What the hell is wrong with organized religions?

I have been thinking of religions lately. Partly because of this entry (I was linked by my friend Vlad, who apparently has rather good grasp on things I like), partly because couple of Jehovah's Witnesses came to visit the Residence the other day. I was not around, but apparently they knocked on each flat door and asked from which countries the inhabitants are from. They then gave Watchtowers and Awake!-magazines in the languages of the countries mentioned. So now I have religious magazines in Finnish and English on the kitchen table.

I don't much base for organized religion. I trust the scientific approach as far as our normal life goes, and I quite agree with the idea of evolution and Newtonian physics (yes, I know they only apply as long as the objects travel slower than 10% of speed of light). When we step outside the area that can be observed and verified directly by our senses, I get a bit unsure. They say that it all started with a Big Bang, which seems like a sensible conclusion from the known facts. The same goes for post-Einstein physics. They say it allows pretty much everything from time travel to reaching distant stars in days. This may very well be so, and I do know that CD-players would be impossible to manufacture without Einstein's theories.

But when you start to think about it, REALLY think about it; the universe is so huge and big and infinite. There are no borders but it expands all the time. And every material is coming from the same spot and has just spread around. There may be evidence to support it - and I do want to believe - but it's too big. And the same goes for the religious alternatives.

But to be honest, I'm not very concerned. Some days I feel that there might be something out there, and on some days I don't. In general, I feel that it's more important to know what's inside than outside. And whatever you believe, they are your beliefs and don't really belong to anyone else. If I discover something that works to me, the last thing I want to hear is that I'm wrong. Incidentally, Lutheran church (at least in Finland) is pretty cool with the subject. Apparently they (we?) have priests who don't believe in Hell. And priests that only believe in God as a symbol for human goodness. And priests that don't believe that women can be priests, which pretty well shows the other side of the tolerance-argument, but I digress.

I do read about other religions; believes often tell something important about the culture and the person itself. And so I was reading Finnish Awake! at the kitchen table, while I was eating my breakfast müsli. I admit that I dont know much about Jehovahs Witnesses, other than they go from door to door and nobody seems to like them. It's all very vague.

There was a longish article in Young people ask-series titled Why is it wrong to date in secret?. It was basically the moral story of Jessica, with additional quotes and explanations from the Bible. Jessica's story goes as follows;

Jessica had to do a choice. Everything started when one of her classmates, Jeremy, told he was interested in her. Jessica says: "He was very good looking, and my friends said that you will never find a guy as honourable as him. Many girls were interested in him, but he only had eyes for me".

After a time, Jeremy asked Jessica out. She tells: "I explained to him that I am a Jehovah's Witness, and that I could not date anyone who was not a Witness. But then Jeremy got an idea; we could date without telling my parents.

[...] Surprisingly, Jessica accepts Jeremy's idea. "I was sure that if I dated him, I could make him love Jehovah", she says. [Then] Jessica [...] heard about another Christian girl in the same situation. "When I found out that she had ended her relationship, I knew what I had to do", Jessica says. Was ending the relationship easy? No! "He was the only boy who I had ever truly cared about", Jessica says. "I cried every day for weeks."

Jessica also knew something else: she loved Jehovah, and even if she had gotten sidetracked, she genuinely wanted to do what was right. In time, the pain went away. Jessica tells; "my relationship with Jehovah is now better than ever. I am really thankful that he gives to us at the right time the kind of guidance we need."

(From Herätkää!, June 2007)

The girl cried for weeks and imagine what the boy felt like. I don't really know what the teaching of the story was - other than "cults are bad for you, mmkay?" - But I'd like you to imagine what it would be like if there is no Witness community on the area. The article also mentions that dating is forbidden altogether if the people aren't old enough to marry and prepared to do so after relatively short dating.

Religion is what you make of it, what you believe in. You can try to convince others to believe in the same way, but it's rather inhuman to make people live in a way that makes them unhappy. Denying something purely because somebody says you should does sound a bit perverse for me, just because somebody may have probably said something against it, possibly, 3 000 years ago. As such I really like the relaxed attitude of the ground-level Lutheran church; the higher ups are not as much fun (few years ago they fired an employee for being gay).

I am, of course, a product of my society, and of my generation. People talk about traditions, values and history. Personally I think that for them to carry on, they should have some other things for going for them than just age. And not everything old is bad, but that story sends chills down my spine. Actually, I felt pretty bad for few days. The worst thing is that they didn't even think Jeremy's feelings were worth exploring. The only important thing is that Jessica had gotten closer to God!

Diary

Memory is a terrible thing. It alters and simplifies our recollection, making us heroes of our own lives. We forget our failures. Different occasions merge together and sometimes the timeline of events goes all topsy-turvy as our brain tries to make stories out of singular events.

My first venture into keeping journal wasn't voluntary. I was seven years old and I had problems with learning to write Finnish. I had been out of the country for two years, studying and reading in English (as well as one aged six can). Coming back to homeland and learning to write in language with different grammar proved to be problematic. My mother bought me a calendar book and forced me to write an entry for every day, even though I had very little interest in doing so.

First time I tried writing one voluntarily was when I was ten. I was spending my summer in Nicaragua, and thought that it might be a good idea to record events from a time that would surely be unlike any other in my life. After the first two weeks, the entries started to get shorter. After three weeks, they were just a list of verbs. Soon I stopped completely.
I tried again four years later, for the same reasons as above. The entries were longer, but during the two and half months I only got twenty pages into A5-notebook. I spent weeks without writing anything - though to be fair, the summer was pretty uneventful.

During this time in my life, I was sure that I was already emotionally as adult as I would ever be, and that the memories of those days would never fade. Thus I didn’t keep a diary, a thing I can’t deem as good or bad. The memories did fade, but I suspect that they were nothing in particular I would want to remember. On the other hand, this was the time of my life when I created many of the quirks I now have. Would be nice to know why I originally avowed not to use alcohol or why I disliked a person whose company I three years later looked quite forward to.

I wrote my first long, emotional text when my first relationship crashed. I was feeling awful. For reasons I don’t remember I opened Notepad and started writing. I must have filled two or three pages, and I remember how it surprised me that I couldn’t lie to myself as I did in my head. Half-truths that made sense in my mind looked so thin on paper. I had to tell my feelings and situation as a story, which forced me to question things you normally brush over in your head, as you are more occupied with the present state of affairs.
I wrote for two hours, after which I password-protected the file. I probably have the file still somewhere on my hard drive, but I have not taken a look. While I was more truthful, I have no illusions that I would have been any less naïve.
Reading the file again would also surely hurt, if for different reasons than then. Written word always reflects the ways we think – never more than when we write about our personal problems. I am not sure I want to face the person I was then – even if it would be a moment of growth as a human being.

