Curling! I kid you not. Finland's curling-team has managed to make their ways to the Olympic-finals, and the captain of the team, Markku Uusipaavalniemi (M-15 for short) has become an instant celebrity.
Hockey is still propably still the #1 sport, but everyone is talking about curling. The semifinal match between Finland and UK was watched by over 1 million people! Jesus! And I must admit: I have been watching as well. I actually got interested in the early games when I just happened to glance at TV, and I found myself half an hour later still watching the game.
If Finland only gets one gold-medal from the games, and they get it from curling, then it really means that hell has frozen over. And it's frozen so that Uusipaavalniemi can do some curling.
The darkest hour of free speech....
First things first: Link
Anyone whot claims that Holocaust did not happen, is a f*cking moron, period. And David Irving is an grade-A asshat. That said, throwing people in jail because they dispute the Holocaust is STUPID. I really fail to see how Europe can claim to support free speech (the Muhammad-drawings), and then say nothing when someone is thrown in to jail (in Europe even!) for holding an opinion that is not kosher.
Like I said before: free speech means that you have to accept comments and viewpoints that you might not agree with and that are downright stupid. If such comments are not allowed, then we do not have free speech. Here we have a textbook example of this "pseudo-free speech", where "you are free to talk about anything you wish. But not about this. Or this. Or this. Or this". Either we have free speech, and tolerate viewpoints that differ from ours, or we don't have free speech, in which case we should just stop pretending that we do. They should just come out and say "you are free to discuss anything you like as long as it's acceptable to the powers-at-be. Don't confuse this system with free speech, however".
What next? they start throwing people to prison because they believe in Santa Claus? or that Earth is flat? Hell, most people believe in God, a being that can't be proven and that relies on blind faith. Should those people be thrown to jail, because believing in such a creature is dumb?
Maybe Irving has some "evidence" to back up his claims. To be honest, I have no idea. But either he has some evidence, or he relies on blind faith. Why is he being sent to jail, but the millions of people who rely on blind faith in their belief of God (or Santa) are not in jail? because God is a "Good Thing" (tm), whereas Holocaust was a very, very bad thing? Hell, maybe they start carting atheists in to prison in the future. I mean: what is the difference, really? David Irving doesn't believe that something happened. Atheists don't believe in God. Is the difference that David Irving is disputing the existence of a terrible period in human history, whereas atheists are disputing the existence of a "Good Thing"?
Holding a viewpoint that differs from the mainstream is not something that should be punished. The viewpoint might be stupid and wrong, but they have the right to their viewpoint. Who decides what viewpoints are acceptable and what are not? The politicians? Corporations? The teeming horde of ignorant masses?
Anyone whot claims that Holocaust did not happen, is a f*cking moron, period. And David Irving is an grade-A asshat. That said, throwing people in jail because they dispute the Holocaust is STUPID. I really fail to see how Europe can claim to support free speech (the Muhammad-drawings), and then say nothing when someone is thrown in to jail (in Europe even!) for holding an opinion that is not kosher.
Like I said before: free speech means that you have to accept comments and viewpoints that you might not agree with and that are downright stupid. If such comments are not allowed, then we do not have free speech. Here we have a textbook example of this "pseudo-free speech", where "you are free to talk about anything you wish. But not about this. Or this. Or this. Or this". Either we have free speech, and tolerate viewpoints that differ from ours, or we don't have free speech, in which case we should just stop pretending that we do. They should just come out and say "you are free to discuss anything you like as long as it's acceptable to the powers-at-be. Don't confuse this system with free speech, however".
What next? they start throwing people to prison because they believe in Santa Claus? or that Earth is flat? Hell, most people believe in God, a being that can't be proven and that relies on blind faith. Should those people be thrown to jail, because believing in such a creature is dumb?
Maybe Irving has some "evidence" to back up his claims. To be honest, I have no idea. But either he has some evidence, or he relies on blind faith. Why is he being sent to jail, but the millions of people who rely on blind faith in their belief of God (or Santa) are not in jail? because God is a "Good Thing" (tm), whereas Holocaust was a very, very bad thing? Hell, maybe they start carting atheists in to prison in the future. I mean: what is the difference, really? David Irving doesn't believe that something happened. Atheists don't believe in God. Is the difference that David Irving is disputing the existence of a terrible period in human history, whereas atheists are disputing the existence of a "Good Thing"?
Holding a viewpoint that differs from the mainstream is not something that should be punished. The viewpoint might be stupid and wrong, but they have the right to their viewpoint. Who decides what viewpoints are acceptable and what are not? The politicians? Corporations? The teeming horde of ignorant masses?
*Applause*
Mr. Birch: if you ever decide to come to Helsinki, drop me a line and I'll buy you a pizza.
Bill Gates has a trampoline...
... And he apparently likes to bounce on it. I have no idea why, but after I heard that "interesting" piece of information, I immediately thought "does he bounce on it naked?".
I swear to god, if I had a bottle of arsenic laying around, I would drink it in a heartbeat.
I swear to god, if I had a bottle of arsenic laying around, I would drink it in a heartbeat.
It will all end in tears
So, my sister-in-law mentioned that she really enjoyed seeing Moving Castle and The Cat Returns. I then happened to mention that I have a quality piece of animation in my collection: Grave of the Fireflies. Of course my sister-in-law wants to see it as well.
