(Goethe)
A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. Bob Dylan quote
A week gone by. What has happened? Can I still remember? Let me try. No, I really cannot, but something like this I have been doing.
Tieto & Trendit by the Finnish national center of statistic tells that Finnish exports collapsed by 30% or so in a year. This is very bad, as it means our GDP collapsing by 10%. Not as bad a situation as in Latvia and California (both bankrupt), but bad enough.
If one is to run a business or a corporation, one is well advised to document one's information systems. Undocumented information systems are about as stupid thing to have as are undocumented fleet of buses for a bus company.
Nothing, really, absolutely nothing. This is what getting old must mean.
Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. Igor Stravinsky
Another Monday and Tuesday. Working for the same customer for many months makes working life a routine. Nothing much happens. But I have no stress, everything is easy and pleasant. No challenges, at least not intellectual ones. Which is not good for in the long run. Need to find challenges. Maybe it is time to start my PhD again. In theoretical philosophy, as it is much harder than engineering.
Yesterday, after work I spend some idle time at home, went out cycling for 90 minutes, fixed S's bicycle and drank a lot of wine. We sat on the balcony, sipped wine, watched drunken, but happy people passing by. It was the first day when we Finns really felt the summer, which of course was a good reason for celebrating.
Today, after work I got some books from the post office, took a nap, walked to the gym for a short exercise, and is now drinking Cointreau. Not bad.
My books and movies pages are now up to date.
Radspannerei is a good bicycle shop in Berlin. I will buy a new bicycle with Surly Cross-Check frame in July when we will spend two weeks in Berlin.
I found that a simple notebook is still more practical than computer for note taking, drafting and whatnot. I wonder whether is just my generation or do teens behave differently.
Nothing really. How sad!
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday. John Wayne
What a great weekend. On Friday evening, I went to the national archive of visual culture (a.k.a Orion) to watch Bunuel's Mazarin. It turned out to be just as good as its reputation has it. A study of religion, false nobility, and superstition. Back at home, late at night, I stayed awake until 5.30 am reading a novel by Maarit Verronen (Yksinäinen vuori). It is a fairytale for adults, a strange story of a mountain, a valley, and people living in the valley. Especially a man, who finds that the valley gives him special power. Well written, captivating.
On Saturday, slept late, went out in the forest for a 1h45min cycling trip, saw some farm animals, enjoyed light rain. In the evening, had lunch in the Chinese buffet in the Kaisaniemi metro station (as I always do in the weekend), visited the world village festival, bought a book by W.S. Burroughs, and then idled at home, drinking Cointreaus with S.
On Sunday, went to listen to Maritta Kuula in the festival, to see a nice performance event in Galleria Huuto, to watch the new Star Trek movie (the worst movie I have ever seen). Came back home, but found that Star Trek was so bad that the only antidote for cultural poisoning would be to see another movie. Thus, wend to Kava.fi to see 'She wore the yellow ribbon', was cured and saved from cultural crap.
Watching the crises is a good collection of financial news, gossips, and some analysis.
Avoid all movies, which a) are made in Hollywood and b) mainly contain computer graphics.
Well, in addition to seeing three movies I have not seen before, to eating ice cream with Cointreau, nothing.
The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else. George Bernard Shaw
Work on Wednesday and Friday. Some excercise daily. Good music by RSO. Dinner with friends. Good life.
We love Helsinki is a good place for spotting new cafes, restaurants and the like.
Today: it is wiser to buy only 50 grams of chocololate than 250 grams. One cannot help eating it up anyway. Yesterday: cycling is fun even when one is very reluctant to leave the arm chair and the book. On Wednesday: coffee makes me sweat profusely even when it is not that warm outside; coffee also makes me very sleepy.
