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

The architect can become so interested in forming all structural pars of a building that he loses sight of the fact that construction is, after all, means and no an end in itself. Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Saturday

Breakfast (see below), British museum (Rosetta Stone, Eastern Island statue, African modern art and costumes, shop, Greek vases, etc), bookstores, walking the Oxford Street, LRB bookstore, hotel, trying to get to the Michelin Chinese, Tuk Tuk, tube to Hammersmith (semi-naked teenagers, etc), beer in the lobby bar of Tavistok. Such.

Eating

Restaurants so far (Sunday, the 12th, 10am). On Friday evening, we had rather good South-Indian dinner at The vegetarian Paradise (59 Marchmont Street). The food was authentic, varied and surprisingly well prepared it being already 11pm. On Saturday, for breakfast and lunch, we called the Cafe in the Russell Square for authentic English food. My baked potato with tuna fish (cold, from the can) and baked beans was, well, filling and basic. S had fried bacon, eggs, and chips, which was not meant for weight watchers, or those with hearth problems. On Saturday evening, Thai food at Tuk Tuk, in Chinatown: fried rice, fried sea weed, squid, tom kha kai soup. Cheap, delicious, hot. Recommended, no frills though.

Spending money

The most decent (and civil) ways of spending one's money are. Travelling by train and staying in old hotels, eating in local non-pretentious restaurants, and buying books. Buying cars, electronic gadgets, and otherwise using money as means of boasting, self-gratification etc, are not right ways of spending money. Too few people read books today.

Heaven?

"If heaven is a bookshop, it is the London review of Books Bookshop" goes the local saying in London. I have to agree. The shop stock more than 20000 carefully selected books and almost nothing else, just few items memorabilia. I could spend days and all my money in the shop. Fortunately we got physically hungry and had to leave the shop with only one new book (Babies by M. Bywater).

In Waterstones, S bought Nick Hornby's Long way down. Reading Hornby is always a joy.

At the airport

When I was younger and greener, I found airports fascinating. I enjoyed spending time there, observing workers, travellers, machines. Not so anymore. After the budget airlines and terrorists took over, flying and airports are no fun anymore. Flying is just tedious, stressing, boring. I think I will avoid flying in the future. It must be possible to take a train or a boat to anywhere I want to go. If it is not, I may well not go.

Friday 06-11-03
Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life. Bertolt Brecht

Are we all just big babies?

Michael Bywater has written a book called Big Babies or why can't we just grow up. In the book, Bywater discusses whether our civilization is becoming more and more infantile, whether most of us never become adults. It is about ads, abs, etc. The book is getting good reviews e.g. by the Telegraph. The Telegraph quotes Bywater on how to be an adult.

Don't be affronted Being affronted (or offended, or complaining about 'inappropriateness') is no response for a grown-up. Only children believe the world should conform to their own view of it: a sort of magical thinking that can only lead to warfare, terrorism, unmanageable short-term debt and the Blair/Bush alliance

Mistrust anything catchy, whether it's the Axis of Evil, advertising slogans, or blatant branding ('New Labour'). Catchiness exists to prevent thought and to disguise motive. Grown-ups can think for themselves

Ignore celebrities, except when they are doing what they are celebrated for doing: acting, playing football et cetera. Skill does not confer moral, political or intellectual discrimination. (Except in the case of writers. Writers know everything and can lecture you with impunity.) If a celebrity is not celebrated for doing anything but being a celebrity, smile politely but pay no notice

We should not assume that market forces will decide wisely. The market is rigged by manipulation and infantilisation

Consider our own motivations. We may rail about being treated like children, ordered about, kept from the truth, nannied and exploited… but are we complicit in it? Could the reward actually be infantilisation itself?

