Conan on TBS

Oh yeah. Conan's new show is starting on TBS on the 8th of November. Definately going to watch. I do not want to forget to watch the first show. That is why I added the counter.

BTW. Still getting lot of hits because of the blogs I wrote about Conan earlier. That's cool.

Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France

Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France

My work travels took me to Nantes in the latter half of September. It was very nice there.

Fuck this turned out to be a very short post. =D

Ps. I honestly don’t have anything else to say about this topic. Here are some pics.

Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies

Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies

Picture from Wikipedia

Brooklyn Follies ended up in my bookshelf after a sale at the local bookstore. If my memory serves me correctly it was three paper backs for 10€, so I got quite a good deal.

Brooklyn follies is a book Paul Auster first published in 2005. Mr. Auster is well known writer in the United States and probably he is well known among European book worms. Paul Auster first made is big break in the 80’s with his New York trilogy.

Back to Brooklyn. The book starts with section where divorced cancer patient, Nathan Glass, is looking for a place where to wait for death. Of course it would be a very short book if this would be the only story arc in the book. The events in the book start to roll out bit by bit and at the end of the book the lives of the characters have gone through a total transformation. But I won’t tell you if it takes turn for the positive or not.

The language in the book is very light and enjoyable to read without being simplistic. It feels like this book had been quite easy to write for Mr. Auster. There couple of things that annoy me in the book. Firstly in some place the book unnecessarily underlines the liberal east coast attitude and thinking, like in the section where one of the characters (Nate or Tom can’t remember which)  thinks about the events in Kosovo. Secondly the ending is a bit dull, maybe in 2005 it was still effective way to end a book, but somehow as time has passed the world did not end in September 2001. Yes the events created lot of suffering and problems but I think we now have other problems to solve. Book could have more universal appeal if it was not so tightly knitted to turn of the century USA. As a snap shot of its time the book is however very good.

By no means is “Brooklyn Follies” a bad book. Auster is able to paint a picture of Brooklyn that this believable and very likeable. The themes the book handles are something that many of have felt during our lives and continue to feel. Brooklyn follies is a very light book and not that intellectual, but it will definitely touch you emotionally and tells you something how we should live our lives.

BeBook model "One"

There was story on the local paper that my local library lends out e-book readers. I immediately thought this is something worth checking out. So I went there got one. The library lends out model “One” made by Bebook, which I guess is a manufacturer from Holland. Here are some of my thoughts about the reader.

BeBook "One"

First of all I was quite delighted that I did not need to buy any books in order to try this gadget. You can download thousands of free books from BeBook’s webpages. Most of the books have been digitized under the project Gutenberg and they are in pdf-format. The selection of books covers quite a big range of languages and I was able to find some interesting books also in my mother tongue. I ended up reading two and half books. I read two classical novels and half from a book that explains the universal esoteric meaning of Kalevala and how it discusses the same themes as all other religions of the world. It ended up being such bologny that I could not finish the book.

The first thing you notice is how light the device is how similar the weight compared to a real notebook. The buttons are placed so that you can choose pretty freely so how you hold the device. You can change page holding the device only with one hand and you can do this with both left and right hand.

The e-ink display of model “One” was still quite pleasant to read even though technology in it is already two years old. The 6 inch screen gives you very book like feeling. It is fun to notice that reading a screen does not need to put stress on your eyes. This something were e-ink technology is far superior compared to the lcd-screens found on tablet computers. You were also able to zoom the text and rotate the text around on the screen.

Then a few words of the user interface of model “One”. The basic operations are quite easy to execute. You just push the number on the keyboard that corresponds to the title/action on the screen. The system is not that advanced but it works reasonably well. The user interface of devices that have a touch screen is far superior to the system found on model “One” and would be very nice to see e-ink screen with touch sensors it would be so much easier to just point at what you want.

