Blogs March to June 2006

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---

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.

(Goethe)

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No elephants or Elephantiasis or elephantitis here — Google cheats you! Shame on Larry! 

July 

Wednesday 06-06-05 

Too much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find truth; give him too much, the same. Blaise Pascal 

New bike!

I bought myself a new bicycle. It is the Brompton MR6-PLUS, a very nice machine for commuting. But not only for commuting - a short evening ride convinced me that the bike is quite OK for longer distances as well. And it folds easily, slides in a bag and thus travels on train or bus, if needed. I also bought a bag for hauling my books around. Unfortunately, I cannot read books while cycling. 
I have been dreaming of a folding bike for at least 5 years now. Maybe it was just about right time to boy one, although they are not that cheap. I may have to buy another bicycle as well, if I get again seriously interested in cycling. The other bike would most likely be a pure racing bike. But first I have to have a lot of exercise, lose some tens of pounds of fat, and see whether my cycling fever is real again. 

North Korea 

To celebrate the arrogance/idiocy of the North Korean dictators, take a look at some photos. Definitely not a place to ride a Brompton. Or eat well. Or write blog. 
Comparing North Korean traffic official with her American colleague makes one think of the blessings of adequate food security. (Thanks to Musicnaut for the pictures. 

Tuesday 06-06-04 

Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string. Pele

Germans did not win

So, I had it wrong. The espresso-drinking non-serious liberal Italian, those pizza-eater, somehow managed to beat Germany. Maybe the fact that they played better soccer helped somewhat. What a disappointment. Now I can leave for the archipelago during the weekend. But S will not join me, for her azurro team is still going strong. Or maybe we can revert back to audio reception. 
We had the regular Tuesday-meeting with Petri, Mila, Lassi, Tappi, Satu T, S and I. Getting smaller but not duller. However, please join us on Tuesday, the 8th of August in Juttutupa. 

Unnecessary SW 

Microsoft is trying to develop SW, which tries to find which emails are important and only chime for them. What a waste of resources. If the automatic notifications of emails disturb, even Outlook allows for turning them off. Problem solved. In general: why should the emails program alert of all or any messages? If some issue is so urgent, the phone is there. Although I turn off the buzzer of my phone when I am working. 

Monday 06-06-03 

Engaging in philosophy in salutary, even when no positive results emerge. ... The color is brighter, that is, reality appears more clearly as such. Kurt Gödel 

Notes from the CA-adventure 

Just random notes, memories, observations. A longer, maybe even a coherent story may appear here later. 
The car was strange, or maybe traditionally American. It was pleasant and easy to to drive on freeways, surprisingly agile in parking lots (or then lots were SUV-sized), did not guzzle too much gas (9.5 l/100km on average), the cruise control was accurate. But outside freeways the suspension was just bad. It lost contact with the street at smallest humps/holes/whatever. In San Diego I was quite sure that the right back tire was flat, for the car oversteered so badly. It was not, I stopped and checked. 
I took the route-1 (the Pacific coast highway) down from Palo Alto via Monterey, Big Sur, to Santa Barbara and stayed there overnight. It took me 13 hours to Santa Barbara with lunch in Monterey, with a short detour thought a red wook park, a photo session with some elephant seals (from distance), numerous stops at vista points, and driving through innumerable small towns and villages. I also got lost with regular intervals, but not too far from the route-1. 
The next day, I continued towards San Diego at 7pm. The views were not that stunning anymore, but driving on route-1 though LA is an experience. I took a too quick look at the map and started. After driving for an hour, I was quite sure I have made it at least 2/3 of the city. No way, I was just 1/4 through LA. It is such a large area of small cities/towns/areas abutting each other. In the end, with a quick input/output-stop in some Burger King in Long Beach, it took 3.5 hours to cross LA. Those hours were really worth it. A highly recommended route, but requires some tenacity, some stubborn mania of just driving, driving and trying to find some decent (rock) music from the radio. No way one can drive hours listening to country. 
Some radio DJ's could make use of a thesaurus: "The band worked some old songs. They did some violin too", one of them told over the radio. You know, "do" and "work" apply to all activities e.g. "Are you still working on the fish?" is a common question in restaurants all over USA. 
There is a great bridge over the San Diego bay, a very tall one. The last sign on the ramp to the bridge: "Suicide consulting service 24/7. Call ...". 
In San Diego, I stayed in Grand Hyatt. A grand hotel indeed, for I got a room from the 35th floor with one wall made of class. In the evening, I sometimes had a lonely picnic on the floor looking at the harbour. A bit scary. 
Stories in newspapers and in TV, while I was in San Diego: "The big earthquake is imminent", "Judge suspended for using a sex apparatus in the court - facing up to 10 years in a Kansas Prison", "Government building a security fence on the Mexican border - local farmers setting up ladders for their illegal immigrants to scale the fence". 
The dress code of the course (on competitive intelligence) I attended in San Diego: smart casual. The lecture was wearing flipflops (toe-sandals). How smart is that?
I saw pelicans. They are much large that I though and fly like swans. I did not hear them singing, though. 
The elephant seals were funny: just basking in the sun, trying to throw some sand over their enormous bodies with their flippers. Not that successful an attempt. Fighting for short periods. The fighting was merely posturing, raising their heads and emitting snoring-type loud noise. I saw some of them in the sea, maybe it was time for some fish. 
More later. Now, back to Stalingrad. 

Last week in review 

Somehow I feel I have been here long enough and I should get away, to visit some other place, just anywhere abroad. It has been more than a week since I arrived in Helsinki. And the flight was late, and I was miserable. However, I have no plans, and no financial resources, to flee just now. So, I carry on: commute to my cubicle (yes, they took my room away) in the countryside, walk back to civilization or take the bus, come home, read books, spend time with S (excellent, the reason for existence), have a walk, and now even write something. Not that bad, especially since I can meet my friends every now and then. I can also walk up the hill alone and play some pinball, or with S and have a picnic. Life is not bad, just a bit sedentary. 
I think I should move from systems architecting to journalism (e.g. becoming a war correspondent). Or maybe I could combine work and fun and become a travel author. Who knows? Anyway, until I will be invalidated by a hearth disease, I will keep on rolling. After that, I will just rock in my chair. 
Oh, I got carried away. Last week was a bit lazy. I had the 10+-hour jet lag, which lowered my energy levels a bit. Especially after 7pm, when the invisible baseball bat hit the back of my head and I got fuzzy. So, nothing much happened, except that, well, I do not remember. We had a picnic, actually two. I tried to buy a new bicycle, with no success. On Friday, I met with Olli, Mikeal, Ville, Jukka. We watched Germany against Argentina, then went for some mussels in a bar called Belge (the food was decent, but I have had enough of pretentious, non authentic restaurants). On Saturday, we took a walk with (I and S), then visited the sale at the Academic bookstore (I bought Moscow 1941 — a city and its people at war by Rodric Brainwaite since I have not read any longer account of the battle of Moscow so far), then called in at Petri's for a evening on laughter and football. Others present were Petri, Mila, Lassi and Tappi. A great night. 
That's quite enough of the last week. I try and try, but I do not remember. I only remember things from abroad, days when I do not have to spend 8-10 hours in the countryside. 

Germany will win 

I knew it all along. Germany is going to win the 2006 World Cup. Having more patience and good enough skills helps a lot. Carrying on even when losing, sticking to plans with some clever adjustments. Just the way it is with life in general: trying to please others will end poorly. 
Anyway, let me repeat. Germany will win. First they will smash Italy and then France. Even mighty Zidane cannot do anything surprising enough to disturb the German plans! 

Back online 

Now that I been back in Helsinki, Finland, for more than a week, I again have something to say and energy to write it down. Let me start with some interesting links I found today:

• Fourth mysterious phone message appeared. A fascinating story. Please, crack the code and tell us what is going to happen. 
• Gas falling onto dark - pictures of a galaxy coming into existence some 10 billion years ago. 
• Story about stories in Brookly, NYC
• How to check which seat you are going to get in an airliner. Another way, if you know the seat, is to visit Seatguru. 
• Future of pinball — an important isssue
• Attacking Iran would not be straigtforward, for even the military is against it, kind of. 
• Attacking Somalia created a mess. A good thing to remember.
• And as always, check what Juan Cole has to say about the mess in the Middle East, for example on the war crimes committed by the Israeli government. The only consolation is that the US tax payers will pay for the infrastructure Israel destroys. Fair enough. 

June 

Saturday 06-06-17 

"I have always been rather better treated in San Francisco than I actually deserved." Mark Twain

From SF to San Diego by taxi 

I will take a taxi from SF to San Diego and back. I even drive it myself. I will stay overnight in some motel, eat in diners and drink a lot Dr. Pepper. An all American adventure. 
So, I rented a Mercury Grand Marquis LS, which is essentially just pimped Ford Crown Victoria, the New York yellow cab. We tested the car today by visiting the Napa-valley (100 miles there, another back, and some wine, fish, cheese, etc while there). A great trip. The car worked well. It is very quiet, drives like a ocean liner and has all electrically adjustable seat, pedals, mirrors, etc etc. Fuel consumption is just 10l/100km, which is not bad for an ancient car with 4.6 l V8-engine, about 2 tons of metal and not very aerodynamic shape. 
Tomorrow: starting early, driving to Monterey for light lunch and coffee, then slowly driving to Santa Barbara and staying overnight there. 

Perfect day in SF 

A recipe for a perfect day in Palo Alto: leave for SF! I took the Caltrain to SF (malls, car dealers, junk yards and other normal businesses by the railway and some poor people, the more the closer we got to SF). I had a decent tram adventure by taking the N-munitram to Ocean Beach by the Pacific coast. Nice ride up, down, and through the hills, interesting passengers, advanced technology. At the beach: cool, so swimmers, so surfers, a few desperate tanners. 
I also visited the farmer's market in the Ferry building. They sold me great bread, but there are no pubs there. I had to walk south to Red's java house. A sign read: "Think economically, buy a pitcher". I bought one and sat down to read my newspaper. After one pitcher ($10) Kumar and Subu arrived, and after another we left for Sausalito (via a Pakistani restaurant).

Wednesday 06-06-15 

If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied. Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Palo Alto, CA 

First time here in Palo Alto (except a short visit to Stanford in January). Strange place, quiet, very civilized, cleaner and neater than Singapore, cars gliding slowly. Affluent houses, garages full of expensive cars (for I have not seen any). More shops selling Oriental rugs than toilet paper. No poor people. Too strange to be true, reminds me of Potemkin. I am already missing some roughness, some wider variety of human fates, dogs on streets, cyclists. 

Flatbush, New York 

Our friend Riitta lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. She let us crash in for one night. Flatbush is a world apart from Manhattan (55 minutes by subway, though). It is much poorer, has different people (afro-americans, caribbean, etc and some jews in their hats and beards). Everything is cheap in Flatbush, although nothing fancy or upmarket is not even for sale. Nice area, I could quite well live there: lively, non-pretentious, full of surprises. Lots of singing birds even. 
We had some take-away Chinese for dinner. The portions were huge: one portion of fried rice was enough to fill in 4 plates (and more than 2 persons), small soup was 33cl, etc. No wonder thin people were not roaming the streets. 
Side note: in the Upper West side there was the annual museum event. Free admission to all museums along the Museum mile, music on the street, clowns, etc. We visited the museum of NY history. Not worth the time, actually, but the whole event definitely was. 

Losing 

I am losing. Not that I would lose anything important, but somehow things just do not follow me. Yesterday I lost my iBook's power adapter and my pedometer (a gift from S). Something else is missing as well, I just do not know what. Common sense at least. 

On flying 

Yesterday, I flew from New York to San Francisco. I think I have flown quite enough in my life, for flying is not fun at all anymore. It takes 6 hours to fly from NYC to SF. American Airlines has very bad service. The seats were not too large, a old man was clearing his throat the whole time behind me. The views were breathtaking, though. I have never realized the vastness of the Mid-West, the barrenness of Nevada, and the extent of agriculture. But now I have seen those things, so the return flight will be just terrible. I have to buy a captivating book, or some sedatives. 

Tuesday 06-06-13 

Guest taking rooms without having Baggage will INVARIABLY be required to pay for them in ADVANCE. A sign in hostel room in Boston

Lazy day 

I spend most of yesterday at MIT. I wrote, read, and played pinball (Sopranos, 69M points), had some simple lunch, enjoyed watching students busily working on exercises, etc. Later, I met Bill, Wilfried, and Paul, my friends from the aero-astro department. We had a beer in the Miracle of Science in Cambridge. It was nice to meet them, discuss about Rome, Houston, and even a bit on space issues. Not much though. 
I spent the rest of the day reading in my hotel room. Sometimes it is necessary to take it easy. No taking easy for the next 12 days....

An experiment 

Since I will stay at Riitta's place in Flatbbush, Brooklyn, it is better to take a bus to the Port Authority terminal than to Chinatown. Peter Pan, "the people professionals" will take me there. The ticket cost $30 instead of the regular $15 to Chinatown. The bus is no fancier, drivers are (so far) no friendlier. But passengers are older, maybe a bit better-off than in Chinese buses. Let's if there are any other difference. 

Monday 06-06-12 

Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it. Pearl Buck 

California, China, pollution 

California is known for ever stricter air quality rules. Now it appears that China's coal burning is spoiling the air of CA, not to speak of Japan's or China's own. Rather disturbing. But CA has also local problems: CA's ports are killing some 2400 citizens due to excessive pollution of air. 
And I will travel there, rent a car, and do my part in keeping the air polluted. 

Football and TV 

In Britain, the broadcasting authorities are helping the employers in preventing the employees from wasting working time on the World Cup. The authorities are raiding the officies and fining any non-licenced employers 1000 pounds and even suing them. So, no watching at work! I assume that if employees cannot watch at work, they will suddenly get sick and stay at home or in the local pub. Any statistics? 

Adventure continues 

I am sitting in the Hayden library in MIT campus. It is no nice here: students reading their books, professors browsing archive material. Outside, summer has arrived with 17C, light northern breeze, sail boats on the rivers, someone rowing, mother pushing their carts, and jogger fleeing the inevitable. 
Yesterday, on Sunday, we moved from Milton's residence to a youth hostel (with help of Bill, who gave us a lift after buying my bike). The hostel is actually a student dormitory of the Boston university. If we would have had such terrible living conditions in Helsinki, I could never have graduated. Students are living two in each room, with bare concrete walls, terrible furniture, non ventilated bathrooms and wall-to-wall carpets. It seems that the standard of student dormitories is just as bad in USA, Hungary, Check republic, Poland, although it was 15 years ago that I visited the other countries. Anyway, the dormitory is good enough for two nights. 
We spent yesterday just taking it easy. We strolled the Newbury Street, had lunch in Pho Pasteur, the favourite of 2005, bought $200 worth of clothes at Eddie Bauer's and Filenese's basement. S visited the not-so-technical academic institute up the Charles River, I passed, not out, and read NY Times. No dinner, just a few bagels. 
On Saturday, I mined my stuff at Milton's and found two boxes of books, one large box of misc stuff and then mailed all of them to Finland. It was rather cheap, only $80. After mailing (it took 45 minutes of packing, filling in forms, signing other forms, getting things stamped, etc) brunch in some local place in Roslindale, then shopping for books:

• Drossscape by Alan Berger - how the US landscape has changed in the last 50 years of suburbanization etc. Nice pictures, some good arguments. See more information. 
• The art of civilized conversation  by Margaret Shepherd  bought by S: a guide of talking well. I should have read it before coming to the USA... 

In the evening, Milton cooked us a fantastic dinner of tuna, scallops, bluefish, and some Greek stuff. Plus excellent wines. 

No satire comprehended 

New York Times run an article on online presence and getting a job. One gollege student had written a satirical essay on "Lying your way to the top", which scared the shit out of all employers. The poor student did not get any interview invitations until he took the essay off-line. Apparently, the essay either hit home or those in recruiting positions of US companies do not "get" satire. Either way, a sad and sorry state of affairs. 
Another recruiter says: "Is there something about their lifestyle that we might find questionable or that we might find goes against the core values of our corporation?". I find it very strange. Why should employees life style matter? As long as the employee works and while working follows laws and regulations, everything should be just fine. I have worked with neo-liberals, Christians, Jews, and communists (among others) and they all have worked fine. The only persons I personally find suspicious are those supporting the intelligent design / creationism myths, but I have worked even with such a person. It went just fine. 
To be fair, some of the employers and recruiters interviewed in the article said that they do not care about blogs and online information. 

