Circulus Vitiosus

2006-01-22T00:09:00.000+02:00

San Francisco

2006-01-14T21:44:00.000+02:00

M already captured the essence California so well in his blog that I have nothing to add, not as yet at least. Thursday: walking around Fisherman's Wharf, yesterday train trip around the Bay. Quick visit to the Stanford campus. California weather is pleasant, and San Francisco is a beautiful city but where are all the people? In cars it seems. No people walking on the streets, no children playing outside.

Cutting back cyberspace loitering

2006-01-08T22:31:00.000+02:00

The first step is admitting it: I spend much too much time on the Net, so much that it borderlines an addiction. Ok, let's face it, I am an Internet addict. But now I have decided to put end to it, and radically reduce the time I spend surfing the Net. I will first try my Net-recuded lifestyle until the end of January. M is joining me in the effort. The plan is to follow Georg Henrik von Wright’s maxim concerning newspapers: he only read them while standing up to avoid spending too much time on what he thought was superficial information. So until the end of January my rules for the Net surfing are the following: Any work and study related surfing I will allow myself to do sitting down, but any recreational surfing I will have to do while standing up. Today is the first day of my experiment and so far it seems to be working. Surfing while standing up is as awkward as I expected to be; definitely awkward enough to cut back any pointless loitering on the Net.

Finnish Presidential Election

2006-01-07T16:59:00.000+02:00

Today we went to the Finnish Consulate General in Boston to cast our votes in the Finnish Presidential Election. As this election is as predictable as Finnish political life in general, the most exciting thing was to see the Consulate General's office.

Afterwards lunch at an excellent Vietnamese restaurant Pho Pasteur in Chinatown and coffee at a café near Boston Common. Obviously there is/has been a demonstration somewhere in Boston today, for in the café, there was a bunch of guys (Americans, I might add) wearing Arafat Scarves, reading the Socialist Worker newspaper, eyeing huge signs they had made of white cardboard which said “Death to USA”, “Death to Israel”, and "Down with Capitalism," and looking as if they had been transferred in a time machine from the early 1980's. Some things you can trust to stay the same: Finnish politics and the anti-capitalist-imperialist-whatever-activists.

Washington DC

2006-01-03T01:46:00.000+02:00

New Year in Washington DC. We stayed at Bloomingdale Inn, probably the nicest and most home-like hotel I’ve ever been to. All in all, Washington DC was a nice surprise. Lots of old townhouses, friendly atmosphere, and a good public transport system.
The Space and Air Museum at the Smithsonian Institution was excellent. Well worth a journey in itself. One of the most interesting things was to see the lunar module. You would expect it to be shiny and streamlined, but it looked like a kid-made shack: black cartoon and cellophan taped on a nonsymmetrical construction.
The Imax theater at the Space and Air Museum showed an outrageous propaganda film "Fighter Pilot". Only the army recruiting officers were lacking. But once again, an interesting experience. I have to say though, I am a little surprised that the army hasn't come up with more subtle and clever propaganda strategies than that.
The National Museum of American History, on the other hand, was more or less a joke. They had e.g. an exhibition on popular culture which consisted of four vitrines one of which had Judy Garland's shoes in it, another a bicycle, and the third had a ruffled a shirt in it. History of American popular culture. Huh?

Having a holiday is tedious

2005-12-28T23:48:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow we are leaving for Washington DC for a few days. M will return to Finland in the beginning of February so this is our last chance for a while to travel in the USA. The plan is to see as many museums and exhibitions of Smithsonian Institution as possible, and Capitol Hill of course.

But I have to say I’m growing impatient. Having a holiday and doing nothing productive is tedious. I think I will spend an afternoon or two at the Library of Congress and peruse their collections and check what they have relating to my interests, and/or read the excellent book on Lebensphilosophie I got just before I came to Boston. The book was written by Philipp Lersch in 1932, and I got the only copy in the Nordic countries as an interlibrary loan from the Aalborg University. It is not a remarkable book by a great philosopher, but it is by far the best description Lebensphilosophie I have seen so far, lucidly written, impartial, and pertinent in its depiction of the central themes of the early 20th century German philosophy.

