Ok, so today I don't have much time to write, because I'm busy reading through a book of public speaking for a course at school. I thought I would have time, but as it turns our I have to return that book on Thursday, because some forty people coming out of nowhere have reserved the ten books in the university library, so I can't keep it longer like I was planning.
Then again, you failed to write anything on Friday, so maybe it doesn't matter if I write short today.
It's not like I'd even want to read that book, because it seems pretty useless to anyone who has any idea about how to speak when there's more than a handful of people there. Basically I've read 90 pages so far and pretty much all I've learned is this:
1. You can't talk to elementary school kids the same way to talk to adults.
2. People take you more seriously if you have some authority or even statistics backing you up.
3. Tell the stuff in a logical order.
4. Start with something interesting.
5. Talk clearly and loud enough. And avoid accents. You know, if Finnish language had accents.
And my reaction to this is No way, I never knew you have to speak loud when you're talking to a lot of people!
With, you know, a huge load of sarcasm embedded.
I'm not really interested in public speaking anyway. I'm on this course only because I want to take an argumentation class in the spring, and I can't do that until I've done this one.
Right now rest of school is amazingly fun, though, so that's good.
Could you please write something too, ever? I want to read interesting stuff you write!
~matu
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Autumnal equinox
Hello.
This morning I woke up, and didn't want to get up, because it was warm under the blanket. So I didn't, because I didn't have to. A half an hour later I started thinking if I should, after all. There was sun shining through the blinds and I was thinking how nice it is to wake up to a warm sunny day, especially since from today onwards the nights will be longer than the days. Because, you know, equinox. Which some people sometimes seem to mix with the day day light saving... begins? Ends? Ends, I think. I never remember which are which. It's so much simpler in Finnish just to talk about moving back and forth between summer and winter times.
Anyway, then I got up and actually opened the blinds. And, as it turned out (as you probably already know), it was not a warm day. Or at least I don't think 2 degrees celsius is warm.
Apparently it's been snowing around Finland today, at least what I can deduce from the updates from a bunch of friends on facebook. I haven't seen any snow yet. Though I guess the autumn equinox is a pretty good day for first snow. It's also so early in the year it's sad. Though I've heard it'll be warmer again tomorrow.
Ok, back to the equinox.
I read sometime somewhere that the equinoxes wouldn't be at the same time everywhere in the world. And since then, I've been wondering how would that even be in any way possible.
The most likely explanation is someone's mixed up the equinox with moving the clocks an hour backwards or forwards.
But if it isn't about that, then how would it be possible for the equinox to be at a different time in different places? Cause I haven't figured out yet how that's possible.
Because as far as I know, the equinox is the day when the day and night are the same length. Which means it's the day when the Earth's axis isn't tilted towards or away from the sun. And as far as I know, that happens in all places on the Earth at the same time. Because it would be really weird if it didn't.
So please someone tell me if I've figured something wrong here or is it that someone else who thinks it's at a different time in different places.
I also kinda wanted to dig up some folklore or some beliefs about the autumnal equinox, but I'm feeling lazy, since you haven't written... well, much anything for weeks. And I feel like studying DNA packing in cells and watching Buffy more than digging up equinox stuff.
Speaking of packing DNA, I've figured that the part that interests me in biology is studying DNA and chromosomes in high detail, so that I can really understand genetics in high detail, so that I can really understand evolution in high detail.
And then I go ahead and wonder if I'm trying a little too much here? I mean, that's starting from molecular biology going through cell biology to genetics to population genetics to evolution. The scale is kinda huge. And I'm pretty sure that at least when you're doing a master's programme, you have to choose either cells (including DNA), OR genetics, OR evolution.
So... yeah.
Today I also learned that it is in fact possible for someone to talk about literature without saying a single thing that is interesting.
But anyway. From now on it will be just the long dark of the Nordic winter.
Are we going to get the second punishment post any time soon? I mean, you're not doing anything right now, you could spend all your days doing it. So it shouldn't take all that long.
And then I go and check the time the sun rises and sets today, just out of curiosity. The day is 12 hours 12 minutes in Southern Finland today. A few minutes longer in the North. 12 minutes? Isn't is supposed to be 12 hours quite exactly? I mean, it should be less than 12 hours tomorrow, and I'm having hard time believing the difference is so many minutes within just one day.
So my question is...
Huh?
~matu
This morning I woke up, and didn't want to get up, because it was warm under the blanket. So I didn't, because I didn't have to. A half an hour later I started thinking if I should, after all. There was sun shining through the blinds and I was thinking how nice it is to wake up to a warm sunny day, especially since from today onwards the nights will be longer than the days. Because, you know, equinox. Which some people sometimes seem to mix with the day day light saving... begins? Ends? Ends, I think. I never remember which are which. It's so much simpler in Finnish just to talk about moving back and forth between summer and winter times.
Anyway, then I got up and actually opened the blinds. And, as it turned out (as you probably already know), it was not a warm day. Or at least I don't think 2 degrees celsius is warm.
Apparently it's been snowing around Finland today, at least what I can deduce from the updates from a bunch of friends on facebook. I haven't seen any snow yet. Though I guess the autumn equinox is a pretty good day for first snow. It's also so early in the year it's sad. Though I've heard it'll be warmer again tomorrow.
Ok, back to the equinox.
I read sometime somewhere that the equinoxes wouldn't be at the same time everywhere in the world. And since then, I've been wondering how would that even be in any way possible.