Saturday 06-06-10 

But the world has a great deal more to offer than money, and a key question each of you will face repeatedly in your lives is how to use the talent and education that you have been given and the knowledge that you have attained. Ben S. Bernanke, MIT PhD in his commencement speech 

USA adventure up to now (Sat 10th of June) 

It was less than 10 years since I flew the first time. Back then, flying was exiting, airports strange, exciting places, and each trip was a small adventure by itself. But novelty wears off, which made the flight from Helsinki to New York on Wednesday just an exercise of reading and watching movies without using headphones. I finished the Mumbo-Jumbo book, had my share of wine, saw a good movie about blacks and college basketball (based on real events). I also saw a propaganda movie trying to convince us all that life in USA Marines is just doing push-ups, getting shouted at, comradeship and endless boxing exercises. Oh, yes, once they touches a rifle, and one fat guy committed a suicide for he could not scale the fence and everyone was laughing at him. Then the others felt bad and saluted the fat guy, though it was a bit late. So, life in the Marines is nice, only fat and weak die. Join today, you may well die even if you are lean, in some country even your geography teaches cannot find on the map. 
We flew over Iceland and Greenland. There were no clouds, so we could see the mountains, glaciers, floating ice. No ursus marines, so I guess we were flying a bit high. I was a bit high then after having wine and orangejuice. 
At JFK it was raining, chaotic and we took the wrong air-train. After visiting all terminals (and seeing Eero Saarinen's terminal 5 — such a beauty even during renovations) Srealized that the train was not the one we should ride. Some transfers and suddenly we were in the Union Square and in our home in NYC, the hotel in the E15th street. The hotel costs only $79 and is clean, quiet and solemn. Being abroad should be strange, but for us in our home in NYC it is just as it should be, a normal, recurring state of affairs. 
Just not to spoil the evening by novelties, we had dinner in the Japanese restaurant in the 8th street, close to St. Marks place. I had tuna-curry in North-Korean style, which was very good, heavy and fruity. What a pity the local dictator there reserves all delicacies to himself. Moron! (and we also had a number of pints, for they cost only $1.5 each) 
On Thursday it was time to cancel a hotel in NoHo. S did it, and it would have been a crappy place. I was watching the local ganster wanna-bees clearing their throats by shouting threats to each other. Funnier than observing a group of juvenile apes. 
The Chinese still run the next-to-free bus to Boston. This time the bus was almost empty, the ride eventless, fast. Suddenly, we were in MIT, took our bags to the SDM-office, picked up my gown and cap, got the tickets, and began the comrade reunions. First, of course, I located Kumar sitting in his favourite place in the lobby of building 77. It is extremely nice to meet friends, the better the merrier. Later, even more friends in the Muddy Charles (Sam, Yoav, Dave, Ilana, John, etc) , then to Milton house in Roslindale. Milton, my friend, was kind enough to let us crash in for a few days. And to take us to a great Korean restaurant. 
The MIT commencement and related exercises lasted the whole Friday. Graduating from MIT is the only time in MIT one has time to get bored. And so we did. We reported at the Rockwell Gage at 7.45 am. Nothing happened until 10 am, when we marched in three long lines to the Killian court. The official security theater was going on all the time. We had to walk through metal detectors, but our bags must not go through it. We were all safe from the stupid terrorists hiding their guns in their pants. Good for us! 
So, we waited, it was getting really warm, the officials arranged us in small lines, which then merged in long ones, the rain stopped, we removed our rain ponchos, completed the physical test by walking around the football fields, blocked traffic from Mass Av, and entered the Killian court while Pomp and Circumstance was filling the air, making me sentimental, sitting down with other 2000 graduates-to-be. Then speeches, many of them, Dr. Bernanke's one making me shed a tear, and finally the long line of graduates in gowns walking up the stage, hearing their names called, shaking hands, getting photographed, back to seats, filled with pride and joy. Even I, not the biggest fan of ceremonies, group things and uniforms, could see the point, and I became a very proud MIT alumnus. I even decided to get the ring, the ring that rules all. So they say. 
After the ceremony, more of them, but informal. A reception by the Kresge had no champagne, so we took off to the SDM-reception in the Residence Inn. They had quite enough wine, champage, beer and food. And happy SDMers, their friends and relatives. I do hope to see my classmates again and many times. They should also visit us in Helsinki, but as we know, the journey from periphery is always much longer than the one to the periphery. Which makes them even more welcome. 
After the reception, we had a beer in the Middle East restaurant. Later, I got a book-present from Subu, Kumar's cousin. For dinner, we (I and S) visited the Doyle's for some fish and chips, and then the commencement day was over. 

MIT commencement 

Finally, I have graduated from MIT, joined the ranks of the famous MIT alumni and received my diploma or whatever the nice paper in red covers is called. 
The commencement exercises were solemn, fun, and serious. I even shed a tear while listening to Dr. Bernarke's speech. Later, some parties here and there etc. Now, next morning, too tired or still joyous to write much more. More later. 

Quitting a job just to have a holiday 

In USA, some rebellious young professionals (reyops) have decided that two weeks of holiday is not enough for living a decent life. Since the holidays are not getting any longer, the reyops are quitting their jobs just to have time to visit their parents etc. How bold is that! But they are risking their careers and not minding the old rule "Thou shall not have gaps in the resume". 
Of course, there is another way of running the working life. Just mandate longer holidays, as we wise Europeans have done. God bless the unions! 

May 

Wednesday 06-05-31 

When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended for self-flagellation solely. Truman Capote 

Why Pepsi-Max and Dr Pepper are necessary 

They contain aspartame, which decomposes into dopamine, which is good for my mental state. Nice to have such good tasting, cheap, and commonly accepted medicines. Some people claim that aspartame will kill me, softly and slowly, but I say, screw them. There you go. 

Confusions 

Today, I got totally confused. I first took the tram to Munkkiniemi, but then I did not feel like walking. Instead, I bought a lot of chocolate, too another tram back to the city center and then a bus to the countryside, where my office is. But I threw some chocolate away. Healthy, eh? 

In the evening, we organized our CDs. We have too few of them and too many of them are from China, thus not exactly original or something. Maybe I will buy some more CDs later. Now I realized that my financials would not mind me not buying too much anything but wine and food. Not even books. 

Healthy business 

Thomas Friedman reports in NYT, that GM promises to cover extra gas expenses for buyers of new Hummer H2s. GM will pay the price difference above $1.99 per gallon. I cannot figure out any more stupid business models, even if I try hard. GM is making huge losses, and instead of coming up with new models, they are subsidising gas guzzling. A bit weird. I am sure the federal government will come to rescue and socialize GM just before Toyota buys it. If they are awake enough, that is. 

A new book - again ... 

Today, I received Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, a book I have been waiting for a long time. Now, I just have to find time to read. It is a thick book, 900 pages, paperback, very hard to read while walking. I need a vacation. Or long flights, paid by some company. 
At the moment, I have about 2 meters of unread, very interesting books waiting my sprits to go up and reading speed as well. Right now I am reading "The secrets of happiness", "When rivers run dry", "The penguin history of Economics", "Lean product development", "How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World " and of course some magazines (Economist, Guardian Weekly, Scientific Americam, Cicero, New Internationalist). I should have no problem in using my "free" time. 

Tuesday 06-05-30 

I have been underestimated for decades. I've done very well that way. Helmut Kohl 

A mutiny ? 

According to Gulfnews, a resigned major general accuses Rumsfeld of getting US soldiers killed in vain in Iraq. The general, John Batiste says that Rumsfeld "strategic blunders of enormous magnitude". Quite interesting. Of course, tomorrow Mr. Bush has a press conference and tells that Rumsfeld has never done anything wrong. And the soldiers will be killed, in vain, in illegal war. Just to make sure that there is someone to remember on Memorial Days for decades to come. 

Renting an office 

Should I rent an office? There are free office spaces (or barbershop places) for rent near my home. Such a place would be nice to have, a place for pinball machines, for computers, for starting a small consulting company or something, or maybe a cafeteria. Let's see. If anyone is willing to participate in the rent, let me know. We will then start the company/cafeteria/whatever together. Or maybe simply having a club-room with friends would be nice. 

Daily stuff 

I have not had enough cola-drinks and it has lowered my mood precariously. Not good. Fortunately S bought me a few bottles while I was at work. Now I can rise again, my private ascension day. 
Otherwise days are a bit dull, a bit too similar, for which I assume I should blame myself. Yesterday and today, I took the 4-tram to Munkkiniemi and walked from there to the office. It takes 50 minutes and I get some 25 pages read. I have been reading "Lean product development" lately, which is kind of interesting. On the way back, I have read "The secrets of happiness", which I also read yesterday during my late evening tram-ride to Kaivopuisto and back. Nice ride. Today I also visited the Sello-mall in Leppävaara. A dull place, no need to visit it again. There is nothing I would not have by the route of the 3-tram. 
I checked the salaries of tram drivers. Such heroes for a lousy salary of 1500 euros per month. I do not have to guts to become a tram driver, after all, I am too sissy. Much better for me to stay in the office. Well, seriously, their salaries are way too low. I cannot understand how anyone can survive in Helsinki with 1500 euros pre tax. 

Sunday 06-05-28 

Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today. Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

A new book 

I took a book for a walk and ended up in the Academic bookstore. I bought a present for Mika, who has his 40th birtgday (party) today. For myself, I bough How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World by Wheen. At least parts of it (bashing the faddist management self-help books) appear on target. 

Team players 

The other day, I was reading Cobra II. It told about a general, whom Rumsfeld chose for Chairman of JCS. His main qualification was reputation of being a team player. Later, as the chief of JCS, he never questioned Rumsfeld's incomplete plans for occupying Iraq. 
It seems that being a team player is not what I have assumed it to be. I have assumed a team player to be someone, who can work with other, express his own views and bring his own expertise/skills/knowledge to the team. Now, it seems that being a team player is just an euphemism for being brown-tongued. If this is so, it certainly does not bode well for my career progress — my tongue is too short, hardly comes out of my mouth. 

Saturday 06-05-27 

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity. Konrad Adenauer 

War Nerd 

For those interested in military issues and history, War Nerd's blog is quite interesting thing to follow. The others may well check out Salon.com. Now I am off to the party. 

Some progress 

The US marines are learning. They understood, that just torturing Iraqis is not going to do it. It is much better to adopt the old Western habit of shooting first and answering to questions of the military court later. As we all know, the court will be lenient, find mitigating circumstances, and protect the leaders up in the command chain. This is the only explanation for slaughtering 24 civilians , unarmed, peaceful, women and children. 
This incident was at least 3 times more criminal, cowardly, and disgusting than the 7/7-bombing in London. It was a terrorist act by regular military, an ultimate example of state supported terrorism. I just hope some high level heads will begin to roll, figuratively, soon enough. 
And besides: Saddam is on trial for killing innocent civilians in villages. He was put on trial by the USA. By analogy, it would be Mr. Bush to stand accused in this new case. 
Again, I beg my American readers to dethrone the self-declared king of Washington. Or, maybe both California and the New England can break free from the union? 

UN and USA 

The moustached ambassador of USA has spoken at UN. He just stopped short of threatening with withdrawal of US funding. His not-that-clever comrades in the republican party are not that shy. One of them finds it scandalous that US gives $3 billion to the UN annually. It is clearly too much, about the bill of occupying Iraq for a week to two. 
Somehow, I would risk giving more money and authority to the UN. Maybe a better UN could have prevented, or made unnecessary also US-domestic politically, the illegal and costly was in Iraq. But wait, it is the CEO president a'la Enron and others. 

World calling Helsinki 

The world is calling Helsinki. Two days full of music, food, books, friends, sun. Now, I have to take the book Secret of Happiness, a hike around the bushes and squares, and after 50 pages to see how the world is doing up here in the north. Reports to follow, later. 

Friday 06-05-26 

Happy, satisfied customers mean profits, gentlemen. Old saying. 

Last few days 

Yesterday, the ascension day, was quite quiet until late afternoon, when we had to clean up before Olli and his family called us for a short visit. Nice to have friends over. Good food, decent wine, and interesting discussions. What else can one ask for? Well, maybe Cuban cigars, which I have. So, life was perfect for a while. 
On Wednesday, rushing to work, but the tram got lost. I still made it to the office in time, but I had to ride the tram around the whole cit center. At work, interesting meetings, reading. After work, a beer in Rytmi with Aaro. He told me that I look wise in my new beard. I have the beard, because I cannot let Kauko Röyhkä to sport the longest beard of the bar. He seems to frequent the bar. Too bad for me, I cannot visit the barbershop. This is getting crazy. 

1/80000 of the mob 

I was about 1/80000th of the mob listening to Lordi today in the Market Square. S was another 1/80000th of the mob. The sound quality was really bad, we heard only the base drum. And the helicopter overhead us. Boring. The mob was full of drunken idiots. I had to stand up and stop one fist fight. Then it was time to leave. Such was the evening. 

Travel time maps 

For a long time, I have been thinking about drawing travel time maps: instead of geographical distance it would be nice to use travel time as distance. Now, a couple of nerds have done something similar: travel time maps of Britain. 

Tuesday 06-05-23 

When I grow up I want to be a little boy. Joseph Heller 

Lordi and anonymity 

Lordi wants to keep his and his band members real faces and identities secret, for they do not add anything to the show. Or they actually take away the magic. Of course, the yellow press here in Finland and elsewhere tries to break the magic and publish pictures. I am not linking to the stories, because I find them stupid. 
Real anonymity is possible, however. The band called The Residents (another site) has been able to conceal the identities of its members for more than 30 years. According to wikipedia, their reasons are philosophical:

The Residents have always cloaked their lives and music in obscurity. The band members, always shown as being four in number, refuse to grant interviews, and do not identify themselves by name or even individual pseudonyms. Concerts and photo shoots are always performed in full disguise, most recognizably in white tie tuxedos, top hats and giant eyeball masks. For their part, The Residents may feel that artists do their best work without the influence of an audience, should only be judged by their work, and that a band members' genders, ethnicities, line-up changes, and most importantly daily life outside of the band should be irrelevant to listeners. Given that their members speak only through their work, however, even their attitudes can only be inferred.

The Residents have always been one of my favourite bands although I do not own many of their recordings. They were hard to find when I was (last time) actively buying records. Now I intend to buy some of their record. I find the music of the Resident very interesting and important. Check it out!

Some links 

• A story about Mustafa Setmariam Nasa, one of the main architect of the terrorist war. Rather long, but interesting. 
• Tim Cavanaugh proposed a radical solution to the US immigration problem:  just let people cross borders without visa, as they did in the past. Worth considering. 
• Spiegel's analysis on Lordi's victory. Emphasis on how Lordi is excellent, first class entertainment, no more no less. And the others competitors were not. 

A decent restaurant 

The restaurant Veeruska, 100 meters from our home, is more than decent. We had a very nice dinner there to celebrate certain scientific endeavours: liver, fish, and superb chocolate fondant. Well worth a tram ride from a far. 

Bike fever 

So, I gave up my dream of becoming a happy Smart-owner. It is too expensive for my taste. Today, then, I caught the next madness: the bicycle fever of spring. Now, I want to buy a Brompton folding bike. I could either ride it to the office or to the train station. The bikes are quite much cheaper in UK than in Finland. I just to have to get someone pay me a trip to London. 
If I had not studied in MIT and spend piles of money, I would buy a Moulton bicycle. Right now their prices are beyond my reach. Their prices range from 1300 euros to more than 10000, about the price of a Smart ForTwo.

Monday 06-05-22 

On the Day Of Rockening, it's who dares wins. Lordi

Taxis in NYC 

Accordign to an article in NY Times, the taxi drivers rent the car by the day from the fleet owners. The driver pays for the gas, the fleet owner for maintenance of the cabs. Thus, the driver has the incentive of not using much gas, or renting an efficient car, while the fleet owners basically do not care for fuel efficiency. Now, the taxi commission has approved a few hybrid cars in addition to the Ford Crown Victorias (about 25 l/100 km). It seems to work: drivers like to cars and the cars have not yet broken down. 
There is a nice opportunity for a new fleet owner in NYC. Just buy a small fleet of fuel efficient cars, include the gas to the rent and make sure that the total expense for the driver is smaller than that of Crown Victoria and gas. The business should work. 
Or, the taxi commission could change the rules and mandate the fleet owners to pay for the gas (up to commission specified, decreasing, amount) per mile. Or something. 

Daily things 

On Saturday, sleeping late, writing some emails, reading, shopping for wine and salt, getting afraid of prices in the market hall, visiting Alepa instead (4 times, it is in our block), watching ice-hockey and Eurovision song contest (too much TV-adoring lately), drinking cider. On Sunday, tiredness, low esteem, riding trams and reading, visiting the market, picking up some more Lundia-shelves in exchange of a bottle of champagne, visiting Masse and his family, again watching ice-hockey. Sweden won. Again. Today, at work at 9am (too early, but there were some interesting talks about the future telecom architectures. I could not resist commenting. Fortunately, the rest of the audience behaved as Finnish engineers must: they were quiet, slowly typing in some emails), meetigns (I try to have meetings only on 2 or 3 days a week, for it is better to separate doing and tallking about doing), then walking and reading and riding bus and tram and reading and now at home writing, reading and whatever. k

Car fever 

I am suffering from a acute bout of car fever. I just would love to have a Smart Fortwo coupe pulse. I have never owned or leased a car, so it would be quite a new thing for me. The problem is that I do not have enough use for the car to justify paying 210 euros a month for it. 210 euros is what it would cost me to lease it with the help of my employer. Too bad. I need to keep on walking and cycling and riding trams. 
Anyway, I can rent cars over weekends in the summer. It is rather cheap, just 69 euros with unlimited mileage and all insurances. Cheaper than in the USA, actually. I think I will also rent, just for one weekend, Jaguar S-type 4,2 V8 Executive. If I do not have time for a holiday abroad, I can as well use the money on a fancy rental car. 

