That's the new lowest temperature I have experienced so far, and I guess it's pretty safe to say that I wont experience anything colder, ever. -110c is almost twice as cold as it is in the South Pole in the winter.
Me and the Mrs. spent some time in the Haikko Manor. Besides manor, they also have a spa. And in addition to the normal activities you can have in a spa, they have what they call "Super Cold Cryo Treatment". It consists of three rooms, first having the temperature of -30c, second is -60c, and the last one is -110c. You walk through the first two rooms (so your body can adjust to the extreme cold) and then spend three minutes in the last room. And you are wearing just slippers, gloves and your swimsuit.
Let me tell you something: that temperature is something totally unreal. I don't know how they make it so cold, but it apparently involves liquid nitrogen. When I first heard that you only spend 3 minutes in -110c, my initial thought was "What if I want to spend more time there?". But 3 minutes is the longest period of time you could do. I actually thought about leaving sooner, but since I had told the Mrs. that I can do it easily, I stayed there. Man can take the pain, but not the shame. Well, I got a diploma to prove that I did it.
They instructed us to "breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth". And that worked for about 20 seconds, then my nostrils started to freeze. So I had to breath in through my mouth. But you can't really breathe air that is so cold, so you just gasp for some air and hope for the best. It was so cold that it actually felt like burning. It was like million needles sticking in to you at once. I could feel and hear my heart pumping. You can't really move that much, since that would make the air move, and that would make it even colder. You just stand there with adrenaline pumping through your veins.
All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm looking forward of doing it again.
And speaking of conspiracies...
There seems to be a conspiracy against me. Every time it seems that I could save some extra money, "something" happens. For the last few months I had been paying back my credit-card bill, few hundred euros a month.No, I'm not a big credit-spender, I usually just the credit-card for online-shopping and to even out some bigger purchases I make. So last month I decided to
repay all of the credit back, figuring that "if I do that, I'll "earn" few hundred euros extra every month, since I don't have to worry about the credit-card bill anymore". And it _seemed_ to work. But no. So far this month I have been hit by two electricity-bills (100+e each), my broadband-bill (150e) and I had to buy new set of summer-tires (380e). Previously whenever it had seemed that I might actually manage to squeeze some extra money to the savings-account, I've been hit by magazine-bills or something. There's ALWAYS something unexpected just around the corner, waiting to drain me from my hard-earned cash. But whenever I have some big-ish monthly expenditure (like, the credit-card) I wont get those "surprises".
repay all of the credit back, figuring that "if I do that, I'll "earn" few hundred euros extra every month, since I don't have to worry about the credit-card bill anymore". And it _seemed_ to work. But no. So far this month I have been hit by two electricity-bills (100+e each), my broadband-bill (150e) and I had to buy new set of summer-tires (380e). Previously whenever it had seemed that I might actually manage to squeeze some extra money to the savings-account, I've been hit by magazine-bills or something. There's ALWAYS something unexpected just around the corner, waiting to drain me from my hard-earned cash. But whenever I have some big-ish monthly expenditure (like, the credit-card) I wont get those "surprises".
A revelation
I realized something a while ago... I realized that I hate Dan Brown. No, I don't hate him personally, I just hate his books. Well, with all due honesty, I have only read "The Da Vinci Code", and even that, only halfway through. But as I read the book, there was something in the book that kept bugging me. I still don't know what it was actually, but it was there. Maybe it was the time wasted telling all those useless details about the people, places and actions? Maybe it was the annoyance because _everything_ seemed to have some hidden symbolic meaning?
As I read the book, I did see why people were crazy about the book. But still, it somehow rubbed me the wrong way. I haven't read "Angels and Demons", but I heard that it's very similar to "The Da Vinci Code", so the guy isn't even original. And looking at the plot-summary on the Wikipedia, I see this: "Angels & Demons follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tries to stop what seems to be the Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying the Vatican City with the newly-discovered power of antimatter". Really? How did he come up with THAT?
Oh, the movie about the book was crap as well. Pure, 100% concentrated crap. That's two hours of my life I will never get back.
