The new iTunes 4.9 with podcast support is now available. Curious to find out if it supports video podcasts, I downloaded a video enclosure RSS feed and pressed play. The audio played fine, but no image of any kind was visible. The “full screen” button was also greyed out. After some further experimentation I found out that the video can actually be viewed in the “album artwork” window! Very counterintuitive, if you ask me. It is obvious that Apple is slowly but steadily laying the groundwork for a shiny new iTunes Movie shop with a business model similar to the highly succesful iTunes Music shop.
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The forecast promised rainy weather for the night, so I decided to do a little acid test with my Hennessy hammock. I took the train to Nuuksio national park and chose Isoholma area for my camp. I set up the hammock by a nice little pond and it already started to drizzle a bit. I managed to get a campfire going and headed for the hammock as the night began to fall. Soon it started raining harder. To make a long story short, I slept like a baby after some fiddling around with the rain cover and the ropes.
Here are my other discoveries:
- A sleeping pad under the sleeping bag is an absolute must even in the summer. When it slipped away for a moment, I woke up and could immediately feel the cold creeping in.
- If there is wind and rain, the built in rain cover isn’t quite enough unless it is perfectly set and very taut. I used my cycling poncho as an improvised extra rain cover.
- It’s a good idea to set up all your stuff for the night before climbing in the hammock, since it involves a bit of dexterity and acrobatics with the sleeping pad and sleeping bag inside.
- The hammock is great for the back. I have never slept so well outdoors and my back didn’t feel at all sore in the morning as has been the case every time I’ve slept on the ground.
- It’s a good idea to find a spot with natural cover from the rain. Water dropping from the trees isn’t nearly as bad as rain in strong wind.
- When the rainfly is set up really tight and taut, it can make a flapping noise not unlike the sails in a sailboat.
- Clothespins might be a good idea to use for attaching improvised extra canopies/rainflys
- 4 titanium tent stakes would provide more options with the canopy attachment
All in all I was very happy with the way everything worked out although initially I was a bit worried when I climbed in the hammock and it seemed so vulnerable and open to the bad weather.
Check out the photo gallery for details of my rain test set-up.
Here’s an earlier article I wrote about the same subject.
EDIT: I’ve decided to play it safe and get a bigger rainfly. Some of the ultra lightweight tarps I have found include:
Posted by api at 16:13 - No Comments »
In the summer there are not much news to report, so the media bit like a hungry wolfpack on a “power to the blog” human interest story of a customer who received bad service at one of the most legendary restaurants in Helsinki and posted a little note about it on his blog.
I’ve eaten at Lehtovaara once or twice and everything was fine with service on those occasions, but I’m not surprised at all if they have managed to give bad service to a group of people who may have not been in the heart of their desired client profile. What amazes me most is the rather amusing way in which they are trying to bully a dissatisfied client with a laughably vague letter from the attorney’s office. They are not referring to any particular URL on their letter, but simply mention “the insulting story you have published and maintained on the net”.
I suspect that they used the legal services of a son-in-law or some other relative since the attorney’s family name happens to be the same as the restaurant owner’s.
When things go wrong this badly, the restaurant should really hire a professional spin doctor to try and contain the horrible public image damage that they have inadvertently caused with their threats. Unfortunately there are very few such professionals available here, so they have little choice but to apologize profoundly and wait for the storm to pass. I’ll follow the story out of sheer curiousity.
EDIT: The lawyer turned out to be the restaurant owner himself. To be more specific, he was originally demanding 80000 euros in damages for the ruined reputation based on a single blog entry. Here’s an excerpt of his interview by the leading finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat:
- On what basis are you making these demands, lawyer Antero Molander?
“It is based on the fact that someone is knowlingly and malevolently publishing something like this permanently on the net. Obviously it causes damage and obviously it has to be cashed out. We shall not tolerate anything like this”
- May the journalists of mainstream media publish criticism of your services?
“Of course, if they are professionals and if they are made properly. We know what the hidden agenda behind all this is.”
