21 Jun 2011
A Glad Midsummer!

Well, today is Midsummer, and the Wheel of the Year has cycled once again. There's been so much going on that I hardly know where to start. So let's start with the best: I've got a new job! I'm still writing code, but I'm no longer in consumer electronics. It's all system level stuff in Linux, and so far it's all in C++. Python is promised on the horizon, and some of the older control software is written in Delphi. My new co-workers were very interested to hear about Lazarus...

This meant a healthy raise, and my timing was perfect. My old employer had decided to return the money they'd withheld over the course of the past year just before I handed in my notice, so I got what amounted to a nice bonus check on my last day. But the real bonus is my new employer: it's the best place I've ever worked, and I've worked a lot of places. I was able to hold my oath, the systems are well designed and documented, and even some of the manufacturing is still done on site. Most of my new colleagues are around my age, with about the same level of experience. "Geezer geeks" is my own term for the likes of us - techno-curmudgeons. It makes for interesting conversations, that's for sure!

On the farm front, shearing was complete by the end of May with very little trouble. Even Mild Thing lived up to her name!

Given that we had a little spending money, we engaged in what our daughters refer to as "retail therapy", and Lorraine is in her chair next to me reading on her new Nook Color. She loves it - and I must say that it lives up to it's good reviews. I helped her load up on classics from Project Gutenberg, and I think she's started on War and Peace...

We picked the Nook over it's competition for it's web capabilities - and we have not been disappointed. It's my first real exposure to an Android device, and I must say I've been impressed. The only dumb design issue is the use of a specialized USB cable, which I assume was for easier (and faster?) recharging. But that's a small thing for such a nice tablet. Yeah, I called it a tablet, because it's certainly a lot more than just an ebook reader.

I've got a big backlog of items in my "to be posted" folder - with any luck at all I'll start working my way through them (as well as new stuff that pops up) and my lengthy stays away from blogging with be a thing of the past. But blogging is a habit, and I'm going to have to work somewhat to reacquire it, so no promises!

19:49 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

The Girl Who Cast a Viking Spell

I'm not a fan of Larsson's fiction, and I've got no interest in his personal life. But I do have an interest in this:

She talked forthrightly about the oddest passage in her book, a description of an elaborate Viking curse she delivered on New Year’s Eve 2004 against all her and Larsson’s enemies: the false friends, the cowards “who let Stieg fight your battles while you raked in the salaries of your cushy jobs,” the wearers of “suits, ties and wingtips,” the evil ones “who plotted, spied and stirred up prejudice.”

Traditionally, such curses were accompanied by the sacrifice of a live horse, but instead Ms. Gabrielsson broke a ceramic horse sculpture in two and tossed it into Lake Malaren in Stockholm. Nevertheless, it worked, she insisted.

She's describing a nidstang, also known as a "nithing pole". Potent stuff, indeed. And not something us modern heathens do frequently or without much forethought.

There's no indication Ms. Gabrielsson is a heathen. So she (or they, if Larsson was in on it) must've done this "on the wing", as it were. Which says a lot about the revival of folk traditions, or even their survival.

Eva Gabrielsson, who found herself pursued by fame and controversy as the longtime companion of Stieg Larsson, the posthumously best-selling author of the Millennium trilogy of Swedish crime thrillers, has published a book of her own.

(link) [New York Times]

19:15 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link