The device has the ability to show pictures and play mp3s but I found these features a bit poorly implemented. I put some pictures on a SD card thought that the device would be able to resize and turn them the right way. I guess not. There seems to be a lot of limitations on what kind of pictures this device can show and at what resolution. The mp3-player worked out just fine but the usability was not very high. You are better of using another device for listening to music.

In conclusion I would say that using BeBooks model “One” is a positive experience and I never would have thought how easy it was to adjust reading books of a screen. This really made a believer in e-book readers.

Still I would not rely completely on e-books, because batteries do not last forever. What happens if you do not any power to charge your device? Also traditional books rarely brake down.

You can find more information about BeBook from their webpages.

Do You Know Hurley?

Hurley -Weezer

It is the one with face of that fat guy from “Lost” on the cover. Yes, that is Hurley, the new album by my  favorite band Weezer. This band got me through high school with out too much damage.

I did not know that Weezer was releasing any material this autumn. I think I got the news maybe as late as beginning of September that the album will be released on the 14^th. So two weeks ago when I was in France I picked the album up from a local record store and used it as soundtrack when I was wandering around Nantes.

That’s enough about that. What about the album itself? Is it any good and how does it compare to Raditude and Weezer's previous albums?

Well on the first listening you notice that the album rolls (and rocks) very smoothly. The track list is maybe not entirely “all killer, no filler” but there are no really weak songs and there every song could be a single. Actually the first single from the album “Memories”, compared to the other songs on the album, is not the best song on the album. One, I guess strange, feeling I got listening this album for the first time was that you do not need listen to it second time for you to start liking it. You do not have wait for it to grow on you.

Let’s admit it Maladroit, Make Believe and Red Album were not the best albums. Yes, there were good songs on those albums but something just was missing. Weezer started to experiment new styles on the Red Album and finally I think they have found what they have been looking for. The overall mood of the album is focused and relaxed. The songs, to me, reflect the mind of person who has had a done a lot of fighting with oneself and now is on clearer waters and has found some sort of a balance. Maybe this is more about my own experience the past few years I project to the songs.

What are the songs you should check out from this album? I think at the moment my favorite tracks are “Ruling Me”, “Unspoken” and “Hang On”. These are also the songs you should also give listen. There are two bonus songs on the album that are definitely worth a listen (or two). First one is the wonderfully hilarious, but still a song with meaning, “All My Friends Are Insects”, the second one is the cover of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”, which has violins and bells ringing in the back ground.

I am happy to see Weezer put out such a good album. They have moved on and have a new voice and style of doing music that has some familiar elements from the past but also a lot of new attitude and ideas to keep you interested.

Track list:

1.      Memories

2.      Ruling Me

3.      Trainwrecks

4.      Unspoken

5.      Where’s My Sex?

6.      Run Away

7.      Hang On

8.      Smart Girls

9.      Brave New World

10.  Time Flies

11.  All My Friends Are Insects

12.  Viva La Vida

13.  I Want To Be Somebody

14.  Represent (Rocked Out Mix)

I want to leave you with track from the album. This one is "Unspoken".

HTC Wildfire

I’d been thinking about buying a smart phone for long time, but never saw that spending 500 euros for a smart phone was worth it. I had been interested about getting a HTC phone, I almost bought the Legend, but not until the Wildfire came out I decide to part from my money. Having used the phone a month I would say that you get quite a good and solid phone considering price.

I have been quite impressed with the navigation applications that you can install on Wildfire. I have been frequently using AndNav2 and c:geo. AndNav2 for storing maps and routes and c:geo for searching geocaches. Both of these are free.

My Wildfire is running Android 2.1 and it performs reasonably well. I’ve had quite a few crashes, but the system recovers quite fast and so far there have not been any major issues. The software is not as good as the Apples operating systems, but considering the price of the device it is acceptable. I must say I am waiting for the the 2.2 update of Android which should come also to Wildfire. However I am a bit sceptical when it arrives. The update should have arrived Q3, but now it seems I may have to wait a little longer. In some discussions there have been statements that it may not come at all.

