(Goethe)
Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it Confucius quote
Today, on Wednesday, I do not have anything to do, which would require leaving the city centre for the ugly suburbs. I will have breakfast in some cafeteria with S, then stay in the National Library for some 8 hours (the most civilised, the most beautiful building in Finland) and write two systems architecture specifications. Oh, it will be fun, and I will learn a lot while writing.
Most likely I will work in the library also on Thursday and Friday. After work on Friday, I will leave for Stockholm, for the Stockholm Pinball Open. Such a nice week.
Another interesting meeting with Päivi, Maunu, Aaro, Pekka, Olli, Maritta, Timo F, O-V, Tappi, and S. Discussion on the Chinese foreign policy, crows and their pursuits, music, literature, and business strategies of NSN. I had promised discussions on climate change based on Isomäki's new book, but failed to deliver. Next time, then.
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. Isaac Newton
I mean memory. It seems I have already lost it. So I have to write down what I have been doing (outside job that is, for I just cannot write down - here - what I do for living, in detail at least). But then I have the problem! I simply cannot recall what I was up to on Friday. I remember cycling to the office, working on an RFP, visiting a customer and discussing business strategy and its requirements for ICT. Then I do not remember a thing! I know I must have bicycled back home. Maybe I did not do anything worth remembering. Or are my days becoming ordinary? What a nightmare.
On Thursday, it was a quite day at the office - actually writing some graph management software in Perl. Fun. In the evening, I visited Kirjasto 10 (a public Library) for Clip Kino. It is a event for watching short films, this time East European animations. The best of them Reci, reci, reci by Michaela Pavlatova is such a deep treatise on the human condition, that not watching it right now is plain stupid.
On Saturday, we visited Tampere and Hämeenkyrö for my cousins' high school graduation/schools out/matriculation party. A nice, small party, with our whole kin (it is so small), in an old mansion by a river. The cousins' had done well, and will certainly have interesting (and successfull) adventures and studies ahead.
On Sunday, sleeping late, taking part in anti-nuclear power demonstration, taking a long nap, then writing a systems architecture specification for many hours. Late in the evening, watching videos of fast motorbikes. I wish could just once try such a bike. Or maybe I better not to.
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka
I found an article telling how GM is about to go bankrupt and how there is next to nothing it can do about it. But it seems that it will not be alone. Suddendebt.com published today very interesting set of curves. It seems that the US housing market has still some way down. I just wonder how long the Finnish one can keep up? In a way I hope that not for long, for I would like to buy an apartment in Alppila. At the moment, I find the prices some 30 percent too high. How selfish is that?
I got lucky in the Sörkka Pinball Open 2008 (SPO2008). After the first day, I was at the 16th place and just made it to the second day. I played rather well in the second day and finish at the 4th place. Much better than that 15th place in 2007 and the 8th place in 2006. See the results at the tournament web pages. See also Lavonardo's blog entry on the games themselves.
In 8 days, I will in Stockholm for the Stockholm Open. It makes sense to participate as I am rather confident in my skills. I just need to get lucky once again.
I have not been as nervous as I was during the SPO2008 final game since some exams in MIT.
On Friday, working in the library, having my lunch in the only Kurdish restaurant in Helsinki, then rushing to the SPO2008, playing the 6 qualifying games with varying success, rushing back home, taking tram and bus to Christian's 40th birthday party in Olari, Espoo. His brother happens to be one of the cooks in the Savoy restaurant, one of the best in Helsinki, and he cooked at the party. Excellent food, also plentiful. Drinks were also plentiful. We had to leave when the party ran out of wine and serious drinking of vodka was about to commence. After all, I had the SPO2008 finals to participate.
On Saturday, the 2008 finals and celebrations. Then taking the bus to Porvoo, to visit old friends of mine: Roope and Aija. It seems I do not visit them too often as they now have a new baby, already 9 months old. The evening was nice, full of laughter, with interesting discussions and lots of playing with the olde kids. They somehow liked me a lot. Maybe I am childish enough.
On Sunday, sleeping late, then attending the world village festival 2008. Saw John McGregor and some Swedish soprano called Barbara and then some French-Arfican musician. Mr John was best this time. His performance was interpreted into sign language for the deaf or hearing impaired.
On Monday, mostly work (visiting two customers, working for four). In the evening, walking by the local sea bay, having coffee in the Sinisen huvilan kahvila cafe, staying up too late. On Tuesday, visiting Lahti to meet yet another customer. Later, working at the office. In the evening, spending time in the local cafeteria. Today, on Wednesday, commuting by bicycle, visiting Petri and Mila in the evening, etc.
Now tired.
Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think. Niels Bohr
Yesterday, American Airline introduced extra fee for luggage: 15 dollar per bag. It also grounded some 80 airliners. Today, KLM stated that the "explosion in oil prices" will cause profound changes in the airline industry. See e.g. an article in NYT
I wrote an essay in MIT in 2005 on this issue: NGATS, oil, and the future.. I got it right back then. Great.
I am quite sure that Saudi Arabia's oil production has peaked. There is no other sensible explanation for the current situation. Of course, the Saudis want to give the finger to Mr. Bush, but that does not really explain their inability to increase production. We will see. Soon, very soon.
Today was a great day. I woke up at 8am, had breakfast, and took a tram to the University Library. I spent 8 hours there writing a report. Rather efficient. For lunch, I had fried small whitefish in Cafe Hause, by the National Archive. Outside, on the patio. Summer.
After work, I played some pinball. There is a new machine Indiana Jones in Kinopalatsi. Very interesting game. And rather easy to handle. Even later, a cycling tour in the parks and forests, by the riverside, some 27 km.
Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own. John Maynard Keynes
I find it hard to concentrate on writing technical reports in our open space office. It is just a bit too noisy there, too many distractions, people discussing, phones ringing, people moving, printers clicking. So,I try not to do any writing there. Instead, I try to do all necessary writing in the University Library. In the library, there are strict behaviour codes: mostly not making any unnecessary noise, not moving without reasons, etc. Today, I spent 6.5 hours in the library and got a good deal of work done.
In addition to being a peaceful place, the library in infinitely nicer environment than any modern office building. Which reminds me of our own office building, the Innopoli business park, which must be the worst office building in Finland. There are no functional air conditioning, although wind blows right through the walls. There are no decent showers for bicyclist, but maybe 400 parking slots for cars. And there are many air conditioning systems for computer farms in the basement. All the energy is blown right outside the building. What a waste.
I have not been walking much lately. Yesterday, I took Daniel A Bell's new book China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society and had a leisurely walk to the city centre. The book is almost too good to be true: well informed analysis, entertaining observations. Great reading. Much recommended. S found the book.
Getting more expensive by the day. Predictably, the populists are calling for lower energy taxes. The treasury told that no such thing will happen. So, the prices will get higher, commuting more expensive and those who built their houses 50km away from their workplaces will suffer a lot. Suits them well.
The futures for 2014 are up at 140 dollars per barrel. See Naked Capitalism for an excellent discussion on this development and also the future of oil consumption in China. Etc.
Guardian Weekly tells that many cities in the USA are trying to plant millions of trees. But it is not that easy. For example, after extensive search, they found places for only 1 million new trees in LA. There are 5.2 million cars there, with maybe 15 million parking slots. How can this be?
There was a storm in Burma. Many people died, even more people lost their homes and means of living. The local dictators are preventing rescue efforts, which of course is not good and may amount to a crime against humanity (as if anyone really cared). The storm was a disaster and not allowing help is making it worse. But what we should learn from this disaster is that such disaster will become more and more common in the near future: the climate changes, population expands and lives by the sea. This is predictable. What is also predictable is that the international community will soon run out of means for any significant rescue efforts. So, we will see suffering, more and more suffering every year from now on.
Many things happen, lots of work gets done, too many pints of beer get consumed, too few kilometres get bicycled, and too much fun it all is. So, what have I been up to lately? Well, today I cycled to the office and back, for the second time in a whole month. Or so. It took only 27 minutes, so I am still reasonably fit. At the office, the normal consulting work: drawing circles, squares and arrows with various software tools, talking a lot, and spending 30 minutes trying to figure out MS Word works. It does not. It just sucks.
Yesterday, on Sunday, nothing much happened after 2pm. Before that, we had a nice lunch of pizzas in Weeruska, the nearest decent restaurant to our home. After that, surfing the net (see e.g Edustajamme.fi, a collection of blogs by our MPs.), watching the ice-hockey final, etc.
