Mundane no more
Some people seem to have a talent for making the most mundane and often unnoticed bits of daily life far more interesting or amusing by surprising with a subtle twist. I laughed when I saw these on the sidewalk near our house. :)
permalink Ω 31 July 2003, Helsinki
Earth from the Air
Aside from the very disappointing selection this summer at London bookshops which left me light on the luggage, there was a fabulous exhibit in the garden of the Natural History Museum titled Earth from the Air. It's a lovely outdoor installation with giant-sized posters of the photos taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand while airborne. The photos are spectacular but it's difficult to really enjoy them at times because you're reminded just how quickly humankind is destroying the natural landscape. It is a celebration and a wake.
On the technical side of the photography, he uses a Canon EOS-1N :) I doubt if I'll ever get to fly over all these remote places with my Canon EOS, but I'm glad someone has and has done it so inspiringly well. :) The project itself is to be a beginning of an historical reference library so perhaps I can send them a few pictures from around Finland.
permalink Ω 31 July 2003, Helsinki
Scottish Moment of Zen
Quite possibly the most photographed bit of St. Andrews aside from the Royal and the Ancient and the the cathedral is this particular street sign. Of course, the name stems from the sport of archery but it still somehow elicits a certain puerile response. :)
permalink Ω 15 July 2003, Helsinki
St. Bernard? Nay. Dachshund.
Danny O'Brien, of NTK, made a funny comment about Perl people in his blog from OSCON.
One of the big themes for me was hearing the Perl guys wanting to help out everyone else, whether the other languages wanted them or not. That fits in with what's best described as the irrational exuberance of the Perlees. They run around like big slobbering St Bernards, knocking over the quietly studious Python guys and barging into the BOFS, barking and licking people whenever they found them. They really, really want everyone else to have a CPAN, for instance. That's one of the aims of the freepan project.
I think that's pretty hilarious. But Danny, if you read this, I have a St. Bernard and they're loving, affectionate, and very laid back. You chose the wrong dog, they are Dachshunds, in every sense of wiener dog.
permalink Ω 11 July 2003, Helsinki
A book for all Nerd Porn Auteurs
While I'm still wondering why Amazon recommended Once More with Feeling to me the other day, it reminded me of Ernie Cline's Nerd Porn Auteur. Since Apple just introduced the iSight, it should be required reading for all geek and nerd operators who are tired of the same old porn. Maybe the book will help their technique. :)
permalink Ω 10 July 2003, Helsinki
Suomenlinna - The Fortress
Suomenlinna is a 15 minute ferry ride away from downtown Helsinki and it's a lovely place to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I actually managed to get Jarkko away from the computer for a few hours yesterday and we had a bit of a picnic on Suomenlinna. It's a place where flowers grow on the bastions and around the old cannons that were once militarily strategic on the archipelago. It's peaceful in spite of all the tourists and the residents on the island. I took a few pictures and hope to return when the seasons change.
permalink Ω 7 July 2003, Helsinki
You say Keltainen, I say Oranssi
One of the few seemingly immutable things which most people assume to transcend cultural and language barriers is colour. The sky is blue, the grass is green and snow is white. Just don't tell Finns that their postal boxes are orange since, to them, they are most certainly yellow. When does yellow become orange? I don't know but I think it is far more subjective than I had previously considered.
There is a lot of my orange and their yellow all over Helsinki and I have mentioned this to Leon Brocard a few times since he is a man who is quite taken with the colour. I don't think he believes that Finland would be so fond of orange so I put together Helsingin Oranssi for kicks. I won't say which is orange and which is yellow to the Finns but if you calibrate for yellow with the posti box it sholdn't be too hard to guess. :)
permalink Ω 7 July 2003, Helsinki
Taste the Black Rainbow
Today at the grocery I noticed a black box of liquorice skittles and I bought them out of curiosity. I looked around on the web for more information and only found a mention in NTK about a sighting in the UK a few months ago. A veritable black rainbow of taste sensations. :)
- green — aniseed. They taste much like the Springerle cookies my mom used to make at christmas every year. Yummy.
- yellow — vanilla. A nice combination of vanilla flavour and liquorice.
- white — mint. A bit too minty for my taste.
- red — spice. I think it's cinnamon but it burns a little on the tongue.
- black — liquorice. Very strong liquorice flavour.
