Furthermore the exercise, the environment and the beauty of it all are gorgeous.

One advantage of the huge amount of snow in Finland is that you can ski everywhere.  Just avoid gritted streets and you’ll be fine.

I have been thinking lately about the Darwin Awards, which you might know are all about:

Honoring those who improve the species… by
accidentally removing themselves from it!

Given the general conditions of life here in the far north, there are a few ways in which you could very easily make yourself due to receive such an “honour”.  Some of my favourites below:

• Riding a bike dressed in black in November-January.  Invisibility might be a good thing for ninjas, but you want to be as visible as possible so that you don’t get run over by a car.
• Not enough clothing in winter, especially if alcohol is involved. Obvious really.
• Not taking care of the sauna stove while drinking. How many times have we seen houses burn down, with people inside?
• In summer, going fishing with a couple of beers on.  A few deaths every year involve people who drown in lakes with their zippers down.

Any sure ways of winning the Darwin Awards that are common hereabouts you might want to add, that don’t include alcohol?

I don’t know about you, but that’s probably the one award I could live my life without.

Found at the main entrance of the headquarters of a famous multinational corporation after yesterday’s snowfall.  Whoever said Finns don’t have a sense of humour hasn’t spent long enough with them.

This time of the year it is very common to get foggy days in southern Finland.  I find them very interesting because the combination of setting with metheorological phenomenon brings to my mind images of Viking longships raiding the marshes and woods of the lands of the Fenni.

A friend of mine did share a story of Vikings rading a warehouse full of precious animal furs near the town of Nokia, which is where  it takes is name from (noki being “soot” and sable being as black as it).  Somehow drunken barbarians warriors attacking a town for its pelts sounds pretty funny to me.

This brings me to another point: every once in a while I feel like the Arab guy in The 13th Warrior. Par for the course for a southerner living in these northern lands

But it just gets better after repeated viewing.  And I don’t even like hip hop that much.

He wasn’t particularly impressed by this District 9 ad

Lo interesante de este comercial, estarán de acuerdo conmigo, es que en lugar de utilizar servicios de doblaje simplemente tomaron a la misma persona de su versión en inglés y lo pusieron a hablar español, con resultados aún más cómicos que el comercial original (abajo).  Además, estoy seguro que el mismo comercial en español no funcionaría fuera de Estados Unidos porque sonaría demasiado raro a todos aquellos que no están acostumbrados al acento de un angloparlante.  Creo que  es obvio que para los vendedores de este producto el mercado latino era lo suficientemente importante.