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Mielestäni teillä on söpö presidentti.

Finn Fest 2008 is coming up next week and I propose a FinnBlogging challenge. Now through the end of the festival let's educate each other about Finland. Music, history, art, strange facts, you get the idea. The festival starts July 23 and goes through the 27th. Oh and it would be a good idea to take in some of the events as well.

I kick off the challenge with the Finland national anthem.


finnfestsmoke.jpg

Comments

an interesting fact:

Nokia is a Finnish company that first gained commercial respect by manufacturing rubber boots. It later ventured into the cell phone/electronics business.


Nokia also makes THE best snow tire. Another Finnish best (imho) is the greatest electronic minimalist group that builds its own instruments: Pan Sonic. Their album "vakio" is one of those life changing kind of recordings- like Sgt. Peppers only different!


In Finland, the amount of your speeding ticket is based on how much money you make! (Recently a man who had an annual income of $7 million was issued a speeding ticket for $116,000.00.) (courtesy of goofball.com)


There are 187,888 lakes in Finland. Lake is here defined as a body of standing water larger than 5 ares (500 m2). The number of lakes larger than 1 hectares (10,000 m2) is 56,000. source: Finnish Environment Institute


In 2006, the Finnish hard rock band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah," giving Finland its first win ever. Nicknamed "the monsters of Finland," they refuse to be photographed without their elaborate monster costumes & make-up on.



*universal male conscription

*only country in Europe that has never had a king

*53% income tax rate!

*so sadly neglected
And often ignored
A poor second to Belgium
When going abroad



*universal male conscription

*only country in Europe that has never had a king

*53% income tax rate!

*so sadly neglected
And often ignored
A poor second to Belgium
When going abroad



When I was in Finland in 2006, we stayed at the Norvalla Rehab Center, which was some sort of live-in recovery place for people who'd been injured at work or were senior citizens. The only bar in Voyr, Finland is in this center.


From "Forbes" magazine:

Happy fact: Finland is the freest nation in the world when it comes to civil liberties, freedom of the press, low corruption levels and high levels of political rights, according to its World Audit Democracy profile. And over 75% of citizens' health care costs are funded by public entities. Traffic ticket fines are based on your ability to pay. One 27-year-old Finnish Internet entrepreneur, pulled over in his BMW doing 43 miles an hour in a 25-mph zone, was slapped with a $71,400 fine. A 26-year-old grad student paid $82 for a similar offense. He was happier.


The finnish language is closely related to estonian and hungarian rather than norwegian or swedish.


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