Anyone living in an older house with a disused fireplace can consider turning it into an energy battery with an electric heating element. A smart switch to turn it on when indoor temp is below comfort and electricity price approaches zero, for example autumn and winter high wind days.

I think everyone should be required to play Railroad Tycoon (1990). In just a couple of attempts you will learn, for life, why allowing mergers to result in practical monopolies is bad. Borrow money, buy competitors, raise ticket prices == win every time.

During next winter I will be running an experiment at our Finnish house, which is only visited occasionally by my parents. We have a 1250 kg reserving fireplace which I’ll equip with a 1 kw electric heater with a smart switch: reserve cheap energy as heat, release slowly when price hikes.

A quick pop into Stockholm with kids and my parents over the weekend, a cruise from Helsinki. First time in Gröna Lund amusement park for me in about 35 years! Heja Sverige 🇸🇪

Hanging around with my main man Karl Johan of Sweden.

Again, I find myself in Turku.

The letters.

Finland 🇫🇮 Sinuhe - The Egyptian, is a historical novel by Mika Waltari. It was first published in Finnish in 1945. So far only Finnish book ever to be converted to a Hollywood movie, in 1954.

Some family portraits age better than others.

That article is from October 2023. Worth reading in detail: essentially every prediction in it for 2030 is reality today. Solar power adoption is exceeding all forecasts as well as our ability to track it.

My not-so-little-anymore girl riding a stallion for the first time. It’s going to be an important year for her, as she will now start working towards a competitive license in show jumping!

Enjoying the Finnish nature (and the Everyone’s Rights to enjoy said nature) with Ritu and my younger daughter, today.

It’s a decent analysis but doesn’t really address the structural problem that increases in quality come at logarithmic increases in cost. The ROI horizon then becomes a receding mirage. “We don’t know” sound a lot like a hedge for a16z

I’ll take your word for that. My history with tesla doesn’t got that far back. I do have also an emergency window hammer & seatbelt cutters in the front and at the back. But these I already had in my old Passat; if the frame of the car is twisted any door can be jammed.

Post a random photo of something

But of course.

Nostalgia! Recently I asked for some advice here regarding board games. I was about to follow up on some of the recommendations I received, but once at the store I discovered Talisman has a new edition out! I used to play this game in the early nineties, so guess what: nostalgia wins! #boardgame

I had a somewhat eccentric high school writing teacher, Mr. Saarniemi, who was in a habit of making outrageous statements, such as claiming to be partially overlapping reincarnation of Jim Morrison. RIP, both of them.

Quick lunch in a cafe made up of, I believe, old restaurant train cart furnishes. There were a couple of really delish toast skagens, which went the way of the dodo of so quick. #Turku

I was just thinking the same 😂 For anyone trying to understand what’s going on, and would like to learn and be entertained by excellent writing, I recommend Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Okay, perhaps you are correct here and I’m reading too much to it. But I will say this is an existential problem to the entire fossil fuel lobby:

I’m reading May/June Foreign Affairs, specifically (arguable outdated already) analysis on the War in Iran. So far the single most blatantly propagandist “analysis” is summarized in this sentence: “This was never a conflict of choice.” The bar is not high.

I recently posted that perhaps one way to look at the AI boom is to see it as the last death rattle of the fossil fuel industry, grasping for power. Perhaps this is more than just a curious thought. The US fossil investments, mostly driven by AI lobby, make no sense whatsoever.

Good night all from Turku, Finland. There’s something about rivers which makes me feel good and relaxed.

I think it’s still a rather clumsy and expensive solution to anything, and a Really Big Target in any case. I’m personally more a fan of unconventional ad-hoc landing strips.

Late June lake water temp in Finland is one degree higher than Aegean Sea in February… 😅

Cuba Libre bar in Košice, Slovakia 🇸🇰

I’ve started listening to Pancevski’s Nord Stream Conspiracy. The early recap of the German energy political capitulation to Russia offered no new information, but makes for a rather sad recap of a recent geopolitical failure.

So Chinese sources are saying the iconic oil tank explosion was a result of a Russian missile hitting it, not an Ukrainian drone. The curious thing here is that Chinese media is reporting this; is Xi getting fed up with Putin’s incompetence?

One thought appeared: Besides high speed chargers I would love to see slow chargers (which tend to have significantly lower cost per kWh) at 24/7 service stations on major highways. Would provide a cost efficient overnight charge for someone like me. But maybe it’s fringe.