Back in Boston but not for long

2005-12-28T20:07:00.000+02:00

Back in Boston for two days after a nice peaceful Christmas in New York City. The MTA strike was over in three days and did not affect our stay much. Tomorrow we will head for Washington DC for four nights.

Daily crono from 12/21 to 12/26:

On Wednesday a concert of my guilty pleasure Constantine Maroulis in Sayreville, NJ, with Riitta. Mille got stuck in traffic somewhere in the Upper East Side and could not come after all. The concert was great. Lots of funky jazzy tunes. But why the hell do they build venues in the middle of nowhere? It took us two hours to get to Sayreville from Manhattan.

On our way to and from Sayreville and to Union Square we met a couple of crazy taxi drivers. The one who took us to Sayreville kept falling asleep while he was driving. Later, when the same driver took us back to the NYC bound train, he had mysteriously turned very perky and chatty. Lots of caffeine or other substances apparently. The next taxi driver was in a chatty mood too. He thought that I looked like young Martha Stewart (should I be offended?) and recommended us an Indian restaurant in 29th Street between Broadway and 5th Avenue, the best Indian restaurant in the whole NYC according to him. The next day I took M (probably the most serious gourmand ever to grace the American continent) to the restaurant, and M agreed with the taxi driver. We came back the following day too. Very basic eatery but the food was excellent.

On the day before the Christmas Eve we went to MoMa. Interesting but exhausting, as always. There was an interesting exhibition on various kinds of safety gear. (Photographic evidence will soon surface on M’s blog). But the most engaging exhibition of all was in a MoMa affiliate museum PS1 in Queens. Lots of fun and thought provoking installations. It was one of those exhibitions which makes you think, while you are watching it, what the heck is the point of all this? Anyone could do crap like this. But afterwards, you feel inexplicably invigorated and inspired.

In the evening with Anna and Pekka to see crazy Christmas lights on houses in an Italian neighborhood in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (see the photos below). After that, dinner in Bay Ridge at a nice Lebanese restaurant.

Christmas itself was very peaceful – partly because I had caught a cold in our chilly hotel. A hot water pump had broken down and our room was freezing cold for the first two days. We tried to isolate the windows with Scotch tape, but not to much success. After the heating the system was finally repaired, we spent much of the Christmas in our hotel room watching old James Bond movies and eating French truffles.

On Christmas day breakfast at French restaurant on Park Avenue (the only restaurant we could find which was open). In the evening a couple of drinks with Riitta and Mille in Heartland Brewery at Union Square. Nice.

Christmas Madness in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

2005-12-26T18:56:00.000+02:00

Photos courtesy of M

To the eye of the strike

2005-12-20T10:10:00.000+02:00

MTA started a strike this morning. Tomorrow I’m leaving for New York, right into the eye of the strike. It should be interesting.

Tomorrow evening I’m going to a concert in Sayreville New Jersey with Riitta and Millie. Fortunately, NJ Transit is operating, as is Metro North, so we can get to Westchester where Riitta lives. M is coming to NYC on Thursday and we will stay in a hotel at Union Square until 12/26. So we'll spend Christmas in NYC without public transport. Maybe I’m a perv but I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure it will be an interesting adventure at the least.

Our original plan was to go to California after Christmas with our frequent flyer award miles. But turned out that all the frequent flyer award flights were fully booked for the holiday season, so no California for us. Instead we are going for a few days to Washington DC and Philadelphia after Christmas.

I am a delayed passenger, part II

2005-12-19T22:18:00.000+02:00

So I flew to Boston with Icelandair from Helsinki via Copenhagen and Reykjavik. My whole trip was a series of oddest coincidences. It all began in the morning when I was frantically trying close my overstuffed luggage, I kneeled down, and felt something unlooked-for happening: My pants were torn.

No time to worry about that however. I had to hurry to the airport, since my flight to Copenhagen had been rescheduled and the ticket had to be rewritten. So I took a taxi and rushed to the airport only to find out that there were absolutely no queues, and I was there one hour too early.

At the check-in-counter I had to repack my bags. I had with me a bag which I had taken countless of times as hand baggage to the plane, but for some reason the check-in-clerk did not let me take it to the plane this time. So I had to stuff my overstuffed bags again. She also told me that she could not check me in to the connecting flights. So in Copenhagen I had to run to the transfer center – only to find out that I had been checked in to the connecting flights after all, not just given the boarding passes.

