Better crop but less?

This year's cereal crop in Finland is better than the average.

At least that is what the headline of the news. According to what I read, 2009 is the third year in a row that the crop is bigger than normal according to the preliminary statistics from the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland.

Especially the wheat and barley crop were well above the average, but instead the rye and oat crops were below the average. So maybe the crop is better, but still is less than normal as well?

Anyway, the Finns consume 100 million tons of rye per year and most of the rye consumed as rye bread, as rye bread has been a necessary part of the Finnish diet for centuries and as the rye crop was as much as 31 percent less compared to last year and Finland will have to import rye in order to meet demands.

It seems to me, at least looking at the published statistics, that there is not enough rye growers is this country and instead of growing something else that is subsidized with funds from the EU, it would be better to grow more rye.

89% married first time

There are currently 2 million married people in Finland, which also can be conclude into 1 million ongoing marriages at this very moment, even to my ability of comprehending arithmetic’s. 89% of these married couples are married for the very first time but every 17^th inhabitant in Finland end up remarrying at some point of their life as there are 200.000 married a the second time, about 2000 people in their fourth marriage and even a couple hundred of brave individuals who are married for the fifth time. Marrying for the fifth time must be quite an optimistic thing to do, you have not quit yet nor lost their belief in romance in the modern society of today, or then you are just plainly stupid. Who am I to tell?

Anyway, Xmas cards is one way of showing your friends how artistic you are, I must confess I have also committed that sin and to tell you the truth, quite often lately, even more than in my youth when I still was actively doing some painting. Many even turned up as birthday presents and wedding gifts, which were greatly appreciated as they were handmade but it seems fewer people, have the understanding for photographic art, or maybe it is as I see art presented as photographs they do not appreciate as much as they liked my paintings.

Better though is to have your kids do their art that is absolutely genuine and as contemporary as it can be. Save them as they might be worth a fortune when that little brat turns out to be the modern day Picasso, if you’re callous enough, or just save them as nice memories of one Xmas long time ago as precious mementos of a child you once knew.

5,3 million Finns

At the end of the year all statistics tend to pop up more than any other time of the year and by the change of the year into 2008 Finland is estimated to have 5,3 million inhabitants. Actually I think it said “Finns” in the original Finnish text I read but as this is my translation, I prefer to use Finns, even with the risk of it being a misinterpretation of statistics and it would not be as funny then.

Anyway, the next phrase informed that the immigration to Finland had never previously been as high as the current year and that 23.000 people had moved to live in the country. So how many of these 5,3 million Finns are not Finnish citizens? Or have dual citizenships for that matter, just to try to get the word “Finns” right here.

The winter still has not arrived to southern Finland.

There is no snow to be seen anywhere, except some small stacks of it melting away in secluded and shadowed spots. If I remember this number correctly, the average temperature here in southern Finland has been 9 degrees all year round, which is about 1,5 degrees warmer than normal. The lakes are now almost iceless again and here there are again talks about going fishing on Tuesday as this happens to be a tradition, to go ice fishing on New Year’s Day. Well, there was no falling on their last trip on Independence Day either but now I seriously doubt I will allow my dear spouse to go fishing with his crazy fisherfriend. There must be something more lucid to do than risk your life because of the whim of your colleagues, maybe I should throw a dinner party, no, actually lunch would be better timewise in this case.

And our youngest family member, who not at last even has received a genuine name suiting her, is always on the move, nipping a quick bite at your toes when ever passing by so the reindeer bones we so kindly were advised to try help sometimes and at other occasions they are forgotten about. The whole family has been very cautious about letting the toilet seats and the lid on top of it in order to prevent the kitten from drowning but just this morning I woke up by a hollow echoing screech intertwined with a big splash before the toilet seat was banged up and down by a cold and wet kitten rescuing herself from the toilet. At least we now know she can swim and that she also is able to get up from the toilet should she falls in a second time, which I seriously doubt.

