The Other World

Näytetään bloggaukset maaliskuulta 2009.
Edellinen

Pääministerin morsian.

No, I'm not talking about Sirkka Mertala but Susan Ruusunen/Kuronen. Read the book yesterday. My intention was not to read it but as the court sentenced Kuronen, I just had to know what is it that makes privacy more important than freedom of speech. And what did I find? Lots of detailed descriptions on the Prime Minister's penis, more detailed descriptions of kinky sex, S/M, "I'm your bitch, Susan!", water sports, gender bending... not. What I did find was poor language skills, a typical story of a failed relationship and a text in serious need of an editor (who had apparently been high while proofreading if that ever even took place). Let's justify these.

The language really is bad. I kept fighting the urge to get a red marker pen and correct all the spelling mistakes (there were some), grammatical mistakes (a lot of those, especially incomplete sentences), stylistic mistakes (even more) and the colloquial language (that really annoys me). Also, punctuation does not seem to be the strongest side of whoever is responsible for the final draft that goes out for printing. Examples:

Exhibit A for bad structures (would be good exercises for pupils to try to rephrase them into readable sentences): "Tarja Virmala kirjoittaa: huomiotalouden uhrit, otsikkona on: kohtuutonta että pääministerin rakastumisesta rangaistaan niin rankasti että joutuu koko kansan saaliiksi, tässä on lyhyesti: jos minun pitäisi valita ajanko haisevaa roska-autoa vai siivoanko ravintoloiden ruokottomia vessoja vai soitanko Susan Kurosen entiselle miehelle kysyäkseni onko pääministerin nykyinen naisystävä hänen mielestään suurennuttanut rintojaan [she has now...], valitsisin auton tai ruokottoman vessan; olen ajanut kuorma-autoa ennenkin ja tottunut penskana maalla monenlaisiin lemuihin, siivous- ja roskien keräily ovat kehnosta arvostuksestaan huolimatta säällisiä ammatteja ja erittäin kiitettävää työtä, siinä jos missä näkee työnsä jäljet." (s. 124)

Exhibit B for grammatical mistakes: "Sain vastauksen; [should be ':'] tuo oli tapahtunut ennen kuin olimme edes tavanneet." (s. 36)

Exhibit C for colloquialisms: "Minä olin että mitä?!!" (s. 19)

Exhibit D for 'someone needs to boost this woman's sense of self: "Matti sanoi minulle esimerkiksi hammaskorustani, että onkohan se kovin sopivaa enää keski-ikäiselle naiselle. No, kävin poistattamassa sen, kylläkin vasta kun hän oli jättänyt minut." (s. 18)

I'd say the book reveals mainly things (and thus invades the privacy) of Susan herself.

Exhibit E: "Minä taisin olla vähän aktiivisempi, ehdottelin kainelaisia uusia juttuja. Mattikin innostui, mutta ainakin yksi minun fantasiani jäi lopulta toteuttamatta. Matilla nimittäin on juhlasalissaan ehkä kahdeksan metriä pitkä ruokapöytä, ja minä olisin halunnut rakastella sen päällä, ihanissa alusasuissa ja korkeakorkoisissa saappaissa." (s. 62)

The text is clearly been recorded and then transcribed into the text. This shines through the colloquialisms and the wordings. In the second section (a compilation of paper clips of the stories written about the relationship and Kuronen herself with her comments on the stories) it is actually said in the beginning that the text is colloquial due to "challenging schedule (read = hurry) and that this way the reader really hears Susan's voice". As Exhibit A shows, the voice is that of an unorganised person and needs to be shifted into readable text.

And then the structure. The sloppy editing aside, the structure is unchronological. In my opinion, a 164-page book does not need a contents list in the beginning (the three section could easily have been dealt with in the preface). If it is absolutely necessary to keep the ½ to 4 pages per subtitle why not write them so that the actual contents beneath the title match the title! Jumping from one thing to another just confirms the recorded/transcribed theory. Vanhanen's text messages seem to be thrown in merely on the basis on when they were sent as they don't really add to the actual text or event at hand. This confirms the sense of sensationalism this book has.

As for the actual story... I don't see what the fuzz is about. Somewhere around 50 pages to the story I no longer thought about it being about the prime minister, more I thought of any ordinary person being involved with a high profile politician and the troubles this brings. All in all this might actually (I'm on a good mood) be useful for the rest of us to have one prespective on how the media constructs the image they choose to display and how the media works in a situation like this.