Well, soon enough it turned out that there was no need for boarding pass to Reykjavik for the aircraft was not leaving anywhere. It had broken down. A lot of chaos ensued, the business class passengers trampled over the children and grandmothers in their dire hurry to get somewhere - I can't figure out where - and to be first to get there, even though there was nothing else to do but wait.

Unfortunately I had nothing to read while I waited. All the newspapers I had brought with me were soaked in liquer along with my cap and scarf, for while I scurried to the transfer desk, I accidentally dropped my bag which had a bottle of Marskin ryyppy in it, a souvenir to M’s friend Kumar. The bottle was smashed into smithereens and everything in the bag drenched with Marshal Mannerheim’s favorite drink.

After a couple of hours wait, a chicken sandwich and a beer courtesy of Icelandair, the technicians had finally fixed the plane, and we were ready to leave. At this point, however, everyone had already missed their connecting flights and the whole planeful of people had to stay overnight in Reykjavik.

In Reykjavik we were given vouchers with which we could get transportation from and to the airport, one night stay at the hotel, dinner, breakfast and lunch, and one quick phone call.

The economy class passengers were accommodated in Hotel Loftleidir, which is located next to the old airport, not within a walkable distance from the city center. The business class passengers were taken to a posh hotel near city center.

In the evening we got a dinner of salty asparagus soup and something, which was supposed to be fish but tasted like chicken. Dinner was nice though. I met very interesting people, a Polish woman who had moved to Sweden twenty years ago because his husband was a member of the Solidarity movement, a Danish architect who was going to Kentucky, and a woman from London, who was stuck in Reykjavik because her passport did not meet the requirements the US officials.

It is interesting how quickly our group of “delayed passenger” formed a strong bond with each other. A couple of times it happened that some of us had troubles with the vouchers. The others were very quickly to jump in for help and to announce “we are the delayed passengers.” No one was angry or irritated. Everyone took the whole ordeal with humour. All the cranky ones had been transported to the fancier hotel.

Next day I went for a walk to a nearby hill from where there was a good view to the city. For lunch we were served an excellent Icelandic Christmas buffet with twenty something different sorts of fish, smoked lamb, blood pudding, pork brawn, potato salad, and rice pudding, cakes, homemade ice cream and chocolate mousse for dessert.

So I’m not complaining. All in all, my unexpected visit to Reykjavik was a very pleasant experience. I remember fondly our group of delayed passengers.

The jetlag is receding

2005-12-18T19:27:00.000+02:00

I am gradually getting over the jetlag. Today I walked with M to Chinatown for lunch. On the way we watched people skate on a very thin ice on a pond in Boston Commons. After the lunch I went for shopping and managed to buy two pairs of socks. My purpose was to buy pants and a pullover at the least, but I was done for after browsing through a couple of shops on Washington Street. I hate shopping. But I’m not giving up yet. They are having holiday sale here now, not after Christmas as we do in Finland. New try tomorrow.

Yesterday I heard a tremendously interesting lecture here at MIT. An Iranian doctor Kamiar Alaei told about the HIV/Aids situation in Iran and about the program he has set up with his brother. They are trying to capture HIV/Aids patients and intravenous drug users and to give them counseling and medical treatment. The program is based on peer counseling and peer referral and has been hugely successful. I had no idea how bad the drug problem is in Iran – the percentage of the drug users of the population is the highest in the world. The circulated drug needles are the main source of HIV infections. Interestingly, most of the HIV patients are male, for traditionally, women don’t shoot heroin but smoke opium.

I am a delayed passenger

2005-12-16T21:10:00.000+02:00

Finally in Boston after traveling 40 hours. My trip took an unexpected turn and I had to spend a night in Reykjavik with a bunch of other delayed passengers. Interesting experience. I will write more about it when I’ll get over the jetlag and my brain works again. At the moment I’m sitting in M’s gloomy and chilly den waiting for him to come and to let me out from here. M accidentally gave me a wrong key and I can’t close the door to the apartment, and thus can’t leave. M is having a class right now.

