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Weekly Photo #52

December  31, 2005 | 0 Comments

Happy Holidays

December  23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Music

December  5, 2005 | 0 Comments

Yes, it is December. Yes, it is gray outside (at least here on the northern hemisphere). But then it is nice that you can warm yourself with some great music.

I've collected a few videos (among others from via) which you hopefully will enjoy. Click on the photo to link/see the video. Enjoy...

The first one is from the Danish dance duo Brasco & Miller's with Shine. Pretty good and solid video with a groovy dance rhythm. Strangely I haven't been able to find any information about them. Alternative link: http://www.m2film.dk/?id=12359999995

The next one is Madonna's newest album Confessions On A Dancefloor (2005), which also moves the body accordingly satisfactorily to my taste. I especially like that she has used some DJ's which samples from old 80'ties tracks. I've tried to collect information about which tracks she (they) has sampled from:

1. Hung Up. Samples (chorus) from Abba's "Gimme Gimme Gimme." 1979. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
2. Get Together. Samples (bass line) from Stardust dance classics "Music Sounds Better With You".
3. Sorry. Samples (bass line) from The Jacksons’ 1981 hit "Can You Feel It".
4. Future Lovers. Samples from Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder club hit "I Feel Love".
5. I Love New York.
6. Let It Will Be. Samples (string opening played on synth) from Madonna's own song "Papa Don't Preach".  It is just me or is there some "California Dreaming" tune inspiration by the Mama's and Papa's.
7. Forbidden Love. Samples from the proto-electro hit "Popcorn" by Kraftwerk.
8. Jump. Imitates the soundtrack from the old TV-series "Knight Rider" (1982).
9. How High.
10. Isacc.
11. Push. Allegedly borrows meter and tune from "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. Also samples (slowed down section beat) of Madonna's own "Like A Prayer". Some say she imitates the Bee Gees.
12. Like It Or Not.

Other mentions that she also samples from: S.O.S. Band, Tom Tom Club, Blondie, Depeche Mode and even from Iggy Pop.

Then we have the Danish group TV-2 which finally has arrived at their old good rhythm. The new album De Første Kærester På Månen (2005) (The First Lovers On the Moon) is simply great. Especially I like the track Hvem Vil Danse Denne Nat (Who Want To Dance This Night?).

Finally an exciting video from the Norwegian group Röyksopp's with the track What Else Is There? (2005). The video is directed by Dane Martin De Thurah which seems to made himself a reputation as video director. It is also a very good video that he has created here.

Kepler's Conjecture

November 25, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've read the book Kepler's Conjecture, which tells the 400 year story behind the mathematical proof of how you most effectively can arrange spheres, e.g. as known when the grocer stacks apples in his shop.

The origin of the problem was of course formulated in relation to war - namely by the English adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh, who asked how one most effectively could cargo a warship with canon balls. That was in the end of the 16. century. In 1611 the renown mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler formulated a conjecture (Keplers Conjecture I,II) about how this could be done, however he did not prove it.

It was first in 1998 that the mathematician Tom Hales with the help of computers delivered a satisfactorily mathematical proof of the conjecture.

The book follows the story from the beginning with the problem formulation and through times of different mathematicians trying to prove the conjecture. There are some formulas in the book but you don't need to understand these or follow them in details to enjoy it. The book does luckily also describe the people behind the problems and it is interesting to get an inside view and function of the mathematical academically world.

I can recommend all with some interest in the history of mathematics to read the book.

As a last comment I will tell that in the book I noticed a term which I of course recognized immediately. The Arab/Hebraic term Yallah means Just do it, which - you know - is my tag.

Kepler's Conjecture: How Some of the Greatest Minds in History Helped Solve One of the Oldest Math Problems in the World
by George G. Szpiro
John Wiley & Sons Inc
272 pages
ISBN 0471086010

 

To Prioritize

November 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

“To realize the importance of prioritization is to acknowledge that you do not have time to do the right thing, but only time to choose not do the wrong thing.”

Michael Suodenjoki, 2005-11-23

Weekly Photo #45

November 6, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #44

November 6, 2005 | 0 Comments

Wouldn't be interesting to see this week photo in large scale, e.g. on a large wall? I think it would look good.

Weekly Photo #43

October 30, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've been on a walk to Søllerød Nature Park and the 46 hectare Church forest (Kirkeskov).

Weekly Photo #42

October 30, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #41

October 30, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #40

September 29, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #39

September 29, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #38

September 29, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #37

September 29, 2005 | 0 Comments

Final Cut

September 24, 2005 | 0 Comments

If you know that that your life is recorded on film and that at your funeral a 1½ hour cutted movie resumé of your life will be shown to your living friends and family? Would you consider your actions?

That is one of the side stories in the sci-fi movie The Final Cut (2004). In the movie we follow the cutter Alan Hakman (Robin Williams), that is, the future filmic mortician (undertaker) which cuts your life into a movie summary, in his life and his attempt to resolve a childhood situation.

Of course there are resistance from certain people in the society against the chip, which can be bought (by the rich of course) and placed in the body to record your life. The cutters may not themselves carry the chip, because they - qua their work - see a lot of human secrets. Should the cutter show the cruel human truth, or should he create a romantic show, that so many of the surviving relatives would like it?

I've always been fascinated by science fiction movies. It is a difficult filmic art which only a few directors masters. But when a sci-fi movie works, as the Final Cut do, it is usually quite thought provocative and exciting topics which are depicted.

It seems like that Robin Williams also likes sci-fi movies. He have during the years made a few where at least I like the most the Bicentennial Man (1999).

Weekly Photo #36

September 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

I don't know exactly why this weeks photo works; it just do. It's taken up in a Birch tree. The leaves are still green even though we rapidly moves in on the autumn. Enjoy...

Music

September 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

It was a strange coincidence that made me rise from the sofa and go the the keyboard. I was sitting in front of the television and zapped between the different channels. Suddenly I realized that the same song/video was playing on 4 channels at the same time! Never happened before. My cable TV connection is delivered with approximately 30 television channels. That 4 channels, completely independently and unconnected, should show the same video/song is pretty amazing and unlikely. Calculate the chance yourself. By the way; the video/song was James Blunt's beautiful song You're Beautiful.

Nevertheless it reminded me about some music that I would like to recommend.

For a while back, by reasons unknown to me, I downloaded the song 0% Interest by - at that time for me unknown - the American singer Jason Mraz. The song was really good and I quickly found Mraz' website and could see that he recently have made a new CD Mr. A-Z. So, when I visited USA on one of my business trips I bought a couple of CD's with him at Best Buy. I like them. His music is a kind of sing-a-song-writer soft rock 'n roll with nice rhythms. If you want to see/hear his music you should drop by his website to see/hear his video Wordplay from his recent CD.

