TexasSwede

UPDATE: Seems like the embedded video caused some problems in IE.

Well, I got my yearly pumpkin done. It ended up being Gollum from The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy. The pattern was somewhat complicated, due to the fact there were large areas when the skin was just supposed to be removed and the pumpkin walls made thinner. What I ended up doing was to mark the different sections on the pumpkin with white-board markers, different colors for areas to cut through (black), un-touched (green) and thinned (red):

Then it was just to start up the Dremel tool, using different size high speed cutters. Here is the result about 2 hours later:

What does your pumpkin look like?

Even if I am not originally from the US, and we don't celebrate Halloween the same way as here, I do enjoy it. Especially carving pumpkins. I found a cool website, ExtremePumpkins.com with lot of tips and pictures, where you also could get some inspiration.

Last year I created a stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars for my son, who is a big Star Wars fan. I have not decided what to do this year...

In Sweden, Halloween (or All Saint's Eve) is a more somber celebration of the dead, celebrated on the first Saturday of November. People go to the cemetaries and light candles on the graves of family and friends. It is a very special thing to see a cemetary covered in thousands of burning candle in a pitch black night. The last few years, people have "imported" the US kind of Halloween (just like they imported Valentine's Day) and throw parties and dress up. Traditionally, young Swedish girls dress up at witches the day before Good Friday and do a kind of "trick-or-treat", getting candy in exchange for hand painted/drawn Easter cards. This tradition obviously comes form the medivial believe that the witches left Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) to fly away for a witch sabbath (where they eat, drink and fornicate) with the devil (usually said to take place at Blåkulla) a on the most sacred christian day of the year.

Have you ever watched Beauty and the Geek? They are now casting for another season. Why not give it a try?

More at the SweetOnGeeks blog.

As probably most of you know, the scandinavian (Norwegian/Icelandic) explorer Leif Eriksson (Leifr Eiríksson) landed in North America almost 500 years before Columbus, in 1000 A.D. or perhaps 1-2 years later. He there established a small settlement. Today, October 9, is therefor, by presidential proclamation, Leif Erikson day in the US. As it should be, Leif Erikson Day is before Columbus Day (coming up this next Monday).

Leif Erikson Day, 2008

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Leif Erikson Day, we remember that son of Iceland and grandson of Norway for his journey to North America, and we celebrate the influential role Nordic Americans have played in our society.

Leif Erikson was among the world's greatest and most daring explorers. More than 1,000 years ago, he led a crew across the Atlantic to North America. Today, the same desire to explore and open new frontiers inspires our citizens and contributes to the strength of our Nation.

America's friendships with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are strong, and Nordic Americans have added to our rich cultural diversity and proud ancestry. On this day, we recognize these individuals for their remarkable achievements in all sectors of our society. America is grateful for the many contributions of Nordic Americans, and we continue to draw inspiration from the courage and optimism of the adventurous Leif Erikson.

To honor Leif Erikson and to celebrate our citizens of Nordic American heritage, the Congress, by joint resolution (Public Law 88-566) approved on September 2, 1964, has authorized the President to proclaim October 9 of each year as "Leif Erikson Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2008, as Leif Erikson Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs to honor our rich Nordic-American heritage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

The other day I found some fresh yeast in the grocery store, and i picked some up because I wanted to bake something. After I can home, I decided I had not had any cinnamon rolls in a long time. So is I made some.

* Crumble 2 1/2 packages of fresh yeast (totalling about 50 gram) into a big bowl.

* Melt a little bit more than one stick (113 gram) of butter, I used about 130 gram. Add 5 dl (a little over a pint) of milk. Heat to body temperature/finger warm. You should not be feeling anything when you put the finger in it.

* Use some of the liquid to dissolve the yeast, the add the rest of the liquid, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 dl sugar.

* Add 14-15 dl of flour. I first added 10 dl, stirred well, then added 4 dl more, stired, and slowly added 1 more dl .

* Put the dough on a table and kneed until smoth but not sticky. Add flour until you get the right consistency.

* Shape into a big ball, put back into bowl, cover with a linen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

* Put the dough on the table, cut into two equal pieces, and shape into two rectangular flat pieces, about 20cm x 45cm (8x20 inches) using a roller.