Product innovation needed 

It will not be long before the summer rains start. I have a raincoat, waterproof pants and good sandals, thus I can walk in the rain. But I cannot figure out how to walk and read in the rain. I know that there are map pouches for orienteering, but they do not allow for easy turning of pages. If there is a product, which allows reading and walking and turning pages in the rain, please let me know. Even better: design one and I will finance the production. 

Nice task at work 

Suddenly, I have a nice task at hand at work. I am not sure whether the NDA lets me to tell you about it, but I definitely can tell that I can spend my days reading books, magazines, and articles; browsing databases; interviewing professionals, and writing. And they even pay me for it. Not too bad. Furthermore, I can sometimes stay at my home office and have a nice lunch in some nearby restaurant. I can even take some material with me for a ride on the tram. Just nice. 

Why many books at home? 

The mystical Mr/Mrs Anonymous asked whether it makes sense to have so many books at home. Well, it does. First of all, not all there is to know is available in the net and even if it is, having someone go through the information and write it in a relatively short manner is worth paying. Also, it is much easier still to read a book than read from the web: I would never read 400 pages on the state of world's rivers from the screen. I also want to show respect for authors' efforts by buying their books. And, finally, I just love to see many books at home. 

Lordi won 

It seems that every Finnish blogger has to write something on the surprising triumph of Lordi in the Eurovision song contest. Well, I think the triumph was as much due to citizens protesting on the sanitized, half-naked, brain-dead poppish muzak played by the other contestants as due to the hard work and ingenious show of Lordi. The was not bad either. 
Then I started to listen to Venom again. Black metal rules. 

Saturday 06-05-20 

Limited information resources produce information of limited value. Michael J. Spendolini 

Blogging and jobs 

If I apply for jobs, is this blog a liability or an advatage? Do I come across as a nice teamplayer, whom any employer would be happy to employ, or a stubborn individualist. And does it matter that I am a liberalist? 

Some interesting links 

• Is it OK to fly by Leo Hickman discusses pollution caused by the 20000 airliners up in the skies. 
• Water shortages in UK are acute, but according to the "When rivers run dry" they are much worse in Pakistan, India, China, Mexico, etc. 
• And the some free books (but not all of them are free), and some abstracts of business books, not free, but still a good service if your get someone to pay for it. 
• A list of blogs on politics, on both sides. 

The best bars in Helsinki 

Yesterday, I had a few beer with Petri in the two best bars in Helsinki. First we visited Rytmi and enjoyed the company of young and artistic clientele. Then, we took the tram up the hill to the Exodus-bar, where clientele is also young, but not that artistic. Very international, very warm atmosphere. What's best, both bars are just a short tram-ride from our home (or a short, 3-page walk). 

Reading and walking 

I just cannot but wonder how well walking and reading go together. Only walking is very boring, only reading is too much for my concentration skills. But reading and walking is just wonderful: not boring and very efficient. 

Thursday 06-05-18 

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience. George Washington 

Reading 

I walked 1h30 minutes to work and back today. I managed to read 75 pages of Competitive Intelligence" while walking. It is very surprising that I can walk winding path without looking anything but the book. I do not know I manage that. 

Bookshelves 

I bought some new Lundia-bookshelves. They are very versatile and durable. Brand new ones are very expensive, but since they are virtually indestructible, there is a lively second hand market of Lundia-shelves. Today I got a shelf with doors (for clothes) for 50 euros. Excellent. Now we have Lundia-shelves in every room except bathroom. Soon I will find a way of putting Lundia there as well. 

Revolution, please 

According to some news, Mr. Rumsfeld wants to rewrite USA's interrogation rules. He emphasizes that the new rules will not comply with the international treaties USA has signed and ratified. 
Would you, my American friends, stop this madness, please? How can you stand this kind of administration? Do something, please. 
Maybe the next administration will sue Mr. Rumsfeld and use his new interrogation techniques on him. That would be just fair. After all, it is not that far-fetched to consider Mr. Rumsfeld the number one enemy of USA - at least he does his utmost to endanger the long term safety and security of the American citizens. 

Wednesday 06-05-17 

Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel 12:4 

I have an affair 

I have an affair. With trams that is. I just love them, I feel very down if I cannot take a tram somewhere daily. It is so nice to ride a tram. It glides so smoothly, the passengers are always on a good mood. Not like a bus, where the passengers are angry, sad, and moody and about to throw up for the ride is not pleasant. 
The 3-tram goes by our home. I can observe it from our balcony. I can even check if some of my friends is inside. 

What I see 

Opposite our new home is a watering hole for local underclass. One day we were drinking beer in our balcony and keeping our eyes on the watering hole. Suddenly the owner carried a drunkard out of the hole. The drunkard had lost his trousers, but soon they were also thrown out. It took him well over 20 minutes of dress up, after which he was lifted back on a chair and his bag of bottles was returned to him. His friend came out also, with some help of the owner. The friend had his trousers on, but they were not buttoned up. It took him 30 minutes to button his trousers. Then the drunkards left and we lighted some Cuban cigars. 

Afternoon beer 

I have developed a new habit. After walking back to the civilization and taking a tram back to Kallio, I tend to have a pint in the Rytmi-bar. Such a nice habit it is: reading, drinking, enjoying the company of others. I strongly recommend this habit to everyone. And if you want to meet me, you may well find me in the Rytmi-bar after 6.30pm daily (Mon-Fri). 

Working 

Well, I cannot write much about my work, for it is protected by an NDA, but I can tell that I finally have things to do! Not that I could not get bored or frustrated still, but at least I have something to fill my days in the office. Not that bad, eh?

Walking 

I have found a new way to work. First I take the 3B-tram to Mannerheimintie, then the 4-train to Munkkiniemi and walk from there to the office. The walk takes 45 minutes if I do not read while walking, 55 minutes if I do. Usually I do. Usually I also stop a few times to observe the birds and to listen their songs. Hearing blackbirds and nightingales in the morning is better than having a fistful of Prozac. 

Moving 

Since I moved out of my parent's place 17 years ago, I have moved at least 14 times. If I count short stays while working in Helsinki and still living in Tampere, I have moved 16 times. So, I think I know something about moving. My current advice is not to move everything in one day. It is much easier and funnier to divide the work to several days. Friends are also more likely to join the effort when the effort takes only a few hours and there is plenty of beer.

New books 

Some new books since I wrote last time.

• Cobra II by Michael R. Gordon — an acclaimed story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I have not yet read it, but it does appear very interesting. 
• The secrets of happiness by Richard Schoch — a history of happiness. How happiness was a civic virtue requiring a lifetime of cultivation back in the ancient Greece, but has now become a right of everyone, no matter the cost. A very important book and worth reading after the book "The high price of materialism". 
• Marketing management by Philip Kotler — the marketing bible of MBA-students. I paid only 70 euros for it in Finland. Amazon sells if for $140. Strange. 
• When the rivers run dry. Water — the defining crisis of the twenty-first century.  by Fred Pearce — how rivers are running drier and drier by the day and how that affects us all. I have been reading this book while walking to work for the last 3 days and have now read 200 pages. Very good book and enjoyable reading while walking, short chapters. 

Tuesday 06-05-09 

Politics is like driving: select R to go backwards, select D to go forwards. Anonymous 

Quick update 

A quick update. Life has been busy. First, we celebrated the Mayday with friends and few tens of thousands others in Kaivopuisto-park. Oh, before that OV and his family threw a party, a very nice party. Except that almost everyone got sick (in addition to the normal tiredness and hangover). High fever, a few dashed to the toilet seat and few days off from the office. So passed one week. 
Next busy thing was to pack all our books and other things and invite good friends to haul them to our new home. It took 3 full days and since that we have busy unpacking the books etc. Now, too tired to write more. Hang on, I will write a lot next weekend. Meanwhile, read Antiwar.com, do what you can to prevent the nuclear criminals from massacring millions. 

April 

Wednesday 06-04-26 

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Martin luther King, Jr.

Great music 

In the POTLATCH LOVES LE CLUB ABSINTHE D'HIDRIA-club (sic!) toning, I saw and heard Circle for the first time. I was definitely blown away with their fierce intensity and utterly original sound and way of presenting the music. The music is some kind of space-rock, with some influences from heavy-metal, mexican music and who knows where. Just amazing, one of the best bands I have ever seen. Hopefully I have another opportunity to see them live later. 
There were two other bands. First Pasilian Savut played Sonic Youth-type atonal musical masturbation. Jolly good, but a bit too loose, songs not very compact, somehow they did not know what to play sometimes. Boris Morgana was a totally experimental band with two drummers, a saxophonist, and a few nerds playing some magical instruments. The band did not have any songs, the whole gig was just one long experimental improvisation. Not that convincing. 

Spring 

Spring has come for good. Today the weather is just fantastic: 12C, clear skies, rather calm, and somehow even the air was not too dusty. It was almost hilariously fun to walk to the office. Maybe also the fact that I was reading a book about the history of economics has something to do with my good mood. 
Soon we will have some flowers and small leaves in the trees. I have to take my camera with me. 

Tuesday, 2006-04-25 

Engineering is not simply applied science; know-how often preceeds know-why. Thomas Hudges

NEF — new economics foundation

A very interesting foundation called the New economics foundation has recently published a very interesting report. The report tells that Britain starts eating the planet on Sunday 16 April (pdf), whereas it takes the USA until late June to use more than it can produce. Also other reports by NEF seem worth reading and pondering: Crude designs: the rip off of Iraq's oil wealth and well-being and the environment: achieving one planet living and quality of life. 
Yep, it starts to be about time to cut back waste and excessive use of natural resources also here in Finland, in our everyday life. Maybe just cycling to work, buying local food, and cutting down (or stopping) flying would be a start (I did not fly until I was 27-years old, so maybe I could stop it now or soon). 

More money from coffee 

Selling coffee is not the best way to make a lot of money. Fortunately, copying the business-idea from HP's inkjet-printers solves this problem. Just create a coffee maker, which requires special coffee-portions and make a lot of money by selling the prepackaged individual portions. Nothing new here. I just happened to see the advertisement of Tassimo, another manufacturer trying this trick. Good luck to Tassimo. I will stick to beans and grind them myself. 

Water 

A single hamburger requires 800 gallons (3 cubic meters) water. A T-shirt requires some 25 bathtubs of water. These statistics are from an article on water crisis of the world in Salon.com. The article is actually an interview with Fred Pearce, who has written a book on the water crisis. It is not exactly comforting to learn than many great rives, such as the Yellow River and the Nile and the Indus, actually do not reach the sea anymore. The interview is definitely worth the 10 minutes it takes to read. 

Another excuse 

So far, Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld have justified their illegal war and occupation of Iraq by WMD, by blessings of democracy, by badness of Mr. Hussein and other reasons. Now, they have found another excuse: containing Iran. They claim that Iran is such a nest of revolution and misery, that USA must besiege Iran just to contain its bad influence on the region and the world. And that no price is too expensive for this noble task. Any number of men and dollars are worth sacrificing for. 
These guys are just ingenious. I think they are Chinese agents, for nothing else can justify bankrupting the USA. 

What is GM fails? 

LA Times runs a very interesting article on what would happen if GM fails and goes bankrupt. The effect would be felt not only by GM shareholders (losing everything), but also by the employees and retired persons, and also those of other parts of the automotive complex of USA. 
Imagination and new technologies 
Susan Greenfield writes on the use of multimedia, internet, and computers in schools and in life in general. Her worry is whether the un-considerate, immediate information flow and gratification from is causing us to lose our imagination. I am not sure, but I do agree with some of her worries, such as this

We have access to unlimited and up-to-date information at the touch of a button, but in this new, answer-rich world, surely we must ensure that we are able to pose appropriate, meaningful questions?

Standing in airliners 
Soon the airlines will get rid of seats to sit on. They will just have poles to which the passengers will be harnessed. This allows more passengers onboard and bigger profits. At least Airbus has proposed such a scheme, tells New York Times today. 
In fact, they could stuff in even more passengers, if the passengers were not allowed to move. Just use the whole volume of the passenger compartment for small tubes, just large enough to fit in one person, horizontally. For short flights, up to 3 hours, it is not necessary to have access to toilet either. How profitable would that be? See also some further ideas of mine.
More comments in the Guardian. 

Puzzle 

In the bus this morning, the driver was chatting with another driver. This happens often, but these guys were talking in Russian. 
Is Helsinki becoming more international? Or is the fact that I even paid attention to their Russian telling us that Helsinki is still rather provincial? 

Monday 06-04-24 

The intellect does not grasp itself as longs as it remains isolated in itself. Ernst Cassirer 

On hobbies 

I have some hobbies. 

• Writing this blog. For your enjoyment, for my memory. 
• Reading. 
• Playing pinball. It is cheaper than snooker, does not require (but benefits from) company, requires total concentration, and alertness. Just like, e.g., shooting. 
• Cycling, but my bike is in Boston. Pity. 
• Traveling, for which I do not have enough money right now. Pity. 

Some links 

Some articles I read today. 

• John Brown has written 11 questions to Mr. Bush. In vain, of course, for Mr. Bush famously does not even read CIA briefings. Good and relevant questions though. Juan Cole writes also bitterly on Mr. Bush and Mr. Laden.

  In another reminder that George W. Bush has still not caught the man responsible for September 11, while he has mired tends of thousands of US troops in an unrelated Iraq quagmire, the murderous lunatic Usamah Bin Laden spoke again on Sunday. I don't know how Bush lives with himself. He has squandered 5 years of unparalleled power and opportunities, and has nothing to show for it but national bankruptcy and national humiliation.

• Arthur Schlesinger writes on the remaining 1000 days of the Bush administration and gives a good reason to oppose preventive war on presidential judgement. 
• Sebastian Mallaby explains and why the Asian countries will not let their currencies appreciate.. They learned their lesson the hard way a while ago. Without large surpluses they would be at mercy of speculators. 
• The White House claims that the Al-Qaede is on the run, while bin Laden releases new tapes. Running man records.
• Max Kampelman writes wisely on the need for nuclear disarmament and that the USA should lead the way. 

Not that bad 

A good day, actually. I got things done at work (had things to do and did them!), walked back to Helsinki by the sea, threw stones to the sea, watched birds, and happy couples chatting etc on the shore. Took a tram back to the center, had coffee, did some research on energy systems (there is a major system without a written history), played some pinball, walked back home with S, wrote. Kind of ordinary, but still excellent. And the weather was just fabulous: 10C, sunny, calm. 

Sunday 06-04-23 

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. Lewis Carroll 

Pinball 

Soon, I will walk to the Kinopalatsi movie theater, where they still keep a few pinball machines. Ville and Lemmy will came there and we will have a very friendly mini-tournament. 

Oil or peak oil 

A short article this week told us that the OPEC is not able to increase production. Of course, this has sent prices soaring. Have we now reached the peak of oil production, after which supply will fall ever behind demand and prices will stay up? It may well be, and the nuclear posturing of USA and Iran, will certainly make for even higher prices. A wise administration, in any country, would do its utmost for curbing the demand and for finding new sources of energy, alternatives to oil. But not, not even in Finland. Here the government, lead by the agrarian party, decided to reduce taxes on oil used in agriculture. Such morons we have elected! 

Gas 

I read somewhere, that every person in Texas consumes 10.2 gallons (37 liters) of gasoline every week. For a family of four, it makes 148 liters, which should be enough for driving 1500 kilometers. What a waste of energy and time! Or, with an SUV, just waste of energy, for a SUV does not go far, nor for a long time, with 148 liters. 

Has China already won the USA? 

Leon Hardar has an interesting comment at Antiwar.com. He claims that China has won the war on terror, that while the USA is wasting all its attention and resources on minor things (Iraq, Iran), China is becoming stronger and stronger. Who knows? But the current US administration is clearly working against long term interests of US citizen. Poor them, for they will pay the depts for long and their social contract is about to break down. 

Salaries 

Lately, nurses have staged demonstrations and demanded higher salaries. A nurse earns 2350 euros per month. Not much, but rather close to the median salary in Finland. A professor, according to a job advertisement in todays newspaper, earns A28-class salary, or 3210 euros a month. I would claim that 1000 euros a month is not a too large compensation for a 10 or more years of additional studies. (It also seems that a professor in class A28 (in the Technical University of Tampere) will never earn as much as a systems architect in any decent corporation. So, the greedy of us are not meant to become professors). 
In general, salaries are very low in Finland. I have never really realized this before. Is it time to take some action, just the way the nurses do? 

Spring 

Spring has come to Finland, finally. Today and yesterday have been very nice days: sunny, clear skies, 10C, no wind to mention. Just prefect days for having walks, visiting the Harjutorin sauna, drinking in smoky bars, idling. 
A pair of swans were grooming themselves in the Töölönlahti bay. They are not as flexible as cats and cannot groom they necks. They are not as social as monkeys, as they do not groom each other. Very cute they are, anyway. 

