Hi, my name is Peter and I’m a Quirkaholic... Just kidding... kind of.
Who is Peter Lehto?
Well, I was born in Helsinki, Finland, to a South African mother and Finnish father. (Quite a weird combo I know...
Finland has witnessed a dramatic increasing in the number of immigrants from all over the world which is a new phenomenon in its society. A bright Finnish woman noticed that most immigrants were arriving as members of a family, but they had been compelled to leave behind grandparents. Mirja Riihimaa came up with the idea [...]
"What is Live Art in Finnish?" is a co-production by liveartwork DVD and Amorph!08; a survey to contemporary Finnish performance art. It includes documentations from 18 artists. DVD is curated by Leena Kela and Suvi Parrilla. The Finnish special edition is part of liveartwork DVD collection of international performance art and live art documentations published by Christopher Hewitt.
From MUU
At least eight people were killed in a shooting at a school in Kokela, north of Helsinki. Five boys and two girls were killed along with the school’s head teacher. The shooter, an eighteen year old pupil entered the school armed with a shotgun and after his killing spree, shot himself in the head. Tuomas [...]
This extensive cultural drive under the 100% Finlande banner really only starts from the beginning of April, but things got going two weeks early on March 13th, when three works by contemporary composer Kaija Saariaho were performed at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The concert saw the first performance of Saariaho’s Mirage, for soprano, cello and orchestra, featuring Karita Mattila and cellist Anssi Karttunen, and two other pieces - Notes on Light (2006) for cello and orchestra and Orion (2002) for large orchestra. The works were performed by the Orchestre de Paris under conductor Christoph Eschenbach.
UPDATE: I removed the video, it made the site run slow, but you can watch it at WSJAfter my culture comparing post I got an e-mail asking my opinion on why Finnish education is on the top of the world.Background for the statement of Finnish children being the smartest in the world comes from PISA test implemented by OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) for students in 57 countries in 2006. "Finland, with an average of 563 score points, was the highest-performing country on the PISA 2006 science scale" according to OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) . PISA test is implemented every three years, and the 2006 test was the third ever made, and Finland has excelled in all three tests. Wall Street Journal just recently wrote an article and on t
Read the foreword and about the test results why Finnish children are the smartest in the worldThe school system in Finland is homogenous, well structured and it helps that the culture is very pro-education. Finland holds the largest percentage of college educated people in Europe, every third person has a third degree education. There are still some very surprising things the Finns are doing differently. Like shorter school days, less studying, more playing - and still the Finnish kids prove that this is the formula for the best educated children in the world. LESS HOURSChildren in Finland start their school at age 7, and the first two grades normally have days of only for 4 hours. Even in high school only students who want to take extra classes, have a 30-hour school week. Schools do
Many people might criticize - if Finnish education really is that wonderful, how come Finnish innovations are not world known. You can probably name a few products from a neighboring country Sweden just after watching TV for a while; how about weigh loss products, mattresses or Austin Power's penis enlargement pump? Does anything Finnish ring your bell? I didn't think so. The answer is the Finnish culture - people are quiet, shy and not very good at bragging about themselves. There are wonderful innovations from Finland, but nobody knows they are from Finland, even if they have made it outside of the country. Why? The Finns lack the ability market their own knowhow. The general perception is that "if it's good, people will find out about it" and the step of trying market Finnish products
Finnish teenagers are the world's smartest according to international test conducted in 57 countries. Finnish teenagers excel in math, science and reading.The Finns won attention with their performances in triennial tests sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group funded by 30 countries that monitors social and economic trends. In the most recent test, which focused on science, Finland's students placed first in science and near the top in math and reading, according to results released late last year. Link
Some years ago I went to see Maj Karma in the legendary Tavastia club in Helsinki. While taking off my jacket, an old friend of mine from the staff came to discuss a little. We talked about the upcoming gig and Maj Karma band which on that time was a pretty unique and artistic band. Soon my friend asked if I had heard about Mokoma. I said I have not and I asked what kind of music they play. “They play trash metal and they are unique, aggressive and furious. You will like them”. I promised to check them out. That was a good decision. I never get bored with Mokoma.