* Spread a thin layer of soft butter over each piece, sprinkle granulated sugar and cinnamon over it, and roll them from the long side. Leave a 1/2 inch strip on one long side without butter, and start rolling from the opposite side. This will make the end of the rolls stay closed. As you can see in my picture above, I did not do that on this particular batch, which caused the ends to separate.

* Cut the rolls into about 1 inch think slices, place each slice laying down on a cookie sheet and cover. You should have about 32-40 rolls, depending on size. Rise for 30 more minutes. Note: I use AirBake non-stick cookie sheets, they work great at preventing the bottom of the rolls to get burned. Highly recommended! I got mine at WalMart.

* Heat up the oven to 225 C/450 F.

* Brush each roll with egg, and sprinkle over pearl sugar. It can be purchased at IKEA, they have a section with Swedish food items in most/all international locations.

* Bake for 5-9 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: 1 dl = 3.4 oz = just over 1/3 cup, 15 dl = 1.5 litre = 6.3 cups

Paul Mooney asked "What does your work environment look like?", and posted a picture of where he works.

So I had to do the same. Below is a picture is my desk at work. I have a main computer with two 19" LCD screens, a test server running Domino 5.0.12 (our production server version) connected to a 17" LCD screen (a left-over with a scratch), and two additional client systems, one test client runing Notes 7 and one system called Workhorse where I run more time consuming agents so I won't lock up my main/development machine... I took two pictures with my camera phone and then used AutoStitch (highly recommended free software) to make them into a panorama.

So what does your work environment look like?

Saturday 2 weeks ago, I was cleaning off my livingroom table. Had some trash there from the previous evening, some wrappers from my dinner, a Subway sandwich. There was also the lid from a can of pineapples, the kind that you just pop off. I found out the hard way that the edges of the lid in fact are razor sharp... I put the lid together with the rest of the trash (paper). As I often do, I crumbled the wrappers together while I started to walk back towards the kitchen and the trash can. Bad idea. The lid made a nice clean cut into the palm of my right hand.

I started rinsing it off, and got some band aid out of the cabinet in the kitchen. I made some paper towels into a ball and squeezed it with my hand to stop the bleeding somewhat, and avoid getting more blood on the floor. I then suddenly started feeling a bit dizzy and leaned over the sink to be able to stay on my feet. The next think I know was me laying on the kitchen floor, looking up at my worried 8 year old son who was with me over the weekend. I then went to the home office to get my cell phone, and actually passed out once more...

Eventually I felt better, and I rinsed the cut off, used hydrogen peroxide to desinfect the wound, and then glued the wound together using Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue (super glue), which I use for model building, but is also used in the hospitals today instead of stitches.

Below are two pictures, one right after I glued myself together and put some surgical tape on to cover the wound, and one the next day, when it was pretty much closed up and cleaned off. A week later, there was just a small scab, and today there is just a small nice scar. Perhaps I should switch to a career as surgeon? It does not seem to be that complicated, much easier that learning Java.

John James posted a list of what food on the "Omnivore's 100" list he have eaten. So I decided to post my version of the list. The list if, as John explians it, from Very Good Taste blog who came up with a list of foods that they feel every omnivore should eat in their life time.
Bold means I have eaten/tried it, crossed out means I wouldn’t touch it in a million years. So here is the list, along with my results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea - Had nettle soup, though. Great with hard boiled eggs
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (alligator counts?)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich - not my thing, but should probably try it.
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (survival training in the army)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky - I don't eat chocolate
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - I don't drink cofee
100. Snake

52 out of 100. And there are still things on there I would like to try.

I just wrote my reflections on September 11. I then saw that System i Addict (David) wrote about Remembering 9/11 & forgetting the terrorist. I just want to point out a few things, which are not talked about that often here in the US.

* 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, also the home country of Osama Bin-Ladin. {link}

* Saudi Arabia got the name from the family Saud, who "unified" (annected) several regions into one kingdom in 1932. The country is an absolute monarchy, which in this case is an autocracy (pretty much the same as a dictatorship). The king is the supreme ruler.

* Saudi Arabia is using sharia law (same as the Talibans promoted), with public flogging, amputation of hands and feet as well as beheading as punishments. Recently a 19 year old woman was sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in prison for being gang-raped by 7 men. Her crime? Being in the company of a man not her husband or brother...

