Oulu Best (Worst) Buy

The "Handbook For Survival in Finland" authored by Annikki and Jacob Matthan in 1994 after 10 years of research of life in Finland created a "game" to live well in Finland with a nominal salary. The system helped beat yearly inflation every year. This Blog shows how the system is still valid even in 2008!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Reason for excitement

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Many of you have emailed me to ask why I was so excited with the software "Cooliris".

There are many many reasons, but I will highlight the two major ones:

1. There is an old Chinese proverb which says: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
2. You can browse thousands of pictures in a couple of minutes, unlike text.

This is now the era of the photo-journalist. If he / she can succeed in capturing the truly great image that depicts an event and add a single one line caption to it, the number of hits one can get to that image or video, and subsequently the caption and then the text, even if the Google Search result was likely to be on the 50th page, is going to be amazing.

Just search for "Jacob, Oulu" on Google Search and you get 95,800 links. It will take months to through those links.

Search for it on "Cooliris" and see how much more you get and you can get to even the 5000th result in a jiffy!

Don't believe me - take any random name of a friend and see what you get!

Truly amazing results. And, you can go through all those tens and tens of results in a flash.

Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".

You can get motion sickness as you race through the thousands of images.

I tried various search combinations yesterday and was thrilled with the results.

But, when I got up from my office table, I was tottering as my eyes had been working overtime going through this huge bonanza of results.

Yes, there is a reason to be excited, but also a warning that this could seriously affect your brain!

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Rarely am I so excited

Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog, Kooler Talk Blog, CHAFF Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

Rarely am I excited about new computer software. Today I came across one which sent shivers down my spine in what it can do.

I downloaded separate versions for SAFARI, the Mac only browser and for FIREFOX, probably the best browser online presently till Google comes up with its Chrome Browser for the mac.

The software is called "COOLIRIS" and it allows you to see many thousands of images and videos from your computer or the web in the blink of an eye.

My time is so limited that I hardly have time to go through all my pictures on the computer. But here I could see all of them in a 3-D type motion and I could see all the top story pictures before you could say "COOLIRIS"

I suggest you enter "Cooliris" in your Google Search facility and then download the version suitable for your browser.

I found a great video called "Slam Dunk Kitty" amongst the literally thousands that came up as I flew through the selection that came before me.

And you can use this software with Facebook, Google, UTube and also your computer images and videos!

What's the bet that Google will acquire this software - which is absolutely FREE, before the lamb shakes its tail!

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Unbelievably Clean!

(Also posted on Jacob's Blog and the CHAFF Blog.)

A friend of mine had let his mother's apartment to a couple of Finnish students. They behaved badly and hence were ejected.

In the process they had dirtied all the good sofas and carpets.

As my friend was adjusting the rent advance, he asked Kamutaza Tembo, the owner of Taza TMI, a suoer cleaning service in Oulu, to take and dispose all the furniture while at the same time as cleaning up the apartment. (Mobile Phone: TAZA TMI +358 400 596317). Among their many clients, Taza TMI cleans the big electronics stores as Gigantti and Markantalo, Sanifer Scooter Factory, all our furnished apartments in Oulu, a large vehicle repair workshop and they do a splendid job.)

Kamu called me and asked me to pick up the furniture.

Annikki and I went to pick it up in our trailer. When I looked at the sofas and carpets I was ready to write them off and take them to the dumping yard.

Kamu had other ideas.

Yesterday he came to our office where all the furniture was stocked in our trailer.

From Taza TMI

Sofa on the trailer with cleaning equipment in the foreground.

From Taza TMI

Kamu gets to work.

From Taza TMI

With all the skill of a graphic artist,
Kamu ekes out the result, cm by cm.

From Taza TMI

As good as new!


The cleaned carpet:

From Taza TMI


Kamu worked on them with some special equipment .

The cleaning equipment is like a vacuum cleaner, except that it pumps out a fine spray of a non-toxic cleaning fluid onto the surface and then sucks it back again with all the dirt and muck.

I was amazed to see the results he achieved, first on two single seater sofas and then on the three seater. They were as good as new.

Kamu changed the head on the machine and worked on a filthy carpet, restoring it to much of its original beauty.

I would recommend using this service, not only for cleaning sofas and carpets, but also doing a complete cleanout of your car.

The charges are very reasonable.

Cleaning a single seater sofa costs Euro 40, a double seater will cost Euro 60 and a threeseater will cost Euro 80. The cost of cleaning a carpet will be dependent on the size and how dirty the carpet is.

Complete cleaning of a car, seats, dashboard, all carpets, dicky (boot), will cost you about Euro 150. The car will smell as fresh as roses as Kamu uses a fragrance when cleaning cars.

VAT at 22% os applicable. You can claim 60% of the cleaning charges from your taxes, so it is really cheap.

I have no hesitation in recommending this Carpet, Sofa and Car Cleaning Service and its results as an OULU BEST BUY!

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