Tech> iClip for FRRREEEE on macZOT - today only

Run over to macZOT to download the free complete version of iClip, a beautiful multi-clipboard manager for Mac OS X, available only today!

Tech> Wisdom> Resign from the Church

And if you live in Finland, you can do this conveniently at this service set up by the Free Thinkers of Tampere ( and it's such a beautiful city, too). This report just got slashdotted but I remember seeing it already a few years ago, although it didn't exist when I made this rather easy decision.

This should happen more and should be encouraged, and using technology to enable it is good. Let's remove the obsolete* church from the state, before the state itself becomes obsolete.

* archaic, unnecessary, not relevant

Tech> Thoughts> Macworld's quality issues

I'm starting to get mightly unimpressed with Macworld (the magazine). They've gone slightly down in the quality of their coverage trying to capitalize on the Apple-hype-cool-bubble instead and mostly feature new iPod accessories. I skimmed the new issue in 4 minutes and caught the following two things. I'll read it in more detail in the future and put in writing if they surprise me positively.

1) Usage of Excel default chart colors for reporting poll results (page 27). If you've ever used Excel and have eyes that can tell colors apart, you know they are ugly. Mac users have more than enough reasons and opportunities to break free from the chains imposed on computer users' creativity by Microsoft Office products.

2) "Hot video products" (page 80) highlights Sony's DCR-SR90E, a hard drive camcorder. "Tape is so old", they say and recommend this Sony for use with a Mac - but it only comes with a USB support and they even mention it "to transfer everything to your Mac without any digitization necessary". Well, yeah, but a whole lot of manual work and wasted space if you're planning to edit anything short from a long footage. Final Cut Express doesn't even support USB, and even if you only use iMovie, you are giving away the camera control mode and have to import footage manually. Firewire is of course the cord of choice for video editing in the Mac environment. They even feature Final Cut Studio on the same page. Sad.

Log> Sights> Fingers in Finland

Greetings from Finland, the 90s theme party that never seems to end. Along with smoke saunas, smoking bonfires and smoked reindeer (another apposite theme), I was happy to discover that someone in the establishment, this time manifesting as the state-owned railway system, has a sense of humour. They have these handles in all the train restaurants - but what's wrong with the hand in the picture?

I just blogged about train door handles. Yeah, I had a quite uneventful week actually, but that's what vacation is all about.

Thoughts> Only June

The flow of green outside concurs to a halt with the train as the tracks are obstructed by large machinery crossing over to the fields. The sun seeps between the leaves and slips to soak in the sky coaxing the clouds to form pyramids of endless height where lone crows circle the bases. I cede an apology to the people of the fields as I lay amidst their lands in the silent still heat. The field is the womb of the people. They dig deep and grow inside and sprout out and run out to the world on the cold hard ground and return to penetrate it after the frosts fade.

The train may be stuck but on the tracks alternative routes would all be the same, of the same distance with comparable views from similar stops and stations. The fields move outside the train, the people roll along in groups of tools, in groups of fields rotating, in tasks of applying tools to fields. The sun is the hub in all wheels and the spokes revolve around taking the forms of plows, shovels, scythes, flails. The crows circle in pairs at nights, the spokes rotate around the sun at day and the circle is always attended to.

These days are long yet these years have been short and the scythes always arrive and the sun gets tired in the end as the flail beats. Here the earth reverberates in slow breath of the ancients. The people return to the fields and the crows fly in pairs in service to the blind eye of the elder god and it always takes more than one crow to make a murder and so they gather.

The wheels roll, the spokes gyrate, the circle spins, we move again. The flow of green and the crows above the fields outside. The tired sun beating like the flail even as the scythes are yet to appear and it is only June. The people of the fields outside. The tools and the circle of unsleep and of the tired sun.

Words> Wisdom> The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

I had wanted to read Richard Feynman for a long time, and having just finished The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, I know I'll want to read much more. The Pleasure... is a collection of speeches, interviews and excerpts from Feynman's razor sharp and crystal clear thinking, and it has been well edited, too: the topics revolve beautifully around the title of the book.