Another kind of music that I've discovered is coming the new Danish duo Hookah. They play electronic pop music - with roots and inspiration from the British electropop bands from the 80'ties such as Depeche Mode, Erasure and Yazoo. I've heard them on the radio and bought their one and only CD - released last month (Aug. 2005). I really like them. It's fresh new happy electronic pop music. Some of the songs are even in Danish. It works really well and I'm already looking forward to hear more from them. Their latest single Distance Between Us is played a lot on Danish radio and you may see the video on their website.

Weekly Photo #35

September 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #34

September 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #33

August 28, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've been yet on a trip to Malmö and walked closer to the Turning Torso, the beautiful new skyscraper drawn by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Sadly it is not easy to come up in the high building (approx 190meters). You need an appointment.

I took some really good photos during a walk around the building. This weeks photo is one of them. I was positively surprised when I saw the effectiveness of the composition in the picture. I didn't expect that it worked so well as it did. Judge for yourself...

Weekly Photo #32

August 14, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo is actually a series of 3 photos which I've taken on a trip to Malmö, Sweden. The weather was not the best so I've taken the liberty to manipulate the pictures a bit in Photoshop to make them a bit more dramatic.

 

Tagline - a lecture in motivation

August 10, 2005 | 0 Comments

As you may have noted I have for a while used a tagline Just do it, as you can see in my logo to the left under the suodenjoki name. I've been thinking about it. And the keyword here is thinking. One may believe that I by using Just do it recommends that you just do things without planning. This is not what is behind the tagline. I've myself pretty bad to use oceans of time planning and thinking about everything - and often I never reach the point to actually carry out the thing that I would like to do. So the point behind the tagline is to pressure myself to actually do it. 

I can also illustrate it with the - maybe known - situation, which is also used by some lecturers in motivation.

In front of an audience you take your wallet and selects a $100 bill and put it up on the whiteboard. Then you ask the audience: "If you want to obtain something, what should you do? If you for example want this money here..."

Maybe there will go a while and several persons will come up with good or less good ways of getting the money. However it usually ends up with that one person actually stands up and go up to the whiteboard and takes the money. Well, that is Just do it.

You can talk as much as you like about something, but it only happens if you do something.

I also recently used a slightly extended tagline, which I also find pretty good:

“just do it - make vision to reality

Most of you would probably remember the Nike commercials (see).

Also a few days back I found the following words by Sara Danger (via):

“Stop sucking and get awesome

Weekly Photo #31

August 7, 2005 | 0 Comments

Lyngby shop windows

August 7, 2005 | 0 Comments

The main shopping street of Kgs. Lyngby - the city in where I live - is named Lyngby Hovedgade. It has many exciting shops - from chain shops to small special shops. An evenings walk down the main street with the camera could produce a number of illustrative shop windows.

Sideways

August 2, 2005 | 0 Comments

Just watched the movie Sideways - a wonderful pearl of a movie that I would recommend to all grownups. It has humor and now you should hear what you should do:

1. Reserve an weekday evening - it should not be during the weekend.
2. Ensure that your darling don't have any plans for the evening.
3. Leave work early. Rent the movie Sideways at your local DVD pusher.
4. Drop by your local grocery store and buy the ingredients for a leak pie. Buy also a bottle of good white wine. (Okay you may buy two).
5. At home you immediately start off with the leak pie and follows up with setting up the table (remember the candles).
6. Finish the leak pie, open the white wine and wait for your darling to arrive home. (Okay, okay. You may take a sip of the wine while showering).
7. When she arrives present the evening - a surprise with some good food/wine followed by a excellent movie.
8. Enjoy it.

PS. When the movie end, you should put a jazz CD in your stereo and take it from there...

 

Weekly Photo #30

July 31, 2005 | 0 Comments

Still photography

July 31, 2005 | 0 Comments

The weekly photo (above) is chosen after a very interesting and educational experience, which I hereby says thank you for. For the first time I've been still photographer on a Danish movie set.

Since I had no experience on the area I had to research a bit on the matter. I found some information in an article in the photo magazine Shutterbug, written by Patrick Ecclesine.

From what I could find a still photographer have several tasks. One task is to produce high quality photos for press material, posters etc. and another task to document the movie recording in front as well as behind the movie camera.

For a Danish movie I guess it what somewhat of a unusual movie recording, since most of the scenes had to depict soldiers in war. That is a lot of action, special effects like makeup gun wounds, smoking grenades and explosions.

Since I didn't have any preconceived notions about the way the still photographer does his job, I could (had to) more or less try to do it in my own way. And that I did. Of course you need to have some gefühl of the situation and be ready to adapt to the ever changing environment.

Arriving on the set, the first thing was to question the director for instructions of how to behave and what he want to focus on. Luckily I could do more or less what pleased me. And I shouldn't expect to get help, because everybody would be tied up in work by themselves.

I asked whether the SLR camera's shutter would be a problem - as you know, it is not entirely sound proof. I've read that many still photographers uses a so called sound blimp, which can be bought at Jacobson Photographic Instruments, however I didn't want to invest the $800 for a one-time purpose only. I do hope that my presence didn't destroy the sound recording. I believe not, since the director used his voice a lot during the recordings. Also the different actions scenes made substantially enough noise to cover the camera shutter sound.

I had received the manuscript and read it - it proved as a good thing. Especially I had underlined all words depicting emotions so I could detect when the emotional scenes were coming. Usually these a key scenes that you really have to focus on.

Tips to the still photographer (based on one-time only experience):

• Read the manuscript and find the key scenes.
• Know which scenes that are recorded and prepare for the next one (choose proper angle, location and camera lens). Be there when the director plans the scenes with the actors and camera crew.
• Follow the rehearsals. They often gives the best photos, since you here have more freedom to closing in, use flash etc.
• Remember also to take photos of the actors, camera crew, director and all other involved. Remember to take some shots of the location - i.e. environment photos.
• Take photos from the angle of the movie camera as well from other more strange angles.
• Be aware of where you a located in connection with the microphones. Your camera is noisy!
• Ensure that you do not stand in front of or in the range of the movie camera. Ask the camera crew where you can place yourself.
• When photographing indoor ensure to use light sensitive lenses (not exactly my strong side, requires a lot of money).
• Don't be too talkative and do not suggest too many good ideas. That's probably annoying the director or the camera crew. They (probably) know what they want, and it is not your job to say otherwise.

As said it has been a very educational experience to see a movie set in action, especially to able to follow the director together with the actors and camera crew..

If you think the still photographer has a easy job, I believe that I can deny it. It was surprisingly hard walk, usually long hours. You have to follow everything and predict where the best shots occurs.

If I ever happen to try still photography again there probably is a thing or three that I would correct.

