Posts Tagged ‘Finland’
Apple Screwed The Entire Finland Economy Claims Finnish Prime Minister
And to be fair to him there’s a certain amount of evidence that Apple did indeed screw over important parts of the Finnish economy. The invention of the smartphone did screw over Nokia and that paperless computing environment is at least partially here which doesn’t help Finland’s paper making industry all that much:
The prime minister of Finland has blamed Apple for the economic downturn his country is experiencing which saw it lose its AAA credit rating on Friday.
Alexander Stubb said the remarkable success of the California-based tech giant has had a negative impact on his country’s two biggest industries – technology and paper.
‘We have two champions which went down,’ Stubb told CNBC on Monday.
Not only has handset manufacturer Nokia suffered due to the success of smartphones such as the iPhone, but Finland’s paper industry has also fallen on hard times.
The country is a key production site for Europe’s biggest paper producers, UPM-Kymmene and Stora Enso, but Stubb said the success of tablet devices like the iPad had hit the sector hard.
‘A little bit paradoxically I guess one could say that the iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the Finnish paper industry, but we’ll make a comeback,’ he predicted.
That’s always the problem with any new technology, there’s people happily making a mint out of the older technologies being replaced and they get screwed. There weren’t all that many buggy ship makers left after the success of the Model T Ford either.
However, I’m not entirely sure that the iPad killing the paper industry is all that important. Years back, Alan Coren, when editor of Punch, told of how he’d gone to Finland to meet their paper suppliers. And he’d pointed to some trees and asked if they were for the paper they printed Punch upon. The Finns all fell about laughing and said no, no, these trees were far more valuable than that, these trees were to be made into toilet paper.
So if loo paper is more valuable than printing paper then why’s the Finnish paper industry having problems? Surely no ones wiping their arse on their iPads are they?
Helsinki Airport: ‘Feel Yourself At Home’
TO Helsinki Airport, where passengers are advised ‘Feel Yourself At Home’. Task, those Northern Europeans and their utility smut:
Posted: 21st, November 2013 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment (1)
All hail the Wife Carrying Championships!
IN Finland, they’ve clearly got the same bizarre approach to boredom that us Brits have. While we nearly kill ourselves chasing cheese down a hill or trying to throw boots over viaducts, the people of Sonkajärvi partake in the annual Wife Carrying Championships, which we just happen to have the highlights of.
Last weekend, hundreds of people entered the with each competitor tackling a track that is 253.5 metres in length, with their wives strewn across their shoulders, her legs wrapped around the neck for support.
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Posted: 9th, July 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Finnish passports works as a flick book
THE new Finnish passport works as a flick book. Flick the pages quickly and see the elk run.
Nice touch. But could it work in other countries? What animal running would best sum up life in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
A badger running from the cull? A child running from a fox? An adult running for the bus?
Finland’s Pasi Nurminen Beats Ramos And Stekelenburg To The Drop: Great Video
THE flight carrying the Finnish Lions national team arrived in Helsinki at 4:46 PM on Monday, 16th May 2011. It was safe touch down for the side that had won the country’s second IIHF World Championship trophy. Moments later the team’s goalkeeper coach Pasi Nurminen arrived on the tarmac at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. He kissed the ground like the Pope of old…
Other contenders in the Season of Butter:
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Is Vladimir Ladyzhensky’s Death At World Sauna Championships The Most Stupid Death Ever?
AT the annual World Sauna Championships, Finland, Russian Vladimir Ladyzhensky (left) and local hero Timo Kaukonen (right) have taken it to the wire.
Both have notched up six minutes in the 23oF heat. Half a litre of water is added to the sauna every 30 seconds. Both have collapsed with server burns. But only Mr Ladyzhensky dies.
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Posted: 9th, August 2010 | In: Strange But True | Comments (4)
Craig Bellamy cares
AFTER Wales lost at home to mighty Finland in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday, a result that means Wales almost certainly won’t make it to South Africa in 2010, fans were treated to a sight they probably never though they’d see: Craig Bellamy showing genuine emotion:
As fine an example of schadenfreude as you’ll see today.
Who’s Saari Now: The 12th Rule Of Tabloid Journalism
THE 12th Rule of Tabloid Journalism states:
“Each and any incident that can be linked to a website on the internet must be. If victim or perpetrator of crime or deed has a social networking account it should be mentioned at all times, preferably in the headline. The inference should be that the web was the trigger to the action.”
Example:
Matti Saari, 22, shoots and kills 10 people at a school in Kauhajoki, western Finland. He had posted online videos of himself at a gun range. He killed himself.
Headlines:
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Posted: 24th, September 2008 | In: Tabloids | Comment (1)