They're a nice change of pace but the original skittles and the sour skittles are much better.
permalink Ω 6 July 2003, Helsinki
Yankee Doodle Van-dy
Perhaps the most unexpected thing I've seen yet in Helsinki was a patriotic yankee van parked in front of Stockmann. It was complete with more than 6 American flags, an OK Route 66 sign, a "Fuck the Fuel Economy" bumper sticker to go with the gas guzzler mini-van and a "Fucking Bush and Son, Inc." sticker to complement the U.S. Army sticker. The "Protected by Smith and Wesson" was the crowning touch in the pastiche of gummy vinyl Americana stuck to the back of the van. I stopped and gaped at it for a while since, unless they made a wrong turn at the MASS Pike and somehow drove across the Arctic, I hope it's the only such reminder of what I left behind when I moved here.
permalink Ω 6 July 2003, Helsinki
Mauri Kunnas
One of the best kept secrets in Finland is Mauri Kunnas whose illustrated books for children are absolutely captivating. I bought a copy of the Canine Kalevala for my niece in March as it is a delightfully illustrated version of the Finnish national legend for kids. Sadly, many of his books are out of print and they're virtually impossible to find in online new or used bookstores. They're even difficult to find in Helsinki since it would seem they print only a small number of the books. If you run across a copy or two of his books somewhere, buy them as they are both delightful and rare. His next book is reportedly going to be about Vikings.
Kunnas' work also appears in the Finnish parts of A Europe of Tales, a very nicely done website about the legends of Europe, Mr. Clutterbuck's House and the Vammala City website.
permalink Ω 4 July 2003, Helsinki
What I miss...
I've been asked a few times if I miss the US and I don't hesitate to say, "No, I don't." There are some things, aside from friends and family, that I do miss but aren't enough for me to pack my bags. William Gibson calls Europe 'Mirror World' in the novel Pattern Recognition. which I think is an astute observation since you can get almost everything here as you can in the US, but it's just slightly off and from a different perspective. A few things I miss....
-
Cheez-Its — Especially the spicy and the cheddar jack flavours.
Oh Cheez-It! Cheez-It!
Sublime cheesy snack cracker
Finland would love you
- Midwestern thunderstorms — Nothing like the sky turning green and then watching the lightning for hours through the downpour. All other storms pale by comparison.
- Cheap shipping/postage — I hate shopping and became far too spoiled by shopping on-line with no tax and cheap shipping. The charges for shipping to Finland are very, very expensive.
- Apple pie. Yeah, I know.... — Yes, there is apple pie in Finland but it's more like a fruit torte with a thick crust and a thin layer of fruit on top. When apple season comes I will have to make pies for everyone :).
- Big bookstores — I have dreams about Stockmann having more than a few aisles of English books and all on sale for less than 30 euros :) I'm worried about being in London soon as I may just run through Foyle's giggling with glee and freaking out the staff. Well...bookstore people have seen weirder things.
- My Volvo wagon — We don't have a car here and don't really need one but I miss my Volvo.
- Bagels — Finland has something that looks like a bagel but don't be fooled by looks as it is not a fine New York water bagel. I think Finns would go nuts over a good New York Deli.
- The Daily Show — I don't watch much TV but Jon Stewart can always make me laugh. If WELHO is reading this, please add Comedy Central to your channel offerings.
- Blueberry Hill — A great pub I used to work at, hang out in and see Chuck Berry play in on a regular basis.
- St. Louis Blues — Living in the wrong side of St. Louis for a while gave me an appreciation for a culture more real than the tighty whitey side of town. Having drinks in MOBar on Christmas Eve brings the blues right to you.
- Ted Drewes Frozen Custard — On a 100+F degree night, the entire city of St. Louis goes to Ted's and hangs out in the parking lot while eating frozen custard. It's a tradition and not a bad one at that.
- Tower Grove Park — HB grew up in Tower Grove since we lived next to the park and I worked at the Botanical Garden adjoining it. It's a lovely park that I wish every city could have.
- Indy movie theatres — I would guess there are Independent movie theatres in Helsinki but I haven't found them yet. The movie offerings from the US have really, really sucked this year so it may become a mission to find them soon.
permalink Ω 3 July 2003, Helsinki
Move-uh-what?
