I really would love for Eveline to stay, but then the doors to our country would be open to a larger core family that would inculde more people that would have the right to stay. As the economical crisis still has an effect on our society we need to focus on building this country into a stable economy, otherwise we cannot have social system and a wellfare state to support ourselves and others that wish to stay here. We need more knowledge and skills to Finland, we are a small country situated in the outskirts of Europe and our current law system doesn’t really promote new businesses nor ideas to become something bigger. We need proffessional people, but how to get them here, learn the language and give more to society than they get out of it is a very hard equation to crack, and no politician I know of has yet cracked it.

In the construction business there are currently 20 000 Finnish workers unemployed. At the same time there are 20 – 30 000 illegal and/or foreign workers currently working in Finland. Is this the right way to go, is this fair? Shouldn’t we first take care of our own, and then the others, or should we forget our own people and our own country, and start taking care of everyone else first? In 2008 the Finnish government spent 48,6 billion euros on social welfare. This means 9140 euros per person living in Finland. 933 million was paid to cover costs occurred by alcoholism, and there are over 32000 people currently in some kind of psychiatrical care. Don’t forget the elderly, the unemployed, students, and normal doctoral visits. We cannot take care of more people than we already are doing, there are enough problems within our country, which is why the supreme court could not give a verdict that would have favored Eveline, who has become the front figure of this whole discussion in the media. And all she wanted to do was to be reunited with her family.

Humans are also lazy. We come up with ways to do as little as possible for as much as possible. The industrialization in the 1800′s was the spark to make machines do the work for us. Imagine for a second how hard it would be for me to write this post and for you to find it if there were no internet or computers. I often sigh when I look at todays society, because we have taken our intellegence to the extreme and now we are bored. there is simply nothing to invent anymore. Did you know that nothing has been invented since the 60′s, everything is just an upgrade or improvement of the old? There is so much in this world that is completely unnecessary, like ringtones ordered from some service, or game sites with mindless games just so people can do something instead of being bored. If these people, behind these ideas would only focus on more important things, we would have a more effective and less polluting world. For every microchip two barrels of oil is used, and for every barrel pumped up from the earth, two are used. Good work, all of us.

Mother earth is aching. We drill holes in her, poison her with our chemicals and pesticides, we pollute her air and sea. There is no creature on this planet more filthy than the human race, we are (pardon my french) shitting where we eat. Us humans keep forgetting that we are a tiny tiny part of a much larger puzzle that is earth, we are part of an ecosystem and just one species of many inhabiting the planet, but we are far the worst in destroying everything for everyone, even ourselves. If we are so freakin’ smart, we need to come up with more eco-efficient factories, products, packaging, ways of transport etc. We also need to find ways to take a few steps back in our one way train to destruction, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain. I don’t care if you believe in mother earth or not, but it is up to each and every one of you to DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! It doesn’t have to be grand acts of charity, don’t exaggerate. Start with small thing, your home is your temple, and your home is part of the world. Recycle, use recycled materials, decrease your usage of packaging, use less poisonous detergents at home, plant some plants, use public transport or change your car into a more eco friendly one, use a bicycle. It’s not so hard, and you can’t, you simply just can’t look into your children’s or grandchildren’s eyes and said you did everything you could with a good conscience if you haven’t even done these simple things. I know that you think that how can I help, there are billions in the world not doing anything. Well yes, it is true, but you are definitely not helping by not doing anything, and the more people that understands this, the less billions of people doing nothing there will be, so roll up your sleeves and lets fix our home.

I very rarely stop thinking and planning ahead and it is really hard to live in the moment, but listening to trance takes me to this other level, where I just listen and do nothing, I just space out, and that makes me so calm and happy. There are so many really good trance artists, it just so happens that many of my favorites are Finnish artists, which means I get to go see them whenever I want to. Thank you for making awesome music, keep up the good work!

Antibiotics has been mans single last defense against bacterial infections for over forty years. Many of the antibiotics developed are ineffective today, more specifically 2/3 of all invented antibiotics, and a new antibiotic costs 800M US Dollar and 15 years to create. Man is loosing the battle against bacteria, that’s the fact. The meat production industry is pumping the cows and pigs full of antibiotics and we are constantly given pointless recipes for antibiotics against stuff they don’t work on, like a fluvirus. Think about it, how many of you have eaten antibiotics to cure a flu-virus? I think pretty many of you.. Well I can tell you thatit won’t work because a virus isn’t a bacterial infection, hence antibiotics won’t work.

