Banished words of 2013

 language, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 072013
 

Lake Superior University has once again decreed what words, terms and idioms should not be used in this side of the New Year.

The twelve listed fall into four buckets:

  • Unavoidable: Fiscal cliff (the euphemisms are even worse), job creators/creation (not that Huimio aims to be one this year, but yeah), passion (yes, even referring to other things than the fruit), spoiler alert (when among geeks, there’s always somebody with holes in his repertoire, usually that’s me).
  • Been there, done that: Double down (I think, even outside a blackjack table), bucket list (inspired by the movie, obviously), guru (only used on other people).
  • Only ironically: Superfood (it’s just healthy food).
  • Really, some people use this?: Kick the can down the road, YOLO, trending (never as an adjective), boneless wings.

That’s not a very good tally, isn’t it.

And yeah, it would be nice to check up on this at the end of the year (and repeat the exercise annually), time to add yet another seasonal thing to the blog, then.

Zeitgeist of 2012

 seasons, wikipedia  No Responses »
Jan 042013
 

The wikipedia searches show what was on the minds of people last year.

English wiki top 10 in 2012The list of the english wiki is pretty much predictable – companies, books, movies and news. Only one unknown term – but now I know that One Direction is yet another boy band (and hey, it’s been a good while since the previous).

Finnish wiki top 10 in 2012The list of the finnish wiki, on the other hand, is odd. Half of the terms are as expected, but I really wonder what are the guitarist from Europe, a domestic publish-your-nekkid-pictures-site and Titanic (the ship, not the movie) doing in the top ten.

2012, blogwise

 blog, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 012013
 
  • Blogs: three-ish: this, obviously; the N9 Developer is defunct, and two new ones are gestating and not ready for the public.
  • Engine: WordPress in all.
  • Entries: here: 321 (quite a dip from the previous heights).
  • Backlog: downright terrifying.
  • Changes done: apart from the lowered posting rate and quality, not really.
  • Changes planned: Huimio and Tunemio blogs will definitely see daylight. The two others as well.

Analyses of previous years are also available: 2011, 2010, 2009.

2012, best of

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 012013
 
  • Film: The Hobbit, an Unexpected Journey (missed so many movies, it’s nowhere near funny)
  • Album: Sabaton’s Carolus Rex (haven’t picked up the new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album yet)
  • Song: Ett Livstid i Krig (off Carolus Rex)
  • Concert: Paradise Lost in FME
  • Book (fiction): Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One
  • Book (non-fiction): David Crystal’s The Story of English in 100 Words
  • Book (domestic): Emmi Itäranta’s Teemestarin Kirja
  • Comic: Moebius’ Arzak
  • Strip: Kamala Luonto by Jarkko Vehniäinen
  • Webcomic: XKCD
  • Television show: Boardwalk Empire (haven’t yet seen a single second season episode of Game of Thrones, though).
  • Videogame: Mass Effect 3 (played for two hours thus far)
  • Application: Paper
  • Gadget: iPad
  • Boardgame: 7 Wonders
  • Dinner: The one in Nokka (with multiple morel-tasting dishes)
  • Bar: Kaisla
  • Sports-related: Spain’s continued reign, Messi’s incomparable production
  • Person of the Year: Elmo Lavonius

Previous years’ listings are also available: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.

2012, what happened

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 012013
 

What a turbulent year it was:

  • Gained a son.
  • Lost a mother.
  • Left Nokia, stayed in the MeeGo organization to the end and was one of the people to turn off the lights.
  • Founded a startup company, Huimio (and rented an office).
  • Wrote thousands of lines of real production code.
  • Still living in Espoo.
  • Still busy on Facebook.
  • Visited only one new country (China, on the most unlikely business trip so far).
  • Blogged less and less as the year went on.
  • Took fewer photographs. And the ones taken are pretty much single-subject only.
  • Bought a new Ixus, no lenses for the DSLR.
  • Bought a retina iPad.
  • Played way less games.
  • Geocached ridiculously little.
  • Abandoned chili 2012 project in mid-flight.
  • Was greatly amused by our two cats.
  • Guns n’ Roses sequel to Chinese Democracy was not released.
  • Therapy programming projects pretty much on hold on account of Tunemio, Huimio’s first product.
  • Initial cooking therapy projects deemed successful: very nice Ancienne/Ardbeg-mustard and Strawberry liqueour for Christmas.

Previous years’ analyses are also available:
2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004

2011, what happened

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 
  • Was downsized by Nokia on February 11th when MeeGo organization was axed (still employed, still hunting).
  • Despite the hardships, the N9 was released to great acclaim, and the Qt SDK target for it was well-received as well.
  • Still living in Espoo (now with a car).
  • Learned of upcoming offspring (Mayday delivery).
  • Visited only one new country: Czech Republic.
  • Was dismayed when Gowalla first went stupid and then got bought.
  • Blogged quite a bit and went pro (N9 Developer) in the fall.
  • Still busy in Facebook, not really so in Twitter.
  • Though gave up Zynga games.
  • Bought NO new gadgets or cameras (and only one new lens).
  • Travelled the east coast.
  • Spent a great 10 days touring the east coast.
  • Spent four days in a mostly hostile conference environment in San Francisco.
  • Geocached very little.
  • Buried a cat.
  • Did not set up a new aquarium.
  • Guns n’ Roses sequel to Chinese Democracy was not released, but Metallica’s new “album” was.
  • Therapy projects were therapeutic but went nowhere.
  • Took plenty of photographs.
  • And read a lot of books.
  • Purchased a share in a whiskey barrel.
  • Grew and harvested quite a few chili strains and species.