Android Market offers a range of apps and games for you to download but the amount of programs is not as great as in iTunes. There is another catch that rises from the hardware of Wildfire. Wildfire is not equipped with very fast processor and therefore not everything that is on offer on Android Market is on offer to the Wildfire. So if you are looking for serious gaming or other applications that require the processor to pack little more punch then the Wildfire isn’t the phone for you.

If you are on a budget and looking for a Android phone I could recommend Wildfire to you. The phone does not have that WOW factor iPhone or Ipod Touch had back in the day but it is a solid device and should serve you well for couple of years.

Funny or Not?

A few weeks ago I bought the new book by Hugleikur Dagsson, a comic artist from Iceland who makes comics with extremely dark humor. Almost always the jokes test the limits of good taste. You check out what I am talking about at dagsson.com. The jokes on the front page are of the not-so-offending-kind, but you will get the idea. The book I bought is called in Icelandic "Okkur 4". In Finnish the book is called, freely translate to English, "Laugh Pervert, Laugh".

Now to the content of the book. I thought that nothing would shake me and I would think most of the jokes would be hilarious. But I was wrong. Of course one thing that the author wants to do is to test the limits of your humour, I do understand that much. Still some of the jokes were just too brutal and there was no joke or twist in them. And there are quite a few of those in the book.

Second thing is that it seem that this kind of humour works only in small servings at a time. Reading the whole book at once is just too much. My favourite joke in the book is the one were wife farts and the husband says "our marriage is over". =)

After reading this book I felt immensely disgusted and amused at the same time. Which I think is what the author is aiming for. If you want to laugh and wonder who writes this kind of immoral shit I recommend that you read Okkur 4.

Do you have Bols?

I was in Amsterdam in June on a work trip and I bought a bottle of Corenwyn from Schiphol on my way back. I finally managed to crack open the bottle tonight and here are my thoughts about the this Dutch spirit.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about jenevers in general:

Jenever (also known as junever, genievre, genever, jeniever, peket or in the English-speaking world as Holland gin or Dutch gin), is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands, from which gin evolved. Believed to have been invented by a Dutch chemist and alchemist named Sylvius de Bouve,it was first sold as a medicine in the late 16th century. In the 17th century it became more popular for its flavor. Traditional jenever is still very popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. European Union regulations specify that only liquor made in these two countries, two French provinces and two German federal states can use the name jenever. Source: Wikipedia: Jenever.

Okay, now that we have our facts it is time to go to how this fire brew tastes like. At first the smell of juniper is quite pleasant. *EDIT* There is also hint of yeast in smell. However after the first sip you realize that the taste of  Corenwyn is quite strong and you can really taste the juniper. The after taste leaves a nutty taste in your mouth. For a spirit the taste is very agreeable and nice. I really like this stuff. This time I drank Corenwyn raw, but some time I must try mixing it with tonic water. Plus the bottle made from clay looks really cool.

Devilishly good album

Okay, okay, "Get behind me Satan" isn't the newest album, hell it isn't even the newest album by White Stripes, but it is the one that I am listening at the moment.

Previously I had almost ignored The White Stripes and did think that they weren't even that good.Somehow this summer I really started digging "Blue Orchid" and it's great guitar sounds. I was quite surprised how much there is variation on this album. There great rock sounds. The drumming is awesome. The strange country wibe in some of the songs is incredible. You won't get bored listeninh to this album.

I definitely want to recommend that you go listen to in Spotify.

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan

New type of living

Maybe a month ago I saw a document about Michael Reynolds.Garbage Warrior made in UK in 2007 is document about Micheal and his life.

I think I have heard about Mr.Reynolds and his "Earthships" at least once before. These earthships are experimental houses that Mr. Reynolds has been building already for many decades. His goal is to make houses that are made out things that people throw away (e.g. car tyres, bottles etc.). The houses are designed so that they would leave the smallest possible impact on nature and that the houses would be as far as possible self-sufficient when it comes to heating, electricity and water.

