We're on a break

I'm putting this on writing so I can't back down :P

I decided to leave my precious computer behind for a few weeks. I mean I just think we've spent way too much time together during the last 8 months. It's like she is always there and I don't have any time for my own stuff. She's taken over the hole flat with her DVDs and portable hard-drives. I don't have any space for my own stuff. All my books and drawing paper are inside my closet.

Because of all this I'm going to leave my computer behind and head south. I've heard there is some good snow still in the Alps so that's where I'm heading. What's you think of that my Mac?!? I'm only taking your smaller portable hard-drive with me so I can upload my photos from my camera. That'll teach you not to mess with me!

Looptroop is back!

22 years ago

Now 22 years later Finland is showing the way for the rest of the world what is our innovative solution for global warming. We came up with this great solution called new Nuclear plant. Building it has been full of mistakes and safety violations, it's going to cost 4,5 billion euros instead of the 2,5 billion that was planned, and it's going to be ready 2.5 years behind schedule thus costing consumers about 3 billion euros.

Luckily our solid ground can hide all the nuclear waste. That is one truck load of waste annually per nuclear plant. Who cares if half a glass of that waste can make our biggest lakes undrinkable.

The smell of bottled water

..smells like pollution.

I can't imagine a more unnecessary invention in Europe and North America than bottled water. If some countries are about to ban light bulbs for all I care they could ban bottled water as well.

"According to a recent Fast Company article, in 1976, each American bought an average of 1.6 gallons (6 liters) per year. Today, that average has jumped to 28.3 gallons (107 liters)."

"Bottled water is not healthier than tap. According to Blogging Stocks' Thirst for Profits post, "An NRDC study actually found that 33 percent of the waters it tested 'violated an enforceable state standard or exceeded microbiological-purity guidelines,' ...""

"In addition to not being regulated, many bottled water companies don't have to pay for the water they sell.
Coca-Cola (Dasani) and Pepsi Co. (Aquafina) bottle municipal tap water. So instead of paying 1/100th of a penny per glass of your own tap water, you can buy the same in a bottle for about a $1.25."

"the pay out on a $1.29 bottle of water is: 50% to retailer, up to 33.3% goes to distribution, 12 to 15 cents to the production of the bottle and that leaves about 10 cents of profit for the company."

"The United States throws away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour."

(Source)

A whole industry based on vanity. At least in my country where clean water is available in every building.

Of course bottled water is better option than a Coke but you don't have to buy either of those. During last two years I've been traveling around Europe quite a bit. Not once did I buy bottled water. I always carry a plastic bottle with me that I fill up with tap water. Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia. Never did I crap my pants!

Sometimes I did have headache but that had nothing to do with water. On the contrary. I think a dead rat in my mouth and lack of water were the reason for that.

My reward for lost time

Few months ago I was in nice job interview. I mentioned it on my blog a while ago.

I got to the second round from the interview. (My guess is that they couldn't decide which one to pick after the first round so that's why the second round.) This time there was no interview. We "just" had to come up with a new idea for their website.

I made a presentation and a demo of the site and what it would look like. You can check it here. Making the website and pdf-presentation took me about a weeks work.

Well finally I didn't get the job. Shit happens and you can't win them all. I didn't let it bother me. What happened next was the funny part.

I told my friend that I kind of wasted time for nothing. He then told me about his friend who prepared a lecture for some firefighters. It took his friend 20 hours to prepare it. Then day before the presentation he was told that the lecture was canceled. Nice. Week after that he received 2 tickets to cinema to compensate the time he lost making this presentation.

Now one week after I found out I didn't get the job a letter came with the mail. Guess what was inside it? Yes, 2 ticket to cinema!

Honest to god I couldn't stop laughing! Those tickets were compensation of the time I lost in the interview (about 4 hours). No mention of the website presentation (about 40hours of work).. According to my calculations that would make about 20 movie tickets more.

I didn't ask for any compensation because I didn't want any. They gave me an assignment and I wanted the job so I did the assignment as well as I could in the given time.

I know this company meant nothing but good by sending these tickets. I appreciate it! Thank You! But please, please, please don't give away tax deductible movie tickets for a work that took time and effort. It's not really innovative solution from a company that works in the advertisement industry. Actually it's never an innovative solution.

A simple thank you will do just fine.

democracy will prevail! ! ! !

Democracy expands. It's purpose is to give everyone freedom of speech and the right to express themselves. We want to save all the parts of the world from the evil and provide them with the tools that allow them to implement democracy to their society. That way everyone can become part of our global economy.

