More Weirdness of the Finnish Language

Yesterday, we had Finnish class, and the teacher said: "Students often say that to study Finnish you have to learn by heart. I think that in many cases this is true." I found it funny, since teachers tend to say the opposite of that, to encourage you.

There is a phenomenon in Finnish, where the beginning "b" of foreign words transforms into "p". For example, "baton" becomes "patonki" (it was very funny, we had to say "täytetty patonki", which means "filled baton", and it was a mouthful, especially in the partitive form "täytettyä patonkia", until I realised that it's so very similar to the Hungarian "töltött", after that it became easy); or "bank" becomes "pankki". So, I was wondering, why does "bus" change into "bussi", and not "pussi"? I then realised, people are making enough fun of this language already, without it having to have a means of public transported sound like an obscene word in English. So, they didn't call it "pussi"... but they kept "slut"?!


Later, I found out that the word "pussi" does exist in Finnish, it means "pack" or "bag", as in "a bag of potatoes". Really fucked up language.

By the way, the photo is from the Moomin Valley Museum in Tampere. I'll tell you all about that in another post.

LHC = DOOM!!!

Does anyone know what happened to the LHC? A little while ago, before they started it on 10 September 2008, people were all over the place saying that the world was going to end. Since nothing happened, people calmed down and continued living their meaningless lives (ignoring the fact that the actual experiment would be held on 21 October 2008).

So what happened? Why isn't there talk about the Higgs boson? Simply because the experiment didn't take place. It seems that there was an electrical malfunction on 19 September 2008, which pushed back the schedule of the experiment a few months.

What I want to talk about is the reaction of the people. Don't you find this interesting? I mean, everyone (by that I mean "everyone stupid enough not to read the least bit about the LHC") was panicking when there was nothing wrong with the machine, but when it malfunctioned, no one gave a damn! Didn't they watch those old James Bond movies where hitting a console with something hard (like a steel pipe) made the whole machine blow up? If that were the case, I would certainly be more at unease since the malfunction of the LHC than before... And who knows, the malfunction may yet have destroyed the Earth... have you noticed the soon-to-be worldwide economic collapse that's happening all around? I'm sure the LHC had something to do with that, although it's not as spectacular as creating a blackhole that would swallow the planet...

Sight-Seeing Through Valkeakoski

After yesterday's blunder, when we decided to go shopping and found all the stores closed (even though they were open two Sundays ago, when we arrived... odd), we agreed to go on a little outing today and do the shopping while we were at it. After all, there were some special offers at Lidl, which we couldn't pass (pair of salami pizza at 5 euros). So, I've decided to show you some photos I took on the way. Let's go sight-seeing through Valkeakoski!

This is what the road looks like, from the dorm to the centre of Valkeakoski:

It looks pretty much like something out of Lord of the Rings. On the sides of the road, all you see is:

Now, when you get to the centre of the city, there is this nice fountain, and next to it, three pyramid-like structures, which I believe represent the Egyptian pyramids, though I have no idea what the connection is with Finland, in general, and with Valkeakoski, in particular. Anyway, it's there, and of course you can't overcome the urge to climb it and take a snapshot:

On our way back, we admired the peculiar architectural design of Finnish homes. They tend to blend in with the environment. Here are some photos, you'll understand what I mean:

It pretty much reminds me of this:

About 10-15 minutes from the city centre, there is Lidl, the place where we get our stuff. Blessed be Lidl, except on Sundays, when it's closed, then I curse it:

We ended up buying too much stuff, so I followed my brother's example and kidnapped a cart:

Also, there are some weird statues here in Valkeakoski, like this... something, which I have no idea what it represents, and this other very communist-looking worker with a pick:

Also, Finnish people have a great sense of humour:

This sign says it all, though I can't really find the humour in that, only after relating it to something I saw on the net:

As a sidenote, in the whole time during our way to the city centre and back, 22 good-looking girls passed us on bicycles. I think you have to be really special here in Finland not to look good. I just love this place!

This Is The End!

I saw this on a post, where the guy said: "Here's what scientists say probably won't happen when CERN's Large Hadron Collider becomes fully operational." I laughed my ass off. I can't wait for 21 October.

Vigilante Coke

My brother has this habit of writing about products with weird names (such as Titan matches and Laban milk). I've discovered that Finland is not without its own products with weird names. Come to think of it, "products with weird names", they should have a special word for that, or abbreviation.