Last summer I got a book from my mother with hard red covers and full of blank A4-pages. Mum meant me to use it for drawing – I was just finishing my fourth book – but I found the paper was too glossy for that. The ink didn’t stick to the paper needing up to five minutes to dry.
The book rested on my shelf for few months till I found myself depressed by worries of the future, family and matters of heart. I could not separate the feelings in my head, leaving me unable to function. I was in sorry state for few weeks till it occurred for me to take the book down from the shelf and start writing.
This was over half a year ago, and to date I have finished 107 entries. Some of the entries are written very carefully, with every alphabet carefully placed precisely where intended. Some are written hurriedly, with big and half-formed words scrawling over the pages like fat snails. But I kept writing about my experiences, thoughts, worries and hopes, even when I was tired, sick, angry or feeling my heart would burst from grief.

It helps to write things down when you have a problem; just having it on paper changes it to something more akin to to-do list. Matters of heart become solid, making them easy to touch. Often writing it down even offered solutions that were earlier nowhere to be seen.
It helps to write things down even on a normal day; you never know when you want to know of some detail that would otherwise escape your memory, or remind yourself how you felt about different people.
And finally, it stops you from making stories out of your life. Going trough the pages you can see what was important to you then, and how you felt about different subjects. Seeing how things unfolded gives you a change to learn of them more effectively than by just recalling.
Alas, it also offers exellent list of mistakes you make. Where you trusted the wrong people and where you made a mistake that only manifested months later.

But, all in all, I love my diary with red covers. It has probably improved my life more than any other singular item ever in my possession.

What did I want to be when I grew up?

This is a looking-back post. In a way, it's a decade report about where I was ten years ago and where I am now. I think it's very personal text about, basically, how I became me. You might wonder why I write it here, on a public blog (ha ha) where anybody (hah) might see it instead to the privacy of my own diary journal. I leave you with that question for now, and give answer at the end; after reading these things about me, it might make more sense.

I imagine all of you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The film has a part where, with flashbacks, we learn how Jones became archaeologist, how he started to fear snakes, how he got named Indiana and where he got his style.
And you could see all this from following him on one important day of his life. Somehow it was so easy. You are a kid with no plans of future, and then you experience something important and suddenly you know who you want to be in twenty years.
In real life, it all happens gradually and is - at least it was for me - full of pain.

Ten years ago I was doing my last days at lower compulsory school. Back home the summer between lower and upper compulsory school is pretty much the difference between child (12) and a teenager (13).

I was not well liked. My family had moved to the town a year earlier, and I only had two friends in the school; I suspect they might not have liked me very deeply, and only were in my company because you have to have something to do during the breaks. After the summer, I did not see them again.
There were over 38 people in our class; our home class was an old (and small) gymnasium, built in the fifties, which had fallen in disuse after they had built another school building next to ours to accommodate the growing student body. I could not name half the people in my class.

Imagine me then, in the early summer of 1997. I was often ridiculed for my choices in clothing (dictated by comfort), when the "cool guys" wore hip-hop jeans with wide enough trouser legs to get the whole waist in.

Upper compulsory school was not nice either. Around me everyone was reinventing themselves, becoming hiphoppers, beauty queens, rockers, jocks.
And I was lonely. The people I knew earlier had gone to other schools. I wasn't able to make any connections to new people during the first two years, and so I sat next to classroom door waiting for the teacher arrive. Sometimes I read novels, sometimes history or geography.
The lack of social contact had left me awkward and shy, and the fear that somebody would stop me in the middle of too long explanation had gotten me to the habit of talking fast.

Because I was not "in" in the popular culture of the time, I hated it. Backstreet Boys, radio hosts, programs in television. Media in general. If somebody asked, I was more than happy to share my feelings. I hated being me; disliked kid who was nervous of doing the wrong things in case it would be noticed and somebody would make jokes, or hit me on the back.

I got friends, and I got to upper secondary school. Most of the more brainless people were filtered to the ranks of the unemployed and the student body of vocational school. Life was better, but I was still very tightly wounded. I had started to define myself by what I was NOT, leaving me a bit hollow. I didn't drink, and I didn't smoke. I didn't go outside on Friday-evenings but stayed home. Perfect wallflower.
I got few friends, the first that I actually retained after I got out of school. Some of them smoked, some of them drunk heavily, one had interesting ideas about relationships.. But most of all they were happy to listen to me even if I didn't make much sense, and introduced me to things that they thought I would enjoy. I got much more relaxed and happy, and started thinking that maybe it wasn't important to be like everyone else or blend to the background. I started imaging what kind of person I would like to be.

Four years later I think I'm nearly there. I have forced myself into situations that I have wanted to do, but earlier felt were too rowdy, unfamiliar or just afraid of. I'm more open about things I like and seldom bother to hide my interest in things that take my fancy, were they cartoon shows for kids, graveyards or human body shapes. And I stopped making excuses to cover myself.

Maybe all this is a small thing for someone else.. maybe to others deciding these things is easy. It wasn't for me. I started thinking how much I had changed, and I wanted to have it on black and white. Words and printed text have more power than thoughts, even if you are only speaking to yourself. That's why diaries are such a powerful tools.

I always thought that when speakers came to the school talking about things being easier when you are older, that they were lying. That the feeling on the background would never change. I am happy to notice I was wrong.

The one with tech-porn

Good day again, my friends!
Yes, it has been a while, and I'm fairly certain I don't have any readers - at least I don't get any comments. Some tech-things related to my life;

#1. GAIM is now Pidgin. Apparently AOL didn't like the fact that GAIM and AIM sound the same (even if GAIM predated AIM), so with the final of version 2.0 out, they changed the name. I think it works rather well, and I like the fact that they have hidden protocols out-of-view in the GUI. It looks pretty, slim and efficient. This is pretty much what I would hope ICQ or MSN would look like. My only problems with the program (apart of the fact that Skype and Google Talk isn't supported) is that there is no VoIP, meaning I still have to have MSN Live Messenger (that overbloated piece of shit... pardon my French) on my computer.
For those who it may concern; yes, I find the program stable. Meaning that the crashes are way less regular than those of MSN LM and that it handles net outages in very courteous manner, unlike it's predecessor GAIM 1.5

#2. I found Google Reader. Everybody else might have gotten on with the program months ago, but this was a new find for me. I haven't really gotten used to RSS/Atom-feed - I found the notification systems of tried programs very clunky (I might have done something wrong) - but this changed everything. Basically it treats blog posts in a similar manner than Google Mail treats email, giving the impression that the posts are sent to YOU, instead of YOU going to THEM. Of course, this is the whole basis of the RSS-feed, but it only today clicked for me. Removing ten bookmarks from the side panel (which I always keep open) meant that I don't have to scroll anymore. And I don't have to obsessively go through the links when I'm bored and can't motivate myself to go outside. So it's great.

#3. I heavily stripped down my account at IRC-Galleria. Mainly because it had changed from it's original function (user database of Finnish IRC-users) to MySpace Finland. Again, the customer profile has changed; from Internet-savvy 20something to trendy 12-16 year old. The site has also changed from group hobby to serious enterprise. Of course, I think it's great that the people get money from their hobby-turned-work, but the increase in ads, competitions and change in userbase made it rather embarrassing to log in at public places - or ,indeed, to even have an account.
The name of the site also has caused some problems as regular users think they are "ircing" when they are using the service. When corrected, they emphatically admit that there is this thing called "irc" but that these days the word mostly refers to the site. Sometimes they suggest that old-fashioned ircing should in fact be called "mircing". The new usage of the word is even spreading to newspapers (who are unaware of the history) and common consciousness trough the interviews done with site users. But I digress. Let us just say that the greatest monument of the change is that they now have an information sheet for concerned parents, who come to the site while researching the activities of their children.