The most likely explanation is someone's mixed up the equinox with moving the clocks an hour backwards or forwards.
But if it isn't about that, then how would it be possible for the equinox to be at a different time in different places? Cause I haven't figured out yet how that's possible.
Because as far as I know, the equinox is the day when the day and night are the same length. Which means it's the day when the Earth's axis isn't tilted towards or away from the sun. And as far as I know, that happens in all places on the Earth at the same time. Because it would be really weird if it didn't.
So please someone tell me if I've figured something wrong here or is it that someone else who thinks it's at a different time in different places.
I also kinda wanted to dig up some folklore or some beliefs about the autumnal equinox, but I'm feeling lazy, since you haven't written... well, much anything for weeks. And I feel like studying DNA packing in cells and watching Buffy more than digging up equinox stuff.
Speaking of packing DNA, I've figured that the part that interests me in biology is studying DNA and chromosomes in high detail, so that I can really understand genetics in high detail, so that I can really understand evolution in high detail.
And then I go ahead and wonder if I'm trying a little too much here? I mean, that's starting from molecular biology going through cell biology to genetics to population genetics to evolution. The scale is kinda huge. And I'm pretty sure that at least when you're doing a master's programme, you have to choose either cells (including DNA), OR genetics, OR evolution.
So... yeah.
Today I also learned that it is in fact possible for someone to talk about literature without saying a single thing that is interesting.
But anyway. From now on it will be just the long dark of the Nordic winter.
Are we going to get the second punishment post any time soon? I mean, you're not doing anything right now, you could spend all your days doing it. So it shouldn't take all that long.
And then I go and check the time the sun rises and sets today, just out of curiosity. The day is 12 hours 12 minutes in Southern Finland today. A few minutes longer in the North. 12 minutes? Isn't is supposed to be 12 hours quite exactly? I mean, it should be less than 12 hours tomorrow, and I'm having hard time believing the difference is so many minutes within just one day.
So my question is...
Huh?
~matu
Friday, September 19, 2014
Bleh
It's Friday yaaaay.
I am in Kuopio right now. Waiting for Iita to come from school so we can play Star Trek. I mean, once it's installed, because this is taking a reeeeaaaaaally long time ugh. But anyway.
My studying plan is... to not study. Well, not study before Christmas, because I don't wanna and don't have to. I am now officially a student though, so once I get my student card I'll get all the student discounts which is good. I uhm, I don't know. I kinda don't wanna go back to Helsinki. Because if I'm not gonna study it's not like I have anything to do there I couldn't do here... And the apartment doesn't really feel like... home, y'know. Not yet anyway. None of the stuff there is mine and I don't really have space for anything anyway and everything must be in their own place and nothing can be on the tables or anywhere nice hnngghghgngnghnsdljzdn. Sorry. I'm just a bit annoyed, I'll live.
I know you wanted content, I don't have any. It's just.... bleh.
I don't really feel like writing, sorry. I'll see you later. Bye.
Pie out.
I am in Kuopio right now. Waiting for Iita to come from school so we can play Star Trek. I mean, once it's installed, because this is taking a reeeeaaaaaally long time ugh. But anyway.
My studying plan is... to not study. Well, not study before Christmas, because I don't wanna and don't have to. I am now officially a student though, so once I get my student card I'll get all the student discounts which is good. I uhm, I don't know. I kinda don't wanna go back to Helsinki. Because if I'm not gonna study it's not like I have anything to do there I couldn't do here... And the apartment doesn't really feel like... home, y'know. Not yet anyway. None of the stuff there is mine and I don't really have space for anything anyway and everything must be in their own place and nothing can be on the tables or anywhere nice hnngghghgngnghnsdljzdn. Sorry. I'm just a bit annoyed, I'll live.
I know you wanted content, I don't have any. It's just.... bleh.
I don't really feel like writing, sorry. I'll see you later. Bye.
Pie out.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Why America is not the greatest country in the world
Now, since you're back from the US, I think it's ok to voice some constructive criticism towards the country you spent the last year living in.
Ok, so I started this conversation with you yesterday.
The idea for this (as you already know, but all the other our reader don't) came to me when I saw a picture in facebook. It was a picture of a multiple-(well, two-)choise exam in which the student (probably first or second grader) had to choose whether a statement is a fact or an opinion. The picture was particularly taken of the statement "USA is the greatest country in the world". This is clearly, by every standard, an opinion. However, the student had answered "Fact". Ok, so people there are raised to be super unrationally patriotic, so that's not too bad. The bad was this:
The teacher had marked this answer as correct.
I mean...
I don't even know what to say.
So I thought I'd list some of the reasons why America is NOT the greatest country in the world.
1. America is not a country. America is a combination of two continents, South America and North America. There are almost a billion people living in America. Of those, 560 million are living in North America. Of those only 320 million of those are living in the USA. Which brings you to my second point.
2. I may be wrong about this, but people in the USA seem to often forget all the other almost 7 billion people living on this planet. At the moment I'm annoyed about this because I saw (again on facebook) that there was a contest going on for signed advanced reader's copies for The Providence of Fire (which is one of the books that I'm really looking forwards to getting). The problem was I couldn't get in the contest, because I don't live in the US. Or, well, Canada or UK. Ok, those countries US people do usually remember.
