Lavonardo

But this pretty much qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment all by itself. But, as stated multiple times in comments, the college probably is going to cop out, and not going to follow through its own plagiarism guidelines [Nabbed from kasa].

Me? I cheated in university only once, and that was by accident. Dropped a pen in Algebra I, and whilst picking up happened (your honor, clearly you can perceive my client’s good faith and lack of intent) to see the the graph of the guy sitting in front of me. And the graph was different, way different. Doublechecked mine, and quickly figured out that I had plussed instead of minusing at one key junction of the calculation. Fixing that, I was a couple of points richer. But got the same grade from the class I’d gotten even if I’d had the wrong answer. Karmic balance (or something) was probably maintained by happening to fall into a very involved group in the Software Special Project-class, and ended up working pretty much double the median amount of hours to pass that.

EDIT 19.8.2008: Sadly, the article referred to is gone.

It’s been exactly a year today since the blog was opened. Seems that blogging is indeed a long haul hobby. 356 entries in a year. That averages pretty much one entry a day.

Hence, it’s now time to open the floodgates for additional readers and announce this baby to the big bad world outside.

Electric Sheep. Mmmm. Pretty colors, swift shapes.

And yeah, googled to ensure the correct spelling of “train station” in the header. With a space, google gives 2 million hits - without, measly 84 thousand. That’s a margin that’s good enough for me.

Bah. Future Pinball did not materialize “in time for easter”, and any references thereto have been carefully excised from the page. Still looks delicious.

Yeah, despite the grace of one extra day due to easter, transition to summer time wasn’t made any easier. Odd, how tired you can be after a four day weekend of just chilling out.

Good old wallet seems to be on the brink of disintegrating. Though this replacement made of duct tape seems to be a credible contender, it’s probably better to aim for a real leather one instead. Oh well, this would make a good conversation piece if nothing else, and would be yet another show of the power of duct tape. Maybe I need both…

Via some site, not that anyone cares: a new way of approaching classical songs.

The originator of the idea deserves a reward.

And here’s the best of the bunch, to give you a quick idea what
it’s all about.

Pink Floyd: another brick in the wall (parts one through three [inclusive])

• Things across which Daddy has flown:
• the ocean
• Things which Daddy has left behind for me:
• a memory
• unknown
• Things which we don’t need:
• no education
• no thought control
• no dark sarcasm in the classroom
• Conditions in which teachers are requested to leave them/us kids:
• alone
• Things the having of which is dependent upon the eating of meat:
• pudding
• Things which I don’t need:
• no arms around me
• no drugs to calm me
• anything at all
• Things which I have seen:
• the writing on the wall
• Things which, all in all, are or were just bricks in the wall:
• it
• you

Upon buying the newish Mötley Crüe collection (Red, White & Crüe) on cd I felt a hankering to recap on a couple of key paragraphs of their fabulous autobiography. But was utterly unable to. The Lavonardo HQ library seemed no longer to not contain the epic saga at all.

Of course, the shelves have been unsorted with a cunning algorith even old Donald K. would be proud of, so it took considerable time to ascertain that the said book was not present on them at all.

Bah. It was time to resort to heavier artillery, so the hoover was rolled out of its stables. And man, did it have its work cut out for him. Such an abundance of dust bunnies were hiding out below the bed, that you could have sworn the instrument of cleansing was actually whimpering with joy whilst vacuuming up the sad remnants of a couple of weeks’ neglect.

However, it was not only the merciless elimination of clinging dust that the vacuuming brought out, but the lost book as well. Indeed, instead of anyone scurrying out with the volume under his/her jacket, the elusive epic was discovered behind the computer desk, being carefully propped up against it.

There must be a moral to this story. Lemme think…

Got it, got it. I need a maid.

Yeah, you can now get married with The One Ring.

Seems like a bright nice idea, to instantly appeal to the inner whimsy of the recipient. Until you remember the last verse of the inscription:

[... blah blah blah ...]
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

A good omen for a fresh union, huh?

’s been boring. Missed a lot of things over the first three days of easter. And probably gonna miss some more still.

As roklintu states, there was a retro-esque grunge-cover night at Nosturi. Could have been good fun, after all, I managed to miss all four of the original bands anyway, and thus’d been unable to lean back with rock-police attitude and dis the coverer.

And I was kept utterly in the dark about a pinball tourney in Helsinki, of all the places. Well, now I know where the playas hang out, just wait for next year.

Noted on sunday that Cousin Bill was playing at Molly. The last time was good fun, but just couldn’t drag myself out of the sacred sofa of comfitude. Watching the season three of Shield was a far more attractive proposition.