#4. I installed Picasa, mainly because of my leave from Finland destroyed my FTP-account (that was part of the Internet-subscription) and the computer magazine (named MikroBitti) that gave me another one merged with audio/picture elitist mag named Hifi, changing the reader focus outside my area. You can probably gather that I no longer have subscription.
I'm sure that the company thought it was sensible move, but I'm understanding that many of the readers feel differently. So, put together with #3 I had no place where to put my photos and pictures for show. Basically it's a (very good) photo organizer that you install to your hard drive, and from where you can upload stuff to your Google account on Internet. You have one gigabyte for pictures and ability to create infinite amount of photo albums, which you can choose to keep private or "half-public", for your friends. I suppose you can use the service without installing anything, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, my account can be found here.

#5. Greasemonkey. I have been aware of this few weeks. The idea of Firefox ad-on which modifies the way individual sites look like with scripts didn't really speak to me, until I heard of few very good examples.
It is excellent on occasions when the site-developer won't for monetary reasons (removing ads), user-reasons (script does something not in the interest of mainstream user, like removing comments from YouTube) or legal reasons (like Google Image linking to pages and not individual pictures). Sometimes the problem is purely mistake on the site's part; Google Mail has incorporated several features first brought up in the scripts.
The scripts also work in Opera, and some in Internet Explorer 7 (God have mercy on the idiot who actually uses it from free will).

So, what have you been up to? Want to link me to something cool?

Problems with anime

There was a time I watched a lot of anime, but it was a long time ago (three to four years).
I have nothing against anime - japanese language is cool enough, big eyes are ok (inside reasonable limits) and I like the action and culture. So why don't I watch more?

1. Mary Sue and characters. The main character is created as perfect, special^10 and unique. The other characters are very one dimensional, with only one defining characteristic, often accompanied with one hobby (smart, likes chocolate or stuck-up and beautiful).
Often they haven't bothered to create even new characters, but the same characters appear again and again with new names from one serie to another. How many instances can you find for militaristic, beautiful woman with monocle? Or silent little girl with stuffed toy, who never the less is smarter than the adult cast-members? I don't even watch anime and I can recall (if not name) three.

2. The concept is often created first, and everything is filled in later. This sounds good in theory, but in practice it means that "scifi" means "technological" and "fantasy" is "magic". This would be good so far, but when "scifi" is defined "2000 years in the future", you should be able to give some sort of explanation how the world has come to this. Why is it that there are space ships and genetically enchanted soldiers, but cars still run with petrol and are simple enough to fix with hands (Gankutsuou, for example?). This shows that there is no over-compensating idea where the story sets place, but the backstory is created and changes according to its own needs. If you make a scifi-story, and announce it takes place in the future (eg. the technological level was once this), you have to explain how it has developed to THIS. You can't just go "oh, there are spaceships, but otherwise people use horses". Or say that "people have forgotten how to do this". Even then, there is an explanation, and it should not be half-willed "because" or something fast to get on with it.

3. In the beginning of any given story, the storyteller and story listener make a pact; storyteller tells that this is an imaginary story, for example, and during the course of story we shall meet fantasy-elements such as people changing shape. You DON'T make happy-happy story to have a grim-and-gritty ending without giving hints of the turn-to-darker earlier in the story (Fruits Basket). You also don't introduce powerful demon into scifi-story that in itself is a retelling of a book set in the modern times (Gankutsuou (aka. Count of Monte Cristo). And if you do, you should explain where demon comes from (not told).
In anime, you are just expected to accept that "in scifi you do technothings" without thinking too much bout it.

4. Most western stories have a three part structure; characters and world are introduced, second part about things going wrong (crisis) and third part where the problem is solved. This can be world-saving, character-building story (soulless hero learns the values of feelings) or even just a story where something is established (you can or can not change destiny).
Many anime's break this. They introduce the characters (see my complaints about world above). Big hidden evil is maybe established. And then happy-go-lucky till the last episode where the evil dies with little to no effort (Rune sword).
There might be even something to show how to story goes; for example, in Inuyasha the heroes are given shards to collect. When the shards are collected, the story ends or shifts its focus. Instead, the shards are reshattered again and again, with the goal going farther and farther. At least in Dragonball the scattering is not seen as failure.

These are not problems only shown in anime; for example, old american superhero comics show similar disregard to these points. The difference is that the audience was pre-teen boys who were not expected to read every issue of the storyline. In anime, every episode can be expected to be seen, and not every show is targeted to pre-teen boys, though, I admit that they do have their own segment.

So, what do I want?
I want the story set in a world that doesn't rise questions about internal logic. Trigun succeeded in this by explaining that it was not our world, and much was lost on the enterprise to get there.
I want the characters to have faults. That not every hero is superspecial Vampire that can walk in the sun (Bloody Trinity) or have ability others lack (Angel Arm in Trigun) or be powerful half-demons (Inuyasha, Vampire hunter D) or have demons caged inside your belly (Naruto).
I want the characters to be original. That they aren't just pure archetypes that have been established the past 20 years as working well enough. The protagonist is nearly always geekish boy/man/boyman with problems with women. The women can, with few expections, be categorized into five archetypes, with no new qualities.
And I want stories that look like they are the right length.

I have this theory that many of the problems arise from the fact that the executives who ok the projects don't want to take risks... and perceive any changes from the fear that change of the status quo would somehow limit the amount of people who will watch the show. Why change winning formula?

I'm not saying all the anime are bad. But this is what I always fear when I start to watch new show. Will this something new, or something old with new package?
I do like School Rumble. I would like to watch more anime that has similar joy of living in it, but that does not mean that I want to see the same characters.. Anime is, after all, so expensive to make that would think it would be used to make something new and exiting, not only old and tried.

Will us be judged after death?

Someone asked this on one forum or another. The question was really about existence of God, but the question-asker didn't specify what he meant. There was some arguing about making definite questions with only one meaning. Then someone pointed out that judgement is made by living people for living people. This sounded interesting and so I wrote;


I disagree with the person who claimed that we are judged while we are alive. Many of our accomplishments can only be seen in the right light years after we died.

I mean, there are lots of inventors - and even more artists and authors - who were disregarded as good-for-nothings, but are today worshipped in certain circles like gods.

Even Jesus, as historical figure, died with few friends and followers. Few of those who lived lived on decades directly after his death thought of him more than as some nutso who got few followers.

Only after we have been long dead, can our accomplishments and deeds be judged objectively. In few hundred years Hitler might be remembered as the guy who prompted Europe to finally get it's stich together after 1500 years of internal feuding. Today we are still too close to ground zero to see these things objectively. What will last and what will not. EU might still break, and new war torch Europe. It is too soon to say.

Napoleon was undoubtedly the Hitler of his time. He conquered most of Europe and the rest of the Europe feared him. The Beast, was he called. In the following decades he didn't get much of good PR. But what he did then is one of the main reasons why democracy spread at Europe.