The documentary showed that sometimes the rules that we have made to protect ourselves inhibit truly innovative people to try new things. This really bothered me since here is no question about it that we need to develop housing that uses less electricity and natural resources. 

In my home country industrial production of low-energy and so-called passive houses is about  to start in larger scale and that is quite positive sign. Even though these houses consume significantly less or even no energy the downside is that they rely heavily on technology provided by the society. There is nothing wrong with organised society, but sometimes things go wrong you cannot rely on society to provide utilities. That's why I think Reynolds gets it right. Let's make our housing self-sufficient and ecological.

I think what Michael and his team are trying to do is achievable.  At the moment he is building his houses in New Mexico (and I guess also in Georgia) what know about the climate in New Mexico is that it is not the most hospitable. So it should possible to develop these houses so that they work also in places were conditions are less harsh. I just wonder if these houses work in places like Finland where temperature difference during the year can be 70 degrees celsius?

Anyways I was really impressed and inspired by the documentary and if I ever get possibility to visit one of these Earthships I will definately do it. Check earthship.com for more details. The houses look really cool.

My thoughts on social media

This week I participated to a training course that gave an overview on how to use social media in marketing. The course was reasonably interesting and I must say that I now know a bit more about how to utilize tools like Facebook and LinkedIn in marketing.

One lecture on the course handled the future. The lecturer presented a vision where social media and networks will penetrate to every field of our life. Let?s say that you are walking in the city center and would like to find a restaurant. You take your mobile phone from your pocket and it can recommend to you restaurants based on the places you have visited before, what your friends have recommended and so. The phone could give you the menu an how to get to the restaurant, maybe even make a table reservation and if your friends happen to be in near the phone may suggest that you ask them to join for dinner. This sort of services would apply everywhere and to everything. Computing would be ubiquitous.

For me this kind of vision sounds a bit pointless is the problem that is being solved with computing being everywhere all the time really that big. What is wrong with not knowing where you are, why don?t you want to explore new cities. What this ubiquitous computing becomes a straight jacket that instead of making us explore and try new things keeps us always in our comfort zone. I think that the best part of living is not knowing what becomes happens next, trying new things and challenging yourself every day. If people become so accustomed to being surrounded by technology that advises them in every situation, we might soon be living in world that Isaac Asimov drew up in his book ?Caves Of Steel?.

One crucial point of network is that it brings benefit to the participants. How does the situation change if network becomes too large and it is difficult to assess if someone is getting things without contributing anything. I also wonder that is it possible that the actual first signs no longer are seen in social media, but instead the first signs of trends will be seen in the IRL social networks of early adopters of new trends. What I mean that if when some new trend appears in social media it is already everywhere and known by everybody it becomes quite impossible to try and benefit from this emerging trend.

What happens when people do not want to share or wish to limit the network among which they wish to share information? Will we see new barriers and borders being raised so that people will able to protect their networks? Last week I read that the World Economic Forum has started an social media service for its participants. The service is called WELCOM and the participants of the service are 5000 of the most influential people in the world. Of course these people can not (but should they?) talk openly about what they think about where the world is going, so it is quite understandable that a service like WELCOM has been created.

Social media undoubtedly brings with it also good things. It will be easier to tell about new ideas and opportunities to the right people straight away. The rippling effect of your message may reach a lot more people than a normal marketing message and it will also be more accurate. There is also a great possibility to react to customer responses more efficiently and to develop your goods and services according what customers think.

I predict that the next phase in the evolution of social media will have something to do with assessing if this matters to you personally. The professionals, I believe, speak of semantic web.

Making Innovations

As I wrote in my previous blog posting I am participating to the 1st EU-Russia Innovation Forum in Lappeenranta, Finland. I want to stress that I am total dilettante in the field if someone does not notice that from the things I have written to this blog.

