Cuz We Said So

Europe 2010, Day 4: Stockholm

2010-03-10T15:00:00-06:00

Today’s festivities included a trip into the Old Town, past the palace, to the Nobel museum, dedicated to the prizes awarded in Stockholm instead of Oslo (those other than Peace, in other words). Had lunch at the chokladkoppen across the square, broccoli and blue cheese quiche and white hot chocolate, of which I greatly approved.

In the afternoon we rode the gondola up the outside of the Ericsson Globe for a panoramic view of the city, then made our way to the Modern Art museum, where we saw an exhibit of the works of Lee Laszlo (1930-1999), who the museum assured us explored “themes of power, sexuality, and violence” in her work, which we learned means she painted many, many pictures of penises.

Europe 2010, Day 3: Oslo to Stockholm

2010-03-09T14:31:00-06:00

Today was our first rail travel day, the four-hour ride from Norway to Sweden, then out on the T-bana (metro) to the suburb of Bromma, where our hotel—really, more of an apartment—is located. We didn’t do a lot today, other than walk around and get a sense of where things are located in Stockholm, wander around the shopping mall near the central train station, and track down a krugshallen (food court) for dinner.

One thing we saw that I as a technophile found cool: the hotel elevator has a manual (non-sliding) outer door, and no inner doors. You walk up, push the button, the elevator arrives, the door to the shaft unlocks, and you pull it toward you. Then you get in, the elevator starts to move, and you watch the wall of the elevator shaft, with the doors to each level, sliding past in front of you. Just not something you see much in the United States, where the whole arrangement would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Europe 2010, Day 2: Oslo

2010-03-08T13:08:00-06:00

Yesterday’s outing to the Nobel center was dedicated to peace, love, and flower power, but today’s trips to the World War II Resistance Museum at Akershus Fortress and the Viking Ship Museum in Bygdøy featured enough blowing things up, invading, and pillaging to balance things out.

I’ve read a lot about World War II over the years, but I knew very little about Norway’s involvement, so learning about the Nazi surprise invasion and occupation, the resistance movement that rose to challenge it was worthwhile. As always, the war is always a grim reminder of how good we have it these days, even during harder times. As for the Vikings, the museum had ships that were remarkably well-preserved; the Oseberg ship, for example, was buried in the year 834. It’s rather amazing to think that 30+ people would climb into what is essentially an oversized rowboat and sail all the way from Norway to Greenland.

We also visited the Kon Tiki museum and saw the raft that Thor Heyerdahl sailed from Lima to Rapa Nui in 1948, as well as Ra II, the papyrus boat he sailed from Morocco to Barbados in 1970. Both looked more like props from Gilligan’s Island than something you’d actually use to cross an ocean. Small wonder Heyerdal had a hard time convincing people it was possible.

Our last stop was the Vigeland Sculpture Park, home to the work of sculptor Gustav Vigel. Easily the best place in Oslo to see many, many naked statues. Not my cup of tea per se, but a good display, and a pleasant day (if chilly) for a walk in the park.

Dinner at Brunello’s Pizzeria. I can recommend the Gorgonzola pizza.

Europe 2010, Day 1: Oslo, Norway

2010-03-07T10:45:00-06:00

In Oslo today, the first day of a two-week European rail tour extravaganza. Got about two hours of sleep on the flight over, between the two meal services and assorted other distractions, so a seriously jet-laggy day all around. A whole lot of coffee and a relatively early turn-in should take care of that.

One thing I was looking forward to on this trip was escaping US politics for a couple of weeks--so naturally, the first place we go here is the Nobel Peace Center, currently decked out in giant images of the sitting US president. The exhibit was well done, showing the evolution of race relations in America from the days of segregation and the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. through the election of President Obama. The permanent exhibit was good too; I liked the display of Nobel’s will, which outlined the charter for the prizes that bear his name, and the LCD wall with pictures and bios of past winners. One thing that struck me: the degree to which some Peace awards stretch he scope of the prize, as if the committee wanted to honor people whose great works didn’t fit the scope of the other prizes Nobel assigned. Normal Borlaug’s work was a triumph of biology, for example (he developed dwarf wheat and arguably helped feed millions) but there’s no Nobel prize for Biology.

Dinner was at Brasserie 45, on the way back to the hotel. Catfish: good. White chocolate mousse with mixed berries: fantastic.

Random observations:

Lots of unfamiliar candy brands in the airport stores, including some unusual gum flavors (Eucalyptus and Salty Licorice, hmm.)
Lots of winter sports on TV.
Oslo may be one of the most expensive cities in the world, but it hasn’t hit me yet; dinner was pricey, but I wouldn’t say more so than a nice tourist friendly restaurant anywhere else. Maybe it’s rent that makes it pricey.
Overall first impression: Minnesota with mountains.

Tomorrow: Vikings.

Valve Software Shows How Viral Marketing is Done

2010-03-04T14:45:00-06:00

On March 1, an unannounced update to the Valve computer game Portal was pushed onto the Steam game content delivery service. The update was described in the the Steam news stream like this: "Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations."

Shortly thereafter, people playing the game discovered something had changed. For one thing, there was a new achievement listed for the game called "Transmission Received."

They then discovered several other interesting things.

