The counsellor that is always there

If you look carefully you see that this is posted under “nerd stuff” so the counsellor is not who you think it is. But i must add that the one you think i’m talking about IS always there for you.

I am talking about my Eliza program.
We had a howework assignment in the Artificial Intelligence course to implement our own Eliza.
Eliza was a program in the sixties that simulated a therapist who you could talk to by writing text, and the program talked back.
Some people actually belived that there were a real person “on the other side” talking to them.
But it was only a verys simple program that followed certain rules.

Anyway, here is a link to my own implementation of eliza

If you get a really funny conversation with it you can copy paste the dialogue and add it as a comment to this post. (No obscurities though)

(i can add that this eliza tries to take the client through the learning circle)

Mother-child group

Hi.
On tuesdays Eva (my whife) and Emma (my 1 year old daughter) usually goes to a mother-child group at a church here in Helsinki. Today I went there with Emma instead because Eva had school.

I was the only father there. Eva says that often there are some fathers, but this time I was the only one. But there was one i knew, one of Evas friends so I was not entirely “alone” there. Emma knew the others so she was ok. And i am not people shy so i managed to melt in.

It was fun. We sat in a ring with the mothers and children and sang childrens songs. There were lots of toys in the middle for the children to play with. Basically, the parents sat and sang, while their children did what they did, some played somewhere while others sat in their parents lap.

If I had any John Wayne image in me I had to let it go. Because you can’t be sitting in a ring singing childrens songs all John Wayney. And it was good. I encourage all fathers to go to such a gathering with your child.

Loved by God

The thing that makes me really happy is the fact that I know in my knower that God really loves me. No matter if i feel as if i have let God down He is always there with open arms.
Those times when I have a hard time coming to God beause of sin or just that it has been a while since last time, I could expect God to be a bit harsh, and have me really feel how bad I have been. But no. He reminds me that he really really loves me, and that he has been longing for my company. Those times the bad feeling i have just goes away with the wind and i’m back again in the loving company of my maker, saviour and friend.

It’s because of the cross that I am free. Thank you Jesus that you died for me. I love you.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38

Being a disciple

Jesus called some fishermen in Gallilea to follow him. They became his disciples. They were to be with him and learn from him. A disciple learns from and does what his master do.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he said to his disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18-20

So we are all called to be a disciple of Jesus, and to make disciples.
As disciples, we are called to follow Jesus, and do what he did.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” - John 14:12-14

What did Jesus do then?

• He healed the sick
• He raised the dead
• He proclaimed the good news
• He set the captives free

At least I havent raised anyone from the dead lately. Sometimes I vitness when people are healed from sickness. But in my opinion it could me way more often. But i think one of the reason why we don’t see som much people getting healed today is that we just don’t pray for them. It is because of the cross that people are saved, healed and raised from the dead. And it is just as easy for God to heal someone as it is for him to forgive someone, and it is because of what Jesus did on the cross.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
- Isaiah 53:8

I require 2,4 times too much space

Hi my name is Christoffer. My living requires 4,3 global hectares. If everyone lived like me, we would need 2,4 planets. Worldwide, there exists 1.8 biologically productive global hectares per person. The average ecological footprint here in Finland is 8.4 Global hectares per person. If everyone lived like the mean finn we would need 4,6 planets to support it.

- These many planets were required if everyone lived like me -

- These many planets were required if everyone lived like the average finn -

- This is how many planets we have -

At http://www.myfootprint.org you can calculate your ecological footprint.

The things you can do to reduce your fotprint is for example:
- Buy locally. (No need for packed, imported, transported stuff)
- Use your bike, or at least collective transportation
- Like it or not, eat less meat.
- Turn off lights, use low-energy light bulbs.
- Less standby on your electrical gear
- .. pretty much stop using so much energy.

And the winner is…

To analyse and chart the popularity of certain operating systems among myself and I. I, in the precence of myself conducted a scientific analytical experiment. I was to randomly start any computer in the vicinity of my home, and see what operating system was running in it. The candidates were Ubuntu Linux (it might have been Dapper Drake), OS X Tiger and Windows 2000.

And the winner is…

…

tense expectation and nervosity building up here …

…

And the winner is…
OS X 10.4.8 aka “Tiger”

The jury’s comment:
“For the sleek elegance, motivating beauty and the fact that the computer that ran the other two operating systems was shut down, unplugged and hidden in a closet, we have decided to give the annual operating system in Toffes house of the year price to Mac OS 10.4″

Still about the picture

As I told you, the banner picture is from a shed from my grand-dads place. He is dead by now and my uncle is living there, and it was probably my granddad’s ancestors that built the house in the first place. Anyway, my dad told me that it actually is a kind of a barn that they used to dry grain in. The tool on the wall is a fire “kex” that they had hanging on the wall on most houses in case of the house started to burn. They then used the tool to pull burning timber out of the building to prevent the house from burning up.

What’s with the picture?

As you may have noticed, I have just set up this blog.
I was just trying around to see what picture I should have as a header for this page. I went through my gallery, and could not find the thing that I normally look for. Like some nice landscape or such. Since i had to backup my pictures, and store all images (except those taken this year … since I almost ran out of disc space) on an external hard drive, I did not have that many pictures to choose from. But then i found this picture (on the banner) of an old shed (from my grandfather’s place) and took a small portion of it… So there you have it.
And no, the top edge of the picture is not “sned”. It is perfectly horizontal, You just have to go and have your eyes checked.

So long for this time

Hello world!

Well, then. I have joined those who write stuff on the world wide web.
I feel the air rushing through my hair, as i write without knowing what or why.
But it is ok. Writing is good excercise for your fingers.