The way Vanhanen appears in the story does not boost my confidence in his actions. The pension reform was enough to break it altogether already and his engagement to Mertala appears a cheap media trick. But I have agree with Annamari Sipilä: if the prime minister doeasn't have the guts to tell frankly where he met his girlfriend but instead makes up stories that are even relatively easy to see through, how can we as citizens trust that this tactique is not employed to state matters? And in the end I also have to agree with Kuronen: Vanhanen's attempt to draw a clear line between his privacy and his public job doesn't work. Therefore also the sentence given for this book is in my opinion unjust. Or what would you say is a prime minister's ex-girlfriend wrote a book about the relationship and got sentenced as a result? Sounds very China/Russia/some-other-country-with-issues-on-freedom-of-speech to me.


The Jehova returns.

They're arranging some get-together at the town hall some time during easter and was trying to persuade me there (as if...). Last time we were talking about the contradictions in the bible: she claimed there are no contradictions as it is the word of her god, I said there are. I listed some of the contradictions later as I couldn't (surprisingly enough..) remember them -the chapters, the verses, etc.- by heart so if she ever returned I'd have them at hand. And I did. And as a sidenote: Martin, feel free to answer the questions, they weren't rhetorical.

How did Judas die?
A) Hanged himself (literally: "Silloin Juudas paiskasi rahat temppeliin, meni pois ja hirttäytyi." Matteus/Matthew 27:5)
B) Exploded (literally: "Petoksensa palkalla hän hankki itselleen kappaleen maata, mutta sitten hän syöksyi päistikkaa alas, niin että hänen vatsansa halkesi ja sisälmykset pursuivat ulos." Apost./Act 1:18)

Her answer was C: both of the above. Judas first hanged himself and then fell down and exploded. As far as she's concerned, a lot of people who hang themselves explode when they fall to the ground. But let's think for a second: how high does one have to fall in order to "explode". Physicsist, feel free to correct, but something tells me one cannot hang oneself that high, unless you own a private jet of course, which I doubt Judas did.

And of course the same "do you believe in evolution/Big Bang/yadda yadda yadda...". It is indeed remarkable how fundies (and other religious people, too) use religious language on things that do not require belief as they have been many a time proved highly likely (more likely than talking snakes, anyway... hey! Maybe Adam and Eve spoke Parseltongue!!!). According to the Jehova, understanding the bible does not require that mysterious Christian intuition but humility. If only they used all that humility to understand other people, and the world just might be a teeny-weeny better place.


Marticulation - the second part of Finnish.

Due to the university reform I've almost forgot to follow the marticulations. Here's the second part of Finnish. Seems to me that it's a combination of the two exams I had and the previous one is a specific are of the former exam I had. I wonder what is the purpose of this change.

1. Rakkaus ja kuolema jonkin romaanin, näytelmän tai elokuvan teemana.

Okay, starts with a general topic for everyone. Not a good choice for those wishing to have a good grade due to originality. Or I suppose that's possible but it really has to be VERY original to stand out of all the other 50% of all papers. Interesting, though. Offers max. magna/eximia.

2. Mihin tarvitsemme Facebookia?

A given title that suggest clearly what's expected. I have an answer: we don't. Well, many I know have a Facebook profile but so far I haven't needed it. This might have been an interesting perspective on the matter and would have probably been somewhat unique amongst all the other papers explaining Facebook's benefits. Max. magna/eximia.

3. Kirjoita aikamme voittajista ja häviäjistä. Aihetta voi käsitellä esimerkiksi koulutuksen, talouden, politiikan,
median tai yhteiskunnallisen eriarvoisuuden näkökulmasta mutta myös yleisesti.

Had they left the latter part of the topic out, it would have been a whole lot more challenging and therefore an easier job to be original since most would have -probably- concentrated on the economic and employment and possibly educational point of view. I doubt many would have thought of media as a perspective for this and for those it would have given a good chance to get a high grade. Max. magna/eximia.

4. Miksi Lähi-itään ei saada rauhaa?

Another given title. Requires A LOT of background knowledge but for those who have that knowledge, this would be an easy high grade. A good topic for cynical pessimist bastards like me. Max. laudatur.

5. "Lukioiden oppilaskasteet ovat simputusta", kirjoitti eräs lukiolainen mielipidetekstissään syksyllä 2007. Mitä
mieltä oler koulun aloittamisrituaaleista?

