Toby Ziegler may be my favourite character on The West Wing, but my second favourite is Sam Seaborn. I love his passion, his dedication and his naïveté. He is a brilliant writer and important member of President Bartlet's team. His importance in season 1 is due to the original intend of Seaborn being the main character on The West Wing, which is why Rob Lowe who portrayed Seaborn earned more per episode than actors like Allison Jenney, Bradford Whitford and Richard Schiff, whom portrayed C.J. Cregg, Joshua Lyman and Toby Ziegler, respectively.

So it saddens me when Sam Seaborn is written out of the show in season 4. His last appearance is with Ziegler telling him that he wants to be with him when he loses in the special election for the 47th Congressional District in California. We don't actually see that, nor does the show explicitly tell us whether Seaborn won or lost, but we assume he did lose. Although, it does become explicit when Josh picks up Seaborn four years later at the end of season 7 for the Santos Administration, where Seaborn is working for another law firm. Just like he did before joining the Bartlet for America campaign (as seen in the beginning of season 2).

This isn't the only time the show avoids explicitly mentioning a detail. Like the result of Heartsfield's Landing in the episode of the same name, where C.J. Cregg mentions that this town's primary has accurately predicted the candidate that wins in November for over 50 years.

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With the release of topDatamat 0x0, people around me both domestically (i.e. Denmark) and abroad have begun discussing the Danish word »datamat« versus the English 'computer'. Some argue that 'computer' is superior because a computer computes. But if you ask me, this just reflects another problem with English words in general.

Newer English words tend to describe how things work rather than their use. A classic example is 'vacuum cleaner'. Is it really important to know that it uses a vacuum to suck air with? The Danish word »støvsuger« literally means 'dust sucker', because that's what it's for. To suck dust. I don't care that it uses a vacuum to clean stuff.

And 'computer' is no different. In English, the word was originally assigned to people who would compute stuff, and then later to machines. So right off the bat, the word isn't exactly specific to what we assume a computer to be. »Datamat« originates from »databehandlingsmaskine« which means 'data management machine', which is what a computer really is for. For all practical purposes, people use computers to manage data. This is also relateable to the empty 'Information Technology'; compare this to the Danish »elektronisk databehandling« ('electronic data management'), although often abbreviated to »edb«.

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When Steam came out for Mac OS X two years ago, speculations rose anew about whether there would ever be a Linux version of Steam. As always, Phoronix was leading the reporting and speculation. Some indicators in Steam configuration files as well as some job posts online by Valve helped energise the speculation. But it was all for naught, when Valve eventually denied they were working on a Linux port.

But it seems that they might have had after all. For now Phoronix have been out to visit Valve themselves, who showcased a Linux port in progress of Left 4 Dead 2 as well as the Steam client itself. Furthermore, Gabe Newell talked about encouraging other game developers to port their games to Linux and hoped a Steam client for Linux would further help encourage developers.

But the Linux port actually makes a lot of sense. Valve have been talking about Steam hardware, and it makes sense that they would try to avoid having to pay a Windows licence for each Steam-console they sell, instead of being able to craft their own Linux distribution to go along with it.

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The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom. Its premise is a bunch of nerds, trying to interact with an attractive woman. Not sold? Much of what the nerds actually do is actual nerd stuff. At least in the first two seasons. Still not sold? Well, don't bother.

I used to watch the The Big Bang Theory until this week, when the show hit its 100th episode. The initial appeal came from the nerdy references and the allusions to science, including my own field, computer science, despite none of the characters being a computer scientist. And that is exactly what whoever sold me it on it initially used as an excuse. And it in the beginning, it was great. But now I admit, I have watched the show long past its due date.

And amusingly enough came this realisation in the episode created to highlight the 100 episodes; a special episode with clips and interviews with the cast and crew. The kind of thing you'd expect to be a DVD extra. Which particularly sad, because it wasn't even as good as a DVD extra of this kind.

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I write a stupid AAR, where I play Ulm in Europa Universalis 3. It has received a lot of positive feedback, including from the Paradox Interactive developers themselves (the developers behind Europa Universalis 3). I don't like bragging, because I feel it is the comic rather than me that has deserved the feedback, hence why I have never mentioned the AAR before.

But a year ago, I wrote a chapter about Cities in Motion (as a bit of a joke), where I suggested that Ulm - while enjoying the gameplay of Cities in Motion - could not approve of it, because it lacked Ulm itself in the game. It thus went further with Civilization V and Grand Theft Auto V being denied by Ulm Publishing for the same requirement.

I also wrote about Cities in Motion around the time of its release, where I comment about how great fun it is, despite some initial flaws. I expect most of these to have been resolved by now.