On Saturday, after waking up late, with only a slight hangover and light breakfast, a stroll by the Linnunlaulu and a cup of coffee in my official Summer cafeteria, spending some time in the Academic bookstore, travelling by trams here and there and to the market hall for some fried herrings, as one ought to do on Saturday. Later, the wedding party of Vesa & Sarianne in Honkamaja, Nupuri, Espoo, next to the middle of nowhere or somewhere close. A great party, with some good musical performance, very amusing performances by the Finnish sci-fi elite (well represented), quite enough refreshing drinks, which somehow made us a bit tired at 2.30am in Lontoon Pubi, Kamppi, Helsinki.
On Friday, work as usual, then dinner in Dong Bei Hu (the food was even better than usual), when watching Finland lose 4 to 0 to Russia in ice-hockey. Not that I watched it that keenly, for I was mostly chatting with colleagues. Maybe I am not such a sports enthusiast after all.
On Thursday, work (at least I tend to remember so), then celebrating Vesa's last night as a bachelor. A nice party. Notes elsewhere.
On Wednesday, nothing too spectacular. On Tuesday, a seminar on whether innovations will help us maintain our way of life and standard of living here in the Nordic countries. Mostly rather misguided lectures. More later, I hope.
Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us. Henrik Tikkanen quote
According to Jim Hansen, if we do not cut down CO2 emissions very very soon, in a few years, it will be late and we will lose the planet. In his own words:
if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.Read more at Tomdispatch.
And visit 350.org. Yes, we need to do something. Even I must do something else than pick my nose. Right now!
Two additional situations, in which happiness regularly overwhelms me.
Traditional trip to Tampere and Hämeenkyrö. First at my mother's place, then having a decent lunch in Ikaalinen, then visiting the graveyard, then back in Tampere, some coffee, drinks, discussion, and then taking a train back to Helsinki, very late in the night.
I have been commuting by bus for a while now. I do not really know why, maybe I just got lazy, maybe something else. But today I had enough. It took much longer to travel from Otaniemi to Eläntarha than it has ever taken by bicycle. More than 35 minutes, and then I still was about 800 m from home! From now on, I will try to avoid busses as much as possible.
The Finnish bird atlas is fascinating. Check how your favourite birds are doing nowadays.
Had saddle sores. Was lazy. Was drinking. Was not cycling at all. Took buses, trams, taxis, and trains. But today, took the bicycle and cycled to Malmi and back, to S's mother's. Had a nice lunch, too many bakery items, cycled back home, down by the riverside. By the river, saw the summer, enjoyed it with her. Realised that birches have full leaves by now, although some trees of the genus populus are still asleep. And that bird cherries are blooming. Not bad at all.
What have I been up to lately? I have some memories, although some days I have forgotten. Maybe they were ordinary. Too many days are. Have to figure out something dramatic. It is hard. Except for trivial dramas, which I detest.
This week, from Monday the 5th to Saturday the 10th. On Monday, some work, almost on the verge of business, or being busy, at the office. Until 5pm, then taking the bus, subway, and tram back home, idling, later taking the tram to Kino Engel for My blueberry nights, a small but charming movie by Wong Kar Wai. It is a story of love, of growing up, losing control, and the miracle of love. Very much in the spirit of Nick Hornby. Worth the time.
Tuesday, Wednesday: working at home, then taking the tram to the centre, to Kasarmitori for a lunch meeting in the Ryan Thai-restaurant with Pasi and Katja. We were about to join the SAP Finug annual meeting onboard M/S Kristina Brahe. The route would be to Jussarö and back, spending the night moored at Jussarö. The cruise turned out to be a success. We met interesting people, spread the word about Sofigate, had good food, quite enough boose, and had delightful conversations, mostly not on SAP. On Wednesday, we had a guided tour around Jussarö. The island has a very interesting history. It has been an important harbour for at least 800 years, seen fishing villages come and go (?), had an iron mine twice, been a military shooting range for 40 years, been a penal colony, and still something. There are signs of all these eras, which makes the island a treasure. And the future may well turn out to be even more interesting: there are some 200 million tons of high quality iron ore next to the island. It should not take long before yet another mine breaks ground there.
On Wednesday evening, the bi-monthly sauna bathing at Kotiharjun sauna with Olli and dinner in Cella, one of the better restaurant in Kallio, Helsinki.
On Thursday, hard work at the office. I have now 5 active customer projects, which means that I have to use about 50% of my capacity. Nice. More work expected soon. Good.
On Friday, the normal work stuff, although not for very long, then hanging out in the city centre, meeting Olli and Maunu, listening to poets reading their poems in a bookstore, resisting the urge to buy a collection of poem with poet's signature on it, eating bread and reading a book on enterprise architecture in parks. Later, seeing Raising Arizona in Orion with S. A nice movies. Even later, seeing parts of Day in Circus by the Marx brothers. Talk about culture, talk about Helsinki in Summer.
For me, the new year always begins on the 1st of May. It is time for serious and ridiculous celebration, joy with friends and foes alike. It is the time that the Finnish nature wakes up from the winter, when I also wake up.
This year, Tuomas and Henni threw a party on the 30th of April (Wednesday). A good party, with some 60 participants, many children, many of them kicking my butt as they always do, climbing all over me. They consider me a teddy bear. I do not mind. Fortunately, the adults behave in a more restrained manner. Mostly just chatting, singing and dancing. I intended to leave the party early, to be back home by midnight. But I was not. I was at home at 3am, by taxi with Petri and Mila.
On the first of May, the traditional Finnish-Swedish lunch at Tero's and Pivo's. A great way to meet some very highly educated friends. To discuss literature. But also just to celebrate the new year by drinking way too much sparkling wine and also some serious schnaps! At one point, it was hard for me to sit down on a chair. I had to move over to the couch. It was not moving about.
On the 2nd of May, I intended to do some work at home. I did not. I just idled the whole day, walked around the city. Or something. Cannot really remember anything by taking the tram to Orion for Blood Simple by the Coen brothers. The movie was good, but somehow I am already almost forgetting it.
On the 3rd of May, Saturday, I saw Rome, the open city by Rossellini. A very impressive movie, a story of loyalty, resistance, love and sorrow. And Rome, of course. Before the movie, I wandered from one cafeteria to another (Regatta, Ekberg, at least), had dinner in some Thai restaurant and spent way too long in various parks. It was not too warm outside and I had left my jacket at home. And I had no money on me for a cup of coffee in some indoor cafe for the last 3 hours before the movie.
On the 4th of May, yet another time helping others moving from one home to another. This time: Matti and Merja. I tend to remember we did something else as well, but I cannot remember what.
If one is satisfied with things, one doesn't complain about the downsides that exist, either. Georg Henrik von Wright
Today was definitely not ordinary. I woke up at 6.30 am and was at customer's office at 8am. Way too early for me, as usual, but I get a lot of work done and could leave for our own office at noon. A good days work in 4 hours, although I did work on the same issue during the afternoon as well. Later, came back home via the market hall and bought some fried Baltic herrings. And a salmon sandwich. Both delicious. The sandwich cost 4 euros.
Read Business process management for dummies. It seems that there is a silver bullet after all. Today, the bullet is called business process management, which solves all business and IT problems, at least when implemented with Software AG's tools and concepts. In fact, BPM seems to be nothing but a collection of old slogans on business processes, improvement, agility, application integration. Now just with Web 2.0 tools and SOA interfaces. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing new and also very far from any real enterprise architecture I have seen. To implement the ideal BPM in some real enterprise would be a dramatic revolution. But, the book was worth reading if only to realise that nothing new has been invented while I was reading contemporary novels.
A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring Ludwig Wittgenstein
Well, at least not all weekends are alike. Last week, travelling, partying, drinking. This week, rather more quiet: nothing much happened, nothing far away from home at least.
On Saturday having a late breakfast with S discussing Feyerabend,
Popper, philosophy of women studies and its relation to science, history of mathematics,
the past and future of China, etc. Not discussing money, cars, summers cottages, or boats, none
of which we have. Or which to have, in excess at least. When it comes to cars, cottages, and boats,
even one such thing is one too much. When it comes to money, we will spend it all on education,
books and food. Education is certainly the best investment one can make.
Later, I walked around the Töölö bay, had a cup of coffee while reading the London Review of Books (which is, by the way, an excellent literary magazine) at the Sinisen huvilan Kahvila, one of the most most beautiful cafes in the world, then lunch in the Hakaniemi Market Hall (herrings, as always), and then spending the rest of the day at home, doing next to nothing, mostly just reading.
