Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Neste Rally Finland, 2009
This is something we already did a couple of weeks ago when there was a World Rally Championship event in Finland. We drove some 300 kilometres (200 miles) northwards into a forest to watch cars slides and jump through narrow gravel roads at speeds close to 200 kilometers per hour (120 MPH+). When I was a kid we lived nearby the annual event and went everytime. 25 years later the cars still seem travelling at warp factor 9...
... until things don't go as planned, like in the end of this video of a Russian driver Evgeny Novikov. His co-driver must be the bravest man in the world.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Dolphins jumping
Here's some more material from the Särkänniemi dolphin show. I must say I was positively surprised after not really expecting that much going in. I've seen such shows in e.g. Orlando Sea World and I think this smaller-scale Finnish version more than held its own.
Amusement animations
Our trusty Panasonic digicam has this handy burst shooting mode for capturing image sequences. Maybe the old cams had this as well, but I just never figured how handy it is.
Here are couple of examples of what you can do with that. Both are from Särkänniemi amusement park in Tampere, Finland. The first is of two young dolphins high jumping and the second shows a water ride splashdown in one of the parks oldest rides. I remember queuing for ages to that when I was just a little kid. Somehow the years passed since have severaly shrunk the height of the last drop...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A day at the beach
22. heinäkuuta 2009 11:40:31 Autostitch panorama out of 22 separate E71 (terrible camera) photos from Pihlajasaari Island outside Helsinki. Only reachable by ferry, it's nevertheless well worth the few euros roundtrip ticket. Best known for it's nudist beach, Pihlis also offers loads of sandy beaches towards various directions as well as smooth rocks towards south for clothed sunbathing and play. Before heading into the water in latter part of summer, be sure to check out the blue green algal status first.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
He shoots, he scores!
Joona scores a penalty goal in a childrens festival at the Boston Commons park. Notice the professional-calibre victory celebrations at the end!
Thrill ride
17. kesäkuuta 2009 22:44:36 Our son Joona is finally tall enough to go on any ride at the amusement parks. This picture is of Bizzarro roller coaster in Six Flags New England. However, it's one thing you can go on these rides and another whether you really should. On we went, and Joona's comment thereafter: "Never again..."
Toilet training for illiterate baristas
18. kesäkuuta 2009 18:15:39 There are some aspects of US corporate culture I simply don't get. Here's an example: illustrated instructions for Starbucks employees how hands are washed after using the toilet. I wonder what will happen if hands are only washed for 18 seconds?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Project Weber, part IV
8. toukokuuta 2009 15:37:17 First launch success! Amazing how quickly the temperature meter rises to 300C.
Project Weber, part II
5. toukokuuta 2009 22:00:31 First night of assembly done, still some way to go until stuff is sizzling on the grill...
Project Weber, part I
5. toukokuuta 2009 17:15:28 Buying a gas barbeque is easy enough, but you should plan to have something else to eat the first night you receive your grill...
Little birds told me
2. toukokuuta 2009 14:58:52 These little creatures have found a nice one-bedroom apartment in my parents balcony flower pot. The brave wingmen didn't seem to find the presence of humans disturbing. It'll be a while before the summer flowers are planted...
Lapland hills
11. huhtikuuta 2009 15:20:20 A view to Pikku-Syöte from Iso-Syöte, where we spent our skiing holiday this spring.
Snow patrol
10. huhtikuuta 2009 9:50:43 For us city folks, a policeman on a snow mobile is such a special sight to warrant a photo opportunity.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
11+ years in Nokia now over
Today was my last day in Nokia, also premises-wise. It's amazing to think that I've spent over a quarter of my lifetime working there. Everything has to end sometime and I guess now was as good as any for this one.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Winter bike commuter morning flat tyre blues
22 January, 2009 09:22:28
In Finland it's customary to spread copious amounts of gravel to icy pavements and roads to keep people from slipping and hurting themselves as well as to help cars up steep hills and get going in intersections. Trouble is, this eskar gravel is becoming more and more expensive as the supplies from hillsides this is excavated from are running. Apparently, no more permits are given to open up new sources to conserve the nature. Thus the keep-people-walking-upright-in-winter departments have turned to another material to increase friction, which is bigger rocks ground to small pebbles.
This is all fine, as the finely ground rocks do the same thing for cars and pedestrians as the gravel used to do. Thing is, the stuff is murder to bike wheels. Many of the small pieces of stone have extremely sharp edges, which easily punch a hole through bike tyres if you run over them.
Last winter I had three punctures. Today morning was #1 for this one.
More philosophically, this one instance where conserving natural resources translates spending more elsewhere. Grinding rocks to produce this stuff must some energy. De-motivating people who ride a bike to work means they use means of transport with an internal combustion engine and thus CO2 emissions. I am waiting to be picked up right now in out family hatchback. Finally many more rubber inner tubes have to be manufactured, packaged and shipped to Finland to be punctured. I've read stories from more frequent cyclists of going through half a dozen each winter. I know that in the balance my vote would be on making a new hole for the non-puncturing gravel, as I start fixing yet another tyre...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Golf ghost town
Imagine owning a big villa in a location where it almost never rains, where it's always warm (if not hot) and where your backyard leads to a PGA rated 18-hole golf course. All this beyond a couple hours flight away from anywhere in Europe by the Red Sea filled with coral reef wonders.
Now imagine further that there are 200 of those villas surrounding the entire course, they're all unfinished heaps of junk and that they've been that way for the past 10 years everyplace else has been inflating a huge real estate bubble.
This totally weird sight is from Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.
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