Today: visited the newest cafeteria in Kallio: Villipuutarha. Good coffee, delicious cakes, and stuffed animals. Yesterday: visited Dong Bei Hu in the new location. Food still good, but somewhat less carefully prepared, prices are up with 25% or so. Still worth a visit, but not that often anymore. On Wednesday: the world premiere of Magnus Lindberg's new composition GRAFFITI in the Finlandia hall by RSO and conductor Sakari Orama. Superb! Astonishing, one of the best concerts ever.
Toda: Nothing much. Walking for one hour. Yesterday: cycling (for the first time since early Februar) for 105 minutes, some 26 km. On Wednesday: walking 10 km, some 100 minutes.
It is social aptitude, not intellectual brilliance or social class, that leads to succsful aging. Relationships matter more than anything else. George Vaillant
A quite ordinary day. Woke up early, found the fridge empty, had breakfast in the cafeteria below our kitchen (superb sandwiches), walked to the office, sat in meetings, did some systems architecture work, spoke in the phone, tried to learn from mistakes (having made a very naive architecting mistake: not having considered all alternative functional splits), had lunch (pizza) with S in the new Italian restaurant in Sörnä:inen, had a nice walk by the sea after work, coffee in the Sinisen huvilan kahvila (while reading about George Vaillant's work on the human condition, came home, now sitting in our balcony, sipping wine, reading, writing.
Without hot air explais most things one needs to know about energy. Worth some days of surfing.
Never assume that the first proposed solution is the right or best one. Always start from requirements and functions, only then consider forms and functional split. I always tend to forget this and then I do some stupid design decisions.
I am writing this blog in our balcony. Something I have never done before. The temperature is 12C.
Nothing much. Walking maybe 35 minutes.
On Friday: walked to the office, had a suprisingly productive day, with Fazer Amica lunch of something that they claimed to be risotto but was not (they always claim too much), walked to the city center, met with Tanja to discuss about a book project, took a tram to Kallio, listened to politicians' (Rantanen, Walgren) opinions about city planning with some NGO feedback, celebrated Jukka'c 13-year career and the end of it at Nokia in the Kotiharjun sauna and in the restaurant Sea Horse (which serves the best fried herring in the world).
On Saturday. Had nice cup of coffee in a new cafeteria in Kalevankatu with S. Tried to buy a futon. Found a futon too expensive. Took a train to Tampere, met brother and mother and later a friend, had a few drinks while watching the Eurovision song contest, took a taxi home (or my mother's place). On Sunday, met with another friend (Tuire) to plan our high school reunion. Took a train back to Helsinki.
On Monday. Walked to work and back. Had the first ice cream in an outdoor cafeteria (The Bearpark cafe), idled at home.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. Harry S. Truman
Today: traveling by 4 busses to Otaniemi, having breakfast with Sofigate colleagues, visiting a systems vendors in Perkkaa, taking taxi back to the center of Helsinki, sitting and talking in meetings, preparing some plans, trying to figure out how to make project more successful, walking to Hakaniemi, taking a tram to Bulevardi, having coffee at Ekberg, taking a tram back to Hakaniemi, getting vaccinating againt some bug fewer, having a fish hamburger, taking a tram home, commenting some documents while sipping red wine, reading about the way we Finns collaborated with the Nazis, writing this.
Zanzar.com helps when one does not own, nor wants to steal, some rare software. It is able to convert between quite a few file formats. Very useful.
It is always necessary to learn something every day. But it is hard, and becomes even harder with age. Too many things repeat themselves, life becomes ordinary. But today, I learned what allocation rules in SAP mean. Not bad, given that I do hate accounting.
I got vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis.
Nothing much. Walking maybe 20 minutes.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Winston Churchill
Walk, work, restaurant, tram, restaurant, library, books, walk, restaurant, tram, home. A good day.
Funny how I still have next to nothing to write about.
I am kind of fed up with Facebook. It is just taking too much time and not giving enough in return. Since I need to have one internet addiction, I consider addicting to Twine.com, which is a Facebook of idea. Check it out.