What about his other works? Well, there's "Digital Fortress". And it apparently is filled with technical inaccuracies. True, those wouldn't matter to 90% of the readers, but for those in the know, it would make the book seem... Silly. Yes, it's only fiction, but suspension of disbelief only takes you so far. For better alternative, go read Neal Stephensons "Cryptonomicon". I would encourage that book to just about everyone, not just those who are interested in technology and encryption.
Maybe he's ready to move on with his career? Drop this stuff about conspiracies and secret societies? Well, not yet at least. Apparently his next book is about the Freemasons. The horse is dead, but let's just keep on beating it.
As I read the book, I did see why people were crazy about the book. But still, it somehow rubbed me the wrong way. I haven't read "Angels and Demons", but I heard that it's very similar to "The Da Vinci Code", so the guy isn't even original. And looking at the plot-summary on the Wikipedia, I see this: "Angels & Demons follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, as he tries to stop what seems to be the Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying the Vatican City with the newly-discovered power of antimatter". Really? How did he come up with THAT?
Oh, the movie about the book was crap as well. Pure, 100% concentrated crap. That's two hours of my life I will never get back.
What about his other works? Well, there's "Digital Fortress". And it apparently is filled with technical inaccuracies. True, those wouldn't matter to 90% of the readers, but for those in the know, it would make the book seem... Silly. Yes, it's only fiction, but suspension of disbelief only takes you so far. For better alternative, go read Neal Stephensons "Cryptonomicon". I would encourage that book to just about everyone, not just those who are interested in technology and encryption.
Maybe he's ready to move on with his career? Drop this stuff about conspiracies and secret societies? Well, not yet at least. Apparently his next book is about the Freemasons. The horse is dead, but let's just keep on beating it.
A review...
I went to see "300" yesterday. And I don't think I have ever seen a movie that is so full of macho-bullshit (Dirty Harry might come close), muscular men (Conan might come close), spraying blood (Ummmm.... Kill Bill is a contender here), people getting killed (there are a number of movies that compete in sheer volume of corpses, but I'm not going to start going through them here) and general mayhem. I can understand if some people absolutely loathe this movie, truly I can. But I loved every second of it.
First of all, the movie is beautiful. I think it's the first movie that is filmed (more or less) entirely in front of a greenscreen and (again, more or less) entirely in slow-motion. Some might say it looks cheesy, but... It doesn't.
Second: I really liked the soundtrack. Yes, it was kinda weird of watching an epic movie that is set in ancient Greece, with soundtrack that has electric-guitars (or their electronic counterpart), but it works. The music has balls, and it does a great work at making those gargantuan Spartan brass-balls be even bigger than they are in the movie.
Third: There's something strangely satisfying in a movie that basically consists of hordes of men and beasts hurling them against the spears and swords of muscular Spartans. Is it "intellectual"? Hell no! And it doesn't have to be. One of my coworkers described it as a "two-hour action-scene", which is quite close. Well, there are the moments when the story progresses outside the battlefield, but those are relatively few and far between. And even those scenes usually consist of muscular Spartans being macho.
Fourth: This is a 100% guy-movie. But those unfortunate women that have been dragged to the theater by their husband/boyfriends at least have something to look at. That's right, those muscular Spartans. And even though this is a guy movie, there's relatively little gratious female-nudity in the movie. Well, there is some nudity, but it's not like they used every possible moment to show us naked women. Almost, but not quite.
The point I'm making here is that "300" is not a "good movie" like "Citizen Kane" or "Godfather" is. What it is, is a 100% entertaining movie that is pure joy to watch. And in this day and age, that's quite a good accomplishment. Don't expect to see a movie that makes you think or makes you ponder the meaning of life. What you will get instead is a movie that is just oozing with coolness and kick-ass action. And balls. Huge balls. Made from genuine Spartan brass.
First of all, the movie is beautiful. I think it's the first movie that is filmed (more or less) entirely in front of a greenscreen and (again, more or less) entirely in slow-motion. Some might say it looks cheesy, but... It doesn't.
Second: I really liked the soundtrack. Yes, it was kinda weird of watching an epic movie that is set in ancient Greece, with soundtrack that has electric-guitars (or their electronic counterpart), but it works. The music has balls, and it does a great work at making those gargantuan Spartan brass-balls be even bigger than they are in the movie.
