The Finnish Gambit: 2007.01

25 January 2007

Nokia profits strong this quarter

Spurred by my need for a new Nokia after my previous one didn't make it through the wash, Nokia reported a 19% increase in profits over the same quarter in 2005. If progressively more people wash their phones each year,

Finland will see a multi-billion Euro increase in the size of their economy. Bulgaria is also already helping out Finnish elevator giant Kone by using the devices in hit killings of mob bosses. The Finnish economy is quite strong indeed!

The death penalty, the EU, and the World

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On his first overseas visit as the new UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon indirectly welcomed an initiative within the bloc to push for a global moratorium on the death penalty - in line with Europe's ban.

Italy has been pushing with its temporary seat on the UN security council to start the discussion on an international ban on the use of execution as a criminal punishment. I don't imagine this will go anywhere, but it's a nice thought. The state where I was born, Ohio, executed the 2nd most inmates of all the US states. This EU initiative would be a nice reality, but it's unlikely to get anywhere

23 January 2007

Work

I started back at my job yesterday, made especially fun by the new government regulations concerning passports and travel in the western hemisphere. From the NYT:

Particularly hard-hit by the new rule, effective today, they say, are business travelers trying to obtain a passport on an expedited, last-minute basis.

The last-minute passports are available through regional offices and passport service companies. But industry officials and the passport service companies say the government has greatly reduced the number of applications these companies can submit. In addition, they say the State Department’s appointment system for expedited passports has been so overwhelmed by demand that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to get an appointment in a timely fashion.

Full article: Here

21 January 2007

Some photos

A couple photos from the trip. More will come after I get them from the other guys, and there are others that I didn't put here on my Flickr.

Istanbul

The trenches

Hot dog!

Turkish "coffee"

Sofia synagogue

Nokias don't survive the spin cycle

Apparently Nokia cell phones aren't as reliable as I need them to be. After running over my old phone with the SUV just over 4 years ago I guess I thought it was time to test another phone and see how it would survive. So, I left my phone in my pocket and put the pants in the washing machine. About 10 minutes into the "experiment" I realized what I had done and went and stopped the wash and spun out the water to find the phone. I am rather confident that had I not activated the spin cycle the phone would have survived, but having not known this beforehand I did indeed begin the spin.

Anyway, because of this I lost all of the recent numbers I have gotten that weren't copied to my SIM card (basically, anything post July), so if you think this means you please send along your digits. I'm looking into getting a new phone that's quad band so I won't have to buy a new one when I go to Europe, but I may just get a tri band temporarily and wait for a deal for getting the quad.

Malev

While preparing the other pics and write up, I'd just like to say how impressed I was with Malev Hungarian Airlines (both the trans-Atlantic and within Europe). The prices were amazingly cheap compared to most all other airlines. The food was heaps better than any other airline food I have ever had and (in my opinion, even better) they were extremely generous with the alcohol. The crew was great, the seats more spacious than on any other plane I've ever been on. If it hadn't been for the fog that surrounded Budapest and kept me from making it in town to meet up with Mis the flight experience would've been perfect.