To say that the Finns have a certain reverence for their summer season is no understatement. From May to August, nearly every Finn heads outdoors to take advantage of the twelve-plus hours of sunlight before the long, dark winter creeps back in. Government and other activity slows down, prompting many to travel to forest cottages [...]
Posts under ‘Current Affairs’
90 years – a very good beginning
For the past two days, the U.S. Embassy, the University of Helsinki, the Foreign Ministry of Finland and the Fulbright Center, together with many other organizations and individuals, have celebrated the 90th anniversary of U.S.-Finnish diplomatic relations.
We were especially honored to have President Tarja Halonen speak at the opening session of the seminar. We were [...]
SciFest in Joensuu
My memories of school science fairs usually involve a papier-mâché volcano “erupting’ uncontrollably and setting a Styrofoam model of Saturn on fire. Luckily that is not what I encountered at the third-annual SciFest in Joensuu last week.
In a three-day event, SciFest packed the Joensuu Areena with sophisticated displays that engaged visitors with the cutting-edge science [...]
Earth Day
Mothers have Mothers’ Day. Dads get Fathers’ Day. In the US even the groundhog gets his own day on February 2. So it seems only fitting that Mother Earth should get her spot in the limelight on April 22. After all, without the Earth there would be no moms, dads or groundhogs.
Earth Day was founded [...]