Strange, all these things every kitten tend to do at least once, either out of curiosity or maybe more lacking the needed knowledge about things. Talking about a narrow view of the world, the kittens, just knowing our apartment to about 3 feet high from the floor not knowing there is more to the world than that!

Healthier but more obese

Finns are still getting healthier but at the same time more and more are obese.

According to recently done new wide scale health survey Finns gain weight despite pursuing a healthier diet with a fifth of both men and women obese. The survey was carried out by the National Public Health Institute with some 6,000 Finns interviewed across the country with the research taking into account peoples' dietary habits, their lifestyle and their blood levels were examined.

So the Finns are healthier but still get more obese, might there maybe something in the western style of eating that is wrong? If people eat and exercise as they are told to do, maybe there is something wrong with the dietary guidelines we are fed with? Or maybe there are some additives commonly used in our food that we are not aware of how it works within the human metabolism, or something badly lacking in our food that used to be there?

One thing though is, the consumption of alcohol has increased and is suspected to be the culprit in many cases as the use of sodium in common used foodsalt has declined as well as people have switched to healthier vegetable oils instead of the satured animal fatty acids that used to be more common. People also tend to take more care of getting their daily exercise, which reminds me of my own.

Better get my wellies on and grab the umbrella before I go out for my daily exercise in the winter rain.

Passing it on

Ever since the first portable telephones arrived for the public to use an endless discussion about the health hazards of mobile phones has been going on and just recently one more Finnish study discovered no health risks from the electromagnetic radiation of the mobile phones.So no health hazards there.

Now as we run towards the colder weather of autumn and the returning of winter in a few months time the influenza and the colds hit the population. There always is someone who knows best how to treat it and the treatment vary with the country they originate from and you try them out with great disappointment. Some say a hot bath and a brandy does it, well I have tried, was warm and nice and I got tipsy enough to have fun but it did not really help the flu I was coming down with. Some garlic boiled in milk served together with honey, well the cough just got worse with the slime the milk produced. Chamomile tea with honey is not a bad idea, it has been tried so many times in our family that we know it does the trick but it is not fast enough to stop an oncoming flu or cold.

Echinacea Purpurea is an herb that has proven good effect and when using it, the worse it tastes, the better you need it. Sometimes it kind of burns of your tongue when taking it as it is to be taken orally, and other times you don’t even feel a anything, not even the slightest sting.

Anyway, at last but not the least to cure a cold is by far the funniest way according to me. By the time of Beaujolais Nouveau arriving in the liquor stores on the third Thursday of November every year you buy all the sorts they supply to try at home, which here in Finland normally is just the two. Invite al your friends to try the wine in good company with some good food, then you at least have a nice time but it rarely does anything for your cold, except you passing it to your friends as a present. They still would have gotten it anyway, just rarely maybe not all at the same time and you all had a good time.

In favour of fistfights

According to a recently done Gallup one in five did feel that the threat from Russia has increased and young people less likely saw Russia as a threat than older people do. This survey was of course done before last week's controversial speech in Washington by Defence Minister Jyri Häkämies, in which he said that Russia was the greatest challenge to Finnish security.

Yesterday the Russians finally expressed their puzzlement publicly in the media about the speech in question, they were wondering if the Finns were to change their policies as they now consider Russia being a safety threat. The word used in minister Häkämies speech was in Finnish challenge but was translated into threat in Russian.

The Finnish defence minister was this morning interviewed on morning TV and answered some questions that had been sent in by the audience. One thing was sure, the defence minister is standing for what ha has said that there is no one else to blame as he kept repeating the same meaning over and over with changing the words. Well that is quite brave and straightforward, but as a representative of a whole country and all its’ citizens one might think a bit more about what to say, when to say it and where to say it. When answering to the question whether he would have kept the same speech in Moscow the answer was a non-committal one, simply with that it is entirely another issue, what he would say there, but he kept on repeating that it was his responsibility and no one else’s.

