And sad. And relieved that everyone I know is safe. And griefstricken on behalf of all my fellow norwegians who can't say the same. And resolved to make sure Norway stays an open and democratic community despite this, no, especially because of this episode. 

Since I live in Germany at the moment I have to follow the events via the internet, but it seems that all of Norway has the same resolve as me, for which I am glad. I know several people who were just a couple of hundred meters from the bomb when it went off, and it's surreal to read about their experiences. 

This is what comes when blind ideology becomes more important than fellow human beings. Fuck you, Anders Behring Breivik, for imagining that your contrived ideas that you copied off radical blogs were somehow more noble and important than the lives of innocent youths. Your wish came true. The whole world now knows about your stupid manifesto. And everyone will see it for the piece of crap it is.  

2010 was an eventful year for me. I've been working as a high school teacher in physics and mathematics, which means I couldn't quite find the time and energy to sift as much as I used to. After some serious thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I've finally landed a position as a grad student in Germany. This means that I am now a proud resident of Hamburg instead of my native Norway, and that I will spend the next 3 years pursuing a PhD in physics at DESY. My reasons for this choice of career path are quite well summed up here:  

   Honest Grad School Ad 

As you can surmise, I will have plenty of time for sifting in the future. 

I didn't disappear completely this last year; I have been lurking once in a while. It has been interesting to see from the outside how much the Sift evolves in one year. A lot of new faces have carved a space for themselves, and some old codgers are not as much in the foreground as before. Even the ghost of Choggie is slowly ebbing out. I look forward to what I think can be a very good new year, both on VideoSift and in real life.  

I dreamed tonight that I was surfing reddit, and suddenly saw a familiar username among the redditors. JiggaJonson was commenting on reddit, with his usual frisky green color, even. (In my dreams it's possible to go charter on reddit too, apparently.)

Is this a bad sign?

Here's a fun little game I found on facebook. The rules are as follows:

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions.

Pass it on to 15 people you like, include me. (Or don't, I'm not much of a rule follower myself.)

You can't use the band/artist I used.

Don't repeat a song title.

Repost as "my life according to (artist/band name)"

My submission:

... more inside ...

As an aperitif before the London SiftUp, here is a recount of the trip Almanildo, Haldaug and I took this summer.  

Right after I received my old-school VideoSift T-shirt, the three of us went camping across the deep woods  north of Oslo called Nordmarka, which translates to "The Northern Wilderness". (Yes, there is also a western wilderness, an eastern wilderness, and a southern wilderness. Oslo is cool like that.) During the two-day trip, we passed the highest point in these woods, called Kikut. What better place to inaugurate this long-awaited fashion statement? Here it is adorning yours truly for the very first time: 

Oslo city is hidden behind the hills in the background.

Here are the three of us quite exhausted from climbing the steep hill up to Kikut: ... more inside ...

From http://www.wizards.com/magic/playmagic/whatcolorareyou.asp :

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I must have known from a young age, for the first Magic deck I ever built was blue. Thankfully I no longer spend money on that Ponzi scheme of a game.

The dust settles, and the sifters peek out from their bomb shelters. First one by one, then a family or two, and finally everyone, until all the residents of siftopia are gathered in the town square surveying the destruction. There is much bewilderment as the sifters try first to overcome their mysterious amnesia, and then as they look around for friends seemingly disappeared in the chaos. When the crowd finally reaches a semblance of decorum, the town elders gather to discuss how best to rebuild our society. There is much clamoring from the crowd trying to get their opinion and ideas heard.

One of the suggestions taunt my ears, and I leave the square thinking to get started doing my part in the arduous task set before us. As I look through the rubble, I am surprised to see a lot of videos I had completely forgotten, even though they are at most 4 months old, and even though I remember appreciating them greatly at the time. I gather them up into a playlist so that I can enjoy them at a later time. I also throw in one or two that I hadn't forgotten, but that I feel especially good about and want to share with the other sifters when I get back.

I finally return to the square, and find that a much better solution to our troubles have been found than manually trudging through the debris as I have done. Some laugh at me for wasting my time doing work that would have been done anyway by the miracle cure. But I just smile to myself, for I know my work has not been in vain.

http://www.videosift.com/playlists/Ornthoron/Rising-from-the-ashes 

It appears we have been guilty of copyright infringement all these years...

So I finally got enough kicks in the ass to sign up for charter. I am currently gloating over my bulging queue size, and admiring my fresh new color. Do you like it?

What next? Will the handsome protagonist escape the clutches of the evil Procrastinatox? Will the semi-imaginative blog title come back to haunt him? Will he succumb to the hordes of trolls and flamers? And what is the mystery behind his weird and unpronouncable screen name? Stay tuned for the next installment of...

The Eagle Has Landed!