tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51739581036236916672024-03-13T00:37:16.794+01:00VattuvargsOm sånt som är bra till vila och vandring. Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-24402752001283445112019-10-27T16:06:00.000+01:002019-10-27T16:11:44.319+01:00En tredje fuskfutonDet har gått några år sedan lillans fuskfuton sattes ihop. Därför känns det bra att sammanfatta hur bra våra bäddar fungerat över lite längre tid. ...och dags för tredje fuskfutonen. <br />
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Det som kommit fram när vi använt våra sängar är att lillans bädd inte förlorat volym på samma sätt som min egen. Den återfår dessutom sin fluffighet lätt när man bearbetar och vädrar den. Det är en stor skillnad när man jämför med min. Den är bara tung. Troligen är det ytan på täckena inuti som sakta men säkert hakar i varandra och liksom filtar sig. Bädden är skön på sitt sätt men ganska långt ifrån att kännas som en futon.<br />
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Dessutom var jag ganska nyfiken på om jag kunde ta grejor från butikshyllan och få till något tämligen billigt och ändå bra nog. Olyckligtvis finns det numera bara en möbelaffär i min lilla hemstad men å andra sidan är de inte så dyra. <br />
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Men det var rea på Jysk...<br />
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Kort sammanfattat består fuskfuton 3.0 av sex Kvitekoll-täcken (som på rean kostar 140 kronor styck) och ett Katja påslakanset som ligger på ett stadigt lågpris (115 kronor). Totalkostnad 955 kronor, alltså. Hela fuskfutonen väger kring sju kilo och är därför inte så hemsk att lyfta runt. <br />
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Täcken med hög volym och blank yta ger fluffigaste futonen. Välj hellre få täcken med stor volym än många täcken med mindre fyllning. Det lärde jag mig eftersom lillans bädd byggdes så. Mina egna täcken packade ihop sig eftersom de inte gled mot varandra. <br />
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När man lagt ut täckena på varandra så viker man in en tredjedel på var sin sida på längden så att täckbunten blir som en tillplattad rulle. Sedan trär man upp påslakanet över rullen och avslutar med att dra ut täckenas hörn inuti påslakanet. Resultatet är som ett väldigt tjockt täcke. Faktiskt över tjugo centimeter tjockt. <br />
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Volymen minskar till ungefär hälften över de första två veckorna men stabiliserar sig sedan. Med vädring och fluffning återfår de mycket av den volym som de har i början men första dagarnas molnsvävande får man bara efter att fullständigt plockat isär madrassen och satt ihop den igen. <br />
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Det går att använda vita påslakan men de blir lätt missfärgade. Därför väljer jag gärna lite mörkare och mönstrade istället. Färgen på påslakanet Katja anges som grå men är egentligen lite brungrå, vilket passar ihop med min inredning och rummets tapet. <br />
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Fuskfuton 3.0 - FF3 - kan användas som den är direkt på en tjock matta. Om golvet är hårt kan man stoppa in två av Jysks Basic F10 skummadrasser (300 kronor per styck) inuti ytterligare ett Katja påslakan. Det är den minsta storleken av madrass (70x190cm) som ska användas. Skummadrass under med fuskfuton ovanpå räcker till och med på ett stenhårt golv. <br />
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Min egen säng har samma påslakanset för täckena också. Större delen av året klarar jag mig med ett tunt täcke men nu när vintern kommit byter jag till ett tjockare, även det köpt på rea från Jysk... <br />
<br />Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-75645613005183678702018-11-10T19:58:00.000+01:002018-11-10T19:58:31.906+01:00oh-oh-oh-oh to oh-oh-oh-oneThe body is breaking hard but the spirit spreads my wings.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-68211609696788207082018-10-28T13:25:00.000+01:002018-10-28T13:25:59.814+01:001k steps and fish tooPlans are thickening. ...but the xeniafish will follow.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-24395556774150145652018-03-04T19:47:00.000+01:002018-03-04T19:47:59.886+01:00Spider silk'"Chilly. Dimitri would have been up by now. The stove would have been hot and there would have been a kettle waiting for morning tea. The dogs would be silently sleeping under the table. But the warmth of the household was missing.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Even the creaks of the worn floor planks muffled and swollen by tears. The few steps to the chabudai were shrouded in velvet, solemn in grieving the master of electronics.<br />
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Dewdrops levitating above the bed in a dreamcatcher made of spider silk.<br />
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Who else would leave a message as delicate?Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-13895129368682390202018-02-18T21:41:00.002+01:002018-02-18T21:41:58.613+01:00Bits, bends, skins, boxes and anglesSome animals have stashes of food to get them through winter. Maybe we humans need to think that way too, I don't know. But I need to stash some ideas here while I go about gathering some more. Just boring stuff and random ideas that probably never will amount to anything.<br />
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Well, I told you.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>First of all I need to remind myself of the new arctic building practice and the paqibiq boxes inside that translucent polycarbonate shell. The idea is a nice base to work from.<br />
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I also need to write down a few lines about ETFE as a building material. Just one layer is like a poly tunnel. Two layers makes it possible to inflate the volume inbetween the layers and create dynamic insulation. Three layers gives all sorts of advantages. Not just better insulation, but that too. The middle layer can be moved by the air between the layers. If the layers have printed patterns the moving of the middle layer might change the amount of light that is let through. Moving the middle layer also changes the insulation of the wall.<br />
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The layers of ETFE needs to be supported by some kind of structure. One such structure is trusses. The new arctic building practice uses straight trusses to form a tent-shaped outer shell.<br />
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Trusses can be built in other shapes too. Bent ones are slightly stronger and might give more volume inside the shell.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWK8Oc9xNnsgAYP2dWSpOcEzZ1nhE9GpH5wU-CzgNvvE7ntL3r90fSCxnF0sGu5b20ECWmAj-1F7RDaqDmWUQFM7GTl-psV7drPS6xw6hUgPxV-T8gXmZ94AzmscJBeEtvFujDxq0Kq5Kg/s1600/ReuleauxTriangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWK8Oc9xNnsgAYP2dWSpOcEzZ1nhE9GpH5wU-CzgNvvE7ntL3r90fSCxnF0sGu5b20ECWmAj-1F7RDaqDmWUQFM7GTl-psV7drPS6xw6hUgPxV-T8gXmZ94AzmscJBeEtvFujDxq0Kq5Kg/s1600/ReuleauxTriangle.png" /></a>One shape is interesting for the trusses and the shell as a whole. The Reuleaux triangle. Constructed from three radiuses.<br />
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Imagine the shell built with trusses bent like that. The arches meet at the top with an angle of 120 degrees. The sides reach the ground at 90 degrees.<br />
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So. Stashed for later.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-34853568517612378272017-09-23T23:38:00.000+02:002017-09-23T23:38:46.368+02:00A rough routed riddleA route is a list of spacetime coordinates.<br />
It has both distance and duration.<br />
The distance can be viewed on a map.<br />
The duration can be viewed in a calendar.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Data can be linked to those coordinates.<br />
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Weather forecasts are linked to spacetime coordinates.<br />
A route is thus a weather event too.<br />
The weather event can be viewed in a calendar.<br />
And the weather event can be viewed on a map. <br />
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An alarm is a route, believe it or not.<br />
Sound data is linked to a string of spacetime events.<br />
Snooze and wake up at a new coordinate.<br />
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Yes, even a phone call is a route.<br />
With a mobile phone it has both distance and duration.<br />
The call is usually an event linked to some data. <br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">So life is a route. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Do I need to bring an umbrella?</span></b><br />
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Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-70709156986148794082017-09-01T22:10:00.000+02:002017-09-01T22:10:14.821+02:00Paradise by the dashboard light... All it takes is a stray picture while googling on a Welsh hydrogen fuel cell car company. The photo showed the interior of the car. A steering wheel and behind it a speedometer. The usual stuff. <div>
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It's a very strange car. It has a fuel cell that delivers eleven horsepower of electricity that still takes the light-weight vehicle from naught to a hundred in ten seconds. To cut a long story short I'd love to drive one. </div>
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Meanwhile there's time to think about that touchscreen next to the steering wheel.</div>
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<a name='more'></a>What should be behind that five inch glass? Android or iOS? Those are the obvious choices for being like everyone else. The duopoly holds a large chunk of the market, after all. With millions of users and even more apps, what could go wrong?</div>
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Don't even think that thought, OK? Concentrate on the positive, as the gurus say. </div>
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A nice car like that needs an equally nice computer system. So what would it be like? It would be nice, of course. What did you expect? </div>
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Seriously. </div>
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A GPS navigator is pretty much a given. A music player. Weather. A clock. ...and shit... I'm supposed to run all those side by side. Can't do that with iOS or Android. One app to conquer them all? No, running those all those apps is a bit difficult on those systems. One at a time. Switch-a-roo-tasking. </div>
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But there are other operating systems that would be good enough. The one that runs on my phone could have all those apps side by side without breaking a sweat. </div>
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So I'm experimenting with my phone hanging next to my own steering wheel. ...and things are going quite well...</div>
Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-28782715140569547862017-08-27T01:21:00.000+02:002017-08-27T01:21:09.453+02:00Got phone in pocketMinimalism is such a strange thing. Sometimes I need to spend more than just a little cash to get to where I want to be. The weird thing is that some of that spending leads to a life of less stuff.<br />
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I'll give you an example.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I've been unwell for a while so there's less of me now. That translates to roughly ten kilos. ...or simply put I used to be fat and now I'm plump. So I've bought a pair of jeans. A pair of chinos. Another pair of jeans. A pair of black jeans. Then there were these hybrid outdoor/urban trousers on sale at one of the local sports shops. 50 percent off. Grey. Too expensive anyway. Took weeks before I gravitated back to that shop and finally tried them on. Comfortable in an unfamiliar fashion. Much closer to my skin. More revealing. Didn't feel right, but I bought them.<br />
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A person needs more than one pair, though. But those were the last pair. The manufacturer ended that model. That explained the sale. But now I had the pants that people wanted me to wear and yet a place to put my phone. Leg pockets usually flop all over the place but these were inside instead. Sleek. Too bad these were among the last ones.<br />
