On the road

Lapin Kansa just wrote that "Peltipoliisi jäätyi pakkasessa". They are adding heating into these automatic surveillance boxes.. :D

*21/02/07*
Yesterday I drowe to Oulu and back. On the way there was time to think.
Generally I think that road users have been forgotten in what we call user centered design.

Think about the traffic signs. What makes it so sure that you can see every single one of those?
You might be passing somebody or looking at the traffic.
In the city it might be impossible to see the signs placed in the crossings, where you would need to look up and right - a place where there isn't any of the pedestrians or other crucial elements of making the turn. The reason for this idea comes from the contradiction of usingautomated traffic controlling (see earlier post), while the road user still has to monitor the speed limits manually.
A great thing about these speedtraps in north is though that they are most of the time unusable because of the snow ;)

Another idea which came to my mind came up when I drowe through 'game-fence' that tries to keep moose and other animals away from the road. -Both ends of this fence are dangerous because game try to go over the road, and they will do it at the end of the fence. At dark, roads are lit, but it wouldn't be a big effort to place some extra lightning at the ends of the fence.

Other sights along the way

Suunto X6HRM is a really nice wrist computer, but has a really crappy plastic strap to attach it with. There's no hint of that metallic, almighty feeling the titanium watch is othervice giving.

The chrome version of the same watch is also really nice, and it actually has strap made of real leather! -Really neat, but I wonder if I would like to use it in shower and while swimming like I use mine nowadays.

Another thing which I really don't get is why both Polar and Suunto are using those both-sided buckles as in the picture. It is somehow managable in men's watches, but in women's watches the buckles are so small that you really have to struggle to get it done and undone.


Really nice and funny shoes from El Naturalista. Notice the imaginative soles :D








The last picture is just for those for whom I have praised the rear window of Opel Astra.

Cold

*edit*
Remember, driving without your hands with a bicycle is an obligatory thing to survive (and keep your fingers warm) in Rovaniemi..
-Darn it was cold!

Foreigners often ask me while staying abroad that why is it that I'm feeling so cold.. -My respons usually is that it is a matter of evolution. Such scandinavians that thought they could resist cold weather without a proper clothing or shelter -they just vanished..

Dizewars

Pertti introduced me a great game - unfortunately..
Dizewars it is.

Product complaints

Poor customer service stays in your mind for a long time, especially in case of defected product.

Couple of years ago Rovaniemi Telemark-skiers bought some 35 goretex suits as tailor made from Terinit, a finnish sportswear manufacturer. Promptly after receiving the jacket I commented to Terinit that they have a major flaw in their product.
-The velcros had been sewed on wrong sides. Sticky side on the fold and the soft side facing outwards. This resulting most of the undergarments getting spoiled by the sticky side. And also the hood is constantly stuck in some wrong place. This because the velcros on the hood are sawn as they should be.
They didn't comment in any way, which was one way to handle the situation. In case of commenting they probably would have been forced to repair them. -This time they only lost an customer.

Putin and G8

Putin starts to gain some respect from me. On this days G8 meeting he talked about what's the sense in creating a monopolar world. Without anybody to resist US.
And a fine comment was 'there's no need for democracy lessons from somebody who doesn't really know so much about it..'

Shower faucets

*edit*
I got my study-room back in order and started to rehabilitate my sketching by wacom.










02/07/06














Why are shower faucets made in a way that when you close the tap, water gets trapped into the hose?
A research acclaimed that the biggest problem for the shower users was avoiding cold water, that comes before it is in optimum temperature. -And it happens every time you take a shower..

I would like to make a such tap the water from the hose runs out after I close the tap. Or you could empty the hose by pushing the lever a little more down while closing it.