Mokoma is really an interesting trash metal band. They sing in Finnish, which tightens their market to cover a bit more than 10 000 fans, but the guys are not here for the money. They have a great passion to make their music and they are satisfied with the fact that they will never reach a big audience. Why not? The two reasons are that they sing in Finnish and they make aggressive trash metal which is not as popul
“Godsplague’s Home Fuckin’ Page!” says the title of Godsplague’s homepage. I like that, it is straight. Godsplague is a heavy metal band from Hellsinki, Finland. They have recently released their latest album, called H8. Godsplague’s style has changed towards heavier, away from rock n’ roll. I must say it has been a great decision. The new album sounds just great. The band just got enough from rock n’ roll and decided to get heavier.
As it has been said in many reviews, the new Godsplague album sounds more outraged than the previous ones. It is full of nice hooks, furious anger and great melodies played with tons of passion. “I Will Break You” stayed many weeks in the official Finnish single list, which was suprising for the band. The new album was produced by Janne Joutsenniemi from Suburban Tribe, who is a band mate of Godsplague guitarist Euge Valovirta. Well, not to make this more complicated, both guys play in Suburban T
Finnish long-track speedskater sets world record in 1000 metres - The Canadian Press
Metro Toronto
Finnish long-track speedskater setsworldrecord in 1000 metresThe Canadian Press -3 hours agoKEARNS, Utah - Italy's Enrico Fabris and Finland's Pekka Koskela brokeworldspeedskating records Saturday in aWorldCup event at the Utah Olympic Oval.…Finnish speedskater breaks American'sworldmarkUSA Todayall 22 news articles
Bookmark to:
"Finnish estate agents believe the rate of increase of home prices will slow down and sale times lengthen, real estate company Kiinteistömaailma quoted its survey as saying on Monday.""Almost half of the respondents said they saw flat home prices within the next six months while a third believed prices would rise by a maximum of three per cent.""Kiinteistömaailma interviewed 560 estate agents across Finland."Coming from a real estate agent, you can bet that it means that price will go down in the years to come.Regarding the sentence "Human being, Human being..." it was taken from a real advertisement from Kiinteistömaailma.
The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) said Friday it would exit the Helsinki Music Centre project because the costs had spiralled out of control.YLE added on its website it preferred to be a tenant in the building instead of owning part of it.YLE gives as the reason for its withdrawal its poor economic state and the steady rise in construction costs.The broadcaster had said earlier that the ceiling for its share of the Music Centre bill was 35 million euros.Last spring, the board of the real estate company behind the venture rejected all three tenders received for the main construction contract, as two of them were not in compliance with the invitation to tender and one was too expensive compared with the estimated costs.
The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) said in a statement Thursday that its latest business tendency survey indicated that the country's economy was beginning to leave the peak of the economic cycle behind it.Leif Fagernäs, the chief executive of the EU, said that although uncertainty was on the rise there was no steep turn for the worse on the horizon.In construction, the boom has continued. There is still a substantial shortage of labour and costs have increased considerably. The number of unsold flats has grown significantly. The construction boom is expected to cool down somewhat. In construction, the outlook indicator for October was -16, against 9 in July. In October 9 per cent of
YLE, a Finnish state channel, has shown on prime time a report on the state of the housing in Finland. Watch the YLE Video (in finnish, but there are some nice Charts...)In any case, Finland is not insulated as it is a global phenomenon.Today in the US the number of existing home sales reach the 1999 level and still worse is coming."Sales of existing home sales in the US plummeted last month to their lowest annual rate since records began.This was the lowest level since figures on single-family homes and condo sales were collected in 1999...The so-called "jumbo mortgages" - loans which are over $417,000, have dried
up. High-cost areas like California, where buyers are reliant on these
mortgages, have therefore been hit hard.", reported the guardian.
