Now, why is it I blog?

A very relevant question, asked be Aphra - and I shall hurry firstly with my apologies by the rather late answer. Mostly caused by being in the deep of Southern Sweden with my Scouts for the last week.

The original and fundamental reason, I believe, is that I'm sometimes something of a nerd. There, out it came. So I like trying out these new things and such a lot of them have happened on computers in our lifetime, hasn't it? I started nerding for real at around 15 with programming in Comal and Basic and have had a good time with computers ever since. So when weblogging came around, of course I had to try.

Having a presence on H2G2 for soon-to-be 8 years have made it clear to me that whatever, I must write. So I praise my luck for living in a time where writing and putting it out for someone to read - many or precious few - is so much easier than when you had to do battle to find someone willing to master Gutenberg's innovation with lead, ink and paper for you.

I might be rationalising here, but the next reason is that I always also has had a wish to "show off" my photographies. At least I can claim honestly that around the age of 15-16 (gee, much happened then, huh?) I had several pictures accepted for a local exhibition - some black & white work including a rather strange dark room experimental one. At least with digital, you're through with getting chemical stains on your fingers and blocking off access to the spare bathroom.

When I started this blog, I had in mind to take all three of the above and combine it with wrestling with webdesign. Which is why I wrote:

"Lets see how it goes. Once this blog finds its feet and stands on less shaky ground, it may be made obsolete and cast aside to make room for The Real One. Or it may not."

I honestly must say that I haven't got around to do that one yet... I have a name for it I like and sketches of the graphical layout I want - but quite simply haven't taken the time actually do it. Partly because I have had our scouting group's website to immerse myself in. Recently made it into a - non-public - wiki for ease of updates. More nerdiness :) Link, if you should be interested to have a wee look (it's all in Danish).

That was four. The fifth? I guess, quite simply, that it's become something in the continuum from a nice habit to an addiction. At least, it's a more socially acceptable one than a lot of other addiction I can think of ;) Although it does raise the question of why I don't do it all the time but somewhat sporadically, I guess.


I'd like - have liked - to take the tagging business with this one out of the rather closely knit group of people I hang out with on the 'net . But I haven't yet found the candidates. Will update if I do.

This is good news

Surely, the car bombs in the UK were not good news.

What was, as obviously, was that through a mixture of luck, bomb-maker fumbling and police work, they didn't go off.

I think this is even better news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6275772.stm

It's been puzzling me for some time that every one says that "90-awholelot % of muslims living in (insert your country) are nice, quiet, law abiding citizens who do not agree with the riff-raff responsible for these abominable acts" - yet, the 90-odd percent are very quiet about it, unless you're lucky enough to witness one of them put in front of a television camera lens and confronted with the question by a journalist.

(To be fair, I have heard a few individuals give very solid statements to the fact that they certainly do not agree with the terrorism - but en bloc, not really.)

Which is why I salute these ads. Finally, large groups - note the plural! - publicly denounce these acts. And, even better, does so by quoting the Koran.

Go, Muslims United!

A side thought:

This comes to public knowledge through paid-for advertising. Shouldn't it be a front page story all by itself, one the newspapers were scrambling to get in exactly their newspaper, one they'd rejoyce in having written?

Is part of the problem that the press - maybe, sadly, rightly - believes that sensations sell best and that bad things are better sensations?

(OK, it's a pet topic of mine - IMHO, the press has to a rather large degree suppressed their responsability as "the 4th power" in favour of making money.)

Once upon a time

...evenings must have been spent like this, reading in the warm and soft but also somewhat dim light from the oil lamps.



This is from the family (I should say - in-law family...) cottage in Sweden. A very nice place to relax!