Even though the sea is starting to get frozen, the fact is that proper winter as known in this latitudes has been lacking. Snow has been rather sporadic and not permanent, and we’ve been hovering between +3 & -3°C for a month now.
Category Archives: in english
When the flight was delayed, everyone queued at the nearest bar…
When the flight was delayed, everyone queued at the nearest bar…
Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado
On the way back to Helsinki. Yes, Finns have a “special relationship” with alcohol.
London again
And Heathrow is still not that great.
Recommended book: Empires of the Word
I picked up this book on Amazon and also read it during January. I have to admit that, given that it touches on two of my favourite subjects: history and languages, I absolutely loved it. The insight it gave on the history of the speakers of languages such as Chinese, Dutch or Akkadian was totally riveting, and it was written in such an amenable way I couldn't put it down. The text examples of each language in the beginning of the appropriate chapter was a great technique for introducing them and the author shows he definitely knows what he's writing about.
The only thing that put me off a little bit was its slight English-language bias, which is anyway not unexpected given that the writer is a native English speaker, and the book is written in English. Regardless, one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.
Special report on migration by the Economist
I found this special report in the Economist last month, and was meaning to comment on it here. I am not surprised by the general optimistic tone of the report, and being an immigrant myself I'm probably not the most impartial person to comment on its benefits for the immigrant, the origin and host countries.
One thing that I would like to bring to the fore, is however, the backlash against immigration and immigrants currently going on in many places around the world. Given that many people don't see the benefits for them, they strongly oppose it, with sometimes rather ugly attitudes showing up.
Short thought
Finland is mostly a winner in globalisation, so I find it rather counterproductive to oppose it here. We'd waste less time riding the wave.
Recommended Book: Convergence Culture
An interesting book I read in the December holiday period, it details how audiences relate to different properties accross media, and what are the new behaviours we are finding as a result. Even though some of the cases and examples shown are already a couple of years old, if you are trying to understand what are the ways people are actually using, dissecting and mashing content this is definitely the book for you.
A previous review on Slashdot here.
Belgian beer review: Bush
This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Extremely strong Belgian amber beer. Unless you are really into beers with high alcoholic content it is really not recommended, even if the bottle looks nice.
Here ends the Belgian beer review. I had some of these stored for a while (sorry for the delay), and won’t be able to try new ales until I visit Belgium again.
Belgian beer review: Rodenbach
This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Sweet and sour beer, very fruity and dark. Not a taste I would recommend unless you like bitter krieks.
Belgian beer review: Maredsous Triple / Tripel
This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Very strong abbey beer. Dark amber colour, good head with a malt aroma.