- What is it?
“No comment.”
- Do you know what blogs are?
“No, I really don’t. What are they?”
- They are one of the fastest growing forms of communication on the internet.. a type of digital diary.
“Well, everyone can write their diaries in their own books.”
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I read a couple of issues of Meidän Mökki magazine on our summer cabin trip. An article about solar and wind electric power solutions caught my eye. There is a company called Sunwind in Finland that seems to be the most well known distributor and authority on eco-friendly electricity solutions for summer cabins, sail boats etc.
I’ve been more interested in portable power systems and decided to check if there is anything new happening on that front. Io and behold, the prototype “solar power backpacks” have become actual products since I last looked. Voltaic is making a well thought out package that actually works with low-power devices such as cell phones and mp3 players. O’Neill Europe is making a similar pack with such goodies as built in bluetooth and ipod remote control.
Solio has also generated a lot of buzz with their tiny solar charger device that also contains a built-in battery.
For emergency use, a device called Sidewinder provides you with enough power to make a cell phone call as long as you can wind the little crank.
Another idea I have fondled in the past is to build a hub dynamo based laptop charger on my bike. It would involve too advanced engineering for me, so I’ve buried the project for the time being.
Since Finland is full of timber, one solution for independent power on hiking or cycling trips could be a telluride bismuth based thermo electricity generator. It could be fed with heat from a campfire and slowly turn it into electricity. There have been some field tests in Sweden with technology like that, but it will probably not see daylight as a commercial product for a long, long time.
Posted by api at 11:52 - 1 Comment »
This year we made a traditional Juhannus (summer solstice) cabin trip and burned a big bonfire to celebrate the longest day of the year.
Juhannus: Celebration of Summer
Close to midnight, the darkest hour of the night, which in most places is
not dark at all, the kokko is ceremoniously set on fire. The
spectators express their admiration as the flames roar up to the sky,
ferociously licking the dry wood of the boats while black smoke towers up
from the tar and oil used to render the boats waterproof in their earlier
role. But this role is the most glorious one: assuredly not fireproof,
the burning vessels brighten up the already light midnight sky to the
endless delight of the observers who linger far into the early morning
hours, enjoying the warmth and magic that burning fire somehow conjures up.
Another summer solstice is over, but in Finland it only wakes up the
sleeping winter-worn spirits, and summer comes to life in the land of the
midnight sun.
Another Juhannus tradition is to build a decorated pole not unlike the Christmas tree. We saw these in abundance on our bike trip to Ahvenanmaa last year.
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Earthmovers magazine
If you are thrilled by the sheer power of earthmoving and materials-handling plant and machinery – mighty machinery that can literally move mountains – then EARTHMOVERS is the magazine for you.
There’s never been anything like it before for owners, drivers and enthusiasts. Only EARTHMOVERS captures the excitement of these fantastic machines that literally change the world around us, from the ubiquitous JCB backhoe loader to huge dump trucks capable of hauling tonnes of material over the roughest terrain.
EARTHMOVERS will keep you bang up-to-date with the latest developments in machinery. There will be site tests, buyers’ guides for owners who use older equipment, comparison trials to see how new machines perform compared with their earlier counterparts, plus reviews of working machines used for construction, highways, quarries or agriculture. In fact anywhere the earth is moved!
Posted by api at 10:17 - 2 Comments »
Settlers of Catan is a popular board game that is relatively easy to learn. We played it a few days ago and both of the first timers in that session learned it quite well in just 15 minutes.
Having played it about a dozen times it can get a little repetitive and I was glad to find out that Vivi received a more complicated sequel of Settlers as a dissertation gift. The sequel is called The Settlers of Nürnberg and we plan to try it out during our midsummer night weekend trip.
Quote from the review:
On whole I think The Settlers of Nurnberg is one of the most complex Catan games, on par with Cities & Knights of Catan. However where I found Cities & Knights overdone, I think that The Settlers of Nurnberg forms a much more harmonious whole, with the multitude of systems working together like clockwork.
