Some Spring Tidying and Cleaning.

While it is not quite spring, today’s weather had a touch of spring here. Sun shining from a clear sky (not often in Denmark), and the temperature quite acceptable. Well, I say not quite spring because it is still February, and that is still officially considered a winter month.

After a long time with COVID restrictions (some self imposed), the tidying activity had been lacking here, so now a lot is needed, and finally, I got started.

Indoors the living room space got a little floor space freed. Much more is needed, but it is now possible to have a guest sitting in the few (more) square meters (sqm) available. Yes, it was that bad, but it is a start, and must continue. 😉

In the out-house (I would not call it “shed” because it is much bigger than a shed in my eyes. A total of about 40sqm (about 400sqft) sounds like a lot of space, and while some stuff has been removed from the out-house after my removal some years ago, A lot still needs to be done there, so I can start some workshop activities.

I need to look at all the stuff on shelves, to see what is useful to me, and what should be discarded, and what must be discarded. A lot of sorting to do, but finally it has started.

In the indoor department, there are some thing needed. The bathroom is over 50 years old, and it needs a complete renewal. Since I am lousy at that type of work, I have decided to have it done and saved enough to pay the bill. It had been postponed due to COVID, but now I really need to have it done.

The End of Legal Security in Europe ?

In this SlashDot article it seems that the EU parliament passed a law new law regarding the “Three-Strikes” policy for people’s Internet access.

“…. Under the original text any restriction of an individual could only be taken following a prior judicial ruling.The new update has completely removed this, meaning that governments now have legal grounds to force Internet providers (ISPs) into disconnecting their customers from the Internet (i.e. such as when ‘suspected’ of illegal p2p file sharing).”

Mark the word SUSPECTED

Mark my words – we seem to be approaching the rule of the entertainment industry, as opposed to the rule of law.

Update : It appears thet the law was first voted on when almost everyone had left the building, and was later retracted at a fuller assembly. – but let this be a warning …. if this becomes law , everyone could have their Internet connection cut off, just due to an suspicion of doing something wrong.

Please let the lawmakers see reason.

Update, and visit to DK

Just back from holidays in DK

Got the blog software updated to the latest version.

I went to the small Danish convention “Fantasticon” (organised by the Danish Scifi association Fantastik)

Nice little con with about 150 people, Guests of Honour were British authors Charles Stross and Gwyneth Jones. Thinking of going to the Easetercon in London next year, and possibly the Eurocon in Stockholm 2011.

Long time no see

It has been a while since I last had an entry here, things have been a bit hectic.

I became a supporting membert of the Anticipation Worldcon 2009, and with that came the right to vote on the Hugo Awards.

So for a month I was – among other things – busy reading 4 of the nominated novels, listening to the short stories, and a few other things.

Also, I have been more active building some radio equipment, and have had a successful attempt of receiving the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

I went to see the new Star Trek movie with a friend in Denmark, and finally I have been active learning more Tai Chi and Qigong.

Some of those activities will result in some new entries in the near future. Right now I am taking it a bit easy – and watching the new “Torchwood” series : “Children of Earth”. The first episode looks very promising, so let us hope that carries through the whole story.

A Somewhat SciFi-ish holiday

I am now well back from my holidays, having celebrated Christmas and New Year with family and friends.

Apart from getting to see the people “back home” I and a needed restful day or two, I also got to see my oldest friend one I have known since 1969 – so this year will see our 40th anniversary of friendship. I spent some days there watching a fair amount of Scifi:

Jekyll :
A modern continuation, set in the present day, of the classic story by Robert Louis Stephenson. I liked it already, and the renewed viewing even improved on my impression. Link to a review from the earlier viewing.

Dr Who Season 4 :
A lovely season with rather good episodes, only “The Doctor’s Daughter” is a little weak, but not really bad. Reviews of single episodes will follow later.

Dr Who S1 The Beginning :
I recently got the box “The beginning” with the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell. We watched the first two stories of the series, “An unearthly Child” and the very first “Dalek” story. I am surprised how well written the stories are, nicely acted, the early Doctor Who has more of the “mystery sense” than the modern ones, even if the special effects are not up to modern standards. The story becomes more important than “big explosions” etc. More detailed reviews later.

Babylon 5 :
We remembered Majel Barrett Roddenberry by watching the episode “Point of No Return” where she plays Lady Morella, third wife of the late Emperor Turhan, and a seer. Wonderful performance from the “First Lady of Star Trek”.

Having seen that a few more of Season 3 episodes was what we wanted, so we ‘watches some selected ones finishing with “Z’Ha’Dum”. It is always good to rewatch Babylon 5, so a worthy way of finishing the visit (sort of a “2 person mini convention”)

Finally I found some time to be alone and read Kevin J. Anderson’s “Last Days of Krypton”. It is a good read, the disparate elements of the legend have been weaved well into a single story, linking The Phantom Zone, Jor-El’s science -experiments, the Jor-El and Lara story, General Zod and his companions, the folly of the Council, the fate of Kandor, and finally the fate of the planet Krypton itself. There is a nice surprise in what finally causes the destruction of Krypton.

Now for some more reading : I am a member of the Live Journal group hp_in_depth (Harry Potter), and we just started reading, two chapters per week, “The Goblet of Fire”, so I will be busy reading some evenings of the week.

Blog now up

My blog is now up and running on my own website. I got my posts from Blogger/LiveJournal imported.

The Livejournal will be continued – I participate in some community activities there :

Now for a little experimentation with the interface/themes, so expect that it may look a little different from time to time.

From time to time, posts from some friends will appear.

My own website.

My ISP has offered an “Advanced Website” to go with my subscription. Last year the speed was increadsed t the maximum possible for ADSL2+, this year they increased the max speed for the next lower level ADSL. They then had to offer something extra for mine.

So I took the offer , and moved the stuff from my “standard” homepage , plus added a few new items.

The Babylon Lurker

Happy New Year 2008

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year 2008.

I will be visiting a friend with no internet , so will be off for some days

Here’s to a lot of posting in 2008 …

…no worries – my friend is a scifi afficionado, so I will have my fun. probably going to watch second season of “The 4400” and some other stuff.