Professors in sauna 

Yesterday, we celebrated the birth of a person, who may get christened as D. A. Rönkkö. Or then he may not. But it was time for old friends to celebrate well. Present were at least Max, Petri, Marko, Tuomas, Tuomas, Markus, Peik, Jussi, Teivo, Heikki, and maybe someone else. Three of them are professors. My recollections are a bit vague, for there were some bottles of Spanish brandy, packs of Cuban cigars, and some beer. Later in the evening, in an Indian restaurant/bar, the professors were telling really bad jokes. Pity their students! Except one professor, who left early. A considerate man. 
One professor claimed that he knows how to solve the conflict in Uruguay, where UPM and other Finnish companies are building a new paper mill. He said, that the Finnish businessmen just have not considered the fact that Uruguay is not China, that one has to negotiate with the locals before building factories or the locals will have they say anyway. Let's hope the businesses will listen to the professor in the future. 

Idling 

On Thursday and Friday, I just just idling. I visited the office, had lunch there, and did things one is supposed to do there. Then, I came back home and was essentially doing nothing but reading. At least I suppose so, for I do not remember anything. If something extraordinary would have happened, I would remember it. So, days are ordinary, which is not good. 

Wednesday 06-04-19 

Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever. Aristophanes 

On the price of energy 

Energy is not cheap. Each source of energy has its own price. Nuclear energy, at least when not properly guarded, has a very ugly side-effects. But coal is not clean either: thousands lose their lives in mines every year. And oil, well, it has its price, $71 a barrel today and as the great game gathers speed, we will certainly more than enough humans sacrificed. Oil is the the main topic today in DC when Mr. Hu meets Mr. Bush. 
Here is then how they use oil in India by driving around in a funny way. Oh, I so much miss India, I so much would love to travel to India. (Thanks to S for the link) 

Ein neues Magazin 

Well, I can read German, but writing is harder. If you can read German, check out Cicero.de, a new magazine on politics and culture. I read it for 15 minutes and it does look good indeed. In EU, you can even order a free copy! I did, of course, I just cannot help myself. (Thanks to Päivi for introducing Cicero.de to me).
Another new magazine: Green Interger, a magazine in the web on poetry, essays, manifestos and such. Thanks to Leevi Lehto for the link. 

Business requires creativity 

For a while, McDonald's was struggling with slow sales and health issues. Now, they have figures out a way to sell a bit of diabetes for $1 at a time. Sales are up, veins are clotting, insulin level fluctuating and business is just blooming. At the same time, the struggle Wal-Mart vs. citizens continues. I would bet on Wal-Mart's victory: no matter how much damage it may cause, cheap Chinese stuff provides more than enough consolidation. Shopping makes us happy! 

A quiet day 

At home, sick, listening to Foo Fighters, and browsing my new book: How we compete — what companies around the world are doing to make it in today's global economyby Suzanne Berger. It just arrived my mail being the first new book this week. Seems to be a very interesting book. I will get high on my reading list, maybe next after the books on nuclear missile guidance I am reading right now. 
I really do have some difficulties in adjusting back to the Finnish society. Rather much I feel that I do not belong here, that I do not have anything to do here, for I do not know what is going on, who is doing what, etc. But then I realize that I do have many friends who could spark some initiative. It may just be that I cannot get started, my engine is running on idle. Or something. 
I should just stop whining and do something. Well, let me try today, again, not in vain. 

Tuesday 06-04-18 

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think. Niels Bohr 

(Platonic) ideals and computer animations 

In ancient Greece, artists and sculptors strived to create perfect images of humans, heroes, and gods. The sculptures were close to the ideal of man: strong, no wrinkles, well-balanced muscles, nice features. Of course, the real Greeks were not such. They were potbellied, wrinkled, ugly bunch, as we all are. 
Today, celebrities has picked up the ancient strife. They use all available means to avoid wrinkling, lose shape, or just to look human. As a result, they all look similar: Cher, Madonna, Sharon Stone, etc. Still, in their paralysed faces they remain famous. Apparently, customers do not mind or even prefer the idealized appearance, the current god of the market. 
This opens a new possibility for replacing real actors with computer graphics. Namely, so far it has been too difficult to create realistic appearances (of faces), but now it does not matter any more. If botoxed faces pass the test of the market, any current computer graphic will do as well. 

Some links 

From the East comes a set of Incredible machines. Kind of nice, maybe I could take the idea further here, just for fun. 
LA Times runs a story on $70 a barrel oil. Gasoline is so expensive that in USA they are forced to behave against free nature of American citizens. 

"A family in Albany, N.Y., said they all piled into one vehicle for Easter this year rather than the usual of everyone driving their own cars."

Juan Cole has established a new institute The Global Americana Institute for getting American political thought translated in Arabic. Worth supporting, certainly, as is Antiwar.com. Please, donate some money, for internet journalism is one of the best hopes we have against the industrial-military complex. Remember, that a American household pays at least $4417 a year for killing and maiming. Donating a few bucks against the machine is appropriate thing to do. 
Homeland Stupidity has an interesting point on the war on drugs, and a further link to Law Enforcement against prohibition. Very worth reading. 

Daily notes 

Just to keep track of my days. For the record, to help my autobiographers. Now I just have to become famous. 
On Sunday, a son was born to Mika and Ruby. It was good enough a reason for a celebration, which lasted long. We had some beers and lots of smoke in a bar. Present at least: Teemu, Tero, Samuli, Juha, Mikko, and of course Mika. Fun, nice pictures of the son and of the happy mother. Somehow, I was clever enough to take the last tram back home. 
On Monday, I took a few books and many trams. I managed to read the novel by Checkhov and most of the novel (Marraskuu) by Mazzarella. Not bad. I also visited Suomenlinna-island, just to try out the new ferry and to read. In the evening, nothing much, idling at home. 
Today, on Tuesday, at office from not so early to not that late, then a cup of coffee in Rytmi, and back home. Quite normal, not quite ordinary. 

Still more on SPO 2006 

Lavonardo has found the official results. I was, indeed, 8th out of 54. Not bad. Actually, I may have been even better, as Lemmy figured out

Matti, you beat all of last year's finalists and would've made the final four this year had the scores from all six machines been added up (now the worst result was left out)

Well, the time I spent playing pinball in MIT finally pays off. 

On Monday, I played 5 games of World Poker Tour, which turned out to be an very entertaining and fast pinball machine. 

Sunday 06-04-16 

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing. Marcus Tullius Cicero 

More on SPO 2006 

Lavonardo has written a rather comprehensive report on the pinball tournament. I will add more later. 

Saturday 06-04-15 

If you cry 'forward', you must without fail make plain in what direction to go. Anton Chekhov 

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change 

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change is a new report by the MET office of Britain. Seems to be a very interesting report. It just hope that the future leaders of USA, UK, China, India, and even small dear Finland will read these report and realize that spending all energy on war on terror or horror or drugs is just a distraction from the really important things. Enough, now I will read the report myself. 

A book 

At 5.15pm I got an urge to rush to the Acacemic bookstore and a some book or a magazine. It was very hard, I almost had to leave the store empty handed, which would have been very shameful indeed. Fortunately, I spotted a novel by Checkhov. Really lucky. It is a thin novel, only 100 pages or so, his first, called something like "Hope in vain". 

Sörkka pinball open 2006 

Just a short note, more tomorrow. Today I participated in the Sörkka pinball open 2006. There were in total about 70 participants. After 6 games I was 8th and did not make it to the final. The winner of the tournament was an American woman, who represented Finland and spoke Swedish. A Swedish man was second and a Finnish man third. (Correction: she did not speak Swedish, I misheard her replying in Swedish to the Swedes, who were making quite a noise in Swedish). 
I also got a special price (a hand-held sudoku-game with a touch screen and everything) for setting the high score of Speak Easy. Not a bad tournament for me at all. 

Friday 06-04-14 

Human nature yearns to see order and hierarchy in the world. It will invent it where it cannot find it. Benoit Mandelbrot 

Pagans 

A big group of pagans was celebrating the crucification in Rytmi. They were quite joyful, drinking their beers and coffees. We had only one pint per person and then left for home. Not that I would consider it inappropriate to party today, but the Sorkka Open pinball tournament tomorrow prevents drinking too many pints. 

eStupidity 

I was about to buy some tickets for a concert in the Finlandia Hall. I was redirected to Ticketservice (Lippupalvelu). Ticketservice has a rather standard sales application. One selects the event, the seats, and number of tickets. Then one has to select the delivery method. The first option is mail delivery (eLetter or something), which costs 4.5 euros. The other option is to print ticket by myself. That would cost 1 (one) euro. But, even before I can pay for my own work and use of my printer, I have to register and the Ticketservice all kinds of information. 
What about including the 1 euro default price to the ticket prices? Or what about omitting the 1 euro, if one registers? For I cannot see any reason for registering just to buy two tickets. 
Somehow also paying 4.5 euros for a letter from Helsinki is on the expensive side. It is about the same price I pay for postage of a CD from California. 

Thursday, 2006-04-13 

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wangst 

I recognized and could even name a recurrent feeling of mine. I called it wangst, from writer's angst. I is a feeling of panic, loss of confidence, low self-esteem, and an urge to just quit, call it a day and disappear. It always comes after several hours of inspiring and perspiring, when the first few lines have appeared on the screen. Then it comes, hits me, and I just cannot cope. But then I can, suddenly I know what to write, words just appear with no effort and everything is fine for a few hours. 

ATMs

A few days back I read in Kauppalehti, a light version of FT, that some businessmen are trying to put up a new network of ATMs in Finland. The idea is very simple: put ATMs in places, where people need cash and which do not have ATMs now. Such places include sports venues, night clubs, etc. Of course, in USA this would not make sense, because there everyone pays with a credit card. In Finland, many people are dubious about credit cards and prefer cash.
Yesterday, I met (accidentally) one of the businessmen. He claimed that the system will be up soon. Their company will make money by selling advertisements (the new ATMs will have larger screens, will print out ads with bank notes, and will have a large ad-screen on top of the machine). Let's see how the system will work and whether they will make enough money to run the system for a longer period. The initial investments are high: the machines, the money inside the machines, the ads, etc.
The businessman was complaining that there is a monopoly of ATM in Finland at the moment. He is right, for a company called Automatia or something operated the ATMs in Finland. Automatia is owned by the banks. I think it makes kind of sense not to have several overlapping networks of ATMs: just having one will/can provide the maximum benefit/cost-ratio. Of course, a large monopoly cannot bring itself to putting ATMs in nightclubs etc. So, there may well be a business opportunity here.

History of car bombs 

Mike Davis has written a brief history of car bombs. I have not yet read it, but it does look interesting. The history goes back to the 1920s or so. The bombers are always using the most modern technology available.

War on Easter 

Some atheists in USA have way too much free time. They have now started a war on Easter. A bit strange, for I do not mind some people believing in ancient myths. If they want to celebrate some parts of their myths, it is quite OK for me. Whatever. I am happy not to visit the office in the countryside for four days.

Time is relative 

According to Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days were it to have 50000 centrifuges, which is does not. The possibility makes nice headlines, whereas what the analysts say ( Nuclear Iran Is Years Away ) does not. Certainly this kind of confusion is quite enough a reason for nuking Iran. 

Wednesday, 2006-04-12

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds. John Maynard Keynes 

A day in life 

Not an ordinary one, luckily. In the morning, I visited the bank to deposit my rent deposit (?), then took a bus to the office, wrote a document, chatted with some friends and left for civilized city again. Later, I met Petja and other at their monthly meeting. Then, back home. Not too bad, actually rather good. 

Some links 

Why Saddam is Laughing all the Way to the Gallows is an interesting argument claiming that Saddam is getting more than he ever dreamt of. Who knows? An interesting speculation about what Bush did know and when he did. It seems that Mr. Bush was claiming that Saddam had WMDs when he knew that it was not the case. Finally, a long story about prisons as mental asylums. 

More on education and future of Finland 

I really do not believe, that more and further education is the key to Finland's future success. If it were, I would expect there to be a market for professionals like me. There is none, but there is a market for professionals with less and worse education and less experience. It really does seem that world-class education is a liability in Finland, as anyone willing to spend time on studies instead of something else is clearly nuts and thus not suitable for any job. Or something. I do have a bit low mood today. Moody, me, eh?

A question 

Suppose that I would want to try my luck at some other company as the current one. Suppose further that I would like to live in Helsinki and also work in Helsinki. Which companies would be possible for me, keeping in mind my long experience in systems architecting and my decent education from MIT. Are there any? How to find information about open positions? All positions advertised in the net are just fake, just there to meet some fair (sic!) process requirements or something. 
Not that I would be about to get fired or to quit, but I am just curious. 

Tuesday 06-04-11 

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn. Gore Vidal 

BS-reward of the day 

Today's BS-reward goes to the CEO of the Union of Technology companies in Finland. When asked, what Finland (Finns) should do in order to avoid further outsourcing of technology business to China and India, he said that the only way is to invest more in education. 
Sure, it never hurts to learn more. I just cannot see how further education in Finland could help in averting outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. Or design jobs for that matter. It is not lack of education that is the reason for outsourcing now, I assume. It is something else, something that keeps productivity lower than it should and could be. 
My intuition and things I hear tell me that it definitely is not lack of education, which hurts Finnish business. It is lack of motivation, utterly demotivated workforce, absolutely depressing management practices, misplaced incentives, lack of trust, and poorly structured organizations. There is huge potential in the Finnish workers just waiting for something. I do not exactly know what it is, but I will continue my search for some ideas. 

In cafe 

It is very nice to work in a cafe. I used to do so in Boston and I miss the opportunity so much, when I go to my office in the middle of the forest. Just another externality for me to pay. Too bad. 
But my commute becomes easier when we move to our new home. It will take only 33 minutes, of which 22 will be walking. It will be just fine except that the scenery is bad, hideous. 

Train vs office 

On a train, in the morning, I always brim with ideas. When I sit in my office, 15 minutes after leaving the train, most ideas have already disappeared. It is too quiet, too comfortable, not enough sensory input is present. Listening to music helps somewhat, moving around a bit more. 
If my office were in the centre of Helsinki, I would just take a tram and work in trams. Trams are one of the best places to work in. And now that high speed mobile data is cheap and reliable, there is actually no need to go to office. Just taking a tram for the nominal duration of a working day, say 5 hours (8 hours minus BS at office), would be just enough and fine. 
Well, I am off to the the Rytmi-bar to finish up a document, which I could not in the office (for I had to leave a bit too early). 

Planet in Peril 

Le Monde Diplomatique has published a book called Planet in Peril. It seems to be an interesting and important book indeed. Soon I will have my copy. See an example of the articles: China a key factor. 
In a related note, check also the 1906 earthquake simulations. Clearly, SF is the place to live for all dare-devils. 
Also, a link worth checking. 

VOIP in action 

New York Times runs an article on using VOIP to cut costs at McDonalds. They are experimenting with centralized order management. At the order counter of a drive through counter, the customer will be connected to a person (working under Taylorist-regime with minimal salary) in a centralized order center. The person takes the order and relays it back to the McDonalds-joint in question. They claim that the process is faster this way, customers buy more and I assume are happier. 
I just wonder why they need to have any human in the loop. McDonalds has a very limited, and rather static menu. Just having a punch button menu outside the joint would be quite enough. Or, if they insist on having humans in the loop, why do not they just outsource the work to India or somewhere outside US. 

A new home 

We just signed the lease of our new home. The home has 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bath and even a balcony. All these together make it about 55 square meters of home, sweet home. We are so happy. It even turned out that our new landlady, a Finnish artist, is a very nice person. Somehow, it feels much better to have her as our landlady than paying rent to some ample bellied capitalist. It is like supporting art/humanities, which I like to do. 
Oh, the address is Viipurinkatu 7, in a suburb/part of city called Alppila. Easily reachable by the tram! 

Monday 06-04-10 

Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power. Benjamin Franklin 

French dilemma 

The French have a dilemma at their hands. Their society dearly needs some reforms, but all reforms incite furious protests and the government is too weak to tell the protesters to screw themselves. Once again, the mob won by saying "non", but the mob does not have any constructive proposal. Or at least I have not seen any such proposals. And it is not clear that it is democracy that won. See also what NY Times has to say on this issue. 

Externality 

In most cases, employees must pay an externality due to cost cutting and re-location of offices to cheaper parts of towns. It seems to be profitable for corporations to play cities against each other, get cheap lots for new office buildings and assume that employees will keep on coming. The employees must pay the cost of commuting, in cars and time. Not fair. 

Distances 

The distance from place A to place B is seldom same as the distance from place B to place A. Distancies from the center to the periphery are always longer than distances from the periphery to the center. 
Distances to native towns, places of childhood, are always shorter than the other way around. 

Singular things 

All our acts, all the things we do, are singular. We cannot do them again, time flies and we cannot go back. Some acts are repetitive and failing to do something well, or at all, now does not really matter. Like brushing teeth, or even cutting hair. If I do them poorly now, I most likely have an opportunity to try again. But some things are not repetitive, some are truly singular. If I fail to try a singular action, when the time comes, or fail to do it, I will never have another opportunity. 
Most human tragedies take place because we cannot tell repetitive actions from truly singular ones. 