I'm not saying Hitler was a great man, I'm just pointing that it's too early to say so. We area still writing the history of early 20th century. . .in the end, it is the historians who will judge us and decide who are the good guys and who the bad.

And, if there was God, so would do he. Free will means nearly infinite amount of chances and ways things will turn out. And that's why there are limbo, for people to be somewhere till the cards they threw into the air when they were alive to settle where they would.

The answer to the question is 'yes'. There is judgement, and it's called history.

"Sometimes I feel that humanity doesn't have history but crime register.." - Kari Suomalainen

World keeps surprising me.

I now and then hear jokes about idiotic and stupid nerds. I thought they were just fairy tales, stories made up by the media and jocks. When I think of nerds and geeks, I think they are people that are unhealthily obsessed about one thing or another, and probaply know about them more than needed. But I apparently make the mistake that just because these people are often ridiculed, that would make them more emphatic and give them the ability to think things thru. But I'll return to this later.

I find myself thinking of people too positively all the time, as much as I admid in hating humankind (waiting for the atom bombs!), they still manage to surprise me negatively every now and then.

I dislike when I notice how people don't know something that should be common knowledge. I understand that not everyone is a computer geek, but if you aren't retired you should be able to know the distinction between monitor and PC. Link.

Even if you aren't mathematics major, you should be able to understand that the thing about probapility is that it can't be tweaked. If there is a change of something happening every 1 day time out of 1000, and it happening twice one day is 1/1 000 000 (because 1k*1k=1m).. you can't manually introduce one more Thing and say that the propability of second happening is one millionth... because the one you introduce has a value of one, not 0,001. If you know enough about maths to know this, you shouldn't be able to do this sort of mistake. Link.

OK, let's get back to the beginning. People don't seem to understand what screenwriters do. First I introduce a quote from a person who should know;

I am absolutely NOT exaggerating.[...] I understand, from many conversations with folks who have been in that end of the business [...]that in Hollywood, as the common perception -- not even an occasional perception, but a common perception -- among a lot of people is that the actors in tv and movies are indeed making up crap as they go along.

--Adam-Troy Castro, SF-Writer, on his post at PeterDavid.net 25.10.2006

And if you aren't convinced he knows what he talks about, here's a blogpost from Wil Wheaton, that talks about the same thing. Namely, that people can't understand that actors don't decide - particulary in large cast TV-series - what the plot is. Read the post. Would think that nerds - who aren't the peak of social ladder - would be more understanding, even if they don't get such a basic thing. Particulary if they are fans of TV-shows and practically worship Roddenberry on altar (if actors decide, what is Roddenberry for?).

And now to the thing that inspired me to write this. Basic economics. I saw this post on Newsarama, a comic book news site. Essentially he says that the coverprice of any given comicsbook goes as-it-is to the chests of the publicing company, even as his profile says he has written 110 posts at Newsarama (eg. he reads it regulary) and confesses in getting almost everything published by DC Comics. Even as retailers post on the forums, and are often part of the news items, he dosen't seem to understand they get part of the price of the book. He also dosen't seem to understand that printers, artists, writers, editors and distribution (as well as few other items) take their share of the cover price.

And these were just a few exambles. Though geeky, the knowledge behind them (mathematics, everyday object-naming, basic economics) are anything but.

Other exambles can easily be provided, but I have already used hour writing this message, and I think my point already came across well enough.

To summary it all up; these are things we all live with. And I understand that not everyone knows all the stuff in the world, but for Trekker not knowing who Roddenberry is and what he does, or comics "expert" not knowing how the industry works (even as he gives advice) is very strange indeed. I have few times in classroom given answers to questions (that, on hindsight might have been rhetorical, but at that point seemed practical and aimed to get the presentation go forward) and teacher has asked me how do I know this stuff. Examples include; how long does man do without drinking water (two weeks or so), how many people are there at India (over one billion) and in the world (six and half billion).
Also two weeks ago I made a question to a student group that had studied Nordic electricity market on how did the grid transfer power. as known, such long distances, cause high power loss. Not only could they not answer, they claimed I had made the whole thing up to make them fail. Which seems very unsporting. But thats just me.

What I watch currently

I found this great webpage, Next Episode which lets you mark up the shows you watch that come out of American television. American shows have week-to-month long breaks in the middle for no apparent reason. Some show might have only 13 episodes per season, but there might be two seasons in a year... or show might have 26 episodes, and then come out two episodes at a time, every two weeks (save when its on vacation etc). All in all, a great service.

Stuff I watch (includes wikilinks);
Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is action cartoon. It has the best qualities of eastern action (fastly moving cameras, cool character moves), good acting, big budget, magic, changed world, hint of romance, bad guys that have good qualities, good guys that have bad qualities etc. It has a definite storyline that has been written in stone. The plot moves forward, and the characters have objectives they might reach only after few episodes from setting them.
Its about a world where Tribe-Nations - each master of one of the elements - fight against each other (actually, Fire fights with Earth and Water). The person who was supposed to stop the fighting got stuck in the ice for 100 years, and now has to master all the four elements, while Fire Nation tries to stop him. The person in question is 12 years old and has a very bad attention span and no idea how the world has changed during his chilling time.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is intentionally made to look like 60s Hanna Barbera-shows (you know, like Flinstones). Harvey Birdman, who used to be D-list superhero, has turned his life around and now works as a lawyer at Sebben & Sebben, taking cases of other animation characters, such as defending Fred Flinstone (accused of being a Mob Boss) or pushing the case of Apache Chef, who has spilled coffee on his lap and cant.. krhm.. grow big no more. Very crazy, very enjoyable.

House is a hospital series centered around Doctor House, who has high moral values and no ethical ones. In one episode he drugged the patient to make sure he wouldnt object to the tests he ran. He also regulary has people break (illegally) into patients houses to find out what they are hiding. Hugh Laurie (of Jeeves & Wooster and Black Adder fame) is House. Again, highly enjoyable but with lots of disgusting graphics.

Jericho is only few episodes out yet but looks very awesome indeed. After atom bombs start dropping, little Jericho in the middle of nowhere gets off without any hits nearby. The series follows the town as it tries to face the new reality. Kinda Falloutish.

Heroes. Another new series. Around the world, few people slowly find themselves having superpowers. Even though they dont know of each other - indeed, dont know the others even exist - they start to find their way to New York. And while they don't know of each other, they walk the same streets and talk to the same people. It's only matter of time before they meet.. and thats good, because in six weeks New York will be in ruins if nobody does nothing.

Awaypost!

Yeah, been away. My summerjob was quite hectic, and I didnt find any motivation to do anything while I was at it. It did a world of good, though. I got lots of money (mostly gone) and I dropped ten kilos and I actually have some muscles now...

Anyway. Lately I have been writing reviews. Its quite hard, as I try to make them as professional looking as possible. They seem to get readers between 200-900, depending on what Im reviewing off. Also, I get the review-copies mostly for free, so I feel like I should try to do proper work. Its timeconsuming..