The defence minister is later this week to meet with the president when he might get slapped on his wrist for being a bad boy, maybe even told to be resigned, but then politician have survived through big lies and cover-ups instead of speaking their honest, true mind, which is refreshing as a change.

Anyway, today is 11^th September and 6 years since the World Trade Centre in New York came down and Osama bin-Laden is expected to release his latest video speech today, the second in one weeks’ time if it is true together with the legacy of one of the terrorists participating in the hi-jackings of the planes back then.

I remember when it happened, I was at home and as there had been a power cut earlier so our bedroom TV-set switched itself on automatically, as old ones used to do, and there it was, the collapse of the twin towers. I can only try to imagine the terror and fear of the trapped people when realizing there is no way out of the burning building, to know that you are going to die or the desperation that caused people to jump out of the windows high up from the buildings.

I have to get back to this thing about killing innocent people, what is the sense in killing mere by-standers, people that have no say in matters of state, that count as nothing. Why? It does not change things to the better, only for the worse.

Why not revive and old tradition instead, let the politicians themselves fight their wars when they disagree upon things, leave them alone in a boxing ring until no one stands, fighting fist to fist to the end. At least that would make good TV broadcasting the fist fights and it would fair on all us others, no one innocent would get hurt.

One thing right

A new study that has followed children since the 1980’s a third of all juvenile crimes are committed by adolescents that are either bullied themselves or bully their school mates. The research also suggests these same children also have had a troublesome childhood in addition to be bullying and it is suggested that these troubled adolescents should be helped before their problems grow too big.

Most citizens nowadays have their own mobile phones here in Finland and the stationary telephones are getting more expensive all the time and as we have not been using ours we just cancelled ours. The problem is now that the phone company promised to disconnect our number on July 30^th and it still is working today!

So if we now were moving, were we now to pay the phone bill for the next owners?!? I know it is summer but I think there is no excuse for such misconduct, an agreement ends on the date you have agreed upon and not when it is more convenient for the second part to end it and as it is today more a matter of computer programming than to actually disconnect the cables by hand, it should have been easy enough to have been done on the agreed date.

School begins already today in some parts of Finland and for some tomorrow as most do not begin their studies until next week and the offspring is off to the beach to celebrate this as they do not begin until next week. The weather is smashing, still to might turn out a bit too warm to spend all day in the sun but fortunately the water bottles have been early planted into the mind, no beach if no water brought with from home. Suntan lotion is another thing that I have always been reminding about and now has begun to show. Suntan lotion was already packed when mummy asked about it! So I guess this must be the other thing I have got right.

8th in honesty

According to a test performed worldwide by the Readers Digest Magazine the Finns are more honest than the average. The level of honesty was tested by leaving 30 mobile phones well seen spots in public places in the biggest city of the country and the Finns made it to the 8^th place in honesty with Slovenia being the most honest country as almost all the mobile phones was returned in the city of Ljubljana in the limited time set for the test. The least honest turned out to be Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur where least mobile phones were returned.

Today the sun is shining from a clear blue sky and the weather is supposed to be quite warm without any rain in sight which has not been the case in many other European countries. The crayfish season just began and I have been wanting to have a crayfish party for a couple of years now but as nobody else is keen on these red little crustaceans in our family I never get to have my party. I have even suggested other food for the rest of the family to eat but my suggestions have not so far been received with any enthusiasm at all.

Better benefits

New research here in Finland suggest that young people from families with an academic background get more career benefits from a university degree.

Summers can be most stressful times in many different ways. Having the whole family around you around the clock in a little cabin off somewhere in the woods and it gets even worse when the off-spring turn into teenagers. There is almost certainly nothing for them to do in the woods, bad TV reception, no Internet access and maybe even bad connections for your mobile phones, which actually is what we adults find so attractive with our cabin lives. If it is raining is even less for the teenagers to do as they can not go swimming.

Well this year has brought a brilliant new addition to family life, getting a summer job.