Weekly Photo #29

July 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

For once I've had my camera with me at work and on the way home I found this beautiful flower - a Lesser Burdock, which looks like a kind of virus bomb. I'm currently reading the The Demon in the Freezer! When I searched the net to find the proper latin name for it (not easy on a flower that you don't know nothing from) I found a interesting history about the invention of  Velcro^®

Miscellaneous Links

July 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

• Photoblog by Kevin C. Smith
• Nike Considered Boot (via)
• 3D Mechanical Puzzle (Cmetrick Classic ) (via)
• The VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer and Storage System
• Illustrator Charts
• Slideshow of historic photography from the archives of ICP and the George Eastman Collection. Lots of photos from both collections are set to be available online in 2006 at photomuse.org.
• Absenter: Green all over
• Principles of Design

Weekly Photo #28

July 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Yet a architectonical photo from the trip to New York. A fine example of some of the interesting office buildings on Manhattan - here from One Battery Park Plaza. I particular like the window frames.

Future Sci-fi

July 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've always been interested in sci-fi movies (see my DVD collection, however text is in Danish). It must be one of those things that we engineers always find fascinating; okay some of us. I don't really know why. Maybe it's a kind of escape from reality or maybe it's the future technology and the sorts that fascinates. However it's not my point here to dive into the ... of sci-fi, but more list some of the future sci-fi movies coming to the movie screen. This is what I've selected so far:

Update July 8: While reading the below list, you should hear the CNN Podcast: Hollywood’s Sci-Fi Summer (via)

The Island (2005, July)

Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid 21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the "The Island" - reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are actually human clones whose only purpose is to provide "spare parts" for their original human counterparts. Realizing it is only a matter of time before he is "harvested," Lincoln makes a daring escape with a beautiful fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson). Relentlessly pursued by the forces of the sinister institute that once housed them, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a race for their lives to literally meet their makers.

Comments: Looks very promising. May be more towards an action-movie rather than a sci-fi movie due to the directors background. We will see.



Update August 9th, 2005: I've now seen the movie and it was actually fairly good. The movie was entertaining and there was a lot of action scenes (as expected), especially the road scene with train wheels falling of a truck was quite good (considering). As a sci-fi, the movie was a bit of a disappointment. On several forums people are talking about this being a remake of or inspired by such movies as: THX 1138 (1971), Logans Run (1976) and The Clonus Horror (1979). Logans Run (2006) is actually in the remake by director Bryan Singer who has directed e.g. the great The Usual Suspects (1995).

 

Ultraviolet (2005, August)

Set in the late 21st century, a subculture of humans have emerged who have been modified genetically by a vampire-like disease (Hemophagia), giving them enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence, and as they are set apart from "normal" and "healthy" humans, the world is pushed to the brink of worldwide civil war (a war between humans and hemophages) aimed at the destruction of the "diseased" population. In the middle of this crossed-fire is - an infected woman - Ultraviolet (played by Milla Jovovich), who finds herself protecting a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government as he is believed to be a threat to humans.

Comments: I'm divided in expectations about this movie. On one hand it is written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, who made Equilibrium (2002), one of the best "B" sci-fi movies for some time. On the other hand the story sounds very much like Resident Evil and does also even include Milla Jovovich, which also plays the leading role in those movies.

2046 (2005, August)

He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention.....to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back- except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change.

Comments: I haven't watched this myself (yet), even though it already have had premiere here in Europe (actually as far back as 2004 in some countries. Also it was shown at Tribeca film festival in April 2005). However I distinctly remember the reviews as being very positive and the high rating at imdb also suggest that this movie is worth watching.

Aeon Flux (2005, September)

The sci-fi actioner is set 400 years in the future, when disease has wiped out the majority of the earth's population except for one walled, protected city-state, Bregna, ruled by a congress of scientists. The story centers on Aeon Flux(Charlize Theron), the top operative in the underground 'Monican' rebellion, led by The Handler (Frances McDormand). When Aeon is sent on a mission to kill a government leader, she uncovers a world of secrets.

Comments: Sounds promising. I haven't even heard about the comic, which supposedly was sent on MTV. You may also take a look into www.aeonflux.com.

Serenity (2005, September)

The crew of Serenity takes on any job that will pay, even if it's not necessarily legal. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), the captain, was on the losing side of a galactic war, and now all he has is his ship, named Serenity, and his loyal crew: his second in command and most trusted ally, Zoe (Gina Torres), her husband, the pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk), the mechanic, Kaylee (Jewel Staite), and the muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin). When Malcolm takes on two new passengers, a young doctor, Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his unstable, telepathic sister River (Summer Glau) he gets much more than he bargained for. The two are fugitives from The Alliance, the conglomerate that controls the galaxy. River learned something no one was ever supposed to know... and The Alliance will do anything to make sure no one will. Morena Baccarin, Ron Glass, and Chiwetel Ejiofor also star.

Comment: Is probably not worth while. Is actually a spin off from a tv-series, usually not a good sign.

A Scanner Darkly (2006, March)

Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, undercover cop Fred (Keanu Reeves) is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation.

Comments: Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, just like Blade Runner (1982). however the trailer doesn't look that good - mainly due to the animated look.

Jurassic Park IV (2006)

Comment: Yet another Jurassic Park movie. Number III was not that bad and IV has Steven Spielberg as executive producer. So maybe...

The Children of Men (2006, September)

Set in a near future where the human race has lost its ability to reproduce, England has descended into chaos, until a strict warden, is brought in to institute martial law. That order is challenged however, when a woman (Julianne Moore) discovers she's pregnant, with what would be the first child in 27 years, inspiring a group of revolutionaries. The story is centered around an Oxford history professor (Clive Oven), who is her ex-lover. But is he also the baby's father?...

Comment: Based on a book by P.D. James. Likely to be a very British Sci-fi thriller/drama. Could be promising.

Next (2006, December)

A man (Nicolas Cage) who can see into his own future has to avoid capture by a government organization and win the love of a woman (Julianne Moore) who will be the mother of his child.

Comment: Yet another sci-fi movie based on Philip K. Dick novel (The Golden Man). As a light fan of Nicolas Cage and also featuring Julianne Moore we can only hope that this one excites.

Weekly Photo #27

July 3, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo is taken this May at Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York (USA), where Salvador Dali's painting The Persistence of Memory at the moment is exhibited. It is one of Dali's most renowned paintings containing the famous floating watches. The original is smaller than expected and can easily be overlooked, if it was not for the many people standing around it.

Weekly Photo #26

June 26, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo was a mistake! That said, it is a beautiful mistake. The picture was shot while trying to capture two butterflies flying around in circles around me.

Ordrupgaard

June 26, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've visited the Ordrupgaard, a local museum of paintings, which is temporarily closed while building new exhibition space. The new building is designed by the international architect Zaha Hadid. They are still not finished with it, but you can sense that the building definitely has great potential and it will probably look good when opening in September later this year.

