7 Billion

What´s in a Number

Forty-one is the 13th smallest prime number. The next is forty-three, with which it comprises a twin prime. It is also the sum of the first six prime numbers (2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13), and the sum of three primes (11 + 13 + 17).

Forty-one is also the 12th supersingular prime, a Sophie Germain prime and a Newman–Shanks–Williams prime. 41 is the smallest Sophie Germain prime to start a Cunningham chain of the first kind of three terms, {41, 83, 167}. It is an Eisenstein prime, with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. 41 is a Proth prime as it is  5 × 2³ + 1.

The number figures in the polynomial f(n) = n² + n + 41, which yields primes for −40 ≤ n < 40.

Forty-one is the sum of two squares, 4² + 5². Adding up the sums of divisors for 1 through 7 yields 41.
41 is the smallest integer whose reciprocal has a 5-digit repetend. That is a consequence of the fact that 41 is a factor of 99999.

It is a centered square number.

January 3rd was/is the birthday of the following distinguished, celebrated or notorious people

06 BC – Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d. 43 BC)

1892 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (d. 1973)

1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)

1909 – Victor Borge, Danish entertainer (d. 2000)

1916 – Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (d. 1995)

1921 – John Russell, American actor (d. 1991)

1926 – George Martin, British record producer

1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)

1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player

1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer, gay activist (d. 2006)

1943 – Jarl Alfredius, Swedish news anchor (d. 2009)

1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress

1954 – Dean Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1990)

1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor and director

1963 – Vic Grimes, American professional wrestler

1969 – Michael Schumacher, German seven-time world champion Formula 1 race driver

1970 – The man behind the SecondLifeavatar Bock McMillan, blogger and a great guy 

1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer

1977 – A.J. Burnett, American baseball player

1977 – Michelle Stephenson, British singer (Spice Girls)

1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete

Events that occured on January 3rd 

1431 – Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon.

1496 – Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.

1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

1777 – American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.

1888 – The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.

1924 – British explorer Howard Carter discovers the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.

1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.

1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit.

1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.

1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1961 – The SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho, leaks radiation, killing three workers.

1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

1970 – The man behind the avatar Bock McMillan is born 

1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.

1988 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century.

1990 – Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.

1994 – More than seven million people from the former Apartheid Homelands, receives citizenship.South African
1997 – The People's Republic of China announces it will spend $27.7 billion USD to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.
1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched.

The 2011 Bloggies

It's time for the Eleventh Annual Weblog Awards. Nominations have now opened and will close on January 16th, 2011.

The Bloggies began in 2001 to discover which blogs the Web considered the best, and have grown to be the longest-running and one of the largest awards for weblogs. Which lucky bloggers will earn a Bloggie this year?

I don´t expect to be nominated -  or even win. Well not this year...

But there are actually some categories that really fit this blog like a glove
a) European - well undeniably
b) LGBT - Hell yeah, I am here and I am queer
c) Religion - I have faith, not in God perhaps, but in mankind
d) Politics - Hell yeah again, what would life be without it?
e) Food - Yummy, I like good food and drink
f) Parenting - This may be unexpected, but I have seen "Supernanny"
g) Music - Let me just give you a hint - "Mauro"...
h) Gossip - Well, this is the category I call "news"
i) Fashion - Has anyone missed my Jesters Hat?
j) Topical - Any topic, I am game...
k) Group - Any group, I am game...
l) Humorous - Well I get 5 points for trying
m) Secret - Hell no one knows about this blog
n) New - Fresh and spruce
o) Lifetime - well I have been around for a rough year
p) Weblog of the Year - This would suit me best I guess.. dunno why, just feels like it´s all me...

There are a few more, but I got bored and tired.

Best wishes to "Tinas Universum", "Min avatar heter Apmel", "Joe.My.God" and "www.eddihaskell.com", I am keeping my fingers crossed for you all

Bock Hits the International Press

Not the picture used by the press

My bosom buddy Apmel found this, so I am going to direct traffic to him, go look here.

The Lucia pageant, if you still remember that, well it seems it made the International Press, including a beautiful picture of yours truly in full Lucia attire and regalia!

OK, OK the article in the January 2011 issue of "Best of SecondLife Magazine" (BOSL) does mention Lucia herself also, but I am sure the reporter felt she had to do that.

Art for Aid

Meet "Solstickepojken" ("the Sun Match Boy"). 

This is today one of the most well known works of art in Sweden, it is also one of our most famous symbols! It can also possibly be one of the most reproduced works of art in the world.