3. The USA seems to think it's the king of the world, and that it has a right to interfere where ever it wants... The point is, who decided they're the ultimate police of the world who decide who's wrong and who's right? Not everything in the world is your business, USA. Also, not everything is about you, and not every internal conflict in every country is an attempt to destroy you, or what ever reason you give for sending your troops everywhere.
3.1 Also, the military budget is insane. No one else in the world uses that much money on military. (This is something you told me yesterday. Had to add it on.) There is a lot of more useful things you could use that money on, but I guess there's no hope to use that money for all that, because US is a country that automatically refuses to do anything that involves the word "socialized".
4. Everyone supposedly is free. They can do what they want. Anyone can become rich if they jsut work hard enough or have a good enough an idea. I have a few points I have to make about this.
4.1 They can't do what they want, because if they don't have money to start off with, then all their money goes to, you know, eating. And the government doesn't care, because it's their own fault they were born poor, and they jsut need to work harder.
4.2 They also can't do what they want because the healthcare system is built in a way that you either have to A) work for a big company that pays your insurance. B) be rich so you can afford to pay for your insurance or C) Die of something that would be simply treated by antibiotics that you just can't get because you don't have insurance. (Ok, I admit that I don't know about the insurance system enough to properly criticise it, but this is how I've understood it goes. Maybe you'll enlighten me, having lived there for a year.) Which means that if you want to do something else, you have to make a decision about if you want to do something you love or chance dying of the flu.
4.3 Everyone being able to get rich with hard work or a good idea isn't true only in the US (in which I'm sceptical whether it's true at all or not). I mean, have you (as in anyone in the world) heard of Angry Birds? Yeah, thought so. That's Finnish. You can get famous and rich with a good idea anywhere, don't have to be from US to do that.
4.4 This is something you told me yesterday: It's the great country of free people where more people per capita are in jail that anywhere else in the world. Maybe they've misunderstood what "free" means...
5. The healthcare system. All of it. It's ridiculous. And expensive. For everyone. And, in general, the government seems to not give a crap about the citizens. See the stuff I said about money in 3.1. Socialized isn't a curse word, people! It just means you want the world to be a little nicer to the people who are not doing so well. You should all be a little more like Patrick Rothfuss, who in a blog post answered the question "How can I support my favourite author when all the money I spend buying your stuff goes to charity?" The answer was "I don't want your money, because I don't need your money. I want you to help me save the world. Ok?" And then he went on about talking about sharing cake. You should read that post if you haven't yet.
6. The education system. Which there costs so incredibly a lot that I don't know how anyone ever can go to a college in the first place. (Also, the colleges are insane. Though this I'm basing purely on TV and movies that I've seen that take place in US colleges. I would not want to go to one of those.) Educated people is good for a country. I'd think it's a good reason to give everyone a realistic chance to get to study without having to pay back the money spent on it for the rest of their lives. Like in Finland, the government pays us so we can go to university, which is free. And the Finnish school system is something that gets respect all over the world (though it may be that it's the elementary-middle school that gets most of it, but still).
7. USA is a country in which almost half the people think 150 years of thorough scientific research is wrong. Yes, I'm talking about evolution. I still can't quite get my head around how it's even possible half of the people living there thing it didn't happen. And apparently the same is true of climate change.
8. USA is found on the idea of separation of the church and state (in fact, people first moved there to get away from other people trying to tell them what to believe), and yet now it says "In God we trust" on some bills (right?) and it's governed like a Christian nation. It is not, according to founding fathers at least, a Christian nation. It is a nation where people from all religions can come together and live in harmony without arguing and without incriminating others for having a different religion. Somehow I'm getting the feeling they've lost this idea somewhere over the years...
9. The measuring system. Seriously, why are you guys holding on so tight to gallons and miles and pounds and fahrenheits, when the rest of the world has come to the conclusion it's a ridiculously stupid way to measure things and moved on to the metric system. So just... let it go, ok guys? (I recently saw a picture of this too. (You may have to be signed in to facebook to see that...))
10. USA says it's a model country of democracy. And yet, it is theoretically possible to win the presidential elections with less than a quarter of the total votes (though I don't think anyone could practically pull that off, but still). Either USA has redefined what democracy means, or forgotten.
11. Statistics disagree with USA being the greatest country. When you look at basically any statistic, the best countries in the world seem to be the Nordic countries, and Canada and maybe the Netherlands and Switzerland or something. I didn't go digging for this info anywhere right now, so I'm not sure. Either way, I know there are many countries that beat USA for the title of the greatest country in the world if we look at the data.
Ok, that's enough, I think. As a positive thing about the US I could say that they have a bunch of really amazing books and movies and TV shows constantly coming out. Then again, maybe there would be those from other countries too, we just don't hear about it because the English-speaking world pretty much dominates that part of our lives, even if we're not from any of them.
There would be a lot more reasons for why USA is not the greatest country on the planet. Maybe if you come up with some more, having lived there for a year, you could share some. These are just the ones I could come up with from the top of my head in the time it took me to write the earlier thoughts down.
Now I'm tired and want to go do something else. I'll hear from you on Friday.
Unless you mix up the weekdays again.
Oh, and you've had two really short things in a row, could we have some content this time? That would be great, thanks! :)
Also, we're still waiting for that punishment post you had to originally have like a month ago...
~matu
Ok, so I started this conversation with you yesterday.
