This week we bought an Ikea futon for the guest room, which I finally built today. All future guests of ours will be happy to know the odds of not having to sleep on the floor have just dramatically increased .

The photo is a 14mm wide angle shot with flash, both of which explain the vignetting. I also raised the contrast a bit to make the squares on the futon cover stand out more.

There’s one kind of letter the financially handicapped State of California will always find enough postage to send: The yearly registration renewal notices from the DMV. And not only do they cordially invite me to pay my fees on time (conveniently mentioning just how expensive it gets if I don’t). Being the good salesmen they are, they let me order personalizes license plates along with it! For only a handful of dollars, you too can be a patriot today!

Today, Tara and I ran our first, 5k foot race, at the Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. We finished the 3.5 miles (that’s 5.6 km, trail races tend to be a little longer than their nominal distance) in right about 42 minutes. Had there not been a few spots where one could not pass for a while, we’d probably have shaved another few minutes off this, but in general, I am happy with the result!

Here are the two proud runners, with their medals, after coming home:

There are also a few more photos of us running in a set on flickr, taken by some volunteers around the track. Like this one:

How fun!

On occasion I am asked what it takes to move to the United States if you are not a US citizen. Coincidentally, I was recently pointed to a 2008 issue of The Reason, which has a flow chart illustrating just how complicated legal immigration to the US is:

(click the image for a full-size PDF version)

Now, the flow chart somewhat presumptuously implies that every immigrant to any country wants to become a citizen of that very country, which I have found to be untrue — some of my family’s best friends have lived in Germany for decades and have no intention to give up the citizenship they were born with. But the chart still gives a helpful overview of just how hard it is to indeed go down that road if you wanted to. What might surprise some people is that US immigration law is among the strictest in the western world — somewhat ironic, given its traditional status as an immigrant country.

Another thing that has caused confusion before: Just because you marry a US citizen, you don’t automatically earn a residence permit (let alone citizenship) without any further ado. It makes it easier to achieve both of these things, but a US citizen’s spouse still has to file a bunch of paperwork (and bring time and patience) to receive the necessary papers to enter the country.

Thanks for the link, Jabba!

Greenstorm Film is an independent production company from Moscow, Idaho. They make great short films, such as this one, called “The Package”:

I find this really funny . There’s another one, more grotesque but no less amusing: The Great Couch Caper.

I like how creative these guys are, and how well they put everything in scene. Another example of their talent is this music video of a cover version of “Airplanes” by B.o.B. (which, by the way, also features some really good musicians!)

And now that I’ve hooked you up on their filmmaking, you’ll be pleased to know they are working on a feature-length film named “The Protagonist” (trailer), due to be released in the fall. I, for one, can’t wait to see it.

Thanks, Jenny, for pointing out Greenstorm, and thanks, Noah, for the cool performance in the video

I am two days late for this year’s anniversary, but this is just too impressive: Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944.

Make sure to click on the picture to see bigger versions.

(via Justin, thanks! Source: US or Canadian National Archives, via Wikipedia. Public Domain.)

A while ago, when I was flying to Idaho and had a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah, I was for the first time confronted with full-body scanners at an airport security checkpoint. It was at the time a pilot test, and there were signs saying I had the right to refuse the scanner. Appalled by the idea of doing a digital strip dance for the security officers, I refused, and while I the security officer didn’t appreciate the extra work, I had to wait in line shortly, received a quick pat-down, and was sent on my way.

Full-body scanners have since received a lot of attention, and were introduced in many airports, some mandatory for primary screening, others opt-out, and finally some only use it for secondary screening, that is, when the metal detector beeps, or similar.

Today I am pleased to read that the Idaho House voted in favor of a bill restricting the use of such scanners in the state (the bill would forbid using such scanners as primary screening method in airports). The bill is now moving to the Senate. While I may not agree with many views of American conservatives, (given I am European, probably not too shocking a statement), I agree with the assessment that full-body scanners entail an unreasonable strip search of people who haven’t given any indication that would warrant such treatment.

Now let’s hope the law passes, and that other states, and perhaps countries, follow suit.

Thanks for the link, Jenny!

A few days ago techtarget published a short interview about the OSU Open Source Lab, where I worked while studying at OSU:

“Lance Albertson, architect and systems administrator at the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, uses a sys admin staff of 18-21-year-old undergrads to manage servers for some high-profile, open-source projects (Linux Master Kernel, Linux Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, and Drupal to name a few). In this Q&A, Albertson talks about the challenges of using young sys admins and the lab’s plans to move from Cfengine to Puppet for systems management.”

(via slashdot).

I must say, the work I’ve seen student sys admins do at the OSL is outstanding, and I’ve met some of the sharpest people there I’ve ever worked with. Glad to hear they are still going strong.

Thanks for the link, Justin!