If you read finnish, here's my review on Asterix and the Vikings movie-album. I also did review on Finnmanga 2 . I also have two more review-copies I should get paper written out inside a week or so.. and apparently Im getting even more in the near future.

School also started. Alas, not that many courses. I feel lazy and stupid.

Anyway, thats my life at the moment. Cheers!

Ordering iPod

They told me at school that you tell of positive service to up to eight people, but of bad service to up to twenty people. This tops it, so Im going to write it here, and in my other blog, hoping that google hits will give it some readership.

I decided to buy the iPod from Apple's netstore, as it was about ten euros cheaper there than in the finnish third-party netstore.
So, after wondering a while what sort of iPod I would like, and what I would like to engrave to it (as it was free), I finally decided on the 30 gig iPod Black.
The iPod "Buy me" page was finnish, but after clicking the link, it changed into english, and it was quite clear that it had not been customized for Finland; there were fields not in use in Finland, and the english used wasnt exactly "first grade". Some of the words werent familiar to me either, and I have to study business english (and I have ten years of english studies behind me).

Finally I succeed in placing my order. I get an email how to send the money (wire/bank transfer, as I dont own a credit card). half of the graphics in the email are broken, but I didn't think much of it. I went to my netbank and inserted the given information. But whats this? The reference number wasnt valid. I copypasted it. I typed it. I checked. I rechecked. Didnt work.
Maybe this is a common problem, I think, and check the email given to me again. There is link marked as "OUR HELP MENU". As you can see, the picture is broken and the "Frequently asked questions" link brings up an error.

I sleep over the night and try to call them the next day (today). The number in the email isint valid either. Woman on the other side of the line, probaply a recording, tells that the number is not in use.
I try to send email. Few minutes later I get an answer telling that there wasnt anyone there atm, but if I waited for 24 hours, someone would answer me. Meanwhile, I could call them on their customer service. You know, the number that didnt work.

I dig the Apple's fi-page and try to find the phonenumber for some other department. I find one, and call, and am fairly suprised when the call center is in english. "They really try to cut in the corners, don't they?" I think, as I press number two. Some guy answers, from accent I suppose he's in Ireland, which he confirms to me later on. I tell him of my bank-problem. He tells me that the reference number given to me isint valid in North; that it isint following the standard finnish system. This is pretty queer, as the bank account given was in the same bank as my own. He says I should walk to bank and make the transfer there, with the help of bank-person.
I bring up the fact that the email had lots of other information that wasnt up-to-date, starting with FAQ and phonenumber not working. He says I should phone the number he gives me. I write it up. After closing the phone, I notice this is the same number I tried to call earlier, the one that didnt answer. I tried it anyway. Still not working.

I try to call again to Ireland. This time Im redirected to some guy named Jasquez (or something like that). I explain that it will cost me five euros to do it manually in the bank. He says that I should then pay with credit card. I tell him I dont have one. He then says I should use the reference number given in the email. I tell him its false. He says he will redirect my phone to another department. I get the call center on the other side of the line again. I close the phone.

So, what should I do? Im sure as hell wont be going to bank. The queues there are horrible, and then I have to pay five euros to some lady to work with me. Netshopping was supposed to be easy.

Should I try Apple's callcenter again in hope of getting some real service, maybe even discount? At this point, I would be satisfied if someone could say that they will look in the problems of the email, and that it will be adressed.

Personally, I start to feel more and more that I should just go to third-party store and buy my product from there. With the bank-problem, it only costs me five euros more, and I get the ipod about two to three weeks earlier.

EDIT: I called to Apple Care, which actually has finnish employees. I got some guy who told me that as the reference number wasnt up to finnish standards, I should paste it to the note-field, with my order number.
That sounds like a sane idea, and I wonder why they gave me so fucked up answers at Ireland.

For A While There, I Betrayed The Capitalist Dream

Few weeks ago, I was walking in store and admiring the new flat-tv's. You know, those that use plasma-- or maybe LCD? Or TFT? It's so confusing these days. In front of me there was this 40" one, that cost about 2500 euros. After watching it maybe five minutes, and admiring how cool it was and thinking how much money I would need for that - indeed, how long I should work for that -- I realized I didnt really want it (I have a TV-card in my computer, and I have used it twice; the Eurovision semis and finals). I walked around the aisle; new cellphones, micro-ovens, popcorn-machines, toasters...And I didn't want any of those.
Actually, there wasnt anything I would have wanted.
After thinking this few weeks, I have identified few gadgets and things I would wish to buy. Of the nature that I actually have to save money for them. The following order is random.

1. iPod. I have MiniDisk-Walkman at the moment. It sucks ass, its so crippled with copyright-protections, that make even legal use difficult. Plus the required software is, even after five years of constant updating, still very buggy and wont work properly even with Windows XP (the only supported OS, along with Win2k). Well, Sony MiniDisk has many problems, too many to count here. If I have interest, I might write about it later on.

2. New eye-glasses. Cos the current ones are in bad condition, and I have the feeling my eyes have "grown out" of them. Expensive because I'm allergic to the standard metal-mix used in them.

3. Laptop. 'cos I don't own one, they are cool and I want a computer (well, entertainment station, really) with me to Scotland.

4. 23" flat monitor to my computer. Costs currently about 600 euros. When the price goes down to 300e, I will be the first in queue to buy it.

5. Toaster. Actually it costs something like 20 euros, but I cant be bothered to buy it, even thought I love toasted bread quite much.

With the money earned from my summerjob, Im going to buy #2 and #3, and if I still have enough money, #1 as well.

Answer to: Why are we being excommunicated

My friend TFK translated to me the article "Why are we being excommunicated" by Professor Binyamin Noiberger. In this post I will try to put this into components, and answer them one by one. This would not work via IRC, as it causes me to shorten my texts, which gives way to interprations that I did not mean.

In the first paragraph, boycott of Israel is talked about. The writer points out that while Israeli products are boycotted, this is not done to other countries that have bigger and more recent track records in impolite actions against neighbors. Professor Noiberger lists Sudan, Saudi Arabia and China. Without researching these countries in any big detail for this text, I would like to point out that these countries are not, in any way, democratic, and even their capitalistic nature can be questioned. Israel, on the other hand, has a working democracy and healthy private sector. While in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and China the stateship is guided by one person or group of persons, Israel, at least on the paper, is a governed by its people. And this is how boycott works. By not buying Israeli products, you cause problems to local companies, who in turn pressure the goverment to do your bidding.
Also, unlike the other named countries, the products of Israel are easily identified, and alternatives for Israeli products found, this is not the case with the other countries. Sudan and Saudi-Arabia sell oil as their main export product. The oil goes directly to the world market, and private customer has no way of finding out is the gasoline he buys producted from Venezuelan, Russian or Saudi-Arabian oil. China, on the other hand, has a huge export trade and it would be childish to think that any manner of boycott by private organisation could ever cause even smallest impact on the sales of the product. As China mainly produces consumer electronics and clothes to Western markets by western companies, there isin't really an alternative in the product group and pricerange that you can choose to boycott chinese economy.
Israel, on the other hand, exports relatively cheap consumer goods and competes with several other countries with similar products and prices. This follows that boycott in this case is easy and working strategy. Strategy, that would and would not work on Sudan, Saudi-Arabia or China.
It should also be pointed that unlike Israel, Saudi-Arabia and Sudan are seldom in the news. Before reading this article (and checking the summary of Sudan's present situation), I was infact completly ignorant that there was anything to boycott in the country. While the countries are undoubtedly well covered in Israeli media because of the countries proximity, from British - or Finnish, as it were - perspective these countries seem very far away indeed. Israel, because of its historical and political background and news coverage given, seems far more closer and easier to influence.
This is not to say that Sudan, Saudi-Arabia or China were better or as good countries. It is just to say that these countries can not be affected via boycott, and other matters, not relevant to this text, should considered.

