Tobias Wrigstad played Obed Marsh in the amazing Shoggoth on the Roof musical – here is the photoset: A Shoggoth on the Roof (world premiere).
If you’re into H.P. Lovecraft stuff, then go look. If you know Tobias, then go look, too.
IETest: a watir for .NET
Tobin, this one’s for you: Automated testing, with IE for .NET.
Danish consultancy BestBrains have released IETest,
> a .NET library for testing web sites through Microsoft Internet Explorer. It enables you to automate Internet Explorer to the point where you can perform automated testing without any human attention required.
Sean takes his leave of the MS world
My neigbour, the Ruby hacker [Sean Treadway](http://sean.treadway.info) waves “Goodbye MSFT”, in a fine posting about how That Big Windows Company is making it hard to be a programmer for their platform:
> Well, I among many others have found another way, develop applications on an understandable platform. For me “understandable†means “openâ€. “Open Source†means that I can follow and understand how the platform is shifting and not promises of how it is going to shift. Open Source means the exit is open, and I can join or leave at any time.
And he goes for the knock-out with:
> If MS really wanted to be perceived as a viable option by today’s web developers, they need to change their reputation on standards. “Embrace, extend, extinguish†is what we expect from MS. When confidence in the future for scalable ISV businesses is critical to MS marketing strategy, how can they fix this reputation? How are they fixing this now? I hear the development tools are great. But if I need their tools as well, can I really understand their platform?
Even more talk about bread
[Cissi](http://www.bloglines.com/blog/cisslo) in Malmö, Sweden, is also having [bread thoughts](http://www.bloglines.com/blog/cisslo?id=26):
> […] I cut out the soft bread from my diet, I might get a nice loaf once in a while but never again in a plastic bag from one of the commercial bakeries. I just realized how much they suck. And I will start making my own sour dough, at those special occasions when I yearn for bread.
Another believer. I should put up my own sour-dough bread experiences here, as well. Eating really good bread these days.
Dropload: Send big files in email
[Dropload](http://www.dropload.com) is one of those services that are needed. Badly. I think this baby could be put to some good use. Right, Dad?
This is the full text of their service description:
> Dropload is a place for you to drop your files off and have them picked up by someone else at a later time. Recipients you specify are sent an email with instructions on how to download the file. Files are removed from the system after 7 days, regardless if they have been picked up or not. You can upload any type of file, mp3, movies, docs, pdfs, up to 100MB each! Recipients can be anyone with an email address
And this is from their [About Dropload](http://dropload.com/about.php) page:
> File limits are 100 megs. And we will, at our discretion, regulate usage. Use dropload when you need it and it will always be here for you. Abuse it and you’ll ruin it for everyone else.
Read more at [Dropload News](http://dropload.blogspot.com/).
More talk of bread
Me and Peter Rukavina have been talking about bread for a while. The kind you bake yourself.
A blogger in Portugal, who I met at Reboot7 writes a piece on the business viability of an “Emory’s” in his city: A bakery in Lisbon: business views on a opportunity.
These points might be food for thought for the [Open Bread project](http://ruk.ca/wiki/Open_Bread).
OlleOlleOlle in “the news”
[Peter Rukavina](http://www.ruk.ca/) blogs about Olleolleolle. I get credit for my lack of show-off tendencies in my web writing.
That’s right: I’m self-employed. The bread I make (to pay for the bread I *bake*) comes from my entrepreneurial efforts in “the Internet industry”.
The reception party is yet to come. (These ain’t the 90s, but a little celebration that I’ve gotten started would soon be in order.)
Well, it was nice to get noticed.
Peter: A Bikeist
Peter comes out as extreme bike person in “I Am A Bikeist:
> … I braved the weather …
Yeah. Good on you.
Olle in the wild: “Intense”
I noted earler that I’d been professing my friendship to Mike, and here we are – documented by Copenhagen blog evangelist Jon Froda.
(It could also be that I’m trying to explain some intricate delicacy of functional programming languages – or JavaScript. But our passion for the subject is there.)
Geek Dinner Copenhagen: So it begins
Met up with a number of Copenhagen bloggers at a sushi bar. Geek Dinner, in the tradition of Hugh McLeod, the New York blogger and cartoonist. Hugh has put up a wiki – [The Hugh Page](http://thehughpage.com/):
> to give **bloggers** a place where they can **centrally collate** their **links** for whatever reason: Work, jobs, love, sex, networking, friendship, apartments, furniture, cars, **arranging geek dinners** etc etc.
One Copenhagen blogger, Henriette, arranged a geek dinner. [Here is its page](http://thehughpage.com/Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner), so that you can see how agile the form is.
Had some fine vegetarian sushi and some engaged discussion on dynamic programming languages.
The waiter kept calling everything vegetarian. Vegetarian coffee?
In the room with a group of 25 rather loud meetup people were also two other people. I recognized the woman at that table, and went over and chatted a bit. It was Anna, the Lund commuter, with whom I was train buddies when I did the Lund-Copenhagen commute. Her man was there, an Axapta specialist (Danish proprietary ERP system, with good money in it for specialists – a system with its own language) whose office had been relocated to Brøndby. Anna’s still working in Lund. They plan a move to Malmö. Nice bumping into them. Serendipitous.
The evening meant I got to meet and talk to the people I read. Web ninja Anders Pollas, pragmatic hacker Christian Dalager, blog advisor Jacob Bøtter, magazine editor and old hand at “misc programming” Line Ho Young Kjær, new media consultant Henriette Weber Andersen and her longhaired programmer man Thomas Kristiansen. Jon Froda came just in time for the food, fresh from evangelizing blogs and social software. Didn’t get a chance to chat with the blogging sysadmin Daen. Seemed like a nice guy.
My buddies Peter Brodersen and Mike Ditlevsen were on the participants list, but I noted that just an hour before the event took place. Talking with Mike, and professing my friendship in a sincere and heartfelt manner, was a good experience. I was on table water, as well, taking a smart route, as I wanted to be able to talk to everyone. Still, me and Mike were best buddies.
The evening ended at Line’s apartment, with around 15 people (out of an original 20+ of us, that is good cohesion), after a lightning decision after a local bar was too full and smoky.
I’m pleased it turned out so well. [Geek Dinner Copenhagen 2.0](http://thehughpage.com/Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner_2.0) is already in the making. The wiki works its magic, and a venue will be found. I think I’m gonna post a requirements list for the venue now. I’m making Luisa join us next time — everyone was asking about her, and urged me to bring her next time.
**Related:** My friend Tobin Harris is leading the attempt at making a meetup called [Leeds on Rails](http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/Leeds+On+Rails) in the UK. Good on him!
**Update:** On a sour note, there appears to have been [some disorganization](http://thehughpage.com/Talk:Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner_2.0#We-could-do-betters) in the money-handling, as the money bundle was 1500 DKK short of the bill for drinks. “Next time, individual drinks orders.” I hope my mineral water (instead of alcohol) was included in the cover fee.