The "Solstickan Foundation" was established in 1936. The basic idea was that the match was a cheap product and hardly anyone would refrain from buying them if they increased the price by half a penny per box. Especially if you knew the money went to a worthy purpose. Over the years, more than SEK 100 million have been distributed "For the benefit of children and the elderly" as it appeares on the match boxes.  

In the early days private initiatives had to fill immediate gaps in society's aid activities. A large part of the funds went to the children's summer camp activities for city children who needed to come out to swim and play. But when welfare subsequently expanded, Solstickan became increasingly complementary to community resources. Early focus is therefore on children with learning disabilities, visual and hearing impairment, diabetes and rheumatism.

The artist Einar Nerman was commissioned to design the label for the box and created the "Solstickepojken". He used his son Tom as a model.

Just For a Friend

...the rest of you can close your eyes and think of SecondLife. Welcome home and hope you had a great time, we have missed you!

The young man in the picture is Marcus Hellner, I am told. He is the brightest star in the Swedish National skiing team at the moment. He was born on November 25th, 1985, in Lerdala outside the town of Skövde but now lives in the far north in Gällivare. Marcus has two Olympian Gold medals.

Just so you know, all this info about Marcus was just to impress my friend!

Testing the Google Translator

Washroom sign in the Netherlands

Well dear readers, I thought I would do a consumer test and try out the translations we get from the Google translator thingy.


So I tried out translating a normal everyday phrase in Swedish,

This phrase may be useful to you at some point in time, when you are traveling abroad and cannot find a washroom.

The Swedish phrase is "Stå still, din djävel, så jag kan pissa i din ficka!"

The Google translator tells us it is in;  
Afrikaans: Staan stil, jy baster, so ek kan piss in jou sak!
Arabic: لا تزال قائمة ، أيها الوغد ، حتى أتمكن من شخ في جيبك
Bulgarian: Стойка все още, копеле, за да мога да пикая в джоба!

Chinese (simplified): 站住，你这个混球，这样我就可以在你的口袋里撒尿！
Danish: Stå stille, dit svin, så jeg kan pisse i din lomme! 
Dutch: Sta stil, klootzak, dus ik kan pissen in je zak!

English: Stand still, you bastard, so I can piss in your pocket!
Finnish: Seiso, paskiainen, joten en voi kusta taskussa!
French: Ne bougez pas, salaud, si je peux pisser dans votre poche!

Gaelic: Seas fós, bastaird tú, agus mar sin is féidir liom a piss i do phóca! 
German: Steh still, du Bastard, so kann ich in der Tasche pissen!
Greek: Ακίνητοι, μπάσταρδε, ώστε να μπορώ να κατουρήσεις στην τσέπη σας!

Hebraic: התיצבו, ממזר, אז אני יכול להשתין בכיס שלך 
Hindi: अभी भी खड़े हो जाओ तुम कमीने, है, तो मैं अपनी जेब में पेशाब कर सकते हैं!
Hungarian: Állni, te szemét, így tudok ázni a zsebében!

Italian: Stare fermi, bastardo, così posso pisciare in tasca!
Japanese: まだスタンドには、野郎ので、私はあなたのポケットの中に小便をすることができます！
Korean: 가만히있어,이 자식아, 그래서 귀하의 주머니에 소변을 수 있습니다!

Malay: Masih berdiri, bajingan, jadi saya boleh kencing di saku anda!
Persian: ثابت بمونه ، شما حرامزاده ، پس من نمی توانم در جیب شما شاش 
Portuguese: Fique parado, sacana, então eu posso mijar no seu bolso!

Romanian: Stai liniştit, nemernicule, aşa că am să fac pipi în buzunar!
Russian: Стой, сволочь, так что я могу мочиться в вашем кармане!
Serbian: Станите Ипак, копиле, тако да могу да пиша у вашем џепу!

Spanish: Quédese quieto, cabrón, así que puedo mear en su bolsillo 
Swahili: Simameni, wewe bastard, hivyo siwezi piss mfukoni yako!
Thai: ยังยืนนิ่ง, คุณลูกไม่มีพ่อเพื่อให้สามารถปัสสาวะในกระเป๋าของคุณ

Turkish: kıpırdamayınız, seni piç, bu yüzden cebinize piss olabilir! 
Vietnamese: Đứng yên, bạn bastard, để tôi có thể piss trong túi của bạn!

Washroom sign in Korea

Welsh: Aros yn ei unfan, bastard chi, felly gallaf piss yn eich poced! 

Well, I must say the Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish look like accurate translations to me, so perhaps it´s not as bad as I have been thinking.

But lets withhold final judgment till we get my readers votes in also.