Author Archives: Erik

Zune vs. iPod

Yesterday I got the opportunity to compare the new Microsoft Zune with the latest iPod.
Zune looks bigger than the iPod, but in reality it’s not much. Design is always a matter of taste, but the edged design of the Zune makes it look clumsier than the iPod, I think. 
Zune needs two extra buttons since it doesn’t use the round navigation button the same way iPod does. But both players are simple to use; and if you are used to one of them, you will immediately know how to manoeuvre the other.
The screen on Zune is much bigger than on iPod, which is nice. But where the screen on Zune might seem contrast less, the screen on new iPods is very sharp. What is best? I don’t know, but for shorter films, I would definitely choose iPod. I really like the size of the screen on Zune, but it’s just not sharp enough! Fingerprints don’t show on Zune as they tend to on the iPod. I didn’t have time to study Zune in greater detail, but I think it might support more formats than iPod. But as far as I can see, it doesn’t support podcasts (unless you download them yourself, and then upload them to Zune).

iPod and Zune

Sorry for the quality of the photo. It was taken with a cell phone with a lousy built-in camera. Both players are showing the film “V for Vendetta”. You can’t see the difference in screen quality on the photo!

My choice? Not a choice really. With a sharper screen and direct support for podcast, I’ll stay with iPod!

This comparison was made between the latest iPod edition and the first Zune on the US market.

Must – Kill – Spammer!

I am what you might call a peace loving person. I really hate conflicts of any kind. I’m also pretty harmless. I even try not to step on ugly bugs (some day, someone might see me as an ugly bug, but hopefully also avoid stepping on me).
But spammers! I think I wouldn’t mind killing all spammers, if I had the change! And their families, just to be sure to wipe out the genetic code for spammers.
After that I would dance a Scottish Ceilidh on there graves. I would of course have to learn how to dance the Ceilidh, but that would be a small price to pay!
Just because a few people have an extraordinary desire to sell medicine and access to card games, the rest of us spend a lot of time and money to clean up our mailboxes and blogs.

Buy nothing

On the 24th of November in USA and Canada, and the 25th of November in Europe and large parts of the rest of the world, it’s Buy Nothing Day! An event you can be part of, by doing absolutely nothing! 😉 As the say at “Buy Nothing Day Denmark“: Buy Nothing Day is the day where the consumers can stop to think about their daily over consumption. Do we really need all the stuff we buy?

A cold wind from north

For a couple of days, we experienced a very cold and quite strong wind from north. Within few hours, we went from fall to winter. Even for a Dane, who are used to cold weather, it did come as a bit of a surprise this time! Wind directly from north is not that common in Denmark. And because of its strength, it caused flooding in some part of the country.
Now the wind has turned a bit, and has weakened a lot, so the temperature is rising again. Also the flooded areas are soon to be dry again, hopefully without too much damage.

Freezing

One week to V

Remember, remember the 5th of November.

I think next Sunday (November 5) would be a very fine time to watch the film “V for Vendetta“ once more. If you haven’t seen it yet – or want to see it again, then why not buy or rent the film for at small video event November 5? That way, you won’t be watching the film alone; in spirit we’ll all be watching it together. 🙂

(V)

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

October 27, 1916

Today is my grandmothers 90th birthday! Not that it shows. I’ve seen persons at 60 or even younger that seem or act much older. The day begins with brunch for everyone who wants to congratulate her. Later on she has arranged a banquet for the close family.
It’s not easy to imagine (at least for me), how it must be to have witnessed most of a century of ups and downs in this world.

Global warming, part 3

First a note to the people, who like to read the BaseBlog, but doesn’t have any interest in environmental matters: this might be the last writing about global warming. Also because writing about it doesn’t make the problem go away – just as ignoring the problem won’t solve it either. You can find the other parts of my global warming trilogy here: part 1, part 2.

Just a few words about global warming and ice age!
Here’s one of the problems with global warming: imagine that the nice warm weather keep on coming – with temperatures rising each year.
First we notice the warmer seawater. As most people know, hurricanes grow over the sea; and the warmer the water is, the bigger the hurricane gets.
Then the ice at Greenland and the Poles start to melt faster. The water level rises, floods a lot of land all over the World and create millions of refugees.
The cold water from the melting ice suddenly makes an end to the Gulf Stream because the difference in temperatures, that makes the stream work, has been leveled out.
After the Gulf Stream stops, it’ll only take few years – some say 10 years, others think it’ll only take 2 or 3 years – before large parts of the World once more gets an ice age!
Luckily a lot of people won’t have to go through this. I’m talking about all the people who, before that, has drowned in the floods, or died from hunger or war.

Now you might have an idea why some of us think that global warming is a bad thing. And why a lot of politicians don’t want to talk about it. And why I don’t like to keep on writing about this topic in this blog, where I prefer to write about fun stuff.

Global warming, part 2

The official USA still takes the stand, that they want to pollute all they want, and just gives a f… about environmental problems. But more and more people over there actually realize the link between global warming and the increased number of hurricanes and changes to the climate.
Yesterday I saw “An Inconvenient Truth“ with Al Gore’s crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it.
I have seen the effect the global warming has in Greenland. I have seen an American film about the problem. Now I really want to see some politicians do something about it!