A radio seen in the game world near the beginning of the game had changed. It now had a red light on the front of it.
When you carried the radio with you into a room on the first level with a big red button on the floor (a 1500 megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super-Button) the light on the radio turned green, and a strange interference noise was heard.
There were 25 other radios hidden throughout the game's levels. All but four rewarded being placed in a room with a super-button with similar noise. The other four each played a different string of Morse code.
When you successfully collected all 26 radios, you got credit for the achievement.

Someone had the idea of pulling from the game the audio files that sounded like interference, and running them through Slow-Scan Television (SSTV) software. (SSTV is a picture transmission method used by amateur radio operators to transmit and receive static pictures via radio.) This revealed the 22 cryptic images seen here.

When decoded, the four Morse code streams read as follows:

interior transmission active external data line active message digest active
9e107d9d372bb6821bd91d3542a419d6
system data dump active user backup active password backup active
beep beeeep beep beep beeeep beeeep beeeep beep beeeep beep beep

On further investigation, Morse code stream 2 turned out to be an MD5 hash. Decoding it revealed a landline phone number in Kirkland, Washington, near where Valve is headquartered.

(When decoded, the new Morse code from Morse code stream 4 read, "LOL".)

Upon calling the phone number, people discovered it was a modem line running BBS software. Using Telnet and the user name and password combination from Morse code stream 3, above, they were able to connect to the BBS and discovered additional graphic images and several amusing memos from the Aperture Science Enrichment Center featured in the game. My favorite example:

A lot of you have been raising concerns about the so-called "dangers" of what we're all doing here. The beancounters told me to tell you that as of today, testing will no longer be as mandatory or as dangerous. That's not gonna happen, and here's the reason: Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: Why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired. Plus, in the event of your death, I personally guarantee that, thanks to the form you were required to sign this morning, your family will not suffer the indignities of a prolonged and costly legal battle against Aperture Science. Trust me, I am rich, and it is a burden I do not wish on anyone.

There's speculation this is all a prelude to an announcement of the sequel to Portal or other fun stuff at the Game Developers Conference coming up next week.

I’m not sure what’s more genius: the marketing smarts of the folks at Valve that cooked this up, or the tech-gnomes that figured it all out. But how often do we see companies that know their target audience this well, and show such trust in its intelligence?

(Hat tip to ModernLR for a nice summary of the details)

The Future of Airline Travel?

2010-02-23T08:47:50-06:00

Frequent flyers should check out Andrew Lark’s post on Air New Zealand's futuristic new interior design, on its way to a 777 or 787 near you—if you’re in New Zealand. I’d like to think this is a preview of things to come in the US market, but with our domestic carriers doing as poorly as they have in recent years, it’s hard to say when, or if, they’ll make the investment.

Unexpectedly

2010-02-18T08:27:24-06:00

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
—Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

A sampling of recent headlines:
Today: Jobless claims rise unexpectedly
February 5: US unemployment rate falls unexpectedly, but job losses continue
January 21: Initial jobless claims unexpectedly climb
December 31: US new jobless claims fall unexpectedly
November 4: New jobless benefit claims rise unexpectedly
October 22: New Jobless Claims Up Unexpectedly to 531K
September 24: US home sales, jobless claims drop unexpectedly

Maybe it’s just me, but the word “unexpectedly” in this context is starting to annoy. An occasional miss, and I’ll give you that the story should be about what unemployment “unexpectedly” did. When we’re missing the forecast every month, on the other hand, the real story is that our system for setting expectations is crap, yet we keep citing it. Maybe it’s time to set lower expectations for our ability to predict the future, and stop reporting every number as if it’s a surprise?

Scott Adams on Stocks versus Precious Metals

2010-02-15T23:28:24-06:00

A humorous assessment: “If things go so badly that the S&P 500 becomes permanently worthless, I have a hard time believing that the people who own gold will rule the world. I think it's more likely that the people who own steel that is conveniently shaped like guns will control everything, including all of the shiny rocks. At that point, the new currency will be something along the lines of “’Wash my car and I won't shoot you in the leg.’”

Of course, as he’s said in the past, “Disclaimer: Do not get your investment advice from cartoonists.”

The US Debt in Detailin Real Time

2010-01-30T15:03:37-06:00

This is cool, and yet so very, very uncool at the same time. USDebtClock.org breaks down federal revenue, spending, and debt, and shows it all in real time. In the time it took me to write and post these three sentences, our government spent an additional $6 million it doesn’t have—debt that your children, and their children, will have to try and repay. (Via Jason Calcanis)

UPDATE: next time you are calculating your family’s net worth, factor in an additional $177,598 in debt for each member of your family to see the real number.

Dragon Hears the Truth

2010-01-28T11:30:58-06:00

I am toying with writing up some impressions of the Apple iPad for the site here, and was dictating my notes into the Dragon speech recognition app on my iPhone.

I said, “As someone with terrible vision, I appreciate the idea of being able to run my iPhone apps on a larger screen..."

What Dragon heard was: "As someone with terrible visions, I appreciate..."

In retrospect, that version is better. At least, it’s funnier. “Ah!! I see flames! Terrible, terrible, flames! And is that Steve Jobs, naked, bathed in blood, holding an iPad?? The horror!!!”