Pictured above is a way to do the dishes with a minimal amount of water using only a sponge and the foam from washing up liquid. A friend of mine learnt this from an Israeli cook. Considering the water resources of the Holy Land, they must have a good number of methods like this.

Found a nice, alternative personal transport solution for the 30-3000 km range. Mechanic and engineer Jochen Sommer has discovered a market niche that addresses unconventional travellers. He imports classic Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles from India and replaces original petrol engines with industrial Hatz diesels.

Besides the coolness of the machine, which is a subjective thing of course, it also runs on biodiesel. Fuel consumption swings around 2,5 litres per 100 km (over 110 mpg) so you can escape at least 500 km with a tankful. Top speed reaches just 100 km/h, but avenues are nicer than Autobahns anyway.

Kabel eins has a video feature in local language.

I was cycling home around one sunset and suddenly came across a fox. First I thought it was a dog from one of the allotment gardens in the area. Just as I got close enough to realise it wasn't, he fled through a hole in a fence. I peered through the hole and found him standing there.

In the countryside I had only seen foxes in fur farms, as we made casual class trips to local economies (although they're not the same species, to be exact). The first time I spotted a red fox was in Helsinki's Kontula when I moved in for the first time. The second spotting took place in East Helsinki as well.

More photos and story snippets on Flickr.

A story in Helsingin Sanomat (€) about a deserted lighthouse on a small reef caught my attention last Sunday.

Located about 20 kilometres off and between the shores of Åland and Sweden, Märket reef surfaced in 1700s as a result of post-glacial rebound, ie. the rising of land. Waters here became increasingly dangerous to ships sailing between Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Proper and a lighthouse needed to be built.

In 1809 however, Russian Empire invaded Finland and for some reason this rock became split with Sweden in the process of drawing the border between the new Grand Duchy of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden. Eventually the Swedes persuaded the Russians to build a lighthouse on Märket, which was completed in 1885. It was soon discovered, that it was actually built on the Swedish half.

The reef has since risen one metre more from the sea and gained more land area. The lighthouse was automated and left unmanned in 1976. Five years later it was agreed to move the border so, that the lighthouse became a part of Finland and Sweden was accordingly compensated 0,4 hectares of unbuilt reef. For this micromanagement to be complete, the border had to be given the above illustrated S-shape. The area of each country's possessions had to remain unchanged and the coastline too – rearrangement would have unnecessarily interfered with each country's fishing rights.

As if this wasn't technical enough, the new border had to be acknowledged by eight other European countries. Namely those who had signed the Treaty of Åland in 1921, which established the autonomous and demilitarised status of the Åland Islands. That deal came too late for Märket's sister lighthouse on Bogskär, which was fired down in the first world war.

Radio amateurs have always had special interest in the 350 x 150 m reef. It is the world's smallest sea island with an international border, quite inaccessible and treated, apparently incorrectly, as an exclave of Finnish territory. Temporary radio stations set up by yearly expeditions have a callsign of their own and an exlusive QSL card to be sent to those radio amateurs, who've been in contact with the reef.

The Finnish Lighthouse Assosciation is raising funds for the renovation of the lighthouse. It is too rugged to attract more tourists than storm chasers or marine biologists, but it could additionally act as an outpost for climate change research, because of its precarious affair with sea levels and geology.

Yesterday's adventures in Berlin Ringbahn reminded me of a new environmental development in the city. Namely, this summer might be the last one for retro cars. In 2008, all the cars without catalytic converters (Katalysator) will be banned inside the city encircling S-Bahn railroad. As all of them cannot be refitted to comply with Euro 1 emission standard, a great deal of Trabants, Citroëns, Minis and W123s might be gone next year. Automobilists protest accordingly.

Before I left for Helsinki I had a chat with Tibor, who stayed in our flat for a couple of days. He studies architecture at TU München and they have designed a really nice solar powered boat. Called "Solar Proa" its design is based on eponymous proas (a.k.a. catamarans) from Pacific Ocean and it's powered by solar panels, which cover the whole deck surface. The picture shows how clever it is, with that convertible canopy and everything. So far, the design has been featured in Der Spiegel, and their own website will go live later.

Strange Harvest reports on extraordinary proceedings in the Arctic mining town of Kiruna:

"We have to cut it into six pieces. And then we find somewhere to put it for another 100 years," said Karl Wikstrom, a spokesman for the state-owned LKAB iron ore company, in a manner that suggested City Hall dissection was an everyday matter.

Kiruna was established hundred years ago atop a rich iron ore deposit, which developed into the world's largest underground mine. As illustrated above, the town is now in danger of sliding into the cracks created by the very reason for its own existence.

The decision to move parts of the town was made in 2004 and recently the plan how to do it was introduced. In the next 30 years, about 1000 apartments need to be lifted on special trailers and carried onto new grounds.

Wilhelmson Arkitekter were trusted with the relocation plan. They will present the project New Kiruna at the Swedish Museum of Architecture next month. If someone happens to be in Stockholm on 13th February, of course.

Update 29/01/07:
Virgin Galactic and Spaceport Sweden have started a joint venture in Kiruna. It's a part of Richard Branson's effort to open space for tourism. Sub-orbital flights are planned at the moment, with the unique opportunity to fly through the northern lights. -- Via ursa.fi

It's not uncommon to pay attention to sustainability and sustainable design these days. Fair enough, but what could then be perpetual design? Does such a concept exist or did the movement reach its pinnacle already when Pyramids of Giza were erected?

I ran across an advertisement from IWC, Swiss clocksmiths. The Portuguese Perpetual Calendar is an all mechanical watch with its dials programmed until year 2499. Part of the array is a moon phase display that deviates one day in 577 years. It's all very impressive – just take a look at their demonstration video (Quicktime, 22 MB).

What I don't get is, how does the use of crocodile leather in the wristband get along with the idea of half-millennial watch. Unless there's no idea beyond showing off, which would be a pity. Then again, what were the pyramids for?

Recently scientists figured out the workings of the Antikythera Mechanism, a 2000-year-old Greek analogue celestial computer – dragged from the Mediterranean in 1900. If an owner of IWC watch threw it into floodtide after its calendar had run out in 2499, how much could the archaeologists of 4499 recover and make out from its remains? Probably more than from his iPod's.

Picture from www.iwc.ch