Autonomy is the primary marker of being grown up. Babies, children and adolescents don't have any. We don't want to be in their boat

Suspect administration Its purpose is to free the organisation to do what it's meant to do: but the triumph of the administrators - the lawyers, the accountants, the professional managers - means that too many organisations now believe that what they are meant to do is administer themselves. This is a profoundly infantile attitude

Do not love yourself unconditionally. Such love is for babies and comes from their mothers. Ignore fashion, particularly in clothes. You don't want to look like a teenager for ever

Never do business with a company offering 'solutions' as in 'ergonomic furniture solutions which minimise the postural strain associated with sitting' (chairs) and 'Post Office mailing solutions' (brown paper). The word suggests we have a problem, but since we are grown-ups, that is for us to decide

Denounce relativism at every turn. Shouting 'not fair' is childish. Demanding respect without earning it is childish. Don't fear seriousness. Babies aren't allowed to be serious

Watch our language. Is there really much difference between a six-year-old in a fright-wig and his father's waders shouting 'I'm the Mighty Wurgle-Burgle-Urgley-Goo' and an ostensible grown-up demanding to be called 'Tony Blair's Respect Tsar'?

Hide Grown-ups are not required to be perpetually accountable, while the instincts of government and big business, both of which are, almost by their nature, great infantilisers, are to keep an eye on everyone all the time

Eat it up There is nothing more babyish than having dietary requirements

Never vote for, do business with or be pleasant to anyone who uses the words 'ordinary people'

Good advice, worth considering.

List of books read

A list of books I have read lately. Not that long yet, but I try to read a few books every week. I seem to be reading too few Finnish novels, a failure I need to address.

Later, I will start adding reviews and commentaries and links. Now, just a plain list of books.

Misc links

Planespotting — CIA's secret flights exposed ...
Spaceship earth — ecological writings, some of them quite interesting.
Finnish industrial ruins — interesting photography
Peak oil primer — tells why oil is going to get more and more expensive.
Global voices online — a global weblog.

Local businesses

Some good businesses I make richer every week. Rytmi is an excellent place to have coffee or beer and see/meet nice people from all walks of like and of all ages. Cafe Sapusca is the best lunch place in Kallio: great food, entertaining chef. In the Hakaniemi markethall has many great shops and also Soupkitchen, which has simply the best soups in town. All these are just a 10-minute walk from my home. Not too bad...

Cover letters

A job application has two parts: the CV and the cover letter. The trick is just how to write them. Here is what I have learned. Although the web is full of advice on how to write both of them, my experience tells that following the web advice is not enough.

Writing a good CV is quite simple and most sites offer the same advice: reverse chronological, exact, measurable claims, honest. Following these rules seem to be quite enough.

Not so with the cover letter. The wed tells that the cover letter should be very polite, tell why one wants the job, flatter the reader about their company, etc. I followed these rules and never got replies. Thus, after some experiments (with about 100 applications), I have concluded that the following template works best for me.

 
  Sir,

  I am interested in the position.

  I have worked as SW and systems architect in Nokia Networks for the last 8
  years.  I am one of the main systems architects behind the Nokia WCDMA (3G) radio networks.
  RAN systems are about as demanding as any.

  In addition to my work experience (both in Finland and China), I boast
  "MS in engineering and management" from MIT, 2006. In my MIT-studies, I
  concentrated in systems architecting.

  Make no mistake, interview me.

  See my CV at http://www.helsinki.fi/~mjkinnun/MattiKinnunenResume.pdf

  Yours,

    Matti Kinnunen

No BS, no excuses, no false modesty, just the facts, the attitude, the personality. Seems to work much better than anything else I have tried so far.

Thursday 06-11-02
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Winston Churchill

Winter

Winter. It was about time for winter to arrive, yesterday. It arrived with full force, with a storm, blizzard, snow, but only 10 kilometers north of the city center. Here, we do not have much snow, up north there is enough for cars to get stuck and run into each other. The storm sank a few ships, cut off electricity from thousands rural homes, and made me happy. I like storms, at least as long as I am safe in a city.
I like winter, I like the freezing wind, snow, slippery roads, darkness. I was so happy today, walking to a Chinese restaurant for a lunch with her. A good, cheap Chinese by the Hakaniemi market square, the square without even pigeons, too windy for life.