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Now, I am going to become quite unpopular with this entry, because I am about to suggest there is some truth in the at least unified message of the racists, fascists and nazis of modern Europe.

This past Saturday, an international gathering of extreme far right people gathered in Århus, Denmark. It was initiated by the English Defence League, whom have been creating similar Leagues in other European countries, such as the German Defence League, Swedish Defence League, and so on. But Denmark was chosen for its strong support of the right-wing political party, Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People's Party), which - as the article mentions - a few months after Breivik's massacre in Norway, managed to obtain 12.5% of the votes in the general election.

As such, the Danish Defence League is considered one of the more successful strongholds for these extremists' views, and thus an opportune location to gather to discuss ideas and how we avoid the Islamification of Europe. The reason they chose Århus over Copenhagen was because Århus itself is a more right-wing location in Denmark, compared to the far more liberal and socialistic Copenhagen.

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Newspapers are dying. The print media is dead and the Internet has come to replace it. Stuff like tablets, bendable screens and e-book readers shall fix all the problems with reading the news comfortably, which books and newspapers at least had going for them. Or at least, that is the sentiment you hear from proponents of modern media forms, such as blogs, television, etc.

Unfortunately, a consequence of this development is the lowering of the overall journalistic standard. Blogs are usually done by whoever, and often misinformation is spread through these mediums. It would be wrong to neglect to mention that some blogs actually manage to pull off quality reporting that professional journalists miss, but that is a tiny minority of bloggers. This further has lowered the quality of the established news media, such as television, newspapers and magazines, which try to compete with blogs.

That is a mistake. You may or may not be surprised to learn I subscribe to a newspaper. In fact, I don't think it's that surprising, but here is what will really make you pay attention: This newspaper is making money. It has a profit. And no, it is not because the newspaper has a popular internet version or something. The printed version is making money.

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I am still excited for the next SimCity instalment, but a confirmed DRM scheme for the game may just hinder my ability to enjoy this game.

It is true that it was initially reported that the game would require a constant Internet connection, but this was later retracted to 'only' requiring players to be online when the game starts. So while a lost connection will not stop the game, like in other games, you still cannot start the game without an active connection.

But the whole idea of 'reporting back to the mothership' is just another indicator of not owning the game, and despite your transaction of money to the company, they still feel like treating you like you are renting the game, as if they are nervous you might 'never return it'. But you even get a better treatment from Blockbuster, where you actually rent the games!

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Sweden's in the news again, this time about moving towards becoming cashless. The article I linked to is rather appropriate in its description of what is happening, although even this title is not without suggestions. Most of the articles regarding this story seemed to indicate or think that Sweden was actually abandoning cash.

Which of course is entirely false. What is happening is that Sweden is beginning to notice that only 3% of its entire economy is being used on notes and coins, i.e. cash. While the Eurozone's average is 9% and the US economy is at 7%. It has then been suggested that perhaps Sweden should explore abandoning cash all together. The idea of suggesting they abandoning it has not, merely a committee - I suppose - to explore the idea.

But let's think about those numbers first. 3% sounds like a little. But it is of the entire economy. I am not an economist, but I don't think that purchases in stores, etc. (where you would use cash) account for even 50% of a country's economy. Huge purchases, company transfers, merges, etc. all happen on such a scale that cash would be improbable. And have been so for a long time. Even before electronic transfers existed, other means were used than cash for these kind of money transfers. This should surely make the 3% sound a lot more significant, as well as the 9% and 7% for the Eurozone and US, respectively.

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As the election to elect a president draws closer in the United States, problems are looming for the undefined part of the ticket; the Republican ticket. Because unlike previous years, the Republican primaries are still ongoing and more importantly undecided. For while Mitt Romney is technically more than twice as far ahead as Rick Santorum, he is only just twice ahead and Santorum is gaining on Romney.

This is partly the reason why observers - both Republicans and others - are not willing to call the Republican primaries just yet. And Republicans themselves are worried about an actual convention floor fight, which the party has not seen since 1976, between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. The election that year - I may remind you - was won by the the Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter. So one might wonder whether such a repeat would occur this November.

But despite the whole worry - and particularly the media playing on a lot, because it is entertainment - most people believe that Romney will eventually secure the nomination despite Santorum's momentum. Which many - including myself - will mean that Romney will just get beaten by Obama in November. Although, I - personally - believe that none of the four candidates (yes, including Ron Paul) can beat Obama in November. Something spectacular needs to happen to Obama to discredit him enough to avoid re-election. And that is hardly secure to bet on for the opposing ticket.

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