Well, it’s here again. The scourge of mornings, the envoy of caffeine overdosing, the delayer of dawns.

At least it hit on easter, so I’ll have one extra day to adjust before work. Right. As if. And other quiet retorts of disrespect.

Exhibit A: Sapattivuosi, a finnish Black Sabbath-only cover band. Finnish as in: also the lyrics are in finnish. Their second album is out now, bought the first one today, since the price has been now significantly reduced. No Paranoid on either record. Haven’t seen them live, so don’t know whether that’s part of the repertoire at all.

Exhibit B: Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman. No, no, no. I’m not trying to claim that the creator of Sandman is a finn, honorary or otherwise. This Lovecraftian tale is illustrated by one, Jouni Koponen, a fan who sent his pictures to Neil, and here they are immortalized in book form. And as further homage to Finland, the protagonist is seen prancing around in a very traditional Jussi-shirt in some of the images. Locally available, but not that cheap (14 euros for twenty-odd pages), but at least part of the cost goes on to an excellent cause.

Did the not-periodical enough update to the record and movie listings.

University of Utah Running Utes are now 0-6 against University of Kentucky Wildcats in the whole history of the NCAA basketball tournament. So, no trip to the final four this year, not even the elite eight.

Well well, let’s hope Andrew Bogut decides to remain in the team and refrains from turning pro before his senior year. Unless it’s Jazz that picks him up in the draft, that is.

Or to be more exact, very low grade smoke tricks and ventriloquism.

Had the third quasi-monthly game night at Pekka’s place. The pinball machines were not the mainstay of the evening, four man Ghost Recon 2 was. Managed to suck at that, too. And in the meantime (once dead, there ain’t coming back until the mission’s finished, one way or the other) played a somewhat respectable score (392M) on the almighty Twilight Zone. The third ball gave out whole 17 million points, and drained immediately after the grace period ran out, so there indeed was potential for a vastly better score.

Added a couple of links to previous entries.

Also added a paragraph on the lack of whale watching possibilities in the New England Aquarium. Definitely have to look for a cruise the next time in Boston. Missed the whole thing while writing the original entry. Which is kinda ironic, them whales being biggest creatures on the planet and all.

AK-47 breaks his left wrist in a loss to Washington.

Well, the iron men-era is now over in Salt Lake - and Sloan badly needs depth. Previously it could pretty much be taken for granted that #12 and #32 were on the floor, creating havoc with their never-excelled pick and roll move. But then, Stockton and Malone never really broke any bones, just endured scores of sprains, bruises and hurts, so comparison is actually not very fair.

Time for a good lottery pick, come draft in the summertime. Nay, it’s time for an excellent pick, as the Jazz currently hold the third-last position in the standings.

Sweet.

And the weather’s supposed to turn way warmer as well.

So far, so good. 32 hours awake, 8 hours asleep. That’s a decent enough exchange rate.

Bought the new cd by Alamaailman Vasarat and Tuomari Nurmio. Klezmer-ethno-funk mixed with the one of the least explainable finnish artists ever. Great stuff.

Still without any adverse effects from time shift. Perhaps it is escapable.

Not willing to hedge any bets either way, anyhow.

Full plane from Logan to Frankfurt. Bad food. Finding Neverland on communal screens that experience severe hiccups (I don’t think fifteen minute blackouts are a part of the film, anyway). Thankfully I’m packing a decent book instead, Dennis Lehane’s Prayers fro Rain. Not a great book, the irish-Bostonian tale contains too heavy über-criminal elements for comfort (shades of bad Patricia Cornwell novels abound). But decent enough to tide over the boring flight.

Frankfurt airport at 6 am is not that fun a location, considering that there’s still almost four hours of quality layover time left. And the local Diners Club lounge is closed on sundays. Very few places open, even fewer of any interest. Segafreddo cafeteria provides comfort and shelter from impacting daylight. But not for long, time to embark on the last leg - a daytime shuttle to Helsinki.

An old Airbus without much comfort, but not any discomfort either. Good enough for two and a half hours. Luggage arrives slowly on carousel, but without any visible impact from TSA, which is always a good sign.

Met Matti for the third time on this trip. Had an enjoyable kickdown of the winter semester, travelling through several MIT pubs towards the Barking Crab restaurant. Great lobster dinner, good dialogue with Matti & Kössi.

And tomorrow morning allows for a lazy breakfast, and photos around Harvard before leaping onto the plane back to Helsinki (via Frankfurt).