Quiet day 

It is now 9.15pm. I have not discussed beyond a few how do you dos since I left home at 8am. This was, indeed, a quite day in both literal and metaphorical sense. I took a bus and a train to work, hacked this and that in my room, watched it snowing outside. After the snowing ended, I walked back to Helsinki by the sea while reading Mandelbrot's Misbehaviour of the markets, a truly marvellous a book. 
I have to make sure that tomorrow is less quiet, less ordinary. Otherwise I have to take some action, as they say...

Sunday 06-04-09 

Fool and his money are soon parted. Old saying

Weekend 

Just for the record, I note the following. On Friday, I took the early flight back to Helsinki. It took less than 3.5 hours from wake-up to the office in Espoo, which makes the average speed about 300 km/hour. Not bad! 
On Friday evening, we (I and S) went to see some old furniture in a shop called Timeless in Töölö. They have a certain chair, which I assume we just have to buy. It is way too cute. Later, we had dinner with Tuula, who by now has already left for Hangzhou to wrap up her degree in calligraphy. She is just incredible, a force of nature and totally fearless: one of the few Westerners ever to study calligraphy in the Art Institute in Hangzhou. Even later, we had a beer in the Exodus-bar in Kallio. Again, some customers had found the bar to smoky to smoke inside and had come outside for a smoke. Way strange. 
On Saturday, I first bought some books and then too the train to Tampere, where I spent the afternoon with my mother and brother. As usual, I spent the late evening with my brother and his friends at their garage, where they always a fascinating variety of broken cars, motorbikes and all kinds of moving and noisy machines. And, of course, always enough alcohol of all kinds. And a nice 5-channel DVD-watching system. Nice place to spend an evening, with some rather peculiar people. 
Sunday, nothing much, just hanging out or actually in at home, later meeting Kössi etc. 

Cheap flights 

A return ticket from Helsinki to Tampere by train costs about 50 euros. A return ticket from Tampere to Liverpool by plane costs about 50 euros. The state-owned railway business still has some monopoly rights and no need to compete. Well, I always take the train to Tampere even though it would be much cheaper to take the bus. So, I cannot really complain. 

Very bright 

Summer is well under way. At least evenings are already rather bright, or it takes a while for darkness to descend. Right now, it is 8.15pm and it is still very much as it was at 3pm. It may just be that the common greyness of the sky and whiteness of the snow play trick on me. 

Many visitors here 

For the last few days, I have had many visitors to my November 2005-blog. I wrote about elephantitis and even attached a picture. Now, there are many visitors from the USA coming to read what I wrote about. I do not know why, but maybe the disease has been mentioned in the news over there. Here is a example of the Google-searches coming to my site: elephantitis. Strange. Here is the picture of elephantitis.

A visit to Rovaniemi 

I visited Rovaniemi, the capital of the Finnish Lapland, on Thursday. A friend and ex-workmate of mine, Reijo is working for a playground manufacturer Lappset and for certain reasons they asked me to visit their headquarters. For NDA-reasons, I will not write more about Lappset or their products. Let me just note that I also met Asko, one of their salesmen, and their new CEO, whose name just vanished from my memory. Let me also note that a certain Kari was there as well. 
Rovaniemi is a peculiar town. The Polar circle runs through the town, which make Rovaniemi on of Finland's top tourist attraction. Of course, having the headquarters of the Santa Claus add to Rovaniemi's fame. They also have some decent downhill skiing facilities. 
For me, however, it is the city planning and architecture that fascinate me there. All buildings but two or three where burned down by the retreating German army in 1945. Finland fought by the Germany against Russians until the Russian defeated the Finnish army in 1944. The peace agreement ordered the Finns to expel the German army from Finland and so the Finns did. The retreating Germans were mad and angry and disappointed and burned the whole Lapland to the ground. Well, the towns and villages they retreated through at least. 
So, Finns had the golden opportunity to rebuild a whole town. They jumped at the opportunity and used it well. Today, Rovaniemi is a fascinating open-air museum of all architectural fashions of the last 60 years: late functionalism of the 50's, the first pre-fabricated concrete building of the 60's, the greyness and industrial efficiency of the 70's, bank and shop-buildings of the 80's, and excessive use of glass of the 90's. Rovaniemi is a marvel in this sense. Very much worth a visit. 
Not all visitors are alike. In my hotel, the English guidebook tells the visitors that "it is strictly illegal according to the Finnish law to consume own alcoholic beverages in the hotel room". The Finnish, the Swedish, and the French versions of the same guidebook do not mentions this law. It is no wonder, for such a law does not exist. 
Food is another reason for visiting Lapland. In addition to excellent reindeer stew, Lapland has some delicious fish. For lunch, I had fried rautu, a relative of salmon I assume. For dinner, I had superb smoked whitefish, right from the local rivers. Excellent. The fish reminded me that sometimes the best fist is far from the ocean, in small rivers and lakes of the far north or up in the mountains. 

Tuesday 06-04-04 

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Nelson Mandela 

Prices of houses 

The prices of home in Helsinki are still going up. According to some surveys, the average price per square meter of old apartment (in a block of flats) is now 3100 euros. 
If we assume an apartment of 50 sqm, rent of 2 euros per sqm, and return of investment of 5 percent, the rent should be 725 euros. Since the rents are already now lower, we can safely say that apartments are too expensive. 

War, now of civil type 

According World Peace Herald civil war is raging in Iraq. Of course, Mr. Bush cannot acknowledge this, because it would destroy the very last excuse for occupying Iraq: spreading democracy. 

Monday, 2006-04-03 

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less. Vaclav Havel 

A dilemma 

I am an extrovert, but I hate being part of any group. I cannot even imagine doing team sports, or taking part in any mass movements. But I like to do group work, to reflect my ideas with other people. This is a hard dilemma for me. I want to be my own individual, extremely much, and to be with other people. Strange? 

Movie-plot threat competition

Mr. Schneier has announced a movie-plot threath competition.. Participate and win a book.

Still looking for a new home 

It takes time to find a new home. We have now visited two apartments. The other was in a suburb, the other was next to the worst bars in Kallio and in the ground floor. The risk of getting uninvited drunkards through the bedroom window was too high for us. So, we are still looking. There are free apartments, but there is also quite a mob looking for them. 
Again, any leads (leading to our new home) would earn you a dinner in Safka-restaurant. With us, that is. Good food and great company, what are you waiting for?

Drugs 

I cannot write anything without caffeine. I can only stare at my computer, but nothing happens. Then I get cup of bad coffee (for good is not available at the office) and surprisingly writing becomes much easier. I wonder whether some other drugs would be even more effective. 

Sunday, 2006-04-02 

Weirdness always increases over time. A Honeywell system architect 

Weekend 

This was a relaxing weekend. Although I did not have any real reason to relax. On Saturday, we visited the gym together for the first time. It is nice to find thing we have not yet done together (we = I and S). 
Before the gym, we went to see the local prison, which is close to our home. The visiting hour was just starting. Many visitors were heading towards the prison. It must be quite a burden to have the loved one behind the bars. 
In the evening, we visited Olli and Maritta. Also Mikael and Liisa were there. We had really nice time: delicious sushi, good drinks, nice discussion. 

The Finnish Social Forum, part 2 

It is peculiar how much social movements (NGOs) define their identities, strategies and ideologies by what they stand against. Some are against EU, some are against a certain new legislation. By doing so, they let the others (governments, corporations, etc) define the agenda. 
I have to admit that there are many social movements, which do not fall in this trap. Network Institute for Global Democratization is one such a movement, ATTAC is another. And there are others. Well, maybe it is just the public gatherings where the non-analytic part of the movement dominates. 

The Finnish Social Forum 

The Finnish Social Forum took place this weekend. It is a large meeting of all kinds of activists, NGOs, freely and alternatively thinking (leftist) individuals. I did not have time to attend on Saturday and only for four hours on Sunday. 
I was delighted to see some familiar, if not a bit older than last time, faces, when I walked in the door. Some things never change, and some person do have a lasting commitment to change the world. Then I saw some friends, including Ruby and Mika. Very nice. 
I attended a seminar on "How the political parties became neoliberal". Heikki Patomäki gave a good speech on the history of political parties and how the global capitalism has been developing since the Middle-Ages. And how his new ideas on global governance would solve many current problems. I did not quite get his exact idea, but since he has written many books and is writing even more, I certainly have a way to catch up. The rest of the discussion was much less interesting. A lot of rambling, no new ideas, making me bored. 

Saturday, 2006-04-01 

We need myths that help us to venerate the earth as sacred once again, instead of merely using it is a 'resource' Karen Armstrong in the A short history of Myth

Vim for my Mac

I just got Vim 7.0 from  Macvim.org. Just great. Now I do not have to use any wimpy editors. I can even let my mouse rot in peace while editing. 

Book of lists 

Canongate has published a book of lists. It has, for example, a list of bizarre sports events. As a manic list maker, I would love to have the book, but I am obeying a temporary book buying moratorium. 
Granta is publishing a series books on different religions. So far they have covered Muslim, Christians, Buddhists, and Druids.

In Finland 

It is surprisingly pleasant and enjoyable to stay in Finland. I have learned to appreciate the local food (we had an excellent dinner in Cella, a local artist and social scientist hang-out — delicious salmon-herring steaks); the quietness, honesty, and seriousness my fellow Finns; the changing weather; slow turning of season with even longer days. Not bad at all. 

Friday, 2006-03-31 

It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood. Karl Popper 

Happy editing 

I have now written a few short documents with Vim. I have to say that it is much faster, easier, and more enjoyable to write with Vim than it is with, say, Word. 
Actually, I think that MS Office together with the way it is used by companies today, is decreasing productivity. It is too easy to write Word-docs, hide them somewhere in shared hard drives or databases. Or, write Word-docs, attach PowerPoint, which include Word-docs. All this instead of using the powers of HTML and such. Pity. 

Broken communication 

Mr. Bush sent a letter to Mr. Sistani. From JuanCole.com

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has blown off the president of the United States. Bush sent Sistani a letter asking him to intervene to help end the gridlock in the formation of a new Iraqi government. Asked about his response, an aide said that Sistani had not opened the letter and had put it aside in his office.

Funny, eh. 

Vim works fine 

Musicnaut suggested Vim for editor. Good suggestion. It works fine and has a working spell checker. Life is nice now!
Any simple editors for Windows?
For Apple, the simple TextEdit is just nice for writing. It has automatic spell checker. At work, I have to use Windows. Word is too heavy for writing small things (and I just hate semi-WYSIWYG editor with Word's attitude and stubborness). Notepad does not have spell checker and sucks also otherwise. 
Am I out of luck? Any suggestions? I know of Outlook, but I would like to use a real editor, not email-program. 

Screwed 

I got some unofficial information from MIT regarding my rejected PhD-application. They say that I should have supplied many good supporting letters from MIT faculty with my application. The requirements asked for one. As a bit legalistic Finn, I took the requirements seriously and only supplied one. Had I known that in USA one always needs to overact, even in this kind of situations, I could have easily supplied at least 6 letters. I think I am in good terms with several faculty members. 
So, I was screwed by a cultural difference. 

Thursday, 2006-03-30 

Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise. Laozi

Smoking and education 

The more one studies, the less likely to smoke one is. In Finland, after 9 years of education, about 50% smoke. After 12 years, about 35% smoke. After college, about 20% smoke. Having master's degree drops smoking to 10%. The survey does not tell what happens after PhD. 

A battle of wills 

Now, U.S. tells Shiite bloc it opposes Jafari as premier. Jafari himself warns U.S. to stop interfering. I cannot really make sense of this all, but somehow it seems that one should not take democracy light-heartedly. Arranging elections in the mid of a civil war, in a divided country, and then not accepting the results, is a recipe for confusion, if not worse. 
Bush also blames the current mess in Iraq on Saddam. Rather ingenious. 

Radiopuhelimet 

Radiopuhelimet (walkie-talkies), a punk-band from Oulu, plays today in the "Kuudes linja"-club. The earlier incarnation of Radiopuhelimet, Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio(Commission of music for safety of the people), has been one of my absolute favorites. Their lyrics are just interesting (Sic!)

Nikita Hrutshev
Nikita Hrutshev
Nikita Hrutshev
Jesus Stalin

Maansiirtotraktori
Maansiirtotraktori
Maansiirtotraktori
Sähköveturi

Let's see whether I manage to get in today. 

A bird 

I saw the black woodpecker I have missed the other day. It is such a handsome bird. It was searching for something to eat by knocking a willow. It had done that for a while, since a large part of the willow was peeled already. 
If I am lucky, I will see the bird again today.

Revenge of suburbia 

The suburbia is fierce, full of revenge. Today, after reading what I wrote yesterday, it had filled all the sidewalks with 5 centimeters of slush. It was next to impossible to walk to the office. The streets, of course, were clear and dry, for the pot bellied car drivers to drive. 
I almost cry for the god of US air force to drop a salt-bomb from a B-52 to clear the slush. 

Wednesday, 2006-03-29 

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill 

Curse of suburbia 

We went to check a cheap apartment in the suburbs. There were reasons for the cheap rent, reasons we could accept in Kallio, but not in the suburbs. It is too peaceful over there, so peaceful that it threatens peace in our family. I would go nuts in no time without drunkards, bars, noisy cafes, life in general. So, we decided not to rent the apartment. Instead, we took the 4-tram back to Kallio and went for a pint in the Exodus-bar. Half of the Afro-Finnish reggae-community were there. So calming after the trip to suburbs. The name of the suburb is Munkkiniemi. 

In the subway

They say that we Finns are not talkative. Today, in the subway, four women were sitting next to each other. They were talking. Each on her own mobile phone. 

Parliament, here I come 

Now that I cannot get to MIT, I may as well try to get elected to the Finnish parliament. I wonder which party would provide best odds for me? Or should I obey some ideology of mine, not just pure cold-blooded calculation? Or should I be like a cuckoo and put the nest of strict and liberal party in some other party?
The first step (and stop) will be to become famous. Now, some planning. A book or two, some TV-ads and shows. This is getting interesting. 

Lose ankles

I am not a young stallion anymore. I am a bit older stallion. My legs can take only a certain amount of exercise. Yesterday's walking sprained my left ankle. I had to get humble and take a bus to work. Very bad for my mood. Somehow I managed to behave myself at work. Miracles do happen, even after biblical times. Or, has something brainwashed bad things from my brain? 

Holiday over 

I had put everything on hold waiting for MIT to tell my near future fate. Now it did. I have accepted it and started to work again. I assume I would do wise to do my jobs with the best of my ability, whatever that is good enough for. At the same time, I will start to write articles, read more books, take part in politics, maybe apply for some higher level/responsibility jobs, meet friendS, and in general enjoy my life to the fullest. 
I will take a serious note on the Churchill quote above. 
Anyway, having a 7-month holiday should be quite enough. Now, back to work. With the maximum energy and intensity. 

Tuesday, 2006-03-28 

Every day we are forced to die to the self we have already achieved. Only by accepting our mortality we can have the courage to change and grow. Karen Armstrong in A short history of Myth

Some clarity, thank you sir! 

The committee has convened, pored over my PhD-application, and decided that I am not the type of a person, who should pursue a PhD in MIT. Shit happens. Now I have to activate some other plans. 
I will apply to Berkeley and Stanford. And if they agree with MIT, I will try MIT again. Or something. But I will get a PhD in not too distant future. Just wait and see. And then I have still other plans, which are still at infant stage. 

Civil and other wars 

There are several parties waging several wars in Iraq. Juan Cole provides an excellent summary of current events. They are rather depressing. 60 people were killed on Sunday, 90 on Monday. Not even Mr. Cole can make any sense out it anymore. Some sources claim that the US Army attacked a group of civilians and killed scores of them. This time using machine guns etc, so it is not "collateral damage" as it would be if they would have used missiles. US Army claims that the Iraqis faked the whole event. Nobody knows why they would have done so, and even if they did, who are they. Some news claims that some party in Iraq want the current US ambassador out of country, some claim that the US want the current prime minister to resign. It is very confusing. All we know for sure is that whatever solutions there were last week, they are not there anymore. What a mess. 
mMeanwhile, back in US and UK, many commentators are claiming that imperial overreach is accelerating the global decline of America. It may well be. And China is taking over. Maybe Mr. Bush is not on the payroll of oil-companies but of the Chinese government. What a conspiracy that would be!

Walking 

Finally, I mustered enough energy to walk back home from the office. It took 1h40min to walk 10 kilometres. Not bad in this rainy and slippery days. In a month, I intend to be able to complete the walk in 1h30min. I hope that this excessive exercising has some positive effects, for I have to sacrifice some of my reading. But I think my walking enthusiasm may not last long.

Still winter 

Sometimes it is not that hard to remember that Finland is the far north. Today is one of such days. It was snowing heavily when I walked to the Pasila station. It took 3 minutes longer than usual. I also had to weare gloves, which is really rare and sissy. 
Walking about 40 minutes in the morning before work somehow wakes me up. It also gives me good appetite right at lunch time. 