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So I bought another pair of black jeans. Used those a couple of times and looked handsome. Had to keep my phone at hand because the pockets were too tight and my love lives on the end of one of those phone numbers. Never been so in love. So another pair of chinos. Black.<br />
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Came to my senses and went on vacation. Work fucked up my planning forcing me to spend the first week alone. So some shopping happened. The mall was freshly built and at almost a safe distance from home. Too bad vacation had to happen. Yes, I really thought that. Plenty of sports gear, of course, but outdoor stuff too. Outrageous stuff. Either urban with some large logos to show off the branding or high performance woodsman's fashion with astronomical pricetags and straps everywhere. With a heavy head from not drinking enough on a hot day I sat down on a park bench oddly located inside a concrete building. Was getting tired of shopping. Pulled the phone out of the leg pocket. A gun slinger with his trusted old weapon. A budget fully multitasking linux revolver. Bang! Some facebook group additions and some tweets by people I don't know either.<br />
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OK. There's this last shop to visit. The expensive one. I have a drink of ginger and lemon conjuring up enough reserves to get my behind off the bench. It's just a normal shop with too expensive stuff. Just pretend you can afford the stuff. Try the stuff on. Return the stuff to the lovely lady behind the counter and then leave. OK with that? Deep breath and get going, OK?<br />
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Not really OK with that but the lovely lady is really lovely and finds the only pair of trousers that fit my description. ...and I try them on. Perfect fit with a perfect price, needless to say, right. Redressed I step up to the counter. Expensive? Yes. Very much so. Very expensive but nice. Fresh from the factory but familiar.<br />
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The make has a model. The make is the same and so is the model. But these are black and lack the tiny leg pocket on the left side. And the waist cut is slightly lower. Hanging on my hip rather than waist. The favorites are back from the dead and even slimmer. But so am I. Slimmer. Too bad I shouldn't afford them.<br />
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The lovely lady is sweet and witty and probably a liar. She can't be serious. They cost that much? Excuse me but could you repeat that? Really?<br />
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She smiles as I walk out of the store with the undeads in a plastic bag with the logo of the expensive gear maker. History repeats itself and the last pair follows me on my journey home. They get washed twice before I wear them again. The fabric is different and breathes less. A third wash takes care of that.<br />
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Two pairs, both the last ones. Really the last ones, not just sales talk. Both sold at less than half the original price. Both with room for my phone.<br />
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Been thinking about upcycling the other trousers somehow. I don't need the jeans or chinos anymore. They lack that leg pocket. They dry too slow. They don't breathe. They don't pack well. They were cheaper one by one but...<br />
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Minimalism is such a strange thing, you know.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-10355625741953916592017-07-10T02:05:00.000+02:002017-07-10T02:05:20.731+02:00Tvättar natten ren så att jag kan sovaHej och gonatt. Klockan har halkat in på en ny dag men jag kan inte sova. Drömde så vackert om min älskade att det är svårt att somna om. Man vill för mycket, om ni förstår. Så tvättmaskinen får ta ett snabbprogram innan jag försöker igen. Under tiden så tittar jag kring mig i den lilla lägenheten. Det har blivit en del förändringar på sistone men det mesta är sig likt.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Lyssnar på musik. Två européer på vandring i både geografi och musikstilar. Mjukt och märkligt. Underbar nattmusik. Längtar mig bort ändå, fast det passar som soundtrack till vakendrömmarna. Det är samma högtalare som länge stått för välljudet härhemma. Små rackare som ändå fyller rummet ordentligt. Fast de är inte mina längre. Hon äger dem numera. Hon ville ha bra ljud hemma i vårt andra hem också. Kabinetten till de nya högtalarna står på golvet än i väntan på några saknade komponenter i delningsfiltren. Likadana med grädde på moset. Signaturvarianten som är aningen bättre. De är snart klara.<br />
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Det räcker med stereo. Lillan älskar film lika mycket som jag själv men musik är ändå viktigare. TV-kanalerna tas fortfarande emot med en enkel mottagare som anslutits till ett av USB-uttagen. Men högtalarna går varma med musik från världens alla vinklar och vrår. De låter förresten bättre nu när de får hela rummet som akustisk lekplats. Märkligt hur en annan möblering gör så stor skillnad.<br />
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Fast nu kommer ljudet ur en annan dator. ...och när den är tyst så är det verkligen knäpptyst. Till och med det närmast ultrasoniska vinandet från den tidigare datorn störde på natten. Hårdiskens mjuka knäppande också. De flesta nöjer sig med nästan tyst. Det gick inte att nöja sig så här. Den nya datorn har ingen fläkt eller hårddisk. Den blinkar inte heller, varken i blått eller vitt. Påslagen visas bara en svag vit glöd i strömbrytaren. Många tror faktiskt att det är en router som ligger på bordet. (Den lilla routern gömmer sig faktiskt överst på bokhyllan.)<br />
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På samma sätt tror besökare att den där stora bildskärmen som står på bordet vid fönstret är en TV. På sätt och vis är det ju det. Signalen tas emot med antenn och bilden kan ses i fullskärm. Fast bitarna kan bytas var för sig och det är svårt att hitta ett smartare underhållningssystem. SmartTV på ett lite fiffigare sätt. Så bitarna har bytts ut på vägen till det jag ville ha från början. Trettiotvå tum diagonalt. Signaturhögtalare och numera också bredband med bättre kapacitet. Behöver ingen högre hastighet men det är skönt att slippa bekymra sig om trafikmängder. Nu kan lillan se videosnuttar hur mycket hon vill, på stora systemet eller på sin bärbara.<br />
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I andra änden av det lilla rummet står min fuskfuton. Den är för övrigt för stor när kärleken inte är här. Den behöver inte förändras mer men jag klurar lite ändå. Sitter på kanten av den och skriver det här på den lilla begagnade bärbara som just flyttat in i hushållet. (Den gamla bärbara datorn flyttade söderut till vårt andra residens eftersom den behövdes bättre där.) Fuskfutonen har nu två lager skumgummimadrasser ovanpå trästommen. Det kanske skulle gå att ta bort ett av madrasslagren om man bytte ut den stumma bottnen mot en lamellbotten? Skulle vilja prova i lillans rum men det blir lite bökigt att få hem dem. Det är därför jag klurar. Skulle det fungera så blir det tillräckligt med ventilation under bädden och lamellerna skulle göra sängen lite lättare, lite lägre och lite enklare. De överblivna madrasslagren kan användas till annat, utom gränserna för vårt hushåll. Lite mindre att packa vid en flytt utan att komforten försämras.<br />
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Lilldatorn får stå på det lilla bordet framför fuskfutonen i natt. Det finns inte så mycket mer möbler i mitt rum numera. Avdelaren står kvar fast numera vid väggen som en vanlig bokhylla. Tvätten hänger på tork på en hopfällbar ställning. Tvättmaskinen var klar för några minuter sedan. Den stora fuskorientmattan är som ett tjuvödsligt torg framför den släckta skärmen på bänken vid fönstret. Som om hela rummet vilade på en flygande matta. Som om jag var Aladdin på väg till min prinsessa.<br />
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Jag gnuggar ljuset ur min lampa, sträcker ut mig på min bädd och tänker:<br />
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- Inte långt ifrån, faktiskt.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-18687262417728953882017-03-20T19:33:00.000+01:002017-03-20T19:33:56.130+01:00Färre än två men inte inget heller'"<span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">K</span><b><span style="color: #e69138;">lentrimret</span></b> hade lastats av brevid vägen. Grundskruvarna stod på en lastpall nere vid landsvägen och det skulle ta flera vändor med cykeln för att hämta dem. Hoppas batteriet skulle räcka. Kunde inte lämna dem därnere över natten. Att det inte gick att leverera till rätt ställe. GPS? Bah!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>De midjehöga stampade jordväggarna omgärdade en någotsånär jämn yta där klimatskalet skulle stå. Benen protesterade värkande efter gårdagens släpande och grävande när han högg in på att bygga fackverksbalkarna som ETFE-kuddarna skulle vila på. Plintskruvarna var begravda i jorden mellan murarna så att ingen skulle åka iväg med dem, men det hade varit mer jobb än han räknat med. Armarna och ryggen värkte också, men folien skulle komma senare i veckan så det fanns ingen större möjlighet att ligga på latsidan. Måtten på balkarna behövde inte vara sådär superexakta, men stommen måste tåla tyngden av snökanoner och styrkan av stormar, i värsta fall samtidigt, så slarv var inget alternativ. Vädret såg ut att hålla i sig så med lite tur skulle stommen bli riktigt bra. Tur var inget han brukade ha så han suckade och skred till verket. Var hade han lagt borrarna, tro? <br />
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Huttrande letade han sig ur tarptältet på morgonen. Det var inte kallt men han hade inte skyddat sig ordentligt mot solen i sin iver med balkarna. Han fick nog använda långärmat och ändå ta sig en siesta när solen stekte som värst. Huden skulle flaga av honom innan slutet av veckan, gissade han. Men redan låg flera balkar färdiga på planen innanför murarna, och fler skulle det bli nu när han klurat ut ett så effektivt sätt att få ihop dem på.<br />
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Dagarna fylldes med tungt arbete som sånär tog knäcken på honom. Särskilt ryggen och händerna tog stryk, och ordentligt med stryk fick de. Ändå var nätterna värst. Det var då demonerna dansade. Tältväven höll dem inte stången det minsta, men det skulle inte plastkuddarna göra heller. Om klimatskalet hade varit skelettet på en knölvalssångare så hade det kanske skyddat lite. Nu var det bara timmer, plåtar och bultar som sakta förbereddes på att få bära ett lager långsmala plastkuddar. Men balkarna sjöng redan dovt när han höll delarna i händerna och med knakande rygg drog bitarna rätt innan bultarna skulle i. Kanske sången i dem skulle hjälpa lite?<br />
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Fyra dagar senare började han resa sektionerna en efter en. Sakta drog handvinschen upp dem av otränat ömma men kraftigt utväxlade muskler. Batteriverktygen skulle han behöva senare så just nu fick armarna arbeta. Det vajade farligt när han skruvade fast stagen som skulle hålla dem bundna till varandra. Hade de kraftiga syntetrepen gått av då hade det gått illa. Den översta åsen var ett rent helvete att få ihop ensam men det gick ändå på något sätt. Han hoppades att den klämda ringfingertoppen skulle lyda honom nästa dag också. Det såg inte ut så men man kunde ju ändå hoppas, som sagt. Handsken var hur som helst historia. Han dekorerade den med ett gytter av besvärjelser i tusch när solen försvunnit nedanför bergskammen i öster. Naturligtvis blev det en liten haiku om bygget på handskens läder, men bara tokstollar som lärt sig läsa ninu skulle ha behållning av poesin. Här fanns det bara en sådan, dock. Blommorna i gult, rosa och lila blev fina, lite fjolliga i stilen bara.<br />
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Krysstagen bultades på plats och spändes med den långa nyckeln innan gavlarnas stolpar kunde sättas på plats. Det var ännu ganska tidigt på förmiddagen och nu var det bara att vänta. Inget hade, trots de evighetsältade och maniskt grundliga förberedelserna, gått snett. Han låg före i schemat.<br />
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Tid för ett bad i sjön, kanske?Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-68540463646360647592017-03-19T19:12:00.000+01:002017-03-19T19:12:43.383+01:00Exhale and inhale'"<br />