Quote of the Day

2005-12-10T11:16:00.000+02:00

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
- Andre Gidé -

A short blog break

2005-12-08T10:50:00.000+02:00

I probably won’t have much time to blog in the next few days. I’m in a philosophical haze, trying to figure out the intricacies of the early 20th century German philosophy. I find the period in Germany from the beginning of 1900's to 1933 endlessly fascinating, especially the Weimar period. In many ways, it is still the apex not only in philosophy but also in science and art. The best and worst in the history of humanity were created then. In good and in bad, it's all there. I'll probably spend the rest of my life (or at least part of my life) trying to make sense of that period of time.

Independence Day

2005-12-06T11:51:00.000+02:00

It’s the Finnish Independence Day today. I completely forgot about it until I tried to go to hairdresser's to make an appointment, and it was closed. Well, at least my hairdresser did not have a rifle and a military helmet in her display window, as did one I saw a few years back. I wonder if the Finnish Independence Day will ever become a joyous festival instead of a celebration of mourning?

The link of the day: Check out Rob Mazurek’s website. Mazurek is the head honcho of the Chicago Underground Trio and Duo and a multimedia artist. His website is one of the coolest around. The same can be said of his music too.

Music

2005-12-05T09:16:00.000+02:00

Oh bugger. The usually brilliant David Byrne Radio only has country music on its playlist in December. Well, maybe this is a good time for me to start widening my perspectives and try listening to some country.

Political music: Censorship is well and alive in the US. Ben Harper has leaked out on purpose his song Black Rain, because the record company has refused to release the song on BH’s next album. The lyrics tell why.

More Feyerabend

2005-12-04T14:20:00.000+02:00

M left today for Boston after a week in Finland. Luckily I will join him in less than two weeks.

It is a sunny day for once, and since the sun will be up only for a few hours, I rushed for a walk to Töölönlahti to have a few glimpses of the daylight. I was not the only one. There were quite a few people on the bridge by Linnunlaulu, standing there their faces turned to the sun, eyes closed, desperately trying to catch a touch of warmth and light before the sun sinks below the horizon again. Ah, the sweet bitter fugitiveness of Finnish winter days.

By popular demand (by demand of M to be precise), here’s some more on Feyerabend. Since I’m in a lazy mood, I will only quote F himself. My personal recollections of Feyerabend still to come later (yes, I’ve seen him in person! A Rock!Stah! moment). I may not agree with Feyerabend on all his arguments (in fact I disagree with quite a few of them), but I think he has captured the tone and condition of the post World War II philosophy better than anyone else:

Critical rationalism arose from the attempt to understand the Einsteinian revolution, and it was then extended to politics and even to the conduct of one’s private life. Such a procedure may satisfy a school philosopher, who looks at life through the spectacles of his own technical problems and recognizes hatred, love, happiness, only to the extent to which they occur in these problems. But if we consider human interests and, above all, the question of human freedom (freedom of hunger, despair, from the tyranny of constipated systems of thought and not the academic ‘freedom of the will’), then we are proceeding in the worst possible fashion.
For is it not possible that science as we know it today, or a ‘search for truth’ in the style of traditional philosophy, will create a monster? Is it not possible that the objective approach that frowns upon personal connections between the entities examined will harm people, turn them into miserable, unfriendly, self-righteous mechanisms without charm and humour? 'Is it not possible,' asks Kierkegaard, 'that my activity as an objective [or a critico-rational] observer of nature will weaken my strength as a human being?' Against Method, p. 154.

Feyerabend

2005-12-01T10:33:00.000+02:00

I’ve been reading Paul Feyerabend’s autobiography Killing Time. It’s a wonderful book. Feyerabend is one of those rare people who are able to look at his own life in a non-sentimental disillusioned way. What is even more rare, he was a philosopher who had a life outside philosophy.
More about Feyerabend later.

Rytmi

2005-11-30T15:25:00.000+02:00

This is my first test post on my brand new blog. Coffee at Rytmi with M. Hard to say what time of a day it is. By the clock, it's late afternoon, but it's pitch black outside. Here at the café they have both a bright light lamp (it's supposed to help you with overcoming the winter depression) and candles on the tables. Could be anytime of the day.