Ah! Young again!

Ok, this story needs some explanation first, for the people living outside Scandinavia.

In Sweden we have a state-controlled company (Systembolaget) for the sale of alcoholic beverages and the legal age to buy alcohol at the special shops is 20.

Yesterday was my 37:th birthday and this Saturday I will hold a party so I went to Systembolaget to fill up my private 'stock' and when I got to the counter to pay for my goods the female cashier asked me to show some ID! =)

I gave her my drivers license and she noticed my birth date and she said 'Congratulations, even if it's a day late'. She said that a beard is not enough to convince her that you are at legal age to buy alcohol. Well, at my age to be forced to show ID can only be interpret as a compliment!

Then she added that the whisky I bought was a clue to my older age, it's not one of the most expensive but it's no cheap one either and would probably not be something a youngster would buy! The Glenmorangie is a single malt with a lot of flavour but it's not as smokey as many of the single malts tend to be and that's more to my taste.

When I got home I noticed that the bottle had got a new shape, I like it, looks more interesting than the old regular shaped bottle. Did a short photo shoot of it:

Good stuff..

Quite pleased with the result, took over 40 photos, struggling with the external flash (Nikon SB800), used the Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 50mm/f 1.8 D.

Mid day ride!

Just a few photos from todays +1h bike ride:





-8 degrees Celsius! =)

Greeting card!

Got a very nice 'hand made' greeting card from my sister! Just have to share it! =)


Happy, happy!

Phontaine...

Found this:





After I went looking for the tune "Brooklyn to Kingston" in this video:



Turns out Phontaine has tunes in many great bicycle movies!

new world disorder 9
the collective - seasons
new world disorder 7
the collective - roam
'Dirt'

Road disco? No thanks!

Video update!
Lately I have noticed that some rear lights, specially newer Volvo V70 rear lights, have a annoying blinking effect. For some reason the engineers at Volvo have chosen a blinking rate that creates a array of lights on the retina when one moves the head or the eye!


This got really tiresome when I drove to Stockholm last Sunday, at night it's specially irritating since it makes you look for cars that don't exist anywhere except like fading light on your retina!


Seems to be related to the fact that the car manufacturers uses the same lights bith as regular rear lights and braking lights. This requires that they run the LED:s och reduced 'effect' under normal conditions and when breaking they shine with full effect. To accomplish this the engineers use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to blink the LED:s on and off very fast so that they appear to shine less intense.

Managed to locate a thread at google groups:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sci.electronics.design/

Another forum where this effect is discussed, in Swedish though:
http://elektronikforumet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22700
http://elektronikforumet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31821

A few example images from the Swedish forum.

Regular lights:
Badly PWM:ed LED's:

I sincerely hope this kind of implementation of rear LED-lights on cars won't catch on! Other car manufacturers use this too, the new VW Passat and several Cadillac models seems to suffer from the same 'sickness'!

Update!
Managed to catch a Volvo in the act! The camera in the phone captures the 'flashing' tail light perfectly!

Lunch break beetle...

If someone missed it we got a ton a snow the last few days. To seize the moment I got my photo gear and during my lunch break I drove to a location where there's a old junk car.

Managed to shoot a few photos of the Volkswagen Beetle from different angles in about 20 minutes.



The HDR-images is made with Photomatix, a no time limit demo-version availabe at their homepage: http://www.hdrsoft.com/

Wish the sun had shine, would have made all the difference for the light, well got some exercise mushing thru the snow and some climbing the steep road. =)

I-Haul

Today I took the role of driver and removal man. Helped my brother and his girlfriend to move some of their stuff from Skinnskatteberg to Stockholm, think I drove close to 500 kilometers today.

Borrowed my fathers car a Subaru Legacy, 4-WD came to good use on the snowy winter roads today, we got lot's of snow this morning. Went to get the car last evening so that I wouldn't have to go the opposite direction in the morning and save a few miles and minutes.

Around 1 o'clock tonight I got a text message asking me if I could bring the bike carrier too... *sigh* So now I had to go to my parents anyway to get the carrier in the morning...

Well after I collected the bike carrier I was on my way, used a shortcut thru a road with less traffic, it was not ploughed. But the scenery was beautiful!


Only got the camera in my mobile phone with me..

After loading the car we started to drive to Stockholm. But we had to stop and eat something and there was a newly opened MAX hamburger restaurant in Västerås. We ordered almost all available side orders there was on the meny, felt like it anyway! Onion rings, french fries, mozzarella sticks, bean 'sallad', Chili cheese, two different dip sauces and a cheese cake dessert! =)

Sorry, only managed to get a 'after' photo.


This is how my brother felt after a while.


Well, after that we managed to find our way to the new appartment in Bandhagen, but we needed some travel instructions over the phone the last few kilometers.
We met up with another car from Mora, with the rest of the stuff and after that I drove all the way back home again! After 12h I was back at my parents, a lot more snow here!