Imagine that you are standing outside a climate shell in the middle of a beautiful forrest clearing. The trees go on for kilometers in each direction but you're right where you should be. This is not at the far edge of civilisation, just one of the unheard vanilla edges, one of the don't-care-edges. Well, actually it's just close to the edge. ...on the undomesticated side of the border. The house lets nature through it, in every aspect of the word, but you are standing next to the electric car instead of being within the shell. You wouldn't be protected indoors anyway.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Tears are running down you face and they glitter in the intense radiation of the summer sun. And they keep coming, like rain that falls inside you and pour down your soul only to drain through your eyes.<br />
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You can see yourself from an above drone perspective. The top of the head and your shoulders slowly drift away as the view expands. Like the drone that isn't there lifts off into the sky. The the car is an odd shade of pale white, except the windshield, of course. After all, this is your car and you like driving. Why would the lack of fossil fuel stop you? <br />
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The clearing floats away and the view fills with trees. Deep green pines and spruces with the occasional birchtree. Or you could be imagining things. It could be african giants or sequoia or camphor. Your house is usually surrounded by familiar trees. Soft wood. It could be painted metal foil for all you know.<br />
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The lush green ends by the blue and the grey, a big lake with clear water on one side and something more concrete on the other. More than a hamlet or a village, more than a borough or a town. Urbanite crushes the forrest as the water does from an opposite direction. Yet the road to your house is several kilometers from the nearest shore or town. The clearing is somewhere in there but from this distance your eyes simply fail you. Even raptors would have to squint.<br />
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As the sphere shape becomes more and more visible a silent question lingers on your lips like a whisper or a tiny gasp for air. Will you be able to breathe in space? Of course not. But you're not in space so there is no need for concern. No drone could fly here except for that roton (a device born from splicing helicopter DNA with rocketery) they secretely perfected in Arizona decades ago.<br />
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Yet, even though you know that this is just a trick of the mind, you exhale and wait for the lungs to fill again. A scent of hack and apple flowers in the breeze is the last thing you remember before you black out with a sigh.<br />
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- - -<br />
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It is a bit like that to be inside that house in the deep forrest. Nature seeps into your soul there like the air leaks out of a faulty flight suit. Nature lives more within that house than outside it, trust me. If Paradise could have been saved inside a building then that house could be such a place.<br />
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And yet you're crying outside it.<br />
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<br />Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-51716607906045667972017-03-17T23:32:00.000+01:002017-03-17T23:32:38.014+01:00Goals...Reaching a goal depends on whether you have a goal or not.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-25316257040621159492017-03-13T20:21:00.002+01:002017-03-13T20:21:50.280+01:00Stripped and tinyTiny houses... There are so many ideas for those. But for some reason they all seem to follow the laptop train of thought. The building should be more expensive the smaller it gets. Luckily some people think differently and strive for simplicity without a price tag. Some of those ideas really stick, especially those that don't add anything. Those that instead strip things bare.<br />
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There was this bathroom, in a picture somewhere on the internet, with just one faucet. It used a bidet mixer coupled with a holder for a handheld showerhead above the basin. The hose was extra long and could be used for showers too as there was a second holder behind a curtain. The room was used in a japanese fashion so there was a small wooden stool. ...and the toilet was of the squatting type, by the way.<br />
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A kitchen somewhere else on the net was almost as minimalistic. A wooden counter with a single stainless steel sink with laundry grooves. Again with a single faucet. This time a mono-grip with a shower handle in a holder on the the front side of the sink. Everything else was hidden. Two induction hobs that stood on their sides inside a cupboard. A few knives tucked into a drawer. Washing bowls behind a curtain under the bench. Spoons were sized for measuring, bowls (regardless of size) and bottles too. Even the forks and knives had clever markings designed for that. Plates were small as the entire meal was served in helpings, usually starting with a salad. Some meals replaced the plates entirely with bowls, bigger ones for food and smaller ones for liquids.<br />
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On a raised platform, in yet another picture found on the net, there was a sofabed in front of the smartTV in the "living room". Under two layers of mattresses there was a storage bench. A bed, usually for guests, could be arranged by sliding the mattresses down onto the carpet, thus transforming the storage bench into a bedside desk. The quilts were tucked into covers to form pillows. The children of the house usually pulled the mattresses halfway down. The packed quilts then became seats for their parents on the storage bench. Meals were often served on a foldable table on the thick carpet in japanese style. The other mattresses of the house were kept folded in a large cupboard and spread on the floor in the evenings.<br />
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Simple ideas that could reduce the otherwise high cost of building tiny. <br />
<br />Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-81739531730648338942016-09-04T03:03:00.001+02:002016-09-04T03:05:31.989+02:00Dad's machine'"It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. Building my dad's computer, that is. It takes skill, tenacity and empathy. But it is possible, it really is.<br />
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He shocked me one day as we were drinking coffee in his small living room. He wanted to have a computer. Mostly for bank stuff on the net, but also for keeping in touch with family and friends. He didn't like computers, he told me, but he needed one anyway.<br />
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How would it fit? There was plenty of space available for a computer even though the apartment was small. There was a desk that mom had used for reading newspapers. The machine that enlarged the text for her old and radiation damaged eyes had been returned to the hospital after she passed away. That's how things are done here. The desk wasn't empty but there was room left for a computer.<br />
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But dad needed the computer in his living room, where his TV is. It is a comfortable room with a lot of clocks. There's a sofa for sitting and napping. A clever recliner adds another cozy place to curl up in, even when not watching TV. It's right next to the stove, you know. Surely there would be room for a computer on the table but it would block the view of the bigger screen. A laptop would keep its head down but it would fill up the table. A tablet, perhaps? No, the touch keyboard wouldn't work for him. He's been pushing mechanical keys all his life. Linotypes, typewriters and photosetters. There had to be some sort of keyboard that he could feel. But where would the rest of the computer go?<br />
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And what about the cables? His TV had all the necessary sockets for viewing stuff from a hard disk, but the cables would snake across the floor. Tripwires and stoves don't mix. Unless the computer hides behind the TV.<br />
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I had that sinking feeling by now. The hardware was leaning increasingly towards the solution in my own home. But dad isn't a computer geek. He doesn't even like computers. But what if the same kind of computer would work for him too? He didn't have any bad habits from other systems, after all. He would wield a remote without hesitation. And that big TV had a really nice display. I still had my doubts, but the idea made sense. <br />
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One mitigating circumstance was the fact that my own system had been getting gradually better at not being annoying. The process has taken years.<br />
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If you think about it... A TV is a box of parts that have evolved by layering for decades. Each new function has been bolted to the existing stuff. And every new function gets another remote. Adding a computer would bolt another layer to that mess. But dad's computer could cut through those layers, intercept the signal from the antenna, decode it and feed it back to the display and speakers. <br />
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The funny thing is that the idea works in practise too. The computer hides neatly behind the flatscreen and a mouse replaces the remote. To dad it's still a TV, though. But that is fine for now. No need to rush things.<br />
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He's using a computer now, whether he thinks about it or not...Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-44521122391505188442015-12-04T00:13:00.000+01:002015-12-27T01:25:51.728+01:00Väck inte den cykel som soverNu är det ungefär en månad kvar till min födelsedag. Det betyder att folk frågar mig om vad jag önskar mig.<br />
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Jag önskar mig en cykel. ...nästan.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Det är egentligen inte så mycket jag behöver. Mitt lilla hushåll räcker till för mig. Lillan skulle behöva lite mer förvaring men det är en helt annan historia. För mig räcker grejorna till. ...åtminstone <i>inne</i> i lägenheten.<br />
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För att spara miljön och hushållskassan så vill jag nämligen köra mindre bil. Staden jag bor i är inte så stor. Trots att jobbet ligger på andra sidan av stan - längst bort, faktiskt - så blir det inte så långt att cykla.<br />
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Motionen kommer att göra mig gott även om jag faktiskt rör mig rätt bra annars också. Cykeln ger möjlighet att ta sig någonstans, inte bara till jobbet.<br />
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Det krångliga är att jag vill ha en <b>annorlunda</b> cykel.<br />
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Lite bakgrundsfakta först, dock. Ni känner mig rätt bra numera, eller hur? Det är mycket underliga tankar som rör sig i huvudet. Sandaler och fuskfutoner, växthushus och datorer. Jag behöver inte vara som folk är mest eftersom jag ändå har så liten inverkan på omgivningen. Med andra ord är jag fortfarande tämligen mycket en ensamvarg. Det har inte bara nackdelar, vet ni. Eftersom det mesta jag gör inte berör (eller ens intresserar) andra så kan jag välja att göra saker och ting på det sätt jag tycker är vettigast.<br />
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Så har det varit med både sandalerna och fuskfutonerna. Det är just genom att klura lite och våga lite och mickla lite som de har kommit till. Mest av allt är de ändå resultaten av alla de där tankarna som ältas och åter ältas.<br />
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Det är faktiskt lite roligt att fundera på födelsedagen. Rejält ironiskt är det minsann. Ensamvargen ska firas. Det är faktiskt så att jag skrockar för mig själv när tanken svävar förbi.<br />
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Så... Jag vill ha en liggcykel i födelsedagspresent. ...ja, nästan.<br />
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En liggcykel (eller recumbent som det heter på engelska) är inget konstigt i sig. Det är en cykel som är lägre och där man sitter som i favoritfåtöljen med fötterna på fotpallen. Idén är att minska belastningen på ändalykten och samtidigt minska luftmotståndet.<br />