So, here comes Finland's own:

I think it's very strange. I mean, I knew Finland was the home of Santa Claus, but Batman?! If it were Santa Claus Cola, I could understand it (or is that already taken by Coca Cola and Pepsi?), but this is pretty ridiculous. Maybe if you drink a lot of this, your voice becomes all hoarse and shitty like in the movie. I'm pretty sure the Dark Knight wouldn't appreciate having a soft drink (and more so cola) named after him. However, I have a remedy for it: Wayne Enterprises Cola, now that's a horse of a different colour.

However, besides all these PWWNs, there are also some really good products here in Finland. One of my favourites is:

Yes, that's right, stracciatella flavoured yoghurt. Some of you might know, that my favourite ice cream flavour is stracciatella. This yoghurt is heavenly for me. I remember hating yoghurt a few years back. Even after starting to like it, I only enjoyed the ones with different flavours of fruit. But this, this is just great. I can hardly wait to try out other Finnish foods here. I'm looking forward to going to Hesburger one of these days.

Notorious L.H.C. in the Hood!

My brother brought it to my attention that they will be firing up the Large Hadron Collider in a couple of days. So, looking around, I came across a video which I believe even non-physicists will appreciate.

Everyone's Favourite Chemical Element

Originally, I had intended to write about a different thing, but I didn't really think it over, so this is sort of a filler post.

I remember browsing Amazon a little while ago and found something pretty interesting (actually, it was my brother who brought it to my attention). Feast your eyes on this item (open the image in a new tab, to see it in its full glory):


Yes, that's a real item on Amazon (search for it, you may still be able to find it). Yes, that's uranium ore. And it's for sale. And it's that cheap. Now, you might start saying that it's dangerous or illegal, but it's not enriched uranium, it's just a lump of uranium ore. You'd probably want to buy some in order to calibrate/test your radiation measurement tools.

The funny thing, in my opinion, is actually the lower part of the screen. Let's check it out.

Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought:
- Basic bulb Anal Douche easy to use Rectal Syringe for anal Hygiene
- Anal Douche Rectal Syringe Easy to Use and Clean
- Vulcanite Anal Douche Rectal Syringe bulb type
- Enema Syringe Anal Douche Rectal Syringe
- The Simpsons Movie (Widescreen Edition) DVD

There is no Idiot's Guide to Home-made Bombs, however, this list is pretty unsettling in its own way. My only explanation is that a large group of enema fetishist Simpsons fans all decided to calibrate their radiation measurement tools at the same time, and decided to order some uranium ore off Amazon, and in the process came over some items they just had to buy. Next time someone wants to test their Geiger-Müller counter or wants to watch The Simpson Movie in widescreen, think again before buying stuff from Amazon, you might get associated with the wrong kind of people.

Built-in OS

A little while ago, I had a little accident with my PDA, which resulted in a cracked LCD display (poor little liquid crystals...).

So, I ended up ordering a new LCD display + digitizer (that's the thing which recognises the stylus touches) from eBay. For all those people who haven't used eBay before and are reluctant either because they are afraid they may get swindled or because they complain since no one ships to Romania, I have to encourage you to use it. I am very satisfied with the service, and I have been using it for some time now.

Anyway, I received the LCD display + digitizer, and found that I had a lot of problems opening the damn cover of the PDA since none of the screws used are standard ones. Don't you just hate that? It took me 10 days to open the cover, and when I plugged in the new display, I was shocked to find a built-in OS! That's right, can you believe it?! Here is the image, in case you doubt it:

Match the Captions to the Appropriate Characters

A few days ago I was cleaning my room and came across a very peculiar thing. Remember those funny moments when they present a product, but you know very well that in fact what they are holding in their hands is a completely different product? Or when they talk about a certain scientific law, but in fact the formula is for a completely different law? Of course you do! And since you do, you deserve to see this wonderful poster I found (while cleaning my room, I might add) of Rambo.

Something wrong? Of course something's bloody wrong! Anyone who saw either movie (Either, what do you mean either?) knows very well that the person in the poster is not Rambo (Isn't he?). Of course he isn't! (But he's Sylvester Stallone!) Contrary to popular belief, he starred in more than just the Rambo Trilogy (I say 'trilogy' because I deny the existence of a fourth movie). This poster, in fact, depicts Sylvester Stallone (who also played Rocky, by the way) in his role in Cobra.

Why would someone put the wrong caption on such a famous role? Like I said before, those who saw either movie can tell the difference from Pluto (Planet Pluto, I might add). More than that, even people who haven't seen any of the movies can tell from, let's say, Mars (or maybe even the Asteroid Belt). For example, Rambo is a well-known Vietnam veteran who kicks the asses of Soviets and Americans (USians actually) who treat veterans badly, who are just as bad as Soviets. He is also a friend of the Afghani people, which is probably why they made this so called fourth movie, since they couldn't leave him in that light after 9/11. Cobra is part of a good cop, bad cop duo that's missing a member (I'm sure you can guess which one). He has nothing to do with Soviets, more with KKK-type idiots. Also, is Rambo Famous for his sunglasses and SMG? No, that's Cobra. Rambo is famous for his headband, his knife, his bow, his helicopter/tank maybe, but not sunglasses.

