Stuff

Title

About

About me

My name is Eivind Fonn, and I hail from Trondheim, Norway. I am born in November 1984, which makes me, at the time of writing this, 26 years old. In 2009 I left Norway to live in Zürich, Switzerland to pursue a Ph.D. in applied math at ETH Zürich.

For those of you who wish to give me an incredible amount of money to do something, I have a CV (or resumé) to show how good I am at doing something.

In my spare time, I do voluntary work for IAESTE Switzerland (mostly, this involves drinking), I solve Rubik's Cubes really fast, I walk around taking pictures, I learn Russian, or I just sit numb in front of the computer, trying my best to destroy what intelligence I have.

About this website

This is my personal website, and I put up whatever I feel like. There are probably several things here that you will find as interesting as dirty water, unless you happen to be me, of course. (If you are, let me know. We need to talk.) On the other hand, if you want to get to know me better, and somehow can't invite me out for a drink, this might be just the place. If you can, that would be preferable :).

You can navigate through the sections by clicking the tabs on the top of this page.

Contact me

Once I can be bothered with obfuscating my e-mail address, I will put it right here.

Random

This is where I put stuff. The stuff you see below got put here because I had it lying around, and I thought it might be interesting for at least one more person on this planet. If that person coincidentally finds this website, for which the probability is, after all, positive, then why not?

Quotes

If you have ever received an e-mail from me, chances are that there's a quote at the end of my signature. These quotes are randomly picked from the following list. They are picked mostly for their humour, but of course, I also agree with those that have anything half-interesting to say.

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Cube

I am a speedcuber. Speedcubers are a special type of breed of nerds who like to solve the Rubik's Cube fast under certain restrictions. These restrictions include things like using only one hand, using only feet, solving blindfolded, and so on, and, of course, the normal two-handed sighted variety. Cubes of all sizes are solved, 2x2x2 to 7x7x7, and also a few puzzles of more exotic geometries.

These are my records. Those which I am remotely proud of anyway. They are all unofficial, i.e. they have not been achieved in a WCA-sanctioned competition. For my official records, you can consult the WCA database.

For more information on speedcubing, you should really check out SpeedSolving.com. They have a fairly trafficated forum and a fairly decent wiki.

3x3x3 single: 10.39
3x3x3 avg of 5: 13.74
3x3x3 blindfolded single: 1:53.96
3x3x3 multiple blindfolded: 5/8
4x4x4 single: 1:17.69
4x4x4 avg of 5: 1:30.63

English

I am a grammar nazi.

Punctuation: End sentences with a period and start new ones with a capital letter. There should be a space after periods and commas. Try not to overuse the ellipses (I'm guilty as charged...), and if you must use it, do NOT use commas instead of periods.
Common spelling errors:
- Loose and lose: To lose is a verb, it means not to win. Loose is an adjective that means something like "not fastened".
- Too, two and to: Two is a number. To comes before infinitives (to go, to read) and is also a preposition (to Greeland). Too is a strengthening adverb (too cold), and can also mean "in addition" (I want to go, too).
- Their, there, they're: Their is a possessive pronoun (like mine, yours). There implies a location (over there). They're means "they are".
- Your, you're: Like the above, your is a possessive pronoun and you're means "you are".
- Its, it's: Same thing as above. Its is a possessive pronoun and it's means "it is".
- Could of, would of etc.: Even if could've is pronounced almost like "could of", it's still not spelled that way.
I.e. and e.g.: I.e. is followed by clarifications, e.g. is followed by examples.
For Scandinavians:
- Lend and borrow: You lend to someone, but you borrow from someone.
- Teach and learn: You teach to someone, but you learn from someone.
For Germans:
- Seit and since: These are not synonyms! I have been here since February. I have been here for 5 months.
- Composite words: They do not work in English. There's no such thing as a europevacation. Words such as wishlist and doorbell are accepted as stand-alone English words.