See you later, calculator

The abacus and the slide rule have both been replaced by new technology. When I went to school electronic calculators with scientific notation were becomming available. These days, in Norway, kids are at some point expected to have graphing calculator, but isn't this an anachronism?


With desktop and laptop computers have we have access to tools like Matlab, Mathematica, Macsyma and Gnu Octave. And schools are beginning to use tablet computers. Isn't the natural consequence that calculators go away, and that tablet computers take over the role of both the standard computer and the calculator. Maybe the concept of the Dynabook is eventually becomming a reality?

Currently, the rules in the Norwegian educational system rules out tablets, but there is time for a change, don't you think?

Xoom in

It is raining outside, and I am alone with my Xoom.

So I am entering the era of tablets. I have considered replacing my aging Magic with a mobile with a bigger screen. But now that I have the Xoom, do I really need a bulky phone in my pocket?

Can I not just get a smaller mobile for the phoning, and use it as a tethering device to provide the tablet with internet access when I need it!? I guess I will look into this before I commit to a bigger phone in my pocket.

Of course I went for the WiFi only version. The price was however a bit stiff, but then it would be even worse if I had bought it at home. Then again, according to rumors, the Xoom will not be sold there.

Air, space and museeums

Washington has it all - lots of skies and air, spacious surroundings and loads of museums. They even have a museum for the combination, namely the Air and space museum. I visited the part near Dulles airport today, after seeing my colleague off on his flight.

Anyway, while I was there I discovered that the new fighter plane that Norway has committed to buying is already in the museum, as can be seen in the picture on the right.

Before Norway decided to buy this vaporware there was fierce competition between the JAS, the Eurofighter and the JSF. While the first two are available and in operation, the JSF is still "in the works". But to my knowledge, the two european alternatives have not ended up in museums yet. They are even busy over North Africa these days!

So are the Norwegian authorities aware that they have wasted my tax money on a museum exhibit, or don't they care?

The site I visited is called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It opened in 2003. I remember visiting the original museum in downtown D.C. in 1984, but maybe I should go there again to refresh my memory. I guess they have a lot more exhibits that will be great to see.

If this is a man

Over the years I have had a fascination for books about Germany's atrocities during the second world war, expressed by authors like Primo Levi and Victor Klemperer, and most recently the book "Who Will Write Our History?" by Samuel Kassow.

But a trip to Vilnius last week allowed me to see the darkest cruelty of man from another perspective.

I visited the so called KGB museum in that city, where they document how any totalitarian ideology is capable of industrializing the killing of people with the wrong sentiments. No wonder Lithuania has sought to the west after being freed from Russian reigns. Names of some of the victims are carved into the foundation of the building, hopefully so that generations after us can stay clear of similar regimes.

If you ever go to Vilnius, then please visit the museum. For this is not something that should be forgotten, whether it happened in the past by Germans or Russians, or it takes place today in totalitarian regimes supplying our lifestyle with oil, the last dictatorship in Europe, or any other regime that does not admit its population basic human rights.

And the most scaring part of it all - regular people like myself (and maybe you) can become like the devils in the dungeons under the wrong circumstances. History tells us so...

There may be hope for math education

This guy is awsome. My oldest son and I attended Scott Flansburg's show at Smuget in Oslo this evening. I do not know if my son was comming voluntarily, but after the show he was enthusiastic about trying it all out.
But what would the teachers say? His fear was that they would not appreciate the alternative techniques. I think that is part of the challenge with the Norwegian schooling system - teachers are trained to be able to teach everything without being specialized in anything. So they have one approach (hopefully) to how things should be done, and anything else should be corrected.

Scott told the audience that he had had discussions with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Schooling may be a key agenda point in future elections, and I wish more people than me were willing to look for other political forces to put right the sorry state of our education system. And if we ended up with celebrating good theoretical achievements in addition to those of athletes, then we may be better prepared.

In the picture of the flyer you can see that the ministry is one of the sponsors of the event (lower right corner). But I stumbled across it by accident, so I suspect that the ministry actually does not want this kind of attention.

By the way, here is Google translated coverage of OECD's advice on how the Norwegian schooling system should be improved.

Paper tape programming tool

We all know how programming is done these days. But it has not always been so. I was first exposed to programming (BASIC) on a Tandberg desktop computer in 1979 (I think), but even then the screen and keyboard combination was a fact.


Was there anything before that? Well certainly - there were paper tape and punched cards. I have never used such technology myself, but I have the device in the picture in my posession. It consists of some pieces of aluminium that have been machined to work as a primitive programming/repair tool for paper tape. The actual holes were made with a broken off screwdriver in the lower right.
This device was a write-only tool on its own. But I guess anyone using it would also have a suitable reader as well.

Lunch in the land of additives

This was my lunch yesterday.

Yet again I was consulting in Ludwigshafen. With its main industry there I guess it may be referred to as the land of additives, although the range of chemicals produced covers much more than just additives to food and feed.

Looking at the food on my tray I have the feeling that additives were not playing a big role. In fact, I think I should be able to copy the dishes myself from natural sources and spices. The meal was very tasty, and it refuelled us so that we could continue our work efficiently.