Some wise words for today:

Einstein is quoted to have said: "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."

See ya!

Current favorites include Islamic texts and books by John Grisham, Agatha Christie and the Harry Potter series, as well as travel books that feature large colorful photos of the outside world.

In Swedish news: http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/nyheter/harry-potter-popular-pa-guantanamo-1.1159925

You can find the blog here.

The news article explains that the pilot was Swedish, had been flying for European airlines for 13 years and had over 10,000 hours of flight time. I'm appalled to hear a thing like this, and it makes me wonder how the airlines failed to look up his history and certificates. It also makes me wonder why he did something stupid like this, but I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this.

Read the story on the BBC website

While reading the article, I found a link to a less serious but quite similar situation of a chinese man in -07 who tried to pass as a pilot to get a free flight home. Take a look at the article, and make note of the fine he was given!

But what does this mean to the average user?

As of today, Microsoft will push an update through Windows Update that will add a pop up window asking if the user would like to install another web browser. It will, however, not show for those who already have another web browser installed as their default browser.

According to the BBC, "Opera, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer browsers are randomly ordered" on the screen where the users get to make their choice. I believe this is a good thing, it does not put focus on any browsers. Hopefully, even those who click on the first listed browser have a chance to get a decent web browser. Should you choose to stick with IE, you will be forced to upgrade.

Another couple of web browsers will be listed on the screen, but only if you scroll sideways. The ones they have chosen are ones that are not very known, but that might be potential browser candidates. These are Sleipnir, Green Browser, Maxthon, Avant, Flock, K-meleon, and Slim.

I gave a quick look at the websites of these browsers, some give the impression of being a bit home made, while others look far more complete and professional. I'll try a few of them out - some seem to have Linux versions - and get back to you on their actual quality.

Right, the quality of this post is a bit sub-par. I'll blame the early hour and the lack of sleep. As for the browser change, we can only wait and see what this does for the current market of web browsers. Hopefully we'll see a more even playing field now.

I've wanted to have a Linux desktop for quite some time, and I have been running a Kubuntu installation on my laptop since I got it - but due to sub-par hardware in the laptop it has not been performing very well. Glass effects and see-through windows just won't work on older CPUs and built in graphics!

When deciding on a distribution to use, that really wasn't a big choice for me. I like KDE from before, and the Ubuntu repositories are usually stable and with plenty of neat packages without having to hunt all over the place for them. So I hopped over to kubuntu.org to grab myself the install CD. A short download and one CD burned later, I rebooted my computer.

Installation went smoothly, though I did note that the partition tool in the installer was acting up a bit and being slow. Could be my hard drives, but once it got past that it didn't cause any problems at all. About half hour after rebooting my computer to start the installation, I had logged in to my brand new desktop and had it set up with dual monitor support.

The new KDE look is really slim, and the glass effects are sweet, and it's just a breeze working with it. Just little things like moving windows around with alt+click and drag, or ctrl+f10 to show all windows side by side - these things make it difficult returning to any Windows version.

I ran into some problems with my soundcard(s) and I still have problems with Skype not working for me. It detects my hardware, and plays back sound to my Logitech headset, but whenever I try to speak it either makes my voice into a chipmunk, or there is no sound at all. Ah well, problems are there to be solved. I'll find a way.

All in all, my experience with Kubuntu has been good so far. Some hiccups, but mostly a smooth road. I've nowhere as many problems as I used to have on my Windows install. That said, I will be missing some points of entertainment, but I intend on buying a Win7 license to have as dual boot in the future. I will include an SSD drive that I've been looking at too, so I should get relatively painless and smooth operation of my computer after that.

I started playing the piano when I was little, and have kept my interest in that since then - and while I am not in any way an accomplished piano player, I know at least enough to play along to my favorite tunes or even tinker on my own melodies and songs. Later on, I picked up the guitar and learned some chords, and at some point I would like to learn some drums.

Apart from music, I have always had a liking for science in all forms - be it technology made by man, or the way a drop of water flows on a leaf. I'm fascinated by the way humanity has managed to create all these technological advances over our history, and I greatly enjoy how mother nature has developed all sorts of impressive and sometimes frightening things.

Computer programming has also been a part of my life, and I have basic knowledge in a lot of programming languages. I started out with Basic, Delphi and Visual Basic at some point, learned the basics of C/C++, and has since school learned enough about languages like PHP and HTML to get around. Scripting languages have always been interesting, and recently I have taken up Lua.

I have been working with a little bit of everything. I've managed to get through working at a hamburger place, answering questions about taxes in a call center, packing hamburgers in the food industry, even industrial work bending pipes and building truck coolers.

Out of all jobs I have been at, the airline industry is where I have felt most at home. For the last three years, since autumn 2006, I have been working at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. While I started in the checking area, I soon changed departments to perhaps one of the more interesting places I have ever been - the arrival services. There will without doubt be thoughts, ramblings and laughs about this in further posts to come. It is a place where you see some of the incredibly hilarious, yet sometimes most tragic, situations on the airport.

I think that is enough for a short introduction. Stay tuned for more!