Levitaatio 2007

*edit*
Sculpting accomplished. Despite our ambitious plan, we accomplished it quite reasonably. It gave a light impression, got load's of positive feedback and was fun to make. Thanks for everybody :)

This year there was a serious attempt to rise the competition to the level where it should be. But really important thing is now that all the comments should be saved for the next years organisers. And for helping in that you can insert your comments on this post.
What was talked:
-Presentation of plans at he same time as the teams are being presented.
-In the price giving ceremony, a slideshow showing the piece which jury is giving comments about.
-This year the commenting of the jury was Really good and covering.
-The quality of the cubes is not consistent. To improve the quality of sculptures, the snow has to be cleaner.
-The hosting was better than in years, there was a vision of how it should look for the audience. Thanks Tommi :)
-It's a pity that after the official activities the bar tends to get empty, maybe a better drink-sponsorship with the bar could help.
- ...
Lets continue in the comments, shall we ;)


13/01/07
After two weeks there will be the annual Levitaatio snow sculpting competition in Levi. Levitaatio is arranged by TOMU ry. (union for Industrial Design students in Rovaniemi)

Our team (me, Joonas, Noora, Mikko and Ulla) will be participating with the piece called 'Penquins in paradise?' The idea comes from the worry over global warming.

Power plug of the motor heater

Yesterday evening -already dark- I tried to attach the connector of the motor heater into it's tiny hole. Basicly I like things getting smaller, but in case of these jacks, I'm not sure if it was right direction.

-There could be some mapping done, or at least guides to make it connect smoothly. It's asymmetric enought to give you trouble, but not enought to help you. Even the cap has to be attached in certain direction..

Today our visiting lecturer Juha Kosonen told an experience about same topic. Instead of guiding, he was amazed that why isn't there already cables with a built in led at the end of the cable.!
-How creat can it be. Good market for the spareparts dealers and no need to make expensive changes to the othervice crappy system.

Elisa 3G coverage

19/03/07 Some more editing, also shortened the original story:
Saunalahti and Elisa answered to the complaints. Elisa mailed on 7th and Saunalahti on 12th. The remedy isn't a fast in any way, but they say that it will change in 12 months..
-I probably graduated by then ;)


12/01/07
I was trying to get a knowledge if Elisa should have coverage on a 3G network in University area. This because Sonera has a perfect coverage, and I wouldn't want to change away my current connection.

.... Based on a map for 3G coverage on Rovaniemi. There should be coverage at university area and even further.

But I have to disagree with the map. There's no such coverage around university. -I made an complaint to Elisa, lets see how they will reply.

Gifts

I just got home from Nordea's customer evening. On the door I had to say no for a blue sports-bottle, which they tried to give as a businnes gift.
I usually try to avoid taking presents, unless I find them usefull. There is so big amounts of totally unnescessary objects being manufactured, transported, kept in the closets and finally thrown away. -And the only effect these objects accomplish is that they cause problems for their owner in means of storing and managing amount of unnescessary stuff.

The same thing happens every christmas. After the holidays people arrive back to their homes with several plastic bags of junk. Something which somebody else has thought you might want to place to some important place of your home.
Normally, any person buying two plastic bags of junk just for the fun of buying, would be considered sick, but at christmas time it seems to be obligated..

-Please, don't buy me anything just because you would feel obligated. Or if you still do, make it a bottle of Nugan redwine.

Guantanamo and Low carbon economy

UN's new prime secretary Ban Ki Moon demands US to close their prison camp in Guantanamo.

It's been working five years and US doesn't give POW-rights to the prisoners nor are they accusing the prisoners of any crimes that could be solved in civil court. On top of this, the conditions on the camp seem to be really inhuman.
-It's really unbelievable that US has been able to keep the camp without international pressure.
Hopefully now situation changes.
MTV3


Another good news was when Jose Manuel Barroso, President for european commission declared package for European unions energy policy."The objective of the package is clear: to accelerate the change of Europe to a low carbon economy"
Planet Ark
-At the moment Europe might be the only continent where some real action against the global warming can be done. US. is too concerned about their internal politics to mind with this kind of matters and evolving countries do not care because they want the wealth they have wanted for so long.