Previous years’ analyses are also available:
2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004

2011, year in cities

 seasons, travel  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 

Full disclosure on cities where I slept during 2011:

  • Espoo, Finland *
  • Vantaa, Finland *
  • Ivalo, Finland
  • Nivala, Finland
  • Seinäjoki, Finland
  • Tallinn, Estonia
  • Berlin, Germany *
  • München, Germany
  • Prague, Czech Republic
  • Finksburg, MD
  • Washington, DC
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • New York, NY
  • San Francisco, CA

An asterisk denotes multiple stays.

Previous years’ lists: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.

2011, blogwise

 blog, seasons, work  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 
  • Blogs: 2 (this, and joint custody of the N9 Developer blog at work).
  • Engine: WordPress here, Lifetype in the other.
  • Changes: Not much. Plenty of photos, not much other substance.
  • Entries: Here: 1009.
  • Backlog: Fearsome.
  • Forthcoming changes: TBC, nothing big planned.

Previous years analyses also available: 2010, 2009.

Best of 2011

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 
  • Film: Super 8.
  • Album: Split between two debut albums: Amaranthe’s & Ghost’s Opus Eponymous.
  • Song: Amaranthe’s Leave Everything Behind.
  • Concert: Rush.
  • Book (fiction): Jo Nesbø’s Suruton.
  • Book (non-fiction): Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken Ethan Marcotte: Responsive Web Design.
  • Publisher: A Book Apart.
  • Comic: Lewis Trondheim & Fabrice Parme: Paniikki Atlantilla.
  • Strip: Fingerpori.
  • Webcomic: XKCD.
  • Television Show: Game of Thrones Castle.
  • Gadget: N9.
  • Videogame: L.A. Noire.
  • Boardgame: 7 Wonders.
  • Dinner & Bar: Blue Smoke.
  • Sports-related: Ilmaveivi.
  • Person of the Year: Stephen Elop.

Previous years listings are also available: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.

2010 in review

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 

General retrospective, in no specific order.

  • Still working for Nokia.
  • Released no new phones, only a couple of SDKs.
  • Still living in Espoo (and commuting without a car).
  • Visited only one new country: Poland (and even that was an unplanned extra leg).
  • Saw fewer movies and live concerts than I planned.
  • Blogged quite a bit.
  • Still busy in Facebook.
  • Less so in Twitter.
  • Quite busy on Gowalla.
  • Less so on Foursquare (and other location-based services).
  • Even less so (pitifully, actually) geocaching/waymarking.
  • Bought an iPad and a new Macbook Pro.
  • Took plenty of photographs.
  • Spent a gloriously good nine days in Japan.
  • Visited Lapland for the first time in wintertime.
  • Didn’t set up the aquarium (actually booted it on account of the bottom plate having cracked).
  • The sequel to Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy was not released.
  • Did some actual therapy projects: chili grew well and the first Rails-project got off to a decent start.

No links.

Previous years’ analyses are also available:
2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004

2010, year in cities

 seasons, travel  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 

Like last year’s list – this is the full disclosure on which cities I slept in (in a bed that is, so the uncomfortable bus ride in Szceczin doesn’t count):

  • Espoo, Finland
  • Vantaa, Finland *
  • Porvoo, Finland
  • Ivalo, Finland
  • Stockholm, Sweden
  • Skara, Sweden
  • Berlin, Germany *
  • Frankfurt, Germany
  • Mainz, Germany
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Kyoto, Japan
  • Osaka, Japan
  • Tokyo, Japan

As usual, an asterisk denotes multiple visits.

Note – that Helsinki is not on the list, nor anything across the Atlantic.

2010, blogwise

 blog, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 
  • Blogs: Just this one, been busy enough with just one.
  • Engine: Still WordPress.
  • Changes: The server move in the summer was a surprisingly involved operation.
  • Entries: 948 (way, way down from last year).
  • Backlog: Quite long.

Previous years analyses also available: 2009.

Best of 2010

 haircut, seasons  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 
  • Album: Live on Lansdowne, Boston, MA by Dropkick Murphys.
  • Song: Raptori’s remake of Tosi Tarttuva Täytebiisi.
  • Concert: Turisas in Nosturi.
  • Movie: Toy Story 3.
  • Book (fiction): Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell.
  • Book (non-fiction): Aitoa Ruokaa by Mats-Eric Nilsson.
  • Television show: Castle.
  • Gadget: iPad.
  • Game: Mass Effect 2.
  • Portable game: Tilt to Live.
  • Webgame: Frontierville.
  • Dinner: Farang.
  • Comic: Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley.
  • Web-comic: XKCD.
  • Sports-related: Spain’s world cup victory.
  • Person of the year: Bradley Manning.
  • Bar: American Bar, once again.

Previous years listings are also available:
2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.

#1 AND #2, that’s quite a catch

 seasons, video games  No Responses »
Dec 152010
 

Alan Wake coverTwo finnish games captured the top positions in Time magazine’s annual list of top videogames.

The fact that Angry Birds is hovering near the top is no surprise, the game’s been everywhere lately and the simple game mechanic is effectively realized on current touchscreen devices.

But Alan Wake at the head of the list is. After all, the game didn’t really evolve from a railroaded single-path adventure. An railroaded run in an exquisitely well-rendered chunk of Pacific Northwest is a railroaded game nonetheless.

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