The US budget as a graph / Supply chains / Foreign Policy on Empires / Fair trade in…

It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably. Immanuel Kant

The US budget as a graph

Death and Taxes has an interesting graph on the US budget. It really seems that the USA is fighting wars and that all risks the USA are facing will be dealt with bombs, missiles and other explosive stuff.
Someone should buy the graphs and post them everywhere in the USA. Maybe that would help the citizens to see the light and revolt!

Supply chains

A document Darwin's nightmare tells the story of Nile perch, guns, smuggling, poverty, and ecological catastrophe in the lake Victoria. Some time ago, Nile perch was introduced in the lake. It has done well, and there is now abundance of it, but not much of anything else, in the lake. So, the locals fish the perch, bring it to the airport. Some Russian pilots take the fish to Europe (I have eaten it in office cafeteria), but only after they have flown in some guns for the perpetual civil wars in the around the lake.
This whole business causes all kinds of problems. See the document for more information about them.
Quite a supply chain for fish. There must be maximum price of oil for the supply chain to make sense. When oil gets becomes expensive enough, the planes will stop flying. What will happen then? I assume there will be more fish for the locals to eat by the lake Victory, maybe fewer guns for killing each other. And no cheap fish for us in Scandinavia.
Actually, it is totally insane to fly in fish from Africa. Cheap oil has made us all totally nuts.

Foreign Policy on Empires

Foreign Policy runs an interesting article on past and present empires. It seems that empires lasted longer in the past. In the 20th century they only lasted a few decades.
The article claims that the American empire suffers from three deficits: troop, budget, and public attention. It does not have enough troops, because it is not willing to use draft. It is running out of money. Its public does not really want the wars the empire would require. And it seems that the wars are not economically feasible: running the empire costs more than it gives. So, the empire may well be short-living one.
The article is well worth the 15 minutes it requires. There are other worthy articles as well.

Fair trade in Finland

I was positively surprised by professional attitude and quality of the Finnish fair trade movement. The movement had its annual fair last weekend in Jyväskylä. It seems that fair trade is as professional as any other trade. And that is a very good thing.

New books

Yesterday, two books joined our library:

• Ivan's war — the Red Army 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale telling the stores of the ordinary, but legendary Russian/Soviet soldiers, of which some 20 million died. An addition to my military history collection. I claim, that by reading on the history of the Eastern front of WWII one can learn more than by reading any collection of management hand-books. Reading both is, of course, even better.
• The Brooklyn follies by Paul Auster , who is our favourite novelist, or one of them. The book seems to be a good one. I have read some 30 pages already.

Trains, cars, restaurants

In the past, before the WWII, railway stations were important and respected parts of cities. Most people travelled by train and station were what they saw first and last in cities. The stations were great civic building, designed by the best architect and build to impress, last and serve. Usually there were some restaurants in the station, sometimes even good ones - it was a good place to have a great restaurant, for so many well-off people passed the stations daily.
Not so anymore. Even in Europe, most wealthy are their own drivers, not rich enough to afford chauffeurs. And the poor who take the train are not worth decent restaurants. So it is in Tampere. The restaurant at the station is nowadays a karaoke bar serving very cheap beer. Cheap beer sells well, serves well, and causes trouble. There are more guards than servants in the restaurant at the station.
All this will change in the near future. Only the very rich and stubborn can afford to be their own chauffeurs. They also need to have large SUVs, for the society cannot afford maintaining the highways — or those who cannot afford cars and gas anymore will not allow spending enough money on highway maintenance. And we all can take the train, wait for it in a decent restaurant in the station. Civic life will be fine again.
Well, maybe I have to admit, that there are still great stations left. The Helsinki railway station is great, and has a decent cafe and an up-scale pub. No restaurant, though. In Europe, some stations are just marvellous: Budapest, Milan, some in Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin. In the US, the Grand Central in NYC is beyond my skills of flattery and has a great restaurant. I assume stations in London are great as well, but I cannot remember anymore.
I also adore the Venice railway station, but it has more to do with Venice than with the real ugly station building. And when I want to remember Venice, I read the opening paragraph of Watermarks by Brodsky

Many moons ago the dollar was 870 lire and I was thirty-two. The globe, too, was lighter by two billion souls, and the bar at the stazione where I'd arrive on the cold December night was empty. I was standing there waiting for the only person I knew in that city to meet me. She was quite late.

and I will instantly be standing there, smelling the fog, utterly happy.

Trains

I visited my mother and brother in Tampere on Sunday. Nice to see them, should visit them more often. We all have only so many relatives and so much time together with them. Not too much.
I took train to Tampere and back. To Tampere, I took a commuter train, which takes 119 minutes and costs 19.5 euros. Back to Helsinki, I took an intercity train, which take 99 minutes and costs 25.6 euros. Even a faster and more expensive train is available: the Pendolino with 78 minutes and 30.4 euros. So, one can save 41 minutes by spending additional 10.9 euros. Thus, time is worth 15.6 euros an hours. Quite much, even for a commuter with median salary - more than his hours net salary. If the Pendolinos would be supremely comfortable, I would not mind the extra cost, but they are not. The seats are too small, of airliner design and there is not enough leg room. Strange ways of running its business are those of the Finnish State Railways.
From the Tampere station I cycled to my mother's place, which is 6 km away. It took only 21 minutes, which is not too much. So, if I took the Pendolino, I would make the whole trip in 4+78+21 or 103 minutes, which is certainly faster than I could make by car (legally). A bit academic, for I do not own a car.

Names directory

What is the purpose of the names directory? Is it some public good for the spamming community? Who pays for it? Or is it just someone's weird hobby? A billion people in the net means millions of odd pages.

Zoo

I visited the Helsinki Zoo (Korkeasaari) on Monday afternoon. I was surprised how good time it was to visit the zoo. There were only a few other visitors, and most of them very solemn. The animal offspring were cute and interesting to observe. Little bears ate their vegetable lunch eagerly, but did not know how to peel oranges. So they simply crushed them. Their 4-year father used his nails and peeled oranges in no time. The bears seems to save oranges for dessert, after potatoes, carrots, cabbages, etc. Bears are getting ready for their winter sleep and spend most of their time eating. They have no time for playing.
Owls (great eagle owl, great grey owl, snowy owl) were alert and followed my movement thoughtfully. A lone gree peafowl walked around eating dead wasps. The camels were hugging each other. Parrots made their noises and fought each other lazily. Kangaroos were eating and did not mind emus in their quarters. The lone sloth was moving slowly and a pair of skunks were not much more agile. A quiet afternoon well spent.

A new method

The new Method Putkisto promises to teach how to exercise in three dimension, or 3D. I would be more interested, if it would tell me how to move in two dimension. I happen to have problems in narrow passages.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs July to September 2006".