Could not help my self, had to go drifting in the snow on a large open area before I returned the car, 4-WD is a hoot!! *grin*

Too bad it wasn't a WRX like below!



Well, that's another way to spend a Sunday. ;)

Like a bridge...

Hohoo! Found a Brige Builder 'look-a-like' flash game:




Can't write more, have to play! =)

About time!

Finally managed to haul myself out on a short round with the bike. Been a crazy week but today I took a extra hour during lunch! Glad I chose my Reign this time, the studded Schwalbe Ice Spikers I have on it saved the day! =)




The temperature was around zero Celcius.







Somewhat slippery with packed snow ontop of the icy ground!

Finally found it!

Ever since I heard of the ownership exchange of the Dr Pepper brand I have been keeping my eyes open for Dr Pepper bottles from Spendrups, the bottles I have seen have been from Carlsberg and they have disappeared slowly and have not been replaced.

Today however, I went to the shop to get some milk, bread and so on and decided to stroll past the bewerages and lo and behold! There they were! New print and all! =)

Old one:______________________New one:

(Photos taken with the aid of my still working IR-remote control!)

Close up on the text on respective bottle:


Will taste the new one as soon as it gets cold. :)

Just a note, the old bottle was empty and I thought it would look better if I got some Dr Pepper in it too, but since I didn't have any Dr Pepper left over I filled it woth some soy sauce mixed with water, pretty hard to see the difference! =)

Hmm, very strange website when you go to the URL printed on the new bottle!: http://pepperme.com/pepperme.html
Reminds me of the Garbage pail kids that were popular back in the days of stoneage, where I come from.

Play-Doh!

My dear little sister were kind and gave me some 'playdoh' as christmas present. (Totaly normal for a 36 year old kid! :))

Well, today I maneged to play some with the 'clay'!

The Biltema-logo on box sort of gave away the shop where it was bought, but it didn't lessen the joy of the gift!



Well, here's my first two creations so far!





Think the last one looks a bit like Scruffy the Janitor from Futurama? :)


Think I'm going to need more 'clay'!

Confusion? =)

The evolution of a tune:

New Order, Confusion (1983):


New Order, Confusion, Pump Panel Recon Mix (1997?):


Aquagen vs.Warp Brothers, Phatt Bass (2000):


Ali Payami vs Aquagen and Warp Brothers - Blade 2008)

Cowboy Bebop

One of few anime series worth watching, the best I have seen actually, is about to become a live action movie, featuring... Keanu Reves. *sigh..* Well, who know perhaps he's up to the task?


(1 minute in to the video =) )

I sincerely hope they try to preserve the mood and discreet humour of the series!

Cowboy Bebop opening, music by Yoko Kanno:


Well, plenty of time until the grand opening.

Doh! (#2)

Is it a sign? And how should in that case interpret it? This is the second time I do the laundry and it's the second time I manage to wash something that would be better off not being washed!

I must stop doing laundry!?

This time I forgot a Nikon ML-L3 infrared remote control in my back-pocket of my jeans. I don't use the remote that often but yesterday I was out shooting some long time exposure shots in at night and thought the remote would be handy, and it was! =)

The battery is a bit rusty after the wash...

I tend to put it in the back pocket so that I won't drop it in the snow or something by putting it in my jacket pocket, specially when using glowes in the cold. But this time I forgot it in the pocket when putting the pants in the laundry bin. I never have anything in my right back pocket except when using the remote, well, perhaps a lens cap from time to time for the same reasons above, so I never bothered to check the pocket before putting them in the washing machine.

Well, have to leave it to dry for a day or two and then try if it's still alive. If not I know what to ask my sister to bring from Hong Kong the next time they come for a visit... =)

Word of the day: W.O.M.B.A.T.

WOMBAT- Waste Of Money, Brains And Time

Illustrated by this cool "self-repairing" robotic chair!

Youtube HD-video

Update concerning HD-material on youtube.com, found a excellent site with lot's of info of enabling HD-video for Nikon D90 videos on youtube: http://cybercam.com/133/youtube-high-quality-hd-test/

Taking caffeine to the next level?

Well perhaps this is the next level after the latte revolution and double espressos?!



Free-baseing caffeine seems like a wery unhealty and dangerous way to get a caffeine kick and I would not try it, I think I'll stick to my aeropress!
Soon the goverment will ban coffee and it will only be sold at pharmacists for medical use only! ;)

Found it on Boingboing

Nocturnal...

Drove past the supermarket on my way home, turned in to the parking lot, there were like a zillion cars and even more people, I just drove thru the parking lot and straight home!

Had no wish to go in and shop with that kind of crowd so I ate and decided to go out and shoot some photos in the strange light that now had appeared after todays snowfall.

Tools: Nikon d90, Nikon Nikkor AF 50/f1.8D and Nikon Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye DX

A few shots:



































































The shop almost empty when I finally got there... =)