Travel

Imaginary Centers

The idea of the center is a powerful one. It somehow denotes the middle, equilibrium, balance and this spills over into an idea of well-being. The classic search for centers is Jules Verne â??Journey to the Center of the Earthâ?? which somehow never really makes it into a good metaphor for soul-searching introspection.

In our local lives we have a middle-point. Actually we have several. We have a geographical center that somehow denotes the middle point of our everyday travels. Most of us would like such a point to be the place of our homes but the reality of real estate prices probably puts this point somewhere we may never have been â?? the tube or bus station in between home and work.

But there is rarely one center. We have shopping centers (sorry about the pun), entertainment centers, and centers related to many other activities (e.g. food). The mental images of our travels to and from our centers overlap the physical city. Centers are also important outside the personal context. Centers of culture, economics, shipping, religion and industry abound. But these are centers of the imaginary kind.

Geographic centers are common. One such center, which has been notoriously hard to pin down, is the center of Europe. First we have to start by attempting to define what Europe is. This is a historic, geographic, political and nationalistic quagmire (oh no, donâ??t go there). So we simplify, the center of the European Union (an entity which is not Europe).

On the 1 January 2007 the EU center shifted. This is because both Bulgaria and Rumania joined. More territory joins therefore the center shifts (about 200 kilometers east). According to the IGN he new center of the EU is the German town of Gelnhausen.

But the title is contested since there are plenty of places which seem to want the title. Here are a few: Bernotai, or PurnuÅ¡kÄ?s near Vilnius in Lithuania; a point on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia; the village of Krahule in central Slovakia; the town of Rakhiv, or the village of Dilove, in western Ukraine; Suchowola in north-eastern Poland; and ToruÅ? in the northern part of central Poland; Babruysk or Vitebsk in Belarus (Wikipedia).

Several of these sites have nice markers to celebrate the â??factâ?? and to point out the reason for the significance of the insignificant site.

To be able to arrive at the geographical center of Europe the IGN have taken into consideration the English and French colonies far, far away â?? proving once again that the center is equally a state of mind as a geographic fact.

Despite the fact that the center is an illusion we still tend to seek it out. The newly declared Gelnhausen center is in the middle of an empty field (Google Satelite image of 50°10�21�N, 9°9�0�E), identical to all the other fields around it.

Thatâ??s it isnâ??t it? We strive to find the center only to discover that it is no different from the periphery and yet we still value the center even when it is devoid of distinguishing characteristicsâ?¦

Posted on by mklang

Oh, please!

On the train traveling back from Stockholm I spent the time watching the Da Vinci Code (extended version no less). I must stay this â?? what a load of bull. OK so I did not expect much but the film could have been much better. It was long and boring and contained silly representations of everything from bankers to technology, from monks to academics.

The one highlight in the film was the quote: I have to get to a library â?? fast.

This must be one of the sillier film quotes I have heard in a long time…

Posted on by mklang

Tomorrow itâ??s back on the rails again. I am off to Stockholm to meet family and then to do some work early on Monday. The three-hour trip to Stockholm is becoming a very common occurrence lately but I donâ??t mind I enjoy train travel. Also the train has power outlets at all seats and wifi. All this means that I can surf while traveling at 200 km/hour.

On Monday I shall meet with people from Solidaritetshuset (Solidarity House) to discuss how the FSFE can help with their plans for holding seminars and training courses in Free Software and developing an open archive for their material.

Posted on by mklang

Military Tourism

The first day at the Swedish Armed Forces Academy (at Karlberg Castle) is over and today is the second, and final, day. Yesterday we had a tour of the facilities and also a long open discussion between the project members and the rapporteurs.
Apparently the Swedish military academy is the oldest in the world. The building is filled to the brim with old military nick-nacks which seem to be (almost) spread out at random. The more representative rooms are better arranged but the room we had our discussions in contained two oil portraits of 16th century characters an Admiral and an adviser to the King and two ugly worn down wood and leather sofa’s from the 1970s, the kind that you find in the clubhouse of the local chess of football club  – very postmodern.

The discussions are going well. Interesting topics and interesting people. One side-topic which came up was the notion of military tourism. Military officers traveling to other military units and living their reality for a while. This was particularly interesting when after discussing this modern version we say the names of those fallen in battle in the Karlberg chapel – it was filled with exotic locations and plenty of foreign names.

Posted on by mklang

Snålsurfa

A seventeen year old in Singapore is facing trial for logging into his neighbors wireless network. In the worst case scenario the boy may receive a three year prison sentence. This would definitely be a harsh sentence for the act. Naturally this may be a serious case (not much information in the article here) but with the increase in â??user friendlinessâ?? many users are unaware which networks they are connecting to with their laptops and pda’s

In 2005 the Swedish Language Council, which is the official language cultivation body of Sweden, added the term â??snÃ¥lsurfaâ?? to the Swedish language. The word is a combination of â??snÃ¥lâ?? (cheap, miserly) and surfa (surf) â?? basically the act of surfing on someone else’s network.

And I have a confession to make â?? I am a repeat offender. I often check mail on other people’s networks while travelling in other cities. But maybe I won’t do it in Singapore…

(via Cyberlaw)

Posted on by mklang

Bolzano day 1 & 2

Day 1

Early mornings in airports are worrying places â?? this impression is enhanced by the people in the bar swigging alcohol before 7 am. Otherwise traveling is fun. Most enjoyable was the train between Verona and Bolzano. It is a 2 hour trip up a valley between high mountains. Every open place seems to be guarded by a fort-like building and every second impregnable hill seems to have a church on top.

