Swamp
Confessions of an Academic Pseudo-Giraffe
29.7.04
"For it is his belief that if there is a voice of truth - assuming there is such a thing as truth, and assuming this truth can speak - it comes from the mouth of a woman. " (Paul Auster, The Invention of Solitude)
I suppose I agree. But I also think it's very important to keep the last word in the singular, with an indefinite article.
17:19
I suppose I agree. But I also think it's very important to keep the last word in the singular, with an indefinite article.
17:19
27.7.04
Yesterday I went and bought myself a new phone to replace the old one that I lost in Prague. That one slipped out of my pocket in a city bus, apparently, and my feeble efforts to retrieve it proved futile. Today, to increase my capacity of movement and communication even further (it's all about having the right apparatus, isn't it?), I bought a used bike, 80 €. Now, I suppose, I've accomplished maximum mobility again.
12:18
12:18
25.7.04
Just came from my friend Darren's stag weekend. Got to ski cross country indoors (nice switch straight from the 30 degrees of Prague to the -2 of the skiing tube), play football barefoot (after which my right foot turned purple), and drive karting (little race cars) within 24 hours. Two very good physically refreshing days. And lots of tasty food, quality humour on the dry side, and sauna with the heat fine-tuned with true expertise. Moreover, I'll have the responsible job of driving Merja and Darren's wedding car next weekend in Seinäjoki.
17:50
17:50
23.7.04
16.7.04
This is interesting. Suddenly they have added all kinds of easy little formatting options here.
Well, off to Prague in a day and a half. Yesterday's European weather forecast for next week had two big concentrations of rain clouds: one covering the whole of Finland and the other hovering above the Czech Republic. Precipitation in April, when I was still in the States, was the lowest in Finland in the last one hundred years. Since I arrived, however, it has rained more than twice the normal amount. It's funny how big a difference one person can sometimes make. As you can see, I have really scrutinised the principles of how to draw conclusions based on quantitative data.
10:22
Well, off to Prague in a day and a half. Yesterday's European weather forecast for next week had two big concentrations of rain clouds: one covering the whole of Finland and the other hovering above the Czech Republic. Precipitation in April, when I was still in the States, was the lowest in Finland in the last one hundred years. Since I arrived, however, it has rained more than twice the normal amount. It's funny how big a difference one person can sometimes make. As you can see, I have really scrutinised the principles of how to draw conclusions based on quantitative data.
10:22
8.7.04
If the history of the U.S. presidential elections is observed as a series of rivalries between two candidates, a Democrat and a Republican, in eighty per cent of the contests in the last one hundred years the taller man has won.
This does not look like a bad prospect. But should John Kerry wear high heels from September to November, just to maximise his advantage? Seriously, the incumbent president should be hoisted from office, in Malcolm X's words, by any means necessary.
P.S. I think there should be a word for a phenomenon in which the specific current referent of a term (as a holder of office, or Dubya) creates a delinquent contradiction with what is generally understood by the term (as an institution, or presidency) and therefore renders the normal use of the term without further attributes absurd. The word would work almost like oxymoron, but it would specifically refer to an irreconcilable paradox created by a term and its present content rather than simply a combination of utterly conflicting terms.
Thinking of the original meaning of oxymoron ('pointedly foolish'), perhaps in this particular case we could still utilise the existing word and talk about a four-year oxymoron. 11:21
This does not look like a bad prospect. But should John Kerry wear high heels from September to November, just to maximise his advantage? Seriously, the incumbent president should be hoisted from office, in Malcolm X's words, by any means necessary.
P.S. I think there should be a word for a phenomenon in which the specific current referent of a term (as a holder of office, or Dubya) creates a delinquent contradiction with what is generally understood by the term (as an institution, or presidency) and therefore renders the normal use of the term without further attributes absurd. The word would work almost like oxymoron, but it would specifically refer to an irreconcilable paradox created by a term and its present content rather than simply a combination of utterly conflicting terms.
Thinking of the original meaning of oxymoron ('pointedly foolish'), perhaps in this particular case we could still utilise the existing word and talk about a four-year oxymoron. 11:21
7.7.04
A pic from a few weeks ago. The guy who looks like he's getting ready to block Zidane's free kick is David Bowie. 09:42
6.7.04
To my joy, some enormous bird has decided to drop three enormous portions of dung at a clever angle right onto the window of my office. I can imagine the winged crusader accelerate towards the wall and then veer steeply upwards, a fighter plane of flesh and blood, releasing the deadly load at precisely the right moment. The spots, shaped like spruce trees, dominate the view, spreading their undecipherable message like impressionistic strokes of grey paint. Or like those silly splashes of ink that psychologists still sometimes use in personality tests. Are the elements trying to tell me something?
16:24
1.7.04
It was a pleasure to have Abi here as our guest. How many of us Finns have spent a perfectly traditional Finnish midsummer with a Chinese-Philippino-Japanese-American girl? Bravely, she took it all in and survived.
18:30
Kahden viikon tauko... eikö minulla ole viime aikoina ollut mitään sanottavaa? Ehkä kuitenkin, mutta kun... tässä on ollut kaikenlaista: vierasta ja juhannusta. Nyt on pari viikkoa aikaa pakertaa töitä ennen heinäkuun 18. käynnistyvää Prahan-reissua. Ja muutama päivä sitten koitti lähes sataprosenttinen varmuus siitä, että syksyllä matka vie erääseen aika kaukaiseen paikkaan. Aika pitkäksi aikaa.
16:46