Next professor talks of anti-zionism, and of equalizing it in british academic circles with colonization, racism and imperialism. Noiberger himself points out the most common reasons for this belief; refusal of peace and the settlements condemned by United Nations. There is also other reason that Noiberger didn't mention or wasn't able to identify. In today's news coverage, only people with strong religious bias identify themselves abroad or in foreign news-interviews as zionists. These views are almost always connected with dreams of greater Israeli territory. People with more down-to-earth religious believes or political views seldom see it important of mentioning zionism. As the word is something not encountered in everyday life, the interpretation of the word has changed, in Western world, to mirror these sentiments. To this writer as well, "zionist" was synonymous with "person who was for restoring historical borders of Israel". Not until few months ago were I aware that the orginal, standard meaning of the word was closer to "nationalistic", as related to Israeli nation.
Of the talks of Israel leaving Palestinian territories as miracle-answer to solving the whole dispute; I would not agree to it, but the answer does seem very attractive in its simplicity. Particulary younger people with more black-and-white view of the world would find this satisfying conclusion. It is only as we grow older as we are more adept in finding the gray in the black-and-white world. Professor, having lived decades in middle of the dispute, would of course see all the shades of gray, while his students, young and far-away from the land in question, would only see few, if any, shades of gray.

Next the article handles the views and relationships of the people of Israel and Palestine, as seen by Oxford students - and british people in general. It should be noted that while Israeli view of the situation is, without doubt, the fact that this land belonged to us from time immemorial, the Palestinian view of the matter is undoubtedly the same. The Jewish race was away for a long time. They might not see Jews as one people who have returned, but as Brits, Americans, Germans - in short, Western people - come to claim land that is not theirs. Land that they have defended over millenium. Without having studied the matter in no great detail (and I admid I might be wrong), they might see this as fitting sequel to Crusades of the Middle Ages.
Thusly, even the orginal UN Partition Plan might have been seen as unjust, as it came from Western organisation.
As the problem is very complex indeed, there are no easy answers, no simple solutions. Because of the decades of violence, there is no trust to be had and plenty of bad blood. From outsiders point of view, which Professor is sketching in his text, simple solutions seem to have very good changes in working. But they come outside the culture of Israel; the culture of Palestine, and what looks good in in paper is not so good on action, as proved by several unsuccesful peaceplans from West.
When private persons talk like world would be black-and-white, and act based on these views, the end results are, at best, amusing, and at worst, catastrophic. In this case Professor's students have undoubtedly convinced that Israel is the bad guy (because, heaven forbid, they might all be equally of blame, or blameless) to justify and make world fit into their mental projection. Professor undoubtedly noticed this himself, as did the reader of his text. I can only completly agree.

I will not talk in lenght about conspiracies; we all know that they are by nature easily identified if created. I will simply note that there are jews in America who have formed lobby groups, and who try to pressure and affect decisions thru political donations. Human mind is very adept in seeing mountains there where are hills, and creating the most magnificent shapes out of formless shadow. Undoubtedly, there are jews bribing Congressmen at Capitol Hill, just as there are NRA, Nut-Christians, big corporations and what-have-you doing the same. That's the American Way.

I can't say anything about the meeting. Professor is undoubtedly correct, and that sounds like very morally bankrupt method of acting. Maybe the people who should have said something, were thinking of diplomatic ties? That would be very Machiavellian way of operating, which, I understand, is very prominient in European politics.

Again, in the last chapter, I completly agree. but point again that the word "Zionist" causes some bad thoughts in my head. If the word would have been "patriot" or "supporter of Jewish state", I would have instantly risen and clapped my hands. As it is, it took me a moment to understand how he had seemingly competing ideas in the same sentence, under the same definition.

I have last studied Israel and its history five years ago. My view on the subject is that of a very much outsider, but I congratulate myself in thinking that at least I dont fall into the usual traps of simplifying things too much. However, my information and ideas may be false, and I am willing to listen those rebukes that I will most probaply hear for this text I have written. Please note that it is not my aim to be disrespectful toward jews or Israel, nor do I think it is ok how those people acted in Britain, as descripted by Professor Noiberger. It is however important to understand that he is mostly talking of young people. Their fathers walked and talked for communism in the seventies. Exellent and good intentions don't always produce nice results. While they undoubtedly acted harshly, that didn't come out of hate, but of ignorance, which I think is very important. There is a distinct difference between lynching black people because one hates them and lynching people one sees standing for evil.
I got the idea that not one of these problems the Professor mentioned were aimed towards him, but towards Israel, towards it government. As such, the students did important distinction between Israeli people (and jewish people in general) and Israeli goverment, which should be noted. As such, question falls mostly under PR - how can Israeli government help form an image of itself, that dosent revolve solely around illegal settlements and violence, as it has during the last few years?
The direction Israel has taken lately, of dismantling the outer settlements and refusin to make more, as well as walking away from Gaza, will probaply be marked as "positive" in the eyes of people with little "deep" information of the situation, no matter how the situation developes on daily basis. If Professor would return today, he might see that the situation has improved from the days he spent at Europe, which, I believe, took place just after the parlamental elections of 2003, and during the "harsh" politics of Ariel Sharon at that time.

Time Jam

Very good reason to get drunk.

From wikipedia:

...the situations typically arose from misunderstandings or ideological differences between various groups that could be resolved through reason and perseverance. The core theme of the stories is an optimistic liberal humanism: the adventures aren’t about defeating enemies but about exploring, facing challenges, and celebrating diversity.

This is one of my favorite comics. They handle more like travel journals into strange worlds than future-themed adrenaline-action with explosions every three minutes.
My favorite sequence in the comic-series was when they after tracking down drugs and illegal technology on 80s Earth, find out that the guilty party is Holy Trinity. Big is Valerian's and friends surprise when they find out that God is a no-good, down-on-his-luck business man, Jesus is an old hippie and Holy Spirit is a broken slot-machine.

Im quite sure, after seeing that intro, that Tim Jam will not be anything like that. Well, hopefully it made the creators rich.

Harry Potter Part III

For some reason, I want to write this all down on one go. This post talks about racism in the Harry Potter-books, as the people are divided into "muggles" (humans who cant do magic), true-blood wizards (who are descending from other wizards, for hundreds of years) and half-bloods (other parent is a muggle and other true-blood). There are also "humanlike" races, such as centaurs, elfs and giants. and "halfhumans", who are nearly human, but who may have other blood in their veins as well.

