Nothing in particular.

Discovered Judas Priest. Interesting coincidence that I should get my hands on 'British Steel' exactly 29 years after its publication.

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Today I also got a rejection from one place I applied for the summer. I get rejected from places the contract of which should continue during the fall since I'm not sure I'll be here next fall. So... What could I do next summer besides reading Joyce's 'Ulysseus'? Any ideas?

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Got back home yesterday after spending six days at my cousin's (you know, the nearly two-year-old one). Got sick right away. As for my cousin... she talks. A lot. All the time. I tried to teach her to greet me in Klingon ('NuqNeH!) and partly succeeded; I'm not sure she understood it's a greeting but she did almost get the pronunciation right, it's the final /x/ (as the ch in 'Loch Ness) that sucks. But then again, it's not a phoneme in Finnish so it's understandable she doesn't know how to pronounce it. And anyway, I know what she means when she says /nukne/. =)

As a linguist I find her speech fascinating. One of the most notable features of her speech is the strong dialect: 'pukoo' (= '[hän] pukee'), 'pemottaa', 'maitua' (= 'maitoa'), 'lujet' (= 'luet') and 'tyhymä'. Her mother keeps saying how the kid looks exactly like her father; I consoled her saying that the kid has one feature that is clearly from her: she talks so damn much.

My arrival was apparently an expected event. Last time she went crazy with joy when she saw me; her parents decided to get a video camera in case she does the same. Yup: she walked up to me with a solemn expression, I said hello and asked if she remembered me, and the next thing I know she's running between me and the living room with a smile on her face screaming. A bit alarming, to be honest, but nice. Good to know someone misses me. She had just learnt the purpose of hugging and she did that a lot. She has also been in the habit of reading whatever she got her hands on: a magazine, one of her own books, a dictionary... she would sit down with it, babble something with her finger following the text and looking at me as if to say 'don't you understand what I'm saying, stupid' =). Nope, I didn't but that's okay. In the evening she would sit on my lap (with a more or less strong stench from her dipers sometimes) and we would read some of her books together. It's funny; I'd point at the pictures asking what it was and she would use the same words that were in the story in the next page. I guess she needs new books.

In short: I had a nice time when she wasn't screaming her lungs out due to her toothache (apparently getting back teeth hurts a great deal more than her visible tiny front teeth). I also learnt a few wisdoms:
'Siellä on täällä.'
'Mitä sössötät.'
'Kärpässieni on mylkyllinen, ei saa koskia, son tyhymää.'

Indeed.

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In the latest Skeptikko is an article concerning the Council of Europe statement number 1580 under the heading "Luomisopin vaarat kouluopetuksessa". Good that the authorities react before the situation explodes this side of the Atlantic. The article can be read here:
http://www.skepsis.fi/lehti/2009/2009-1-vaarat.html (Finnish)
http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta07/ERES1580.htm (English, original)