The idea for this (as you already know, but all the other our reader don't) came to me when I saw a picture in facebook. It was a picture of a multiple-(well, two-)choise exam in which the student (probably first or second grader) had to choose whether a statement is a fact or an opinion. The picture was particularly taken of the statement "USA is the greatest country in the world". This is clearly, by every standard, an opinion. However, the student had answered "Fact". Ok, so people there are raised to be super unrationally patriotic, so that's not too bad. The bad was this:
The teacher had marked this answer as correct.
I mean...
I don't even know what to say.
So I thought I'd list some of the reasons why America is NOT the greatest country in the world.
1. America is not a country. America is a combination of two continents, South America and North America. There are almost a billion people living in America. Of those, 560 million are living in North America. Of those only 320 million of those are living in the USA. Which brings you to my second point.
2. I may be wrong about this, but people in the USA seem to often forget all the other almost 7 billion people living on this planet. At the moment I'm annoyed about this because I saw (again on facebook) that there was a contest going on for signed advanced reader's copies for The Providence of Fire (which is one of the books that I'm really looking forwards to getting). The problem was I couldn't get in the contest, because I don't live in the US. Or, well, Canada or UK. Ok, those countries US people do usually remember.
3. The USA seems to think it's the king of the world, and that it has a right to interfere where ever it wants... The point is, who decided they're the ultimate police of the world who decide who's wrong and who's right? Not everything in the world is your business, USA. Also, not everything is about you, and not every internal conflict in every country is an attempt to destroy you, or what ever reason you give for sending your troops everywhere.
3.1 Also, the military budget is insane. No one else in the world uses that much money on military. (This is something you told me yesterday. Had to add it on.) There is a lot of more useful things you could use that money on, but I guess there's no hope to use that money for all that, because US is a country that automatically refuses to do anything that involves the word "socialized".
4. Everyone supposedly is free. They can do what they want. Anyone can become rich if they jsut work hard enough or have a good enough an idea. I have a few points I have to make about this.
4.1 They can't do what they want, because if they don't have money to start off with, then all their money goes to, you know, eating. And the government doesn't care, because it's their own fault they were born poor, and they jsut need to work harder.
4.2 They also can't do what they want because the healthcare system is built in a way that you either have to A) work for a big company that pays your insurance. B) be rich so you can afford to pay for your insurance or C) Die of something that would be simply treated by antibiotics that you just can't get because you don't have insurance. (Ok, I admit that I don't know about the insurance system enough to properly criticise it, but this is how I've understood it goes. Maybe you'll enlighten me, having lived there for a year.) Which means that if you want to do something else, you have to make a decision about if you want to do something you love or chance dying of the flu.
4.3 Everyone being able to get rich with hard work or a good idea isn't true only in the US (in which I'm sceptical whether it's true at all or not). I mean, have you (as in anyone in the world) heard of Angry Birds? Yeah, thought so. That's Finnish. You can get famous and rich with a good idea anywhere, don't have to be from US to do that.
4.4 This is something you told me yesterday: It's the great country of free people where more people per capita are in jail that anywhere else in the world. Maybe they've misunderstood what "free" means...
5. The healthcare system. All of it. It's ridiculous. And expensive. For everyone. And, in general, the government seems to not give a crap about the citizens. See the stuff I said about money in 3.1. Socialized isn't a curse word, people! It just means you want the world to be a little nicer to the people who are not doing so well. You should all be a little more like Patrick Rothfuss, who in a blog post answered the question "How can I support my favourite author when all the money I spend buying your stuff goes to charity?" The answer was "I don't want your money, because I don't need your money. I want you to help me save the world. Ok?" And then he went on about talking about sharing cake. You should read that post if you haven't yet.
6. The education system. Which there costs so incredibly a lot that I don't know how anyone ever can go to a college in the first place. (Also, the colleges are insane. Though this I'm basing purely on TV and movies that I've seen that take place in US colleges. I would not want to go to one of those.) Educated people is good for a country. I'd think it's a good reason to give everyone a realistic chance to get to study without having to pay back the money spent on it for the rest of their lives. Like in Finland, the government pays us so we can go to university, which is free. And the Finnish school system is something that gets respect all over the world (though it may be that it's the elementary-middle school that gets most of it, but still).
7. USA is a country in which almost half the people think 150 years of thorough scientific research is wrong. Yes, I'm talking about evolution. I still can't quite get my head around how it's even possible half of the people living there thing it didn't happen. And apparently the same is true of climate change.
8. USA is found on the idea of separation of the church and state (in fact, people first moved there to get away from other people trying to tell them what to believe), and yet now it says "In God we trust" on some bills (right?) and it's governed like a Christian nation. It is not, according to founding fathers at least, a Christian nation. It is a nation where people from all religions can come together and live in harmony without arguing and without incriminating others for having a different religion. Somehow I'm getting the feeling they've lost this idea somewhere over the years...
9. The measuring system. Seriously, why are you guys holding on so tight to gallons and miles and pounds and fahrenheits, when the rest of the world has come to the conclusion it's a ridiculously stupid way to measure things and moved on to the metric system. So just... let it go, ok guys? (I recently saw a picture of this too. (You may have to be signed in to facebook to see that...))
10. USA says it's a model country of democracy. And yet, it is theoretically possible to win the presidential elections with less than a quarter of the total votes (though I don't think anyone could practically pull that off, but still). Either USA has redefined what democracy means, or forgotten.
11. Statistics disagree with USA being the greatest country. When you look at basically any statistic, the best countries in the world seem to be the Nordic countries, and Canada and maybe the Netherlands and Switzerland or something. I didn't go digging for this info anywhere right now, so I'm not sure. Either way, I know there are many countries that beat USA for the title of the greatest country in the world if we look at the data.