First applying for a job then attending to a job interview finally getting the job! Just brilliant to earn some money of your own, keeps out of trouble during the days. Some of the earnings have already been used before hand, borrowed from mum to buy tickets to a rock concert, to be paid back on pay day. Finally I will get some of the money I have lent back but it will be thrilling to see what the money goes to. New mobile phone, Ipod or a lap top maybe?

Anyway, I just hope the job is just as boring as it sounds so that is will bring better inspiration for the studies to continue in the fall and we might get one more graduate in our family with “better benefits from a university degree”.

I wonder how many times they will show the clip of president Bush pouring himself a beer in a glass with the beer with the foam pouring over the edge?!? So far I have only seen it 5 times today and it is still before mid day. Anyway, pouring beer is an art form, you have to know what you are doing and patience is always a plus.

I better go make myself some more tea.

Realistic over-heating

The other day I wrote about the swallows having returned to Finland, well this almost true as there is one swallow that has been sighted, it must be have been the first pioneering scout arriving and but today more of them arrived.
And 10 new species of butterflies are reported to have landed in Finland which means more insects for the birds to eat.

According to the latest statistics the unemployment in April has decreased compared to last year and more people are now working with most of them in the private sector. Out of a population of more than 5 millions only just a little less than 2 ½ millions are employed so the rest must be the unemployed, children, students and retired. Just about half and half.

This means Finland must be doing well but according to the new minister of finances we must be careful as “over-heating is realistic for the time being” and the income tax-levels won’t be lowered as promised until later on, in the end of the four year period of this government just before the next elections.

If more people have got jobs and the taxes are lower, then they have more money to spend and the economy is doing well as money is moving with the possible result of even more jobs getting created.

What on earth is this over-heating? I do know about global warming but that is not what he is talking about, or an engine over-heating, but how does the economy over-heat?!?

Mother’s pride

Moderate exercise such as jogging lowers the blood cholesterol levels more than has been understood according to new research. Strange that cholesterol has become such a big culprit in deteriorating the human health and advertising on various food products to reduce blood cholesterol levels are quite common nowadays. We would not be able to digest any fats without cholesterol, and bile that we have to make use of fatty acids consists of cholesterol. No cholesterol means any bile, which means that we are not able to digest essential fatty acids that we can not survive without.

People have natural variations in the levels of blood cholesterol, like some have blue eyes or are diabetic and here we are talking again about statistics, but sure is that we in the western world eat too much “bad” fats which is no good for us.

Young smokers are not concerned too much about the long term health hazards like having lung cancer in 20 years time, but what interest them is instantaneous effects such as bad breath and nicotine stains on the teeth in result of inhaling the cigarette smoke. Most young smokers of today have parents that smoke and according to research the best prevention against smoking are non-smoking parents.

And I always thought being an example in how you yourself behave and what you do as a parent is the best way to raise children and I am quite happy to say I have not been too bad an example, as the off-spring has not turned out too bad for which I am very proud. At least one thing I have managed to do well.

Best thing in life

Still with unemployment in Finland and still some jobs are hard to get anyone to take. Working in the industry with welding, being a truck-driver or a waiter or waitress seems to be the least wanted jobs here and they are even harder to fill today than they were last year according to the statistics.

More than 1500 employees are to be laid off here in Finland from joint Networks of two mobile giants in the three next coming years and worldwide they are letting go of 7000 workers all together. The new joint venture of giants began in April and so here we are again, new winds blowing with new management.

And I thought businesses were doing good, expanding and making good results. Still there are lay offs and some jobs are not even wanted at the same time.

Well, at least the Vappu balloon is still holding it together and giving us all great joy, both the owner, that is our cat, and all us spectators here to see all his funny ventures. At least he has always done his job well and without complaining, been there to cuddle when needed and daily entertained us with some new thing he has never done before.

He is the best thing in my life, well after the off-spring of course!

Increased need

Last year record many people moved to Finland, almost 22.500 which is 1.100 more than the year before, and with only 14.000 persons moving abroad.

