It was slightly amusing to watch the news yesterday. They were introducing fashion blogs as a new source of income. And that in Sweden they have done that already for two years. Yes, don't I know it!
They said that fashion bloggers can make deals with some fashion houses and even get free gifts which they are advertising in their blogs. That begins to sound like a tax crime, or bribery. Would you criticize the free gifts if you wanted to get more of them in the future?
It's an unbelievable phenomenon. I will never realize what makes those blogs worth watching. Yes, watching rather than reading. It must be the pictures then, LOL! To me it seems more like egoistic behavior to send pictures of oneself there. Well, maybe that's a new way of modeling. In that sense it's welcome, even by my (low) standards.
And, thanks to Aikku and Virpi for taking another gold medal for Finland!
Royal Scam
Man, I'm pleased with this title! Just couldn't remain silent about it. I've kept on using these quotes and other obscurities since day one, and I'm still going strong. No one cares, but to me that's one type of surviving the day.
Back to business. Crown princess Victoria's and personal trainer Daniel Westling's engagement was announced yesterday. Congratulations to both! In addition to the news, the wedding season was also announced. It will be held early Summer next year. My guess is 6.6., the national day of Sweden. But I've been wrong before.
I have an axe to grind here, because I'm expecting Swedish currency to strengthen after the news. That way I could bring my crowns home safely and switch to euros at reasonable rate. At the moment it doesn't look too bright. One euro equals to 11,3 SEK!
They said that Victoria got a beautiful and expensive engagement ring. That explains why the engagement was delayed by so many years: with a personal trainer's salary he just couldn't afford it earlier, LOL! It's like an American dream come true once again. A common man can become a prince. Such a fairy tale!
But the 'scam' part of the post. I read from a Finnish newspaper that Expressen, a Swedish tabloid, made a scam yesterday. They sent a fake version of their latest paper to Aftonbladet, their rival on the tabloid front. Without probably the biggest society news of the decade. Aftonbladet fell for it and didn't have any news on Victoria's engagement yesterday.
Aftonbladet must have kicked itself after discovering the scam Expressen had pulled. Heads will fall after this, I'm sure. Millions of crowns lost. I guess they will release a piece of engagement news today, trying to get a piece of the action. What's left of it.
What makes me wonder is why Aftonbladet relies on material Expressen is giving them? Don't they have editors for themselves? Doing copypaste only? In that case they really deserved to get deceived. Swedes can stab in your back, while the others smile and turn their back on you. I knew that already, but now a whole lot of other people do too. Including people in Finland. It's not just another well-organised scam, it's much, much more...
Back to business. Crown princess Victoria's and personal trainer Daniel Westling's engagement was announced yesterday. Congratulations to both! In addition to the news, the wedding season was also announced. It will be held early Summer next year. My guess is 6.6., the national day of Sweden. But I've been wrong before.
I have an axe to grind here, because I'm expecting Swedish currency to strengthen after the news. That way I could bring my crowns home safely and switch to euros at reasonable rate. At the moment it doesn't look too bright. One euro equals to 11,3 SEK!
They said that Victoria got a beautiful and expensive engagement ring. That explains why the engagement was delayed by so many years: with a personal trainer's salary he just couldn't afford it earlier, LOL! It's like an American dream come true once again. A common man can become a prince. Such a fairy tale!
But the 'scam' part of the post. I read from a Finnish newspaper that Expressen, a Swedish tabloid, made a scam yesterday. They sent a fake version of their latest paper to Aftonbladet, their rival on the tabloid front. Without probably the biggest society news of the decade. Aftonbladet fell for it and didn't have any news on Victoria's engagement yesterday.
Aftonbladet must have kicked itself after discovering the scam Expressen had pulled. Heads will fall after this, I'm sure. Millions of crowns lost. I guess they will release a piece of engagement news today, trying to get a piece of the action. What's left of it.
