Menstrual cramps? Have a paeonia

As I've updated the description of the blog and my presentation etc., I contemplated the name of the blog I once chose. I still think the peony reflects who I am but I got curious about the role of it so I decided to look into it. And it turns out that - as is often the case with flowers - the function of the paeonia has not been restricted to being a fair decoration, hair accessory or perfume. In Japan, peony root was used as a treatment for menstrual cramps, asthma and convulsions.

A bit of googling lets me know that peony root also releaves: jaundice, kidney & bladder problems, gout, asthma with cramps, and epilepsy. Furthermore, The Peony Formula which includes peony is believed to be one of the classic psychospiritual formulas first mentioned in the Imperial Grace Formulary of the Tai Ping Era. This formula "releases constraints and encourages the free-flow of Liver qi, allowing for open-mindedness and a free or rambling spirit." I like that!

Also: it is commonly used for irregular menstruation, PMS, breast distention and lumps, leukorrhea, menopausal disorders, uterine bleeding and chronic hepatitis.

39 beautiful, brave, bruised and battered women

I'm going to Åbo, the city where I studied and lived for 6 years, tomorrow. I'm returning my key to the local office of National Women's Line in Finland. I used to do volunteer work there, supporting women facing domestic violence who called our help-line. Numerous are the nights I've thought about the stories I've been told and the women telling them. Sometimes I've wondered how I can help them getting away from a life with an ultra fine line between love and pure rage, from limited life space, control and violence way, way beond my comprehension. I often realized though that once she, often all battered and bruised, finally dared make the phone call to the hot line (four out of ten women never ever tell anybody what they're exposed to), a non-judging, caring and listening human being did wonders.

Numerous are also the nights I've thought about what's inside the head of someone, who feels that a woman is something you own and is to be controlled. Where would someone get the idea that it's ok to hit her or hurt her verbally? To rob her her freedom, her selfesteem and individuality, and completely disempower someone?

As I've moved away from Åbo, and thus not working for the Women's Line anymore, I'm turning in my key. And in Vasa where I live today, there are no such voluntary movement or organization helping and supporting women experiencing violence. It's truly itching inside as I still want to contribute to this enormous global social problem, but my channels are quite limited! I've noticed that I talk about domestic violence a lot more nowadays, perhaps that's my unconscious way of doing my share.

The government is also trying to do something about the profound problem. A proposition (in Finnish here) for a national program for reducing violence in Finland was just put forward. According to the report, the Finns are not more violent than others but significantly more die due to violence here than elsewhere in Europe. Between the years 1999-2003 134 Finns died due to violence, which equates 2,6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The average in EU is 1,3 per 100,000.

As for violence directed at women, 39 women were killed every year 1999-2003 as a direct consequence of violence. Often by their boyfriends, husbands or exes. This equates 1,4 deceased per 100,000 women in Finland, where as the same figure for the EU is 0,75. Sad, so sad, figures. We have such a long way to go. Such a long way.

Tar and feathers

A one of a kind law suit has been filed in Finland and the outcome of it will be interesting. Five seriously ill Finns are suing the two tobacco giants Philip Morris and BAT for misleading consumers over so-called light cigarettes. They feel that the tobacco companies lied and didn't acknowledge the potential health hazards of these cigarettes. According to the Cancer Society in Finland, even health experts recommended the light cigarettes to the Finnish smokers in the 1970's.

So far, 20482 persons thank Poland

So far, 20482 persons have decided to thank Poland, and especially Wlodzimierz Marcinski who is Poland's undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Science and Information Technology, for withdrawing the The EU's controversial directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (COM 2002/0047 (COD)). About two and a half weeks ago, the directive was due to be formally adopted without discussion (as a so called A-item) at the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Commission but Marcinski put a stop to this fishy way of decision making.

You can still submit your signature to the thank you letter.

plain language please

I've plunged into an assortment of goodies lately: ambient intelligence, usability testing and interactive digital tv. I'm lying in our raspberry red couch in the lab, reading articles and papers, and thinking that ICQ inc could use a copy of the ten rules for user interface design by the web page usability guru Jakob Nielsen. In particular, I'm thinking of number 9:

"Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors: Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes)".

I'm using icq v 4.1 and increasingly more often while instant messaging; I'm suddenly unable to send off messages. The error message that appears explains the problem only by a code. That’s not what I want, I want a brief, easy to understand message that explains what happened. Therefore, the word on my mind right now is heuristics.

According to Nielsens website, new findings on usability guidelines for websites is to be presented at the Usability 2005 conference, in Stockholm among other places.

Blog readership explodes but not all know what a blog is

According to the latest (January 2005) Pew Internet & American Life project report, 7 % of the Americans say they have created a blog or a web-based diary. In springtime 2002, the figure was 3 %. Furthermore, 57 % of these more than 8 million bloggers are male. This surprises me as according to the figures I've seen (here and here), the majority of bloggers are women. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Pew Internet report only looks at adult Americans, and therefore overlooking the numerous teenage female bloggers.

Another interesting finding is that though blog readership increases (growth in 2004 alone: 58 %), not many know what a blog is (62 % don't).