* Human rights organisations are very critical of Saudi Arabia. Not only are women not allowed to drive cars, but recently the political police forced teenage girls back into a burning dorm building, using whips, because the girls were not wearing veils and thus were not properly dressed... An unknown number of young girls died from that.

* In 2002, the United Nations Committee against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under the Shari'a. The Saudi delegation responded defending its legal traditions held since the inception of Islam in the region 1300 years ago and rejected "interference" in its legal system. {link}

* Talking about schools:

The study of Islam remains at the core of the Saudi educational system. The Islamic aspect of the Saudi national curriculum is examined in a recent report by Freedom House. The report found that in religious education classes (in any religious school), children are taught to deprecate other religions, in addition to other branches of Islam. {link}

and

Education in Saudi Arabia has never fully separated from its Islamic roots. All curricula must conform to the Islamic Sharia laws and the Qur'an, and traditional gender roles continue to shape educational opportunities available to females. The education of females has increased dramatically in recent years, from 25 percent of all students in 1970 to 47.5 percent in 2001. However, education is largely segregated by gender. There are six Universities which have both male and female sections out of the nation’s eight universities. Certain subjects are not available for women yet.{link}

* There are reports that up to 90% of the money funneled to muslim fundamentalists around the world comes from saudi princes/royalty. The principle is similar to in the old catholic church, that you can buy yourself salvation in the after life by doing "good deeds for God", e.g. building a church if you are a christian or a islamic school if you are muslim. You can also support holy warriors (Crusaders in the 12th century, mujahedin in the 21st century). Much of Saudi Arabia's aid has gone to poorer Islamic countries or Islamic communities in non-Islamic countries. This 'aid' has contributed to the spreading of a uniform and puritanical form of Islam, disregarding the needs and traditions of the different ethnic groups. {link} (Note: puritanical = fundamentalist)

* Saudi Arabia is the biggest foreign buyer of US military hardware. Their Air Force has the third largest number of F-15 fighters after the USAF and the Japanese Air Force. Wikipedia again: "In 2005, Saudi Arabia was the foremost purchaser of US armaments in the world, with over $1.1 billion in purchases."

* On October, 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Prince Abdullah sent a critical letter to George W. Bush on August 29. He warned that Saudi Arabia was being put in an untenable position and reportedly wrote: "A time comes when peoples and nations part. We are at a crossroads. It is time for the United States and Saudi Arabia to look at their separate interests. Those governments that don't feel the pulse of their people and respond to it will suffer the fate of the Shah of Iran." {link}

It is interesting to hear comments like this: "Well, Saddam Hussein did not have any weapons of mass destruction, but he was an evil tyrant, oppressing his people. It was the right thing to invade to restore democracy and liberate the people of Iraq."

Using the same arguments, I think Saudi Arabia should been invaded long time ago and restored to democracy.

I was sitting in the office in downtown Boston as usual when Angie, my then-wife, called me. On August 31 she had surgery, and on September 7 she got some chest pains that they diagnosed as a suspected pulmonary embolism, so they were keeping her in the hospital for about a week. She was watching TV in her room at Brigham and Women's hospital, a fairly tall building. She called me to tell me that there had been some accident in New York, that a plane hit World Trade Center (where we had been just over a year earlier, in May 2000 while she was pregnant with our son.

As several others, I have posted a proposal for a LS2009 session at IdeaJam.

Warning, this blog entry have a potential political content. 

Four weeks ago I stopped drinking soda. It has been almost six years since I stopped drinking regular soda (mainly Coca-Cola) and switched to diet drinks, but about a month ago I decided I would try to cut them out altogether. I still needed my caffeine, so I started drinking more (hot) tea, as well as found some Crystal Light and similar powder with caffeine that I could put in my water bottles. 

Anyone who is tired of ordinary hotels will be able to get an unusual experience at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. In December the first ever hostel in a jumbo jet will open.
...
The interior renovation of the jumbo jet will begin today, and when finished there will 25 rooms and a wedding suite in the cockpit. Quite a few changes will be made to distinguish this plane from the ones still flying. For example, guests will be able to stroll on the wing and they will not have to use cramped toilets with push doors.