On a holiday / vacation

Again, I am on holiday. I have not worked much this year. In January I finished my thesis, traveled in the USA, idled. I returned to Finland by the end of February and started my daily visits to the Nokia office. They did not have anything for me to do there, so the visit got shorter and shorter. So passed April and May. In June, I took part in the MIT commencement and traveled in California. July was an idle month, visiting the office with not much to do and nobody there. In August, I had something to do in the office. Then I got sick and had sick leave until mid-October. And then I resigned and am on holiday. Soon, I will travel with S to London, Venice, Syracusa, Valletta, Naples, and Rome. In December, I will start at the Finnish Postal Service. At last, I will have something else than holiday. Not that I am complaining too much. I did more than my fair share in 2005.

Autumn rhythm

In Autumn, the sun avoids me. I do not mind, for I can adopt my favourite daily schedule. It is simple: I stay up reading/hacking/surfing the net etc until 4am, then sleep some 6 hours, read some more and skip breakfast. At noon, it is time for lunch, then running errands etc, maybe until 6pm, after which back to reading/writing.
Too bad that the normal office worker schedule does not allow this. I will try staying up only until 2.30am, then waking up at 8.30am, working 9 to 5, taking a nap. If this rhythm works out well, I will be very happy.

A plan

First, holiday and travels. Then, work and climate activism. It seems that even some politicians are finally taking climate change semi-seriously. Maybe it is time for me to become active again. I have been thinking and reading a lot about energy, climate, society, economics during the last few months. It seems that very few are able to think about energy systems holistically. Most, especially Finnish politicians, see only technologies. As long as we see only technologies, we will not get anywhere. We will just optimize parts of the system, most likely the very wrong parts.

October 2006

Saturday 06-10-28

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

A transit adventure

With nothing to do and a transit ticket in my pocket, I embarked on an adventure. The rules were the normal ones: no walking, no planning, just jumping on some bus, train, tram or some other transit vehicle at a time. Thus, by train to the center of Espoo, the Western collection of suburbs of Helsinki. The center has some derelict office buildings, drunks, and teenagers raving about. After 10 minutes, a bus arrived and took me to a place called Iivesniemi, a forest by the Baltic sea. A very lonely and cold or windy place. Another bus came and dumped me in a suburban mall called "The big apple". Depressing place, mostly empty space with some store and a public library located upstairs. Co-locating public libraries and malls is a bad thing. Another bus took me a few kilometers east, then still another took me to the Eastern mall called the "Eastern center". It was full of people, of which many where immigrants. In the Western mall, no foreigners. Finally, I took a metro to Hakaniemi, where I had spend time in the market hall with S in the morning. THe market hall is smaller than the lobby of a mall. Sad. A few beers with Aaro and the back home. I should have adventures more often.

A Finnish poet

Marcus Grönholm is not only a great rally driver, but he is also a great poet. After a race, his explanations are always worth listening to. But this one is just exceptional.
Or maybe is rather a comedian than a poet. What do you think?

Friday 06-10-27
Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat. Jean-Paul Sartre

Computer and kids

My friend Reijo Koivula has invented a new computerised playground. It is really nice. Check it out at SmartUs pages. A really clever way of using computers in making kids play more outside.

Animations

Some funny animations by Bozzetto

Life on Earth
Life in a block of flats
Life of men and women

and there are many others waiting for you... at the website. Check out Italy vs Europe and "Yes&No" at least.

Thursday 06-10-26
Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain. Mikhail Bakunin

New job

It only took one year to find a new job. Yesterday, I signed a contract with the Finnish Postal service. I will start as a systems architect of their logistics etc in early December. I am really happy: I am interested in logistics, new colleagues seem to be very nice, I get to use new technologies (even SOA etc), the office is close to my home and salary is not too bad either. And I do not have to stay and see how the Nokia-Siemens merger works out. Actually, I cannot find a single negative aspect!
We celebrated my new job by having a nice dinner in the restaurant Wellamo with Olli and Maritta.
I will take the whole November off. We will travel to London by plane, then take trains and ferries to Malta via Paris, Venice and Syracusa and return via Rome. Not too bad an adventure coming.
More updates later. I feel anew, reborn, relaxed. I have so much to say, so much to write about. But not today.