All of them are. Another general topic for those that have little interest in anything but have to pass these anyway. Not what I would have ever chosen. Max. magna/eximia.

6. Mitä kilpaurheilu-uran jälkeen? Pohdi huippu-urheilijan elämäntilannetta urheilu-uran loputtua.

Also requires a lot of background knowledge and one's own experience if only possible. Matti Nykänen could have been used as a warning. But if someone indeed had had the knowledge and experience and good written skills... well, a laudatur it would be. Max. laudatur.

7. Suomalaisia moititaan erityisesti puhetavoiltaan epäkohteliaiksi, kun meitä verrataan esimerkiksi
keskieurooppalaisiin. Pitääkö käsitys paikkansa?

A general topic again. A boring one, too. The form of the question, however, does offer a tiny slice of originality if one so wants, as one could think of the definitions of politeness from different points of view. Obviously, from the Finnish point of view we're not impolite, we're just Finnish. From our point of view Italians and Spanish seem impolite, especially if they go invading our personal space... :) A moderate grade here. Max. magna/eximia.

8. Miten sivujen 4-5 runoissa on käsitelty musiikkia? Mitä ajatuksia runot sinussa herättävät? Kirjoita yhdestä tai useammasta runosta. Keksi oma otsikko tai ota otsikoksi Runo puhuu musiikista.

They've combined the use of material to this one. Boring material, if you ask me. Poems are a double-edged sword, really: on the other hand they are easily screwed up if one thinks they're "so easy", on the other hand they offer an excellent grade for those that have experience, knowledge and terminology on analysing poems. I suppose everyone who've been paying attention at classes should be able to do this. Magna/eximia/laudatur.

9. Pohdi todellisuuden ja mielikuvituksen suhdetta Joni Skiftesvikin novellissa 'Musta lokki' (s. 6-9).

Somebody kill me. Where do they get the material?! Same goes with analysing short stories as what I said about analysing poems: if you've paid attention to the teacher and what they're saying, you should be able to do this and get a pass. Laudatur would not be easy to get with this.

10. Onko nuorilla sananvaltaa koulussa? Kirjoita aiheesta kantaaottava teksti Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliiton tiedotteen (s. 10-11) ja omien kokemustesi pohjalta.

General, general, general... is there a prescribed quota for these general topics? Well, at least this is somewhat interesting (I would have a lot to say about this nowadays!) but so easy that you would have to do Faustus and sell your soul to the Devil in exchange of a laudatur.

12. Pohdi ihmisen ja koneen suhdetta Jarmo Lehdon kolumnin pohjalta (s. 14).

So clearly a guy topic, though I don't doubt for a second that women would have much to contribute to this conversation. Alas, there's no gender quota in YTL. Damn... Max. magna/eximia.

13. Katri Merikallio vertailee (s 15) intialaista ja suomalaista kulttuuria. Miksi Suomessa -toisin kuin Intiassa- nuorten varhaista itsenäistymistä pidetään tärkeänä?

A very clear laudatur topic. Knowledge, overwhelming knowledge and good and witty writing and you have a laudatur.

14. Erittele ja tulkitse Markku Laakson maalauksia (s. 1 ja 16).

These painting/art analyses are for the artists. Come up with a surprising interpretation, give reasonable justifictaions, use clever language, throw in a few terms et voila! you have a laudatur. Not an easy achievement, though, I think for most.

11. "Ikijää ja ikirouta sulavat, valkoiset vuorenhuiput katoavat, entiset umpijäätiköt lainehtivat sulana vetenä ainakin kesäisin. Tulviva vesi uhkaa ihmisiä tulevaisuudessa myös valtamerten matalilla rannoilla." Näin kuvailee maapallon tulevaisuutta Jukka Ukkola reportaasissaan Suomen Kuvalehdessä 2.11.2007. Miten käy? Arvioi jäätiköiden sulamisen seurauksia sivujen 12-13 tietoaineistoa hyödyntäen.

Lots of knowledge, special terminology and things explained so well that even the most thick-headed redneck understood what global warming is about and we have a laudatur. Reading 'Billions & Billions' by Carl Sagan would help with this assignment. Would have been much better without the helping information provided in the material, then this would have been my choice of subject. But as it is...

