Visiting Jonny Westling

Last week I paid a visit to my friend Jonny Westling. Jonny works as a valuer and has a really impressive career and knowledge in valuation of high value items, gems, watches, paintings and everything in between. Every single time I see him I learn something new about valuation.

When I arrived in his office he just finished a valuation so I got to learn about how to see if a diamond is real and what quality it is, Jonny also showed me the different ways you cut a diamond. It is really interesting and the more you learn, the more you know how little you know. I guess that saying or fact goes with everything but in valuation it is very true, everything has value and a story.

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I took some photos during a quick check on some jewelry. Jonny also mentioned the importance of doing a valuation to be sure that what you own actually is valued with a certificate and in the end, insured. Jonny is an expert but explains so anyone can understand, important when dealing with valuable items.

If you want anything valued, I can highly recommend Jonny Westling at Westling Värdering. Now this became some kind of ad for Jonny. I’m sure he doesn’t mind. ;)

That was all for today and as usual thanks for visiting!

A summer with Speedracerz and the Fountain 47

So, I’ve joined forces with Speedracerz. We invest, rebuild, drive and manage automotive vehicles and boats around the world and this summer we tried the wings of the Fountain 47 with 4050 horsepowers.

It did fly and below are some videos from when we drove around the Swedish archipelago. We went from Djurgården to Vaxholm and then over to Sandhamn. This trip was possible with Njord Go Fast and Poker Run Åland.

The boat has three Mercury 1350hp engines and six-blade props so it really is something special. Find out more about Mercury Engines here.

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This first video (below) is an edit of the complete run, more of less the more interesting parts and I took the freedom to put in some music. The wind noise is so boring and the engine sound just wanished.

The second video (below) is the complete run. Some or most people seems to like the wind noise so I kept it unedited in the video.

The third video (below) is a quick edit of the ocean crossing, Sandhamn - Åland.

NJORD GO FAST and Poker Run Åland:

If you live in Sweden and/or Scandinavia and have a boat, join the NJORD GOFAST OFFSHORE RACE. Once you've crossed the ocean, Poker Run Åland takes over.

Register here: http://njordgofast.se/

And here: https://pokerrunaland.com/

For more videos, please see Random Adventures on my Youtube channel.

Thank you for visiting!

Incredible ride in a Fountain 47

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to join some nice people on a trip with a Fountain 47 with 3x1350 Hp. It was the fastest boat trip I’ve ever done. I’ve posted two videos from the crazy trip below.

Ride in a Fountain 47 around Stockholm archipelago with and without music and some minor edits.

Both videos are quite long so if you're bored you can use them as your screen saver. Anyways, this was too good not to show here as well and I guess some people would like to see Stockholm archipelago from a fast boat.

We drove from Djurgården (Stockholm) to Sandhamn in around 20 minutes, a regular trip takes a couple of hours. Make sure to watch the video in full screen.

Here are two outtakes from the long youtube versions below: Video 1 and Video 2

NJORD GO FAST and Poker Run Åland:

If you live in Sweden and/or Scandinavia and have a boat, join the NJORD GOFAST OFFSHORE RACE. Once you've crossed the ocean, Poker Run Åland takes over.

Register here: http://njordgofast.se/

And here: https://pokerrunaland.com/

For more videos, please see Random Adventures on my Youtube channel.

Thank you for visiting!

Quick thoughts about VR, AR and MR

today's problem

I have yet to see indication that VR, AR or MR are getting the same "confidence" as other new products are getting. We see investments pour in but the consumers are failing. This is not very surprising since the market is small, maybe even non-existent today, it is also expensive for a family to purchase a VR-headset and a computer. What happens instead is that the same family buys a google cardboard instead to try "VR", the experience is not what they thought and that's where VR is failing big. The large companies are still waiting for the consumer influx in VR before they want to venture into unknown lands, the consumers will come when the market matures and can deliver on it's promises. Film and TV-series are a proven market whereas VR and Mixed Reality as a medium is not and I feel it is not suited as a regular entertainment system. VR will start to find it's place in 2018 and after that, we will see where it will take us. What I am sure of though, is that the "experts of VR" need to be more understanding of their market and potential users. Most of the time, the people involved in new industries, especially tech are hard core nerds not thinking about the consumer first and I believe that is the main problem today.

Take a look at Google, they have some things in the works that might invite more users to try VR.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Whale Augmented Reality Magic Leap

The other major problem is that most VR companies today does not know how to get paid. Many of the companies I meet look for investors and financing without having a way of monetize its product. That is plain stupid and crazy, not naming anyone but one person has asked me several times on different occasions to invest in their projects for a "good cause" by helping the VR industry grow. That is a big problem, if you don't expect to get your or an investors money back, that industry is dead.

On a positive note

Not everything is bad though, we see increasingly better experiences and hardware, the prices are being lowered and the usability is steadily getting better by the day. What people thought would take two years just took longer and I think that is fine as long as investments continue to grow the industry. Most of the "experts" will also decline and the number of quality productions will increase as well. Right now, the only way VR and AR are being used most efficiently is in the military. As with everything else, the military will probably be first to fully use VR and AR, consumers come second.

As always, thanks for visiting.

Papillon - Henri Charrière

Papillon (P.S.)
By Charriere, Henri

This could be the most important book I've ever read. It opened my eyes in a number of ways and with it's many ups and downs it should be in everyone's library.

Papillon, was published in France in 1968, written by Henri Charrière and was going to be the book that sparked my interest for biographies and autobiographies. Papillon was actually the book that got me into reading in the first place and I'll try to explain why.

Henri Charrière, was convicted year 1931 in Paris for a murder he did not commit. He was sentenced to life in the penal colonies of French Guiana and became obsessed with escaping the islands. The book Papillon is about his planning and executing of a series of failed attempts over many years and eventually being sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped. The book follows and explains the horrors but also the good times inside the prison, all this while he plans his next escape, counting the waves, avoiding sharks or trying to bribe the guards. The story is about hope in an extremely dark world where no one should be able to survive, he did and he tells you everything about it.

Henri's autobiography got my attention from the first chapter and has ever since been with me in one way or another. If you are one of those who see value in reading a good book, get this one. Highly recommended!