What makes me wonder is why Aftonbladet relies on material Expressen is giving them? Don't they have editors for themselves? Doing copypaste only? In that case they really deserved to get deceived. Swedes can stab in your back, while the others smile and turn their back on you. I knew that already, but now a whole lot of other people do too. Including people in Finland. It's not just another well-organised scam, it's much, much more...
A small facelift
In Finland we have a TV show called "Pientä pintaremonttia", which is basically an interior decorating program. It has probably corresponding series abroad, so many of you will get the picture.
The storyline goes something like this: there is an apartment (usually close to Helsinki for obvious reasons) which is about to be sold but needs a little renovating. A real estate agent drops by and estimates the value of the place. Then the owners tell three architect designers how much money they can spend for making the place ready for sale. It's usually 2000 - 5000 euros.
Then those three designers make their own suggestions how they'd renovate it. The owners choose one and the apartment will be repaired accordingly. Later on, the same real estate agent comes to reevaluate the place. It's usually more than the money spent in renovating. Very often they use lent furniture in decorating.
Why am I telling you all this, you may wonder. I don't blame you. Well, I have been watching this sporadically with my wife, who watches almost every TV show of this nature. What bugs me real bad, are the stupid female owners who are selling their apartment. I really hate to hear them say: "No, I don't like green as a colour. I'm not choosing this plan." Or: "I don't like that bed, it's too flamboyant (for my taste)." WTF?! They are not renovating it for themselves, if they are going to sell the apartment! What does it matter, what they like? Several male owners have a better attitude: "This renovated bathroom will definetely raise the price up."
This formula repeats itself year after year. Women prefer their own taste to designers'. It's almost camp to me. Those designers are professional and give good ideas from time to time, but basically this show is waste of time. In the end of the show the owners are usually disappointed in the re-estimate of the house. They think that using 1000 euros in decorating should increase the value of the house by 10000 € or something. It's easy to read the disappointment in their faces, especially by men, because they often think they know better. But they rarely do.
The storyline goes something like this: there is an apartment (usually close to Helsinki for obvious reasons) which is about to be sold but needs a little renovating. A real estate agent drops by and estimates the value of the place. Then the owners tell three architect designers how much money they can spend for making the place ready for sale. It's usually 2000 - 5000 euros.
Then those three designers make their own suggestions how they'd renovate it. The owners choose one and the apartment will be repaired accordingly. Later on, the same real estate agent comes to reevaluate the place. It's usually more than the money spent in renovating. Very often they use lent furniture in decorating.
Why am I telling you all this, you may wonder. I don't blame you. Well, I have been watching this sporadically with my wife, who watches almost every TV show of this nature. What bugs me real bad, are the stupid female owners who are selling their apartment. I really hate to hear them say: "No, I don't like green as a colour. I'm not choosing this plan." Or: "I don't like that bed, it's too flamboyant (for my taste)." WTF?! They are not renovating it for themselves, if they are going to sell the apartment! What does it matter, what they like? Several male owners have a better attitude: "This renovated bathroom will definetely raise the price up."
This formula repeats itself year after year. Women prefer their own taste to designers'. It's almost camp to me. Those designers are professional and give good ideas from time to time, but basically this show is waste of time. In the end of the show the owners are usually disappointed in the re-estimate of the house. They think that using 1000 euros in decorating should increase the value of the house by 10000 € or something. It's easy to read the disappointment in their faces, especially by men, because they often think they know better. But they rarely do.
Kids are different today
This is my drawing of an actual task that was in our daughter's math book (see the part a). Granted, it was an extra task, but it was heavily emphasised to do those too. All this during the first season of the first grade at school. Can you believe it?
Even knowing what the hell this task is all about took some thinking from my part. The goal is to find three numbers of which sums of two equal the number outside the triangle. Sorry, can't make it this better in English! Maybe that's why there was no explanation in Finnish either, LOL!
I'm not totally convinced what is the point of this kind of tasks. Basically it's just guessing. You can't expect any 7-year-old child to create an algorithm which would solve all these triangle tasks like I did (see the part b). And there was a lot of these triangles in her math book.