ETLA - The Research Institute of the Finnish EconomyHouseholds’ increasing indebtedness and higher interest rates begin to slow down private consumption growth in Finland Residential investment is expected to decline slightly Dampening domestic demand and structural problems on the labor market are expected to slow down employment growth Consumer price inflation is expected to accelerate next year to approach 3 per cent Before too long households’ increasing indebtedness is likely to start curbing growth potential of both consumption and residential investment. On average, households’ debt equals their annual disposable income. Households have increased their loan burden mainly to finance building of new houses and purchases of larger homes on the residential market. Also consumption on credit seems to have increased. According to last year’s national accounts households consumed more than they earned. Based on available information on households’ i
I have always wondered why nobody in the press raised the alarm with the type of business certain big construction company/ Real estate agents were doing.Let me tell the fact:Myyntihinta50 856,75€ (1) Velaton myyntihinta339 000,00€Asuntotyyppi Kerrostalo Asumismuoto omistusYhtiövastike1 230,72 €/kkHoitovastike262,50 €/kkRahoitusvastike968,22 €/kkLyhennykset alkavat v. 2011 = 4,85€/osake/kk (2)So you allow someone to get a loan through a bank since the amount required (1) is 50 856,75€ and the rest is a loan under the term of the construction company (2). That's where the drama is:You will be paying a loan that has been fixed for 3 years at a low interest rate and will reset at about 2 times the fixed one. In some other similar cases. The arrangement says that you will only pay the "interest rate only" on the loan during those 3 years then it reset to full payment... Some mathematics: 1 - I take a loan
"Finland's Financial Supervision (Rata) said in a statement on Monday 05 December 2005 that it was
worried about the country's banks granting mortgages to customers unable to
produce a down payment and lacking financial backing."That was back in 2005. There were plenty of warning signs that have been completely ignored during the last 2 years. The financial system completely ignored the recommendation and went into granting loan to almost anybody (no savings, high level of debt relative to income, to young that just have their first job and no savings) and quite often over the value of the house itself (adding to the loan : Car, motor bike, boat, holiday etc...). But then as recent as in September 2007, the FSA -Finland's Financial Supervision Authority is denying any wrong doing of the bank system: "The FSA added a mortgage crisis similar to the current one in the US could not
happen in Finland because unlike in the US, Finnish lenders were required
Finnish Studies and Research / Scholarships for Postgraduate Studies and Research at Finnish UniversitiesScholarships for postgraduate studies and research at Finnish universities areavailable for international postgraduate students and researchers of Finnish language and literature, Finno-Ugric linguistics, ethnology and folklore. The scholarship period may vary from 3 to 12 months. The monthly allowance is usually 760 - 1,000 €. No additional allowance for housing is paid. Expenses due to international travel to and from Finland are not covered by CIMO. How to apply? The prerequisite for applying is that the visiting student or researcher must have established contacts with the Finnish host university. The Finnish university department wishing to host him or her applies to CIMO for the grant. Applications should be submitted at least 3 months before the intended scholarship period.
[Finland] Finnish Government Scholarship Pool The Finnish Government offers scholarships of 3-9 months for postgraduate studies, research and teaching at a higher education institution in Finland. The scholarships are based mainly on cultural agreements or similar arrangements between Finland and the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine. To be eligible, the applicant must: intend to pursue postgraduate studies as a visiting student, participate in a research project or teach at a higher education institution or public research institute in Finland; priority will be given to doctoral studies
Finnish Studies and Research / Scholarships for Advanced Studies of the Finnish Language at Finnish Universities CIMO offers scholarships for advanced studies of the Finnish language at Finnish universities. The scholarships are meant mainly for degree students of Finnish language and literature at universities outside Finland. Preference is given to applicants who are working on their Master's thesis. Scholarship may be applied for one academic semester (3-5 months). The monthly allowance is 725 euros (in 2006). No additional allowance for housing is paid. The scholarship holder is also responsible for expenses due to international travel to and from Finland. How to apply? Students apply directly to CIMO for the grant. Application deadlines are in April for the autumn semester and in October for the Spring semester. The applicant must establish contact with t
[Finland] Finnish Government ScholarshipsThe Finnish Government offers scholarships to Australians for postgraduate studies, research and teaching for 3-9 months at a higher education institution or public research institute in Finland. It should be noted that in Finland, Masters' courses are not considered as postgraduate studies.To be eligible, the applicant must: * intend to pursue postgraduate studies as a visiting student, participate in a research project or teach at a higher education institution or public research institute in Finland; priority will be given to doctoral studies * have established contact with the Finnish receiving institution before applying * have a letter of invitation from the academic supervisor in Finland * have earned at least a Master-level degree before applying * not have spent more than one year already at a Finnish higher education institution immediately before the intended scholarship period in Finland * be able to give proof of suffic
Health authorities in Finland have banned a squirrel from visiting a SIWA supermarket in the central Finnish city of Jyväskylä.The squirrel had previously been allowed in by the store's manager, Irene Lindroos, where it would enter daily via the open front door, and help itself to a Kinder Egg chocolate from the confectionary section. Once it had one, it would carry it back outside to eat it.The apearance of the squirrel regularly amused customers, often with the effect of causing them to purchase Kinder Eggs themselves.However, as of today, the squirrel has been barred from entering. "It's a decision of the health authorities. The door of the store has remained open all summer, but now it will be shut," said an employee of the supermarket.The squirrel had received widespread press attention earlier in the year. "I named it the Kinder-squirrel, after the treats. It always goes after them, other sweets do not seem to interest it as much," Irene Lindroos had said at the time. The swe
Three men arested under suspicion of organising dog fights in Southern Finland, Three Finnish men have been arrested as part of an investigation by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into apparant illegal dogfights in various locations in the south of the country.Dog fights, in which two dogs are pitted head-to-head for the entertainment of spectators and for gambling, is illegal in Finland, and is covered by Finland's animal protection laws, as dogs often sustain severe or even fatal injuries. It is beleived this case also involved gambling, thus rendering the suspects, if convicted, in breach of gambling laws also.The investigation was started in July after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) forwarded information to the NBI, claiming that during an investigation of it's own for a programme it was making into dog fighting in Britain, they had uncovered conections to comparable activity in Finland."We are trying to find out when the activity has started and ho
I suppose this is the real hot guys: The finnish world champions in Sauna:
The rules are simple, but that tough to stand: stay seated and don't wipe your sweat off.
