DIY Angry Birds

Angry Birds Space was launched today. As a tribute to the great Finnish game innovation, meet the Angry Birds DIY edition:

Big fitness ball is perfect for the project. It's already March, so new year's sports resolutions have been expired, and there must be some excess sports equipment lying around under the bed (because that's where you're supposed to store all the excess sports equipment, at least according to TV shop). Draw staring eyes and bird's nose on the ball. You can use spray paint or permanent marker, but tape will do as well if you're looking for a temporary game. That's your bird shot.

Then you need to nominate the pig. You need transparent tape to make the lucky one's nose to look like pig's nose. And once you're done with the tape, all you need is to pitch the bird and try to hit the pig. At least my 3-year-old nephew was crazy about the game.

Living next door to Alice? Not...

Let's make this clear:

Joulupukki, Santa Claus, Father Christmas - he lives in Finland, in Korvatunturi to be more precise. Not the North Pole. Not Canada. Neither in Sweden.

Jääkarhu, polar bear lives in North Pole. Not in Finland. Ranua Zoo doesn't count.

Lumimies, yeti. You can never tell with the yetis...

The long and winding road

About a week ago the Atlantic published an article about Finnish school system. The article highlighted that the goal of the Finnish school system is equity over excellence. The article praised the goal, but naturally many people also criticize it for holding back the talents and wasting intellectual resources. But as the goal of the compulsory school is to teach you to read, write and calculate, to give you a basic understanding of how things work, and to give you the keys to educate yourself further - regardless of your background - I think the noble goal has been achieved quite well. And let's remember that in this system the pupils and students are not customers, they are part of the system.

The article sheds light on the ideology behind the school system, but let's have a look at the structure:

I think the finest remark on this map is, that there are no dead ends in the system. In theory you can become a PhD no matter what you've chosen in your early days. Of course, it's not the intention that everybody achieves PhD and of course the road for PhD is longer with some choices compared to other. But the bottom line is that you don't close the doors for the rest of your life, even though you'd have a difficult teenage crisis. And in the end of the day, no matter which path do you take, you will (or you should) end up working.

Moomin conspiracy

Moomins are probably the best known Finnish fairytale figures (Angry Birds are not fairytale - yet). At least they are big in Japan. Not as big as Hello Kitty, but big enough to embrace our national self esteem. The original Moomin comic strips are a bit weird but they had edge. The Japanese animation version is much lighter and targeted for kids, but I must admit I sometimes watch the TV animation and I kind of like it.

President Tarja Halonen has been compared to Moominmamma in the media - mostly because of her purse style, not because of her personality. The current candidates obviously have some Moomin genes, too. I think Timo Soini (Stinky), Pekka Haavisto (Snufkin) and Paavo Lipponen (The Groke) hit the nail with the character also in terms of personality, but others are more or less artificial.

Speaking of Moomins, I have a theory. A conspiracy theory. Maybe raejuusto, cottage cheese, is not really cheese at all. I mean, it doesn't taste like cheese, you can't slice it, and it doesn't melt when you heat it. Maybe raejuusto is minced Moomin meat. Yummy?