading about her and about the USCG caused me to ponder a bit what it's like to be on a cutter plowing through the rough waters of the Aleutian islands. Feeling the cold, raw wind tear in your face

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1115462197318344872005-05-07T12:26:00.000+02:002005-05-07T12:40:05.883+02:00

Volvo is running three little commercial spots called "V50 - The Moment" featuring a little romantically-hinted episode of two people stumbling into each other. In the natural setting of two Volvo V50 cars, that is. There's also a little book involved.But it's the music that's really gotten to me. After much research, it turns out the music is a song called "Lou" by French singer Coralie Clément

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1115379401476544442005-05-06T13:29:00.000+02:002005-05-06T13:36:41.560+02:00

I have my own little "shop around the corner". It's called Record (or Rekord?) and it's a little coffee/tea shop in my home town. It's a somewhat older type of store; one of these darling little stores where they have tons of stuff crammed into a very small space and one or two staff that know just about everything there is to know about their particular field.I like to venture in there sometimes

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1115031304036027882005-05-02T12:34:00.000+02:002005-05-02T12:55:04.040+02:00

Just as I was about to fall asleep last night, my mind drifted away and got caught in the possibility of creating a new language. No, not a computer language, a real language.It's interesting, because once you decide to create something entirely new, you're free to borrow any grammatical construct - or entirely invent your own - that suits you. And you're absolutely free to create any words you

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1114380385936300572005-04-24T23:40:00.000+02:002005-04-25T00:09:26.656+02:00

We watched the German film "Der Untergang" today.Dramatic movie. I'm not sure what to say about it.I can't do the typical movie-talk about this one, because I totally forgot to look for the movie-talk things during the movie. I forgot to look for lighting, cinematography, or acting. I don't even remember if there was any music in it. It captured me from the first moment and never let me go until

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6799622.post-1114078461446434422005-04-21T12:01:00.000+02:002005-04-21T12:39:45.010+02:00

Suddenly, in the midst of my work, I experienced an acute communication overload syndrome.I was talking to several people at once. I had ICQ, MSN and IRC running, all baked into Trillian. My Outlook was up on the screen. A collegue chatted with me over an internal MSN network. A friend sent me links on ICQ and my boss talked with me on ICQ. Just previously we had talked over Skype. The real phone

Mats Gefvertnoreply@blogger.com0