How do we destroy evil from the face of the earth? We support developing nations and their governments. Give them food and good advices. The problem is there is only certain amount of countries we can handle and save at a time. We are wise but we don't have enough resources to save the entire planet at a time. So how do we choose the countries that need our help the most? The countries that absolutely need democracy before anything good can happen there. The countries that are crying for help and salvation.

Our role is god-like and we have to decide who has the right for salvation and who doesn't. We pass sentences without a hesitation. We choose the country that possesses potential. Just like we choose our spouse we choose the country that we are going to save. In our women it's beauty and figures that count. In countries it's natural resources and geopolitics. Some might say that salvation is happening because the country has been oppressed for so long. There are human rights violations etc. In my eyes those reasons are made up so that our global economy can keep on growing.

The idea of saving entire nations is beautiful but the reality is often different. We use goodness as an argue when in fact it's greed that motivates us. The sad thing is we can't see that anymore.

Finland participates in these “salvation” missions by telling that people need our help. We never stop to question why these people need to be rescued. What led to this situation that is so bad that our soldiers need to protect innocent people. The truth is that Finland is afraid of questioning the decisions of the big leaders. That would make us look bad in the eyes of other members of the global network. We became part of this network when our nation became independent in 1917. Or at least that's when everything changed. Why question everything when we are doing so much better than before when we were part of Russia.

Maybe some day it's our turn to be saved from evil. You might think that it's ridiculous. “We are already saved!” We're on the winning team. Are we? What if one day something immensely valuable is found inside our borders? Largest oilfield in the world is probably not under our feet but I have a crazy scenario. Bare with me. One day global drought will sweep across the world. Global warming threatens to turn our planet into one big desert. Nordic countries are one of the last oasis that include vast amounts of fresh water. Our northern location has helped us to close our borders from the immigration from Africa and Southern Europe.

At that point some super power might think that our nation is run by evil president and we need salvation. Now I might go out of line with the next statement but I'll say it anyway. Why were we able to separate from Soviet Union? We were meaningless for them. This piece of land that we stand on wasn't strategically important for Soviet Union anymore. I know that it's a bit exaggerated but I think there is some truth to it.

I think the keyword is meaningless. Finland is quite meaningless for the world and that's a fact. Cuba wasn't meaningless so it got in to trouble in 1960´s when it came a part of USA-SOVIET argue. Kuwait isn't meaningless so it needed salvation from evil. Iraq isn't meaningless so it needed salvation from evil, twice. Chile needed salvation, Europe needed salvation. Venezuela needs salvation. The list could go on.. So why aren't these countries meaningless? They've got something we want. Something that keeps us gods of the world. Oil, minerals, Food... You see good thing about being a god is that you have some natural benefits that others don't posses.

One of the sales arguments when recruiting new nations to our network is the phrase “Look at what we got!”. If this doesn't help they can be lured to heaven by changing governments or giving them a new dictator or by just making them addicted of some of the cool stuff that we have. Usually that leads the changing attitudes with in the society in few decades time. This tactic is usually used only in the cases when our “persuasion” resources are limited or there is no hurry.

So who are the ones that don't need salvation? North Korea. They are just fine. Their people are happy and well on their way to democracy. Zimbabwe doesn't need salvation. They just had an election. That's a good proof that they are a democratic country. No human right violations there. Russia is the model example of Democracy and so is China. They just need a little more money so that they too can join our group of gods but not too much so that they don't come our gods. That wouldn't be nice.

Controlling nations or even entire continents isn't that hard. The same principle works in governing nations. Again the word meaningless comes in to play. Leaders should never waste time on things that are meaningless. Concentrating on the stuff that is important for normal life is the key. Energy, food, water, transportation connections. These are the things that are not meaningless and so these are the things that are needed to control large populations. What I find scary is the that some if not all of these things are privatized little by little. The key elements are given to corporations that operate on a global level. If you give water plants to global business what happens when there comes a global water shortage? The water is sold the anyone who makes the highest bid. It's happening with oil so why wouldn't it happen with water one day.

What happened in Bolivia..
“In 2000 the World Bank, under the belief that “poor governments are often too plagued by local corruption and too ill equipped to run public water systems efficiently. …[and that the use of private corporations] opens the door to needed investment and skilled management“,[2] declared it would not renew a $25 million dollar loan to Bolivia unless it privatized its water services.” -wikipedia-

That led to privatization of all the water supplies in Cochabamba and it meant that the owner had monopoly on all the water in the city. It also led to claim that the government would require a license be obtained for people to collect rainwater from their roofs! So what happened? People protested, a kid died, president changed and the water was returned to the hands of the government. A battle with global economy had been won.