…The Settlers of Nurnberg definitely offers very solid gameplay and strategy at a level higher than either the original Settlers or Seafarers, and it manages its complexity much better than Cities & Knights. If you’re already an ardent Settlers fan, and would like a bit more complexity, I definitely suggest this game.
If you’ve never played Settlers before, however, unless you’re a die-hard strategist, this is probably a bit much to start off with, and I’d instead suggest the original Settlers of Catan, or one of the really nice standalone variants, particularly The Settlers of Zarahemla.
Posted by api at 16:53 - 3 Comments »
Udumbara is a ceramics company run by a friend of mine. She is specializing in kitchen ceramics and is striving for success with these patent pending wine coolers. I know how hard it can be being self-employed, so I helped her out a bit by redesigning her website.
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It’s been almost 4 years since the transition from our previous currency, markka and most people are still a little bit confused about the prices. I just bought two wok meals at a new fast food joint in Kamppi Center and it was 19,80 euros. That’s about 120 markkas! It could be the same amount of money as in this plastic bag which I took to Bank of Finland’s change office, which will accept to change these defunct coins to euros for another year or two. I bet there are just tons and tons of piggy banks like these hidden in old coat pockets and shoeboxes around the country. I’ll found out how much money there was in this bag in a day or two once they have finished counting it and transferred it to my bank account.
Edit: The total sum was 74,70 euros.. much more than I expected!
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Our friend Sirpa organized a pleasant picnic at Töölönlahti park once again. It’s a popular spot for general sunbathing during lazy summer days. Everybody brought the three essential picnic ingredients: red wine, cheese and bread. One of the guests came to the party on a kayak.
Posted by api at 09:18 - No Comments »
After a couple of years of detours with synthetic fabrics, I’ve come to realize that natural materials (wool, silk) are still vastly superior as core clothing materials compared to any of the new petroleum based fabrics (polyester, polypropylene, lycra, nylon). And don’t get me started on the hard shell Goretex stuff… it’s great for inherently wet activites such as sailing and snowboarding, but not really suitable at all for highly aerobic activities in warm weather.
Ibex is a company that makes very high quality clothes made out of a mixture of wool and synthetic materials. They wool in their custom fabric called Climawool and they have good reasons for it too
As a little gram shaving exercise (and with a little help from that scale that I finally have access to) I did a gear list for +10 … -10 degrees Celsius overnight camping trips:
- Clothing (worn):
- · Vaude underwear (base layer)……62 g
- · Nike Sphere shirt (base layer)……212 g
- · Sugoi Windhibitor soft shell ……540 g
- · Ibex Guide Lite pants ……460 g
- · RED Windstopper skull cap ……31 g
- · Bridgedale Xstatic socks (silver impregnated)……40 g
- · Gloves ……85 g
- · Salomon XA Pro 3d (all purpose shoes, breathable)……724 g
—-
- Clothing (extra):
- Ruskovilla Silkwool shirt (for sleeping) ……200 g
- Ruskovilla Silkwool pants (for sleeping)……132 g
- Lowe midlayer shirt (for camp/pauses)……299 g
—-
- Shelter:
- Hennessy hammock (shelter)……1215 g
- Ajungilak Goose Bay (down sleeping bag, – 15 c) ……1710 g
- Survival pack (knife,fire starting,water purification, whistle etc)……220 g
- First aid kit ……70 g
- Foam pad ……120 g
—-
- Pack:
- Deuter Futura 28 (backpack)……1326 g
—-
- Consumables:
- Water (including bottle)……1595 g
- Food ……800 g
—-
- · Weight worn on body ……1430 g
- Weight in backpack ……8411 g
- Total weight carried ……9841 g
Notes:
Below zero degrees and/or snow: Replace Salomon shoes with Scarpa Sherpa shoes and Sugoi softshell with Dunderdon Outlast jacket.
Above +5 degrees: Replace -15 degrees rated Ajungilak sleeping bag with a summer version.
I’m a gear head, I admit it any time.