Monday 06-10-23
Do not feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that. Nagasawa in Norwegian wood

Back online

I guess I shut up for a while. Not that my life would have stopped, quite the contrary. I have met friends, relatives, read a lot, travelled a bit, drank too much a few times. But I have not felt the urge to write. I do not even feel it now, but my memory if failing faster by the year — this blog is my past, except for my dear friends who remember for me.
That's about it today. Maybe tomorrow is better. But how could it? I received great news today, had a nice dinner in Cafe Slussen, finished Murakami's Norwegian wood, got invited to a reception by the mayor, etc. The news is still secret, so keep on checking. Depending on the speed of the Finnish Postal service, it will become public in a day or two.

Monday 06-10-02
It is common to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. Franklin D. Roosevelt.

End of the world, if we do not react now!

According to Jim Hansen's newest research, one degree and we're done for.

"Further global warming of 1C defines a critical threshold. Beyond that we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know."
" Earth is already as warm as at any time in the last 10,000 years, and is within 1C of being its hottest for a million years, says Hansen's team. Another decade of business-as-usual carbon emissions will probably make it too late to prevent the ecosystems of the north from triggering runaway climate change. "

What can we do? Individually, each of us can cut down CO2-emissions by e.g. cutting down personal energy consumption by, say, 50%, which is quite easy. But actions of some enlightened individuals do not change the world. How could we raise this issue so that our government, even in Finland, would start to push for changes?

I think we now know enough about the dangers of staying on the course. We need to change, for I think the human civilization is just way too precious for committing a deliberate suicide. Even if we do not care about the rest of animals and plants, we should care for ourselves, our children and our future. We need to change! I think most of us would (and will, if given the opportunity) prefer survival over continuing current habits.
Please, leave comments and propose something. Let's get together and save our asses!

Good industries

Some good industries to work for in the near future, when energy is getting more and more expensive.

Public transportation equipment and traffic planning
Logistics tools and research as all current logistics will fail
Energy systems, especially local and distributed systems
Local irrigation systems with no need of oil
Bicycles companies and service systems
Sail ships and zeppelins
Energy storage systems - how to store wind and sun in hydrogen?
Carpentry, masonry
Basic healthcare

Bad industries, with bright short term future, are defence-offence and oil/mining and big pharma. Bad industries in general with no future are car and airliner manufacturing and related things.

Sunday 06-10-01
Vulgarity of the human hearth is when you think that you are better than somebody else. That's the root of all evil. Joseph Brodsky

Investment recommendation

Right now, a rational investor would invest in defence-offence industries and fences . A few days ago, the USA decided to build a fence at the Mexican border to keep the poor out of USA. I assume USA has enough poor people already. Today, the news tell us that Saudis build 550-mile fence to shut out Iraq . Saudis are afraid of the Iraqi civil war creating an exodus. So, the Bushian Iraq is so dangerous, that even Saudis (whom, I remind, were behind the 9/11), are afraid of the situation. How big a success the Iraq-occupation has been, if even allies of the USA do not trust what USA is doing and achieving.

Investment decisions

In 2004, I had to choose between investing in stocks, real estate, or education. I chose education and used a significant amount of money in my MIT-education. So far, it has not paid off, financially speaking, so either I was not rational or I made a wrong choice. On the other hand, I enjoyed my time in MIT a lot and learned hugely. I also met some bright and nice people, whom I otherwise would not have met. So, I got a lot for my money. Furthermore, I still think that getting a degree in every 7 to 10 years is a good habit. So, maybe I made a wise choice and am happier this way. I may still earn enough to buy some real estate, which I do consider a nuisance, but which seems to have its advantages.

October

October, but no fest around here. Just delightful autumn rain. About the right weather for the 264th annual Helsinki Baltic Herring Fair, absolutely one of the highlights of life in Helsinki. In about 1 hour I will be there, tasting and buying some delicious herring products.