Backlog purge
The whole renovating + moving + changing jobs thing has proved quite the time sink, and blogergy drain as well... (I just made up the word blogergy (for blogging energy), horrible isn't it? Unsuprisingly, a Google search on blogergy reveals I was not the first...) Anyway, I've tried to post stuff I've wanted to post over the last week.
Battling the elements
My winter biking project has seen both success and failure over the last few days. I biked on Friday and Tuesday, and I am pleased to report that my winter tires seem to do their job, and I am able to stay reasonably warm... The downside, on the other hand, is time. On Tuesday morning it had snowed quite a bit during the night, and only about two thirds of my commute were plowed by the time I rode to work. Some parts were agnonizingly slow, and other parts so badly uneven that I had to walk, dragging my bike along beside me.
The problem isn't the show, the problem is snow which is soft in some spots and hard in other, which you get from cars driving an unplowed road. Riding becomes like trying to balance your bike on the top of an oil coated railroad track...
The main issue is, as I mentioned, time. It took me an hour to get to work, and after we've moved my commute is going to be twice as long. As a result I will not be able to take my bike unless I can safely assume most of my commute is plowed. Basically this limits me to days preceeded by at least one snowfall-free day.
There is an upside though. My commute back on Tuesday was downright wonderful. The whole route was more or less plowed, and the rush of biking at below freezing temperatures is really great. At least I should be able to keep enjoying that as the weather allows.
The United Stater of Europe
I rand across this rather thought-stimulating artice: Welcome to the New Cold War. I'm not into predicting politics myself, so I'll leave the accurancy dispute as an exercise to the reader. Worth reading. Via Petri /var/log/orava.
Other noteworthy links
Repeat after me, Linus Torvalds, Michael Widenius and Rasmus Lerdorf: A world without software patents would be a better world. Really. Food for tought, and an appeal to the EU Council to back it up. I wish I had the time and energy to get my MEP to listen...
I ran across The Official Site of Benjamin J Heckendorn. (Quite the mouthful, eh?) Anyway, Ben has done a huge number of really cool portable mods of old skool gaming systems, and even a portable PS2! Good stuff.