Bolzano seems to be a nice northern Italian (oops sorry South Tyrolean) city. A clean, well organised city based upon a medieval model. The main irritation was that I forgot to bring an Italian power adapter but we passed an electrician on the way to the conference â?? problem solved.

Once at the conference it was lots of old and new people to talk to. Its great. Only drawback now is patchy wireless and that the dinner is three hours away…

Day 2

Yesterdays dinner was held on the top of a mountain unfortunately it was dark so there was no view. Dinner was nice – lots of people to talk to. Eventually the bus took us back to the hotel.

Today begins with a workshop on the fellowship smart card (which is used to handle the GPG encryption keys) by Werner Koch.

Posted on by mklang

Copyright and University Libraries

Today has been another travel day. Up to Stockholm for a day discussing copyright in relation to university libraries. As usual I found the librarians active and concerned about copyright issues. This is only natural since they are forced to be pragmatic about the way in which they react to copyright.

Most of the problems discussed today dealt with archiving. The most common forms of documents, which need to be archived (and are troubled by copyright), are student essays, licentiate theses and PhD theses.

Copyright creates problems in a couple of ways. First off can universities force student works to be archived and if so can they be put online? The same questions apply to the output of teachers and researchers (not always the same thing).

The whole question is complicated by the shifting practices among libraries, university departments and faculties. Actually the universities rarely have power in these issues since the decision making power is on the faculty level. For more on the dilemmas of university copyright see here.

As I mentioned the librarians were pretty cool. From totally ignoring the question of copyright and taking the â??just do itâ?? approach â?? to the more careful approach which is more concerned with the consequences. The lawyers on the other hand tend to be pessimistic and uncooperative. They want to risk nothing, do nothing, for fear of losing. Sometimes I wonder what they think they would lose in a battle? Since the slow disintegration of copyright is losing the war.

An interesting thing was that the librarians were very concerned about the potential malicious side effects of DRM use by publishers.

Posted on by mklang

Cool Job

Looking for a really cool job? How about working for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Brussels…

EFF Seeks European Affairs Co-ordinator

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is looking for a European
staffer to head up our new Brussels office and round out our
international team. This is a new position focused on European
Community level intellectual property and civil liberties policy
initiatives that impact the digital environment. The position will be
part policy analyst, part activist and part educator.

We are looking for a motivated and dynamic European with:

– excellent written and spoken English language skills, and fluency
in another relevant language (preferably French or German or another
major European language);
– well-developed public speaking and social skills, who can talk with
a wide range of audiences including European MEPs and Commission
staff, consumer rights and public interest groups, computer
programmers and media;
-familiarity with current European Community IP and civil liberties
legislative and policy developments;
– a solid understanding of the European Community’s structure, main
fora, decision-making processes and key personnel and committees that
work in the IP and civil liberties arenas;
– strong policy analysis skills;
– a good strategic sense;
– maturity of judgment;
– demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work with others
remotely; and
– the ability to travel throughout Europe, and to the United States.

EFF is passionate about our mission, and our ideal candidate will be
too. We work on cutting-edge issues in a fun, fast-paced team
environment. Salary and details of benefits package available on
request.

Applicants: please send a cover letter and resume in TXT, RTF, ODT,
DOC, PDF or html format to eurocoordinator@eff.org

Deadline for applications: Rolling, but not later than December 1, 2006.

No, I am not planning to apply. But it would be a really cool challenge…

Posted on by mklang

Mobiles, Trains and Rules

For the second time within seven days I am on my way to Stockholm. Taking the train makes this a simple and comfortable three hour journey with access to coffee and wifi as opposed to a one hour flight filled with trips to airports, queuing and cramped conditions. Basically either way you arrive at your destination almost at the same time – only difference is on the train I can work.

An old addition to the train is the implementation of mobile free compartments. In these compartments the travellers must keep their mobile phones turned off. Since I am not bothered by people speaking loudly about their personal or business affairs I tend not to choose mobile free compartments.

On my last trip I was speaking with a friend of mine on the phone. When I hung up a person in the seat furtherst from me across the aisle rather haughtily pointed out that this was a mobile free compartment. I was very polite but since I was sure it was not I informed him of where the compartment was. He apologised.

Now to the part that is interesting. Not long after this event, his own mobile rings and he answers it and has a conversation!

This makes me very curious as to his desire to inform me (wrongly) of the rules concerning mobile telephones and trains. I have a few alternatives:

A) He is a rule-driven Kantian obsessivly concerned about rules. Yet he is also an active civil disobedient and wants to make a political statement about mobile phone rules.

B) He really thought that the compartment was mobile-free and when he realised he was wrong he overcame his annoyances about people talking loudly in phones and gratefully answered his own phone.

C) He was conducting a social experiment dealing with the enforcement of rules.

D) He is a prat who does not feel that rules apply to him but are only there to stop others from annoying him.

Considering the fact that most other travellers in class I choose wear suits and I do not – I am inclined to choose D.

Posted on by mklang

Bolzano

On the 11/11 I will be in Bolzano, Italy attending the First International Annual Meeting of the Fellows of the FSFE this will be an excellent opportunity to meet the fellows and the team. In addition to this there have been promises of new projects that will be announced at the meeting. The event also coincides with the South Tyrol Free Software Conference which is in Bolzano on the 10th – unfortunately I will miss a large part of this event since I shall be travelling to Bolzano.

If I have some spare time (which I doubt) I hope to be able to pop in to the South Tyrol Archeological Museum, which hosts the Ã?tzi the iceman.
Ã?tzi is the nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Ã?tztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from Ã?tztal, the region in which he was discovered. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the Chalcolithic (Copper-stone Age) Europeans (Wikipedia).

Posted on by mklang