All posts by Jakke Mäkelä

Physicist, but not ideologically -- it's the methods that matter. Background: PhD in physics, four years in basic research, over a decade in industrial R&D. Interests: anything that can be twisted into numbers; hazards and warnings; invisible risks. Worries: Almost everything, but especially freedom of speech, Internet neutrality, humanitarian problems, IPR, environmental issues. Happiness: family, dry humor, and thinking about things.
BLINDSPIN, Safety

Blindspin 8: A peek at the data

“If we don’t have a number, we don’t really know anything, and we can’t learn anything more.”

Since we plan to professionally publish the Blindspin results, we can’t reveal all the things we’re theorizing about yet. But here is a look at some things we’re seeing. (More information: Blindspin project page). 

For each test subject, we’re caĺculating the occlusion time OT (time spent driving blind) and the occlusion distance OD (distance traveled during that time). They will tell us different things…. but what exactly, that will remain to be analyzed.

Continue reading Blindspin 8: A peek at the data →

Humanitarian, Patents

Plumpy’Nut Part 8: Final thoughts

“Loose patent processes at the African end allow large areas of Africa to be covered with minimal work; treaty shopping allows multinationals a simple way to find good ways to tap into those processes.”

It is now time to draw conclusions about the Plumpy’Nut/Nutriset case (see web page).

The ethical aspects of the case are mind-boggling  (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and perhaps unsolvable (see Part 4). The technical aspects of the case are also complex (see Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7). From all this information, can be draw any conclusions about the problems that IPR might cause for humanitarian efforts?

Plumpy’Nut is a useful test case to use because of its technical simplicity: it is a single patent owned by a single company, covering a single product (though very broadly). There are two key problems. Problem one refers to the details of how Nutriset was able to get the patent granted so easily; problem two refers to how the treaty-shopping system is weighted against poor countries.

Continue reading Plumpy’Nut Part 8: Final thoughts →

Humanitarian, Patents

Plumpy’Nut Part 7: What is the African reality?

I have been looking at the African patent system in general, as it relates to the Plumpy’Nut case. In the previous posting, I came to the tentative conclusions that, based on statistics alone, South Africa might be in a reasonably good place when it comes to IPR. However, it is necessary to go into more detail.

Continue reading Plumpy’Nut Part 7: What is the African reality? →

Humanitarian, Patents

Plumpy’Nut part 6: Is there any country in Africa which is OK?

Digging deeper into the IPR situation in Africa for the Plumpy’Nut case (see Part 5 and web page), I am slowing finding facts — but it is like peeling an onion. Things may look good on paper, but the deeper layers are less and less clear. This is a subject that is actually starting to obsess me a little bit, as it seems to be a white spot on the map. No one knows, no one cares.

South Africa is a good place to start, as it is the powerhouse of the continent, and also has reasonably good statistics and information available. I will have to use fragmented and unsatisfactory data sources, and use a lot of intuition.

Continue reading Plumpy’Nut part 6: Is there any country in Africa which is OK? →

Huumori, Riskit, Ympäristö

Kansalaissienestystä

4 Comments

Kun näen somessa kanssakansalaisteni sienipäivityksiä, käy mielessä että pystyn vähintäänkin parempaan. Kansalaistoiminnassahan osaamisen puute ei saa olla tekemisen este. Tässä siis näkemyksiäni sienimetsästä.

Anopinherkkusieni2

Kuva 1: Anopinherkkusieni.

Punamädättäjäsieni2

Kuva 2: Punamädättäjäsieni. Kaltattava ja teilattava huolellisesti ennen käyttöä.

Vinopersuke2

Kuva 3: Vinopersukki.

Taigasilovikki2Kuva 4: Taigasilovikki. Parasta voissa paistettuna.

Valemarmosetti2

Kuva 5: Valemarmosetti. Ei tule sotkea tavalliseen marmosettiin.

Punkkitatti2

Kuva 6: Punkkitatti. Aiheuttaa syötynä kuumetta,veriripulia, lihaskramppeja, kroonista kipua, hallusinaatioita, sisäistä verenvuotoa, ja tajuttomuutta.  Erinomainen ruokasieni.

 

Ensi syksynä aion jakaa tietojani sorsanmetsästyksestä; kuitenkin sillä varauksella, että sinkojen maahantuonnissa tuntuu tällä hetkellä olevan pientä takkuilua.