EDIT (July 2007): This list is quite outdated by now. Significant changes include: Mountainsmith AT 55 as a backpack, Ibex Chiru hooded climawool jacket as an outer shell (combined with a Haglöfs LIM goretex paclite waterproof shell), a short Thermarest pad, and a Big Agnes Sarvis 1 eVent tent as a shelter. As a cooker I use either a Optimus Crux or a titanium Trangia set with a gas burner.
Posted by api at 00:27 - 3 Comments »
Backpack Safety
Tip:
If the backpack forces the wearer to move forward to carry, it’s overloaded.
I finally found a scale so I could measure the weight of my backpacks.
I already have three backpacks, but none of them are perfect for all of my trips. I have a little Deuter Bike 22 liter bag (622 grams), a small Tatonka backpack (891 grams) and a Deuter AirComfort Futura 28 (1326 grams)
I usually use a light fabric suitcase and the Tatonka backpack as my general holiday cargo carriers. The suitcase isn’t that comfortable for carrying anything but short distances. The bigger Deuter backpack is fine for non-flight travelling, but I can’t check it in at airports due to many carrying straps and harness.
Not owning a car, I really like backpacks and I’ve been looking at Osprey’s departure travel bag (3540 grams) as a universal replacement for all my other packs, but the problem is that it wouldn’t work well as a camping and hiking backpack.
As a ultralight hiking pack my short list has pretty much boiled down to:
None of these would work well as a global urban travel pack though. I’m looking at a total carry weight of about 6-12 kg for hiking purposes and about 8-20 kg for flight travel purposes. Choices, choices…
Posted by api at 11:52 - No Comments »
Suomenlinna
Located on islands off Helsinki, Suomenlinna is a unique historical monument and one of the largest maritime fortresses in the world. Its history is closely entwined with that of Finland and the Baltic region. Helsinki can also thank Suomenlinna for its early growth and prosperity.
We took our german guest Natascha on a little boat trip to Suomenlinna sea fortress today. The sun was shining, the fish were almost jumping and we had a good, relaxing time. My father lived his childhood in Suomenlinna and I lived there for one summer myself. It’s a real Eldorado for many people and the ones who have managed to get a home there are the lucky ones.
Posted by api at 22:44 - 3 Comments »
I’ve visited only two vegetarian restaurants in Helsinki. One of them is Zucchini which is just a few blocks away so I visit it quite frequently for lunch. They have a single choice for lunch (8 euro) and an optional soup which costs only 1 euro, so I usually take the soup as well. The picture above is of a typical example of a portion you get at Zucchini. Around lunch time this lively restaurant is usually filled up with workers from the many bank offices that surround it, but there is quite a bit of other regulars as well. The food is good and I like the atmosphere well enough to keep going there.
Another restaurant called Vege is on Uudenmaankatu. I’ve been there only once, but it was a nice place as well. A lot bigger and the atmosphere is more airy with more ambient light etc. The third place is called Silvoplee. It’s run by a semi-celebrity turned all new age and vegan.
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Pontifex – Bridge construction set
In The Bridge Construction Set, Building a bridge that doesn’t break is what its all about, although watching your bridge creation break and plunge a train into the watery depths below can be half the fun. In the Bridge Construction Set you design and build bridges and then stress test them to see how your creations hold up under pressure. When test vehicles pass over your bridge and make it safely across you know you’ve succeeded. If they plummet into the river you know you need to go back to the drawing board.
Pontifex is an interesting bridge building computer game. There is a free demo available which can be rather refreshing, if you have any engineer genes at all. With all the advances in physics engines in computer games in recent years, I’m surprised that there are only a few simulator/construction type games available that deal with the actual physical construction challenges. The Railroad Tycoon type games that are quite popular usually emphasise the economical aspects and resource management.
My friend Juri just returned from the WWDC 2005 Apple Developer conference held in San Francisco and brought me a Mag-X magnetic construction set from the Exploratorium shop. I spent the morning building little bridges on my desk with it.
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