Third: There's something strangely satisfying in a movie that basically consists of hordes of men and beasts hurling them against the spears and swords of muscular Spartans. Is it "intellectual"? Hell no! And it doesn't have to be. One of my coworkers described it as a "two-hour action-scene", which is quite close. Well, there are the moments when the story progresses outside the battlefield, but those are relatively few and far between. And even those scenes usually consist of muscular Spartans being macho.
Fourth: This is a 100% guy-movie. But those unfortunate women that have been dragged to the theater by their husband/boyfriends at least have something to look at. That's right, those muscular Spartans. And even though this is a guy movie, there's relatively little gratious female-nudity in the movie. Well, there is some nudity, but it's not like they used every possible moment to show us naked women. Almost, but not quite.
The point I'm making here is that "300" is not a "good movie" like "Citizen Kane" or "Godfather" is. What it is, is a 100% entertaining movie that is pure joy to watch. And in this day and age, that's quite a good accomplishment. Don't expect to see a movie that makes you think or makes you ponder the meaning of life. What you will get instead is a movie that is just oozing with coolness and kick-ass action. And balls. Huge balls. Made from genuine Spartan brass.
Elections: the day after
Well, it's two days after, but still.
So, what changed? Well, all in all I can be pretty happy with the results. My candidate got through, and Greens managed to get one more seat in the Parliament (15 seats). The Coalition (the mainstream right-wing party, they have been in the opposition recently) got a whopping 10 extra seats. Which is good, since I considered voting for them ;).
Social-Democrats were thoroughly beaten, losing eight seats. Which is good, since the party and it's leaders were arrogant and obnoxious. And they were just about the only party that resorted to mud-slinging in their campaign. They won't be in the next government, that's more or less certain, thus ending their 12 years in the government.
The biggest party is still the Center Party, but they lost four seats when compared to previous elections. They currently have 51 seats out of 200, whereas the Coalition has 50. So it's pretty tight. Social-Democrats plummetted down to 45.
So it seems that we will get a Center-Right government, aided by the Swedish People's Party (they are ALWAYS in the government) and propably Greens. Not too shabby.
Other relevant things: There are more women in the parliament than ever before. 42% of MP's are now women, up from 37%
So, what changed? Well, all in all I can be pretty happy with the results. My candidate got through, and Greens managed to get one more seat in the Parliament (15 seats). The Coalition (the mainstream right-wing party, they have been in the opposition recently) got a whopping 10 extra seats. Which is good, since I considered voting for them ;).
Social-Democrats were thoroughly beaten, losing eight seats. Which is good, since the party and it's leaders were arrogant and obnoxious. And they were just about the only party that resorted to mud-slinging in their campaign. They won't be in the next government, that's more or less certain, thus ending their 12 years in the government.
The biggest party is still the Center Party, but they lost four seats when compared to previous elections. They currently have 51 seats out of 200, whereas the Coalition has 50. So it's pretty tight. Social-Democrats plummetted down to 45.
So it seems that we will get a Center-Right government, aided by the Swedish People's Party (they are ALWAYS in the government) and propably Greens. Not too shabby.
Other relevant things: There are more women in the parliament than ever before. 42% of MP's are now women, up from 37%
Space-debris and elections....
...what do they have in common? Both are happening in Finland.
That's right, I saw some space-debris falling from the sky! I was just stepping out of a bus, when I saw something in the sky. Thinking it was just a passenger-jet (which are numerous around here), I didn't think much of it. But when I saw it, I instantly thought "If that's an airliner, it has disintegrated mid-flight". It looked like what Columbia looked like when it disintegrated during re-entry. But, as opposed of being white, this war yellow/red (like flame). There were several fragments visible, and the whole spectacle lasted for just a few seconds.
Other thing going on over here is the elections. Yes, politicians suck, but all in all, things aren't as bad in Finland as they could be. I mean that we have several parties to choose from, instead of being required to pick between "evil" and "incompetent". There are three major parties, representing mainstream right (The Coalition), center (The Center Party) and left (Social-democrats), each with around 20-25% popularity. Then we have the a bit more radical left with around 10% popularity, and the Greens with similar figures. Then there are few smaller parties with around 5% popularity (a bit more radical right, the Swedes and the Bible-thumbers). The category "Other" has maybe combined 2% popularity and it includes parties like "Independence-party" and "Liberals". It also includes three left-wing parties.