What I would like to know, talking statistics as we are again, how many of the immigrants were moving back to Finland, and how many went abroad to study?

It is like statistics about how many people that are unemployed, depends on who counts them and how they are counted. I know about at least two persons who are retired because of health reasons but still are counted as unemployed as their paperwork is not through yet, and that has now been for several years, or one being on maternity leave but still receiving unemployment benefits.

Anyway, we went for a walk again with the weather being so nice my husband and I, to get some fresh air before I have to start cooking for the Sunday dinner we have today with some friends coming over. When we were just leaving I told my husband that I’ll just get the camera, which resulted in a grunt from him “Oh, one of these days again”.
What on earth did he mean by that?

Except that it might be more of taking pictures than walking. He should be happy I decided to go with him instead of staying home trying out my brand new, sharp knife! Which I will today cooking dinner, later. I just have to check if there are any plasters left, and if not, today being a Sunday I might be in trouble as the shops are not open and I’d rather not take a trip down to the pharmacist to get some.

At least this statistics the husband and off-spring at least are sure about, mum getting a new knife normally means an increased need of band-aids for the next two weeks.

Health-care favours the rich

So what’s new? If a CEO goes to the doctor with the National Healthcare, his family-doctor, dressed in his Bond Street tailored suit even if obese, (which in this case means well-being), complaining about his difficulties to write his signature on papers because of his arthritis, well of course he gets better treatment than the unemployed, obese, (and in this case it means stupid and fat), single-mom with the same arthritis, complaining about not being able to carry home her groceries from the bus-stop as she is not worth to treat in anyway. She just gets some painkillers and is sent home as she is only a cost to the healthcare and gives nothing back to the community with being unemployed.

Whilst even if the same CEO would go to the doctor unshaved and dressed in just jeans and sneakers he would be sent to the lab for blood tests to find out what is wrong with him.

So what is wrong?

Is there really a difference in the treatment of the patients by the healthcare personnel, or is just the CEO with his higher education and better self-esteem better suited to ask for and get what he asks for than just divorced single-mother? Is she with her lesser self-esteem only misunderstood and too tired to struggle for what she is entitled to, which would be the proper treatment for her illness?

Some researches suggest that there is a difference in the health of people depending on their employment and education maybe that is true but one thing is for sure. People are treated differently depending on their look.

Just fine

Always at the end of the year all odd statistics tend to pop up.

Like that every inhabitant in Finland make 460 kgs of garbage. Or that of the total amount of wood used in this country 46% was burned up as fuel and only 24% was used into making paper or pulp. And that the weather has been warmest in Finland in 100 years this year being one in the top 15 with 59 days of summer temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius.

And did you know that your Dry Martini glass is either half-empty if you are of a pessimistic nature and half-full if you are of optimistic nature. Just depending on your own attitude and point of view.

So, statistically you are fine if you have one leg up to your crotch in freezing water with ice-cubes floating in it and the other leg up to your crotch in boiling water, as statistically you are not too cold, nor too hot.

?!?

Running with reindeers?

The length of reindeers’ pee has been tried to be measured and established scientifically.

What on earth am I talking about now?

Okay, imagine Lapland way up north and the Laplanders, the Laps, living there amongst the snow and cold with their reindeers, Santa Claus and all the elves. Hardly no light at all during the winter months, maybe they have nothing better to do?

Anyway, the reindeers are said run a specific length between the times it pees and I think this is research doen by some university. As the Laps use their reindeers to get around in the winter, it seems essential to know how far the reindeer goes without peeing.

I just wonder why?

For not getting wet when sitting in a sleigh behind the reindeer, or what as today they probably use their snowmobiles getting places anyway.

Well, there might be some truth in the jokes being made about the Laplanders measuring their land and property in reindeer’s pees-lengths. So how many reindeers are nowadays followed around the clock by research teams to establish the length between it goes?

Must be one stressful job, running with reindeers.