Luckily there's the left side to the bell curve, too. ;)


Voivittusaaatanaperkelejumalauta! - Kylteripommi, pt. 4

Okei... eli tänään meillä oli humanistisen tiedekunnan oma keskustelutilaisuus uutta yliopistolakia ja sen aiheuttamia rakenteellisia muutoksia koskien. Osallistujista voin sanoa vain yhden asian: on se nyt saatana jos ei yksikään riviopiskelija saavu paikalle vaikka tilaisuudesta nimenomaan tiedotettiin yleisillä postituslistoilla allekirjoittaneen pyynnöstä, että riviopiskelijat vihdoinkn ottaisivat selvää mitä on tapahtumassa ja sanoisivat oman mielipiteensä asiaan! Etenkin odotin näkeväni kieltenopiskelijoiden järjestön kopo (koulutuspoliittinen)-vastaavan siellä, mutta eipä ollut. Pitää varmaan kirjoittaa yhteenveto tilaisuudesta kopolle ja huomauttaa samalla, etten aio tehdä hänen työtä hänen puolestaan samalla kun hän vetää nimikkeen CV:nsä luottamustoimien kohtaan ja minä en saa muuta kuin korkeintaan hyvän mielen (tosin näkyy vain blogiaineksen saaminen, ei hyvän mielen...!).

Ainut positiivinen asia oli se, että yleinen vastaanotto kylteriydelle jóli jotakuinkin yhtä innostunutta kuin minulla (katso edelliset 'Kylteripommi'-otsakkeet). Toisaalta hallareiden ja humanistien yhteeniskeminenkään ei toimi, kun yhdistyminen perustuisi yksinomaam numeroille, ei käytännön asioille. Filosofian lehtoraattia ei voi laajentaa molempiin tiedekuntiin kun se on jo nyt määräaikainen, käynnissä on tasan yksi maisteritason yhteinen koulutusohjelma (josta en tiedä yhtään mitään), ja menettelytavat ja opetustavat ovat molemmilla aivan erilaiset. Eikä HuHa (huuhaa)/HaHu (haahuilijat) -tiedekuntana ole profiloinnin kannalta järin toimiva, kun ei tuo nimenä sano kellekkään mitään. Ikävä kyllä mihinkään varsinaiseen lopputulokseen ei keskustelun pohjalta päästy, joten kaikki humanistit kaikissa asiaa päättävissä elimissä ovat edelleen aika tyhjän päällä. Ilmeisesti hallituksella on iltakoulu asian tiimoilta tämän viikon aikana, mutta koska en ole sen jäsen eikä sinne riviopiskelijana tai HallOpEdina mennä, joutunen häiritsemään opintopäällikköä ja muuta humanistisen hallintoporrasta. Mutta hei, nytpä olen tavannut dekaanin. Ei se olekaan niin pelottava kuin kuvittelin. Ehkäpä uskallan laittaa hänellekin mailia jossain vaiheessa, jos jotain tulee.

Mutta lisävalitusta: vittu kun ne ei voi sitä saatanan yliopistofoorumia sinne nettiin saada toimimaan. Etusivu kyllä näkyy, ja sinne voi kirjautua... saadakseen eteensä ilmoituksen että foorumi on työn alla ja tästä linkistä voit kirjautua ulos. Ei ole edes mitään postituslistaa kaikille humanisteille, jota kautta voisi kaikille opiskelijoille ilmoitaa tämän asian kulusta. Opiskelijoiden tietous on kiinni heidän omasta aktiivisuudestaan ja sitä ei tässä työn, opiskelun ja oman elämän ristitulessa monella ole enää jäljellä, mullakin vain siksi että kun ei ole omaa elämää, niin jää aikaa tälle.

VITUTTAA TÄLLAINEN!

Timo Rautiaisen ja Trio Niskalaukauksen sanoihin päättäen...

"Tässä leikissä on kaikkein inhottavinta, ettei tiedä mistä ilmansuunnasta saa turpaansa."


The best tattoo site ever!

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/

Tattoos with a scientific theme! I couldn't decide which one would be the best so ended up gathering the pictures in one. Now I have to start designing one on linguistics to commemorate my graduation as a Bachelor of Arts, something possibly to be expanded when graduating as a master (and even a doctorate, maybe!).