Somehow these seminars are a bit idiotic, because there is a room full of people just yapping (or few are yapping) about things that have no potential in creating these innovations ie. the supposed goal of the seminar. Also it may be harmful to have these seminars because there is a danger that thinking about these things unifies and thus making the appearance of new innovations difficult. I believe it is crucial that there is diversification in thinking patterns and practices, that enables the creation new ideas and practices. Somehow I agree with the CEO of Technopolis Mr. Keith Silverang that governments are the problem not the solution in these innovation matters, but on the other hand governments have the ability to build circumstances that are needed for innovative society, I mean education and equal opportunities for all to develop their own abilities to full potential. In this respect there are grounds for organizing these sort of events: it is good that the government, business people and universities think together how to create the best circumstances for new innovations to appear and how process them so that they became viable options to better our society.

This brings us to the second thing is it possible to make innovations grow. I think that the answer is yes and no. Yes, it is possible to promote the appearance of so called small innovations i.e. the development of telecommunications and types of new services. Is it possible to promote the appearance of big, world changing innovations? For that you, naturally, need time, money (a lot) and talented people. They will not appear, because of some 5-year government program. For that you need enough resources in the basic structure that support innovation starting from social security, basic education and universities that supports all and has the possibility to give enough challenge to these special individuals to realize their interest. Of course there is also this point that maybe there should not be any support that these extra ordinary people will find their way, what ever the circumstances are.

Every child should have the feeling that the world is open to them. Some doors will of course close, but the ability to succeed should be open to all. To create this feeling every child should receive the best education possible. The content of the education should be as wide as possible. It should support their ability to understand the big picture and their basic education should include ability understand many different subject areas and the ability to think, to categorize, to argue, to induct, to exchange views, to weigh different possibilities and make a decision based on the facts. Also they should high values and moral. I think this is one of the most important things. In addition the concept of success should not be too narrow, because then we may lose innovations that are not in the fields of business and economy.

I think the focus should be on the big world changing innovations rather than innovations create quick profits and business.

This writing is all quite general and a bit high flying but this is how I feel. This is what long day at a seminar and one Guinness does to you.

Ps. If you are looking for Irish pub in Lappeenranta go to Old Cock. (hahaa) Happy hour 12.00-18.00 Guinness/Kilkenny/ Kozel/Fosters etc. 3.20€

Seminar Blues

I am participating to a seminar in Lappeeranta, 1st Eu-Russia Innovation Forum. The purpose of the forum's purpose is to discuss the innovation cooperation of the two parties from different perspectives.

Previously I haven't participated to such an seminar and it has been quite an enlightening experience and here some remarks I've made during the seminar:

1. The same things seem to be repeated in many speeches.

It just shows how important it is to support the status quo or create rapport or show that you know the basic things of the subject area. Also disagreeing is something that does not exists in these events or maybe in the corridor discussion and discussions during the evening dinner.

2. You should know why you are there

Why go if you do not have a clear target. It is a bit embarrassing to talk to people when you do not have a clear target to present to them.

3. Going as an outsider

Social aspect

It is quite painful to just walk around and look as other people group and meet the old acquaintances and chat around. People seem to know exactly are you in or out. I've seen couple of other young people that walk around and obviously they do not have a clue why they are there.

Outside of the subject area

The topic of the seminar is something that is totally unknown to me. I have no previous knowledge of how innovation is supported and promoted by universities, businesses and governments. First of all the jargon related, especially the different program and policy names, is quite a jungle to navigate. Also not knowing anything makes the lectures and speeches quite irrelevant.

As a closing comment I'd like to say that this seminar has left me with two kinds of feelings. Firstly it has been a great opportunity to meet new people and familiarize with subject area that has previously been unknown to me. Secondly I think that for me this seminar was a bit unnecessary and I had nothing to give or ability to take use of the opportunities at the seminar.

Is True Blood softcore porn?