The best of Feynman for me were the pieces where he describes how his father used to show him how things work and how limited our understanding and, more importantly certainty, over reality is. Against this backdrop it's easy to see his trajectory into physics of the essence of reality - and into the essence of physics, although Feynman was notoriously impatient with philosophy. The book shed light on his thinking and was from where I stand an excellent introduction to Feynman. Next I'll want to deepen my understanding of both the external and the internal on the man - both the science and the personality.

After discussions about the importance of not relying on authority and about not deceiving oneself and the rest of the humanity with any sort of ultimate answers, I was surprised to see how the last chapter, On the Relationship Between Science and Religion, ends in an extended hand towards religion. Feynman does quickly discuss the insufficiency and untestability of religious thinking, but still suggests that the two may coexist (and I'm reading that he meant on both a personal and a societal level). After carefully showing us the importance of falsifiability numerous times, Feynman retains some flexibility. Was this due to the circumstances of that speech, or did it require more context? My verdict, with even less proof that Feynman wielded, is a death sentence to religion in all it's shapes and forms. I was about to say "most", but that wouldn't fit the absolute opposition to absolutes I represent, would it now?

I created this blog when I had already started on the book, and the quote in the title bar comes from this book. It will likely stay there for a while since it encapsulates my stance in both personal life and politics. The idea it boils down also further convinces me on the fundamental links between conservative political thinking, rationalism (continental rationalism to be exact), absolute ethics and common morals, and the inclination towards ultimate answers (a stab specifically at religion); and the fundamental, often diametrically opposed links between progressive (or liberal, have your pick) political thinking, empiricism, relativism in all ethics - and the denial of ultimate answers, destiny and higher purpose. I'm happy that the everyday political debate has moved to centre of the political field, but it would indeed be refreshing to hear the talking heads at some point to refer to the underlying structures of their thinking, as far as there are any.

Another theme that I identified with strongly was the way Feynman Senior taught his son. This reminded me strongly of my grandad who died when I was 14. He wasn't a scientist, but a scientific thinker for sure, much like Feynman's father sounds like. He didn't really teach me things, but rather how to figure out things, and how to figure out when things weren't what they at first looked like. He taught me to question the status quo and to inquire into the reasons behind reactions and consequences. I'd like to be able to teach people in the same manner and I will return to this topic later.

Log> First trips of the summer

BA was late on the airport and it was scorching. Now I'm above Greenland and it is freezing. The plane must leak. I'm typing this up on one of the jumpseats in the back using the raft container as a table and staring at the blinding white ice floats below. They must be massive. Funnily, I just stood up to see one of them better - it has a large, perfectly round crater-like hole in the middle of it, with crevices extending everywhere like cracks from a bullet hole in a car window. Everything you see from 6 miles up must be quite big, so what on earth could that be? A meteorite hole, or a breathing hole for Cthulhu?

I'm in California for this week and in Finland for the next.

Log> People> Playing bodyguard for David Hasselhoff

A bit earlier this week, I was in a certain European capital and was about to attend festivities taking place later in the evening of that day. I missed the coach that was supposed to take me there in the first place, so I called a friend who I knew could sort something out. I met him for a quick snack in the lobby of the hotel we were staying at and inquired as to what my options were.

"So, Vish. How do I get to the party?" I asked him.

"Well, there's two ways, mate", he said. "You can either take the later coach taking some of the crew there, or you can pick up David Hasselhoff from the Ritz with me."

"Oh", I said, "I guess I'll have to come with you then."

We arrived at the Ritz a bit after 7 pm and met with the bodyguards, two Danish fellows, one big and bulky, the other slim and wiry. Both funny guys. We were waiting for The Hoff to get ready for the gig later, hanging out in the posh room next door while the master himself was singing in the shower on the other side of the wall.

When the time came, I made my way down with one of the bodyguards, trying to get a bit more details of how they operated, with who and the kinds of tricks they had up their sleeve for different situations with clients (there were plenty). When The Hoff finally saw it fit to descend, we made our way to the vehicles, and I even got a taste of crowd control. Well, alright, there were like 10 people out there waiting for him and nobody was any trouble. I didn't even punch anyone. The Hoff was in a really good mood too, signing a couple of photos and we drove off with him having the window open, waving to people passing by with the biggest smile on his face.