Did I learn anything today? Let me think: I may have learnt something about ERP system deployment while we were designing such a thing today. It turned out to be more complicated than I anticipated. I also refreshed my knowledge of Finnish history by visiting an exhibition in the national library. So, not a totally waster day from learning point of view.
A day without anything new is an ordinary day. There are too many ordinary days in my life, maybe in lives of all middle ages men and women. Nothing much new today: only thing was to carry my work laptop with a thick book without a bag in rain.
I also visited a new restaurant: Pitaco, an Italian restaurant in Kurvi. A decent place. Pizzas are good, but too small for myself.
Walking from home to the office by the nearest sea bay. That is 35 minutes in the morning. In the evening, a lazy stroll with S from the library to a Chinese restaurant in Hakaniemi.
What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth? Cicero
Walked to the office in Sörnäinen, spend quite enough time in meetings, even in many teleconferences (which do not come naturally to the Finns, as we are too quiet), replied to emails, surfed the net while waiting for replies to my replies (as I am usually too timid to call), had industrial food for lunch, etc. All this took 8 hours.
After work, I gathered all my initiative, courage, and strengt and visited the gym for a good 45-minute workout. No streching, of course, just some semi-serious weight lifting. Then a light dinner in the local Ukrainian restaurant.
The local library in Vallila arranged a lecture / discussion on the collaboration of the Finnish and Nazi security police forces before and during the WWII. Not something we ought to be either ashamed or proud, merely an historical accident. The discussion was based on Oula Silvennoinen PhD dissertation. Very interesting. I bought the book, of course. Maybe I will write more about it later.
Strange Maps is an eclectic collection of strange maps. The maps are as such very entertaining, but not only that. They also tell profound stories about the way various cartographers have seen the world, and how political ideologies have changes the way we see the world. The site is worth many visits.
Well, not maybe today, but not long ago. I realize that since I quit coffee, I have become less agitated and have been able to concentrate much better. Very strange.
I walked for the first time in life along Päijänteentie in Vallila, Helsinki. It is not every day that I find new roads close to my home. I wonder why I have not used this road earlier, as it provides a nice shortcut from my home to Vallila.
There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot. Plato
The DOW is at its lowest level since late 1997. See the graph at Google Finance. It is hard to see how the DOW or any other stock market index could rise in 2009 or 2010. All indexes on real economy are point down. And we are running out of some crucial resources: oil, water, CO2 absorbtion. I think we saw the peak economy a year ago and are now on our way to much lower level of economic activity. For example, even tough the fleet turnover rate of US automobiles is now 27 years, the peaking oil production will see to that the car industry will not recover.
Mihn is blogging on her rehab experiences. I find her writing in general and this blog entry in particular very interesting. My daily circles are so far from many the of the others, that this kind of diary blogging provides me a climpse I could not have otherwise.
Someone who was working in IT and got fired twice within a year, is blogging on his/her experiences in Helsingin sanomat using the pseudonym irtisanottu (in English: fired). Very interesting discussions. As the economy will deteriorate, these discussiong will become more heated.
In addition to various concerts (jazz, contemporary, etc), movies, reading books (not many enough to keep my new year resolution of 120 books), occasional work trips to Turku, and drinking maybe a bit too much, I have mostly been working. At one customer. More than eight hours a day. As a project manager now turning into a systems architect. In all, been either busy with culture events or too tired for blogging. Or both.
In the beginning of February, Markus from 15/30 and Toni arrange a TED club. The idea is simple: 10 or so people pay the TED associate fee, gather at 15/30 (they have a lovely office next to the best cafeteria in all Northern Europe), watch TED lectures live from California. Some of the presentations were interesting, some were on topics about which more or less anyone even half-decently educated citizen knows about. But every presentation was well prepared and given. See more at Ted.com.
Maybe meetings the other 8 or so at the TED club was worth even more than the presentations. Both Markus and Toni have good connections and wide and varied circle of friends. The club may give birth to something interesting in the future.