Of course this strong men and women, who won are reported about not only in their homecountry, the winning nation of Finland, but also with a lot of nice Photos in the German Spiegel and of course in Swedish news too.
The competition took place in a sauna with partial glass panelling placed on a theater stage. Temperatures inside the sauna started at 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit) and climbed to 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit) in the final round.
Finland has had the reputation of host a large percentage of binge drinkers as part of it Scandinavian culture. A recent study of a new drug has set out to curb the cravings in that country, however.
Finnish researchers have found that the drug nalmefene caused a definite reduction in drinking among those who took the drug as opposed to those who took a placebo. The U. S. FDA has not approved nalmefene yet as an alcohol reduction treatment program as it is still investigating the drug.
The New York Jets have signed NFL Europa tight end Iiro Luoto of Helsinki, according to Hoss Aultman of JetsConfidential. Luoto played this last season for the Rhein Fire of NFL Europa. Previously, he played five years for the Helsinki Roosters of the Finnish Football league. He is 6-5, 257 pounds.
Luoto spent five years playing football in Finland with the Helsinki Roosters. He then played in 9 games for the World Champion Frankfurt Galaxy during the 2006 NFL Europa season and caught five passes for 39 yards for the Rhein Fire in 2007.
Describing themselves as 'special disco', which I straight away took to mean something politically uncorrect, The Millioners are a magnificent retro/modern hybrid who wear their influences well. Cerrone, Visage, Duran Duran, Blancmange - they're all there. And just to balance the old with the new, is that Lorraine and Pleasure I detect? Well, The Millioners (love the name) are from Scandanavia as well, so I suppose it must be in the genes. The four members don't have names, apparently, but they collectively have their own MySpace. They also have a new album, Most Sexiest Music, which you can pay good Euros for at the charmingly titled Stupido-Shop or the boringly titled iTunes. Here's a couple of tasty little numbers of their most sexiest music:My Great Regret is big, bold and beautiful with its confident bassline and sweeping chords. Lyrically it's very wistful, talking of missing out on the signs that could have lead to the BIG one. But it's not all looking painfully out of a
Kimi Raikkonen believes the Malaysian Grand Prix will be far from the foregone conclusion for Ferrari that has been suggested this weekend.After completing a comfortable victory in Melbourne in the opening racing of the season, the Finn is expected to dominate again at Sepang though it was team-mate Felipe Massa who stood out in topping Friday's two practice sessions.Raikkonen finished fourth in both the afternoon and morning runs, four-tenths and eight-tenths of a second respectively behind the Brazilian, and the 27-year-old revealed he still has some doubts over a car that has so far looked ominously quick this campaign. "I wasn't 100% happy with the car but we have learnt some things in the sessions," he said."The circuit was slightly different than it was last week so we still have some work to do."The grip level has changed slightly and the set-up of the car is not as good as it was a week ago."Something has changed, maybe the weather, but the grip is slightly different to what
Eero Aarnio (born 1932), is a Finnish interior designer, well known for his innovative furniture designs in the 1960s, notably his plastic and fiberglass chairs.Aarnio studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, and started his own office in 1962. The following year he introduced his Ball Chair, a hollow sphere on a stand, open on one side to allow a person to sit within. Aarnio's designs were an important aspect of 1960s popular culture, and could often be seen as part of sets in period science-fiction films. Because his designs used very simple geometric forms, they were ideal for such productions. Aarnio is still active in creating new designs and, while he has also worked with more traditional materials like wood and steel during his long career, still mainly draws products that follow his distinct style of playful shapes and colors only manufacturable in plastic. Many of Aarnio's works are included in the world's most prestigious museums, including the Victoria and
Kokindjes
My reason to live arrived a few days ago. No, I didn’t find a boyfriend; my Licorice of the Month Club selections arrived! By now, you all know how much I love my monthly licorice delivery. This month we got Sweet Finnish Licorice, Kokindjes from Holland, and Kookaburra Allsorts from Australia as a bonus.