While in the first books the Evilness of Lord Voldemort is taken at face value, in the later books it is revealed that what truly makes him evil is his shame of being halfblood. He collects followers by talking against muggles (of whose hunting should apparently be legal) and on the other hand by promising more rights to humanlike-races, such as giants and werewolves.

Many trueblood-wizards feel that wizards of whose both parents are muggles should not be teached magic at all. Thru the books, Hermione Granger is said to be "mudblood", which has about the same politeness value as the word "nigger". While Harry and friends are of course opposed of this, they dont see anything wrong with insulting and bothering TRUE muggles. The Minister of Magic dosen't much apriciate the Prime Minister (a muggle) of the Realm. In the sixth book the PM goes thru several flashbacks, which show that the Minister of Magic dosen't tell anything to his de facto boss. And when he does, it is very grudingly, without following the spirit of the rules. After long conversation about something else, while already going for the door, the Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge goes;

'Oh, and I almost forgot,' Fudge had added. 'We're importing three foreign dragons and a sphinx for the Triwizard Tournament, quite routine, but the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures tells me that it's down in the rulebook that we have to notify you if we're bringing highly dangerous creatures into the country.'
'I -- what -- dragons?' spluttered the Prime Minister.
'Yes, three,' said Fudge. 'And a sphinx. Well, good day to you.'

Also, humanlike-creatures, however peaceful they are, don't got any rights. Hermione repeatedly talks about elfs being used as slaves. She is the only one who has any problem with the subject, and is repeatedly treated as a joke because of her concerns. The centaurs can only live in the forrest next to the school because the Ministry very kindly allows it to be used as reservation. Giants are nearly extinct, and the last one in Britain was nearly stoned to death before the headmaster of Hogswarts went inbetween.

The halfhumans who can pass as true humans do so, as it's the only way to be employed.

While some of the races are pretty violent and on average dumber than humans (it is agreed that giants are partly of blame for their own situation; when wizards forced them to the mountains, they started killing each other accoarding to ethnic problems), halfgiants are as smart and calm as normal humans, but are still treated like their full-giants. Werewolves, even those who got bitten by accident and take medicine not to be danger to society, are greatly disliked.

All in all, wizards, even those who think themselves as fairminded, are actually very closeminded.

Harry Potter Part II

The relationship between parents and the children in the books. In case you have not read the books, short description of my current topic should be in order. Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger all go to the boarding school of Hogswarts, where the students start at the age of 11 and which consists of seven year-classes.
Trough the books the children and parents both show very little parental interest in their kids - and the kids, in turn, don't seem to need any.

If I understood correctly, the summer vacation from Hogswarts is six weeks, and the winter vacation is about two weeks, I suppose. Outside these vacations, the parents don't see their children. Also, it is possible to spend the Christmas vacation at school.

While Harry is an orphan and his adoptive parents are horrible, Hermione and Ron both come from loving families. Hermione is the only child of muggle-couple (eg. they cant do magic) and Ron is one of the six children of old wizard-family. In all the six books, Hermione's parents dont speak even once. As far as I remember, they were spotted once, from afar, but they never talked. From Hermione's dialogue, however, it can be seen that she dosen't resent her parents, and probaply loves them. Ron's parents are shown in much more detail. Harry and Hermione both spend days if not weeks at Ron's parents at a time. The mother is shown to be perfectly lovable house-wife, who washes the dishes, clothes and even knits by hand sweaters to all members of the family (and Harry and Hermione).

In the end of the first book and the beginning of the second book, it is told that Ron's younger sister Ginny would be starting at Hogswarts. She has - so we are told - expected it for years. The mother is sending her to the school happily, and both she and Ginny see this as the way things should be. She does not cry, nor is she missing her mother. Indeed, during winter vacations both Ginny, Ron and Hermione decide to stay at school to keep Harry company. Year after year.

The parents see their children up to six weeks a year. Less, some years, as Hermione stays with Ron's, to be with her best friends.

And parents think this ok. Not once during all the six books, do the children imply that they miss their parents, or parents miss their children.

The only expection is Harry himself, who is an orphan. His feelings toward his real parents are expressed several times during the books. He misses them. And in the later books, he wants to be like his dad. He is very angry of the way how his parents died when he was only a year old, and seeks openly revange against their killer (Lord Voldemort). It is very suprising, that all the rest children in the books don't have any feelings towards their parents. The only one who is expressing love is Ron's Mother, who in the fifth book is weeping for her loved ones, of whose life she is scared for. However, after a while, she recovers and sends her children once again to Hogswarts.

While I was wondering this, I tried to look up info about boarding schools. What sort of parent - in real life - sends hir child, who isin't yet even on hir teens, to place that means you will ever be able to see him/her few weeks every year? Isin't that cruel? And what does all that do to the psychological development of the child?
I tried to google some studies, but it didn't give me any results, only pages that wanted me to send my child to a boarding school.

Harry Potter Part I

I just finished reading the Harry Potter-series. I have known of the series since about 2001. However, I had not seen fit to read any of the books, mostly because I found the descriptions of the series dissapointing and the fans of the series annoying.

I once browsed thru book one, but didn't much think of it. Two weeks ago I loaned the first book from library again (I was really bored and I have mostly read everything else worthy there), so I thought to give it a try. The first one went down pretty badly. I didn't find it that interesting. Second was slightly better, and starting from book three I read the rest inside a day or two per book (the last book went in a day).

Anyway, now that I have finally educated myself in this phenomeon, you would be wise to expect that I will be writting several posts about the subject. That is why there is "Part I" in the topic.

Things I thought to bring up are:
1. The relationship between parents and children in the books
2. The concept of magic and "muggles" in the series.
3. How the concept of these stories relates to other stories in this and other genres.
4. Some problems I have with these series, particulary the target audience.

I do not yet know which of these concepts I will actually be talking about, it may be that I drop some of the topics in the list, and talk of other things entirely. There might even not be "Harry Potter Part II".

Anyway. I have noticed in myself that, when reading long stories on one go, I really start to live the stories. And when I close the last book, I start to feel very small and unimportant. It may be that I live thru much trough the stories, and my mundane life, that goes between school and computer (and friends during weekends) is not that interesting.

Stories that have previously caused myself such immersion could start with the David Eddings' Belgariad and its sequel Mallorean. I reread them last summer and noticed that they haven't really stood the test of time, but at the time (when I was 13) they were really great.
It was the first story I read that wasn't based just on adventure (Tarzan, Zorro, Blyton-books) or on story on epic levels (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings), but had some romance- and soap opera there too, if I may say it so bluntly. I may have talked of this previously in this blog. Since then I have felt so very strongly when I first read Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku, Uncanny X-Men's "classic" stories (from #80's up to #250 or so), saw the 90s Superman-series (I watched the first three seasons nonstop) and a read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth-series (before the very dissapointing last books).

Anyway, should I have any readers, I would ask you to recommend some similar stories for me to sample. Longish, with development between and with the characters.

Kypäristä

Viime vuosina elämänpidentäjät ovat muuttuneet parempaan suuntaan.