The bi-annual Musica Nova festival of contemporary music took place last week. We went to listen to Marilyn Nonken , ICE, Billy Harper, and RSO. Harper was a slight disappointment, the other concerts were exceptionally excellent. How nice it is to live in a city and country and time where/when one can listen to such music. We are really priviledged. Truly.
Of movies, we saw Happy-go-lucky. I cannot tell whether I liked it or not. Mysterious movie.
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. Diogenes
Japanese industrial production is down 21 percent year over year. In Finland, it is only down 16 percent. Macy's is cutting 7000 jobs. UK commercial property values are down by 26 percent.
See also what Joseph Stiglitz thinks about it all (from the US point of view). There are also some other interesting articles on economics in alternet.org.
If this goes cliff diving continues for a year, we have solve climate change issues. Half of the industry will be gone...
Via Lavonardo's blog: an excellent visualisation of the US budget. I wish somebody would do similar for Finland.
Mostly work. Some fun too: I went to the gym for 30 minutes and had a nice short walk late in the evening. Work was discussions with various vendors in the project I am taking over. I am pleased to note that I am working with professional and all of them are trying their best. Now, I am sure I will sleep well tonight. Last night I did not. I woke up so many time worrying the project. No need to do so anymore.
Either mathematics is too big for the human mind or the human mind is more than a machine. Kurt Gödel
S and I celebrated our 12th anniversary by dance event Jossain on jotain by Eeva Muilu at Zodiak and by having an excellent dinner in the restaurant Lyon. The dance event was not that impressive (more about it later in my book blog someday), but the dinner was exceptional. It is a pity that I do not know the dishes in English, but in Finnish I had mustajuurikeittoa kera pistaasivoin, paahdettua siikaa kera etanarisoton ja pernodvaahdon ja lopuksi creme brulee. She had rabbit, viiriäinen, and omenapaistos. Some good wines, of course and also some superb cinnamon grappa. So rare that I cannot even find it by Google.
I think we shall visit decent restaurants more often in the future. After all, what is the point of working hard if one cannot enjoy life?
I have lost my understanding of my age. I feel ageless: not young, not old, and not any definite age. It is very strange. Sometimes rather disturbing
I was challenged to a meme by Istori. I should tell 25 random things about myself. Well, please take a look at the various list I have published lately. I will challenge any blogger who reads this blog. There are not that many readers, so I may need to be rather lucky to be able to challenge the next 25 bloggers.
Today's website of note is Informed Comment by Juan Cole. His writing as more important than even now that the new US administration is trying to find its way around the Middle East.
Just for the record: it takes 45 minutes to clean our small home. Thus, it really would not make any sense to hire anyone to do it. I can spend the 45 minutes every week or every second week.
I am still planning and doing research for my first book. It will be about the future of Finland. Because of this research, and some other issues, I do not feel like writing anything about politics here or elsewhere.
The meaning of a proposition is the method of its verification. Moritz Schlick
Visits to Turku continue. Yesterday, as always, I took the 7.45 am Pendolino from Pasila. This time, I decided to save some money and travelled in the 2nd class. It was not a good idea. The chairs are designed by some Italian midgets. They are way too narrow for a grown up man.
Otherwise the visit was good. We got some important work done.
One of my customers has two networks in the office. There is the internal network, which requires plugging in the wired networks. There is also a wireless network for visitors. The internal, wired, network has URL-bases filtering on. A list of blocked site includes halocan.com, facebook.com, blogger.com (but not blogsome.com) and other website, which are "social websites" or something. The funny thing is that the wireless network does not have any filtering.
What is the point?
Today, top five sports
I have a recurrent dream in which I learn how to fly a helicopter. Then I always rescue some civilians from various catastrophes. It is a pity that helicopters are rather expensive and that there are no cheap enough helicopters for everybody.
