Links & Conspiracy

Here are a few funny/awesome links.

• Minesweeper and NP-completeness If you like Minesweeper, logic gates or math, check it out. This article proves that they are all intricately connected. It's pretty awesome if you're slightly nerdy.
• Titanic 2! It's the sequel to the blockbuster Titanic! Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is back! Very exciting, even to me (who haven't seen the first movie). Plus, I would probably be a bad blogger if I didn't link to it.

And here's the conspiracy. I was looking at the episode guides for Lost, Medium, and Alias. I was looking because both Medium and Alias have been on hiatus, and I wanted to see when they were coming back. I suddenly noticed something weird: All three series are airing episodes with the same name, "S.O.S.", all within a week! Two could be a coincidence, but three?! After careful deliberation, I'm fairly certain it's a hidden message from enslaved writers who are locked away somewhere in the labyrinthine catacombs of the once pure and beautiful Angel City, where the peaceful inhabitants - who once lived in a utopian society free of sickness, death and evil thoughts - are ever fearful of their tyrannical occupants from the dark and twisted Holy Wood. I bet that if you play all three episodes simultaneously, something will appear...

March

During the month of March, we had some really crazy weather. Snow came pouring down like there was no tomorrow. Or a day after tomorrow, if you'll excuse the cultural reference.

One day, my younger brother and I were outside during a futile attempt to move the snow around so that it wouldn't completely cover our house from roof to foundation. In the face of such a blatantly Sisyphean task, we felt like two little ants trying to move the Atlantic.

It was only a matter of time before my poor brother went crazy. Shortly thereafter, he collapsed from exhaustion.

My attempts to rouse him failed, and the rapidly falling snow began to cover him like a white cold blanket of oblivion. I tried to wrest him from the cold maw of King Frost, but he was entirely inhumed in the blink of an eye. I dug into the snow, searching for him, but with the white water crystals stretching from horizon to horizon, erasing every landmark, disorienting me completely, I lost my place and couldn't find him. It was a miracle that I ever made it back home.

My brother hasn't been seen since. I can only hope that he will turn up when the snow thaws in the spring, joining asphalt, spring flowers and cartoon birds in a great celebration of the renaissance of life.

Yo!

Whoops, I see now that I haven't updated this blog for over a month. Bad!

Let's kick this off with another toy commercial. I discovered one that is "in tune" with the younger population. I'm picturing a board meeting with a self-proclaimed expert informing white old men about a new and exciting music genre called "hip hop".

The toy does seem cool though, and the chick is hot. I'm sold.

Indatwa

Yesterday was the International Women's day, which usually means there are a number of interesting events (plus some boring stuff) at the library. Ah yes, I was at the library again; the hub of cultural activities in this town. I watched an all-female band called Kraa perform, but I didn't dare take any photos because I was sitting dead-centre in the front row. It would have been disruptive just getting my phone out of my pants. (In case you're new here; all these photos were taken with my mobile phone.) However, I do have some photos of the african dance troupe Indatwa. They were kind enough to perform dances indigenous to Rwanda and Burundi.

This was apparently a girls' dance, although I'm pretty sure there's a guy with long hair in there too. He seemed to have a prominent role in the arrangements, so I can only assume that he's a choreographer/teacher.

At the end, two of the girls had a dance-off! Cute and awesome!

This children's dance had the most action and dialogue of all the dances that the troupe performed. It certainly seemed like a fun dance. Kind of reminded me of Mora Träsk's Tigerjakt, a children's song about hunting tigers. I'm not sure that's what this song is about (maybe I just didn't listen to the announcer), but I'm picturing a tribe teaching their young ones to hunt by using song and dance, the ultimate teaching tool! I use it all the time to teach programming. Jokes aside, I'm pretty sure passing on wisdom is what culture and religion is all about. Feel free to flame me all the same.

Olympic singers

I'm usually not interested in sports at all. Football is boring, be it European soccer or American football. Indoor bandy is too frantic. Outdoor bandy is too cold. Handball is stupid.

However, the Olympic Games this year were kind of interesting, even to me, although the skiing was boring as usual. The curling, however. That was riveting. I like watching people excel at a certain skill, using weird tactics that I don't understand and strategizing about stuff that I don't have a clue about. Team sports usually seem to boil down to either chance, stamina or violence, none of which excite me in the least.

I watched the Swedish women's team win their gold because I thought it was actually fun to watch. That's a first for me, even though I have sat down to watch ice hockey before and found it only mildly boring. (Actually, ice hockey can be fun too, but also tends to have too much violence and chance for my tastes.)

So now, when the team came to visit their hometown (where I happen to live) to play in the Swedish curling tournament, I was at the town square to greet them and sing along in Hammerfall's Hearts on fire. Fun for the whole family!

Now, why in the world are they singing a heavy metal song? What does that have to do with curling? The short answer is: Everything!

With a video like that, how would they not win?