I can recommend to visit the beautiful little accompanying garden of Ordrupgaard. I  added the macro lens for today's equipment in the hope of taking some photographs of some flowers, but I was too early (or too late). Instead I found some spiders to capture. In the post-processing I was a bit disappointed. They were not as sharp as I would have liked them to be. I took them without tripod, which always is a good idea to use when taking macro shots.

Derby 2005

June 26, 2005 | 0 Comments

It's been a lovely weekend with really nice weather. Sunday was the traditionally great derby horserace on Klampenborg Galopbane. Like last year I was on the spot, and this time I could plan the shooting a bit better. I could bring a better zoom lens, namely the Canon EF 70-300 DO IS USM. I use this lens more and more and I'm really satisfied with it. It's a bit heavy, but not compared to other lenses on that range. It's short, due to its diffractive optics and black - both things a real advantage. 

Open letter to Canon

June 25, 2005 | 0 Comments

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to add my name to the list of photographers from around the world that are requesting that your company, as well as the other major digital camera makers, adopt a policy of open documentation of RAW formats, past, present and future.

I am also requesting that your company adopt a universal RAW format. The DNG format has been put forward as such a possible standard, but we are willing to accept any truly open standard as the industry may agree upon.

I support the position on this taken by the OpenRAW Working Group.

Please add my voice to those that are against proprietary and encrypted RAW file formats. I urge you to act swiftly to support your customers so as to ensure our continued loyalty to your company's brands and products.

Sincerely,

Michael Suodenjoki

Weekly Photo #25

June 20, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo has of course been selected from the weekends trip to Isle of Hallands Väder and the chosen photo was the one that I quickest selected as one of the best photographs from the trip.

After a photo day I always do some post-processing, as follows:

1. Creates a new folder with date and name. I have a number of parent folders such as 'Family', 'Events', 'Locations', 'Holidays' etc. .
2. Transfer all the images (via copy/paste) to the new folder.
3. I use Photoshop Bridge or File Browser to view and rate each image with a star/character from 1-5. I usually how only a very small amount of 5 (top) rated images - may be 1% of all photos. For the trip to Isle of Hallands Väder I had 5 top rated images, that is approx. 1.67% of all photos.
4. I select the weeks photos - not always from among the best, but the one that somehow fits the week. I can't always say why I choose it, but I just do.
5. I used Photoshop's RAW converter to convert the image to a Photoshop file.
6. The images is "treated", cropped and resized to the size that fits my homepage, that is, not larger than 495pixels wide.
7. Finally I usually apply some slight sharpening and saves the image to JPG.

Isle of Hallands Väder

June 20, 2005 | 0 Comments

In the weekend I have visited Hallands Väderø for a photo excursion. The island is approximately 3 km² in size and is located in southern Sweden at the west coast.  Closest inland town is Torekov on the peninsula of Bjære approximately 60 km north of Helsingborg.

The weather was excellent with high sun the whole day and together with the salty wind from the Øresund this made the day complete. We hiked along the isle coast and experienced the terrain, from dense forest over beach like alcoves and to stony beaches with many different types of birds.

I must admit that I envy the Swedes. They can take their boats, speedboats or sailboats, from inland and park it along the nicest little sand beaches on the island where they can enjoy the day and bath in the shallow waters. Really nice.

I took over 300 photographs in about 12 hours time. When I going photo hiking I don't bring my tripod or flash and for this trip I especially have planned to use my new 100mm macro lens. I had the following lenses with me: EF 17-40mm, EF 70-300mm and EF 100mm which was used respectively to landscape photos, birds and humans and flowers. It may sound a lot, but I can't see how you can avoid taking more lenses with you. I don't think a good 17-300mm lens has been invented (yet!).

I'm very surprised with the quality of my macro shots. Whew, they are great and very different from my usual photos. 

I can highly recommend you to visit the island. I hope that I will be able to visit it again. There are many photo opportunities on the island, from wide-angle landscape, telephoto bird photography to macro flower shots. It has great potential and I think that every season will bring you great images into the frame. 

Weekly Photo #24

June 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

Los Lonely Boys

June 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

On Wednesday the 8'th of June I went to a concert with the great guitarist Carlos Santana on the Festival Pier in Philadelphia, New Jersey. It was a great concert. The weather was great and it was not too crowded. Santana had a couple of warm up bands and one of these was Los Lonely Boys, three Mexican brothers playing Mexican Rock and Roll. It was simply perfect. A drummer, a bass player and a guitarist. Nothing else. Simple and fantastic. They played for an hour and made a lasting impression for me. Much more than Santana I must say. In the airport I bought a dual-disc CD/DVD with them and I've been playing it all weekend. Very recommendable.

Weekly Photo #23

June 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

Not much else to do than say "Have a nice summer".

Weekly Photo #22

May 28, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks "photo" is based on a photograph taken on a recent visit on the island of Saltholm in Øresund. Saltholm is a lovely Danish flat light island (max. height of 3 meters) on approximately 10 square miles (16km²) which nowadays mostly have ornithological interest, since there exists some large bird colonies on the island. The southern 4/5-part of the island is preserved area with limited access. On the southern point there is also a small seal colony, with no access for private persons.

Photographically speaking Saltholm is somewhat a special location. There is a fantastic light and I wished that I could see the light at sunrise and sunset - possibly producing some amazing photos. There are a good opportunities to take landscape photos and if you can see through the mist an opportunity to get the bridge over Øresund on the photo. Of course there are also possibilities for taking bird photos. However it is not easy to take good bird photos. The most important aspect is to be patient. Patient to find the right moment for your photo, giving the right motive for the photo. This is not easy. You must also have a good telephoto lens of at least 300mm - however this do require extra patience to get close enough on the birds. I would assume that 500-600 mm is required to get the most out of the photos. The 5-6 hours I spend on the island could be considered as a scouting patrol with only very limited success on bird photos. I was too far away from the bird "action".

The above weekly photo has been manipulated in Photoshop and I've used the artistic filter Rough Pastels so the picture gives associations towards landscape painting. I think it has a good summer-like effect.

Weekly Photo #21

May 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've bought a new lens extending my equipment with a 100mm Macro lens. This weeks photo is my first attempt using it. I'm quite satisfied with the performance and you should expect to see more macro photos in future weekly photos.

Weekly Photo #20

May 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #19

May 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #18

May 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

New York is amazing! I've been so lucky to be able to spend five lovely days in New York

New York is amazing! I've been so lucky to be able to spend five lovely days in New York City. I've walked the streets and my feet was every evening hurting and I had absolutely no problems of sleeping whatsoever. New York is so incredible large and exciting that you cannot see and experience it all in five days.