The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it. V. S. Naipaul
I need to visit Kaarina, a suburb of Turku, almost weekly on business. It is not that bad. It takes about 2.5 hours from my home to the Kaarina office. By tram, train and taxi. I will not comment the work itself. After work, I either take the taxi, train, and tram back home or just taxi to the Hamburger Börs hotel in Turku centre. In the latter case, I will have a nice dinner at e.g. Sergio's, go to movies and in general have good and relaxing time.
I was in Turku from Thursday to Friday, on Monday and will be again tomorrow on Wednesday.
Sunday was a day of movies. The last day of Docpoint 2009. I saw Up the Yangtze, Man on Wire, and Japan, a story of love and hate. All of them were exceptionally good documentaries. More reflections later in my book blog. I also managed to play pinball for an hour. Excellent. I wish weekend would be longer and maybe a little faster.
I spent Saturday the way I like it. Read until early hours, slept late, had lunch with S in a Thai restaurant, played pinball for an hour, read books in the Academic Bookstore for two hours, visited an art gallery , had coffee with Petri & Mila, visited another art exhibition ( Pilviin piirretty ) with them, saw a movie (Viimeinen bolsevikki (Le Tombeau d'Alexandre) ) still with them, and finally had a few pints of beer with Sami & Veera. A great day. Full of fun, interesting discussions, and art. exhibition
I wish every Sunday would be a good. Or even better when S has time to join me.
On Friday, I went to see Karanteeni in Semifinal. Karanteeni is an punk bank from the 1970's. They have not made any new song since early 1980's. They still have not learnt to play. But they are funny, do not take themselves seriously at all. Imagine 50-something men playing songs they wrote in their late teen, song in which they complain about teenage issues. It is just hilarious.
On Monday, I visited Turku. Nothing more. Stayed at home. On Sunday, I bicycled 20 km and visited the gym. Not fun, pure arduous exercise.
Today, top five movies
Extremely romantic pictures of industrial ruins. No need to say more. Just take a look and be fascinated.
There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them. Werner Karl Heisenberg
I rode my bicycle to the office, did some work, spent too much time on Facebook for some reason, had lunch in the Market Hall, came back home, took a nap, went out for a 20-km bicycle ride in the darkness, idled. Did not even finish a single book.
I had tickets to Tavastia tonight. Division of Laura Lee was playing there. But I just got too tired. I also have to wake up at 6am on Thursday since I have to catch an early train to Turku.
I will have some free time in the evening in Turku. I guess I will go to movies, as I do not know what else to do there. Any ideas?
Today, top five cafeterias in Helsinki
Reading Al Jazeera allows one to look at our culture from outside. It helps!
Charity is no substitute for justice withheld. Saint Augustine
A normal day in a life of consultant. Waking up way too late, taking tram to a customer's office for a three-hour workshop. Taking a bus to our own office for another workshop. Eating a cake. Thinking of enterprise systems architectures of yet two other customers. Not boring. Drinking coffee. Taking a bus back home, taking a nap, having a walk, reading, writing, idling.
Not too bad.
I am afraid that too many see Obama as a saviour after an apocalypse. We have witnessed too much religious fervour already. The last thing is we need more of the same. Or rather not: the worse thing would be the faith in progress in human affairs to continue. There is none.
That said, I wish the new US administration takes climate change seriously and is able to convince its subjects also. It will not be easy: lowering living standards is never easy. In the USA it will be especially hard: the suburbia, the highway system, the American way of living are just not sustainable. And the USA does not have the money to change them.
If I were religious, I would say that we have just seen the beginning of the Apocalypse. But since I am not, I will just note that most who put their faith in Obama's abilities to change the USA (or to prevent the empire from collapsing) will be disappoited.
Not least because the US government may itself be broken, maybe beyond repair.