Ok, that's enough, I think. As a positive thing about the US I could say that they have a bunch of really amazing books and movies and TV shows constantly coming out. Then again, maybe there would be those from other countries too, we just don't hear about it because the English-speaking world pretty much dominates that part of our lives, even if we're not from any of them.
There would be a lot more reasons for why USA is not the greatest country on the planet. Maybe if you come up with some more, having lived there for a year, you could share some. These are just the ones I could come up with from the top of my head in the time it took me to write the earlier thoughts down.
Now I'm tired and want to go do something else. I'll hear from you on Friday.
Unless you mix up the weekdays again.
Oh, and you've had two really short things in a row, could we have some content this time? That would be great, thanks! :)
Also, we're still waiting for that punishment post you had to originally have like a month ago...
~matu
Friday, September 12, 2014
Alive and in Finland
What up. I didn't even realize it was Friday, I thought it was Thursday haha.
So I live in my own place now. Well, with two other people, but still. It's kinda neat. I still have all my stuff in Kuopio, which I will be getting sometime next week. I also don't know if I wanna start studying now or if I want to chill for a bit. Anyway.
We're coming to Tampere tomorrow. I'm probably also gonna stay until Monday, so I'm gonna crash with you Sun-Mon if that's cool. Cool.
Uhh. We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. It was brilliant. Better than the first. Here's to waiting for the third.
I really don't have anything planned and I have nothing to say really, cause I'm gonna see you in two days, so I'm just gonna go to bed. I need to get up early for the train. Toodels.
Pie out.
So I live in my own place now. Well, with two other people, but still. It's kinda neat. I still have all my stuff in Kuopio, which I will be getting sometime next week. I also don't know if I wanna start studying now or if I want to chill for a bit. Anyway.
We're coming to Tampere tomorrow. I'm probably also gonna stay until Monday, so I'm gonna crash with you Sun-Mon if that's cool. Cool.
Uhh. We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. It was brilliant. Better than the first. Here's to waiting for the third.
I really don't have anything planned and I have nothing to say really, cause I'm gonna see you in two days, so I'm just gonna go to bed. I need to get up early for the train. Toodels.
Pie out.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Stuff happening to be on my mind and some advice
Good morning.
First, this is what it looks like right now in Southern Finland. It's yellower north from here, though.
At the time I'm starting to write this it's about half past ten in the morning there, and I can't remember what time your plane leaves, so I'm not entirely sure if you'll see this before you're back in Finland or not. Just thought you might want to know what it's like here.
Plane is a really difficult word, by the way. Every time I write it somewhere, I'm sure I've misspelled it. I mean, I know that plane in the context of mathematics is spelled plane, but spelling it plain also means a bunch of different things, and even though I always spell the thing that flies in the sky with people in it as plane, I also always have a hint of doubt in my mind about whether it's actually spelled that way, or if it's plain after all. And I hate checking the spelling every time. English spelling is stupid.
Also right now I'm a slight bit annoyed of the fact that I have a really great blog topic, but right now isn't really the time for that particular post, since we're continuing to write. At least for now. So I'm saving it for later.
Human memory is a weird thing. It remembers really weird stuff.
For example, one of my earliest memories is from a time when I was maybe three. It was someone's birthday, that we were celebrating back where we lived when we were very little. Our cousins had come to visit.
Someone, mom, I think, had made some cookies for the party and left them on the kitchen table. But I was a kid, and I wanted a cookie before people got the cake, so I took the high kitchen stool, with the two steps on the front and the third "step" being on the top of it, because I was too short to reach the cookies on the table on my own. For some reason I put the stair-side towards the table instead of the side I could've gotten right next to the table, and I climbed on the stool. Now, because I had put it a stupid way round and was still pretty far away from the cookies even on top of it, I had to reach out to the cookies on the table. Just as when I was doing that, our older cousin (=oldest, but the two younger ones wouldn't be born for like another ten years or something, so I'm not counting them in here) rushed into the kitchen for a reason I don't know, which caused me to lose my balance and almost fall off the stool. Which, mind you, is a high thing to fall off if you're three.
It has been seventeen, eighteen years since this happened, and I still remember this very well. And I think that's kinda weird.
Another weird thing is that I once told this story when we were visiting out grandparents, with I think all us cousins in the room. After I told I remembered that, it turned out that also our cousin, who was the one rushing into the kitchen, remembered me almost dropping off the stool. And he's only a couple of years older than me, so he wasn't old either.
So yeah, memory is weird.
On a completely different note, mom said you didn't know there's some courses at the university starting in October-ish too. So yeah. Here's how universities generally work:
The first period starts in the beginning of September. The courses start on the first week of the period, or maybe the second. Some rare ones (like one of mine this year), can start on the third. However, there are (at least in our university), four periods, of which the first ends and second starts in the end of October. The classes in the second perios usually end by mid-December. The third one starts after New Year's, and lasts until mid-March, which is when the fourth period begins. It end by mid-May, though it might be that there are only a lecture or two and a few exams in May.
The point with the courses is this: they can last one period, or two, and sometimes three, though that's not all that usual. Normally it's one or two periods. The two meaning either whole autumn term or whole spring term.
I have eight courses this term. (Well, actually probably seven, since it already seems like I should drop of one). Of those eight, five last for two periods, one is in just the first period, and two are in just the second one.