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Det finns naturligtvis olika former av liggcyklar som man skulle kunna berätta ganska mycket om och som jag besparar er just nu. Det jag önskar mig är en <b>python</b> liggcykel. En liggcykel av den typen styr man med fötterna. Händerna används bara för växlingar och bromsning.<br />
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Ett problem med att köpa en liggcykel är att de måste anpassas till ägaren. Skräddarsys, om man så vill säga. Länge tänkte jag att jag måste bygga den själv men det verkar som om det bästa sättet att få något gjort är att samarbeta, helst med någon som kan lite mer just om svetsning eller lödning. Sånt.<br />
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Så här kan en liggcykel av python-typ se ut.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gnvSV1uSeksFGPFjjhiyerXJQh3RTJd4FZ-3zha9mb2F5K0Zfvta3gMt6TEgDFi4S72TgIDwRYBocxNgTzz184zo2HXDQS-LGNS5hm0CVom7FFf8D4C_rFlHVniZbg8bf8aXPr-9xKl6/s1600/marcs_python.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gnvSV1uSeksFGPFjjhiyerXJQh3RTJd4FZ-3zha9mb2F5K0Zfvta3gMt6TEgDFi4S72TgIDwRYBocxNgTzz184zo2HXDQS-LGNS5hm0CVom7FFf8D4C_rFlHVniZbg8bf8aXPr-9xKl6/s320/marcs_python.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Marcs python</b>, byggd av Dirk Bonné. </td></tr>
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På bilden visar Marc var Dirk ska placera handtagen. Hjulen är tjugo tum stora och bakhjulet har en enkel fjädring. ...och när bilden tas är cykeln inte färdig. Det saknas reglage och skärnar, bland annat.<br />
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Naturligtvis blir min cykel annorlunda. ...och då är det en annan pythoncykel som varit förebild. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1MvofviazIa0U0BXrEShLglPcjC7a8cAwmP11Tud-LYVta0yji6bNAF-PpSw8xiEfb7UqA5LISSqaDUNaRJBCYDyaRNAQmTINBLz89tLv_v-SjAc6HS8pME07VzA9gURi9XOlTX9XW2v/s1600/monytest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1MvofviazIa0U0BXrEShLglPcjC7a8cAwmP11Tud-LYVta0yji6bNAF-PpSw8xiEfb7UqA5LISSqaDUNaRJBCYDyaRNAQmTINBLz89tLv_v-SjAc6HS8pME07VzA9gURi9XOlTX9XW2v/s320/monytest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olaf Johanssons <b>Monty</b>,</td></tr>
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<div>
Olafs cykel har blivit pensionerad för flera år sedan. Den var tänkt att vikas ihop för resor med buss och tåg, men den kunde inte fällas ihop tillräckligt. Den intressanta detaljen med Monty är att den inte har frihjulsnav. Nästan alla pythoncyklar bromsas med händerna men inte den här. Så den kan cyklas med bara benen. Nästan. Växla måste man fortfarande göra med handen.<br />
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Så en cykel liknande den Marc har fast fotbromsad som Monty.<br />
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Med rätt sorts hjul behövs inte fjädring heller. Marc cyklar på gatsten så det skumpar mer än vanligt där. För mig skulle ballongdäck ge tillräckligt med fjädring. Googla på "Schwalbe Big Apple" så förstår ni.<br />
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Den sista detaljen som jag funderar över är hjuldiametern. Olaf hade 16 tum, Marc (och Dirk) 20 tum och Jürgen Magens (som hittade på pythoncykeln) har 26 tums hjul från en mountainbike.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMv9KF9OuWClzFWjCGx4n6gFD7WaixsASMIoPOx33GHWwqk8o-f_0wgqH_YmMDYf3lqW6odGuBmTzdSywQ_TJlHyzkf9FrPXgMN8KJ-4GQOTzwjiJqrowb8t7j2BSZV-av51zlaCvkQSOU/s1600/p3.python.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMv9KF9OuWClzFWjCGx4n6gFD7WaixsASMIoPOx33GHWwqk8o-f_0wgqH_YmMDYf3lqW6odGuBmTzdSywQ_TJlHyzkf9FrPXgMN8KJ-4GQOTzwjiJqrowb8t7j2BSZV-av51zlaCvkQSOU/s320/p3.python.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jürgen Magens på sin <b>P3</b>.</td></tr>
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Troligen får mitt bygge 20 tums hjul. Utbudet av nya såväl som begagnade delar är tillräckligt bra. Lillan har samma storlek på sin cykel så jag har kunnat jämföra hemma. Framhjulet (som brukar sitta bak på vanliga cyklar) blir troligen tre- eller femväxlat. <span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Om ni som läser detta verkligen vill göra mig glad så går ni ihop och låter tillverka ett </span><b><span style="color: #e69138;">drivhjul med sju växlar, fotbroms och lite kraftigare ekrar</span></b><span style="color: #e69138;">.</span></span> Det blir troligen den dyraste delen på cykeln.<br />
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Glömde nämna att jag tänker prova att cykla utan styre till att börja med. Mest för att det gör bygget enklare. Med fotbroms minskar behovet av handtag. ...och man styr ju ändå med benen. Om det inte fungerar så får jag lösa det senare.<br />
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Så det är det jag menar med att jag önskar mig en liggcykel fast bara nästan. Det jag önskar mig är <span style="color: #b45f06;">möjligheten att </span><b><span style="color: #e69138;">skapa</span></b><span style="color: #b45f06;"> cykeln</span>. Det mesta tänker jag betala själv men all hjälp jag kan få mottages med glädje.<br />
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Om jag får som jag vill så kan jag börja cykla på våren. Det första är att jag måste lära mig cykla igen. En python är tillräckligt annorlunda för att det ska behövas träning... </div>
Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-730194447132572792015-10-11T15:45:00.000+02:002015-10-11T15:45:17.895+02:00Fler fuskfutoner i hushålletIbland sker inte utvecklingen i stadigt långsamma steg. Ibland kastar den sig fram utan minsta förvarning. Så blev det med lillans säng. Ena dagen skulle hon <i>absolut <b>inte</b></i> byta ut den mot något annat och andra dagen så undrade hur lång tid det skulle ta att bygga en fuskfuton eller två åt henne också.<br />
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Vad svarar man på en sådan fråga?<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Det var snart dags för hennes födelsedag. Diskussionerna gick hit och dit om hur hon skulle fira den. Till slut bestämde hon sig för att det nog skulle bli pyjamasparty. Det skulle bara bli några kompisar som sov över hos henne. ...och det var därför hon undrade om fuskfutonerna. Skulle hon kunna få en ny säng i födelsedagspresent?<br />
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Och vi som redan köpt henne en ny mobiltelefon! (Hennes gamla höll ju faktiskt på att falla sönder, trots att hon tagit bra hand om den).<br />
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Det fanns några av delarna i garderoben redan så varför inte? Jysk skulle alltså få besök inom kort.<br />
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Tanken var att använda exakt samma konstruktion som i min egen säng. Det skulle köpas en hel bunt av de billigaste täckena som sedan skulle stoppas in i vanliga påslakan. Det blev nästan så. Just den veckan som inköpen skulle göras så var det rea. Det fanns ett tjockare täcke till ett riktigt bra pris. Troligen skulle fuskfutonerna bli dyrare med de täckena men hur mycket? För att ta reda på det stod jag med mobilens miniräknare alldeles vid butikens entré när en av expediterna lite oroligt undrade om hon kunde hjälpa mig med något. Hon trodde nog att jag var en så'n där rapportör för shoppingkvalitetsundersökarföretag vaddenuheter. Jag lugnade henne genom att visa Jollatelefonens riktigt kluriga kalkylatorapp. Hon sken upp och berättade att hennes kollegor hade berättat historier om en kund som bygger sängar av täcken. Så jag fick lova henne att betala kalaset i hennes kassa.<br />
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När jag räknat ut hur många täcken som skulle behövas av de olika sorterna och gjort ett snabbt överslag om kostnaden så blev valet att använda de dyrare men tjockare till lillans fuskfuton. Priset blev bara tvåhundra kronor mer. Tjejen i kassan blev ändå nöjd. Det var rätt många täcken ändå. ...och så fick hon ett nytt kapitel att berätta för sina kollegor. Undrar vad de säger om sin tämligen tokiga kund egentligen. Av hennes leende att döma så får de i alla fall ett gott skratt i fikarummet nu och då.<br />
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Det tog två kvällar att packa in madrasserna och täckena i sina påslakan. Lillan var hos sin mamma då så när hon dök upp hos mig blev gjädjen desto större. ...och pyjamasnatten gick alldeles utmärkt.<br />
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De tjockare täckena gör hennes fuskfutoner fluffigare. Ett lager skummadrasser och en fuskfuton räcker för småtjejer som övernattar så sängen bäddas på tvären i rummet då. Den räcker nästan hela vägen från vägg till garderob. Glappet är bara en decimeter, trots allt. En så stor säng ser man inte dagligen oavsett hur gammal man är. Nästan tre meter brett räcker för lillans pyjamaspartyn, vilket var orsaken till att sängen byggdes.<br />
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Normalt är sängens delar staplade på varandra för en aningens smal tvåpersonersbädd. Två lager av Jysks billigaste madrasser och två fuskfutoner. Lillan tycker om att sova varmt med svalt i rummet så hennes täcken (jodå, förutom täckena inuti fuskfutonerna så finns flera andra täcken att välja på), de är tjocka och varma. Sängen är dessutom förberedd för två så hon kan lyxa till det med två tjocka täcken om hon vill. Hon har kuddar i sin säng men sover brevid dem eftersom de tjocka fuskfutonerna fungerar fint som kudde också.<br />
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Två fuskfutonsängar gör att hushållet nu kan husera en bunt gäster om så behövs. Åtta vuxna kan sova någotsånär bekvämt.<br />
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Om jag skulle bygga en tredje (vilket <i>absolut <b>inte</b></i> behövs i det här hushållet) så skulle den nog byggas som lillans. Fluffigheten ligger närmare det jag vill uppnå och inomhustemperaturen kan sänkas mer på natten eftersom fluffet värmer bättre.<br />
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Få se om det blir fler fuskfutoner. Vårt lilla basläger börjar bli klart.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-13528093150035753732015-09-26T19:35:00.000+02:002015-09-26T19:46:36.697+02:00Keyboard meditation"'Most of my days were bad but this was worse. The house was filled with echoes. The sun outside was setting and the beams shrunk, silently creaking. The rain had stopped by four or so but the roof was still wet. The last rays of the sun seemed to drip down into the ground. No wind was blowing and the flaming maples drooped without even a whisper.<br />
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I had all the time in the world to test this tiny computer. In fact, there was really nothing else to do tonight.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
There were cables. I liked that. Cables connected the parts, not airwaves. I guess Dimitri knew what he was doing when he assembled the parts into the old smartphone shell. Although he liked the once so popular steampunk style and lavishly decorated everything in laser engraved brass and exquisite jems this device was built for me. There was only a tiny splinter of sandalwood fitted into the left side of it. I couldn't tell how it was attached but one thing was certain. The craftsman hated glue so it held on to the rest of the shell by some other means. The splinter was probably infused with some citrus oil too, by the scent of it I guessed at bergamott. I wasn't sure, though.<br />
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Basically the device was black glass and white plastic. Nothing fancy at all. It was supposed to be like that. Dimitri never made anything less than perfect. He once worked for Vertu and continued building wearables through the hard years. He wasn't an old man yet but could probably teach the experts in the old firm a thing or two. He lived in Finland now, on an island in one of the bigger lakes in the south, with his two dogs. ...or beasts, really. Each of the mutts were big, black, clever and fast. There were some rumours going around that he cloned them - or something worse. With Dimitri it could well be true. He really was a jack of all trades. But the dogs were really wonderful, despite their menacing looks, at least they were to me.<br />
<br />