Today, on Sunday, late breakfast in Cafe Luft with S, driving around by tram, rest of the day idling at home. Well, I tried to write an scientific conference paper about concept mapping in 8 hours. Failed. The moral: it takes some time to learn a new field. As I did not knew it.
Just recording some prices. What does it cost here in Helsinki in April 2008? All prices in euros, of course.
Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right. Igor Stravinsky
New books keep on arriving. This week, I have received the following
Yes, I have been cycling. Too much, in fact. On Tuesday, I decided to ride to Honkamaja, a party house 30 km to the west. It was a nice ride, but yielded so bad saddle sores that I just cannot ride my bicycle for a week. What a pity. The weather is nice, I am full of energy, but my butt just cannot take it. Bummer.
Visited Tallinn with my brother Markku. The main reason for the trip was to have in the Azuri Köök, one of the Caucasian restaurants in Tallinn. They serve superb coal fried meats and fish. We had lamb and chicken, with some beer, coffee and salads. All for 30 euros only. Worth a visit. The place in by the tram route from the Viru hotel to the bus station, by the 2nd stop from the hotel.
After the lunch, a nice stroll in a part, there are so many nice and large parks in Tallinn. Then, taking a random bus to the North-East, getting off at a random stop, not at the terminus, for we got confused. Found ruins, which were called a cultural centre, and at the back of the centre there was a bar of living fire (elävä tule bar) full of pensioners, etc. Service quality vodka, of course. Then, back to the centre, a few beers here and there, and back to Helsinki, high seas were rough, and we could not drink beer onboard.
Has visited Lahti on business several times. Has not seen anything but the train station and a factory there. In the factory, very friendly people. And a cafeteria, which serve good food in very small portions. Either they are mean or they try to keep the employees lean. Cannot figure out which. I am always so hungry when I return home from Lahti. But it may be that running workshops just takes so much energy.
Visited Vierumäki on business, for the bi-annual sports event of Sofigate. Not that I could have participated in any of the sports. I tried curling, but the mandatory helmets were simply too small for my emancipated skull. It hurt a lot. I had to walk away and take a stroll in the woods. My lousy or loose ankles prevented any running and soccer. So, I took the role of a goalie, but we lost anyway. After the games, the normal and always so entertaining and fun etc programme: sauna, dinner, some drinks, dancing (the others, I was happy drinking). Etc. After rather short sleep, the semi-official programme with numbers etc. And lots of laughter. On the way back to Helsinki, there was more snoring than laughing.
Petri threw a party with Mila to celebrate his birthday. A nice party, with delicious food, quite enough good wine (even La Consulta. Also Tero, Pivo, and Noomi were present. With them, we had a nice lunch in Dong Be Hu, the best Chinese restaurant in Finland and most likely in the Nordic countries. Just exceptionally good food. Authentic.
A while ago, Lauri celebrated his 50th birthday in Ritarihuone, together with a concert by Viipurin lauluveikot, a man choir. Good champagne, interesting discussions and an opportunity to hear songs by Mr. Krohn. After the concert, I and S had dinner in the restaurant Kuurna, in Meritullinkatu. 3 courses, coffees, everything faultless and only 70 euros. I have perch balls, and a wild mushroom pie and creme brulee. She had meat pudding, fried pike-perch, and lime soup. It is rare to get so good food in Helsinki, in such simple surroundings and with for so low prices. Kuurna is certainly a restaurant which we will visit many times, maybe monthly or so.
On Wednesday (this week) I went to a RSO concert with Menno, a colleague of mine, and Sari. The orchestra did not play well in the beginning, but did well with Mozart's Klarinetconcertto, with Jörg Widmann as the soloist. Of course, it a composition which is hard to ruin completely, but (I assume) hard to play very well. This time it was at least decent. The audience was thrilled, of course, for well known compositions always go well with the older audience. The last composition, Antiphon by Mr. Widmann himself, certainly did not go well with the audience, the grandma's got their voices back and booed as hard as they only could. But they were wrong in their search of easy and well known entertainment. For Antiphon is a good composition, full of interesting details, nice melodies. Even the orchestra was arranged in a special way: base players on both sides, cellos in the middles, violins on one side, and a strong percussion section in the back. But, of course, or sadly, the composition suffered from too detailed structural, or maybe technical, framework. I did not mind that much, the grandmas did.
First, you must have a large hearth and never be depressed by anything. Second, you must exercise every morning in any kind of weather, hot or cold Professor Wang in Bridegroom by Ha Jin
I am still alive. But I have been busy, although I cannot remember doing what, and thus not able to write any blog.
The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation. Bertrand Russell
Or being a lazy blogger. Last week was full of all kinds of happenings. I spent three workdays in Lahti, running some workshops at one of my customers. Those tasks are always very thankful, as the participants have lots to say and most of them, if not all, are happy that someone is listening to their worries, ideas. Which are always worth listening. Otherwise, on personal side of my life: Tuesday meeting with Lassi, Päivi, Pekka, Aaro, Tuomas; visiting the gym twice (makes me feel physically defined, not a loose piece of meat), having two nice lunches with S at Rayn Thai and Kruo Thai (deep fried pike-perch each time), trying to buy new glasses, but failing (Gödel-style glasses make my an owl, it seems), deciding to visit Venice, Athens, and Istanbul in July (and London, of course), making plans, playing some pinball (the montly game night at Lemmy's, also registering to Stockholm Pinball Open 2008), visiting Vesa's and Sarianna's housewarming party on Saturday, and cleaning up the mess also known as our flat on Sunday. Such was the week. Read one book Blubberland by Farrely. Read many magazines.
At the moment, I subscribe to
Just once last week. On Monday, for 90 minutes. Today, I fixed the brakes, changed the tyres, etc. It took 2 hours, but was surprisingly rewarding. Maybe I should do something practical every now and then.
Last Wednesday: the first fly here at ManeTheMean HQ. Also, the first morning coffee at Hakaniemi marketplace. Nice.
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. Ludwig Wittgenstein
Woke up at 8am, had fish for breakfast, took a tram and a bus to the office, planned some workshops, finalised a report, started preparing an offer, came back home, had dinner (rice and muttar paneer), took a nap, went out cycling for 1.5 hours, finalised the offer, drank some gin, wrote blog. Not bad. Just slightly unordinary, mainly because of nice spring weather and the joy of cycling.
25 books and 30 movies etc so far this year. Not that bad.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. Dalai Lama
Suddenly, I have quite many things to write about. First, I have been to several concerts, theatre performances. Second, I have read some rather good books. Third, I have been surfing the net and may have some new links to introduce. Fourth, I took an SAP and SOA course, which gave me some new ideas. And, fifth, I found that writing diary in longhand is simply boring.
Sometimes, it is easier, cheaper, but more boring to rent a car, drive to Kouvola and Tampere just to meet relatives, enjoy their hospitality, to meet so called ordinary Finns on the road, and see some new places. This happens two or three times a year. This time, we rented an Open Corsa 1.2l, in which I could not even sit straight, let alone think at all. But, somehow, with aching back we made it to Valkeala, then to some combined inn, sauna, and camping ground in the forests, by a lake. The late president of Finland, Kekkonen, had visited the place in 1978. One cannot miss noticing the fact: faded photographs are everywhere. On Sunday, we drove to Tampere, some 230 km, empty roads, service stations full of village people, who cannot stand their solitude in their large detached houses in the fields. So, they flock to the gas stations, in college wear, pale and quiet. Scary. We hit the road as soon as we had filled up. In Tampere, lunch with relatives, then drinking beer in the garage, as always. The Americans would call all this awesome, I call it normal Sunday evening in Tampere. On Monday, we had a long walk on the frozen lake. The ice was rather talksome, telling in deep rumbling voice of spring. Cracks (?) were exploding open everywhere. Very humbling.
Total distance: 720 km, with 5.8 l/100km. Not that bad, but should be a half of that, if the car manufacturers would take some responsibility (so that we would not have, as we will not).
I visited Lahti, a mid-size city of no importance some 100 km north of Helsinki. We have a very interesting customer over there, although I cannot tell anything more about it. Getting to Lahti is easy: after a 10-minute walk, I take a commuter train for 55 minutes, then a taxi to the customer's factory. Total time 1h20 minutes, for 110 km. Fast. Back home, I took a bus, which took 2 hours and was 50% more expensive.
I will visit Lahti at least six times in April. That is why I am happy that the commuter trains is so fast.