The point is this: yes, you can catch some courses that start mid-term, and take them. But you won't be able to take the ones that already start now. Though, well, actually, there is a chance you can still catch a course or two that haven't started already for the first period. On Thursday or Friday. If you want. It's also perfectly possible (since you're studying math) that if you just go to the professors and say "hey, I just got home from US having been there for a year and I missed a couple of the first lectures, can I still join the course?", they'll probably let you take the classes that have already started too. Because it's math. That autumn a few years ago that I actually studied math I just went into one of the exams without having been on a single lecture, and that was perfectly fine. Because people in math just simply don't care if you're ever present.
Though I admit that it might be different in Helsinki university than it's here. So you should go ask someone. People will help. I actually know a couple of people who are second year math students there right now. They're doing some newbie-thing on Thursday evening. I know this because I spotted one of them attending the event on facebook.
So yeah, even being a couple of weeks late, you still might be able to catch a bunch of courses for this autumn. You just gotta to ask.
A little bit about this same thing: go get the paper that says you're a student before using the train. It will probably take a couple of weeks for you to get the student card, but the paper will do just fine on the train. I'm saying this because the train ride Helsinki-Tampere costs 20-something euros from a student, and twice that from an adult. So unless you want to pay 80 euros to get here and back over the weekend, you should go get that paper that says you're a student.
Oh! And I noticed we have reached 4000 page views. That's kinda cool. Thought I'm guessing a lot of them are our own.
~matu
First, this is what it looks like right now in Southern Finland. It's yellower north from here, though.
At the time I'm starting to write this it's about half past ten in the morning there, and I can't remember what time your plane leaves, so I'm not entirely sure if you'll see this before you're back in Finland or not. Just thought you might want to know what it's like here.
Plane is a really difficult word, by the way. Every time I write it somewhere, I'm sure I've misspelled it. I mean, I know that plane in the context of mathematics is spelled plane, but spelling it plain also means a bunch of different things, and even though I always spell the thing that flies in the sky with people in it as plane, I also always have a hint of doubt in my mind about whether it's actually spelled that way, or if it's plain after all. And I hate checking the spelling every time. English spelling is stupid.
Also right now I'm a slight bit annoyed of the fact that I have a really great blog topic, but right now isn't really the time for that particular post, since we're continuing to write. At least for now. So I'm saving it for later.
Human memory is a weird thing. It remembers really weird stuff.
For example, one of my earliest memories is from a time when I was maybe three. It was someone's birthday, that we were celebrating back where we lived when we were very little. Our cousins had come to visit.
Someone, mom, I think, had made some cookies for the party and left them on the kitchen table. But I was a kid, and I wanted a cookie before people got the cake, so I took the high kitchen stool, with the two steps on the front and the third "step" being on the top of it, because I was too short to reach the cookies on the table on my own. For some reason I put the stair-side towards the table instead of the side I could've gotten right next to the table, and I climbed on the stool. Now, because I had put it a stupid way round and was still pretty far away from the cookies even on top of it, I had to reach out to the cookies on the table. Just as when I was doing that, our older cousin (=oldest, but the two younger ones wouldn't be born for like another ten years or something, so I'm not counting them in here) rushed into the kitchen for a reason I don't know, which caused me to lose my balance and almost fall off the stool. Which, mind you, is a high thing to fall off if you're three.
It has been seventeen, eighteen years since this happened, and I still remember this very well. And I think that's kinda weird.
Another weird thing is that I once told this story when we were visiting out grandparents, with I think all us cousins in the room. After I told I remembered that, it turned out that also our cousin, who was the one rushing into the kitchen, remembered me almost dropping off the stool. And he's only a couple of years older than me, so he wasn't old either.
So yeah, memory is weird.
On a completely different note, mom said you didn't know there's some courses at the university starting in October-ish too. So yeah. Here's how universities generally work:
The first period starts in the beginning of September. The courses start on the first week of the period, or maybe the second. Some rare ones (like one of mine this year), can start on the third. However, there are (at least in our university), four periods, of which the first ends and second starts in the end of October. The classes in the second perios usually end by mid-December. The third one starts after New Year's, and lasts until mid-March, which is when the fourth period begins. It end by mid-May, though it might be that there are only a lecture or two and a few exams in May.
The point with the courses is this: they can last one period, or two, and sometimes three, though that's not all that usual. Normally it's one or two periods. The two meaning either whole autumn term or whole spring term.
I have eight courses this term. (Well, actually probably seven, since it already seems like I should drop of one). Of those eight, five last for two periods, one is in just the first period, and two are in just the second one.
The point is this: yes, you can catch some courses that start mid-term, and take them. But you won't be able to take the ones that already start now. Though, well, actually, there is a chance you can still catch a course or two that haven't started already for the first period. On Thursday or Friday. If you want. It's also perfectly possible (since you're studying math) that if you just go to the professors and say "hey, I just got home from US having been there for a year and I missed a couple of the first lectures, can I still join the course?", they'll probably let you take the classes that have already started too. Because it's math. That autumn a few years ago that I actually studied math I just went into one of the exams without having been on a single lecture, and that was perfectly fine. Because people in math just simply don't care if you're ever present.
Though I admit that it might be different in Helsinki university than it's here. So you should go ask someone. People will help. I actually know a couple of people who are second year math students there right now. They're doing some newbie-thing on Thursday evening. I know this because I spotted one of them attending the event on facebook.