I can recommend everybody to visit New York. In my experience it is a safe city to visit. With all the the police in the streets, especially in the day hours, I felt really safe walking around with my camera equipment.

Here's the list of locations that I've visited to some degree and you can also see a photo gallery from my trip:

• Jersey City (Hudson Seaside)
• Broadway
• Time Square
• Columbus Circle
• Lower Central Park
• Fifth Avenue
• The Subway
• City Hall and Court
• Trinity Church
• Wall Street
• Staten Islands Ferry
• Statue of Liberty
• Battery Park
• American Stock Exchange
• Empire State Building
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)
• Grand Central Station
• Tribeca Area
• Washington Square
• Flatiron Building (Broadway/5th Avenue)
• Madison Square Park
• Upper East Side
• Guggenheim Museum
• Ford Foundation Building
• United Nations
• Tudor City (park)
• South Street Seaport
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza
• One New York Plaza
• Battery Park City and North Park
• Brooklyn Bridge
• SoHo
• Greenwich Village

Weekly Photo #18

May 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #17

May 1, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #16

April 24, 2005 | 0 Comments

New York

April 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

I'm expecting to visit New Jersey, USA in connection with my job and I'm planning to extend it with a few days in NY. When you, as I, haven't been in NY before you get somewhat of a chock when you examine the hotel prices. The moderate "cheap" hotels on Manhattan is about $180 pr. overnight stay, if not more! Five days in NY costs you a great deal and can easily alone be compared to the tourist airline tickets from Europe to USA.

Well, there isn't much to do about it and you can only hope that you aren't screwed too much. I'm at least setting this aside and looks forward to my stay. There are a lot of exciting leisure's to look forward to in New York. If you have any recommendations I would be more than happy to hear about it...

The Software Foundation

April 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

When building (developing) software there are 3 pillars that constitutes the foundation upon which you can build your solutions and which is one of the cornerstones of useful software:

1. Stability; the user must not loose data; the software acts as the user want to - every time;
2. Performance; the software must be able solve the "problem" in a reasonable time. Proper feedback is necessary for longer tasks and must be cancelable.
3. Security; the users data must be properly secured.

If none of these are actively in place your platform is insecure and everything else is in danger of falling apart. These 3 attributes of your software must be satisfied. Again and again users experience problems in one of these areas - which fundamentally rocks the foundation of the product/solution and seriously affects how customers reacts towards software makers.

So these are necessities but are not enough for delivering a useful and successful software product/solution. Other quality attributes can be found in the below figure illustrating the Software Quality Triangle, translated courtesy from a Danish book that I'd read while studying for software engineer. The main author Rolf Molich has a website which you may visit. 

Weekly Photo #15

April 9, 2005 | 0 Comments

Its not all seagulls that are dull to look at. Just see this weeks photo. I found the seagull standing nearby some tourists at Lousiana art museum (Humlebæk, Denmark), waiting to catch some breadcrumbs. It was fairly easy to get close and the colorful beak really was photogenic. 

Weekly Photo #14

April 9, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've started to practice taking photographs of birds, since I've planned to attend some nature trekking days on the isle of Saltholm (Denmark) and in Sweden the next couple of months. This week photo is taken right outside my window, where I discovered this little Blue Tit sitting on the electricity pole.

The Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) is an ordinary breeding-bird in Denmark. Its one of the most ordinary Tits seen in Denmark. The Blue Tit is usually found in the well dressed gardens, parks and in hardwood forests. Size approx. 12 cm.

Fruitful Presentation

April 9, 2005 | 0 Comments

What about an idea for presenting your fruits? From Design w/o Reach (via).

Weekly Photo #13

April 9, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo is from a series of shots that I took while dishwashing. Who said that it shouldn't be fun? I've applied a blue photo filter in Photoshop for the cool color cast.

Poster design

March 30, 2005 | 0 Comments

I have for a while been interested in poster design. I only own one - namely the movie poster for the classic science-fiction movie Bladerunner from 1982. I've recently found the blog www.posterwire.com which talks about movie poster design. I would recommend a visit. Funny enough it uses the Bladerunner image in its header and have also a blog entry about the Bladerunner poster itself. Interesting stuff.

Weekly Photo #12

March 22, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've been in Humlebæk (city in Denmark) at the Louisiana - the Danish museum for modern art and a walk around the harbor (what last weeks photo proves). It was a long day but also a good day where I took a lot of photographs. Above photo is inspired from a classic motive from Louisiana which - I think - has been used as book cover or poster.

Of course I experienced the current exhibition with paintings of the German artist  Gerhard Richter. Sadly it was not allowed to photograph in the special exhibition. On the other hand there were a lot of other stuff to photograph. So expect some more photos from my trip.

Weekly Photo #11

March 22, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #10

March 22, 2005 | 0 Comments

When you cook it can be quite colorful and fun to try photographing the ingredients and the finished dish. It is not always easy. Take for example this weeks photo which is a photograph of sliced leeks which are an important ingredient for a leek pie. As a curiosity it should be mentioned that the water drops are added in Photoshop.

Weekly Photo #9

March 6, 2005 | 0 Comments

Easter and the spring is rapidly closing in and the forest floor swarms with life and colors. This weeks photo is taken on a cold 2 hours walk at the Meriebjerg Cemetery, which is located nearby Kgs. Lyngby and not far from where I live. It's my first visit there (I'm tempted to say luckily) and have only recently discovered the area, even though I'm been living around for over ten years. The cemetery is actually quite enjoyable (considering) and a wonderful place to take photographs. It only shows you that you don't have to travel far away to discover new places.

Romantic Movie

March 6, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've been so lucky to watch the lovely, funny and romantic movie Hitch with Will Smith and beautiful Eva Mendes in the leading roles. Is highly recommendable. So invite your spouse to a enjoyable movie. The movie premieres here in Denmark on Friday the 11th of March.

Weekly Photo #8

February 26, 2005 | 0 Comments

This weeks photo is a pattern that many Danish commuters see every day. It's used on the seats in many public busses and trains.

Somebody may have some associations to the German artist Gerhard Richter which at the moment is exhibited at Louisiana here in Denmark.

Grandpa poster

February 26, 2005 | 0 Comments

For a while I've toyed with the idea of creating a exhibition poster with a painting done by my grandpa. Recently I had the opportunity to take some photographs of some of his paintings which I thought would fit well into my little project.

For now I've created a A4 prototype poster of one of his paintings and I have printed it on my new printer. I'm fairly satisfied with the result but I do acknowledge that I have to learn a bit more about color profiles, before producing the final result.

The final result should hopefully end up in a 80x60 cm framed poster which I (and maybe the rest of the family) can hang up in the living room.