Anyway, here are the original posters of the two movies.

So, the question remains, why would someone put the wrong caption on that poster? My guess is, that the caption isn't incorrectly put out of mistake, but intentionally. The truth is, the captions were probably switched. I don't remember where I have that poster from, but probably there are more posters where that came from, all with mixed up characters and captions. The fun part is probably cutting out the captions and matching it with the right character, then sticking them into some album or something. I have to get my hands on the rest of them! (Gotta catch'em all!)

Famous Logos

Have you noticed that famous logos sell well? It doesn't matter what the item is, if it has the famous logo on, it sells well. Furthermore, some fame-ridden logos also sell well, as long as they look cool. A third category would be the famous logo (or in our case, catchphrase) rip-offs. These it seems, also sell well, or at least the owner of this shoe store thought so...

Intel(R) had a huge impact on the IT market, but I think they'd never imagined they'd give tips for shoesalesmen... But if you steal the catchphrase, why not steal the logo as well? Wouldn't it have sold better that way?

Just imagine...

Minesweeper The Movie

Journey Photo Log, Part 2

Here you go, everyone! Part 2!

Cristian: (before camp)

Well, as soon as I got to Cristian, I met the people I was going to work with. Some of them had already been there for the previous camps and those of them were really glad to see reinforcements coming. Of course, I had known them from before, the correct way to say it would have been "I met up with". Whatever.

The day before camp, we went to Busteni to see Babele and Sfinxul. For those of you who don't know, these are two famous rock formations which respectively resemble old women and a human face. Here are two photos, one with me and Babele in the background (I never understood where the old women were in those stones; personally I think they look like nuclear explosion mushrooms, but in school books they claim they look like old women, so who am I to argue?), and one with the whole group (not everyone here is an instructor, some are participants from the previous camp who stayed for the next one too).

The interesting part of the journey was the journey itself, not really the rock formations. Besides waiting in line 3 hours, I got an insight on cool/stupid Romanian signs. Check these out:

What's the word for "velocity" in Romanian?

"Viteza", you say? Check again:

I've been to other countries, but I've never seen a "stationing table" before:

Let's suppose I'm looking for a coffin...

Found the best place! Open 24/7:

Where do I park? On the right? Gotcha...

Houston, we have a problem...

Let's Put Our Sins to Good Use... Amusement!

As I was browsing through the forum of my Guild Wars guild, some of my guildies posted interesting Quizes, Tests and the like. No, these are not psychologically approved personality tests or such. They are for mere fun!

I personally liked two of the tests, namely:

1. Dante's Inferno Test - http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv
2. Seven Deadly Sins Quiz - http://www.4degreez.com/misc/seven_deadly_sins.html?g=m

Enjoy!


On the first one I scored Purgatory:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

On the Second I scored Sloth:

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Very Low

Inspiration

It is amazing where one can find inspiration nowadays. Wherever you look, you may find something of great interest. There exist only 2 conditions:

- You have to keep your eyes open;
- You have to have something to use the inspiration for.
Now, these conditions can be dealt with in an extremely hasty manner.

First, if the source of inspiration is shocking, you don't need to keep your eyes open. However, it has to be really shocking. You know, the kind that hits you and leaves you traumatized for weeks without end. The kind that makes you go "You are shock!" (the source of inspiration I'm talking about did this to me)

Second, you need to have something to direct valuable inspiration towards. And what is the best place the a blog? You can throw anything here, whether it is interesting or boring, cute or disgusting, violent or pornographic, everything goes. What? There is more worthy a target for inspiration? Yes, there is! I'm talking about motivational posters.

For those of you who don't know, motivational posters are little framed photos with a title and tagline that "Inspire! Motivate! Mock!" They are the perfect things. You will see an example below (I hope it inspires you to make more).

Yes, 'motivational poster' was the first thing that popped into my mind as soon as I saw my room mate's rice and chicken. What's so inspiring about rice and chicken? Nothing much, usually. But after keeping it in the fridge a few weeks, it becomes really shocking. Remember, 'shocking' was the first condition for a successful source of inspiration? I've always thought mould to be green, but there are many other colours of mould: blue, white, brown, black, yellow, grey... The photo is not high quality, since it was taken with a mobile phone, I hope you enjoy it though. So without further a due:




If you want to make your own motivational poster, visit:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php