The cables slipped into the slots without much effort. The last cable attached the four-port hub to the photovoltaic accumulators integrated into the milky polycarbonate roof. One strange thing about those tribal-made accumulators was that there was a prayer etched into the titanium oxide. I had seen it with a USB microscope. It was written with ninu characters but in an islamic calligraphic style. The prayer was a transformation of a passage from the Tao te Ching about how the whole gets devided. The tribals were strange in that sense. There were no limits between anything. Science and religion wasn't separated. Knowledge was the art and the art was knowledge. Everything was one. The white panels were part of my roof, they were the collectors of sunlight and they were the storage of electricity. And as soon as the cable connected them to the hub everything was breathing in sync.<br />
<br />
The bigger display woke up, softly as if the sun rose. There was a picture of a forrest at dawn with Dimitri's dogs. Dark shadows among the shadows of the trees. The message was clear. <i>Prove yourself, friend.</i> That is what the dogs meant. When setting foot on his island you would meet the dogs. No alarms or electronic handshakes were necessary.<br />
<br />
The zabuton and zafu waited for me on the floor. Gifts from friends in far away places. Subtle but masterpieces nonetheless. The gifts surrounded me in our small home but I felt lonely as I sat down. The evening was chilly but the alpacka poncho kept the body warm. And yet my head was cold. A sinking cloud of dry ice.<br />
<br />
A barely noticable flash identified my person to the computer system by analysing the infrared photo of my face. It would verify a lot of other parameters too. For one thing, I would need to be alive to authenticate. This wasn't one of my best days but Hades still had to wait.<br />
<br />
A keyboard, a computer, a hub, and a larger display. There was nothing expected from me. Nothing to search for or fetch. No chores.<br />
<br />
With the keyboard in my lap I started typing. After a while the mind let go and let the finger memories flow freely.<br />
<br />
The first keyboard meditation in years. The government would not be happy this time either.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-78272492609106471622015-09-13T23:58:00.000+02:002015-09-13T23:58:39.051+02:00Det här med bara gråa dagarLivet är fullt av gråa dagar. Inte bara vardagen bjuder på slentrian och jämnjävlighet. Det smetas in över helgerna också. Den där kalla blöta filten glider in förbi helgmålsringningen. Ibland får även rena festdagarna ducka för gråheten. Firandet dränks i jante och apati.<br />
<br />
Inte ens de nära och käras viktiga dagar tycks gå säkra när det mulnar på.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Man tar i för att det ska bli bra, fast på ett ödmjukt och diskret vis. För mig blir det extra komplicerat eftersom jag länge inte visste om det var mitt besök eller presenten som uppskattades. Man törs ju inte chansa heller utan köper för dyrt och pråligt. Affärerna trivs med det, milt sagt. Då har marknadsföringen fungerat. PR-firman får bonus och spenderar en del av den på krogen efter jobbet. Alla är glada och skrattar hela vägen till banken.<br />
<br />
Låt dem göra det.<br />
<br />
Det blir fel ändå, men inte av den anledningen att man spenderar för mycket eller för att presenterna är för exklusiva. ...utan för att man <b>inte tar i tillräcklig mycket för de som förtjänar det.</b><br />
<br />
Det är som med skyltsöndag. Den försvann i ett hav av grå filt. Inte hustomtens vadmal utan den där kalla och blött luddiga dimman. Man slutade hålla andan inför skyltningen. Det blev övertidsarbete istället för nyfikna förväntningar. Den spänning som vi upplevde är borta nu. Det såldes för lite när kunderna bara drack glögg och skrattade med varandra utanför. Julen börjar i september för att kompensera. Pengarna ska ju rulla in. Att man i samma veva lät de redan skräckslagna Halloween-monstren simma med fiskarna för att göra plats för Fader Nikolaus nya och förbättrade motorväg var väntat.<br />
<br />
Problemet är att man inte riktigt toppar formen när det verkligen gäller. De spektakulära skyltningarna den söndagen byttes mot små notiser i dagstidningen eller annonsbladet. Ett par rader under helgens REA-priser. Halloween blev en snuvig och rent av begagnad lösnäsa där mörkret borde vara som mest blodisande.<br />
<br />
Samma elände drabbar till sist födelsedagarna. "Fira mig inte för jag åker till stugan för att slippa serva er med tårta och kaffe på min egen födelsedag." "Tack för presentkorten, de var fina, men ni visste väl egentligen att det inte var ytterligare ett skruvdragare jag behövde utan kramar och någon som lyssnade för en gångs skull." "Jaha, då var man ett år äldre (och därmed närmare graven) igen."<br />
<br />
Mina egna födelsedagar brukade vara eländiga, rent av. Jag fyller år när de sista dropparna av entusiasm förbrukats vid nyår. Alla låg flämtande på sofflocket, halvvägs in i den där extrema tomheten som väntar när utebelysningarna släcks i mitten av januari. Så är dock inte fallet numera. Min familj och särskilt min fästmö ser till att lyfta mitt självförtroende och dessutom bjuda på en hel dags smaskigt gofika i glada vänners lag. Hon är guld värd hela året, min underbara kvinna, och hon förgyller särskilt min födelsedag. Den dagen är bättre än julafton numera. ...åtminstone för mig.<br />
<br />
Så när hon fyllde år så gjorde jag mitt bästa för att skämma bort henne. Jag ville att hon skulle känna hur mycket hon betyder för mig genom att plocka bär med henne och knåda hennes värkande nack- och ryggmuskler både länge och (lekmannamässigt) väl. Det var inte bara ett pliktskyldigt slit för att hon skulle ha det bra utan en ren njutning att få vara så intim med den jag älskar så innerligt.<br />
<br />
Men jo, det fanns sånt som jag kunde gjort bättre. Jag borde inte varit lutherskt återhållsam i mitt firande den helgen och på hennes födelsedag. Jag skulle begripit bättre än att vara subtil med mina känslor för henne just de dagarna. Jag gjorde mitt bästa men försäsongsträningen borde varit intensivare så att dagsformen varit bättre. Jag borde ha toppat formkurvan till just de dagarna och varit ingenting mindre än en exploderande supernova för dig då, älskade.<br />
<br />
Jag skulle lyft av dig den grådaskiga tyngden och skamlöst omslutit dig i min kärleks fulla höstsol då. Skämt bort dig utav bara attan.<br />
<br />
Dessutom behöver jag tillåta mig bli ett kriminellt geni inför jantelagen och ösa ur de djupaste av mitt hjärtas skrymslen över alla mina nära och kära. De viktiga och vackra högtidsdagarna får inte blekna till mer av den kyligt drypande dimman.<br />
<br />
Det finns alldeles för många gråa dagar redan.Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-57557150651391138572014-11-10T23:32:00.000+01:002014-12-02T20:58:58.334+01:00J2 is not a phone"'This article is a reprint from [fake] magazine. The author of the original has allowed us to publish the entire article with only one limitation. He states that all facts are fictive and should not be spread to naïve viewers on the world wide web. ...especially not to those who are anxiously waiting to replace their [brand] smartphone.<br />
<br />
It is highly irregular to compare the release of an electronic device with the making of a classic work of art. Therefore we usually refrain from such practices, so even in this case.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><i>Maybe that takes care of it, maybe not. People think my hopes and guesses are real and use them as ground for statements in almost any direction. But fiction is always like quicksand. I ask for your apologies in advance, just in case. </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Design</span></b></span><br />
The Jolla J2 looks pretty much like the company's first smartphone. The OtherHalf remains compatible which gives it the distinct layered look typical for a Jolla device. No extra buttons or slots have been added to the edges. Your keyboard and glucose meter will fit this phone too. <br />
<br />
The front of the phone has been changed. There are reinforcement parts top and bottom. These can be replaced with after-market parts. The sample that Jolla sent us has matte black plastic parts but we've also seen them done in brass and anodized aluminium.<br />
<br />
A chamfer now starts at the lower edge of the display and ends at the bottom of the device. This subtle wedge of a change makes the notification end of the phone different than the other edges. <br />
<br />
The display is 4.7" with a resolution of 720x1280px with amoLED technology. Everything about this display beats the one on the first Jolla. There is a low power mode now that allows notifications on a sleeping phone. Driving or sailing at night also works well thanks to the display technology. Daylight viewing is good, although not perfect. The LED notification indicator has been kept and is useful for getting the attention of more numb users. A very nice choice by Jolla. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Open</span></b></span><br />
Under the OtherHalf cover there are some news too. The replaceable battery is slightly larger and has a capacity of almost 2500 mAh. Extra batteries are available from the Jolla store. The microSD socket supports memories up to 64GB and now sits beside two SIM sockets. Yes, this is a dual SIM device. Both connections support full 4G speeds.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Deeper</span></b></span><br />
The heart of the J2 is a Qualcomm SnapDragon 610 coupled to 4GB RAM and 16GB internal memory. Remember that the J2 runs the very lightweight SailfishOS linux distribution instead of Android so the middle-class hardware still allows for some dazzling speeds. Think of it this way. The engine of the car might seem quite modest but the rest of it is so light that it still qualifies as a supercar. So the Jolla J2 isn't the Ferrari of smartphones, it's the Lotus among them. The phone isn't just fast, it keeps running after others have quit. ...and I absolutely love Jolla for not skimping on the memory size. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Senses</b></span></span><br />
For photographers there is more good news. The camera is now 13 Mp and takes good pictures even in low light situations. The flash has two LED light sources that are combined for the best results. ...and they can be used for notifications too. <br />
<br />
The microphones are impressive. There are three of them. Talking is very noise-free and both audio and video recordings sound great in stereo. I wonder if Jolla has licensed some technology from Nokia for the microphones. <br />
<br />
A built-in compass, a quick GPS and improved navigation software takes care of most needs. A barometer adds to the outdoor experience along with thermometer and bluetooth sensor support. The accelerometer is very sensitive and there are some apps to help improve running posture and efficiency already. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Talk</span></b></span><br />
Communications are excellent. The SoC supports almost all mobile bands and has good reception. A crowd of different messaging protocols are natively supported. The mail system and browser have been improved immensely and now sports a very "unlike" user interface. A sign of Jolla's current success is that the days of blocked clients are gone. <br />
<br />
Bluetooth devices work perfectly with the J2. The new Hook headset by Jolla is of course the perfect match for it, but as with other aspects the choice is up to you. But it is hard for other makers to match the quality of the voice sent by the Hook. There's two channels for the microphones and the phone then does the signal processing with a much better DSP than anyone can pack into a tiny earpiece. The result isn't perfect but pretty close. It is a very unlike solution suggested by the techie users at Together, the Jolla forum. The headset is much more interactive than the norm. A push of the button could give you the time, as an example, not just the status of the bluetooth connection. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Secrets</span></b></span><br />
Good
security comes from removing nooks and crannies. The lean nature of
SailfishOS comes from a philosophy of removing bloat. The size of the
system is smaller and thus easier to maintain. The smaller amount of code
means that there are fewer bugs and that malicious software has a hard
time hiding.<br />
<br />
The cloud service for Jolla has been created together with Younite, a company in the European F-Secure group. An app for Younite was released during the autumn but the J2 spearheads full integration of the cloud service. And there are other choices as well. While talking about internet services it is important to stress the fact that there is no default account. Everyone is optional. <br />