I tried my best to visualize her the idea of the task by constructing a triangle and moving chrome balls inside it. It wasn't easy, but somehow she understood my point. Yes, I'm no teacher but anyway. It was satisfying to see her done a good job in a math test. There was one triangle task in it as well, which was a bit surprising. Extra tasks shouldn't be there at all.
My own memories from 1973 are somewhat indeterminate. All I remember is that there were some balls and squares inside circles. We were drawing unions and intersections there. I can hardly think of myself solving the same triangle tasks our daughter had last Fall. Then again I had no-one to help me but still. I wasn't interested in learning those days anyway. The kids today are much wiser than we used to be. That is somehow comforting.
Even knowing what the hell this task is all about took some thinking from my part. The goal is to find three numbers of which sums of two equal the number outside the triangle. Sorry, can't make it this better in English! Maybe that's why there was no explanation in Finnish either, LOL!
I'm not totally convinced what is the point of this kind of tasks. Basically it's just guessing. You can't expect any 7-year-old child to create an algorithm which would solve all these triangle tasks like I did (see the part b). And there was a lot of these triangles in her math book.
I tried my best to visualize her the idea of the task by constructing a triangle and moving chrome balls inside it. It wasn't easy, but somehow she understood my point. Yes, I'm no teacher but anyway. It was satisfying to see her done a good job in a math test. There was one triangle task in it as well, which was a bit surprising. Extra tasks shouldn't be there at all.
My own memories from 1973 are somewhat indeterminate. All I remember is that there were some balls and squares inside circles. We were drawing unions and intersections there. I can hardly think of myself solving the same triangle tasks our daughter had last Fall. Then again I had no-one to help me but still. I wasn't interested in learning those days anyway. The kids today are much wiser than we used to be. That is somehow comforting.
Finnish Cuisine Delicacy III: Mämmi
This is a traditional Finnish Easter delicacy called mämmi (rye pudding, memma på svenska). It's just another of those Finnish dishes that look like shit, but taste alright. It's not Easter yet, but these days you can get mämmi in the shops throughout the year. Goodie!
Usually mämmi is a dessert that is eaten with milk or cream. Also some sugar can be spread on it. I tried it with nonfat milk (see the picture) but that didn't taste much of anything. On the other hand, I think cream is way too much... creamy? Something between might be a good choice.
Not so many people in Finland likes mämmi either. It may be an old folk's dish. Many of young people probably haven't even tasted it yet, but still decided they don't like it. Please, give mämmi a chance, it's worth it. Trust me, LOL!
Usually mämmi is a dessert that is eaten with milk or cream. Also some sugar can be spread on it. I tried it with nonfat milk (see the picture) but that didn't taste much of anything. On the other hand, I think cream is way too much... creamy? Something between might be a good choice.
Not so many people in Finland likes mämmi either. It may be an old folk's dish. Many of young people probably haven't even tasted it yet, but still decided they don't like it. Please, give mämmi a chance, it's worth it. Trust me, LOL!
Known by many names
Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake day, Carnival, Fasnacht Day, Fat Tuesday, Fettisdagen, laskiainen... whatever you call it, it's due tomorrow. Originally it was the last day before Lent which lasted till Easter. That's why people used to eat heavily that day. Also last Sunday is part of the festival.
Lent or no Lent, people still eat unhealthily on Mardi Gras. What is left of it in Finland, is the tradition of eating semlas ('semla' also in Swedish; funnily 'semla' means 'roll' (sämpylä) in Finland-Swedish. In swedish a 'roll' is 'fralla', and in Finland-Swedish 'semla' is 'fastlagsbulle' (also in some parts of Sweden). Confused? Good!).
There is no doubt about it where this bun has arrived in Finland from. That's why I can't place it under 'Finnish cuisine Delicacy' title. Here's however another picture taken by me, target been eaten by me. It was good while it lasted.