Ne ovat nykyään malliltaan sporttisia urheiluvälineitä, joita melkein tahtoisi pitää päässään kävellessäänkin. Varsinkin kesäaikaan sitä on huomaavinaan, että jotkut todella tekevät sitä; jättävät muovibaskerin päähän lukittuaan pyörän.

Johtopäätös; tätäkin viestiä lukevat nuoret henkilöt (ja miksei vanhemmatkin) jotka eivät pidä bufferia päässä pyöräillessään, ovat harvinaisen hyvää pullamössötaikinaa."Näyttää potalta" oli ihan hyvä perustelu vielä 90-luvun ensimmäisellä puoliskolla, kun puoliympyrät ekan kerran tulivat markkinoille. Silloin ne todella NÄYTTIVÄT potilta, ja todella typeriltä.
Sellainen päässä ja näytti heti jälkeenjääneeltä, jota ylihuolehtivainen äiti suojeli. Harvempi äidin helmoista päässyt niitä oikeastaan edes käytti.

Nykyään kypärät tuovat muotoilultaan mieleen lähinnä lihaksi tulleen nopeuden. Sellainen päässä ei näytä typerältä; ei, vaan ainoastaan KESKITTYNEELTÄ. Sillä todistat ettet ole et ole kuka tahansa sunnuntaipyöräilijä vaan joku joka tietää miten 15-vaihteista pyörää käsitellään.
Ja jos alla on mummon vanha pyörä 60-luvulta, niin se johtuu yksinomaan siitä että olet menossa ostamaan paikkaustarvikkeita kävelyteiden kauhuun, joka lepää satula alaspäin omakotitalosi autotallissa Westendissä, Ferrarin ja purjeveneen välissä.

Pyöräilykausi alkaa. Jos ei ole kypärää niin nyt voisi olla hyvä hetki ostaa. Älkää ostako sitä koska se on halpa. Älkää ostako sitä koska se voi pelastaa henkesi. Ostakaa se koska kypärä saa sinut näyttämään siltä kuin olisit matkalla Ranskan ympäriajoon.

Ostakaa pois. Kypärä on seksikäs. Sellainen päässä ja tyttöjen (poikien) sydämet alkavat iskeä Porilaisten marssin tahtiin ilmestyttyessänne näkökenttään. Ja seisoessanne heidän vieressään, tuntemattomat ihailijanne tahi rakkaat elämänkumppaninne eivät voi olla ajattelematta kuinka voisivat ikinä olla arvoisianne; niin, kuinka kehtaavat edes puhua Teille, joka olette niin keskittynyt? Pelkästään jalkojenne katselu saa heidän niskansa särkemään, niin korkealla heidän yläpuolellaan Te olette. Te, nykypäivän Anodis tai Afrodites. Ja jos joku kutsuu tuota ihmeellistä käyttöesinettä 'potaksi', suosittelisin olemaan kuuntelematta. Kaikkihan te tunnette tarinan Samsonista, hänen suurista lihaksistaan ja vallattomista kutreistaan? Eivät ne olleet Fonzieita ja Elviksiä ne, jotka halusivat niiden katoavan, vaan Malfoyn perillisiä ja Sarumanin kätyreitä.

Postcard to Australia

I got from school this really sucky postcard. When I was throwing it out, I noticed that it has POSTAGE PAID TO EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. I mentioned this at one irc channel, where one aussie wanted me to send it to his friend. This is what the postcard looks in the front and this is what it looks like from the back.

In the front it says "Be different kind of an adult. Study."

On the back it says, "My love, I want to thank you for the days I shall never forget. You are always in my thoughts. <3"


The whole stuff is in finnish, and the aussie who asked me to send this promised to keep me updated what happens to this piece of paper as I get rid of it tomorrow.

ICQ and problems II

I dont care to comment on this

(17:01:36) 312067175: Hello
(17:01:57) iJ: good day
(17:02:13) 312067175: СОСИ
(17:02:19) iJ: ..?
(17:02:43) 312067175: Fuck of niger
(17:02:59) iJ: Err..
(17:03:17) 312067175: иди нахуй сучка
(17:03:18) iJ: Either you are really confused person who dosent know the definition of word 'niger' or you dont know who you are talking to..
(17:04:24) 312067175: The ugly creature
(17:04:35) iJ: Right. Good bye.
(17:04:44) 312067175: соси

ICQ and problems

I have username or number in three instant messaging protocols, all managed thru Gaim, a splendid little piece of software.

Of all the protocols I have (AIM, ICQ and MSN, btw) only in ICQ people call me and start bugging.
And this only started after I went over 21. I imagine I went from one group to another, but I have no idea where and is there some change to get back to the "dont bug me" group.

This would be ok, if people would want to talk to me about comics, books, history or some other thing I would actually be interested in, but usually the people who talk to me are girls (or women, as it is) and braindamaged.

Anyway, this is the sort of conversations Im having over it. For context, it should be pointed over that my personal information (available next to my nick in the chat window) had all the information she is asking about, and more besides. Her info only had the name 'veronica' there.

(19:25:07) 263446539: hi
(19:25:39) iJ: evening
(19:26:55) 263446539: where are you from?
(19:27:26) iJ: Hmm
(19:27:32) iJ: Where did you get my number from?
(19:28:07) iJ: I live in Finland, which I have probaply written next to every place where my id is up
(19:28:37) 263446539: age?
(19:28:59) iJ: Who are you?
(19:29:57) iJ: I am not very delighted that someone who hasnt even introduced herself suddenly pops up and starts interrogating me
(19:30:24) iJ: With questions that I have already answered on the page where you found my number
(19:30:48) 263446539: ok bye
(19:30:57) iJ: thank you, and good bye
(19:31:35) 263446539: thank you for what?
(19:31:50) iJ: Sarcasm
(19:32:21) 263446539: you not want to talk with me
(19:32:30) iJ: I would love to talk to you
(19:32:46) iJ: But I have asked two questions from you, and you have not answered me once
(19:32:56) iJ: Thats not dialogue, thats interrogation
(19:33:45) 263446539: you haven't asked nothing
(19:34:25) iJ: Where did you get my number?
(19:34:29) iJ: Who would you be?
(19:35:20) iJ: Listen, I bet you have talked with people via phone?
(19:35:43) iJ: When you call someone, you introduce yourself.
(19:35:51) iJ: And before calling, you find out something about the person you call to.
(19:36:16) iJ: In this case, if you found my number somewhere, you probaply found that the page also had information about me, like my country, age and gender
(19:36:36) iJ: You dont just select random number from phone book and ask "who am I talking to?"
(19:36:45) 263446539: i haven't read nothing about you
(19:36:53) iJ: Where did you get my number then?
(19:38:00) 263446539: i don't remember. here
(19:38:08) iJ: "here"?
(19:38:22) 263446539: yes
(19:38:29) iJ: What would "here" be?
(19:38:42) 263446539: excuse me but i don't speak english very well
(19:38:55) iJ: What was the page where you found my number?
(19:39:08) iJ: "here" isint a location :)
(19:39:37) 263446539: i don't remember
(19:40:58) iJ: Right. Good bye.

Makes you really connect with the human race, dosent it?