Went (with S) to see Byaku Mu, a butoh dance theatre performance in Naamio & Höyhen, the most interesting theatre in Helsinki. The performance, or actually the play, was excellent: well conceived, well directed, and well executed. Composed of short, but slow, acts, it covered many different states of mind, moods, or atmospheres, and for the most time was surprisingly full of joy, and audience's laughter. The play was written by Ken Mai, a Japanese dancer living in Finland. I hope he will continue his work here.
Attending performances at Naamio & Höyhen is highly recommended by me.
Went (with S and Musicnaut)to listen to Dror Feiler in Taidehalli, organized by Äänen lumo. Mr. Feiler played mostly his own compositions by several saxophones, sometime even two at the same time. He played well, creating interesting sounds, but somehow the whole concert was lacking structure, of unity. It may well be that his music, which is close to minimalism and noise, does not really work when performed alone — there is simply not enough volume, not enough texture. Anyhow, I am happy that I had this opportunity to hear Mr. Feiler's music. He is such an interesting artist. Google yourself and be surprised.
RSO and Ylioppilaskunnan laulajat gave a concert to celebrate YL's 125th birthday. Uljas Pulkkis has composed a symphonic poem based on Kalevala. The choir sang well, the orchestra played as it should. But that was it. I found the composition too clever, somehow artificial, calculated, an odd combination of modern music and traditional themes and tricks. As always, I am happy I left home for the concert, as any music is much better than no music at all. And live symphonic orchestra music is a source of deep happiness for me.
Kauko Röyhkä, with Riku Mattila and some other musicians, has found music once again. This time his new band and their new songs are excellent, as good as his classic songs from the early 1980s. I saw their gig in Tavastia a few days ago. It was the best gig by Kauko since early 1990s.
Some books I have read recently
Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that's how we've got to live. Haruki Murakami
Nothing much to write about. So, I will keep quiet for time being.
For some reason, writing about my life in this public blog feels inappropriate. I will start a private diary from now on.
Random political comments may appear here in the future. Right now, I have no comments on any current issues.
Corporations, driven by short-term monetary objectives, cannot be trusted to act in their own long-term interest, or respect basic bounds of an advanced technological open and democratic society. Intelligent regulation is good because it rewards long-term thinking instead of penalizing it. Douglas Watts
A good day at work: meeting with an interesting small SW vendor of information management systems. I was pleasantly surprised by their systems: they are much better than they know themselves. Would be interesting to work with them on some customer cases. Maybe that will happen. Meeting such vendors is one of the benefits of working as consultant. Another is working with and for several customers from several fields of industry: today I worked for 3 customers, and learned quite a lot. Tomorrow, I will visit a customer in Lahti, and will certainly learn a lot again. And, incredibly, I am getting paid for all fun I have.
Cycled to work and back. Other cyclist take over me all too often. I am too large or something. Slow at least. Anyway, cycling is a pleasure, and keeps me in good mood.
Nothing much happened over the weekend. On Friday, after work, I just idled at home surfing the net, trying to read books. On Saturday, I played some pinball (training for Sörkka Pinball Open, or the Finnish national championships), had excellent Kurdish lunch with S in Kaisa, bought (Well You Know) Stuff Is Like We Yeah! by , one of the most innovative bands in the world, a CD full of deceptively simple music, but still of significant depth. Later, I watched Nothing new from the Western front on DVD, drank some beer, and stayed up way too late reading some funny stories at Helvetilliset naapurit. Then, on Sunday, went out cycling for an hour, visited the gym for another, and then celebrated S's mother birthday. Got hit with a serious bout of migraine, slept for 12.5 hours.
The financial meltdown is getting scarier by the day, or sometime by the hour. A few weeks ago the question was whether there will be a recession in the USA. Now, everyone and his friends agree that the USA in recession. But that is not enough. Even Paul Krugman claims that this is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and the Fed, with the best will in the world, probably lacks the tools to deal with it. So, here we go. This is what the great new economy of free markets and no regulation etc has led us. It is interesting to see what will happen, when the meltdown will reach Europe (which by the way it the biggest economy at the moment).
Some interesting links for those interested in recession/depression etc:
I came across a very interesting and fascinating history of wells and toilet in Finland. We still use quite a few of the old systems the book describes so well and in sufficient detail. And I remember well my grandparents and their bucket system. See the book for more information of the bucket system.
We judge the unknown to be unlikely. S. Douglas Smith
Another quiet Thursday. Or a day. Cycling to the office though sleet and rain, acting like a good consultant, hacking some, then cycling back home, having dinner, reading books, surfing the net, reading more books, all the time reading, then calming down to write this. Not bad, but quite a bit too quiet for to be continued. I need to find more intellectual adventures, for they are only adventures one can have everywhere, anytime.
Milan Kundera says that the purpose of novels is to teach us something that only novels can teach. Learning about other cultures, their values, customs, phobias, behaviour pattern, is something good novels are better for than, say, movies or scientific studies. If a novel, in addition, is novel in structure, and well written, then reading is worth any time it takes and rewarding.
Autofiction by Hitomi Kanehara is a good novel. It is modern, uses and toys with reserse chronological order, stories within stories, and does it rather well. The story tells something about the youth in today's Japan, something which is not that well known, except for their fancy dresses. Now, this novel tells how the young women think, or at least one of them, but one who is representing many. There is, of course, the schism between the youth and the parents, the responsibilities of adulthood and the rather (in material sense) easy, free life of the young in a very rich country. But there are the schisms between the young girls, working as hostesses in bars, and their somewhat older customers, or men. Then there are the drugs, the free sex, rapes, gang-bangs, and all, which, of course is well represented in manga, but still may have some correlation with the reality of the young.
The book is well written, but slow to read. It has only 214 pages, but it takes many days to finish. The writing is dense, the author protagonist tells the story in her own voice, from her 22nd summer to her 15th winter. Or, the story of her three relationship with three men, all of whom she cheats, they cheat her, and everything ends up in tears, or actually even begins with them. Takes time to read through all these events and all thoughts she has about death, destruction, sex, and all.
There are moments of happiness, of inner peace. Such as
Those who went to the metropolis have fallen into a desert Pepe Kalle
The dollar is 1.55 to the euro. The US national debt is just short of 10 trillion dollars. The dollar has to go much further down for the USA to get rid of its debts, one way or the other. The Chinese, Japanese and the Arabs will take over much of US industry, banking, and services soon enough. It will be fun to watch. See calculaterisk for more. And see also Bloomberg.com for updates.
Well, not quite, fortunately. Had to be at the office at 8am, which is too early for me. But I made it only to find that due to traffic and other reasons, others were not there. Bummer. Did some work, especially with TWiki, then cycled back home, visited the Cafe Luft with S and idled. No accomplistments after 8pm. Is that bad? Is it a sin?
The quality of indoor air at our home has improved a lot since I bought two air purifiers. Otherwise, the air would be just terrible, full of dust and even sand. The purifiers consume some electricity, 60 watts, but I assume that is acceptable.
When one tyranny is overthrown, not by the people concerned but by another tyranny, the result risks to be chaos, because it will seem to the people that the ultimate hope of any social order has been totally destroyed, and then the impulse to seize for personal survival takes over and the looting begins. It is as simple and terrible as that. Yet the new tyrants know nothing about how people in extremis behave. Their fear stops them knowing; they are alone on this planet; even the dead have deserted them. John Berger in Let us think about fear.
I cycled to the office and back today. Quite a while since the last time - and it was much harder than it was in January. It seems that sedentary life is bad for me. Tomorrow, again commuting by bicycle.
I installed TWiki today in my Windows laptop. It is next to trivial, because it runs on Wmvare's virtual Debian server. Excellent. TWiki itself has become much better since I used it back in 2004. It is quite close to being an excellent Wiki and content management system. Much better than Microsoft's Sharepoint and its kin.
Ruuhka on säännöllinen mielenosoitus vallitsevan järjestelmän puolesta (traffic jam is a regular demonstration for the status quo) Unknown
I have been commuting by bus, train, tram and car for a month now. Not fun. So, I fixed my bicycle and will continue my adventure of bicycle commuting from now on. I used my Cyclone Chain Scrubber. It works fine. Much easier than taking the chain off etc. Highly recommendable.