Monday, 2006-03-27 

I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them. Susan Sontag

Test your brains and mouse 

Try the following game. Grab the red square and try to steer clear of blue ones and the walls. If you can do it for 18 second, good. The site claims that fighter pilots must be able to play for 2 minutes. Who knows. 

Great maps 

Dave sent me a link to a site of wonderful maps. The size of countries are relative to their population, number of incoming flights, etc. Fascinating and thought provoking.

Mind and body 

Philosophers have struggled with the mind-body-problem for ages. What is the relationship between them? I have now found the answer. When I strain my mind a lot, I have no interest in straining my body that much. A little, maybe 40 minutes of walking a day, but not much, like I did a year ago in MIT. Now, in Finland, I seem to be having a lot of physical exercise and less interest in straining my mind. So, I walk a lot, visit the gym regularly, work using less than 20% of my mind and energy, and even read only a book a week or so. Thus, mind and body are separate, one can only strain one at the time. 
I am sure the situation is a-changing, for I cannot leave mind mind adrift this much. 

Size of one's home 

Some people think that 50 square meters is not enough for two persons. I think it is quite enough, for an active person does not stay that much at home. A city person, futhermore, has public rooms for spending one's time. It is quite nice to meet friends in a nice cafe next to one's home. Or have dinner at a decent restaurant.
I do understand that suburbanites need larger homes, for in the suburbs one's home is all there is. In the countryside, even more so. That's is why Americans prefer so large houses.

Sunday, 2006-03-26 

Most of American [Finnish] life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went. John Updike 

Reading 

It seems that there would be a huge and ripe market for Photoreading (see below) in the USA. Today's NY Times runs a story on how thousand of schools are cutting back on anything but reading and basic mathematics. They should use Photoreading, the new silver bullet against the scourge of illiteracy. 
The new, maybe excessive, emphasis on reading and basic mathematics is due to the "No child left back" act, which mandates annual reading and math tests and couples funding of schools with the test results. I am sure, that the test results are improving. I am not sure how education in general fares. It is well know in management, that one gets what one measures and prises for. Too simple or one-sided incentives regularly yield bigger problems that the one they were supposed to solve. 

Finnish complaining choir 

The Edinburg complaining choir is one of the works of art in the ARS06. It is a choir, which signs/recites common complaints in pubs, parks, and squares. Quite fun, actually, at least the video is hilarious. The Finns also picked up the idea. Today The Finnish complaining choir gave its comments on the Finnish way of life. It was not as fun as the Edinburgeans complaints. Somehow the Finns too complaining a bit too seriously. 
I was sitting by the Kiasma-museum and saw a large gathering of citizen by the statue of the late president Paasikivi. The gathering was so solemn. They seemed to be worshipping Paasikivi. 

Photoreading 

Helsingin sanomat ran an article on Photoreading, which claims to be a technique by which anyone can read 25000 words per minutes (60 or more pages per minute), remember and comprehend the material, earn more money, lessen the information stress cause by the internet etc. Oh, did I mention, that Photoreading also is essential for career progress. Also, being legally blind is no obstacle. Even almost blind can photoread! So, what are we waiting for? Why do not we buy the self-study package for only $563. It is just peanuts for all these benefits. And wait, there is even more. Photoreading also reduces stress, improves creativity, and makes anyone a climbing executive. It even cures their vertigo!
Imagine now. Wittgenstein's Tractatus has 84 pages (a Finnish edition) or 75 pages (a German edition). I once spent a whole term in a course about the book and days by reading it. If I had known about Photoreading, I could have made it in less than 20 minutes as Photoreading consists of preparation and reading. How stupid of me to spend hours on the book! I know academics, who have used years by reading book. What a waste, what a old-fashioned way of working. No wonder not all of them are professors and they do not earn huge sums of money.

Prices of CDs 

I like the Elephant-CD by White Stripes so much, that I want to buy it, not just copy it from a friend. The CD costs 21.7 euros ($26) in the Stockman department store in Helsinki. Amazon.com sells the same CD for $13 plus shipping, total cost of $20. So, by ordering it from USA, I would save 5 euros. Or, if I would buy a used one via Amazon.com, it would cost $12 (10 euros). I cannot see any reason for buying CDs at Stockman's. I see a reason for buying some CDs from small local record companies, for I cherish their existence. 

Looking for a new home 

We have to vacate our current home by the end of June. We are looking for a new apartment to rent. It should be about 50 square square meters, have one bedroom, and be preferably in Kallio, Munkkiniemi, Kruunhaka, or maybe even in Kamppi. 
I would appreciate any leads. 

Been busy 

I have been. Busy. On Friday, I finished a draft a 30-page document I have been writing. It seems that my MIT-education pays off in terms of having fun while working, if not in some other respects. On Friday evening, we have a meeting of the Talent SIG (special interest group) in the Thirsty Salon-pub. The meetings are always intellectually intense and full of laughter, but also an MBA-worth of management insights. Especially if the meeting continues until early hours. This time the participants were Lavonardo, Aaro, Ile, Olli, and Lauri. 
On Saturday, we (I and S) went shopping for futon at the Futon shop. They have superb futons, but prices are a bit high for my taste. In USA, I bought a decent futon (with a frame) with $350, here something similar would cost much more. Still, I am quite sure we will buy one later this spring. 
Later, I visited the ARS 06 exhibition with Petri. The exhibition is well worth a visit. Some works of arts are remarkable and give a lot to think about. But all of them are quite dark, full of death, war, agony, pain, misery. Armageddon is definitely coming soon. 
Still later, a night of pinball and arcade games at Lemmy's residence in Lauttasaari. He has 5 pinball machines (Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Circus Voltaire, Adams Family, and Twilight Zone), all video-game machines from arcane Commodores to the new X-box. I have never seen such a collection. But the pinball machines were the highlight of the evening, especially the Adams Family. It is such a fast and difficult game, very rewarding for the fleeting moment that one sometimes masters it. I scored 127 million.
See also Lavonardo's account on the game night. 

Friday, 2006-03-24 

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell 

Reading and walking 

I still have the skill to read while walking. I read 3 pages of Philosophische Untersuchungen, in German of course, while walking form the Leppävaara station to the office, in 12 minutes. Without reading, it takes only 10 minutes without reading, but the environment is so boring, hideous, that I simply have to read. And I may even learn something during the walk. 

Thursday, 2006-03-23 

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. Albert Camus 

Characteristics of a city 

In a city, one does not have to worry about timetables of public transportation. One just walks to a bus or tram stop, reads some book for a few minutes, and some form of transportation arrives. In the countryside, one has to wait at home. 
In a real city, one does not have to travel by bus. Instead, one travels by trams, trains, or subways. Most of Helsinki is not real city. Pity.
It takes about 50 minutes from my office to the nearest tram stop by foot. Such a deep countryside I spend my days in. What a lame fate for a urban man.

Home of a homeless 

In the forest, by the highway, next to the sea, under birches, is the home of a homeless. It has two rooms. One is for sleeping and private things, has 4 walls. The other is for eating and drinking, has three walls. The rooms are separated by a narrow path, but connected by a roof, in case of rain. The owner was not at home today, the tracks of his bike were leading towards the centre of Helsinki. 

Subscribing to reading matter 

I subscribed to the Guardian Weekly and the Scientific American. I got the former at a 94 euros annual student price. The latter was cheap at $44 anyway. I still want to subscribe to the Foreign Affairs. Together with Helsingin sanomat, Granta, the Economist, and the New Internationalist they will keep me reasonably current. I was also considering the International Herald Tribune, but they still deliver it one day late in Finland. Oh, I forgot that the New York Times sells their Times Select at $25 per year (to students, that is)
On the free side, I follow Salon.com daily. It has surprisingly interesting stories, sometimes from new points of view. Today Juan Cole writes on the civil war in Iraq.

Clarifications 

Mr. Bush spoke a few days ago and told us that the future presidents will decide whether to pull troops out of Iraq. As usual, he did not quite mean it, but cannot himself clarify his own words. Instead, his spokesman has to speak up.. It is funny that he cannot make mistakes, but others still can correct him. 

Variety

It is important to take different route to the office. Today I will take the 205-bus. It is fast way and I can buy some Pepsi on the way. About 3 litres. Should be enough for 20 pages of writing. 
It is a great pity that I cannot get (diet) DrPepper in Helsinki. 

Wednesday, 2006-03-22 

It takes a long time to become young. Pablo Picasso 

Tired

I somehow got tired. I lost all energy and could not go the gym. Well, it does not matter. I had more time to read. I read a book on how to become a novelist or author in general. If all else fails, I can always make a modest living by writing this and that. I am quite sure about that. 
Work was fun today. I read hundreds of pages, too 10 pages of notes, and drank 6 cups of terrible coffee. Tomorrow, I am going to write tens of pages. The only problem is that the best time to write is after 6pm and I definitely will not spend my evenings in the countryside. Maybe I just have to learn to write in the afternoons. 

On patents

Even though some of my patents are not that remarkable, I have to agree with NY Times's editorial on patents. The patent system has clearly got out of hand and needs to be fixed. Or maybe scrapped and replaced with something better. In that case, what would we do with millions of dubious patents already accepted and in effect? There is no way we could go through them and reconsider. 
This is a common problem with re-architecting complex systems. One has to deal with the legacy. Just hoping for the legacy to go away is tempting, but kind of sissy thing to do. Even more sissy is to shy away from re-architecting due to fear of legacy or dubious arguments for reuse of some assets. 

Early 

I changed in MIT. I got used to waking up early. In 2004, it was next to impossible for me to reach the suburban office by 9am. Now, I can make it several days in a row. It must be that I am getting old and less naively rebellious. Or that I value my time after work so much, that I want to be back before 6pm. At least today, for I want to read some books and then go to the gym and be back reading before 9pm. Days are like each other, but not quite ordinary. Luckily. 

Peculiar 

The weather is peculiar. It looks like spring, but bites like winter. Now, really nice sunshine, calm, but -11C. Walking to Pasila (21 minutes) will definitely wake me up. Good, since I have planned for tasks, which require a very energetic mood. And MIT-intensity. 

Tuesday, 2006-03-21 

No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett

Pre-emptive strikes

USA declared, that it will strike anywhere, anytime as it pleases, even when there is no real threat going on. Or something like this. Now, the other fanatics has followed the example set by the USA. North Korea has declared that it has nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of "countering U.S. nuclear threats". And North Korea also reserves its right to pre-emptive strikes. 
Somehow it seems that the current US administration is not making the world a safer place for anyone. 
A good collection on commentaries on the optimism of Mr. Bush , written by Dan Froomkin of Washington Post.

Working 

I got a computer yesterday. Now I can start to work, to do something for my salary. I wrote a short document today, just to test the computer. I works as well as a Windows-machine can. Nothing special, a bit slow, a bit bad UI, strange features, but I manage. I have to be careful not to reboot the machine, because it takes 12 minutes to boot up...
I try to get back to MIT-intensity and speed in my daily work. Anything less intense or slower makes me angry. It may be that MIT-intensity and speed may make others angry, but that is a small price to pay for peace of mind. But if I am lucky and tactful, I can be intense and cause minimal amount of disruption. 

A great new band 

For me that is. I visited Petri G in the evening. He introduced me a band called White Stripes. Excellent music. I have to buy my own copy of the CD, Elephant, later as I want to support talented musicians. For the first, I will make a copy of Petri's CD. 

One month in Finland 

I have now lived in Finland for one month. Surprisingly, I do not feel the urge to travel. It am quite happy here, going to work, meeting friends, spending time with S, eating fish, and even reading the local newspapers. 
But I am eagerly waiting information on the fate of my PhD-application. They promised to tell me in March. 10 days to wait still.

Monday, 2006-03-20 

A clever man commits no minor blunders. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

New commuting alternatives 

I tried two new commuting alternatives today. In the morning, I took the bus number 17 to the Pasila railway station and then the A-train to work. This route takes 40 minutes — only 7 minutes less than walking to Pasila. In the afternoon, I took the bus number 106. Its route offers a nice tour of suburbs of suburbs, but takes only 26 minutes to Helsinki. So, this way takes the normal 40 minutes from office to home. All alternatives are as bad. I think it is best to continue walking until weather allows cycling. 

Three years of mindless killing 

Mindless killing in Iraq has continued for three years. Mr. Bush claim some progress, but the ex-primiminister of Iraq says Iraqis are waging civil war. I cannot see how a civil war can be called progress. 
For more commentary on this sad war, see Antiwar.com and JuanCole.com or any honest newspaper. I am too sad to write more. I should get anrgy, for one cannot be angry for long without doing something. I hope I get angry soon, again. 

Kind of normal day 

A succession of ordinary days is threatening me. I seem to get to the office at 9am, work until 5pm or 6pm, return home via some cafeteria, read books. A few times a week I visit the gym. I really have to take care not to get too used of this kind of life — something new has to happen every day. Well, there are new things taking place at work every day, but I need new things in the evening as well. 

Transportation and energy 

Today's Helsingin sanomat tells about a study on energy consumption of different transportation modes. The FIN-MIPS-project has calculated the amount (in kilograms) of non-renevable resources per passenger kilometre: 

1. Car: 1.44 
2. Train: 1.20 
3. Airliner (in Finland): 0.56
4. Bicycle: 0.38
5. Bus: 0.32
6. Boat: 0.26

Results are a bit surprising. It seems that flying is not as bad as commonly though. This is due to small ground infrastructure. 

Even though I know Michael Lettenmeier, who co-ordinated the study, I would like to see the calculations. The results are so counter-intuitive, that I want to check them. 

Sunday, 2006-03-19 

I don't wanna. I do not think so. Kim Gordon in Kool thing

Ska and friends 

Yesterday, S and her friend Li occupied our home and threw me out at 9pm. No problem, because there was a ska-concert in Gloria-restaurant. It was part of the annual Russian popular music festival. 3 bands played. The first one was so bad, that I already forgot its name. Next the stage was for the Valkyrians. They were as good as always, although Gloria's acoustics are terrible. It is hard to make any sense of the noise. The last band, Skapel, was a good ska-band from St. Petersburg, but they began playing only after 1.30am and I have to call it a night and walk back home.
I was luck to meet a group of friends. Most surprising, and very pleasantly so, was to meet Keto-Tokoi with his girlfriend Tanja. Keto-Tokoi is such a nice person. I have know him since late 1980s, when we used to frequent rock-venues in Tampere. Tanja, who is also very nice person, I have known for 7 or so years from Green politics in Helsinki. Finland being small, they going steady did not surprise me too much. 
Also Ruurik, with whom I used to do all kinds of student politics and logic in 1990s was listening to ska with his girlfriend Nina. Kaius was also present. And then there were other people as well. 

Saturday, 2006-03-18 

War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace. Thomas Mann 

Kuhn vs Popper 

I left for a 2-hour walk, but found myself reading Kuhn vs Popper by Steve Fuller in Akateeminen bookstore. It seems to be a books worth reading, a bit light in my taste, but having new insights, at least for me, a dilettante in philosophy. I read the introduction, the first one or two chapters and the conclusion. In the conclusion Fuller compares Kuhn and Heidegger claiming that Kuhn did not meet his responsibility as an intellectual. Kuhn was also, according to Fuller, too much authoritarian, justifying the status quo and telling scientist to obey, work on the normal science. I will return to Akateeminen and read the rest of the book next weekend. 
I definitely should refresh my knowledge on the philosophy of science. It would meant reading some books again, for I read them in early 1990s. Let's see. 

Eating fish 

The official recommendation, repeated ad nauseam in the Finnish press, is to eat fish twice a week. What a wimpy recommendation! It is 2 pm on Saturday and I have eaten fish twice today (tuna for breakfast, herrings for lunch) and I will still cook some risotto with smoked salmon in the evening. Yesterday, I had tuna for breakfast, some other fish (at the office cafeteria, I am not sure of the species always) for lunch, and fried small white fish (muikku) for dinner. 
One of the best things in Finland is the abundance of all kinds of fish. Fish is also very cheap here! What a paradise for me!

Friday, 2006-03-17 

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice. Spinoza

I am a student again 

I just realised, that I am a student in the University of Helsinki. I have a right to pursue studies in mathematics. I got the right by accident, when the university changed their IT-systems (or, I had the right in late 1980s, but I got another in theoretical philosophy, graduated, and thought the original right in math was cancelled — apparently it was not). I do not mind: only thing I have to do is to pay a fee of some 60 euros per year. By paying the fee I am also entitled to all kinds of discounts. Today I subscribed to Helsingin sanomat at a student price. Rather funny to get an accidental/additional admission to the best university in Finland...
If I am not accepted to the ESD PhD in MIT, I may begin studying political history/science in the University of Helsinki. If I have to stay in Finland, I may as well study something. 

A party 

A friend of mine, Sirpa, had her birthday party yesterday. We went there. Also Maria, Satu, and Matti celebrated with us. We had nice time, very good cake, lots of sparking wine, and good coffee as well. Sirpa's apartment has a huge balcony, larger than her living room. A very nice balcony, but at this time of the year not so useful. 

