seikatsu

Why go through the hassle of carefully laying out dozens of No Smoking signs as well as ashtrays on tables? Wouldn't this be an either-or decision?

Very unorthodox but tasty addition/replacement to the usual eggs'n'bacon breakfast. Combine your own miso soup from assorted components at Andel's Hotel in Prague. They must really get a lot of japanese tourists.

Boy, this designer has had fun with the wine label. I can just imagine him sitting in front of a fancy Mac and starting with a blank InDesign worksheet. To point out some of the obvious examples of what was twirling in his head around the French Rabbit brand:

• the letters "bb" in brand typography
• still motion hopping on top (powered by methane exhumes from the rabbits, as noted by someone)
• oh, do carrots hop now as well, with enough inertia to bounce off the "o" in chardonnay?
• "bitemarks" into the green area of the package
• the overall choice of TetraPak instead of a glass bottle so that your mom would accidentally buy it for carrot juice

PS: Didn't try it, but was told it was quite drinkable... in the 4-euros-for-a-litre category.

This specimen is cautious enough to wear full body camouflage to steer clear of Andres who hosts him in his old well.

Had an excellent dinner with colleagues at Le Table des Guilloux a bit outside Luxembourg city. As it was quite late on Sunday evening and after two tiring delayed flights, I did not feel like taking written or even mental notes on what exactly we had for food and wine, just enjoyed ourselves. To put it bluntly in the non-gourmet-review language:

• Oysters were the sweetest I've ever had. Almost as if they were caramel filled.
• Asparagus under perfectly lightly crusty white fish (I'm sure it had a beautiful French name) had gone a bit mushy
• Warm cherry dessert of the day stopped any conversation around the table for 15 minutes at least
• The sommelier surprised with both the main and dessert course selections, especially the latter of replacing the too-easy-to-default-to Sauternes with something much lighter and richer in nuances. (I actually wish I did take a picture of that bottle.)

All-in-all I am not quite sure if the place is worth both of the Michelin stars it has. Maybe just Michelin has drifted a bit off course and you always think that multiple stars places need to be somehow cold, formal and clinically exact in what they do. Chef Guilloux' place feels somehow too homely, with a friendly and even a bit casual service with laughing waiters, owner's huge dog laying around and so forth, to be "starred".

VERDICT: definitively worth getting out of the Lux city limits for a very good dinner.

PS: a few more photos.

While waiting for the elevator this morning I noticed that the guys operating the vending machine in our lobby have really gone over the top with making the office a safe environment. Candy or tissues, anyone? How about a three-pack of condoms?

Postimees kirjutas, et valitsus hakkab arutama välistööjõu piirangute vähendamist. Kuigi põhivoolu-meediale omaselt on keeratud jutt Pakistani kokkade ja Karmeruni(?!) kui tööjõuallika peale, et kommentaatoritel oleks mida närida ja eesti rahvuse hukku ennustada, on probleem jätkuvalt olemas ka oluliselt kõrgemalt kvalifitseeritud spetsialistide osas, näiteks IT-s. Kuni me ise ei suuda koolitada, on vaja abi väljast.

Protokollist ei leidnud ma otsuste kohta märki, aga pressikonverentsi stenogrammis midagi siiski oli:

Mall Mälberg, Eesti Raadio
Kas valitsus arutas täna võõrtööjõu sissetoomisega seonduvat?

Andrus Ansip
Me arutasime kabinetinõupidamisel juba teist korda võõrtööjõuga seonduvat ja otsustasime, et vastavad seadusemuudatused esitatakse majandus- ja kommunikatsiooniministeeriumi ja siseministeeriumi poolt 1. novembriks 2007. Hea oleks, kui seadus võiks juba jõustuda 1. jaanuarist 2008. Arvata võib, et päris nii see ei lähe, aga esimese kvartali lõpuks 2008 peaks need seadused ikkagi jõustuma. Suuri muudatusi me võrreldes sellega, mida me pärast eelmist kabinetinõupidamise istungit otsustasime, praegu ei teinud. Otsustasime, et me ei laienda või ei suurenda sisselubatavate inimeste arvu – vormiliselt see arv küll muutub, kuid me kaotame ära igasugused erandid ja kõik Eestis tööle asuvad inimesed käivad siis ühtse limiidi alla. Tööga on edasi mindud ja ma usun, et 1. novembriks on need seadusemuudatused ka juba Riigikogule üle antud.

Seega, näis mis sügis ja talv ja siis kevad toovad. Küll õiges suunas, aga aaaaeeeeeglaaaaseeeelt hekseldab riigiaparaat, aeglaselt. Tolles poliitilises unistuses nimega "teadmistpõhine majandus" tehakse otsuseid tundide, päevade või äärmisel juhul nädalatega. Aasta(d) venitamist lükkavad seda ainult kaugemale.

