Dear world,

Jimmy didn’t do it. He didn’t steal those billions of dollars. Trust me, I know. I am his grandmother and he was with me that whole week a couple of years ago because I had a sore throat and I needed love and attention. That and Jimmy’s special tea with honey. That usually cures any sore throat in just 24 hours. That time, however, it took me a whole week to get better.

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NEW YORK – It was worth the hype. Just two days after its launch, “2012”, the latest version of Year, a life experience interface, has collected over seven billion users, making it the most popular Year in history.

Year has managed to add new users in most of its existing markets, a feat not many analysts thought was going to be possible. Also, while Year has dominated the global marketplace, it hasn’t always been embraced by the Chinese, leaving one of the biggest markets untapped, but “2012” seems to have broken that barrier.

The new Year is built on the same platform as the previous version, the “2011”, but users now can make slight modifications, such as opt for better nutritional and workout habits, a feature that the 2011 also initially had, but that disappeared mysteriously in early February in what is suspected to be an attack by the Anonymous.

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Number one!



July 9, 2010 » Interlude


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A little linguistical joke there with the headline. See, "seis" is number six in Spanish, but it also means "stop" in Finnish. And, so, I thought ... well, you get it.

Counting down to Christmas here, peeking behind number 6.


March 23, 2010 » Open Letter to the Renovation Guys
Gentlemen,
Welcome back to our humble home. It’s not always this humble, but ever since the tiny water damage in the upstairs bathroom, we’ve had to make some adjustments.

Click here for full story.

“Great athletes never have lousy names. If your name is Frederico Trepalano, you are not going to be a great ballplayer. Michael Jordan is a great name. Easy to remember. Seven letters and six letters. Usually, if they combine to thirteen, they're good names. I'm into numbers.”
– Larry King, Esquire, August 2010

Easy for Larry to say, isn’t it? Larry King is the perfect name, nine letters and all. The “L” kicks it off nicely, then there’s wide, American “arr” that makes your face really work, the “y” ties the “arr” to the hard “K” perfectly, with the ringing “ing” as a radio stinger, leaving audio ripples in the air, a pause that you don’t want to break when you hear the name so you just sit there, in awe.

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So, what's going on here? Write your suggestion in the comments section.

The 117-year-old star in character, Vanity Fair style:

Matti Vanhanen sits in his kitchen and makes coffee. It’s early, the clock’s not yet six, but Vanhanen has already been up for a good half hour. He’s showered, and fed the few animals he keeps on his farm. Four cows, a few pigs, and a camel.

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Happy New Year ... and remember these words: A new law »

Where I live, honking is a lost art. I’m not going to tell you where I live, out of paranoia, but I will tell you that it’s getting pretty dark pretty early around here these days. And that people are polite and fairly quiet, and don’t wave their arms and hands when talking.

That’s why honking is often interpreted as something hostile, like a rude gesture, or a shove in the back. An elbow to the ribs in a crowded elevator.

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Beatles’ lost tweets uncovered

LIVERPOOL – Jimmy Sutton, Chief Support Engineer at Clean-IT Ltd in Liverpool, England, recently made a discovery that changed his life. Called in to repair damage after a networking company’s server crash, Mr. Sutton discovered a compressed file, apparently not accessed in decades, and containing hundreds – maybe thousands – of Twitter messages.

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Oh, to have the power of the sports execs.

Lost and found:

Relax. Take it easy. Put your feet up and enjoy. NHL Bloopers.

Here's the link. The embedded version was annoying some very important people.

Here's another one from nhl.com. I'll file it under "lighter side".

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My son is working on a magazine of his own, and you know what? I made the cover! We had the photo shoot last night. Here's the cover shot:


Having seen that, I must say that I am a little curious to see what he did with the interview.

My name is Risto Pakarinen, and I'm a freelance journalist. A mid-evil mercenary. Judging from all the emails I get every day, many of you dream of being freelancers, too. "How did you get your very own blog?" people ask me. Well, let me tell you.

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A local businessman was stunned to realize the meeting he attended at lunchtime required no input from him whatsoever.

"I think this proves one of the oldest economic theories wrong. There is such a thing as free lunch," Kenneth Adam, CFO, said. "I just had one."

The meeting with a local tax consultant was arranged by Mr. Adam's PA.

"I did nothing but eat: my PA fixed it all, I didn't buy anything, and I was totally texting with my buddies all through the lunch, like I always do. I'll even bill somebody for my time," he said.

"Frankly, when my business school professor said there was no such thing as free lunch, I believed him. This is mind-boggling."

AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini misses the next Champions League match, a quarterfinal game against Bayern München, for disciplinary reasons, the club announced today.

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David Beckham, former England captain, announced today the acquisition of the English national team. “There’ll be some changes,” Mr. Beckham said at the press conference.

The terms of the contract were not disclosed, but according to our sources, Beckham is said to have paid 200 billion pounds for exclusive control of the national team for three years.

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I'm in Finland for the Finnish Custom Publishing Day, and staying at a hotel. Every time I eat alone in a restaurant - and that happens regularly on my numerous visits to the old country - I think about this movie: Steve Martin, The Lonely Guy.


No spotlights on me tonight, though.

Weird Al gone bad. Well, no, he did "Bad" a long time ago. Here he is, white and nerdy.



Lyrics after the jump.

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This hilarious silent movie version of Star Wars off of BoingBoing:

This is a blog entry I wrote for the NHL Blog Central, but, well, I know that not everybody visits nhl.com every day like I do. So, here it is.

A Swedish newspaper reported that the NHL is in talks with Jerry Bruckheimer about having the Hollywood blockbuster producer bring some marketing spark to the league operations. Bruckheimer’s movies have grossed over 10 billion dollars, so the man sure knows how to get some butts in the (movie) seats.

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circa 1985



Yes, I file this under "humor." Spede, the star of the video, was a comic genius, but in English, this is funny on yet another level.