I have to note that Louisiana of course has nothing to do with the matter. It is purely for fun and even though grandpa's paintings are fairly good, I do not believe that they ever will be exhibited at Louisiana.

Weekly Photo #7

February 20, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #6

February 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

For some time I have wandered by a light-commercial for a local hair saloon  www.spagetti.dk here in Kgs. Lyngby. The light-commercial is showing what looks like a photograph of a very young Mette Lisby (a Danish standup comedian), but whether it is her I'm not sure about.

I cannot take credit for this photograph, because mine (above) is a photograph of the light-commercial and as such a photo of a photo. I don't know who is the original photographer, which seems to have done it quite well here. By the way it could be fun to try photographing in a photo studio, which probably is used here.

Maps

February 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

As many other persons in the blogosphere I have tested the new Google Maps service, and it works quite well - if you're looking for a place within the United States. Outside the US the map service won't work (yet). However here in Denmark there are several alternatives, e.g. www.krak.dk. I've recently found a place at region.hur.dk where I could find images of the place where I live (the two buildings on the lower right).

Weekly Photo #5

February 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #4

February 4, 2005 | 0 Comments

Inspiration to create

January 27, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've just watched the 45 minutes presentation named Pollinate Chain Reaction 2004, which I must admit was amazingly inspiring to watch. I would recommend it to anyone that want to create something - to make a difference.

Weekly Photo #3

January 23, 2005 | 0 Comments

Weekly Photo #2

January 16, 2005 | 0 Comments

New printer

January 16, 2005 | 0 Comments

I've bought myself a new printer. The old one went broke recently and good for that - it was very old and not very good. I considered to buy a dedicated photo printer, but ended up selecting a multiprinter that is capable of scanning, copying, printing and faxing. The model is Canon PIXMA MP780.

I've started to learn everything about it. Of course it a lot better of printing photos and the few test prints that I've done are excellent. Also I've been experimenting with the scanner because I have a number of really old photos scanned with my old printer/scanner. To compare the result I've selected a photo from one of my first skiing holidays back in 1998, a photo that I at that time scanned using my old printer/scanner. I've found the original and rescanned it in my new printer. Also I've manipulated the picture in Photoshop. It may sounds like cheating but I think it is part of the process of producing the best photo. Well, the difference is clearly seen in the picture below where the new scan/photo is on the left and the old one is on the right. Notice especially the details in the shadows and on the mountain ridge.

I'm fairly happy with my new purchase. Only time will tell whether I will be satisfied with it.

Weekly Photo #1

January 9, 2005 | 0 Comments

Happy New Year

January 1, 2005 | 0 Comments

It's yet a new year and you have a weekend to deal with 2005 before starting on work on Monday. If I should try to put a word on what will become the challenge of 2005 I think it can be said in one word coherence.

The society of the world today is incredible complex both socially, occupationally and technologically that you as individual has difficulties understanding everything. It is not possible. However it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try understand everything. The problem is however that to become an effective system (e.g. as a society, company or group of people) you must make a choice. Should you concentrate on a few things which you hopefully will master or should you try to spread your activities? This question is relevant not only for the man on the floor but also the leader. The answer is not either/or but both/and. You have to do both things even though it is difficult and even seems to be harmful. It is a insecure strategy to say no to changes.

The best way to secure that the development goes into the right direction - the so called sustainable development - is to try to create coherence between going deep and going wide, between the few and the many, between the expert and the people etc. It is not enough that only a few people try to create overview and coherence. It must be done by everyone. Also by you.

Well, as I'm saying the big challenge according to me, of 2005 and maybe the milestone of the century is to create coherence between...

• ... people
• ... countries
• ... systems
• ... religions, and
• ... pick your own choice

Can you all have a happy new year and remember to aid the victims in Asia by contacting your local Red Cross.

Weekly Photo #53/#1

December 31, 2004 | 0 Comments

This years weekly photo project has ended. As the observant reader may have noticed I have never publicized a weekly photo number 1. Luckily it fits well into the the problem of having 53 photos when everyone knows that a year have 52 weeks. Comfortably I have therefore chosen to let weekly photo 53 and 1 be one and the same, so that I have published 52 weekly photos for 2004.

I hope that I can present all the photos in a connection where the present themselves well, e.g. a slideshow or similar. So stay tuned.

What else? I haven't yet decided whether there should be a weekly photo in 2005 or whether I should present photos in another manner. I'm susceptible for proposals.

Predicting the future of year 2025

December 31, 2004 | 0 Comments

Funny that all sorts of top lists are displayed around the end/beginning of a year. Of course I would also like to show off a list. Not a list compiled by myself but found at Google Answers, an excellent service from Google.

Here's a prediction of the next 20 year period from 2005-2025. The numbers are probabilities these events will occur:

1. World population exceeds  8 billion: 95%
2. World population exceeds 12 billion: 20%
3. China's GDP growth averages 5%+ per year: 60%
4. USA sends a man to the Moon: 20%
5. USA sends a man to Mars: < 1%
6. Average female life expectancy exceeds 90 years: 25%
7. Worldwide military budgets grow 6%+ per year: 60%
8. South American wheat production declines: 30%
9. Oil exceeds $100 per barrel: 15%
10. Elvis returns and he looks grrrreat: < 1%
11. Cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors and televisions are no longer manufactured.  90%
12. Computer clock rates reach the 50 GHz mark: 60%
13. Computer clock rates hit a physical limit beyond which no substantial increase is possible: 5%
14. Thousands of people implant computer hardware in their brains: 20%
15. An intelligent computer is destroyed, and the police treat it as a homicide: < 1%
16. The USA officially abandons imperial measurements and goes metric: 60%
17. Fewer than 50% of the US population is of European extraction: 40%
18. Spanish is established as an official language of government in California: 20%
19. Some Indian corporations outsource their call centers to the United States: 11%
20. China becomes fully democratic: 80%
21. China wages war on Taiwan: 35%
22. China succeeds in absorbing Taiwan: 13%
23. A new Republic of Kurdistan gains international recognition: 20%
24. Turkey joins the European Union: 50%
25. Russia joins the European Union: 33%
26. At least one country withdraws from the European Union: 9%
27. The USA withdraws from the United Nations: 3%
28. No new cases of smallpox are reported from 2005 through 2025: 90%
29. The flu virus mutates and hardens into a lethal threat: 40%
30. Stem-cell research yields no appreciable results by 2025: 25%
31. Scientists develop an effective treatment for most forms of cancer: 10%
32. Cosmetic surgeons carry out face transplants on wealthy clients: 2%
33. The USA continues to have the world's largest GDP: 95%
34. Brazil exports more wheat than the United States: 50%
35. Argentina's GDP exceeds that of Italy: 10%
36. The marathon world record is under 2 hours: 40%
37. The 100m sprint world record is under 9.5 seconds: 10%
38. An African nation competes at the Winter Olympics: 70%
39. An African city makes a successful bid to host the Summer Olympics: 25%
40. The NFL approves some steroids for routine use by its players: 15%
41. No athlete fails a doping test at the 2024 Olympics: < 1%
42. Microsoft operating systems power fewer than 90% of desktop computers: 95%
43. Microsoft operating systems power fewer than 50% of desktop computers: 60%
44. The world's richest man is a Chinese citizen: 30%
45. Worldwide oil production is higher in 2025 than in 2005: 45%
46. Worldwide coal production is higher in 2025 than in 2005: 70%
47. The total sales receipts of the video-game industry are higher than those of the film industry: 66%
48. US book sales in 2025 are less than 90% of their 2005 level: 80%
49. US book sales in 2025 are less than 50% of their 2005: 40%
50. The Golden Globes are widely acknowledged as more important than the Oscars: 10%
51. The Sundance Festival is widely acknowledged as more important than the Oscars: 3%
52. The cost of a recreational space flight drops under $1 million: 75%
53. A vacation resort is built on the moon: 15%
54. Sedans outsell SUVs in the United States: 50%
55. Fewer than 50% of new automobiles are powered by gasoline-only engines: 75%
56. A 100-kilometer electric charge for the average automobile costs less than the equivalent amount of gasoline: 60%
57. 5% of the mammal, bird, and fish species known in 2005 are extinct by 2025: 80%
58. 25% of the mammal, bird, and fish species known in 2005 are extinct by 2025: 25%
59. The United States joins the Kyoto Protocol: 50%
60. The oceans rise and wash away part of the Netherlands: 50%
61. Over 60% of email traffic consists of spam: 90%
62. Over 90% of email traffic consists of spam: 40%
63. In an effort to curb spam, the US government imposes an email tax of 1 cent or so per message on Internet service providers: 10%
64. The cheapest digital camera that isn't a toy has an optical resolution of at least 10 megapixels: 95%
65. The picture quality of the best digital cameras equals that of the best film cameras: 75%
66. Fewer than 1,000,000 film cameras are manufactured worldwide in 2025: 60%
67. Skin-tight synthetic clothing is popular: 66%
68. Transparent clothing is popular: 33%
69. Expensive sneakers use motorized springs to make you run faster: 50%
70. Desktop 3-D printers can output simple manufactured goods: 20%
71. Maggots are routinely used to disinfect wounds: 85%
72. Swarms of micro-scale robots carry out surgical procedures inside the body: 60%
73. Swarms of nano-scale robots fight diseased cells inside the body: 3%
74. At least 25% of American wheat is grown from genetically modified strains: 60%
75. Gay marriage is legalized in at least one American state: 30%
76. Gay marriage is legalized throughout the US by federal law: 10%
77. Fewer than 20% of US adults smoke cigarettes: 66%
78. Tobacco use is federally prohibited: 3%
79. Marijuana is declared legal for recreational use in at least one American state: 35%
80. Alcohol is federally prohibited: 1%
81. Over 50% of US marriages end in divorce: 75%
82. Over 60% of US marriages end in divorce: 20%
83. The Supreme Court decides that marriage is a private matter in which the law should not intervene: 15%
84. The Supreme Court decides that women may go topless wherever men are permitted to do so: 30%
85. Switzerland joins the European Union: 75%
86. The European Union musters an army of its own: 90%
87. Quebec secedes from Canada: 30%
88. Quebec secedes from Canada but changes its mind and rejoins a few years later: 10%
89. Alberta secedes from Canada and joins the United States: 3%
90. By 2025, the Democratic Party has regained control of the Presidency and of both houses of Congress for at least one term: 60%
91. The US election law is changed so that Arnold Schwarzenegger and other naturalized US citizens may run for the Presidency: 25%
92. Hillary Clinton has been elected President: 14%
93. The Green Party has sent a Representative to Congress: 2%
94. The Libertarian Party outperforms the Republicans or Democrats in a Presidential election: 1%
95. The Irish Republican Army ceases to exist as a meaningful force: 33%
96. The Basque separatist movement ETA ceases to exist as a meaningful force: 25%
97. Several countries engage in military action to secure mining or drilling rights in Antarctica: 25%
98. A sovereign state is established in Antarctica: 10%
99. India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir: 77%
100. The Kashmir struggle is permanently resolved with a peace treaty: 20%
101. Pakistan detonates a nuclear weapon in anger: 6%
102. North Korea detonates a nuclear weapon in anger: 4%
103. Israel detonates a nuclear weapon in anger: 2%
104. South Korea and North Korea merge into a united Korean republic: 25%
105. Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand form an Asian Union to compete with the European Union: 40%
106. Australia joins the Asian Union: 25%
107. China declares war on Russia: 17%
108. China declares war on Japan: 14%
109. A species that died out within the past 200 years is brought back through biotechnology: 30%
110. A dinosaur species is brought back through biotechnology: 3%
111. Cosmetic dentistry has mastered the science of growing teeth: 60%
112. Cloning gains widespread acceptance as a way to resurrect deceased pets: 80%
113. Cloning gains widespread acceptance as a way to resurrect deceased children: 5%
114. Cloning gains widespread acceptance as a way to resurrect deceased CEOs of major corporations: 0.5%
115. Most HIV-positive people in the United States can enjoy normal life spans with constant pharmacological therapy: 92%
116. Most HIV-positive people in Africa can enjoy normal life spans with constant pharmacological therapy: 2%
117. The American government institutes Canadian-style socialized health care: 33%
118. Top surgeons sell their services on web-based auction sites: 60%
119. The US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade: 40%
120. Parents in 2025 routinely use genetic screening to choose some physical attributes of their newborn children: 88%
121. Parents in 2025 routinely use genetic screening to choose some psychological attributes of their newborn children: 33%
122. Advances in gene therapy mean that the children of 2025 will never go bald: 1%
123. Advances in herbal medicine mean that you can actually buy pills online that make your breasts rounder or your abs firmer: < 1%
124. One US dollar is worth more than one Euro: 90%
125. One Canadian dollar is worth more than one US dollar: 30%
126. One Euro is worth more than two US dollars: 13%
127. The US budget is balanced in 2025: 60%
128. The US national debt decreases in real value between 2005 and 2025: 20%
129. In 2025, the value of US exports exceeds the value of its imports: 10%
130. The highest US income-tax bracket has a rate greater than 50%: 66%
131. The highest US income-tax bracket has a rate less than 40%: 10%
132. By executive decree, the IRS institutes a flat-rate income tax: 3%
133. The government institutes a national sales tax: 60%
134. The Dow Jones Industrial Average no longer includes IBM among its components: 42%
135. At least one new component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an Internet-era company founded in the 1990s: 84%
136. The Nasdaq index becomes more widely recognized than the Dow Jones: 30%
137. The Standard & Poor's 500 index becomes more widely recognized than the Dow Jones: 15%
138. Pennies are withdrawn from US circulation: 90%
139. Nickels are withdrawn from US circulation: 60%
140. The one-dollar bill is withdrawn from US circulation: 40%
141. All coins are withdrawn from US circulation: 10%
142. All cash is withdrawn from US circulation: < 1%
143. The Yankees win the World Series at least three times between 2005 and 2025: 40%
144. The Red Sox win the World Series more often than the Yankees between 2005 and 2025: 10%
145. A minority of NFL quarterbacks in the 2025 draft are white: 75%
146. A majority of NBA players come from outside the United States: 60%
147. A professional sports team attracts a player with a contract worth $1 billion or more: 55%
148. Dressage is eliminated as an Olympic event: 40%
149. Squash is added as an Olympic event: 15%
150. Billiards is added as an Olympic event: 1%
151. China wins more Olympic gold medals between 2008 and 2024 than any other nation: 85%
152. China wins a gold medal in Olympic basketball: 60%
153. The United States soccer team reaches the World Cup semi-finals: 15%
154. American Major League Soccer draws a greater audience than the NHL: 40%
155. The NFL awards a franchise to a Canadian city: 23%
156. The NHL awards a franchise to a Mexican city: 6%
157. Basketball players have become so tall that the NBA increases the regulation basketball height to keep the game interesting: 4%
158. Digital postage replaces 95% of postage stamps: 90%
159. First-class letter mail declines by 50%: 85%
160. The United States Postal Service is privatized: 50%
161. Venice sinks at least 6 inches: 70%
162. The Tower of Pisa topples: 5%
163. Venice sinks out of sight: < 1%
164. Chinese-made automobiles are sold in the United States: 95%
165. Chinese-made automobiles account for at least 5% of the US market: 60%
166. Chinese-made automobiles outsell Japanese-made ones in the United States: 16%
167. French automobiles return to the US market in a big way: 6%
168. At least one American make of automobile is manufactured by robots alone, without any human intervention: 40%
169. A serious traffic accident is provably caused by a software bug in a car's on-board computer: 60%
170. The conventional broadcast networks control less than 50% of the commercial television market: 85%
171. Low-resolution commercial television is phased out entirely in favor of HDTV broadcasts: 75%
172. At least one commercial television station broadcasts mainly over the Internet: 55%
173. Satellite radio controls over 50% of the commercial radio market: 22%
174. The digital version of the New York Times outsells the paper version: 70%
175. More local calls are placed over the Internet than through analog phone lines: 20%
176. More international calls are placed over the Internet than through analog phone lines: 35%
177. A popular new music-video performer is actually a lifelike digital animation: 70%
178. A popular new Hollywood actor is actually a lifelike digital animation: 40%
179. Boy bands are a thing of the past: 20%
180. Heavy metal is a thing of the past: 5%
181. A Bach remix reaches the top of the charts: 2%
182. More than 50% of music albums are sold digitally through the Internet: 95%
183. The average cost of a music album is greater than $10: 90%
184. More than 50% of digital music albums are pirated rather than purchased: 33%
185. Flying cars become a reality: 10%
186. Flying carpets become a reality: 1%
187. Teleportation becomes a reality: < 1%
188. A light railway is built in Manhattan: 77%
189. A monorail is built in Manhattan: 44%
190. The light railway is shut down in Los Angeles: 22%
191. In 2025, there are 7,000,000 car accidents in the US: 90%
192. The number of alcohol-related traffic accidents declines between 2005 and 2025: 60%
193. Bicycle helmets are mandatory in most US cities: 80%
194. Pedestrian helmets are mandatory in some US cities: 3%
195. The water level of the Colorado River drops too far to permit further diversion for agricultural irrigation: 90%
196. Canada exports water from its underground reserves to US cities: 75%
197. Saudi Arabia imports icebergs from Antarctica to bolster its water supply: 45%
198. The ocean becomes too saline to support some aquatic species: 20%
199. The average global temperature rises by 0.5 degree Celsius between 2005 and 2025: 60%
200. The average global temperature rises by 1.0 degree Celsius between 2005 and 2025: 20%
201. Global warming begins to decline thanks to efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions: 50%
202. Global warming begins to decline due to the onset of an ice age: 13%
203. Global temperatures drop so much that the CFC ban is lifted and consumers are urged to use aerosol sprays as much as possible: < 1%
204. Most youth in 2025 believe that they are the most important generation in world history: 99%
205. Most adults in 2025 know that they are not the most important generation in world history: 99%
206. The Southern swarms of killer bees never advance far enough into the United States to cause a problem: 90%
207. As in the 19th century, a plague of Rocky Mountain locusts afflicts the American Midwest: 33%
208. As in the Old Testament, a plague of frogs afflicts the Midwest: < 1%
209. The end of the world is brought about by a man-made disaster: 0.1%
210. The end of the world is brought about by a natural disaster: 0.01%