But then again, Obama is the man. Even the Queen knows that.Today, top five means of travelling
The best of Pepe Escobar follows international politics with vigour. A view from the south, telling us how things look like in the slum. Also rather well formulated ideas on the New Great Game. And funny, always.
Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity Michel de Montaigne
Oh the joys of consulting: today I visited two customers and also spent two hours in our own office. I enjoy this variety a lot. It might be that I am somewhat extroverted. Or just impatient, not able to work on one thing for a whole day.
But there is a problem.
In her book Tähtien väliset viivat (lines between stars) Merete Mazzarella writes on identity (following Sartre):
We must especially avoid adopting roles, which are based on selling our consideration, friendly interest. One must not just one's professional role, but strive for something bigger, outside the profession.This applies well to consulting. One must be oneself, not the role. And one would be stupid to work to much, to risk losing one's identity in profession. As a consultant.
Today, top five favourite books.
Let us take a look at unsold cars. At the same time, we can take a look at Guardian's comment is free — a place for reading interesting essays and for enjoying lively debate.
The median home price in Detroit last month was 7500 USD. Not much. So, there will be more and more forgotten Detroit, ruins and ruins, crime and punishment. We are not immune here in EU either. The former Eastern block is imploding. Riots in Sofia and Riga. Biggest since 1991 in Riga. Bad.
In Finland, a paper mill company just announced that it will temporarily stop paying salaries to 5000 employees. Not good.
But some nice houses are cheap in Detroit. In Helsinki 150 kUSD would not buy a studio.
I hope I never get so old I get religious. Ingmar Bergman
UK is about to invest about 30 to 60 percent of its GDP in saving banks. That is quite remarkable, if not insane. Look for more at Calculatedrisk.com. I wonder whether saving banks really is that necessary. I guess there could be more productive and future looking alternatives for those huge amounts. See what Hellasious proposes.
I have been out and about. Or not out in literal sense, but not at home. On Friday evening, I went to see what Finnish and French performance artist have been doing in Amorph!08. There was some kind of mini festival at Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary. More about the event in my books and events blog. In due time.
On Saturday, I was tired. Maybe because of my successful attempt to drink all beer available at Piippo's gallery. So, I slept late and just made it to SEA. They were showing Mika Taanila's Futuron and Pori (with Mr. Musicnautand his spouse and S. Music was performed by Circle. Excellent music and interesting films.
On Sunday, we celebrated S's sister's birthday. Afterwards, I went to see the film Wrestler. More about it later, also in my other blog.
I also read two books. A nice weekend.
Top five favourite restaurants at the moment
Computer history museum and its timeline of computer history is just fascinating. I spend some early morning hours just browsing the timeline, looking for more information on some old machines and languages. And I found, e.g., the risk digest. How come it is so that reading about mistakes of others is so fun?
When I grow up I want to be a little boy. Joseph Heller
I took 18.5 years before I returned to the crime scene. In May 1990 we occupied an empty soap factory in Helsinki. Our idea was to make sure that the city would not demolish the factory, which is a nice building. Instead, we wanted to city to convert the factory to some other use, for example a space for youth.
Not quite. Today the building houses the Theater Academy. So the squat was worth the trouble.
Top five favourite cities
Index on Censorship follow the right of free speech. It also publishes prohibited/cencored poetry. I have been following IOC since 1986.
If the material is challenging, it forces you to challenge yourself when handling it. Joel Coen
Many people find changing jobs somewhat stressing. As a consultant, I have to do it many times a year. And it is stressing for me as well. The first days at a new customer's site require a lot of energy. I am not sure whether it is fun, but I guess it is just part of the job.
During my 20 months at Sofigate, I have worked for at least 16 customers. Rather many.
I have always thought that it is impossible to land a modern airliner on the water. I assumed that the engines would tear the wings away. Today an airliner then landed in the Hudson river and did not break. Instead, it floated for quite a while. I am surprised.