True Blood started in my country a couple of weeks ago. Now I've seen three episodes of the first season and at first I was quite impressed. The show is well written and the setting in Louisiana creates a great atmosphere for the show.

The first two episodes were great, but in third one started to feel like that the show is sucking up the viewer a bit too much. I think there is too much sexual and violent content shown in True Blood. What I mean is that maybe it would be more interesting that sexual tension and threat of violence would be present all the time instead of ultra violence and explicit sexuality being shown all the time. But I must admit that showing Sookie touching herself (I hate euphemisms, I meant to masturbating) is quite brave and something that you don't see everyday on TV.

But still the the show is extremely good. I just hope that the show wouldn't be so obvious and graphic. It makes this excellent show look pretentious. It seems that the writers are trying to write a show that would have wide appeal among young men and women. I think that less is more would be better in this case. On the other hand showing all the violence, sex and drug use gives a touch of reality to the show.

Anyhow I like the show. The southern wibe in the show is just something that makes True Blood stand out from the crowd and there are also some interesting social issues that are being discussed in the show, all be it it is a bit fake, but still fun ideas.

Is True Blood soft core porn? Well I must say that it is, but it is still entertaining to watch.

No more silent mornings

Now it's official, spring is here. How did I notice you might ask. Well let me tell you.

This morning when I was standing on the bus stop I noticed two things. Firstly my balls were not freezing. That means that the temperature is not -20 Celsius any more, more like -5 or under which is quite bearable. Secondly you can hear birds singing in the trees and they are now longer just singing little beeps, like they do in the winter, but instead you can hear actual exchange of song.

Spring is finally here. GREAT.


PS.

Actually the first thing you notice every morning is the fact that it is light when you wake up. The light part of the day is almost 11 hours long and getting longer. Wonder when we get over twelve.

The Ricky Gervais Show aka mumbling about things that aren't actually even funny -show

The other night I watched The Ricky Gervais Show, which is the animated version of his weekly(?) radio show that he does with couple of his friends. In the show they discuss topics that are somehow actual, but usually they just talk about something that Karl Pilkington thought about during the week.

Pilkingtons opinions and theories are supposed to be funny, but I never seem to see anything original or amusing in his views on various issues. The show mostly consists of mumbling and Gervais' fake laughter which in my mind does not make a funny TV show.

At least the episode I watched did not make good television. Maybe the show works in the radio but the animated TV version totally sucks. Somehow there is no dynamic in the sketches they do and the animation is rubbish. In short the show lacks punch lines. Yes, yes I understand that it is possible to make comedy with out punch lines, but the stories in the show just are not funny, they don't make laugh.

Maybe these guys just did not understand why their show originally started in the radio. I'll give you a hint. It is the opposite of funny.

Cross-Country Skiing

It is perfect weather for cross-country skiing. Go now. That is what I did today. I skiied 8,5 km.

Caprica

Last weekend I watched the pilot of Caprica and boy what a pilot it was. Although the pilot was released in the spring 2009 I only remembered that this spin-off form Battlestar Galactica was starting when saw it in the TV listings.

The opening sequence from the holoclub really catches your attention and first few moments of the pilot start to build an interesting story line that you really want to follow. The characters feel real, none of them are super heroes, but instead all the characters are some how flawed, have their weaknesses and live a life were they have to break the rules in order to survive.

The theme of morals and ethics is big part of Caprica. The show will also deal with what it means to human and what is the line between human and a machine. These two topics will give the story line a great support and content that makes the series go beyond the usual battle of good and evil.

I found the pilot of Caprica all in all a very positive experience. The storyline was good and there was enough scifi for me in the pilot. Actually it was kinda nice that the scifi side of the pilot was not that overwhelming. There was enough material in the pilot to fill out the first season of some other scifi show.

Anyhow pilot was interesting enough to get me hooked and I'm really looking forward what will happen in Caprica during the rest of the season.