But then I started to think... While it too is an animation, it's very different from the "Moving Castle" and "The Cat Returns". The story, is very, very sad. I warned my sister-in-law that she can expect a very beautiful, yet very sad story. If she expects a cheerful story, she's in for a disappointment. But she wants so see it anyway. Well, I warned her, so it's not my fault. But I will be having crying girls to take care of this weekend.
But then I started to think... While it too is an animation, it's very different from the "Moving Castle" and "The Cat Returns". The story, is very, very sad. I warned my sister-in-law that she can expect a very beautiful, yet very sad story. If she expects a cheerful story, she's in for a disappointment. But she wants so see it anyway. Well, I warned her, so it's not my fault. But I will be having crying girls to take care of this weekend.
Bird Flu
Everybody talks about bird flu in Finland these days. People are watching with keen eye as the flu inches closer and closer to Finland. Finland is the end of the road for the birds. They spend the winter in the south, and as spring gets closer, they start migrating back north. And that's exactly what has been happening. First they discovered bird-flu in Italy and other countries in southern Europe. Then a bit up north in Austria, then in Germany. And then in north-Germany. They are now suspecting that there are cases in Denmark as well. It doesn't take a rocket-scientist so see what's happening.
The flu is moving from south to north, like it was predicted. Next and last step? Scandinavia. First Sweden, then Norway and Finland. And as it happens, I happen to live right next to a major destination of migrating birds. Bummer. Am I worried? No, not really. But this could make some everyday things a bit more inconvenient. For starters, domestic birds are not allowed outdoors. And that means that Soili's (my wife) family's pet-bird has to spend his summer indoors. Which is a sad thing, since he enjoys the outdoors, and this might be his last summer (he's quite old already) :(.
On the other hand, people could die from the flu, and I worry about a single pet-bird. I guess that tells something about people in general. We pay more attention to things close to us, no matter how small or trivial, as opposed to bigger things that do not take place right next to us.
The flu is moving from south to north, like it was predicted. Next and last step? Scandinavia. First Sweden, then Norway and Finland. And as it happens, I happen to live right next to a major destination of migrating birds. Bummer. Am I worried? No, not really. But this could make some everyday things a bit more inconvenient. For starters, domestic birds are not allowed outdoors. And that means that Soili's (my wife) family's pet-bird has to spend his summer indoors. Which is a sad thing, since he enjoys the outdoors, and this might be his last summer (he's quite old already) :(.
On the other hand, people could die from the flu, and I worry about a single pet-bird. I guess that tells something about people in general. We pay more attention to things close to us, no matter how small or trivial, as opposed to bigger things that do not take place right next to us.
The son-in-law strikes back!
We bought sliding mirror-doors for our hallway, to cover the coats and other miscellianeous stuff hanging from the hangers. Besides hiding the coats from prying eyes, it also serves double function of making the hallway better illuminated and increasing the area covered by mirrors in our household by about an order of magnitude.
As usual, my father-in-law was supposed to come install them, and I was supposed to help him out. Reason being that while I might know technical stuff, I'm not that good when it comes to doing these household things, like dismantling the kitchen and stuff (don't ask). So usually my father-in-law handles those, while I help him out. And this wasn't an exception.
So, we installed the doors, with me helping out. But after we tried them out, they just wouldn't work as advertised. They scraped the rail they were supposed to glide on, and they wouldn't work smoothly. I thought that we had installed them wrong, while my father-in-law (who has installed such doors in the past) claimed that "It's installed like it's supposed to be, I have no idea why they do this!". He then stormed to the living-room and started watching TV.
So I was left there with a screwdriver in one hand, and the instructions on the other. I looked at the instructions, and I looked at how the doors had been assembled. It took me about 20 seconds to notice the problem, and another 2 minutes to fix it. End-result: doors that glide smoothly. When I mentioned that "Hey, I managed to find and fix the problem, and the doors are working now", all I got was "Fine!" from the living-room. I think he was a bit embarrassed or something. Am I gloating? You bet!
Hey, I never claimed that this would be an interesting or somehow inspirational piece of blogging! If you REALLY want to draw some ancient wisdom from this, it would be "the fact that someone has age, wisdom and experience, does not guarantee that he knows what he's doing. That whippersnapper son-in-law might actually have the answers you are seeking.".
As usual, my father-in-law was supposed to come install them, and I was supposed to help him out. Reason being that while I might know technical stuff, I'm not that good when it comes to doing these household things, like dismantling the kitchen and stuff (don't ask). So usually my father-in-law handles those, while I help him out. And this wasn't an exception.
So, we installed the doors, with me helping out. But after we tried them out, they just wouldn't work as advertised. They scraped the rail they were supposed to glide on, and they wouldn't work smoothly. I thought that we had installed them wrong, while my father-in-law (who has installed such doors in the past) claimed that "It's installed like it's supposed to be, I have no idea why they do this!". He then stormed to the living-room and started watching TV.
So I was left there with a screwdriver in one hand, and the instructions on the other. I looked at the instructions, and I looked at how the doors had been assembled. It took me about 20 seconds to notice the problem, and another 2 minutes to fix it. End-result: doors that glide smoothly. When I mentioned that "Hey, I managed to find and fix the problem, and the doors are working now", all I got was "Fine!" from the living-room. I think he was a bit embarrassed or something. Am I gloating? You bet!
Hey, I never claimed that this would be an interesting or somehow inspirational piece of blogging! If you REALLY want to draw some ancient wisdom from this, it would be "the fact that someone has age, wisdom and experience, does not guarantee that he knows what he's doing. That whippersnapper son-in-law might actually have the answers you are seeking.".