So yeah, even being a couple of weeks late, you still might be able to catch a bunch of courses for this autumn. You just gotta to ask.
A little bit about this same thing: go get the paper that says you're a student before using the train. It will probably take a couple of weeks for you to get the student card, but the paper will do just fine on the train. I'm saying this because the train ride Helsinki-Tampere costs 20-something euros from a student, and twice that from an adult. So unless you want to pay 80 euros to get here and back over the weekend, you should go get that paper that says you're a student.
Oh! And I noticed we have reached 4000 page views. That's kinda cool. Thought I'm guessing a lot of them are our own.
~matu
Friday, September 5, 2014
It's short I'm sorry
Hello, it's Friday again. Weird, right. I don't feel like talking about evolution again, but I might some time later perhaps. I am stuck in my drawing because asfgajjhjsg. I need a continuous several hours of time if I want to get proper drawing done and as it happens I don't have that on weekdays. Because work. I'll probably draw tomorrow though, cause it's not like I have anything better to do.
Some distant relative of ours contacted me last week. Apparently she'd been doing research into her family tree and it had been linked to ours like five generations back or something. She lives in US, and one of her sons is apparently moving to Boston, so I'm going to meet him?? I have no idea what I'm going to talk to him about, but like he asked if I'd like to go get coffee or something. Weird.
What else, uh. I have like three full days left. Woah. Then it's 15h of traveling and I'm home. Well, in Finland anyway. I have great gifts for you all. Well, for some of you.
I don't really have anything else to say, umm... Pauliina seems nice, she's really quiet though and I wonder how well she can manage to keep the kids in control. Well, it's not really my problem. I've stopped caring, I'm leaving in four days. Well anyway, I'm gonna go do stuff now. Bye.
Pie out.
Some distant relative of ours contacted me last week. Apparently she'd been doing research into her family tree and it had been linked to ours like five generations back or something. She lives in US, and one of her sons is apparently moving to Boston, so I'm going to meet him?? I have no idea what I'm going to talk to him about, but like he asked if I'd like to go get coffee or something. Weird.
What else, uh. I have like three full days left. Woah. Then it's 15h of traveling and I'm home. Well, in Finland anyway. I have great gifts for you all. Well, for some of you.
I don't really have anything else to say, umm... Pauliina seems nice, she's really quiet though and I wonder how well she can manage to keep the kids in control. Well, it's not really my problem. I've stopped caring, I'm leaving in four days. Well anyway, I'm gonna go do stuff now. Bye.
Pie out.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
About your fantasy evolution
Ookay.
So.
First of all. Where's the second post?
Second, I'd like to think through your evolution of fantasy creatures.
Ok, so, first. I'm not entirely sure about the whole idea of all other creatures having evolved from humans. It doesn't seem to make sense. Obviously the trolls are one group, and the fae are probably one group that can easily be divided into smaller groups, but I'm not buying them being evolved from humans. Trolls I can see having evolved from the same ancestor as humans, though, but the fae?
Actually, the fae in your picture may have evolved from humans from when humans learned to use magic, and then the different groups of people doing their own kind of magic evolved different ways. (Since there was a time when humans learned to use magic.)
But. The rest of the fae.
Ok, before I get any deeper into fae, I need to say this one more time:
Read The Name of the Wind.
You know why? Because I can't have a proper conversation with you about the fae if you haven't read it. Well, actually the one more to do with the fae is The Wise Man's Fear, but it's not like you can start mid-series, so. The Name of the Wind.
The point in those books is this: Once the fae and humans lived in the same world, but they're worlds were separated by some creatures that are now locked down. The fae still remember this, because they're pretty much immortal. The humans don't, because, you know, thousands of years (or way more more) will do the trick and make the human race forget times when the fae walked among them. Or the other way round, which ever you want.
From this point of view, I can't see a way how humans and the fae are evolutionary related. They're simply too different. Of course evolution is a weird thing and can come up with very, very different things, and then they all exist at the same time. But that's not what I mean.
What I mean is that the essence of the fae is completely different than the essence of human beings. They are so different, that they have not come into existence the same way. I don't think the fae have evolved from anything. They just ... are. Some have been for longer than others...
Ok, so this is where we get into an interesting conversation about the origins of the fae.
The point is, that what ever the origin, it's not the same as human's. The fae operate in a different world. They operate with different laws of physics. Or, rather, they aren't bound by the laws of physics. Not that in any book with fae in it the world worked within the same laws of physics than ours, because it's pretty much granted to have magic, but the fae work on a whole different level compared to other creatures.
At least in my head they do. So no, I don't think the fae can share an evolutionary link with humans, even if they basically looked like them (us?).
Ok, moving on.
The centaurs and fauns and merfolk. To me they seem a little problematic too. Again, the merfolk are ok, as long as you don't think of merfolk as the kind that you see in Disney's Little Mermaid and stuff. I can imagine how people could somehow become adapted to living in water, and then under water, but they would look nothing like the half-fish-half-human we tend to think of as mermaids. Nothing quite that simple. If you want that kind of thing, then they'll go into the same category with the fauns and centaurs.