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, a story of love, deception, and revolution in making, is a beautiful movie. It does not teach us anything we would not know already, but it retells some old stories on how it is hard to oppose a very powerful occupying force, how military actions need military training, and how love is blind (as the old cliche has it). Of course, today, the movie and its characters come across very old-fashioned. Today, of course, they would assassinate the bad guys, the collaborators and the occupying soldiers, by suicide bombings. Which makes me wonder, whether there are any movies about suicide bombers. I hope there is, for understanding a suicide bomber we can hardly rely on our daily news and Christian propaganda. A movie, which would tell the story of a suicide bomber through his own eyes would certainly be a huge event, if not a success.
For the record, I went to the movies with S, Petri and Mila. Afterwards, we had quite q few drinks in Kaisla.
Just to remember what I have been doing, I note the following. Friday was a good day at work. My customers were very satisfied with the architecture study I have written. It is good to be of some help - job satisfaction is not a function of (only) money, but also of positive feedback and such. In the evening, Mika invited my for dinner with Ruth Reitan, Rodrigo Nunes and others. We had not only excellent food (as always at Mika's and RUby's place) but also enlightening discussions on international politics, especially on Kosovo and the situation in the Balkan region in general.
On Saturday, on international women's day, we (me and S) had lunch at Thai Manohra, one of the many Thai restaurants in Helsinki. It is a good place with rather authentic (as far I know) food at very reasonable prices. Worth a visit, as are Kok Thai and Kruo Thai as well. In the evening, I visited Christian somewhere in Espoo. Timo also came, we had a few drinks, after which I left for the movie Lust, Caution.
On Sunday, I moved some furniture from Olli's to Mika's, with Olli's help. Later, I went to Taidehalli to listen to "Two gongs" by Chatman and performed by Heikkilä and Tuomi. For a review, take a look at what Musicnaut writes. I agree with him. Later still, we visited S's sister for her son's birthday party. He is as old as is our relationship. And both are just getting better.
James Kunstler blames Paul Krugman for trying to make current economic situation look less serious than it is. I think Mr Kunstler is overreacting this time. Mr Krugman was rather explicit in expressing his view. He wrote that it is "really, really, scary" and that we are close to financial meltdown. This is what Mr. Kunstler has been writing for years now. Well, time will show, but it would be a miracle if this current situation were to turn much better soon.
Today: oil at 108 dollars, stocks coming down, dollar 1.534 to euro.
He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss. Leonardo Da Vinci
Today, on my way back home from the office, I called the Hakaniemi market hall. I bought some fried Baltic herrings. It is simply the best dish I have ever tasted. I just could not live without having fried Baltic herrings regularly. I missed them terribly when I lived in China. In fact, the very first thing I did after coming back to Finland on a business trip was to visit the restaurant Sea Horse for a nice plate of herrings. And some beer.
Woke up at 8, broke the fast, got dressed, took the train, missed a bus, took another, walked without hat and gloves in a mild snow storm for 15 minutes, enjoyed, reached the office, completed an architecture specification for one of my customers, planned the next tasks, got a ride back to town, visited the bookstore without buying anything, came home, ate dinner, took a nap, started trying to write, wrote something, listened to Circle's Katapult, read John Berger, read Wittgenstein, wrote, went to bed, etc.
Chaos continues and is getting worse in the US economy. It is really hard to follow what is going on. More and more people end up in foreclosures, banks are suffering huge losses, as are car manufacturers and home depots. The Fed chairman proposed that the banks should simply write off some mortgages, or at least parts of the principal, for that would have higher NPV than trying not to. Yesterday, Wallerstein claimed that Citibank can go under. It certainly appears to be the case, for it is suffering mightily. All of this is very strange, and fits very well to Wallerstein's description of chaotic state with huge fluctuations. It is as if there would be a very angry specter haunting the US economy, reducing long standing institution to ashes at random. It certainly is not the specter of communism, but it may well be Nemesis herself.
By the way, see this
Everything is telling you the financial system is broken, Simon, whose Newport Beach, California-based unit of Allianz SE manages the world's largest bond fund, said in a telephone interview today.
Speaking of Nemesis, in the book Nemesis – the last days of the American Republic, Chalmers Johnson claims, among other things, that the USA is following the example of the Roman and Bristish imperial progress. In both cases, the imperial over-stretch threatened democracy. The Romans gave up their democracy, the British gave up their colonies, and chose democracy. The USA seems to have chosen its colonies over its democracy, as evidence by the wholesale contempt of constitution and democratic principles (and the use of torture, kidnappings, etc) by the current US administration. But it is not only the current administration, for Johnson claims that the imperial over-strecth started at least in 1945, when president Truman promised to protect the Saudi house (kingdom) from both internal and external threats. Mr Carter later repeated the guarantee by his doctrine, which tells that the USA will use any means necessary to make sure that it gets the oil it needs (note that this happened right after the US peak oil). Now, the US has been following these doctrines and enlarging their reach to the Central Asia and other places. Mr Johnson claims that the US must choose between its empire or democracy. It seems that its has chosen the first one. (by the way, Blood and Oil and Resource Wars by Micheal Klare describe the same development from the point of view of competition over oil and other natural resources)
This brings us back to Wallerstein's claim that the capitalist world system, and the USA as its hegemon (at least so far) is chaotic and coming to its end quite soon. If we follow Mr. Johnson's reasoning, the next political system is going to be worse, at least in the USA. But would it be possible for the USA to descend into some kind of military dictatorship while the EU could remain more or less democratic? Then we would have, maybe, the Chinese dictators, the US dictators and the democratic Europe (maybe together with the semi-democratic Russia). If so, it would be just like Orwell had it in 1984
Just wondering. This is much more interesting than any IT consulting, but does not pay the bills.
You can plan events, but if they go according to your plan they are not events. John Berger
Immanuel Wallerstein, a famous social scientist, gave a very interesting lecture on the chaotic state of the capitalist world system, or CWS for short, today in Helsinki. Some of my notes follow.
W's talk had three parts. First, he described the sense in which the CWS is now in a chaotic state. Second, he gave an explanation on how the CWS ended up in such a state. Third, what to do next.
The CWS is in a chaotic state in two way. There is geopolitical chaos and economic chaos. Geopolitically, the US does not have hegemony any more. It is losing in Iraq and in Afghanistan, maybe losing in Pakistan as well, cannot sort out the mess in Israel and Palestine. In fact, US is getting weaker, it cannot control much of anything at the moment. All it can do is to bomb other countries, but as Iraq has proved, bombing is no way to victory. Since the US hegemony is gone for good, other powers (EU, China, Russia, etc) are making their moves, building up alliances. But so far, no country, or a group of countries can control the world today (in the sense US and Soviet Union controlled during the cold war, checking wars and reducing tensions). Economically, the US is in recession, maybe entering depression, which of course will affect the whole world. This time, the US cannot solve its problems by using the leverage of the dollar as world reserve currency. Dollar is falling, maybe reaching two to euro soon. W thinks that the US standard of living is going to decrease significantly in the next 10 years or so (cf. what e.g. Kunstler writes all the time, etc).
CWS is in structural crises, which has been building up for a long time, maybe 500 years. The system has by now move far too far away for equilibrium, and thus has become chaotic, unpredictable. The main reason for this is that the costs of doing business have become too high and that there is no way to reduce the costs anymore. The costs are of three main types: personnel, raw materials, and taxation.
Regarding personnel, the world is running out of place of cheap labour. There are not anymore enough rural people to move to the cities and to keep personnel costs down (as evidenced by increasing salaries in China and India. Regarding raw material, they are becoming scarce (peak oil, deforestation, mandatory internalisation of pollution and other previously external cost, etc). Regarding taxation, people want to have better education for their children, better health care and stable incomes throughout their lives. All these require more money, and the only way to get the money to collect more taxes.
The neo-liberal globalisation was and still is an attempt to keep costs down. But it has worked only partially. The cost are lower now that they were in the 1970s, but much higher that they were in in 1940s. The cost will go up, for the reason stated above. Thus prices will go up, making CWS unfeasible. According to W, the question is not whether CWS will fail, but what will come after it.
W considers the 1968 revolution very important. It did not change politics nor economics, but it destroyed the geocultural state of affairs. Until 1968, centrist-leftist liberalism dominated, as people noticed that things were not really getting that much better. This destroyed the centrist-leftist liberalism and gave both right and left freedom to drive their views. Right succeeded much better, thus the current globalisation. But now it, in turn, has turned out to be not that good: people has lost their faith in politics, and do not believe in social progress, this making voting more or less a defensive, not progressive act.
