Kas. Last.fm:n suosituskone tiesi äsken kertoa että raivomelankolisen örinäprogen mestaribändi Opeth saapuu Kaapelitehtaalle 15 joulukuuta.

Kuka tulee mukaan? Joulu tulee aikaisin

I have one ticket to sell for tomorrow’s Flogging Molly gig at Tavastia. And it isn’t mine (this time ;)). Mail me or post a comment.

Jag har en extra biljett till salu för morgondagens Flogging Molly-keikka på Tavastia. Kontakta mej.

Minulla olisi myytävänä lippu huomisen (6.5) Flogging Molly-keikalle Tavastialle. Heitä mailia tai tekstari, tai jätä kommentti.

It was only towards the very end of my academic “career” that i discovered how fun technical articles are. Esteemed researchers — and wannabes — write the latest in technological innovation for the world to see. And since i had the “study right” at the school, i had free (gratis) access to these articles.

However, there are a few mighty organizations that make money on distributing these articles. And while there’s nothing immoral of making money (to a certain degree), from my perspective, this sucks. I’m not going to pay US$35 a pop.

I’ve got an account at the student union Teknologföreningen’s machine mask. When making an ssh connection to mask, i was allowed to set up an ssh tunnel to the school’s web proxy, and through it, gain gratis access to ACM and IEEEexplore. However, due to how the school has decided that student unions and the like shall not be part of the school’s network, i now don’t have access to the proxy. And it bugs me to pieces.

Is the only way to regain article access to become a postgrad student?

The First Evah Ignite event in Helsinki. 22^nd of February. Yow. Be there (unlike me who has to take care of the kids while my wife does a night shift just that night damnit).

Ignite is a series of talks on stuff that would enthuse a roomful of Internet junkies. Geeks. Not necessarily network geeks or computer geeks, but geeks in the “old sense” of the word hacker: somebody who’s wildly enthusiastic about something. Like chocolate. Or knitting. Or birds, aeroplanes, computers, trains, time management, body hacking, life hacking, anything. It’s a (usually) free event, with access to a bar and a stage. And here’s the twist. Each talk is five minutes long. No more, no less. You have a set of slides, which automatically roll at fifteen seconds each. This keeps the format tight and the tempo up. No mercy.

Here are some videos from previous Ignites. It’s really quite something. And yet an event i’m going to miss, but at least i want you not to.

80% pääkaupunkiseudun pastansyöjistä asuu Lauttasaaressa tai kokee sen henkiseksi kodikseen. Onhan sen nimi sentään Durumsö.

– Harri Niemi, Radio Helsingin Aamu Punavuoressa

The good news (actually, the incredible news) are: Porcupine Tree is coming to Helsinki! [0] [via]

The other good news is that i’ve just bought two of the very few remaining tickets.

If you don’t want to feel left out, get yours now. Here today, gone tomorrow.

A picture of mine has ended up on the Schmaps page for Kluuvi. The Schmapps folks were nice enough to actually ask for permission before using the CC-licensed picture of mine to what they call a non-commercial operation (which of course it isn’t but the users aren’t paying anything so they say it’s non-commercial anyway — but hey, i sell my soul for publicity).

The picture ended up on the Shopping page re Kluuvi, which is slightly ironic since while the sculpture in the picture indeed is from the Kluuvi area (at least the GSM positioning software claimed so), it is by no means in the shopping district of Kluuvi but rather in the outskirts of it. Interested tourists should take a look at the position data of the picture available at the picture’s page on Flickr.

Det är nog bara på Radio Helsinki som någon kan spela först hela Shine on you crazy diamond, och sen Wish you were here en lördag morgon. Just nu. Tack till Uuge Kojola. Du är mannen.

Firefighter Barry Mcconaghey asked me if i would publish my pictures from the Makasiinit fire on FireFightingNews.com. They’re in the publishing queue now.

Truth is that there are many makasiinit-picture more interesting than mine on Flickr…

Update: I’m live! Unfortunately they didn’t print my submitted text but rather lifted some from the YLE24 News Site (and left out some background info). But still, it’s fun to be published :).

The left-out background info is that VR Makasiinit (The Railway warehouses) have long been a centre of independent, free and underground culture (and home to a rather nice fleamarket). The Makasiinit have been doomed for demolition for ages to make space for a music house (for a more elite kind of culture — hence the clashing). The tearing down was supposed to begin on Monday, but somebody got there first. There was a smaller riot, including fire, riot police and throwing stones on firemen a week ago, probably instigated by the same bunch of troublemakers that have occupied a bunch of other Helsinki buildings in the past.

While i do not condone burning up stuff like that (and especially not throwing stones and obstructing the fire brigade), i do declare that the Makasiinit got a burial worthy of its status.

Rest in peaces.

Det var en konstig känsla att se lågorna förtära VR:s magasin. Så länge har det varit tal om att de ska rivas. Så många gånger har jag gått förbi dem när jag vädrat på ungarna, eller varit där inne på lopptorg eller rentav något evenemang.

Nu är det slut.

Magasinen har fått sej en begravning som heter duga, inför ögonen på tusen och åter tusen ögonpar. Vid lite närmare tanke så är det just såhär som Magasinens historia borde ha tagit slut. Med en sista absurd men konstnärlig förestälning. A bang, not a whimper. Helsingfors stad skulle aldrig själv hittat på ett bättre slut.

In memoriam, Magasinen. Ajö ajö. Bilder finns ren på Flickr (en del postade live från branden… ja si nutiden, den nutiden)