Upper-left: The Galapagos Islands on the shoulder and two peripheric islands on the neck
Second from top on left: "Think periodically", the table of elements is an inspiration!
Second from bottom on left: Galileo's famous expression
Downmost on the left column: Schrödinger’s equation for the wavefunction of a particle (so I'm told)
Upper-right: A compilation of different natural sciences - there's a molecule, carbon from periodic table of elements, an atom, physics, and the golden ratio.
Second from the top on right: Newton's thermodynamics and entropy - order in disorder
Second from bottom on right, left: "Mr. Charles Darwin had the balls to ask". Yes, indeed.
The outmost on the southeast corner: Biohazardous!



I know why I'll be grinning the rest of the day.

Two girls, aged 5-7, discuss what to do:

A: Let's play with dollies.
B&C: Yeah, let's play with dollies.
A: Let's give them a bath.
B: Yeah, let's give them a bath.
C: The water's hot.
A: Let's boil them!
B: Yeah, let's boil them!
C: Let's boil them until teir skin comes off!

This story was the ending for our sociolinguistics lecture to make us come the next week to hear the background for the story. I am so going!

-----

Last spring (9.2. to be exact) I went for a coffee with A. As a result I ranted here about the not so splendid ending of that social experiment (can be found on page five at the present time). Those of you not familiar with it (or don't remeber it), a summary: a co-student A asked me for a coffee one autumn, I declined with what was very much an excuse. He asked again the fallowing spring, me not being able to think of anything, said yes but with a condition that I woudl only do as a friend, nothing more. We went for a coffee, he stares at me the whole time, I stare at everything else but him, the conversation is awkward and I end up claiming of going to my sister's just to prevent him from following me home.

The story continues: he's on the same sociolinguistics course as I am and today after the lecture on my way to the library he caught up with me. We talked about the above-mentioned story I still find extremely funny (yes, I know I have a twisted sense of humour) and other things (in a twenty second walk I managed to express my hatred and sexism towards men twice; I'm good...!) and went to the library (he held the first door open for me so I noted that this means I have to hold the second for him). In the lobby we departed thus:

S: A man holding a door for me.. I find it patriarchal and condescending. A looong minus from me.
A: Well, now I know in the future not to do so.
S: We'll see.
A: Well, I'm now going to get coffee but before that I have to say something you'll probably give another long minus: I think you look very beautiful today.
S: A very questionable minus.
A: I thought it would have been a very large plus.
S: Only for gal, sorry. Bye.
A: Bye.

I reject him and he says something like this to me? What?!


Wesboro Baptist Church presents:

Remember the Westboro Baptist Church? You know, the ones that are teeny-weeny anti-gay and blame gays for.. well, anything that doens't go according to their plans? Like for instance, the school shootings in Kauhajoki were a punishment from god for the gay-loving community of Finland (but really, they hate Sweden even more, see www.godhatessweden.com. Don't forget the bestsellers www.godhatesamerica.com and www.godhatesfags.com... very creative..).

Here's one way to disturb them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cN2pB3MCE

-----

Below: WBC was demonstrating with their "God hates fags" signs in Chicago and got a happy counter-demostration. (To those not familiar with Cthulhu, see http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu.)


Kylteripommi, pt. 3

Should've known. It was too good to be true. Being so ..light.. about the likely move to Turku. Should've known the anxiety comes; it always comes with everything sudden, anything that changes my routines. Anything shaking my sense (which clearly is very much false) of safety.

It took me four years to feel home here. Make... well, not friends but acquintances, people who when seeing me on the streets or at the university not only say hello but talk to me more. A few people I'm happy to see, like the always-happy gym director, or even Her regardless the contradictory feelings otherwise attached to Her. I had it good here; knew my way around here, liked the atmosphere, liked the town. Had my own places; the library, the bench by the seashore, the bench by the Orthodox church where I could be alone, a bench by the Lutheran church if I wanted to be surrounded by people who are just passing by.

Now it's all falling to pieces again, smaller than four years ago. I'm so tired of collecting them, trying to build something out of them. And right now, I'm lacking any motivation to do so.


Song of Solomon.

Just finished 'Song of Solomon' by Toni Morrison. I don't recall feeling this happy after finishing her novels before. Not to mention that my attitude to read it in the first place was "well it's written by Morrison I can't skip it even if it does have a male focus instead of the usual female one". I am surprised to see it worked out this well for me after all. Now I have only three novels left by Morrison, 'Mercy', 'Love' and 'Paradise'. Kind of sad, really. Morrison is a writer I (really) truly (bluely) enjoy reading.

I strongly suggest every one of you to read at least one by Morrison. 'Beloved' is good but my personal favourite is and remains to date 'The Bluest Eye'.

Edellinen