Thursday, 2006-03-16 

There is a diminishing sense of progress toward such ideals as peace of mind, peace on Earth, equality of opportunity, individual freedom and privacy, and the elimination of poverty. Russell Ackoff, 1971

Conan O'Brien in Finland — the show 

We watched the Conan O'Brien in Finland special show yesterday. It was very interesting. I just wonder whether we Finns give such an impression in real life. I think the Finns he met came across as quite original, a bit lunatic but honest. 

Still very beautiful 

It is still very beautiful weather today: no clouds, calm, 3C. I just have to take a walk from this place in the forest over the suburban boundary and back in the city itself. It is a nice walk, for I see lots of conifers, some strange people skiing on the frozen Baltic, quite a few birds, and finally I will reach the tram network and can take a tram back home. Not bad. 

Conspiracies 

Since 9/11 a wide range of conspiracy theories have tried to blame the US government for the attacks. There literature is extensive and many documentaries and films have been made. Now we have a good opportunity to see some of the films. I may attend, but only for one or two films. 

Faster by the day 

Even though young girls and boys pass me by, my walk to the Pasila railway station takes only 21 minutes. Last week it took 23 minutes. In a few week, I will be too fast for the young to overtake me. I have not been this slow ever — very humbling. 
Today it took me 24 minutes and 10 seconds from home to the A-train in Pasila, including the time to buy a ticket from the very slow vending machine. In all, it took 47 minutes from home to work, of which 36 was walking. 

Hollywood politics in Finland 

The minister of culture and education, Tarja Kampela, is bringing Hollywood-speed and attitudes to Finnish publicity and politics. She has now been in love for one month, has already engaged and even agreed on the wedding day. 
Some people just are so unsure of their feelings, their dedication, and those of the others, that they need society/state/church even in their love lives. Sissies! I see engaging and marrying only as signs of uncertainty, fear, and desperation. 

Wednesday, 2006-03-15 

There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. Otto von Bismarck 

New books 

Some of the books I have ordered from Amazon arrived yesterday. They are in a large box, and thus the customs seized them. I had to go to the custom and pay VAT for the books and also for the postage. Funny that I have to pay VAT for a postage used in USA. Well, it does not matter that much since the books are not available in Finland and even if they were, they would be much more expensive here. 
My new books are: 

• Between human and machine – feedback, control, and computing before Cybernetics by  David Mindell 
• American Generis – a century of invention and technological enthusiasm, 1870-1970 by Thomas P. Hughes
• Networks of power – electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 by Thomas P. Hughes 
• Energy systems and sustainability – power for a sustainable future by Godfrey Boyle and others
• Sustainable Energy – choosing among option by Jefferson W. Tester and other. This is the MIT-coursebook on the topic.
• The human motor – energy, fatigue, and the origins of modernity by Anson Rabinbach
• Science in Action by Brono Latour
• Does technology drive history – the dilemma of technological determinism by Merrith Roe Smith, Leo Marx
• Inventing accuracy – a historical sociology of nuclear missile guidance by Donald Mackenzie 

Well, now I will have fresh reading for some time. Especially, since I have some 10 unread books on the history of technology on my novelty-shelf already and some more should arrive from USA any day. 

Poems 

Yesterday, I went to the Kohina-club in the Kuudes linja-nightclub. A girl sang and a boy played guitar. The lyrics were old poem, the performers were shy. Later, Kauko Röyhkä answered some questions. Nothing too revealing, some arrogant boasting as expected. In all, the club was worth visiting. Next one is on 18th of April and then on 9th of May. I will be there. 
Kuudes linja has live music, poems, etc daily. Since it is only 5 minutes walk from our home, I am sure I will start to frequent it. The events are rather cheap. They try to make profit by selling alcohol. 

Tuesday, 2006-03-14 

When at the leading edge of technology and ploughing new ground ... if you do not have failure every now and then, you are not taking enough risks. Bernand Schiever, Altas- & Titan-projects

Decent commute 

Commuting to work is not too bad, if I walk to Pasila. It takes 50 minutes, of which 35 minutes is walking. This gives me the minimal amount of exercise. The A-train at 8.37 from Pasila was 3 minutes late and packed. I could not write in the train. Pity.

Monday, 2006-03-13 

Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise. Sigmund Freud

Nokia's ex-CEO's worries on energy etc 

Kalle Isokallio, who used to be Nokia's CEO before Jorma Ollila, has since been writing absurd novels and columns to the local yellow press. He can afford such hobbies, for he cannot work or else he will not receive his sizeable lay-off salary from Nokia. Or, rather, he cannot afford to work... 
Today he writes on future: fiscal policy and energy problems. He claims that the US economy will crash and cause a worldwide depression in the next 3 to 5 years. Very plausible. He also has noted that we will run out of oil in the next decades. Very plausible. 
To prepare for the depression, Isokallio recommends paying off (as much as possible) of the loans the Finnish state has. I agree: we have too high unemployment already. We cannot handle a depression by increasing unemployment. We have to take loan and be Keynesian.
To prepare for the end of oil, Isokallio recommends building more nuclear power, which in my opinion may turn out to be necessary — I still need to think a bit more about the role of nuclear power in the future. But Isokallio's other proposal is far more controversial, especially by a former CEO: Finland should nationalise Fortum, the former power monopoly of Finland. Having nationalised Fortum the state should start building nuclear several nuclear power plants. 
Very interesting, very controversial. But I have to agree with Isokallio on the fact that the Finnish politician are dealing with too small and insignificant issues at the moment. 
Either I am getting old, Isokallio is getting young, or something else is happening, for I tend to agree with him more and more. 

Discussion with a tram driver 

A tram is waiting for another to leave the tram stop by the Stockman department store. I wait by the front door. 
Driver: I have to wait, only one tram fits the stop. 
I: Yes, so it seems. You also have to watch for the pedestrians. 
Driver: Well, not really. They will move away. 
I: Really?
Driver: Yes, usually I do not even notice them. A bit rude, is it not. But, hey, it is not even a crosswalk. 

Walking 

Well, 40 minutes of walking was enough this time. It was really nice, rather warm, and quiet once I got away from the highway. The highway of course splits the scenery and pollutes everything by the sea. If only there were a simple and cheap way for putting all highways in tunnels. At least those by the sea. But there is no such a way — except replacing the highway with an elevated trains such as the BART-train in San Francisco. 

Fantastic weather 

Right now: clear skies, sun, 0C, calm. I have to leave the office before late, walk through the forest, over an old garbage dump, by the sea, to the city. It is just too beautiful outside to be sitting in the office. And anyway, I managed to do something for my salary already. 
See Sami's blog for some nice pictures of Helsinki, when the late spring is at its best. 
It is about 10 km from here to my home. I assume I will walk the whole distance, unless I get bored. I should not, for I have not walked this part of the city for a long time. There should be some new buildings here and there. I may also see some nice birds or other wildlife. Like a random drunkard. 

Blogging and working 

Blogging is always fun. Working is fun most of the time. But it is not fun that I cannot blog about my work. Last year, I blogged often about my studies. Now I have to invent new topics. But I am, at least temporarily, tired of writing about politics. Let's see: maybe I should try my hand at literary criticism, at writing haikus, or modern poetry. 

Sunday, 2006-03-12 

Go to some place like MIT, since they have a lot of screwball scientists, who will work on anything, and get a short study. Mervin J. Kelly , 1950, SAGE-project

Drunkard's party 

I will soon capitalise my popularity among drunkards in Kallio. I will establish a new political party: Puliukkopuolue. It will have radical goals and unconventional means. There should be enough members for getting a sizeable group of parliamentarians. I have begun paying my constituency already. 
To start the campaign, I have been planning to write a picture-book about drunkards in Helsinki. They deserve their own history just like any other group. B&W picture, compassionate text. It will raise their human value. (There is a similar book on the homeless in New York &mdash no new ideas today ). 

Boring 

It is quite boring, that one cannot have coffee in a cafe here in Kallio at 8am on Sundays. I would like to. I also would like to shop indoor plants on Saturday evenings. Since I cannot, I had to go to Rytmi with S. Again, the national alcohol consumption is shooting up. 
I see no reason why the government should regulate opening times of businesses. It would be better to have the regulators working in cafeterias doing something productive. Yes, that would serve them just right. 

Saturday, 2006-03-11 

What did Christ really do? He hung out with hard-drinking fishermen. Iggy Pop 

A great blue-collar evening 

Being hard-working office clerks, I and my friends sometimes want to make a (retro-)trip to the past of the blue-collar culture. Or just hang out and have a few beers. This time the group was: Olli, Mikael, Aaro, Mika, Ile, Jytky. 
One of best live museums of Helsinki, or maybe even the whole world, is the Kotiharjun sauna, one of few surviving public saunas in Finland. Certainly the biggest: the fireplace has 1500kg of stones, takes one cubic-meter birch-wood and 5 hours to heat up. The sauna can seat 30 bathers in the upper level, and few on the "Pipe shelf", which is even higher, and reserved for those wanting fierce heat. They also dictate when to let some more water from the firehose on the hot stones. 
It is really fun. One buys some beer (or other drinks) from nearby shops, rents a towel, and joins the crowd of men of all ages and of all runs of life. Discussions are sometimes rather surprising, as one meets men one certainly would never meet elsewhere. Best discussions take place outside, on the sidewalk when everyone comes out to cool off. Yesterday, at it was -13C, the discussions outside were quite short: a towel was not enough for longer stays outside. 
Kotiharjun sauna is a must for all brave and curious foreigners, who visit Helsinki. It is just as original as visiting a real diner in USA. 
After sauna, the tradition dictates food in some restaurant. We decided to try a new place called "Soul food". Not that special, music too loud. 
Ska-music is as blue-collar as music gets. A friend of mine, Jussi, is a vocalist of The Valkyrians. He had invited my to see their gig. What a gig it was! I just love ska and Valkyrians play it as well as possible, or even better. They play old covers but also their own songs. Everyone was dancing — no wonder the Valkyrians was selected as the dance band of the year here in Helsinki. (Also Aaro, Petri G, Samuli were dancing with me and others). 

Friday, 2006-03-10 

If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it. Dwight D. Eisenhower 

Missing a bird 

In 2004, when I worked here, a black woodpecker used to have its lunch in the forest. It is a beautiful bird to look at. This week I have not seen it yet. I am missing it, for being in the countryside but not seeing wildlife is boring. 
There are many signs of a lively population of rabbits around our office. 

Winter 

This is a strange winter, a winter from my childhood. The temperature stays below -10C most of the day, the sun shines, clouds are few. No wind, very calm and quiet. Days like these are superb for walking on the frozen sea. Maybe I have time tomorrow, on Saturday, for such a walk. 
The weather would be fine also for skiing and skating, but I do not own skis or skates. Poor me. Another fun thing would be to take some hot coffee in a thermos and have a quick picnic on ice. Maybe on Sunday. 

On cubicles 

Bill sent me a link to a very intersting article on the history of cubicles. It turns out, that cubicles were intended to be a good thing, but due to simple economic (management by Excel, not by intellect) they evolved to the productivity destroying method of storing employees of today. 
The article is worth reading. It also has a nice photo gallery of the evolution, although it does not show cubicles in their current misery. Maybe that would be too much for CNN-viewers. 
The article predicts, that telecommuting (or even working from Starbucks) is the trend of the future. It allows companies to shrink their offices further, saving them money. Of course, telecommuters must pay for their own office space. 
Once telecommuting becomes common, some clever employees realise that it simply does not make any sense to work for a corporation and telecommute. It pays more to move to (personal) consulting, for consulting fees are about 3 times the salaries. 
Anyway, I think I have to get a telecommuting permission. Commuting to the countryside just does not make any sense. It takes too much time, makes me sad. The only tolerable way is to walk to the Pasila station, take a fast train from there and then walk to the office in Säteri. Back home, I think the best option is to take the 205-bus to the centre of the city and have a cup of coffee in some civilised place, such as Rytmi and forget the depressing countryside. 

A discussion 

9am, at a subway station. I am standing, thinking of office architectures. A drunkards come, bloody nose, uncombed hair. Says: "Sorry that I disturb, but could help me a little. Could you spare a change. I need to get a can . Surprised of his honesty, I: I think a can is appropriate at this time of the day. He: Excatly. I give him some coins from my pocket, he thanks and goes for the can.

Thursday, 2006-03-09 

I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

Winter and the train 

It is -14C outside the train, +22C inside. The passengers hurry to train, sit down breathing heavily. They have strange clothes, for somehow they can keep their hats, gloves, scarves, and heavy overcoats on for the 15 minutes they spend with me in the train. They do not even break a sweat!
I always take my coat and hat off while in train, as a gentleman must. I never use a scarf or gloves. 
A Finnish proverb has it right: "Meitä on joka junaan" ("We are enough to fill in all trains"). 

Paper-mills closing down 

A Finnish forestry and paper company, UPM, announced yesterday closures of a number of factories and un-employing up to 3000 people. The reason is simple: there are more paper-mills than needed in the world. The production capacity is 1.2 million tons larger than the current (and declining) demand. Thus, some factories must close down. Now, it happened to be UPM, that does not have enough money to run all its factories. 
The situation is most difficult for the small cities in which the factories are. They will become ghost-towns soon. There is nothing much anyone can do as nobody is really willing to move to those small cities even if some other industry would spring up there. In USA, this all happened some 20-40-years ago (with cotton mills, machinery etc in New England). 
Still, starting a state-wide (society-wide) effort for starting new industries in energy, transport, and health care systems would be the right thing to do. And, I know what I need to do next weekend: write short articles on these issues. 

Recursive dreams 

Dreaming recursive dreams is very confusing. Last night, in a dream, I was accused of a certain wrongdoing. It was a serious accusation and I was in deep trouble. My trouble turned in despair as I realised that I indeed was guilty of the wrongdoing. It was just that it happened in a dream, which I had in the dream. 
Sometimes dreams get even more recursive. My record is four levels. To have a dream about a dream about a dream about a dream. I was quite confused and tired after such a dream. 

Overheard on the train 

Finns are quiet on the trains. Including me. 
However, it is fun to listen to discussions in broken English on the train. A Finn and an Italian are discussing on working in Finland. The Italian says that she enjoys working in Finland, but not in the sense of "having a lot of fun".

Commuting sucks 

I really do hate commuting to the countryside. It is not that I use the time productively. I can read, write, and observe, all of which are fun. But still it takes too much time and is boring, and I get a feeling of being one in too many. I hate the degrading feeling of being part of a numb crowd. 
I would take any job of equal interest with the current one with 300 euros less a month, if I could just walk to the office (up to 30 minutes). And live in the city, in Kallio. I will continue applying to any such a job.

Wednesday, 2006-03-08 

A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one. Dimitri Shostakovich 

Today's reading 

If brains could fill up, I would have to find new things to do. I mostly read and stuff my brains with semi-useless information. Today, I have read Economist for 10 minutes, skimmed Kauppalehti and Helsingin Sanomat, studied 200-pages of a WCDMA-book (to refresh my knowledge about 3G &mdahs; what a boring book, almost put me in deep sleep several times), few tens of pages of "Rescuing Prometheus" (a history of large engineering projects), few tens of pages on the history of the Finnish social contract, and something else I am sure. 
I think I have to pick up my old habit of reading while walking. I still have my head-mountable lamp.

Women's day 

Today is the international women's day. Happy women's day to all my women readers! Virtual roses and alcoholic drinks of choice to everyone of you!

On energy 

I will start to walk to the railway station in Pasila, the most hideous building imaginable, Having no, or very limited amount, energy at hand is not good for the quality of life. What about having (virtually) unlimited amount of energy at hand? What would the world be like, if we could tame nuclear fusion and have cheap energy as much as we wanted? We could melt ice from streets, from ocean harbours. We could control the climate of entire cities (heating, refrigerating), we could grow food in Greenland, etc. Clearly, if the unlimited amount of energy would not be artificially limited, we would fry the planet. 
Thus, we have to decide what is the optimal amount of energy. It is clearly more than the current world average. It is most likely less than the current US-consumption. This is a hard but crucial question.

Commuting idea 

I will start to walk to the railway station in Pasila, the most hideous building imaginable, and to take a train from there to the countryside. This way I will have a 30-minute walk in the morning, which helps to control (eventual and possible) frustrations. It should also make me healthier. 
It takes 24 minutes by foot from my home to the right platform (number 8) in the Pasila railway station. Since it takes another 10 minutes from the Leppävaara station to the middle of the pine forest, I will get a healthy 30-minute walk in the morning. 30 minutes 5 times a week should be enough for minimal level of fitness. 
I walked through the Sello-mall. It is just like the places in USA, except that food (restaurant) selection is very limited and prices (of food at least) are 50% higher.