By which I mean that yeah, I can see hoe they could've once been human. What I can't see is how they evolved into having goat-legs or horses for a body. Or, rather, why that would have happened. On it's own. I can see that there once was a human being that did something stupid, and then an evil faerie or something turned his legs into goat's for punishment. But then again, I don't see how that would be a punishment. The only way being a centaur is worse from being a human is probably that you're bigger, and so clumsier, and doing stuff that involves small spaces or basically anything that would require only two feet is pretty much impossible. But as long as you don't mind that, the whole being-able-to-run-as-fast-as-a-horse thing is probably more an advantage than a curse.
Ok, anyway, my point was, I don't see how they could've evolved on their own. There must have been some magic involved, getting them those new bodies waste-down. Or course all the time that has gone since that happened to first people has been time for them to adapt into their new bodies and develop into something a little different than they had been when they first got the new legs, so that just a human with a horse's body wouldn't be a centaur, but the changes after that has made them what they truly are.
And then I was about to start talking about dragon evolution, which is actually perfectly not all that impossible, but I realised that you were talking about just the humanoid fantasy creatures here. So I won't get into dragons. Or anything the like.
So yeah, In case you were wondering (you probably weren't, because I suppose you were in Canada) why I didn't leave a comment on your last post, this was the reason. I have too much love for the fae to fit all this in a comment.
So that's all for this week. I'll see if your responses trigger another post like this next week.
~matu
PS. You never reacted to my "I'd like to keep writing also after you come back" that I said in a side note some weeks ago. Since it's just, what, a week? before you're back, I think we need to discuss this.
So.
First of all. Where's the second post?
Second, I'd like to think through your evolution of fantasy creatures.
Ok, so, first. I'm not entirely sure about the whole idea of all other creatures having evolved from humans. It doesn't seem to make sense. Obviously the trolls are one group, and the fae are probably one group that can easily be divided into smaller groups, but I'm not buying them being evolved from humans. Trolls I can see having evolved from the same ancestor as humans, though, but the fae?
Actually, the fae in your picture may have evolved from humans from when humans learned to use magic, and then the different groups of people doing their own kind of magic evolved different ways. (Since there was a time when humans learned to use magic.)
But. The rest of the fae.
Ok, before I get any deeper into fae, I need to say this one more time:
Read The Name of the Wind.
You know why? Because I can't have a proper conversation with you about the fae if you haven't read it. Well, actually the one more to do with the fae is The Wise Man's Fear, but it's not like you can start mid-series, so. The Name of the Wind.
The point in those books is this: Once the fae and humans lived in the same world, but they're worlds were separated by some creatures that are now locked down. The fae still remember this, because they're pretty much immortal. The humans don't, because, you know, thousands of years (or way more more) will do the trick and make the human race forget times when the fae walked among them. Or the other way round, which ever you want.
From this point of view, I can't see a way how humans and the fae are evolutionary related. They're simply too different. Of course evolution is a weird thing and can come up with very, very different things, and then they all exist at the same time. But that's not what I mean.
What I mean is that the essence of the fae is completely different than the essence of human beings. They are so different, that they have not come into existence the same way. I don't think the fae have evolved from anything. They just ... are. Some have been for longer than others...
Ok, so this is where we get into an interesting conversation about the origins of the fae.
The point is, that what ever the origin, it's not the same as human's. The fae operate in a different world. They operate with different laws of physics. Or, rather, they aren't bound by the laws of physics. Not that in any book with fae in it the world worked within the same laws of physics than ours, because it's pretty much granted to have magic, but the fae work on a whole different level compared to other creatures.
At least in my head they do. So no, I don't think the fae can share an evolutionary link with humans, even if they basically looked like them (us?).
Ok, moving on.
The centaurs and fauns and merfolk. To me they seem a little problematic too. Again, the merfolk are ok, as long as you don't think of merfolk as the kind that you see in Disney's Little Mermaid and stuff. I can imagine how people could somehow become adapted to living in water, and then under water, but they would look nothing like the half-fish-half-human we tend to think of as mermaids. Nothing quite that simple. If you want that kind of thing, then they'll go into the same category with the fauns and centaurs.
By which I mean that yeah, I can see hoe they could've once been human. What I can't see is how they evolved into having goat-legs or horses for a body. Or, rather, why that would have happened. On it's own. I can see that there once was a human being that did something stupid, and then an evil faerie or something turned his legs into goat's for punishment. But then again, I don't see how that would be a punishment. The only way being a centaur is worse from being a human is probably that you're bigger, and so clumsier, and doing stuff that involves small spaces or basically anything that would require only two feet is pretty much impossible. But as long as you don't mind that, the whole being-able-to-run-as-fast-as-a-horse thing is probably more an advantage than a curse.
Ok, anyway, my point was, I don't see how they could've evolved on their own. There must have been some magic involved, getting them those new bodies waste-down. Or course all the time that has gone since that happened to first people has been time for them to adapt into their new bodies and develop into something a little different than they had been when they first got the new legs, so that just a human with a horse's body wouldn't be a centaur, but the changes after that has made them what they truly are.
And then I was about to start talking about dragon evolution, which is actually perfectly not all that impossible, but I realised that you were talking about just the humanoid fantasy creatures here. So I won't get into dragons. Or anything the like.
So yeah, In case you were wondering (you probably weren't, because I suppose you were in Canada) why I didn't leave a comment on your last post, this was the reason. I have too much love for the fae to fit all this in a comment.
So that's all for this week. I'll see if your responses trigger another post like this next week.
~matu
PS. You never reacted to my "I'd like to keep writing also after you come back" that I said in a side note some weeks ago. Since it's just, what, a week? before you're back, I think we need to discuss this.
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