The problem with the human race is that we are primarily lazy. We invent things that makes our life easier and minimize work. We basically wouldn’t have leave our house in a week or a month if we wouldn’t want to. This is why we still haven’t created a new drug against bacterial infection, we still believe that antibiotic drugs will save us in the end. Well the problem is that some researchers believe that antibiotics as they are today will be completely ineffective in 12 years. In twelve years I will hopefully have a family with kids and I would be very glad to hear that there is a drug that can help my children when they scrape their knees and bacteria attacks the wound. Bacteria is smart, and quickly learns how to adapt in a hostile environment and how to tackle the white blood cells and their sidekick antibiotics. There are already bacteria that are completely resistant to any antibiotics, that do not react to any antibiotic treatments. Some bacteria can only be treated by one or two antibiotic drugs, like the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus which transfers into MRSA that kills many people each year. When this bacteria mutates and becomes resistant, I would reconsider going to the hospital for a standard procedure.

So what can we do? Firstly I would recommend to keep your immune system and hygiene in good shape. Take care that you get enough vitamins from food and use supplements if needed. If you live in a norther country, make sure you eat D-vitamins. An experiment with D-vitamins was carried out in two kindergartens, they were both fed pills, in one the pills were placebo, in the other they were d-vitamins. The kindergarden with the d-vitamins supplement never got the winter flu. Take care of your hygiene, wash your hand often and carefully. Secondly, try to remember that if your body isn’t bacteria infected, you cannot fix you illness with antibiotics. Thirdly and most importantly, always ask you doctor if it is really necessary for you to eat antibiotics, and wether you can get another treatment.

I’m not a doctor, but those of you who has read my blog before know I’m interested in herbal medicine, and I usually treat my illnesses with basic herbal medicine, avoiding synthetic drugs and antibiotics. In some extreme cases I’m forced to swallow my principles and accept antibiotics. The other week I had a serious sinusinfection, that had gone so far up as to my forehead and I was at risk of getting Meningitis (an infection in the protective membrane of the brain). I readily took the antibiotics for a week (750mg), but apart from many of my friends who believe they can go as normal as the antibiotics will do the work for them, I stayed home and took care of myself. The point with antibiotics is that they are like war allies, but if your own troops are weak, they’re not going to do much good now are they? I also bought one of those cans from which you pour liquid into your sinuses, and now I’m up and running again.

My message is: Don’t overuse antibiotics, it’s like shooting yourself in the leg, because then when you really need a good war allied there won’t be any strong enough to help you.

Every year the news say “The finns were surprised by the winter”. How is that even possible, the winter will be here, sooner or later every year. It’s just that it is impossible to predict how harsh the winter is going to be. I can’t open my balcony door anymore, the snow has reached about a metres height now, which does create larger problems down on the street than up here on my balcony.

Every Finns’ morning starts with involuntary exercise, as their car is buried in snow every morning. The snow doesn’t only come from the sky oh no, it’s the street cleaners that push up the snow on the pavements and the parking spaces and literally blocks the cars from getting out. We have huge trucks taking away the snow and dumping it in the sea. During the weekend, the bay where it is dumped got so full of icy slosh that they had to stop bringing more snow there! After digging for while (preferably with a shovel and not scratching your car) you start driving back and forth just to hear your wheels spinning empty with no grip. Then you have to ask for help, which is very tricky if you’re a Finn. The reason for this is, well we just don’t. Instead we gruff and swear until someone comes up and says jump in, I’ll push. The helper will most probably get covered in snow from your screeching tires so remember to be thankful, and consider offering him a dry-clean. As you are off to work you need to be very careful of hitting something or someone. The roads are slippery and covered in thick layers of snow. If you choose to take a taxi or public transport, reconsider, they are not any better in this sea than any other means of transport. Cross-country skis or snowmobile is the right way to go at it.

Before you know it it’s already dark, but you still have about two hours of work, because the sun sets really early here, during the darkest days its almost dark through out the whole day. It’s so cold outside that we need to have heating on around the clock, nice electricity bills.. The windows might freeze and waterpipes may burst which creates huge damage every winter.