So, where to go from here? On geopolitics, new coalitions will emerge. The big powers USA, EU and the East Asia (China, Japan, Korea) will try to divide power among themselves. At the same time, smaller playwer such as Russia, Brazil, South-Africa, etc, will also build alliances. The political arena is moving, and so far has at least made WTO irrelevant. On economics, the prices of raw materials will increase, which will make the CWS even more chaotic (and at the same time distributing wealth from North to South, i.e. to raw material producers).
The chaotic CWS will suffer from larger and large fluctuations, moving between a few states. At some point, the system will stabilise in some new state, but it is impossible to say which one. W proposed two: the state of "spirit of Davos" and the state of "spirit of Porto Alegre". (at this point I could not follow anymore).
Well, what do I think about this? I agree on the analysis for sure. One note, though. The social scientist, and also the activist keeping up "the spirit of Porto Alegre" are, in my opinion, concentrating too much on politics, of who is winning. In addition to that, we definitely need to look at the material basis of our living. It is not enough to work for a (progressive) transformational politics. We need to make sure, that the material basis does not deteriorate too suddenly. If it does, politics will become desperate, and collapse in some kind of fascism is too probable. Thus, we need to work for transformation in the material basis: maintaining food production, reducing energy consumption, increasing the supply of renewable energy, etc. This material basis is of fundamental importance for all transformational politics. And we can work for maintaining and transforming the material basis somewhat irrespectively from the political systems.
The montly Tuesday-meeting took place on Tuesday. The meeting is getting smaller by the month, but no less fun. This time, present were Antti, Lassi, Tappi, S, and Tuula. And some rather disturbed psychiatrist. We talked about the US economy, which clearly is suffering a lot for the chaotic state of the capitalist world system. Just today, as one can read e.g. at Calculatedrisk.com, very desperate and confused rescue attempts were made, and they more or less failed. What is interesting is that the US economy is in such a shape, that many people cannot afford to drive anymore. U.S. total Gasoline Deliveries in December 2007 were the lowest december amount since 1983. High prices are curbing demand. But at the same time, OPEC has decided not to increase production and thus, maybe, driving oil price down. It may, of course, be that OPEC just cannot increase production, that we have reached the peak oil (while still having increasing total demand). Very interesting times, indeed.
And then Venezuela is gearing up for a war with Colombia. Should increase the oil price. And definitely decrease supply in the USA. Interesting.
See also some other news on oil: US reserves dropping mysteriously.
The London underground is a marvel, a great piece of engineering, and a living museum. It is nice to wander along the corridors, to take the tube here and there, to get lost because of all engineering works and disruptions, to observe people, to listen to their stories and worries and joys and sorrows. It is also a good place to read books and to think. I spent some 15 hours in the underground (and in the overground and the automatic DLR or Dockland Light Railway), visited 21 stations. Excellent trip, from the point of public tranport connoisseur.
Two new books from the Economist.
The wind got up in
the night and took our plans way.
Chinese proverb
So I visited London for a course on SAP Netweaver. A good course it was, full of information. But that is all I am going to write about SAP today. Or maybe not: let me add that I will be very interesting to see, how SAP will respond to Microsoft's new ERP-initiatives. Maybe some co-operartion with Google would be a good idea.
I stayed in the Hotel Bedford, in Bloomsbury, 4 minutes for the bookstore and the British museum. A dangerous location indeed. Hotel Bedford is a hotel for my taste: clean, very old-fashioned, simple, with decent luxuries, and without all 5-star BS. Very highly recommended. As are all Imperial Hotels.
What else did I do in London, then? Visited the Imperial War museum (good exhibitions on the Holocaust, the WWI trench warfare, genocide, and of course all kinds of military hardware). Visited the Victoria and Albert Museum for their exhibitions and a monthly art happening. The happening was not that interesting, somewhat makeshift, but the some of the exhibitions (especially the fashion one) are certainly worth another visit. Travelled by the tube here, there and elsewhere, spending at least 15 hours on public transit in 5 days. Great fun! And drank quite enough beer, of several types, but all British and all very good. Much better than Finnish beer ever.
I happened to visit the The Vortex Jazz Club twice during my five days in London. When I got there for the second time, the doorman said Welcome back, sir. It may not be the place where they know my name, but they certainly know me. The bartender somehow mistook me for a beer expert and asked for my favourite beer once I had drank through their whole beer menu.
Anyway, it was not for beer I made my way to Vortex. It is was for some great jazz, for which the club has earned its reputation as the best jazz club in Europe. On Thursday, Evan Parker and free improvisation. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. Full of energy, surprises, skill, talent, vision. Whatever, but not boring, conservative, or lousy. On Saturday, Estelle Kokot played. Very nice songs, good performance.
It is pity that I do not live in London. I know where I would spend most of my evenings.
Check it out at a website.Well, I visited the London Review Bookstore twice. It is the paradise on the Earth. Seriously. And next to it is the London Review Cakestore. Another piece of paradise. Of course, one must sacrifice something for entry to the paradise. I gave the Gatekeeper some money, he gave me some books.
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Mohandas Gandhi
Well, I am still commuting by bus. Just being lazy, and also addicted to novels by Ha Jin. But tomorrow I ride my bicycle to the office. In the office, I have almost more work than I can sensibly manage. Excellent. Having a lot of work gives me a good reason for leaving my bed in the morning.
It is very dusty in Alppila. We live int the 1st floor, so most of the dust caused by busses, trams, and cars finds its way into our home and eventually to our lungs. Not fun. I decided to solve the dust problem without moving to a new apartment higher up. So, I bought two air purifiers by Elixair: E 200 and E 300. The smaller is excellent for our study, whereas the larger one removes dust from our living room and bedroom. They really work: I snore less and sleep much better now. And it is much more comfortable in general.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety Benjamin Franklin
No cycling for a while: been drinking, partying, travelling, and lazy. And somewhat ill as well. So, I have commuted by bus and train, and am gaining weight.
Work, I have enough of it. The original plan was to have just enough of it, just to keep me occupied for 6 to 8 hours daily. But then I got the opportunity to attend a few SAP courses, and thus to become a certified SAP enterprise architect. And those courses totally ruined all my plans, all my schedules, and some of my evenings as well. I have lost quite a lot of time not only by attending the courses (time well spent, of course), but by applying for the courses (SAP is not that eager to sell the courses, it is very difficult to secure a place on any SAP course), travelling, and booking hotels. And even exceeding my credit card limit, and having to visit the bank. What a mess.
Again, of course, some new books have arrived
In addition to work, the following has taken place.
17 concerts or other cultural event, 16 books. In 50 days. Not bad at all. See books and movies.
I have been following current events. But I just have not had the time nor energy to write anything about them. Soon I will. I cannot go on like this.
When you become tired, stop working. Taiichi Ohno
No cycling today. But a lot of work. I visited two customers, and worked on three projects. And made some good progress and some not that good. But tomorrow may be different, maybe I can make good progress in all projects. Whatever, today's work was fun and I learned a lot. Worth leaving home and commuting by train and bus for almost two hours here, there and back.
Two new books:
What is in store for me in the direction I do not take? Jack Kerouac
Yes, I have been cycling. Some 90 km last week, and some 350km in January so far. And I have been doing some work, although not enough to keep my occupied or busy. But there is time for a lot of work and time for idling. I assume.
On Sunday, I cycled to Uutela and back to Vuosaari metro station. The weather was excellent: sunny, -1C, with rather strong tailwind. Not bad at all. Really enjoyable. Otherwise, I just commuted by bicycle, nothing special in that. But on Thursday, the 24th, we had the first snow storm of the year. In the morning, there was only a strong wind blowing. In the afternoon, it started snowing and raining, and everything in between. It was quite fun to ride back home: visibility was rather limited, snow drifts 30 cm deep here and there. Etc. But I made it back home with no specific problem. It took 45 minutes instead of the usual 35 minutes.
Check my updates on Docpoint 2008 below.
Raja by Riikka Pulkkinen is an easy-reading, entertaining novel. There are two main stories, which begin as separate ones, but the become woven together since the main protagonists are, in fact, relatives, or at least have accidental professional relationships.
One tells how a teacher seduces a pupil of his. He is 29, she is 16. He is married with two children and an art historian wife. She is naive, does well in the high school, and beautiful. Of course, they got to make love, a lot of it, like rabbits or some other small mammal. But the, as one could guess, it all turns bad, the mother of the girls finds out what is happening, etc. In the end, nobody dies, and the girl even avoids killing herself while saving a small girl from drowning.The other story tells how a 53-year old professor of philosophy is losing her husband. The husband, whose name we learn only at the very last line of the novel, has Alzheimer's. This story is rather moving, for the professor has promised to kill her husband once he cannot remember her anymore. Not an easy promise to deliver for anyone, let alone for a professor of ethics. What happens? Well, read the books.
