English

Science and peer review

Here is the text broken up into paragraphs: In our daily exposure to science, we’ve been told that there exists a quality metric that allows us to distinguish between "bad science" and "good science". Peer review; the concept of scientific works being sent to certain publications, where editors then asks other scientists in (hopefully) related fields for their opinions, and if the paper "passes" it will be published. Some publications are taken to be "better" than others at this, and there’s a sense of pride and justification between scientists depending on how many papers, and where, they’ve managed to get published through the peer review process.

Climatechange · English · Globalwarming · Media · Science

330 words

2 minutes

Security and Web 2.0

Here is the text broken up into paragraphs: I’ll admit, I hadn’t read [Getting Things Done](http://www.davidco.com/ "Getting Things Done") until now. Sorry. I guess I never got around to do it.

Cloudcomputing · English · Evernote · Gtd · Internet · Security · Web20

566 words

3 minutes

Sizecoding & custom packing

Update 2021-07-14: Ben of The Overlanders commented on my Facebook post that there was yet another optimization possible on the depack-routine. I have edited the source listing below.

Atari · English · Retro

1439 words

7 minutes

Sony - please don’t punish good customers!

A few days ago I bought my second Playstation 3. Mostly for use as a media centre, but of course with the intent of using it for gaming as well. It’s nice having more than one room playstation-enabled.

Console · English · Ps3 · Whine

178 words

1 minute

Speed of information

_Speed of information - or - don’t kill my Intarnetz!

English · Internet · Media · Web20

313 words

2 minutes

Spotify - liberation or DRM-hell?

Spotify , seen by many as the music service Napster should’ve been and thus would have saved us from the last 10 years of evil piracy, has a darker side to it as well. To understand, let’s do some history:

Business · English · Itunes · Media · Mobile · Pirateparty · Spotify

599 words

3 minutes

Stiga SD 98 ride-on lawnmower repair and mod

(Also includes how to seriously mess something up creating even bigger repair needs) When we bought our property we also purchased a lot of the equipment the previous owner had acquired. An integral part of that is the lawnmower tractor - total size is close to two acres and most of that is covered with grass. It’s a Hurricane HTG 98 SD, which is a model also sold under many other brands. In Sweden the most known one would probably be Stiga SD 98, but in the UK it’s likely an MTD. It has a Briggs & Stratton 17.5HP engine and does a pretty good job, we use it also to transport things around, collect leaves and tidy up the driveway gravel. A week ago it suddenly wouldn’t start. It’s been a bit finicky since we got it, but no matter what I tried it simply didn’t even engage the starter. This points to an electrical issue, right up my alley. Or so you would think. I have degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Software Engineering, but all the electronics stuff I blog about is all self taught. I also looked forward to tearing it down. Like other ride-ons, it has a safety switch where the engine cuts out immediately when it doesn’t detect a driver in the seat. This is all good and well, I really understand why, but when you have a huge lawn there’s just no way you can walk around in preparation for mowing, getting rid of all small rocks, large twigs and the constantly falling pears and apples now during the autumn. I really need to be able to keep it running while quickly moving things out of the way. Since I had a hunch that the reason it didn’t start was another one of the safety switches, I stripped it down and started to search for both where they originated, and where the mower made the decision to whether it was safe to engage the engine or not. Also, to figure out which one it was that was currently not enabling.

English · Htg · Mower · Mtd · Stiga · Tractor

2099 words

10 minutes

Sustainable economics

Bitcoin press has gone through the roof in the last few weeks. So has the exchange rate between traditional currencies and bitcoins - a fact that has seen as many different explanations as I’ve seen people wrapping their heads around the Bitcoin concept and writing about it.

Bitcoin · Consumerism · Deflation · Economics · English · Sustainability

358 words

2 minutes

Tabs - the most valuable screen real estate

As I’m writing this, I have 20 tabs open in my web browser. Of those, the five latest are newly opened and temporary part of things I’m currently researching.

English · Internet

151 words

1 minute

The Atari Mega ST keyboard - finally exposed

When people talk about the Atari ST range of computers, most mean the common form factor of the times where the computer and keyboard were all one unit. This was true for most of Atari’s machines - but for a few exceptions. The Mega ST, the Mega STE and the TT went for a more “business look”, which apparently meant separation of computer and keyboard. The Mega ST computer has a fantastic “pizza box” style, while the Mega STE and TT share a common … something else.

Atari · English · Retro

882 words

5 minutes