Another Carnival tradition in Finland is sliding downhill on a sleigh or a pulk. that's more like children's fun although sometimes parents may join them. I have tried to slide myself lately. My over-weight body almost crushed the whole pulk after a ramp! Also my back hurt a bit.
It was a pleasant weekend with a lot of snow. Didn't slide but did some cross-country skiing. Beautiful weather accompanied.
Lent or no Lent, people still eat unhealthily on Mardi Gras. What is left of it in Finland, is the tradition of eating semlas ('semla' also in Swedish; funnily 'semla' means 'roll' (sämpylä) in Finland-Swedish. In swedish a 'roll' is 'fralla', and in Finland-Swedish 'semla' is 'fastlagsbulle' (also in some parts of Sweden). Confused? Good!).
There is no doubt about it where this bun has arrived in Finland from. That's why I can't place it under 'Finnish cuisine Delicacy' title. Here's however another picture taken by me, target been eaten by me. It was good while it lasted.Another Carnival tradition in Finland is sliding downhill on a sleigh or a pulk. that's more like children's fun although sometimes parents may join them. I have tried to slide myself lately. My over-weight body almost crushed the whole pulk after a ramp! Also my back hurt a bit.
It was a pleasant weekend with a lot of snow. Didn't slide but did some cross-country skiing. Beautiful weather accompanied.
Doing the funky shit
It must be at least 15 years since I visited YO-talo in Tampere centrum last time. The place was originally meant for students at Tampere university, but has been opened for grown-up public later. Lucky for me, for I would have missed a lot of great experiences. I used to go there to see some rock bands in late 80's and early 90's. Man, I was so much younger then.
I have blogged about it before, but I really hate it when the bands start playing after midnight. It's not a human thing to do. And the music plays too loud before, during and after the show. My ears ain't what they used to be.
One of my working mates lured me there. He was going to be a dj at YO-talo and he was also playing in the group which performed there. The theme of the evening was funk. Funk music is always a good choice for a live experience.
I met some of my co-workers there. For some reason I didn't feel like being part of the group. Maybe it was because they knew each other much better, maybe because I was so much older than any of them. Luckily the sister of the star of the night joined us. I spent refreshing moments talking with her. Otherwise I would have been bored to death long before the show started.
The group played pretty well, as expected. I enjoyed their playing, but I started feeling tired. 7,5 dl of ED (Energy Drink) was keeping me awake. I had a car with me, so real drinking was out of the question. The communal transportation between Tampere and Nokia really sucks.
I decided to stay for a little longer still. Then a guy who was totally pissed was wobbling in front of me. He passed me and sat down at a table behind me. It was ok, until strong smell of shit started to spread. I didn't want to be associated with this guy's stink. I stood up and thought to myself that I might as well leave now. Which I did.
I have blogged about it before, but I really hate it when the bands start playing after midnight. It's not a human thing to do. And the music plays too loud before, during and after the show. My ears ain't what they used to be.
One of my working mates lured me there. He was going to be a dj at YO-talo and he was also playing in the group which performed there. The theme of the evening was funk. Funk music is always a good choice for a live experience.
I met some of my co-workers there. For some reason I didn't feel like being part of the group. Maybe it was because they knew each other much better, maybe because I was so much older than any of them. Luckily the sister of the star of the night joined us. I spent refreshing moments talking with her. Otherwise I would have been bored to death long before the show started.
The group played pretty well, as expected. I enjoyed their playing, but I started feeling tired. 7,5 dl of ED (Energy Drink) was keeping me awake. I had a car with me, so real drinking was out of the question. The communal transportation between Tampere and Nokia really sucks.
I decided to stay for a little longer still. Then a guy who was totally pissed was wobbling in front of me. He passed me and sat down at a table behind me. It was ok, until strong smell of shit started to spread. I didn't want to be associated with this guy's stink. I stood up and thought to myself that I might as well leave now. Which I did.
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