Original source to the list of predictions. Thanks to the people at  http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=447880.

The year that went

December 29, 2004 | 0 Comments

Well, the year is nearly up and it is a tradition to look back on what has happened in the recent year. The years seems to go faster and faster without you have more time to do what you want to. It must be the age.

It is not much that I remember from the year. The summer holiday to India was clearly the most vivid and exciting experience of the year. Traveling in other countries and seeing other cultures is something that I positively enjoy. It opens so many thoughts and possibilities. It is definitely something that I will do as long as I have the possibility for it. I would even say that I would like to expand the repertoire (so to speak) with culture related holidays, maybe even long weekends to some of the more cultural exciting cities in Europe.  

The family trips to Jutland, both the long weekend in Struer/Vrist and the autumn holiday in Southern Jutland is also something to remember with pleasure, what several of my weekly photos also witnesses.

My interest for photography has, here seen from one of last days of the year, not been so successfully as I would have liked. My weekly photo project has done exactly what it was supposed to do - namely force me to take photographs. But I do not feel that it is enough. I am afraid that a more extensive upgrade of my photographic capabilities demands a lot more of my time. More time that I have with my current job - which I still like. It is way too interesting. As it is now my photographic capabilities are only increasing slowly. There are too few good photographs and I feel it goes too slow. I must come up with some ideas for fixing that situation.

However there is one special event from the year that I would like to remember. My grandma died July 2nd at the age of 86 years, unfortunately for me without having said properly goodbye. I must admit that I didn't visit her at the end. Her burial ceremony was held during my summer holiday and I didn't participate. Luckily I got the possibility to participate in her funeral ceremony (the actual burial of her ash into the ground). I would like here to honor her with a photograph.

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