I wonder who gave us to power to play gods and decide who gets to be saved and who is not wroth our grace? If one gets this kind of power should it not be used for good? We say we use it for good but do we really? Too often power corrupts. I'm not a religious guy but I can't help to think of the saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, even if the intension is democracy.

Mutual Trust

The photo is from a supermarket and says something like:
To preserve mutual trust please open your bag! Thank You!

How an Earth is this going to build mutual trust between the store and the consumer? So I show you what is inside my bag and then you can trust me? WAIT A SECOND!? And how does this help me to trust the store?! I mean it's obvious that they don't trust me...

So am I allowed to ask the store to show me the statistics of their profits for the products? I'd like to know just for mutual trust. I mean I just want to know that they are not ripping me of.

ARGH! (Obvious to say that I've never shown them what's inside my bag.)

Chicken, Cow and Pig went to the market...

Read this:
The Pleasures of the Flesh

“the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol … could feed one person for a year”

"While 100m tonnes of food will be diverted this year to feed cars, 760m tonnes will be snatched from the mouths of humans to feed animals. This could cover the global food deficit 14 times."


"The FAO calculates that animal keeping is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental impacts are especially grave in places where livestock graze freely."


I don't want to preach on this matter. I just want you to know the facts. You do what you think is for the best.

Animal Farm

Part of the appendix from the book Animal Farm

"If one loves democracy, the argument runs, one must crush its enemies by no matter what means. And who are the enemies? It always appears that they are not only those who attack it openly and consciously, but those who 'objectively' endanger it by spreading mistaken doctrines. In other words, defending democracy involves destroying all independence of thought."

Fur Fashion for few friends

Who owns a fur? Maybe 5% of the people? Well who are these people then? If I put it ruffly they are the ones that want to be in the middle of attention and the ones that are in the middle of nowhere.

It's often said that fashion is a long lasting phenomenon. Trend is something that lasts a short period of time. Trend is counter reaction to something. When a trend gets too big it dies because it's not trendy anymore. Could it be that fashion is also a counter reaction to some lifestyle in the world..

So what I'm saying is that even fashion is a trend, a trend to something bigger but still a trend. What is in fashion right now? First thing that comes to my mind.. Thinness. It's in fashion because there are so many fat people in the world and it looks like thinness is going to be in fashion for a long time since majority of us seem to get bigger by the year. This is why models are thin. Thinness is THE quality that really sticks out from the crowd these days. It's almost timeless but still it's a counter reaction.

So now we might agree on the subject that ´trend´ and ´fashion´are the same. Let's continue...

So what is fur about. It's a trend/fashion. Fur is never going to go out of fashion because fur is so expensive that it can't become very popular. Is there a way that would make fur go out of style? I think there is.

You see I think fur is closely attached to Eskimos and other native people that live in the cold parts of the world. They use fur because they need it to survive the cold arctic winters. SO fur as a fashion statement is actually a counter reaction to Eskimos!

If you still own a fur I suggest you use it like never before! Fur is going out of style and it's happening fast. You see the The North and South Poles are melting due to global warming. Maybe 25 years from now the Eskimos won't be needing their furs anymore. That means they'll stop using furs as day-to-day clothes. When that day comes REAL fur culture disappears and that means there can't be a counter reaction to it anymore and that means fur-fashion just disappears.

Puff! Just like that. It's gone...

I mean there wouldn't be anarchy without democracy. There wouldn't be tee without coffee. There wouldn't be girls without boys and there sure as hell wouldn't be rap music without country music.

So the next time you think of buying a new fur give the money to help stop global warming. That is the only way to save your fur from never getting out of fashion.

Water shortage in Spain

To be exact the water shortage is in the Catalonia (Barcelona) region. Here's the news in Finnish. Didn't find anything about it in the international news agencies yet.

Anyway the water situation is really bad over there and it has forced Spain to buy water from France! So now they are getting water from France with several tankers. These tankers have enough water for Barcelona for 5 days. Price of this water? 22 million euros!

I found this piece of news from the archives of BBC news.

The thing is Spanish people don't really like other regions of Spain that much. People in Galicia find people in Catalonia arrogant etc. So giving water to different regions of the country isn't happening just like that.

Could this be the beginning of Water Trading. I'll start calling it WT. Well I guess it's already common in some parts of the world but now it's landed in Europe. I wonder when they will start making tariffs and trading systems for water... Other new term I'll make public at this point is 'WW'. It doesn't stand for World War anymore. It's Water War. (CWW = Civil Water War)

This is getting interesting. I think I'll need a long hot shower. It's a bit cold in my flat and I really don't feel like wearing long trousers and pullover.