<br />
A database keeps track of everything installed in the phone. It is possible to see when an app has been installed and from what source. The same RPM-based database keeps track of the files of each software package and even verifies them automatically while charging the phone. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Software</span></b></span><br />
There are four types of software for the J2, only one of them being apps. The open-source nature of the system allows most apps to be stripped down to the bare essentials by using all resources of the Sailfish operating system. Additional features can be added to other levels of the system, which is a true liberation compared to most alternatives. Yes, there are fewer apps in the Jolla software manager but there is also very little bloat. Each app tends to be more spartan on a Jolla. Instead of one app with everything built-in the real multitasking of SailfishOS lets multiple apps combine on the phone's dashboard-ish home screen. The active cover of each app is updated in realtime and switching from one to another is a breeze. Want to play a quick Youtube while listening to music? No problems. <br />
<br />
The new software manager lets the user choose from a directory of channels. This allows users to see only the software they requested. Even commercial app repositories can be found with sets of channels in the directory. A quite common way of handling software on a modern Linux laptop, but this is the first time we've seen it on a phone. We actually like it very much after the initial shock has subsided.<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></b></span><br />
If you still have the curiosity and drive to learn something better you should go for a Jolla smartphone. The J2 is among the best of the best phones out there and we don't need to recommend it. This is a power tool for a professional, nothing less. The buttons and bloat are missing but less really is more with this device.<br />
<br />
There is only one thing that might make you hesitate. Rumours of a smaller phone are abundant. If your fingers don't stretch far enough to reach all points of the display then it might be a better choice. But remember that the J3 still is just a shadowy rumour. <br />
<br />
The Jolla J2 isn't just a reality. In some ways it'll blow your mind. <br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"></span>Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-32780060382295667462014-11-09T15:10:00.000+01:002014-11-09T15:10:22.306+01:00J2 - Careful what you wish for"'One of the rules that guides my life is "be happy with the scraps you get". There has been few times that I have wished upon a star if you know what I mean. But even a blind chicken stumbles upon some corn.<br />
<br />
The Jolla phone was one of those rare occasions. It took years of wishful thinking to finally get a complete Linux system in a phone form factor. ...and it didn't take a miracle either, just some Finnish sisu.<br />
<br />
The days pass and the Jolla is my main phone. My only one to be honest. It goes where I go and serves me well.<br />
<br />
So it was only logical to start hoping for a smaller phone that my fiancé and our two children could use. My head has been orbiting that task for most of this year, you know that. During all those hours thinking about the smaller phone for my loved ones, the thought of the next phone for myself has been put aside in a more shadowy part of my soul. Wishing for oneself is dangerous and should be avoided.<br />
<br />
But today I will make an exception to that rule.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><i>This was supposed to be a comment at JollaUsers.com but after three failed attempts I simply gave up and wrote things down here instead. </i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Jolla J2</span></b></span><br />
<br />
Some mistakes are really beneficial, but I was pretty sure that my days as a reporter for [censored] were coming to an end that day. Basically I f-ed up and was saved by some unknown deity and a little girl.<br />
<br />
I was supposed to cover the new phone releases at MWC but got off to a bad start. To make a lengthy story much shorter I was very very very late to the exhibition area. As I was just an extra hand (and pair of eyes) the smaller manufacturers was my lot. Watching the Samung demos would have been fantastic but I would have been happy to be part of the Sony crowd too. I actually did beg my editor, but she just sneered. So I was stuck with the minor makers and by now I had missed most of them. On top of that my head was aching and let's not talk about the taste in my mouth, ok?<br />
<br />
The queue to the beverages that I so badly needed felt eternal. After twenty minutes it had barely moved. But I would only return to humanity after quenching my thirst so there wasn't much else to do. Looking around didn't reveal much. A crowd is a crowd in all parts of the world. The only difference here was that everyone were flashing their phones. A sight that cut my already sore eyes. All that fancy hardware would be someone else's job next year. The expensive electronics dangling on necklaces mocked me silently. No scorning looks were needed. No shouting nor pointed fingers. The message was clear. "Early bird gets the worm but you overslept." I bowed my head down in shame as the queue shifted a bit. <br />
<br />
To my surprise there was a phone next to my shoe. Little did I know that by picking up this pearl I would lift myself above the rest of the reporters in the pen. <br />
<br />
The display lit up in my hand. The four inch or so screen showed a subtle lock screen with a background filled with white horses. Clearly the phone of a girl. Nice. On top of all my other worries I now had a phone to return to someone. But how?<br />
<br />
The line shifted a bit again, unexpectedly soon. And again. Maybe i would get something to drink today after all? The beautiful salespeople fluttered around like butterflies now and they were smiling too. Weird.<br />
<br />
My hand buzzed. No, it was the phone. It probably played some kind of ringtone too but that was lost in the noises of the happy crowd.<br />
<br />
"Hello?"<br />
<br />
A male voice on the other end greeted me and politely asked me where I was. Couldn't really place the accent but is was definitely not British. German, perhaps? Nah. <br />
<br />
"I'm at one of the tents close to the Sony booth."<br />
<br />
Two minutes later a family of four shows up, obviously looking for something or someone. The youngest of the daughters taps her headset and the phone in my hand wakes up. I simply lift it up above my head and wave it around a bit.<br />
<br />
The next minute I'm being dragged away from the safety of the café into the wild territories. The family talks to each other in languages that I can't understand but most of it has to be Swedish. The two girls change languages all the time, as if they're experimenting with them. Spanish? Finnish? My own mouth is like a sandstorm in Sahara. <br />
<br />
They take me straight to a boat inside one of the booths. Yes, a real one, with oars and everything. The lady of the family talks a few words to a chinese-looking woman and promplty gets a bag. From it she pulls out an unmarked glass bottle and hands it to me.<br />
<br />
"Here. Drink it all if you like, we have more. it's mead made from honey."<br />
<br />
The bottle was cool in my hands and the scent of it wonderful. I felt like a character in a fantasy story as I raised the bottle to my dry lips. The Asian woman smiled at me. The sounds of the crowd were almost quiet as if they were waiting for me. I drank. <br />
<br />
"Well?" asked the man of the family.<br />
<br />
I was out of words. He laughed and nodded as I took another swig. ...and another.<br />
<br />
"There's nothing magic about it, you know." he said when the last drops fell on my tongue. "It's Sima. Made of fresh lemons and those are easy to find here."<br />
<br />
The younger of the two girls was waiting for me. She didn't say a word but she expected me to follow her nonetheless. A man standing next to me saw her serious face and laughed.<br />
<br />
"You won't be disappointed" he said.<br />
<br />
She took me to a counter and gave me a phone.<br />
<br />
"Charge." she said with a soft voice. It was easy to tell that English wasn't her native tongue, but she was easy to understand. There was a black cable that i attached to the top of my phone. She connected another cable to the bottom of her phone and placed it sideways next to a matching keyboard. She clicked an app and the sixteen inch monitor next to her phone lit up.<br />
<br />
"Now you do."<br />
<br />
I looked for the same app and yes, the larger monitor next to me woke up too.<br />
<br />
She didn't tell me much. Perhaps her English wasn't good enough. But she showed me how the phone could be used as a computer too. It wasn't spectacular but quick and easy. There was none of the switching around that the Ubuntu system has. Instead the phone experience just grew to fill the bigger display while the phone transformed into a touchpad with built-in notifications. She even answered messages while showing the system to me. And she made me do the same things with the phone she had asked me to charge. The one I had could do the same things but it was bigger and it was faster too. I also guessed that the display had a slightly higher resolution. <br />
<br />
After a while the other daughter of the family started filling in the blanks that her younger sister left behind. The two phones were twins, more or less. The one I found was a J3 and the one in front of me with a 4.7 inch display was a J2.<br />
<br />
After just a few minutes she pointed at my phone and showed me that it had reached 100% charge.<br />
<br />
"Now use phone." she said. She showed the gesture to leave the desktop mode and then disconnected the microUSB cable. <br />
<br />
"Call home."<br />
<br />
I couldn't. My parents died in a car crash two years ago and I was single at the time. My last resort was written on a piece of paper in my pocket. I dialled the lovely Portuguese woman that I was with the day before. She was surprised to hear from me. I was more surprised that I had called. It took some explanation to get her to understand that no, this wasn't my number, yes, the phone was borrowed and yes, I was a the MWC. <br />
<br />
"Are you near to the Jolla place?"<br />
<br />
"Yes. I'm talking to you with a Jolla phone, why?"<br />
<br />
The voice at the other end burst out in strange noises and cheering.<br />
<br />
"Hello?"<br />
<br />
The young girl next to him smiled. In fact, both of them did.<br />
<br />
"Would you be my angel and get a Jolla beanie for me?"<br />
<br />
I asked the girls what a beanie was and the older one said she would get one for me. It didn't take long. With the black cap in my hand i asked in astonishment:<br />
<br />
"You want one of these?" <br />
<br />
"Yes, yes, yes!" shouted the voice on the other side of the call. "Yes! Can I have it? Please?"<br />
<br />
The call ended after booking a date for eight o'clock.<br />
<br />
"You could come with us" said the Asian girl as she passed by. "I could get the two of you tickets. ...but you have to pay for the food."<br />
<br />
I suddenly noticed the size of the crowd standing around us. Literally dozens upon dozens of smiling faces. Slightly blushing I turned to the girls again.<br />
<br />
"Mess her the change in plans, OK?" said the older one and instructed her sister to show me how. The gesture controls of the J2 were odd but easy to learn and quick to use. The answer was even quicker, though.<br />
<br />
"Yes! Yes! pick me up at [censored] at seven thirty."<br />
<br />
I gave the phone back to the younger sister and she turned it upside down, removed the SIM card and gave the phone back to me after fastening the rear.<br />
<br />
"But I can't take it."<br />
<br />
"You have to. It's your passport to the Jolla people tonight." said one sister.<br />
<br />
"Give it back tomorrow." said the other one with a smile "...or we find you," Now both of the girls were smiling.<br />
<br />
What choice did I have? Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-9550171889020001982014-11-07T21:33:00.000+01:002014-11-08T10:21:01.733+01:00An old friend left behind"'The train dropped me off at the rural station building. People that I almost knew spread out into the nearby village with uncertain waves of hands. It was sort of a homecoming but my heart was elsewhere. The kids had their own lives now and there had been nobody to move into our old house.<br />
<br />