And then there’s the ice. The see freezes over, and you can walk and jump on it, and even drive a car on it. It’s so cool, suddenly you have so much more space to move (Finland is one of the most scarecly populated countries in Europe, so we really don’t need any more of it). But ice is cool, imagine being able to say: hahahaaa I’m standing on the sea! In spring when the ice layer explodes (it really does, it looks cool) the ice is washed up on the shores creating huge mountains and taking with them huge blocks of rocks, so you may end up having a pile of new rocks as you find your way to a beach in spring.

Winter is a wonderful thing, but it still surprises me every year how much snow the sky is able to produce! It is crazy!

I was able to identify myself as he was speaking. I usually work from my couch. Test it yourself, as you sit down on your couch you don’t sit on the hard bone in your buttocks, you sit more on your backside, which in my case has caused the nerve to be compressed and now I’m hurting real bad. In the gym I’ve worked mostly on my legmuscles and abs, completely ignoring my back because its been hurting and I’ve avoided to torture myself further. I’ve been recently playing golf, which he said can be really bad for the back, as the movement is unfamiliar and too fast for my aching back. I always carry a handbag instead of a backpack, which has also contributed to this.

Now I have to lie down on the floor with my legs up, in the so called PSOAS position for most of the day, and preferably sleep in that position as well. I’m on extremely strong painkillers which makes me blurry and dizzy, I almost forgot my dog outside the store today. I can’t be in any buses because of the vibrations and I have a hard time walking. And I’m 23 and I am ashamed of myself. I hate it because I’m not sick, I don’t have fever or anything that shows, my back is hurting and I can’t move properly, try to tell this to your friends so that they’ll understand..

Do not do the same as me, get a proper working desk and better yet a good working chair, do not sit for more than an hour, get up once and a while and walk around, stretch. With that small investment you can avoid what I’m going through right now.

From one of the best movies ever..
Mwah, mwah babies

In todays society the decisionmakers argue that oh, you with a higher education will do fine later, so why should we finance you now? You’ll make lots of money later. It is no comfort for a normal student with little income to know that in a few years they’ll be fine, but until then they’ll have to struggle.

For you who are not Finnish, I shall explain to you how the finnish system works. School is basically free for everyone, we pay a small fee to the student union but apart from that studying is free. We get 200-400 euros from the state each month in study and living support. You can also take a student loan with low rates and long payback time. The students will get this loan for 5 years, and if you have a good reason, like pregnancy or military service you may be exempted so you can study one or two more years than the five. You won’t get thrown out after these maximum of seven years but you won’t get the support.

The problem is that because the cost of living in Finland is so high, the support doesn’t take you very far. A rent for a small flat can be 300-500 euros, so *poof* there goes the support. After that you still have to pay your bills, eat, travel and perhaps be able to have a beer once in a while. Many teachers in our school urges us not to take any part-time job, instead take a loan and try to get thorugh school as fast as possible. There is a catch however. If you decide to take a part time job you cannot earn more than 600 something euros per study-month. If you do you’ll lose your support. It isn’t impossible to go fast forward in school, you just have to choose your subjects right and do summerschool and summer exams. I’ve done mine in record time of three years.

But what if you don’t want to take a loan or if you do not have the support of your parents or if you want to make it on your own? In my experience you are then f*cked. It doesn’t pay off to be fast.
I started looking for scholarships to fund the last year of my studies, because if I want to graduate in three years I won’t be able to work during summer. (I’m are getting to the point now)

Next year the budget for culture will increase, and there are hundreds of funds and scholarships for authors, painters, artists and cultural projects. I’m not saying that their work isn’t important but what is their social responsibility? They are not the ones who will lead companies that may employ hundreds of people, and they are not paying high taxes that are distributed to society. The Helsinki polytechnic have lots of funding for new inventions and new ideas and many of the graduates get paid to do their masters degree by some company. In economy schools this isn’t very common but we still have to do our master in economy to even remotely have a chance. I’m not saying all economists become leaders and CEO’s but they sure as hell have a greater capability nad are better prepared to become that than an actor or a painter.

Why doesn’t society see us as important? Would it be better for me to become a performing artist and earn 2000 something a month and only be responsible for me and my family instead of being responsible for 150 families and a company? Ofcourse there are some scholarships out there for economists but they are usually funding studieas abroad or doctorate studies, but for the ordinary economist there is little to apply for. I hope that I will one day be able to change this by having enough money to start a fund for economists that want to become as good as they can be within a reasonable time. So that one person that want to become something can become that, and not be invisible anymore.