Tag: Finland
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Heating by Bytes
File this one under Green. Sometime in the near future, district heating in Helsinki will be supplemented by heat thrown off by local data centers. This will enable them to cut back on greenhouse gases produced by more traditional methods to heat the water that is pumping through radiators across town. In a first of its kind…
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USPO should copy Finnish NetPosti
A recent editorial in the New York Times spoke of how internet commerce is eating into the US Postal Services’ bottom line. The Postal Service made a profit until 2006. Since then, declining mail volumes — as more Americans use e-mail and pay their bills online — and the demands of its retiree health benefit…
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Nordics Bathed in Broadband
More pretty infographics via Focus.com’s 2009 State of the Internet report. What is it about the internets up here in the Nordics. Norway, Sweden, Finland are the top three for internet penetration (I believe that’s number of households). In terms of speed Finland is quite a bit shy of Japan and Korea but still pulls…
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Finnish Independence Day
The Finns had a rough go of it winning their independence from the USSR. It was just 70 years ago so the wounds are still fresh. The commemoration is more of a memorial in honor of those that served in the bitter civil war than the Norman Rockwell-like celebration that I am so used to…
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Santa Lucia
It’s cold and dark in Helsinki. Minus 10 Celsius with a bitter wind blowing off the Baltic. Snowing too. Coming down sideways, blinding at times and so cold the snow doesn’t really collect on the ground but just blows around like sawdust that squeaks when you walk on it. The sun doesn’t make an appearance until 9 am…
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Berlusconi Pizza with Reindeer
Finnish humor at its best. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was famously quoted as saying he had to “endure” Finnish food during a visit several years ago. So it certainly amused me when I found out that the a Finnish pizza chain has named one of their pizzas in his honor. Thumbing their noses squarely at…
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The Largest Ocean Liner in the World
While we’re making lists, Finland topped another one earlier this week with the launch of the Oasis of the Seas which was built in the STX shipyard in Turku, Finland. 1,180 feet long and grossing 220,000 tons this ship is longer than an aircraft carrier and carries more than 8,000 people (including crew of over…
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Finland has 3rd fastest internet
Finland recently declared broadband internet access a legal right. The site billshink.com also calculates that Finland has the third fastest average access speeds.
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WaveRoller, a childhood dream realized
I used to read Popular Mechanics magazine back in elementary school and would read about all the cool inventions (Robotic Surgeons! DIY Jet-powered Go Kart!) and it got me in trouble more than a few times because what I learned there was not part of the 3rd grade curriculum. I still remember a test where…