In all, a nice book to read. Even though it has some 400 pages, it does not take long to read.
I always enjoy watching intellectual dishonesty getting revealed. I enjoy even more following the excuses. But, of course, quite many innocent will get hurt. It is not fun at all.
Docpoint 2008, a festival of documentary film, took place in Helsinki during the weekend. I got to attend 6 screenings and saw 12 documentary movies. It was time well spent. Here, some notes of the movies. Or, maybe tomorrow. But a list of movies below, anyway.
Models by Ulrich Seidl — a fictional (or at least not based on real events) story about three wanna-be models in Vienna. Being not that beuatiful, and maybe not even slim/anorexic enough either, they are not very successful. The story follows them partying, exercising, using all kinds of drugs, trying to get some modelling jobs, usually not with any real success. But they get screwed all the while. In all, very disturbing movie. And overly long, with many scenes lasting for minutes. The message would get across with shorter scenes as well, or even better.
Don Roberto`s Shadow by Engström Hakan, Juan Diego Spoerer tells a story of a Chilean old man, who has returned to a concentration camp he was imprisoned in the early 1970s. The place, a former phosphate mine in the middle of a desert, is empty. There are ghosts, restless souls, the man claims. He himself has found his peace, and tries to forgive the former guards, who visit him and clearly regret their part in the camps in the 1970s. The old man says: the worst one as those who do not ask for forgiveness, for their do not understand their deeds. A very moving, profound documentary film.
And Thereafter II by Hosup Lee let us meet an old Korean woman, who married an US GI in the late 1970s, moved to the USA with him. Earlier, and as we learn even in the USA, she worked in the fucking business, being forced into it by desperate circumstances in early 1960 (her mother tried to sell her to an old man, she escape from home, ended up working as a maid for a government official and repeatedly raped by his son, etc. Not a happy life. But in the end, strangely, she ended up living alone in the USA, with decent income from his late husband's pension and life insurance. How strange can life be?
The House is Black by Forugh Farrokhzad — a short film showing us the life of lepers in the 1960s in Iran. They seem very happy, even though they are very sick. Leprosy is, of course, curable, but Iran seemed to have lacked the means back then. The topic of the films is very sad, but the film is rather happy. A classic from Iran, worth seeing also in that respect, I assume.
Crown Jewels by Ebrahim Golestan — just showing the Crown Jewels of Iran. Nice things, indeed.
The Night it Rained by Kamran Shirdel — a mystery documentary. During a heavy storm, the rains wash away a railway bridge. Somehow, somebody alerts the train engineer and the train avoid crashing into a river. Good. The bridge in near a village and the village people claim that a young boy stopped the train. The story makes it the to national news (this again being in 1960s Iran). But the railway official claim that they have stopped the train. In the end, there is no solution. We will not learn who really stopped the train. Entertaining. And very universal.
Meet Marlon Brando by Albert Maysles, David Maysles — a series of interviews with Mr. Brando. He is very charming, handsome, witty, clever, in good humour. I had never seen him in such a role. Neither did I know of his activism in defending the rights of American Indians (or what is the PC term for those who were there before Columbus lost his way and crashed their party?).
With Love from Truman by Albert Maysles, David Maysles — interview with Mr. Truman right after he had published his In cold blood. A strange man he was. And very talented: not many authors have invented a new form of literature: non-fictional novel. Now, I have to read the book.
What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA by Albert Maysles, David Maysles — being a documentary of The Beatles in the USA in the 1964 or so. Rather modest they were, living in small hotel, taking the train to Chicago, packing their own suitcases. To my surprise, Ringo Star is the most lively, the funniest of them all. Mr. Lennon just sulks in his chair most of the time.
Vettä by Jörn Donner — a short film of the annual floods in Finland. And how many people worked together in building levees and thus making the floods disappear. Rather funny. And telling a lot on the rapid change Finland has lived through after the WWII.
Isäni jalanjäljillä by Jörn Donner — Kai Donner, Jörn's father was an anthropologist and linguist who made an extended trip to Siberia in the 1910s. He visited far-away place, lived with the nomads during the winter (it was -60C), etc. And made some pioneering and still unique research. In the movie, Jörn visit the towns his father visited. Not a great movie, maybe, but very interesting footage from Siberia.
Stranded by Gonzalo Arijon — one of the best movies I have ever seems. A story of the men, who survived a plane crash in the Andes. They had to resort to cannibalism, etc. They tell the story very vividly, but without extra drama. Well, please google for more. I cannot comment more, for we only saw the first half of the movie. The other half had been sent to the Sundance festival.
Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal. Alexander Hamilton
Again, a day of cycling, work, and more cycling. Which is nice. A nice ride to the office, some interviews, lunch at Macondo in Pitäjämäki, some mechanical office work, the a nice 70 minute ride by the storming sea back home. I find cycling more and more fun by the day. I cannot miss a day.
Went to see noise at Semifinal. The line-up was organized by Black Box club and included Gentle Evil, and Uton from Finland, and John Wiese from the USA. Since I am not yet that much into noise, especially I do not know the lingo, I will just tell what I saw and heard.
Gentle Evil has two musicians: a drummer and a machinist (working on computer and all kinds of electronics). The drummer tries to play like a jazz drummer, but does not quite make it. The machinist creates rather piercing noise. The overall effect was a bit, well, even, not having sufficient detail (or then my earplugs filtered all details away).
Uton has three musicians: one playing keyboards, another playing guitar, violin and the machines, and the third (female as it happens) playing something I could not recognise, but mostly moving about in a very 1960's manner. Nothing much to say about their music - the show looked like three hippies having fun and sounded like decent noise (?).
John Wiese played by himself. He had a laptop and some machines. His show was a rather interesting, developing from simple pulses of very low noise towards a very controlled cacophony. With repeating vocals, somewhat wide dynamic range, and also taking surprising turns. Mr. Wiese did not have a show to speak of: he looks like a nerd and simply operates his machinery.
I do not really, as of now, understand noise music. But I have decided to attend several shows this year, for I have a hunch that there is more in noise than I have understood so far.
The stock markets are crashing. Fun. Read the links I gave yesterday. This will be so much fun. Although it may hurt me as well.
Means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends Martin Luther King
No cycling during weekend. Instead, drinking, eating, visiting cafes and museums, travelling to Tampere and back (by car and train), etc. But today, between 8pm and 9pm, I took a short ride around the eastern suburbs. It took me to Roihupelto, Viikki, etc, took 67 minutes and covered 21 pm, which I consider fast enough at the moment. Tomorrow, commuting by bicycle, as usual, maybe taking a longer route back home, hopefully.
The only time I can think straight is when I am riding my bicycle. Sitting in the office, nothing much happens in the brain department, so to say. Thus, I really must ride the bike for an hour a day, for otherwise I lose my creativity. And that would be the end of me as I know myself.
Work was fun today. I visited yet another office building, interviewed a very friendly civil architect there. Very enjoyable. Later, some mechanical work at the office, then visiting a tool vendor for a product presentation. Then I called it a day, walked back home and took a long nap. Excellent.
So, a lively weekend. My brother came over from Tampere, mainly for a dinner in Dong Bei Hu, the best Chinese restaurant in Finland. We (Make, S, and Tuula) did have a very delicious dinner on Saturday, with mutton, fish, eggplants, mushrooms, and some superbly hot cucumber. And some beer, of course. The owner of the place was as wonderful as always, friendly, fun, curious, cute, and whatnot. Tuula told her that I am not an artist, as she had thought. Funny how people do not realise that I am an engineer. I wonder why that is so.
Earlier on Saturday, we had lunch in Lemon Grass in Kallio. It is a cheap Thai-restaurant with decent food. Then, we visited Kiasma for an exhibition, had coffer in Cafe Aalto and bought few books. I am not good at honya budo yet.
On Sunday, breakfast at Cafe Ekberg, then to Tampere by car. And back to Helsinki by train.
A nice weekend, indeed.
Hellasious of Suddenbebt.org recommended Resource Wars by Michael T. Klare. So, I ordered the book from the Bookdepository and read it during the weekend. It turned out to be a good book on resource (oil, water, minerals, timber) depletion. As we all know, we are reaching the peak oil, and several countries (in Africa and the Middle East) are already suffering from lack of water. There have been wars over oil (e.g. in Iraq) and over water (in between Isreal, Syria, etc, repeteadly). And there will be more.