We once had bees here by the station. Nobody knew, except the fantastic old lady that used to own the building, of course. She loved the honey we gave her every spring and she even loved the bees. The tiny garden had been neglected both before and after her time there but you should have seen it when it was hers. I missed the talks we had about life and all that hardware we had to make life comfortable.<br />
<br />
Like our phones. It was those who kept us in touch, up to speed and alive, in that order. And she was the one cracking the whip for more technology. Imagine that. <br />
<br />
The old spruce tree was still there on the other side of the track. It marked the beginning of our site. I listened to my headset to hear the muffled knocking when my phone reached the wireless network. I hadn't been here for almost a year. Would it still talk to me?<br />
<a name='more'></a>Cold winds blew by as I crossed the stone bridge. The stream was looking good. It had recovered well from the drought some years ago. There was even tiny fishes swimming under the bridge but old eyes don't see them well.<br />
<br />
Old memories of sitting on the simple bridge with my feet in the cold stream almost took my mind for a picnic but there it was, the sound that I had been fearing to miss among the memories. The network was talking. Saved from nostalgia again. Knock knock. <br />
<br />
The site was still alive. It looked at me suspiciously and took a while to remember an old friend. It was doing well but was getting old too. It was lovely to meet it again. It was truly a dear friend of the entire family, especially to our older daughter.<br />
<br />
Things were waking up around me and only a few of us would ever know. It wasn't a spectacular secret by any stretch of the word, but nonetheless a secret. The site of our old house was haunted.<br />
<br />
It gave me all the handshakes and asked me about my health. It could see the new parts in my left thigh joint and wondered what it was. It was quite satisfied with the barcode serial number and adjusted my profile accordingly with a grunt.<br />
<br />
I was home.<br />
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There was firewood in the box next to the mouth of the rocket stove. But most of the house was inside a greenhouse shell so things were quite cosy even without the sound of the fire. Our new house was built the same way, some boxes inside a greenhouse. This was a firewall in the same way the younger house was a shoin. Never mind, it's a bit hard to explain.<br />
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Inside one of the boxes was the office. It was the other end of the kitchen, basically, hidden behind pale straw coloured fusuma decorated with just few golden honeybees. The sliding wall sections opened up to reveal my low desk but there were no pillows left. Work was done elsewhere now and the pillows were there. The simple carpet looked naked and the desk was a bit dusty.<br />
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Our ghost lives here now, and in other places too of course. It was born here and it is getting old here. It likes the barren simplicity of the Jolla phone. It hasn't been too grumpy after the latest updates. In fact it recommended us to leave it here in the old house when we moved out. It was quite adamant. Yes, it simply wouldn't follow us. So I had to get myself a new computer for the shoin. <br />
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The phone seemed to sleep under a blanket. Inside was the abode of a daemon monk of sorts. The cloth was merely there for protection. A way to shed the soot-spreaders while waiting for soft fingers.<br />
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A note was tucked between the cover and the display. Our youngest had drawn a flower next to the few words.<br />
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"You wait here, ok?" <br />
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She carried a room for it too. A newer phone with a picture of a welcome carpet and a leather boot. She's had it for years now, that same old ambience. Some day I have to ask her about it. <br />
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The screen woke up. it was one of the first ones, bought from a distinguished gentleman in Namibia who spoke with clicks and kept his computers well. He had given our daughters some important lessons and wouldn't have sold the screen to anyone else. We brought one for him built by an artisan in a shanty-town near Entebbe while waiting for transit. There was meaning in that gift. We are still in debt to the ladies of the cyberpunk household, especially the Lady of Blue. But the old man was delighted.<br />
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A phone, a sixteen inch display and a thin keyboard. What ghost would be happy with just that, other than this one?<br />
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There was plenty of space left on the tiny desk. The bits that made up the computer all had small footprints. Tiny.I sat down and started typing, but a symbol on the touch-screen told me to get out fast. I did. A ghost would be safe here, but I am still alive. Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-90696384189116768992014-10-12T17:27:00.000+02:002015-03-08T15:47:23.188+01:00A Jolla phone for my daughterI received my Jolla phone in January '14. The last step of the delivery gave me (and the Swedish postal service) some problems but the late Christmas gift to myself reached its final destination safely anyway. Wonder why it had to take the detour to Roissy?<br />
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As soon as the advanced Linux-based smartphone became my main phone people could see the changes. This was the first time I could carry a complete computer in a pocket. ...and my daughter inherited a better phone too.<br />
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I love my daughter. She surprises me all the time. One of these surprises was that she didn't wish for an expensive new phone. She was eagerly waiting for my old phone. And why not? The Nokia 700 still is a very nice device. She is an almost as heavy user as I am.<br />
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But during this year her phone has started to deteriorate. It was used from the start and it is a Symbian device so Microsoft is slowly "letting it go". So sooner rather than later she will need something better to carry in her pocket. ...and she likes my Jolla, so... <br />
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Chances are very small that she will get a Jolla as her next phone, but nonetheless one must try. She deserves to have a technically advanced device. She's not a kid any more, but a Nerd in Training. Besides, her personal integrity is important to me.<br />
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So this is what I imagine her phone to be like.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Jolla Phone 3</span></span></span></b></h2>
The third device from the innovative Finnish smartphone makers Jolla is a bit of a surprise. The current trend in the phone market is to increase the size of the display, but this phone takes a step in the opposite direction. Aand <b>nobody</b> expected that the J2 would be the bigger handset of a pair.<br />
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"Jolla phones are meant to be used even with just one hand", explains one of the users at the company forum, "and there are smaller hands out there too". There was a certain logic to create not just one but two phones at once. The J2 was anticipated but the J3 was a complete surprise, at least to us the mobile media people. The closely knit Jolla community knew (or maybe they hoped). Rumours have it that the idea of creating a smaller device actually originated there. <br />
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The hardware is impressive for the price, I must admit. Rumours had it that the J2 would be powered by a Snapdragon SoC but now we now that all this time Jolla has been talking to Intel. The newly announced x3 series remains untested in mobile devices. So how fast are the two new members of the Jolla clan? Well, I haven't tested the J2 yet but the quad-core x3-c3440 gives the smaller phone more than enough oomph - even at heavy use. This four inch phone is not a toy, despite its size, it should be as fast as the larger sibling. But is it snappy only because of the processor? No, not really. The speed is possible mainly through the efficient Sailfish operating system. A fully multitasking system that is stripped of all bloat makes the user experience fluid even as the user becomes more demanding over time. The multitasking combined with the tiny "desktop" of SailfishOS lets the apps be simpler and more streamlined for a single task. Instead of having a single app perform all duties, the user simply assembles a set of apps. Yes, it takes a while to get used to, but if you think of it as a customizable dashboard then you're not too far from the truth. There's quite nothing like it on the market, save for the first phone and tablet from Jolla. The Jolla tablet made quite an impression at MWC earlier this year, mostly because of the wonderful user experience of the Sailfish operating system. The J3 is the smallest device to run Sailfish so far, but trust me, nothing feels cramped. <br />
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So the J3 is a smaller phone with a smaller display. Four inches diagonally and it has a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels. This is more pixels than on the first Jolla phone and - yes, you guessed it - on par with the J2. There's always some info on the screen, without draining the battery thanks to amoLED technology. Nothing really revolutionary here, but nice. The graphics are hardware accelerated. It is common to use graphics hardware for video and games but the Jolla phones all use it for the user interface itself too. The J3 is no exception.<br />
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The touchscreen supports multi-touch up to five points. It could have been more sensitive for gloved-finger use, but without the gloves the touch never misses. <br />
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This device has sockets for dual SIM cards, which probably makes it more attractive in some markets. The cards are the micro variety and hot-swappable. When inserting the second SIM card a second contact book shows up in the apps, but there is a user setting that allows the contacts to be merged. The merged icon is a yin-yang-ish one, btw. A simple solution that works well out of the box. <br />
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There is no headset in the tiny product box, but there is a cable that Jolla calls a microphone extender. It looks like a simple audio cable but there are control buttons and a noise-cancelling microphone at the end of it. Attach your favourite earphones and your are set. A cleverly unlike solution indeed. Jolla also has an "unlike" bluetooth headset in their shop but more about that piece of hardware in a later article.<br />
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Next to the headset socket there is a reversible USB type C connector. These are the only sockets on the J3, but they have more than one use each. The audio socket has a digital mode with surprisingly good audio qualities, as an example. There's a volume rocker on the right side of the phone that doubles as shutter control in camera mode, and there is a power button above it. There's a cable available in the Jolla shop that hints that the phone may be connected to a TV or other HDMI display, and yes, there is full HD video out. Jolla hinted that the phone might be used as the heart (and touchpad) of a desktop computer. We are keeping our eyes open for more news about that so stay tuned, OK?<br />
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If you're seriously into photography then this device might not be for you. Don't get me wrong, the camera takes wonderful pictures and does so swiftly too, even in quite dark environments. But the camera lacks in some areas. It's probably the strangest aspect of this Jolla phone. There are some good and some bad news.<br />
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Taking quick photos are really quick. Lightning fast! Probably one of the fastest cameras we've tested here. There's absolutely no waiting after pressing the shutter. And all pictures are in perfect focus unless you shake the phone when taking the shot. <br />
