At first I passed by the photo of the fat man throwing punches and thought it was just an awesome anomaly, and then I saw there were more artsy boxes throughout Helsinki. I couldn’t find any online info on it, but my friend Tiina translated the labels and it’s some kind of partnership between the energy company and an art organization to turn those drab gray electric boxes into public art canvases. Neat!

A New York Times graphic tallying the number of times the Democrats and Republicans used particular words during their conventions.

Helsinki is 7 hours ahead of NYC, but that didn’t stop me from staying up until five in the morning to frustratingly watch the RNC. If they’re going to boo Obama for not calling the war  a “victory” and for ensuring all people are read their rights, well I don’t know what to say. Democrats referred to McCain by his name more than Republicans referred to Obama by name. Instead, they just called him “our opponent” which reminded me of the way creepy governments depersonalize “the enemy.”

Whoever wrote the graphic caption seems to be a Republican and said that “Republicans talked about reform far more frequently than the Democrats” - hmm yes they said “reform” 22 to 6, but the Democrats said “change” 89 to 30… Maybe this word focus isn’t such a good way to gage anything… but I would like to know how many times the Republicans said, “we need to drill, drill, drill!”

Free-standing bikes on a street in Helsinki. I’ve heard a lot of comparisons between Finland and Japan as far as design and demeanor, and here’s another - lack of bike theft.

I’m in Helsinki right now blinking hard at the signs and learning that Finnish people don’tbelieveinspaces. The words are real smack-downs that go on and on and my brain needs to take breaths before finishing them. Now I’m realizing that your native language makes you think in certain ways and rhythms. As I’m ready to grasp a dominant syllable, the letters keep going, it all turns into soup, and I feel like I need to sit down and rest for a moment ha…

The other day I hung out with my friend Jesse Shapins, who co-created the cool personal-story-sharing-through-mobile-technology public art project Yellow Arrow, which inspired my local-history-sharing-through-mobile-technology public art project Cripplebush Ghost Tour. He’s currently getting his PhD in History and Theory of Urbanism and Film and Visual Studies at Harvard and just finished teaching an interesting course at Columbia called Critical Urban Media Arts. Students combined urban theory, social media, and psychogeography to create SMS-based walking tours of specific areas in NYC. Another cool way of using cell phones to share experiences and explore the city!

In Japan bikes are parked without bike racks. A small chain is usually wrapped around the wheel and body; otherwise, they stand fancy-free… this is how trustworthy it is here. Sadly, you don’t see this in NYC, where someone would probably pick your bike up and walk away with it like it’s their job ha. And in Johannesburg, your bike would probably get stolen while you were still on it…