Really, that is something I learned today. ( <== also a mental health break)
Top 5 hotels I been stayed in are
Just World News with Helena Cobban contains well thought and presented analysis of current affairs. It is a great compliment to Juan Cole's rants and reflections. From younger generation, I like to read at-Largely by Larisa Alexandrovna. Check them out!
How does it feel to be a mother of a thousand dead? CRASS
It takes 17 minutes to walk to the office. It would take 8 minutes by bicycle. I intend to start cycling to the office, because then I can have lunch in the market hall. How civilized (and cheap) would that be? The local Amica is decent but I am still reluctant to pay 8.2 euros for industrial food.
After work, it takes 7 minutes by foot to the oldest library in Finland. From there, by tram, 10 minutes to the centre. Excellent.
Having to work in suburbia is terrible.
1980's favourite songs from youtube.
BE exactly who you want to be, do what you want to do I am he and she is she but you're the only you No one else has got your eyes, can see the things you see It's up to you to change you life and my life's up to me The problems that you suffer from are problems that you make The shit we have to climb through is the shit we choose to take If you don't like the life you life, change it now it's yours Nothing has effect if you don't recognise the cause If the programmes's not the one you want, get up, turn off the set It's only you that can decide what life you're gonna get If you don't like religion you can be the antichrist If your tired of politics you can be an anarchist But no on ever changed the church by pulling down the steeple And you'll never change the syustem by bombing number ten Systems just aren't made of bricks they're most made of people You may send then into hiding, but they'll be back again If you don't like the rules they make, regust to play their game If you don't want to be a numver, don't give them your name If you don't wnat to be caught out, refuse to hear their question Silence is a virtue, use it for your own protection They'll try to make you play their game,refuse to show your face Be exactly who you want to be, do what you want to do I am he and she is she but you're the only you.
Some new songs by Bob Mould. Worth listening. Quieter than back in 1980s but very interesting.
At Nakedcapitalism.com one can follow what is going on in global economics. The site has good balance of analysis, attitude and breath. One of my favourite economics websites. In addition to calculatedrisk.com.
Racism? But isn't it only a form of misanthropy? Joseph Brodsky
IStory has a collection of blogs from/on Gaza. Worth a read! Check them out.
Somehow I managed to delete the rss.pl program, which produces my rss-feed. It took a while to locate the right backup. Now the rss-feed should work again. At least it works for me. Any bug reports, please?
I was looking for information on a characted Uki in a new Finnish film Rööperi. I found a site called Murha.info (murder.info). It is full of very detailed information on murders, speculation on who killed whom etc. Some people just seem to have too much time on their hands.
In case you are interested in Uki (Ugi Kukkamaa), click here. But be warned on adolescent stuff.
Price comparisons Helsinki vs Berlin.
It really seems that I have to work as a project manager. Not that I am not able, but I am not that used to project management. I am sure I will do fine, but it still makes me nervous. Which is good, for at least I cannot be complacent. But the best thing is the commute: 1.7 km by foot. On my way back, I can drop by my gym for some exercise. Should make me a bit leaner.
Strange things are happening all the time. Juan Cole reports that the PM of Israel, Mr Olmert, boast that he can order Mr Bush around. Mr Olmert claims that he told Mr Bush to tell Ms Rice to vote against a resolution (which would have condemmed Israel) in UN Security Council. Read reports. If this is true, then US has been (and most likely will still be even after Mr Obame takes over) in deep shit.
The story reminds me of the stories how the dictator of East Germany, Mr. Ullbricht, used to have way too much influence on some bosses of the Soviet Union. And it did not end well, for either side.
If American is exceptional it is in the power of religion. John Gray
I have two new blogs.