And here's where it gets interesting. We have "The Workers Party", "The Finnish Communistic Workers Party" and "The Finnish Communistic Party". Um, does any of that make any sense? What's the difference between the three? Is it like one is communistic, whereas the other two are merely socialistic? Or are they divided along whether they are Leninist, or Marxist-Leninist? Is it really so that the leaders of Communistic Party and Communistic Workers Party (the Workers Party is a new party, haven't seen them in previous elections) never thought about merging their parties? And the weird thing is that the left-wing party with 10% popularity was actually formed in late-eighties/early-nineties by merging the socialistic and communistic parties in Finland in to one. It's like when one left-wing party gets "eliminated", two parties sprung up to take it's place.
EDIT: I just checked. It's actually "The Finnish Communistic Party" and "The Communistic Workers Party". Making the situation even more strange that it was before. I changed the names to the post.
That's right, I saw some space-debris falling from the sky! I was just stepping out of a bus, when I saw something in the sky. Thinking it was just a passenger-jet (which are numerous around here), I didn't think much of it. But when I saw it, I instantly thought "If that's an airliner, it has disintegrated mid-flight". It looked like what Columbia looked like when it disintegrated during re-entry. But, as opposed of being white, this war yellow/red (like flame). There were several fragments visible, and the whole spectacle lasted for just a few seconds.
Other thing going on over here is the elections. Yes, politicians suck, but all in all, things aren't as bad in Finland as they could be. I mean that we have several parties to choose from, instead of being required to pick between "evil" and "incompetent". There are three major parties, representing mainstream right (The Coalition), center (The Center Party) and left (Social-democrats), each with around 20-25% popularity. Then we have the a bit more radical left with around 10% popularity, and the Greens with similar figures. Then there are few smaller parties with around 5% popularity (a bit more radical right, the Swedes and the Bible-thumbers). The category "Other" has maybe combined 2% popularity and it includes parties like "Independence-party" and "Liberals". It also includes three left-wing parties.
And here's where it gets interesting. We have "The Workers Party", "The Finnish Communistic Workers Party" and "The Finnish Communistic Party". Um, does any of that make any sense? What's the difference between the three? Is it like one is communistic, whereas the other two are merely socialistic? Or are they divided along whether they are Leninist, or Marxist-Leninist? Is it really so that the leaders of Communistic Party and Communistic Workers Party (the Workers Party is a new party, haven't seen them in previous elections) never thought about merging their parties? And the weird thing is that the left-wing party with 10% popularity was actually formed in late-eighties/early-nineties by merging the socialistic and communistic parties in Finland in to one. It's like when one left-wing party gets "eliminated", two parties sprung up to take it's place.
EDIT: I just checked. It's actually "The Finnish Communistic Party" and "The Communistic Workers Party". Making the situation even more strange that it was before. I changed the names to the post.
Check the settings!
It was snowing a bit yesterday, so I decided to go take some pictures outside. Besides, I had bought a stand for the camera and I wanted to try it out. I only took half a dozen pictures, before heading back in. And no, the pictures were not any good. But I did notice that you can turn a crap picture in to a bit better picture with some cropping and tweaking. But the fact that your white balance is off doesn't really help. You see, I have the tendency to take the camera and take some pictures, only to notice afterwards that the white balance-settings were all wrong. Note to self: ALWAYS check the settings on the camera before you take any pictures! And if it's snowing, take an umbrella so you could at least try to cover the camera from the snow!
Working-life
Work has been pretty good. Busy, but good. It's great when you get a relatively complex task to do, and you singlehandedly do it. I was asked to arrange some Excel-training. I have done it before, and it's a good thing to see that practice does make one better. Before it was quite tedious and difficult to arrange, but this time everything just flowed in to place. I got the trainer, I got the location, I got the hotel-room for the trainer, and I got the participants.
Working-life
Work has been pretty good. Busy, but good. It's great when you get a relatively complex task to do, and you singlehandedly do it. I was asked to arrange some Excel-training. I have done it before, and it's a good thing to see that practice does make one better. Before it was quite tedious and difficult to arrange, but this time everything just flowed in to place. I got the trainer, I got the location, I got the hotel-room for the trainer, and I got the participants.