Winter is kinda nice

I took some fotos today. Some of them were decent enough to be posted on my blog. It is incredibly chilly outside. Temperature (or lack of it) has been around -20 Celsius for about a week now. The freeze has decorated trees with frost which makes going out worth while.

I'm With Coco

I just noticed that the blog entry I wrote in June about Conan O'Brien and his new show has received a lot of hits from the United States during the last week or so. Cool.

Eventhough this argument between NBC and Conan (which is an under statement) has caused a lot of sleepless nights for many people, it has produced a lot of great comedy. The shows have been extremely funny and entertaining and it seems that the writers are not holding back anything.

Anywho the situation for Team Coco looks kinda bleak, at least if you believe the various stories on the media that this Friday would be the last show for Conan as the host for Tonight Show.

I still do not expect Conan to be sacked after this week. I am sure that this episode will make the show more interesting and launch the Tonight Show back to the top of ratings.

Join "I'm With Coco"-group in Facebook today and show your support.

Seasick Steve - I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left

I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left. Isn't that the coolest statement ever? Well that is what Seasick Steve tells you on the first track of his 2008 album.

Steve plays blues. And he knows how to play blues. He does not just play the notes at the right time, the music flows in a way that shows that this guy did not start yesterday. Technically the songs aren't that complicated, but it takes talent to get the right sound and groove in to the songs.

There are no big high points on the album. However the songs form a nice entity that you want to listen from start to finish. The songs do not vary that much in style and actually that is not what you would expect, but the there is enough variance in the songs so that you do not get bored.

Steve's music uniquely rooty (is that a word?) and offers you a great listening experience. Seasick Steve plays the blues with talent and right attitude. No doubt.

More info on the man and his music can be found at his home pages

Seasick Steve - I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left

I bought today Seasick Steve's album "I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left". Stay tuned for a review.

(Yeah, the album is old, but is new for me.)

Someone has ran out of ideas

So I went to store the other day and spotted a really disturbing chocolate product. And it made me think that someone has really ran out of ideas in the product development department of this company.

This is what the product looks like:

The product is called Sucklaa, which comes from the words suklaa (that is chocolate in Finnish) and the word suck. Thus this product is chocolate that you can suck. I find that very disturbing. Also it says on the bag as a some sort of a marketing phrase "Suck it yourself". Again something I find disturbing.

Who wants to suck chocolate from a aluminium bag. Squeezing the back gives equally repulsive impression.

This sucks, totally.

Plans for the future

It is again that time of the year. It's time to reflect on the past year. Check the balance of the year and all that shit. Did you achieve your goals and were the things you did positive or negative. What would you like from the next year. How would you like to develop as a person. All this is crap that does not have any meaning. Things will go as they go and I do not think we have much control over our lives. We just drive on autopilot guided by our sub conciousness. But still we need the illusion of being in control.

Anyhow there are couple of things I'd like see happen this year.

1. I'd like be less tired than the previous year. (13h work days and 2 jobs tend to get to you)
2. Find something to study or work place or both
3. Become a bit nicer person
4. Lead a healthier life
5. Blog more

Yep, no I've done everything I say I hate and do not believe in. Sweet.

Bono is a boner

I just read at the news that Bono has written in his blog at the New York Times that ISPs have to stop internet users from illegally downloading content from the internet. Yes I agree, illegal downloads are a problem and probably something should be done about it, but what this douche tells us as an example of good restricting of illegal internet traffic is China (along with the US anti-child porn campaign, which is totally the right thing to do, but probably not that effective).

What the hell is this guy thinking! China of all countries has the least free internet and the basic right for free expression of opinion is severely limited. We should not give any praise for this violation of basic human rights.

Does Bono mean that we should also turn our internet like it is going to be in Belarus, that each and every internet user needs to register in order to to be able to access the internet.

These restrictions to internet traffic that Bono is suggesting are like giving your little finger to the devil and if we start going down that road we will be living in our own Democratic Peoples Republic.

Internet has it's problems but lets not even talk about restricting it like in China.