ive about 8000 exported sms messages sitting on a hard drive in .vmg format (the format one gets when exporting sms from nokia pc suite). ive almost given up in being able to view those files in any decent format (like somethin close to the style of ichat or gmail)

in the mean time i have been using gysnc to sync the sms messages on my phone to that of my gmail account. every day it sends the messages to my gmail account and a message and the corresponding replies become a gmail conversation. fantastic stuff. the only shame is that plus nokia pc suite doesnt allow one to import the exported .vmg files back into the inbox or sent folder on your phone (only the useless “draft” folder).

it really is odd to think of the number of text messages out there, plus the number of .vmg files out there that there isnt a better way to take all those old messages and make them properly viewable. one application (abc amber nokia converter) just converts them - not maintaining any of the conversational context of the messages.

“the big dig will start in about 2 years time, the city centre will be dug up with the new metro and luas lines”

said by frank fahey (member of the irish parliament and head of the transport committee) on today fm (i heard it through the rail users ireland podcast). the phrase “the big dig” scared me, the history of tunnelling in dublin scares me as well as the thought that frank probably thinks that doing anything is better than doing nothing or putting thought into what is done before doing it.

a long planned tunnel underneath helsinki city centre looks unlikely now to be built because of a change of heart of one of the main parties in the helsinki city council. i wonder if audible gasps were heard from members of the other parties when the decision was announced yesterday.

the tunnel was due to cost about 500million euros and would have stretched from ruoholahti to the west of the city and go to just north of sörnäinen.

helsinki city planning department: central tunnel website (in finnish)
helsingin sanomat: proposed helsinki tunnel unlikely to be built (in english)
also an anti-tunnel site by activists: keskustatunneli.fi

at the same time there is some doubt about the metro extention westwards to espoo - rising costs (going from 430million euros to 800million euros). hopefully now that the central tunnel has been (most likely) cancelled resources can be put into the metro extension. (yle.fi story).

there was a story in helsingin sanomat a while back about the high rates of lone drivers in cars coming from espoo to helsinki.

one of my favourite photos.

best three seconds in movie history.

also: who is he?