120 kirjaa - 120 books is a collection of book reviews, reflections on literature, movie reports, concerts criticism and other similar stuff. I intend to read at least 120 books this year and write something about each of them. The idea is to write in Finnish about Finnish books, in English about English etc. I intend to read a few books also in German and Swedish. For that reason, I bought Stefan Aust's Der Baader Meinhof Complex in Berlin. It has some 600 pages, so with 2 pages a day it would take me the rest of the year. And I have not started yet.6001 km is a blog on cycling. As one can guess, my goal is to cycle 6001 km in 2009 (the title 6000km was already taken). So far, 19 km this year.
While I was in Germany, I got a new customer. Customer's premises (HQ) are close to my home. I will commute by foot. Which is nice and as I have always wanted to, but there are two things which make me hesitant. First, I will miss cycling in the mornings. Second, since I will be spending a lot of time at customer's premises, I will spend less time in the National Library. So, I will have more stable income, but less fun. I am not sure how good a trade-off this is. Let us see. I will report in time.
At dentist's. Time to think deep thoughts. Necessary to think deep thoughts. Otherwise it will hurt. Even with local anaesthesia. Today, I realised that when one it is best when one does not notice one's body. Most of the times when one is aware of having a body, something is wrong. But not always. There are exceptions. Sex and exercise at least. Maybe others.
Now that there are many vacant houses in the USA, the question is what to do with them. And what to do with those exurban sites, which are too far from everywhere and which have no value. In Finland, we will have the same problem, as I have written many times. Anyway, a nice op-ed in NYT today: What will save the suburbs?.
Human affairs are too complicated and difficult for any one kind of government to be universally practicable and desirable. John Gray
It has been a while since I wrote anything here. There are excuses, some of them valid, but I will not dwell in them here. Let me just note that I did not have too much work to do in December, but I had many parties to attend. It was also very dark and depressing, incessant rain and strong winds here in Helsinki. In such conditions, I somehow did not manage to keep my spirits up, to muster enough energy to write anything here. I do have some notes elsewhere, but they are a mixture of work related things and private stuff and thus not publishable.
That is enough of past two months or so. Now I am back, fresh and energetic after a terrific vacation in Berlin and Stockholm. It is still raining, but days are already a bit longer, and I should have enough work to do. Which means that I will have more energy to write blog as well.
So, I intend to write daily. I also intend to start two new blogs. One for writing reviews of books I read, movies I see, gigs I visit etc. The other for recording my cycling this year. The blogs should be up for interested readers to peruse in a week or so. I will give urls later.
While I was away in Berlin, Israel decided to commit war crimes and murder innocent civilians. I happened to visit the Jewish Museum in Berlin. It occurred to me that the Germans should also establish a Palestinian museum next to the Jewish one. It would be worthwhile to document the current concentration camps and ghettos; to record the history of the Palestinian people and their sufferings.
We travelled from Helsinki to Berlin by ferry and train. It was much more relaxing that it would have been by plane. And it does not take that long to travel ecofriendly. Overnight to Stockholm, 5 hours to Malm&oulm;, 1 hour to Copenhagen, 6 hours to Hamburg. Since there are no train from Hamburg to Berlin in the night, we stayed overnight at Hotel Schanzenstern. It is a nice, cheap and clean place. A bit chilly inside, for the Germans mind the climate much more that we Finns do. They do serve delicious breakfast, which is made from organically farmed ingredients. In the morning we took an ICE-train to Berlin. It takes only 100 minutes from Hamburg to Berlin, to the wonderful new Hauptbahnhof.
The trip back from Berlin to Stockholm takes only 12 hours: from 11.20 am to 11:39pm. The route is the same and there is time for a beer at the Hamburg station (which is by the way one of the most beautiful public space in the world). There is also time for nice lunch in the ferry betweeb Puttgarten and Rödby. Furthermore, the SJ serves decent food on their X2000 trains.
Travelling by train is very convenient today. Only poor people, who lack money or time, travel by plane. I will not travel by plane (except maybe for business) inside Europe anymore.
We stayed in 4 hotels:
In addition to Pelikan in Stockholm, I would recommend the following two restaurants in Berlin.