Tuesday, 2006-03-07 

I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government. Woody Allen 

The Tuesday-meeting, Lenin, history 

The new meeting place of our monthly Tuesday-meeting is full of history. The table we sit at is called the "Revolution table". A Finnish revolutionary/traitor (depends on the way one looks at the history) O-W. Kuusinen conspired at the very table before the Finnish civil war in 1917-1918. Also the revolutionary of all revolutionaries, V.I Lenin, visited the restaurant at the same time. It is not known, whether he sat at the very table, but it is possible.
Remarkably, V.I. Lenin rented a room from S's grandfather's family for a fortnight in Antrea, Finnish Carelia, in 1906. The grandfather and his family had their opportunity to change history, which they did not use. Kind of funny that the grandfather's family/friends fought against the communists during the civil war — had they known the future in 1906, the future might have been different. We visited the house in July 2000. I should find a picture of the house and post it here. 
Well, the grandfather was only 4 years old in 1906. So, let's not put the blame at his door. He might have done something by not delivering Lenin's mail (he brought the mail from the post office to Lenin), but what can a 4-year old really do at the history of the world. Less than each of us!

Dividends vs salaries 

According to Helsingin sanomat, publicly traded companies gave out record dividends last year. At the same time, many companies claim to be doing so badly, that real salaries are decreasing, IT-tools are getting old, and employees are stored in cubicles. Somehow, my understanding for the striking bus drivers is increasing. 
Well, the least is to agree with Cessu. If a company can pay dividends, it can pay for overtime. Let's stick to this principle, to start with. 
By the way, freeing employees from constant disruptions by giving them rooms instead of cubicles would increase productivity by at least 25% or more. Dividends would increase as well. But maybe dividends, at their record level, are large enough already. 

Working 

It is actually kind of nice to return to work in the same company, especially when I got quite a bit more responsibility and really different things to think about. Something I can really use my new education. It is especially nice to meet some key persons, and realise that I am still welcome back — and my internal networks are still up and working. They will help in getting started. 
And I definitely nothing close to entry-level things to do, which satisfies me. 
Leaving home for work was still a moment of stress. It may just be that I got so used to being a student. Maybe I adapt too fast or well? 

Clumsiness 

In English, the signs tell No loitering. In Finnish, they tell Asiaton oleskelu kielletty, which is stupid. In Finnish, the right phrase would be Norkoilu kielletty, which is shorter, more to the point, and surprisingly close to the English one: loiter vs. norkoilla. Both sound lazy, idle, empty of action, almost counter-cultural.

Tuesday-meeting 

Today we will have the regular Tuesday-meeting. I started the tradition in January 2001 and it has survived my travels due to delicate care by Petri G. They did move the meeting from the Seahorse-restaurant to the nest of left-wing radicals, the restaurant Juttutupa ("Chatting cabin" or something). They do not serve fried herrings there, but they do serve fried small whitefish ("muikku"). Not bad either. Even better than food is the company of friends. 

A room 

Kind of bossy I feel! I got my own office room, an upgrade from the open office cubicles in which I spent some years. What a relief, I can concentrate, which also prevents frustration. And I will have enough shelf-space for my books also at work.
From my office window, a view to the pine forest. Behind the forest is a highway. 

Monday, 2006-03-06 

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds. John Maynard Keynes 

Commute 

Commuting from Kallio to Leppävaara is not as bad as I thought. The trains were not too full. Next week, I can take the bus and avoid the horrendous Sello-mall. It will make my commute much more tolerable. 
In any case, having to take any form of motorised transit/transport in the morning and in the afternoon is very bad for mood and soul. It leaves me too full of energy, and lowers my spirit. I would definitely work better if I could walk to the office. Cycling is OK as well, but I cycling in the mid of the Finnish winter is not my cup of tea. 
I need to find out whether I could tele-commute in the future. For one or two days in a week. I doubt I could, for the things I should do require a lot of personal meetings. 

Work? 

I have nothing against work as such, but I have quite much against of being part/member of any larger group. Even more, I just cannot stand any authorities (persons who try to have power over me). I can somewhat tolerate authorities, whom I can judge more competent, experienced, and at least as intelligent than/as I judge myself. Since I have chosen to work for lesser authorities in the past, I have become quite allergic to any authority. I assume that I should start my own small consulting company, or go for a PhD. Either would free me from any empty authorities. Although, right now I seem to have avoided this problem. 
I have had this attitude and many problems due to it in the past. I hope for less problems in the future, but I am not sure how much I can help myself. 
Today is full of hoping for good things. Luckily, there is hope. 

Better than anticipated 

The things I have been allocated for at work turned out to be more interesting than I anticipated. I may even get somewhat excited, and not exited. At least I hope so. 
It was nice to meet old colleagues and friends. They have not changed that much. Petri told me that I smile much more than I did back in 2004. I really hope I can maintain the smile for a long time. 
Somehow I still feel bad about working. I really would prefer studying. But there is time to study and time to work. I hope the times are a-changing. But I know, that it will be easier to leave home for work tomorrow than it was today. 

Back to work 

I am about to travel to the darkness and emptiness of the countryside west of Helsinki. The office I should start working in next to a highway and a pine forest. What a miserable location to spend 8 hours a day. There is a huge mall about 1 km in the north. In the mall, nothing but large shops, not a single decent restaurant, not a nice cafeteria. Nor does the office have a nice cafeteria, but a large lunch place with industrial food. Finnish food, nutritious but taste-free, even the coffee is not even bitter, only lame. 
And the building itself is nothing short of hideous. 
My feelings about the work are a bit divided. They will pay me twice the median salary in Finland, but that's what they were paying back in 2004 already. It is a good salary, but apparently they value MIT-education as totally worthless. Let's see. 
I am thinking of becoming a tram-driver. That would be easy and honestly a no-brainer job, not just by exclusion. 

Sunday, 2006-03-05 

If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry. Anton Chekhov 

In Tampere 

I spent the weekend by meeting my relatives (kin) and friends. Everyone just about the way I remembered. No dramatic changes, which I assume is a good thing, for the older we get, the greater the likelihood of changes to the worse. Or is it, am I just in a pessimistic mood.
On Friday, I spent time with my brother and his friend Japi until 9pm. Then to Kössi's place for a good chat on Paris, work, and life. And maybe one or two drinks too much. For Saturday morning was on the slow side. I had a long walk, lunch, and then spent most of the rest of the day at my brother's garage with his friends Jäky, Hantta, and Kiili. Interesting men and good company, for a good time. 
On Sunday, early train to Helsinki for a visit to S's mother's birthday. Good cake and very interesting coconut-salmon-soup. And some interesting stories about life in the Finnish countryside in the late 1950s. 
Now back at home, tired. Transit workers may go on strike tomorrow. I hope not, for I need to travel to the countryside, where my office is. I hope I will later get a job in the city itself. Having to travel to the countryside daily decreases my quality of life way too much. 

Friday, 2006-03-03 

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going. Paul Theroux

New social contract 

The current social contract (in Western countries) was architected in late 1960s and early 1970s. It is based on the assumptions of long term work contracts, full employment, and short duration of unemployment periods. 
Today, these assumptions are not valid anymore. The globalised, free-market economy does not offer long term employment for most people. Companies move their operations around the globe much faster than employees can move. Furthermore, companies do not want to employ any extra employees. Instead, they want to trim their workforces quarterly. 
In the new situation, the current social contract does not work anymore. When work-contracts are shorter, numerous, and partly overlapping, the old distinction of employed-unemployed is not meaningful anymore. 
We need to start over. We need to re-architect the social contract. Otherwise, we cannot live a good life in the current economical system.
The first thing is to think about the requirements. For a person (employee), work provides money (financial stability), social contacts and environment, and self-respect/worth and meaning in life. For society, work is necessary for long term survival, for feeding the needy etc. For companies, word is necessary for making profit/meeting whatever goals the shareholders set for the company. 
The new social contract has to fulfil all these (and other) requirements. In order to do so, we have to accept the new economical environment. We must not try to recreate the past, for we (Finns) do not have the power to do so. 
The new social contract accepts, and cherishes, the fleeting nature of work. We need a system, in which a person may have many employers, many work contracts at the same time. If one of them fails or disappears, the others will be enough to sustain the person. To make this simple, some kind of negative income-tax, or citizen salary, is necessary. If the person has temporarily low income, the negative income-tax will increase it. When the income increase, the tax increase, but not more than half of the extra income. 
In short, we need to get rid of the dichotomy of employed-unemployed. Let's make a systems, in which nobody is unemployed. At times, everyone will have periods of lower level of employment, but that would not be an economical catastrophe. 
In a way, let us all become entrepreneurs. And let us employ other entrepreneurs as companies do now and deal with the expenses simply as cost of goods and services. 
Implementing such a contract requires national healthcare, which we have already. It also requires an automatic systems for dealing with taxation (at monthly level) — the tax will depend on the income during the month, the expenses incurred during the month etc. This we almost have. 
The benefits would be huge. Everyone would have something to do. There will be more jobs, and many things now un-done (or self-done) will be part of the economy. 
But the best thing would be moving power from companies back to citizens. With the new contract, everyone will be a star, and has a huge power of negotiation. Companies cannot anymore dictate their terms. Moving work from one country to another will not destroy livelihoods of employees. 
I have the intuition, but I just cannot express it clearly yet. I will continue to think about this and then write more about this. But I know that the new social contract is necessary. I also know that Finns are pragmatic enough to invent it. 

Faces 

In the absence of Botox, our facial expressions get imprinted permanently on our faces.
In Finland, most women, over 40-years old, have a permanently worried and sad expression on their faces. They have deep wrinkles between their eyes from endless worrying over something, lips turned down for some sorrows or vain attempts to look serious. 
Men, instead, are red in their swollen faces, with bad skin, mostly due to excessively deep worshipping of Bacchus . They also some triple-chins for not exercising between meals of meat and potatoes. 
We are not a beautiful nationality, I would say. 
I have a habit of avoiding frequent encounters with the mirror. 

To Tampere 

I will travel to Tampere by train. The train does not have WLAN and my phone's GPRS is broken. My mother does not have internet. So, it may be a while before next updates. But maybe not. 
Pictures on this page now have titles. Just rest your pointer on picture and you will be a bit more informed. Later I will fix the titles of past pictures. January and February now have titles, but not very polished ones. Thanks to for pointing out the need to titles.

Thursday, 2006-03-02 

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. George Orwell 

Envy 

I met a friend, who had just arrived from Liberia. She told me, that another friend of us was about to leave for Bangladesh. I became so envious of her. I want to travel and work abroad as well. Too unfair that I have already spent a week here, is it not.

A new mall in Helsinki 

Kauppakeskus Kamppi, a new mall, transit terminal, and parking facility was inaugurated officially today. Of course, I had to be there. Visiting inaugurations of suburban malls in city centres is always a good way to reflect on the urban design, commercial trends, and civil architecture. 
It is common in anti-consumeristic discussion to draw an analogy between consumerism and religion, to say that as people used to worship gods they now worship material things. The new mall takes this worshipping a bit further. Its floor-plan has been copied from a cross-shaped Lutheran church. It has a long nave and two shorter aisles, making a perfect cross. There is even a high open area at the nexus of the cross, just like in many cruches, mainly Catholic (Gothic) ones. The aisles are lined with small shops, just like Catholic churches are lined with small shrines. 
On the surface, the mall is a bland example of modern mall-architecture. Lots of metal, some light wood on some floors, lots of glass, in a vain attempt to bring in the natural light (will be fine in the Finnish summer). 
Malls are suburban constructions. Suburbs are reserves of blue-collar people. It is very fitting that the new Kamppi-mall has a bowling alley. Bowling is as blue-collar, non-urban as semi-sports get. I have tried it a couple times, but found it way too blue-collar for my taste. 
Suburbanites arrive by bus from the western suburbs to the new mall. I have read them boasting about the mall being to busiest bus-terminal in Europe. It may well be true, as in Europe even suburbanites are clever enough to support rail-transit. Not here. 

Escaping prisoners 

According to New York Times, many US states shackle female prisoners in labor, i.e. when they give birth. I have never been present at child birth, but I have understood that the mothers are not very much likely to run away when giving birth. In Washington, before it gave up this medieval practice, a nurse described it

Here this young woman was in active labor, handcuffed to the armed guard, wearing shackles, in her orange outfit that was dripping wet with amniotic fluid. Her age: 15!

After reading this article, I do not wonder any more any torture in Iraq or elsewhere. Clearly a kind of blatant disregard of fellow human beings is well ingrained in the US society. Or is it just that everyone so afraid of losing his job (and healthcare), that following insane rules is mandatory?

On creativity 

A necessary condition for being creative is to get rid of self-criticism. Normally, we all are too critical towards our new ideas, that creative ones cannot fight their way to the conscious mind. When we manage to be less critical, the thoughts surface. Then we are in a creative mood. 
All creativity techniques aim at loosening self-criticism. In brainstorming, the explicit rule of non-criticism is meant to do this. Trying to combine apparently non-related things is another method. Using stories and story-lines, combining product and environmental factors at random. Methodic contradicting works many times. Many methods exists and a wise person (e.g. a systems architect) uses them all. 
Today, I noticed that not sleeping enough, just sleeping a little, waking in mid-dreams, is a very good way of getting rid of self-criticism. I have had really surprising thoughts today. 
When I write, I always think of the topic, of the content for some time, make some notes, and then go to sleep for 10-15 minutes. I do not drift into deep sleep, only into superficial dreaming. Arguments come every time. In MIT, I used this method for writing all my essays. 
It is a pity that mainstream corporations in their Excel-driven management cannot allocate space for creativity. Nor time for it. Then they go bust. 
Oh, I forgot drugs. I have invented two patented ideas under influence or right after influence of using certain drugs. Using drugs in a certain way is a good way of loosening self-criticism.

On drunkards 

Srpnt discusses my obsession about writing on drunkards. He claims that there are no drunkards in the western suburb of Helsinki, Espoo, execpt in Leppävaara — a mall. 
This is no surprise. Of course there are no drunkards in the countryside. What would they do there? Drunkards are social people, like to spend time in groups. In the winter, they also need some warm places to idle in. Neither of these conditions is true in the countryside. 
Having drunkards around means that one is in a urban area. In the countryside, alcoholics stays indoors, torment their families. It is better to share the pain as we do here in the city. And drunkards are nice, full of surprises. One never knows what they see, whom they talk to. They reveal a parallel universe. 

Bravery 

On the above right, a brave Finn with her small child having coffee in the Hakaniemi market square. The temperature was -12C (10F). Finland is not a place for sissies.

Staying up early 

About once a month I have to stay up until very early morning hours. I do not know why it is, but it happens regularly. I just do not get sleepy at all. Neither do I then have to sleep in, I can easily wake up after 4 hours in those days. So, today I stayed up until 5am and woke up at 9am. I am not tired at all. This is rather mysterious. 
I think regular hours just are not good for me. Regular hours threaten me with a succession of ordinary days, which is the most terrible thing I can imagine. A thing, which could keep me awake, tossing and turning in my bed. 

Wednesday, 2006-03-01 

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. Herbert Hoover 

Alkubaari 

We had a lunch in the Alkubaari. I had whitefish with egg-dill-sauce, S has game-stew or something like that. Or maybe it was fried moose. Both very quite OK, very Finnish, and have certainly enough butter in them. The bar/restaurant itself if small, very basic, at the border of authentic and artificial. It has all the elements of a 70s-bar, but somehow it feels a bit contrived, like stepping in an old movie. Maybe it tries to be too authentic. Anyway, very much worth a visit, but I still prefer Heippa's place in Kallio.

Updating my head 

I would like to update my head about the recent political literature and discussion in Finland. I know of older books by Soininvaara, the new book by Penttilä and of some other books. But I have not been following the discussion for the last three years. As I am planning to write the books on the industrial policy of Finland, I need to know what others have been writing. Please, leave a comment. Tell, which books I definitely need to read. 

Can Finland afford to be wealthy? 

Finland cannot rely on only telecommunication, forestry, and machinery in the future. They are not growing industries any more &mdash they grow more or less as the general economy grows. They are also industries, in which countries with cheaper labour and other expenses can take over from Finland, mostly due to Finnish companies relocating to other countries. 
Finland must thus find new areas for building growing industries. The news areas must be such, that there is a certain growth, the solutions are not in cheap labour, but in clever systems development and integration.
The three most promising areas are energy systems, transportation systems, and health care systems. The world is facing now and is going to face dire problems in all these systems. None of the systems cannot be fixed by local optimisation, or use of a single new technology (solar cells, hybdrid cars, genetic medicine, you name it). Solutions and lucrative business opportunities are in systems as a whole &mdash just like Nokia has been developing and selling telecommunication systems, not mobile phones. 
To develop the new systems, we need co-operation of the leading companies (e.g. Nokia), state and its funding agencies, the Finnish academia, and local communities willing to test the prototypes in real practice. This is how Finns have worked in the past. We need to renew the spirit of co-operation, in a way a commercial talkoot benefiting the whole society. 
I am going to write a short (30 pages or so) pamphlet on this topic quite soon. We need to raise the level of awareness and discussion before the coming parliamentary elections in a year. Please, if you want to help me in my efforts, leave a comment or send me email.

All opinions are mine and do not reflect opinions etc of my current or future employers as far as I am aware. Similarly, all opinions on SDM at MIT are mine only. The official at SDM-homepage gives the other view.

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