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The photos can be processed afterwards to add synthetic focal blur and much more because all pixels have depth information.<br />
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Jolla J3 is the first phone that I've tested that is equipped with Pelican Imaging's new piCam technology. There's an array of sixteen micro cameras that are combined with some calculations to create a photo. The array of cameras add depth to each pixel and that information does make some amazing photo manipulations possible. It also removes noise in the process. <br />
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The lack of hardware zoom is why I can't recommend the piCam setup for serious photography. There is of course digital zoom but for serious photos that simply won't do.<br />
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The upside is that the Pelican Imaging technology adds some extra uses for the camera. Since it calculates depth data in real-time it can be used for gesture input or motion-detect photography. The piCam can be used for measuring (there's an app for that in the new Jolla software manager) and for creating copies of three-dimensional objects by filming them. The camera isn't every photographer's dream but it puts almost visible lightbulbs over the heads of geeks. The camera is both the weakest and strongest part of this phone, in my opinion. So far the users seem to like it, though. The camera gets the shots. No waiting, no blur but lots of fun. <br />
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That pretty much sums up the hardware. ...except for one thing. The J3 does not use the OtherHalf active back cover concept. (If you want that or even need it then choose the J2). Instead there's modularity. The construction is a collaboration with (also Finnish) Puzzlephone. There is no back cover at all. The modules are snapped into a frame. Together the pieces form the J3. Is the battery replacable? Yes, and so is the camera. If you want to have a more vanilla 8Mp unit then there is one at the Jolla store. The camera module covers the memory card and the two SIM cards so I guess you could call them hot-swappable. <br />
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What do we think of the J3? Jolla phones are still a bit of odd creatures, mainly because of the choice of operating system. Sailfish OS is reaping rave reviews right now, but it's still an underdog in the OS market. If you were dreaming about the "leaked" J2 and thought that it was a bit too large for your hand then look no further than this small wonder.<br />
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If you're still a bit hesitant about buying the J3 then check out the next part of this review: The soft side of a Jolla phone. Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-61308850529788250072014-06-09T20:54:00.000+02:002014-06-09T20:54:24.753+02:00Ekotankar inspirerade av sportbilarDe som känner mig vet att jag gillar sportbilar från Lotus. Lilla Elise och syskonet Exige var de som fångade mitt intresse men om jag fick drömma skulle jag vilja köra en sobert silvermetallic Lotus Europa 2.0 SE.<br />
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Dessutom är Lotus slogan skitbra. <i>Performance through light weight</i> (prestanda genom låg vikt). <br />
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Den tanken går som en röd tråd genom mitt liv, åtminstone när jag dagdrömmer...<br />
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Nej, jag dagdrömmer faktiskt sällan om sportbilar. När det handlar om bilkörning så har jag fått mitt lystmäte och kör ganska försiktigt med min trogna Mercedes. Särskilt försiktigt kör jag om familjen är med mig i den. ...vilket är lite för sällan.<br />
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Men prestanda genom låg vikt är en bra tanke. En känd bilingenjör menade att det var enkelt att få bilarna att dra hälften så mycket bränsle. Man behövde bara göra dem hälften så tunga.<br />
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Ett liknande råd ges av reseplaneringssajter på nätet. När man ska resa så bör packningen vara hälften så stor och reskassan dubblad. Onebag.com propagerar faktiskt att man ska resa med bara en kabinväska som bagage. (Enligt sajten så finns det två sorters bagage - kabinväska och förlorat...) Onekligen ett bra råd om man strävar mot enkelhet. Numera reser jag så ofta det går med bara en 35 liters ryggsäck och det är en ren fröjd att slippa stå på Arlanda i väntan på sin andra väska. Det är bara att gå rakt ut till sin älskling som väntar med bilen. Alla ögonblick i paradiset räknas och med allt i den lilla ryggan så blir det längre tid tillsammans.<br />
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Mina huaraches låter mig ta stegen framåt i livet lättare. Mina tidigare så älskade Chacos väger åtta gånger mer. Sportskorna är också över kilot i min storlek. De snabba svarta skorna likaså. Ingen av de övriga skoparen släpper känslan av marken under mig genom sulan på det sätt mina tunna sandaler gör. Prestanda genom låg vikt igen.<br />
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Ju fler av de tunga alternativen jag kastar av mig desto mer ös blir det i den gamla kroppen. All trimning behövs, tro mig. <br />
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<br />Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-60988333612397675302014-06-07T22:36:00.001+02:002014-06-07T22:36:47.630+02:00En ren bisak i sammanhangetÄntligen. Alla tankar och funderingar börjar materialisera sig. Planer håller på att gå i lås och nervositeten får hjärtat att slå lite snabbare.<br />
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För naturligtvis är man aldrig helt redo för det som man sedan kastar sig in i.<br />
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I mitt fall handlar det om att skaffa husdjur. <br />
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I detta fall ganska farliga husdjur också. Rent av livsfarliga så det är bara naturligt att vara nervös, eller hur?<br />
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Om allt går som det ska så kommer jag att vara biodlare snart. Kupornas konstruktion är färdig, eller åtminstone är den första versionen av konstruktionen färdig. ...hoppas jag. De första bikuporna blir byggda enligt den konstruktionen. Det man hoppas på är att den okunskap man ännu dras med inte ska inverka menligt på funktionen. Det är ju trots allt en del små förändringar som skiljer min konstruktion från originalet. Tänk om de förändringarna räcker för att göra mina första stapplande steg inom biodlingen till ett smärre helsicke för både bi och människa? <br />
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Det hjälps inte. Det gör mig nervös. Det är just därför jag läser på så otroligt noga innan jag gör något. Har man läst på ordentligt så är det färre grejor som går fel. Det sorgliga är att jag med denna grundliga metodik också vet hur mycket som kan gå snett.<br />
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För er som undrar så är det såhär jag tänker mig mitt biodlande:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Topplistkupa</b></span></span><br />
Grunden är ett tråg (av trä) med enkla lister lagda sida vid sida som innertak. Undersidorna på listerna kommer att fasas av litegrann för att minska risken att bina bygger mellan listerna. (Vi får se om det fungerar.) Ovanpå topplisterna läggs ett yttertak av något slag. Tråget kan delas av med en avdelare som är fastskruvad under en av listerna. På så sätt kan volymen för bina ökas och minskas efter årstid.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Det nordiska biet</b></span></span><br />
Det bi som klarar kyla och ruskväder bäst är det Nordiska biet (Apis Mellifera Mellifera). Biodlarna här i trakten har just nordiska bin och det vore synd att skaffa något annat eftersom jag hoppas kunna bidra med mitt lilla strå till bevarandet av det bi som fanns här redan för länge sedan. Troligen var det just nordiska bin som Carl von Linné såg när han gav det latinska namnet åt bina. De verkar dessutom trivas i topplistkupor.<br />
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Så nu är det bara att få de sista detaljerna på plats. Håll tummen för mig, OK? Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173958103623691667.post-81828974511201988662014-03-03T19:29:00.000+01:002014-03-03T19:29:12.214+01:00jollaDesk - eller hur en dator kan se ut snartSkaffade mig en ny telefon för ett tag sedan. Som alltid när man gör sån't så får man spendera lite tid för att lära sig det nya med den. Skillnaden för mig är att jag valde att skaffa mig en finsk telefon med eget operativsystem. Jag har inte glömt mitt mål att sträva mot lättare packning både hemmavid och på vandring. I själva verket är min nya telefon en del i den strävan. Tidigare har jag varit tvungen att ta med mig åtminstone en liten laptop när jag styrt min kos bort från lägenheten, men det behöver jag inte göra nu. Telefonen jag köpt mig har ett fullständigt linux-system i sig.<br />
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Min nya Jolla-mobil kör SailfishOS.<br />
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Jolla har en ovanlig affärsidé som ligger väldigt nära det ideal som driver utbytet med öppen källkod, den globala samling datanissar som på svengelska kallas open-source-världen. Vi som köpt en Jolla är inte bara kunder utan vi har också osedvanligt mycket att säga till om då det gäller både mjuk- och hårdvara. ...och eftersom jag som nyårslöfte bestämde mig för att ge mer av min tid till just open-source-communityn så har en hel del tid gått åt till att uttrycka mina önskningar i Jollas forum "Together".<br />
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En av de idéer som jag lagt fram till folket på forumet (kunder såväl som jolla-anställda) är något jag valt att kalla jollaDesk.<br />
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En mobiltelefon är redan idag en rätt kapabel dator. Processorkärnorna och grafikkretsarna är snabba. Det finns bra med minne att köra programvaran i. 4,5-tumsskärmen är lagom stor att stoppa ner i fickan och touchskärmen (plus det virtuella tangentbordet) gör systemet lätt att hantera.<br />
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Men om man jämför med en stationär dator finns det mer att önska. Skärmen är nog lite väl liten och ger en nackspärr. Det går ganska långsamt att skriva på touchtangenterna. ...och visst är internet snabbt med 4G men inte lika snabbt som ett fast nät över fiber.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj8CbOMa4hbUyJllxbKHvfvApFsqw_A-9cBO7B9OsBELTofGKBTDedQz4jBTiQjg8nOm9QuxwWC5pQsM2DbAKHHMTfWWlhpc3m33yhPj26M5xKtziYVfI3_6sb8qydrD4v7jtL8NmYqzxL/s1600/penclic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj8CbOMa4hbUyJllxbKHvfvApFsqw_A-9cBO7B9OsBELTofGKBTDedQz4jBTiQjg8nOm9QuxwWC5pQsM2DbAKHHMTfWWlhpc3m33yhPj26M5xKtziYVfI3_6sb8qydrD4v7jtL8NmYqzxL/s1600/penclic.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Några av Penclics produkter. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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En mobiltelefon brukar kopplas till USB-kabel för att laddas när man kommer hem (eller till kontoret). På bilden syns ett kort alfanumeriskt tangentbord, ett numeriskt dito och en penliknande mus. Det kommer från det svenska företaget Penclic.<br />
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Tänk er nu att både det lilla numeriska tangentbordet och musen ersätts med en touchmobil. Mobilens skärm är ju som en stor musplatta. Den kan nog till och med fungera rätt bra som nummerinmatning om man klurar lite.<br />
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En större bildskärm går numera ganska lätt att koppla in. För mig skulle en 24-tummare med HD-upplösning räcka gott och väl, men de som vill skulle kunna ansluta 52-tummaren på väggen istället.<br />
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Svårare än så är inte grundtanken med jollaDesk. Telefonen är inte bara en underlydande till skrivbordets laptop eller stationära dator. Den är istället en mobil dator som räcker till även för seriösare användning.<br />
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Den sista delen i pusslet är en snabb usb-hub med egen strömförsörjning. Mobilens kabel skulle inte bara ladda mobilen utan också koppla den mot nätverkskortet, tangentbordet, hårddisk och annat.<br />
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Ganska enkelt att tänka sig, eller hur?Vattuvarghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386581385827298293noreply@blogger.com