tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209045162024-03-13T16:52:06.937+02:00Planet ProcrastinationAcademic life and lack thereof: Blogging about/as procrastination.THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-71317594228970673452010-01-09T22:25:00.004+02:002010-01-09T22:41:06.189+02:00Life is funnyI knew audacity first as the name of the best freeware audio editing software. Then came Obama and his book The Audacity of Hope. The term has now got faces, as I see friends and colleagues make bold choices and change their lives for the better. They are following their dreams, making them come true.If I had to point out one characteristic that I respect, it would be trustworthiness. But THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-11599022273014186482009-05-25T22:03:00.005+03:002009-05-25T22:35:18.327+03:00Bending the rules and writing a blog for writing's sakeWell, yesterday I said I had a short technical piece in mind and that I'd write it up before going to bed. Didn't happen. So, perhaps writing the blog counts as writing? :) As you see, I'm almost as good in coming up with new rules as they are at Guinness. But, I'm confessing all my sins and short-comings here publicly and hope that at some point the shame will overcome my natural laziness and THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-29927833724978829832009-05-24T18:41:00.002+03:002009-05-24T19:23:43.655+03:00Running and writing is back - with a vengeanceRemember, I read this piece by Haruki Murakami in the New Yorker. He is one of my favourite writers, and also a jazz-aficionado and a long distance runner. He runs every day. He probably writes every day. Don't know how much he jazzes every day, but that's beside the point.I said I wanted to run and write every day, because that'd help me write my thesis and also get me fit. Then life happened THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-44368601012135119862009-05-12T12:12:00.003+03:002009-05-12T13:32:15.002+03:00Tweet tweet..Just recently I've started using Twitter. It's the "microblog" service where people send 140 character messages to whoever is following your feed, and receive these messages from whoever they are following. Think Facebook status updates with two crucial differences: 1) there's nothing else but these messages (no throwing sheep, no quizzes, no groups to join and no events to maybe attend); 2) THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-49420917738859912902009-03-03T10:44:00.003+02:002009-03-03T11:46:04.149+02:00Facebook fadsAfter throwing sheep, poking each other and sending champagne or Tiffany jewelery to each other, Facebook users are now by travelling back in time to the age of slam books. Everyone is writing notes, such as "25 things about me", tagging their friends in those notes and spreading these memes around the site faster than influenza.This is an interesting phenomenon from a couple of perspectives. THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-77852914802955185702009-02-21T22:31:00.002+02:002009-02-21T23:14:23.440+02:00Scrapheap challengeYou know plans, right? Those things we like to make when we are trying to avoid doing real work. The stuff that when done well, makes the whole project half-way ready, or things that are made so they can be changed later.Or occasionally, those things that you can just scrap and forget about. There are two ways to look at this. One is that a "project" starts with an idea, then a plan is made (at THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-84843039758274940132009-02-09T10:33:00.002+02:002009-02-09T10:44:51.451+02:00See you later, elevatorThe elevator at our building broke down today. I was going up and called the elevator. Oddly, it overshot by about six inches, and refused to move again. The doors won't lock, the buttons light up as you press them but nothing happens. The lift's gone on strike.As it was me who in a way broke the elevator, I thought I should be the one to call maintenance about it. I called the 24h on-call numberTHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-61582860004373528382009-01-12T14:38:00.003+02:002009-01-12T15:05:53.830+02:00Left-handed skiingI hate today's weather. It's warm (+3), grey and wet. It's sloshy as snow is melting down and although we already had a good cover of snow and perfect winter weather since Christmas, there are already spots of brown appearing from under the quickly vanishing snow.I used to say that during the winter, my mood can be reliably predicted from the weather report - I'm happy when it's snowing, and THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-497834787041754462009-01-06T13:57:00.002+02:002009-01-06T13:59:29.076+02:00New year resolution and testing mobile bloggingHappy new year!New year always brings with it new resolutions and new things. I madea resolution, as well. I've decided to "write and run" every day, atleast a little bit. This probably means more blogging activity,although most of the writing effort will be channelled to academicwriting and basically finishing the damn book.The other new thing is related to this writing resolution. I'm THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-29849703786512069052008-12-05T16:16:00.001+02:002008-12-05T16:16:00.523+02:00Korean drummer takes the showMy favourite bit comes at around the 3 minute mark... :)THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-37795411384698397162008-10-30T18:07:00.001+02:002008-10-30T18:07:04.234+02:00Synchronized Debating - both candidates seem to be pro-recyclingSo, they have their stump speeches and favourite verses that they keep recycling... Very funny. I have to say, I'm a bit mixed up with these elections, I'm watching the 7th season of West Wing at the same time as these real election news, and not sure whether it's Obama vs. Vinick or Santos vs. McCain or what? :) THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-49736993074875208352008-10-18T20:28:00.004+03:002008-10-18T21:17:55.229+03:00Marathon de ParisI'm not sure if this was a good idea. However, sometimes the act first, ask questions later -strategy is the best one. So I signed up for the Paris marathon. It's in April, so there's plenty of time to get in shape - weather permitting. I think that (in addition to time limitations due to work etc.) the biggest obstacle is that the winter can be a difficult time for running practice. If the THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-54572118089674154962008-10-13T12:01:00.002+03:002008-10-13T16:17:16.252+03:00PaceFirst of