The Hoff's good mood continued in the backstage and finally getting up on stage and he took the ecstatic crowd like the seasoned pro he is. We were rewarded with both Hooked on a Feeling and I've Been Looking For Freedom. And while he took the party from the stage into the crowd below, I took the opportunity of getting photographed in The Hoff's sunglasses. The Hoff himself can be seen in the crowd in the background. Even after the gig he hung around for a while in the backstage, getting photos taken and getting on the phone with people's relatives.

It's always elevating to be in the presence of greatness, and playing a bodyguard for The Hoff was probably the cheesiest experience of my life.

Log> Happy 06/06/06!

I've posted about numerically funny dates before (and before), and today is a pretty good one. Horns up (scroll down for Lennon!). The managed to get The Omen out in time for today - I'm hoping it's not a complete Da Vinci Code pancake.

However, incidentally, I was just today presenting at a quite a large conference, and was tongue-in-cheek introduced as a "black metal fan" with something about Finland there too. I guess I was jinxed and had it coming. But I haven't really heard much good black metal since the '97-'99 Horna.

As a disclaimer, I'm not a fan of numerology or any other hogwash, but I've been fascinated with the patterns formed by numbers and the ways they relate to similar numeric patterns - never been good with alegbra, but always with arithmetic. I also see numbers in color, and I figured out some time ago that it's linked to the letters the numbers contain when spelled out in Finnish, and again the letters the colors consist of when written out in Finnish. This thought-link could be due to having learned to read at a pretty early age.

Art> Log> New Fliar

This was in my mailbox today. Way to go Chris: The Devil - how appropriate, only a couple of days early. Also, someone decided to make this the National Day of Slayer (warning: plays 'Angel of Death' upon loading). That someone also made a dumb error of magnitude on the first line of the site. Take with a grain of salt.

The previous Fliar I received was well timed and topical, too.

Stupidity> No gambling in Internet cafes

An internet cafe in Örebro, smack in the middle of Sweden has had to close its doors due to a local court deciding they needed a license for gambling, The Register reports. The computers have occasionally been used for gambling, the local council argued, and must thus be regulated under strict Swedish law on the said pasttime.

This is just opening Pandora's box - what else springs to mind that would have to be regulated, or is illegal, and that public computers could be used for? Think the local council will have to remove computers from the local library while they're at it.

Stupidity> Tech> Vonage woes

I rant a lot on this blog. Here's one of my favorites from my massive backlog of rants.

Vonage seems to be screwed. Alright. About a year ago, looking at them beat their chest and burn through the raised capital on some of the worst advertising ever, I thought they must have been trapped in some sort of a time capsule where it was still 1999.

"It's very hard to see what their competitive advantage is," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research.

I haven't followed the business fundamentals closely enough to rant about them, so I'll focus on a more specific area to rant about. About a month ago, Vonage finally changed their logo. I don't like the new one, but I sure didn't like the previous one either - only because I'm a bit of a typography nazi. The three things that were wrong with Vonage's past marcomms:

1) Use of a Millennium-family font in all-caps with a little kerning (around 40%). Millennium was cool around the time when the millennium was cool - in 1998 or so (by 1999 all my friends had those Fuck the Millennium t-shirts already). I saw this font in kebab-restaurant logos, Finnish Police recruiting videos, and our Army Yearbook. I used it myself, too, in the 90's.

2) Use of a stock font in general. Anyone can reproduce your logo in 5 minutes. This can be beneficial if you're a two-person company starting up, without actual letterhead papers yet, but not when you're trying to conquer the world, as was (is?) the case with Vonage.

3) Blowing tens of millions in absolutely appalling advertising using this same font everywhere, stupid layouts and too much copy for a blocky, impact-oriented font. The web ads were also terrible, and it was actually seeing them on the Register that drove me for the first time to block advertising other than pop-ups on my browsers.

These guys seem to be Vonage's creative agency. I'd really like to find out what the hell happened there, since Arnold has actually produced some good ads in the past. I don't know if they were behind the concept of the Jack Daniel's print ads, but they've worked with them, and some of those are damn good.

PS. I was thinking of starting a category called Rants, but then I thought that just calling it Stupidity would rile people up more.