For me, the book did not contain that much new information, for it is already several years old. The oil discussion has been repeated, with more current data, in e.g. Globalistan by Pepe Escobar. A more detailed discussion on water shortages can be found in When rivers run dry by Pearce. But Klare's book is a good summary, with some good analysis on the future conflict zones.
For us in Finland, reading on resource wars should give some new ideas about our foreign policy. The current discussion is focused mostly on whether Finland should try to join NATO or not, and whether Russia is threat or not militarily. But these are secondary issues: we are totally dependent on foreign sources of energy and have no means of forcing anyone to give us any. So, I think that we should re-focus our foreign policy towards securing our energy input (in addition to securing enough food, etc). But we have to look both as procurement of energy and consumption of energy. We cannot seriously think that we can continue our current lifestyle here in Finland. We really must decrease our energy consumption by all means possible. And only then we must find the sources of energy, by e.g. using long term contracts with Russia.
More later, as always.
Read Keihäslintu by Maarit Verronen, a collection of short stories. Rather good short stories they are. Most of them tell stories of somewhat current events: suicide bombings, environmental disasters, revolutions and hiding dictators. There are also some stories of the academia, which are very much to the point, telling more or leas real life stories. No wonder, actually, for the author has some strong connections to the academia. Most stories are rather conventional, with surprising endings. All of them are worth reading — so much so that I intend to read some other books by Maarit Verronen as soon as I make it to the library.
Again, some links
One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another. Rene Descartes
I must have lost my mind, or developed a strange addiction. I like cycling more and more by the day, no matter the weather, no matter the darkness. Today, I took a longer route from home to the office, through a forest and several parks. And it was raining, 2C. Yesterday, after completing my self-assigned tasks at the office, I took a longer route back home. And tomorrow, when it should be pouring rain, I intend to ride to Honkanummi and back, which would take some two hours. I have not been this fit since the year 1999. Or 1990. Cannot really tell.
Simple work on an architecture specification/description has kept me moderately busy lately. It takes time to gather all the information by interview some 20 people, and after that to patch all data together. For if there were good source material, the customers would not pay for our services. So, I should not complain too much. The work is nice, customers need us, and I get to learn about many different industries. Should be worth something later.
On Wednesday, made a business trip to Lahti. We took the car, and it was not that pleasant. It was dark, way too dark, and raining. In such a weather, taking a train would be much nicer. Actually, trains are more comfortable always. Anyway, we visited a factory in Lahti, which was rather interesting.
Went to listen to RSO (conductor: Hannu Lintu) on Wednesday with Satu and S. The concert's program interesting: Szymanowski, Beethoven, and Witold Lutoslawski. As usual, the first part was as good as the second. It takes the Finns some time to warm up, I assume. But once the orchestra got its act together, it managed to perform Witold Lutoslawski's 3rd Symphony very well indeed. The musicians enjoyed fully the freedom that Witold Lutoslawski's aleatory principles gave them. The idea being that he did not even try to write down everything but instead left it to the musicians to decide how to play certain parts of the symphony. The result was interesting, full of joy, and somewhat surprising sounds. It would be nice to head more Witold Lutoslawski's compositions soon.
If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company Jean-Paul Sartre
Via Lavonardo. The cities I visited in 2007 are:
In 2008, I intend to visit at least 30 cities, most of them in Finland or in Baltic region. And Venice, of course, hopefully by bicycle.
One new book today.
But I will finish Resoure wars firts. It will take a few days.
Uusia unia ja sattumuksia on taas näkynyt ja tapahtunut.
Could not make it to the office by bicycle today. I just did not have the time. I had to be in the office before 8am. Horrors! Since the weather was not too bad (drizzle, 2C, fog), I decided to ride to Vuosaari and Mellunmäki in the afternoon. It was a nice ride, although it started pouring very cold water. So, I took the subway back from Puotila.
Again, a nice day (except the early commute): visiting a customer for an hour, then retreating to the University Library for some intellectual, yet work related, work. Excellent. Lunch at the National Archive, where Fazer Amica is able to sell a lunch for 5 euros. At Innopoli, the price is 9 euros. I wonder who is profiteering.
Read Kuolemankuvia by Jörn Donner. A small book, a collection of death related musing and Mr. Donner's memories of the past. Full of very sharp observations of life and current state of the world (read the book, I will not copy them here). Mr. Donner is surprisingly curious for his age (70+), and I wish him many more year of writing. The book is, by the way, somewhat similar to Mr. Vonnegut's last book: old men sharing their wisdom and finding consolation in writing.
For boredom speaks the language of time, and it is to teach you the most valuable lesson of your life - the lesson of your utter insignificance. Joseph Brodsky
Two new books.
Let me start by stating that Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami is an excellent book. Or, maybe it is two books in one, for there are two parallel stories. One is set in contemporary Tokyo, the other in a fantasy land straight from the dreams of Kafka himself. The former told in the past tense, the latter in the present tense. In both the narrator tells the story himself, as it unfolds. And in neither one can the reader be sure that the narrator will survive even the first half the book. And I will not tell whether he does.
So, what is the book about? The Tokyo story is about a man, the narrator, who has undergone a special brain surgery, which allows him to perform advanced cryptography himself, by going in a trance and shuffling numbers. He does this for the System, which maintains the information on behalf of the Japanese state. The system has a rival, the Factory, whose agents hunt System's agents and try to find a way to decipher the code. And there is a crazy professor, who lives in a cave below Tokyo, behind a waterfall. The cave is by a lair of INKlins, a species of nasty creatures. Etc. Very elaborate plot, full of surprising turns, with a love story, violence. But also with rather deep philosophical discussions on mind, moral, etc. As usual is the case with Murakami.
The other story is set in a Town, surrounded by a Wall, which nobody can scale nor penetrate. A huge Gatekeeper guards the gate, unicorns roam the streets of the Town. The narrator arrives in the Town, has to leave his shadow by the gate, gets his eyes pierced by the Gatekeeper and has to read old dreams in library, where a very beautiful librarian works. All this is surrounded by dark forests. And a river runs through the Town. The narrator read the old dreams, and missed his shadow. This story is quite simple, at least on the surface, but has a very dreamlike feel in it, but somehow believable at the same time. As if such a Town with people without shadows, with only remnants of their minds could really exist. Such is Murakami's magic.
I really do not know what to make of these stories, or this story. Maybe there is a lesson, or moral, in the book, but it seems not to be the point. The point is, more likely, the art of novel itself, the tour de force of Murakami's imagination. And his incredible ability to describe people, events, dreams, fantasies, and deep philosophical questions in simple, beautiful language. It is pity I cannot read his novels in Japanese, for they surely lose something in translation.
In short, a book about love, crime, philosophy, with stories developing parallel. A book that lingers in the mind of the reader for a long time, puzzling.
A nice day. Cycling to work in the rain, etc. Refreshing. Working with rather high level of concentration for many hours. Having lunch at University of Technology, where food is much cheaper than in Innopoli, where our office is and two cafeterias have a cartel. Cycling to the centre, to visit a bicycle store, to buy a Chain gang cleaning system, but the store did not have any. Pity. I need one. Urgently. Later, at home, dinner, reading, procrastinating, wondering whether I should get my head examined, etc.
I am about the leave home for office by bicycle. It is raining, pitch dark, 2C. Not the best weather, but manageable. Should I take the bus, it would cost almost 8 euros. I would also be tired and irritated the whole day. Not good at all. So, cycling it will be. Should be quite much easier than on Friday, because I cleaned and fixed my bicycle yesterday. It was very dirty and becoming hard to ride.
A nice week beginning. Some work to do, one symphonic concert, cycling, meeting friends, a few nice books on the table waiting my attention. A trip to Tampere on Saturday. Not bad at all. I also have the feeling that I am able to write the first chapter of my forthcoming book on Finland, future, and prosperity.
A little caution never hurt anyone. A good woodsman has only one scar on him. No more, no less Gatekeeper in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Participated in the semi-monthly game night at Lemmy's. He has now nine pinball machines and countless video games, game consoles and machines I do not even recognise. I never play anything but pinball. This time, I played 4 hours straight, except for a few minutes breaks for some beer and some rest for my aching arms. There were quite many other player, but we did not discuss much, we never do, we just played. As Lemmy said to me when he opened the door for me, there was one strange group of men present. But not only strange, for there were maybe 4 of the TOP-8 Finnish pinball players. A elite group, that is.
RSO gave a