all, congratulations to president Ahtisaari for the well-deserved Nobel peace prize. The list of his successes is long and impressive, ranging from Namibia to Kosovo and Aceh. The one aspect of his work that epitomises his qualities as a statesman is the work he has done in building the international infrastructure for crisis management and resolution. In this work he has provided many THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-72358181196763937402008-10-05T22:36:00.002+03:002008-10-05T22:52:23.612+03:00Mesmerising...Here's how to make a valve or a vacuum tube. Very hypnotic. These valves can be used as electronic amplifiers and do the same thing as transistors nowadays. But way, way cooler.Fabrication d'une lampe triodeUploaded by F2FOTHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-41166857381904143642008-09-15T13:18:00.003+03:002008-09-15T14:59:03.115+03:00Running as social activityLong distance running is a solitary pursuit. It suits people who are solemn and serious and like to spend a lot of time alone. I suppose that's the usual view of it, or at any rate the view I used to have about it. It didn't stop me from taking up long distance running, as I pretty much see those as positive things, but I've discovered it's only a part of the picture. The most obvious THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-36842463841667213272008-09-13T18:48:00.003+03:002008-09-13T18:51:36.272+03:00Brilliant!Just a quick note, finished the half marathon in just over 2 hours (haven't checked the exact time but was probably 2:03 - 2:04 or thereabouts. I'm very happy about the time. My initial aim was to go under 2 hours, but considering the last three weeks, this was very good. The event was very well organised and there was a great atmosphere among the runners and also lots of people cheering along THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-55850411699557583412008-09-13T09:48:00.002+03:002008-09-13T10:01:59.359+03:00UnderpreparedWhenever possible (and unfortunately in the teaching job I do, that's not often the case), I like to follow the modified version of the scouts' motto: Be overprepared. The half marathon is today, in the afternoon, and I'm feeling very underprepared. My training programme was shattered to pieces about three weeks ago, and so I will start today without any other targets but to complete the distanceTHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-45517038889326548142008-08-28T15:18:00.003+03:002008-08-28T17:26:03.743+03:00KonbanwaOK, I think it's about time to end the blogging break... The summer didn't really leave a mark in any way, and now it seems to be gone. A new academic year is just around the corner and an unimpressive summer weather seems to have turned to autumn, at least judging by the amounts of rain. But enough of the weather, greetings from Sapporo, where I'm on a one week conference trip. It's been great, THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-3279947911294098872008-08-13T23:52:00.003+03:002008-08-14T00:09:05.579+03:00One month to goI just realised that the half marathon is now exactly one month away. Or, in a month's time, I'll be recovering and healing sore feet, hopefully after completing the first running race I take part since the third grade. Training is going OK. There have been weeks when I haven't been able to do the 4-5 runs I've planned, but as I don't really have any other goals than to finish, that's not too badTHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-35113186128572193282008-07-25T12:52:00.002+03:002008-07-25T12:54:45.723+03:00Nerdy but funnySummer in the office - time to finally do things. And as we know, procrastination expands to fill in most of the empty space.See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-89583427711945404402008-07-07T00:08:00.003+03:002008-07-07T01:19:08.450+03:00Half marathon in SeptemberLast year has been horrible in terms of physical activity. Back in Cambridge I at least had the 2*20 minutes cycling to work and back to keep me going, even though I had already stopped training actively with the boat club. Here, I live practically next door to work, and so I get virtually no exercise as a part of the day-to-day routines.There are many excuses and real reasons why I've been a THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-17103126830593295882008-06-29T17:27:00.002+03:002008-06-29T18:03:27.165+03:00Cops and IdiotsSo, I made my first ever call to emergency services yesterday.I was watching TV in the evening (quite late), when I heard someone yell "Help, police" from the park outside. The park is a venue for teenager get-togethers and there's quite a lot of noise there especially in weekend evenings. Yesterday as well, it was a warm night and there was a group of people drumming etc. (damn hippies, Cartman THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-66734507923763536422008-06-18T09:55:00.005+03:002008-06-18T13:18:32.296+03:00Blue wings, white lies...I flew to Edinburgh and back via Amsterdam, and on both occasions the departures from Schiphol were slightly delayed. This didn't really matter, as the delays weren't that long, but the reasons for the delays and what was told to the passengers were funny.The Amsterdam-Edinburgh flight was flown with a small "City Hopper" jet, and so we all took a bus from the gate to the field where the THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-6265698874784139502008-06-12T23:25:00.002+03:002008-06-12T23:35:54.117+03:00Back in EdinburghI'm in a student bar in Edinburgh, watching a football match and having a beer. It's all good.I'm very excited to be back here. There are two (maybe three) cities that I somehow always feel at home in. Paris, Edinburgh and Helsinki. I really loved living in Cambridge, I really like it in Jyväskylä, growing up in Kuopio wasn't bad, and London is somehow at the same time terrifying, awful, and THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20904516.post-48481896468053119002008-05-22T14:39:00.002+03:002008-05-22T14:54:13.842+03:00Corruption, correlation and causationTransparency International has repeatedly ranked Finland as one of the least corrupt country in the world. The CPI ranking, or Corruption Perception Index, is based on interviews, and as it says in the name, perceptions, and so it is a somewhat subjective measure. At least the perception so far has been that Finns, and the Finnish political system in general, would be honest and fair. This THhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514325523625143947noreply@blogger.com0