PS: kahjuks isegi peaminister räägib jätkuvalt võõr- mitte välistööjõust. Ma arvan jätkuvalt, et sellel teemal läbimuuret ei tule enne kui semantika ja mõtteviis muutuvad.

Saul published his slides from the NextWeb conference.

We had a good lunch with him a few months ago on the philosophical topic of supporting the seeding European ventures (and OpenCoffee as one of the tools for that).

I would have loved to hear him on stage of course, but still the deck provides some pointers for further thought or at least some reassurance against the skeptics out there thinking that there is no chance for tech success outside the Valley, or at least not on this side of the pond. There is, watch and see. Or do.

As a follow-up on finding the best phone (for moblogging to narrow the scope), SonyEricsson K800i has now become the #1 choice on Flickr. (Some quite amazing photo samples behind that link as well).

Varasuvi on see kena aeg, mil värske gümnaasiumilõpetaja peab lõpuks tegema mitu valikut, mida ta on muudkui edasi lükanud. Sealhulgas ka see eriti oluline: mida ma oma eluga edasi teen? Kui ma lähen ülikooli siis mis erialale?

Mitte ainult Eestis, vaid kogu maailmas on viimase kümne aastaga süvenenud trend, et ülikoolis erialana reaalainete kasuks otsustajate hulk väheneb iga aastaga. Selles näeb ohtu isegi IT-hiid Hiina, kus aastas lisandub tarkvaratööstusse umbes miljon uut aju ja kätepaari. Täppisteaduse asemele tulevad pehmed ja „lihtsad“ teemad -- ärijuhtimine, juura, sotsioloogia.

Samas näitab mistahes riigi majandusedu lähem uurimine, et teadlaste ja kõige laiemas tähenduses inseneride hulk ühiskonnas on selle läbilöögivõime kaalukeeleks. Eestis on paljuräägitud teadmistepõhise majanduse arengusse panustajaid ehk paar-kolm iga tuhande elaniku kohta. Soomes üle kümne.

Fighting the awful sunburn from Saturday I went to a store with an intent to fetch different liquids in wholesale quantities. That's what water and -- God forbid! -- beer shelves looked like...

Thought 1: how much planning effort would it really take to increase supply of the very basic goods specific for a season?

Though 2: goods that were out were very brand specific. Does the fact that A. LeCoq was out, but plenty of Saku left tell us what consumers love? Or just who's logistics work?

When I read from the papers that 15 policemen specializing on football hooliganism were invited to help Estonian police over the days of the Estonia-England game, I imagined them to be some suits in an office, "consulting" the local officials.

Actually there were the good old black helmets walking in the Old Town Tallinn, stopping by the English supporter groups at open air pubs and chatting with them. Probably they have a bit more experience on how to communicate with a bluecollar bloke from Sheffield after his 8th pint under the belt. Plus the visual effect of merging cultures. Quite a smart trick.

A display in Gatwick Airport, asking readers looking for "Additional flight information" to check "television screens". From the usability viewpoint, this might raise a few questions:

What is the difference of this display to what they refer to as "tv screens"? Way of transmission of displayed data? TV signal over coaxial? Something digital? Doesn't TV do both these days? Or is the difference the way of displaying data? LCD versus CRT? Flat screen versus the old big box (as cathode ray tube might not be in everyone's daily vocabulary)? Don't they do TV-s with both technologies these days? Oh, wait, Television was the thing with moving full screen pictures, CNN & soap operas? So the flight data is somewhere as video? Uhh...

If you don't have anything useful to say on a screen or a sign, just turn it off. Or in this case, maybe show a big arrow facing towards the location of useful screens instead of trying to describe them vaguely.

Airports (even if subway maps are cooler) are a very interesting area for user-friendly design, due to the busy schedules, complicated logistics, mass of very short-term users and -- above all -- overwhelming amount of information on those. Apparently there are about a million web pages talking about "airport signs usability" alone out there.

Landing in Tallinn late last night our plane from London was greeted literally at the door by Nigel Haywood, Her Majesty's Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain to Estonia himself.

He was personally handing out maps of the city as well as brochures on how to stay safe in the Old Town after 67 pints of beer to the England supporters flying in for the Euro 2008 qualifying game between the two countries tonight.

How cool is that?

PS: The Embassy also has some travel guidance online. Just doesn't feel the same, does it?

Reede öösel juhtus nii, et Emajõe ääres läks üks puumaja põlema. Nagu kuhi kuiva heina, esimesel veerandtunnil puude kohale kõrguvaid leeke vaadates ei lootunudki, et sellest midagi alles jääb.

Aga jäi (vaata veel pilte siit: 1, 2, 3). Ja jälgides päästjate tegevust, kes ka kõik inimesed majast elusana välja tõid on mul ainult üks küsimus. Kelle taga nende vendade palgatõus ikkagi seisab?? Profid, müts maha.