Extra reading from New York times.
Turkey is getting dry as well.

Geenimuuntelu

Ylen uutinen geenimuuntelun (GM) rantautumisesta Suomeen.

"Kuluttajan avuksi ehdotettuja pakkausmerkintöjä pohditaan parhaillaan kauppa- ja teollisuusministeriön asettamassa työryhmässä."

Työryhmiä kyllä perustetaan täysin toisarvoisille asioille, mutta jätetään täysin omaan arvoonsa keskustelu siitä onko geenimuunneltu ruoka eettisesti kyseenalaista vai ei.

"Anttila muistuttaa, että geenimanipuloinnilla on muitakin kuin terveydellisiä tarkastelutapoja. Hän mainitsee muun muassa geenimuuntelun eettiset, moraaliset ja uskonnolliset näkökulmat, jotka olisi tuotava tasa-arvoisina mukaan keskusteluun."
Joku sentään yrittää muistuttaa meitä tästäkin aspektista.

Virkamiehet tuskin tällaisia asioita pohtivat. JOS joku minulta kysyisi niin suhtautuisin hyvin varauksellisesti geenimuunneltuun ruokaan. Terveysvaikutukset ihmiselle ja eläimille? Onko eettisesti oikein luoda kokoajan tehokkaampia kasveja, jotka ovat sitkeämpiä luonnonvoimia vastaan? Minusta se on hiukan huijaamista vakuutellen ihmisille, että ilmastonmuutos ei ole niin vakava asia etteikö ruoka riittäisi tulevaisuudessakin. Ruokaa tulee pöytään ja elämää voidaan jatkaa entiseen malliin. Puhettakaan keskustelusta kulutuksen vähentämisestä ei ole, koska se ei tee hyvää taloudelle.

Olisiko ollut, että noin 3 miljardia ihmistä häviää maapallolta kun öljy loppuu. Syy: ruokaa ei voida enää tuottaa tarpeeksi. sori en muista lähdettä. Olisiko silloin GM vilja ratkaisu? Voihan se olla, mutta en haluaisi mennä vielä niin paljon ajassa eteenpäin. Keskityn mielummin tämän hetken ongelmiin, koska sitä kautta muokataan tulevaisuutta.

Geenimanipuloitu ruoka on minusta juna, jonka kyytiin ei pitäisi tehokkuuden nimissä hypätä. Otamme jo nyt velkaa luonnolta ja tämä ei tosiaan ole askel kohti takaisinmaksua. Evoluutio tuskin huvikseen käytti miljoonia vuosia elämän muokkaamiseen huomatakseen, että ihminen vie häneltä duunin muutamassa vuosikymmenessä. Rodunjalostuksestahan tässä on lopulta kyse ja se sana rasahtaa korvaan ja pahasti.

(Satunnaisia ajatuksia kun maha on täynnä nachoja ja salsaa. Toivottavasti ei ollut GM kasviksia. Voisko joku työryhmä pohtia mahdollisuutta, jossa valtio alkaisi tukemaan pienituloisia, jotka haluaisi syödä luomua?)

Movie tip of the week

The corporation

download torrent
watch in google video
IMDB review

Movie about how corporations were given the same rights as men and many other interesting things. Excellent documentary showing where we are, how we got here and what's ahead.

If you don't like this kind of movies just try it. I don't like horror movies but from time to time I watch one just to make sure I haven't changed my mind.

Smart

Damn I'm smart! I had this problem while making a website and I was really stuck. Just couldn't find a solution for the problem. Well eventually I found out that it was a bug in the browsers. I had already booked a meeting with a teacher who knows about this stuff. Maybe he could help me.

Finally I thought that if I couldn't solve this problem then who could? So 6 hours of brainstorming in front of two computers I finally solved the problem. Felt like a winner. Mailed the teacher "solved the problem. Have a 30minutes break on me. See you!"

See the problem with our school system is that there is always someone who is smarter than you and who will do all the problem solving for you if you just ask. I don't know about you but for me me learning is like math. You have to solve the problems by yourself if you really want to learn. Copy/pasting gets you forward but your not learning anything. Yesterday I learned something.

This school system is quite nice but it's not making us individuals. Of course everyone need help and guidance from time to time, even me, but still I like to take the harder route. That is if the problem is something I'm interested in... But why would anyone study something they are not interested of? I just wonder how many of the 17-20 years old teenagers really know if they want to become nurses, cooks, mechanics, bankers, politicians?

Could it be that someone else made the decision for them without them even knowing it?

Would you choose differently now? I know I would.