While walking HB in the Sinebrychoff Park where he likes to roll around on the grass I noticed a sign posted next to some new sod they had planted as part of the ongoing renovation of the park and just had to giggle. I'm not used to seeing English on public signage so I didn't see it immediately and when I did it took me a few seconds to puzzle out what they meant by 'movable lawn'. Now I just need a moveable feast to go with my moveable dog on the movable [sic] lawn :)
permalink Ω 1 July 2003, Helsinki
Book Review: The Bug
After reading a review of The Bug on Salon I ordered a copy from Amazon UK for a bit of light summer reading. I hadn't read Ullman's non-fiction book, Close to the Machine, but I thought that someone with experience in the tech field might be able to write a passable novel about a bug and the programmers involved. I was disappointed and think I should have waited for the paperback on remainder sale. I'd give it 1 star out of 5 on amazon and, if you don't mind the spoilers, read the review below.
The physical book is actually very well done with an ASCII art bug motif throughout the book as well as a Conway-esque motif for the sections. Sadly, there is little artistic value in the text itself. The book opens with a jet-setting consultant who is given pause at customs to briefly recall Ethan Levin, a programmer in her distant past, whom even in the beginning has a pall of doom about him. The story then flashes back to 1984 when computers were still for nerds and the Macintosh had just been introduced. It's nice to see that someone still remembers the pre-internet age with some clarity, but the story dulls shortly thereafter.
Ethan Levin is a recognizeable sort of corporate programmer who was a CS Ph.D. candidate until his father died which forced him into the workplace and he never returned to academia. He continues to play with his Conway-esque 'simulated ecosystem' which is an underlying motif throughout the book. After Ethan is introduced to the reader he becomes a 'shit magnet' and you know very early on that this character has just beamed down to the surface wearing a red shirt.
The bug appears, discovered by the jet-setting consultant who was then just an ex-academic linguist hired by a friend to be a QA tester, and it takes on a life of its own. In fact, the bug has more personality and believeability than any other character in this book. Ethan is the receptacle for every programmer stereotype you can imagine; absent minded, oblivious, self-absorbed, obsessive, asocial and a bit odd. His girlfriend of 4 years goes on a trip to India with her girlfriends' husband since Ethan can't go due to his work schedule. She returns from India having slept with her travelling companion and he smothers his life by hunting the bug, now named 'the jester', even more fervently. Towards the end she leaves him after he catches them shagging in his bedroom and it is revealed that a year earlier she had an abortion without telling him and holds him responsible because he didn't behave like the guy in pregnancy test commericals when informed that she was pregnant.
The author can't quite decide whether to make him psychotic with an array of behaviour that even the most callous of co-workers couldn't passively ignore but somehow do in this story or to make him a raving alcoholic which the jet-setting consultant conveniently ignores, too. I have a really hard time imagining that an entire workplace of people would blithely turn a blind eye on a person who goes to such lengths to isolate himself from the world with earplugs and even a parachute tent around his desk who then later reeks of cheap bourbon. There is one brief moment where the stereotypical night Unix admin notices that he's not doing very well but instead of giving him a chance at redemption the admin simply takes him home, shags him, then leaves which smacks of page filler and more dumping on an already beleaguered character. Later he sees the night admin kissing another female co-worker in the parking lot and I have utterly no idea why in the hell that was thrown into the story. Perhaps the author needed a gay scene or something.
Ullman tries to insert what she thinks a clever 'lesson', but is just a really hackneyed manipulative device these days in a family obsessed society, when Ethan creates families in his 'simulated ecosystem' which makes it thrive just before hanging himself [ and isn't found dead at home for 17 days ]. Ironically, this same 'lesson' is not applied to the jet-setter consultant who is divorced, has no children and is living alone when telling the story. The QA tester, now fluent in C and moving up the corporate ladder, finds the code causing the bug which wasn't Ethan Levin's code afterall. If the guy was such an unloveable asshole, as he is made out to be throughout the book, it's unlikely he would have committed suicide. Why the author dumps on this character and then offs him in the end makes me wonder if the entire book isn't semi-autobiographical and if the vendetta against this character isn't personal.
Life is, indeed, in the details but Ullman doesn't waste many realistic details on her characters since those are saved for the bug itself. I'll give her bonus points for writing a somewhat more realistic than usual book about programming environments but the characters were uninteresting and flat, one of whom the author clearly despises and manipulates like a voodoo doll, which renders the novel a disappointing read. It does mention Perl on page 329 but unless you collect books that mention Perl I cannot find a reason to recommend anyone purchase, read or keep this book.
permalink Ω 1 July 2003, Helsinki