I tried the Kokindjes first, not sure if I would like them. I was worried they would be some hideous, unsweetened thing, but in fact they were very good. They are the size of small gumdrops, and are very soft. Their flavor is interesting, as it is both salty and sweet at the same time. They are certainly a departure from typical American licorice flavor, but they were still really good.
Sweet Finnish Licorice
Next up was the Sweet Finnish Licorice. These were short lengths of solid tubular licorice. They were a bit harder than I prefer; with a rather weak jaw, they were kind of hard to chew. Still, they were a nice flavor, with mild sweetness but plenty of licorice
Who said the bubble and strass years are behind us ? CTIA Wireless 2005 welcomed a new kind of keynote speaker : Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, Chairman of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group. At the very moment another bad boy, WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers, was waiting for his sentence (85 years ? now that would be long distance, chum).Another show, another miracle : at CeBIT 2005, Symbian announced their agreement with Microsoft (a license for Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol). After a key entry point for consumers (Windows Media Player, remember "the times they are a-changin" ?), the main gateway to the business targets (i.e. e-mail, calendar, addresses, files...). G-RIM prospects for BlackBerry, already threatened by new competitors signing operators by the dozen with their no-logo solutions (ie Visto) : Rest In Misery (BlackBury) or Resell It to Microsoft ? But don't think Redmond has crossed the Fin(n)ish line yet. The momentum is on the likes of Samsung Electronic rather than Nokia,
amorphis - 'eclipse'released: february 20, 2006running time: 45'28"nuclear blastsongs: 1. two moons 2. house of sleep 3. leaves scar 4. born from fire 5. under a soil and black stone 6. perkele (the god of fire) 7. the smoke 8. same flesh 9. brother moon 10. empty opening 11. stone woman'eclipse' only clicked totally for me when i watched amorphis performing live at this year's tuska festival. on one hand, hearing these new songs effortlessly rub shoulders with the older classics and, on the other hand, witnessing the surprising confidence of new frontman tomi joutsen in tackling songs from every period of the band made me want to go home and listen to 'eclipse' with doubled attention.it paid off - 'eclipse' is one of those records that demands a little extra attention, especially if you're already a fan of the band. even if joutsen's vocals aren't a million miles away from former vocalist pasi koskinen (who, incidentally, is now focusing solely on ajattara, highly recomme
amorphis - 'eclipse'released: february 20, 2006running time: 45'28"nuclear blastsongs: 1. two moons 2. house of sleep 3. leaves scar 4. born from fire 5. under a soil and black stone 6. perkele (the god of fire) 7. the smoke 8. same flesh 9. brother moon 10. empty opening 11. stone woman'eclipse' only clicked totally for me when i watched amorphis performing live at this year's tuska festival. on one hand, hearing these new songs effortlessly rub shoulders with the older classics and, on the other hand, witnessing the surprising confidence of new frontman tomi joutsen in tackling songs from every period of the band made me want to go home and listen to 'eclipse' with doubled attention.it paid off - 'eclipse' is one of those records that demands a little extra attention, especially if you're already a fan of the band. even if joutsen's vocals aren't a million miles away from former vocalist pasi koskinen (who, incidentally, is now focusing solely on ajattara, highly recomme
Actuality February 14, 2008 After Bank of Moscow that first began to invest in the Russian forest industry other Russian banks ran to this industry. It was known that VTB acquired 10,07% of the Finnish forest business corporation Ruukki Group Oyj at Procomex S.A. company for €76,9 mln, realizing large ...
Actuality February 29, 2008 Finnish Group Fortum set new price record in the estimation of energy generation - $767 per 1 kW of installed capacity. Fortum was declared the winner of competition for the sale 55,29-percent state stockholding in the generation company TGC-10, and offered for it more than RUR ...
