Cities of future / Morning / Bridge / Mending things / Weekend recap

The average, healthy, well-adjusted adult gets up at seven-thirty in the morning feeling just plain terrible. Jean Kerr

Cities of future

James Kunstler has written an excellent summary of his book tilted The long emergency. I tend to think that Mr. Kunstler has got it right, and that future will not bode well for the USA in particular. In Europe, we still have some cities, but our dependence of oil will become a major problem soon.

Morning

Really, it is just plain terrible to wake up before nine o'clock. Brains frozen, body aching and stiff, creaking and clanking. It is against all laws of nature to wake up when it is dark. Thus, I try to avoid it. Should be enough to be at the office 9.30 or so, and if it is not, I must start cycling. Cycling to work would allow me to wake up 8.45 (twilight) and still reach the office (physically, though not with working brains) by 9.10.
My brother works in shifts. He claims that the night shift is the best and the morning shift the worst, next to impossible to bear. I tend to agree with him.
The only way wake my brains up seems to be writing blog or something else, then having some light exercise. Just getting on the bus and appearing at the office will destroy my day and productivity.

Bridge

When I was young, Finland boasted its ability to build bridges between east and west, Russia and Europe. We considered ourselves non-partial, even though we were not. But we arranged some high level meetings, bringing together people over the iron curtain.
It still happens, although only on personal level. On Saturday, I met Eivind, an Norwegian engineer who used to study with me in MIT, and his girlfriend Olge from Russia. It is easiest and cheapest for them to meet in Helsinki. Or at least most romantic. And we, natives in Helsinki, should be proud of being the hosts.
Actually, much better to stage romantic encounters than semi-military ones.

Mending things

The Guardian runs a story on how hard it is to get things repeaired today. For most things, no spare parts exist. If spares exist, it usually costs more to get them installed than to buy a brand new thing. It is a pity, for we cannot really go on like this much longer as we will run out of resources.
Sometimes, repairing broken things is possible, even though almost as expensive as buying new ones. Our DVD broke down last autumn. Getting it fixed took 2 months and cost 85 euros. It was worth the cost and wait, for the player plays records of all area codes and has good sound quality, much better than the cheap new ones.
Fixing bicycles or getting them fixed is still possible and makes sense. Same for shoes and some clothes. Maybe we still have some hope.

Weekend recap

On Friday, a mini SIG with Aaro and Lavonardo. I continued with Aaro until the early hours, ending up in the Roskapankki. It is necessary and always enjoyable to meet friends, discuss for hours. Life without friends would be rather short. On Saturday evening, Lemmy threw his monthly game night party. Lavonardo has already written a nice summary of it. I played mostly pinball, making my record (340 million) in the Twilight Zone. I also got some 7 billion in the Attack from Mars, which is not my record, but still made me happy.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January 2007".