Mane

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 v...

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 f...

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. Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs October to November 2006".

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...

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. Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs October to November 2006".

Helsingin Sanomat, Mielipide, 18.10.2006 MedOne-ulkoistuksessa on jotain hämärää. Helsinki haluaa olla ostamatta palveluita Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiiriltä. Tämä onnistuu vain vähentämällä potilaiden määrää tai lisäämällä hoitopaikkoja. Potilaiden määrään kaupunki ei voi vaikuttaa, mutta hoitopaikkoja se voi omistamiinsa sairaaloihin rakentaa lisää. Kaupungin sijaan MedOne rakentaa kaupungin omistamaan sairaalaan lisää hoitopaikkoja. Näitä hoitopaikkoja MedOne sitten myy edelleen kaupungille. Äkkinäisempi ajattelisi, että pragmaattisempaa olisi kaupungin itse rakentaa hoitopaikkoja. Ei tarvitsisi sitten ostaa niitä muilta. Matti Kinnunen Helsinki

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...

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, financiall...

      [Home]   [ Index ] [ Permalinks ] [ RSS ] [ Blogs of note ] A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days. ( Goethe ) September 2006   Saturday 06-09-30   We can no longer afford a system that values profits over prosperity.   Matt Harris   Strange   The Finnish government has decided to replace 5.75% of gasoline with ethanol in ten years or so. If the goal is to decrease dependency from imported energy, to cut down CO2-emissions, or something like that, it would be simple just to cut down our gasoline consumption by the said 5.75%. Not to speak of the fact that distilling ethanol from potatoes, as the government plans to do, is losing energy: it takes more energy than it gives. In fact, it may even take more oil than it replaces.   In Sweden, on the contrary, they plan to distill methanol from wood, which is cheaper and produced heat and electricity as side products. I should calculate, how large a ...