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"Finland Needs 100,000 Foreign Workers"
2008-04-24 17:43:00
According to the Finnish daily newspaper Kaleva, over the next 20 years, Finland will need a minimum of 100,000 immigrants in order to fill a labour shortage.Rauno Vanhanen, director of the government's employment, entrepreneurship and work life policy programme (Ministry of Employment and Economy), said to the Oulu’s newspaper that another 300,000 unemployed people in Finland should be encouraged to work.He also calls for Finns to stay at work longer into their later years, adding that productivity should moreover be improved.Rauno Vanhanen has calculated that without foreign reinforcement, Finland's working age population will decrease by 420,000 people between 2007 and 2030.Links:Newspaper: Finland Needs 100,000 Foreign Workers yle.fi300 000 työntekijää saa paikan kaleva.fiRelated articles:A long and fit working life"With the population ageing and the baby-boom generation starting to retire, more attention is being given to employee well-being in Finnish working life. H...

Towards the merger of French and Nordic telecoms?
2008-04-20 07:12:00
According to the Swedish-language newspaper in Finland Hufvudstadsbladet, France Telecom has announced its interest in moving closer to the Finnish-Swedish operator TeliaSonera. Björn Sundell wondered whether the merger would be advisable."This operation would not generate synergy effects. The overlap between the two entities and the potential for lower costs are too weak. In addition, following its last wave of purchases, France Telecom faces heavy debts. The French operator will therefore have difficult to get 30 billion euros needed for the acquisition of its northern counterpart …"Read more on the site EurotopicsLinks:France Telecom eyes Nordic rival news.bbc.co.ukFrance Telecom mulls Nordic expansion chron.com
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Al Gore expects global climate agreement next year in Denmark
2008-04-15 03:36:00
Copenhagen X - The MovieThe overall goal for the 2009 (COP15) United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by Denmark (Copenhagen) is to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012.The TransAtlantic Climate Conference 2008 (7 and 8 April) ended with two days of presentations and debate on the global climate crisis. 2007 Nobel Prize winner and former United States Vice-President, Al Gore addressed the conference audience with a keynote speech on climate change and its implications on ocean environments.Read more“If the future of the planet is to be assured we will have to raise our game and do something about the crisis we face right away,�Al Gore, told a climate conference on the Faroe Islands.Gore also expects the countries of the world to agree on a new treaty to further reduce CO2 emissions at the major UN Climate Summit in Denmark in 2009.“I also expect the USA to ratify the Kyoto Protocol soon. No matter which of the three candidates wins ...
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World's Healthiest Countries (Forbes): Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
2008-04-14 05:47:00
According to Forbes ’ website, northern Europe is home to some of the world's healthiest countries, including top-ranking Iceland , Sweden and Finland . Clean air, low rates of illness and access to food are important factors that contribute to make these the world's 15 best places to live.Read more"Historically, these countries had an ethic of having more of a nationalized health care system,""There's this mentality that health care should be a given right for citizens.""Everyone, needs to be aware that how we provide health care to people in a country is a critical issue." said Kate Schecter, a program officer for the American International Health Alliance.“Countries ' success in combating pollution is likely due to a mix of policies addressing the problem, enforcement of standards and the use of clean fuel�“But some places, such as those located along coastlines, are simply luckier than others, since crosswinds can dilute air pollution�said Kiran Pandey, a senior envir...

March 2008 OviMagazine [Download the free PDF]
2008-04-07 18:58:00
Download the free monthly PDF magazine from here, which contains original articles and other material:And that was March 2008 ...Published: 2008-03-31 (7.37MB)We can hardly believe it, but this month we featured 16 different team members on our covers and that must be a record - it is, take our word for it!
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Al Gore to climate conference in the Faroe Islands
2008-03-25 20:40:00
Tórshavn, the capital of Faroe Islands by commons.wikimedia.orgAl Gore , Nobel prize winner and former Vice-President of the USA, will be the main speaker at the TransAtlantic Climate Conference 08 in the Faroe Islands, on 7 and 8 April, an event focusing on climate change in the North Atlantic and on the new challenges faced by countries in the region. It is hoped that the conference will provide a boost to trans-Atlantic co-operation on climate change in the marine environment.The conference venue will be The Nordic House ("an enchanting hill of elves" ) in Tórshavn. The Nordic House is built on a Nordic tradition with designs form all the Nordic countries.The conference aims particularly at researchers, business people, civil society representatives and politicians in the North Atlantic region and the Nordic countries.NORA (Nordic Atlantic Cooperation), a Nordic Council of Ministers' cross-border committee on regional policy, is one of the organisers of the event. Climate chang...

February 2008 OviMagazine [Download the free PDF ]
2008-03-17 14:22:00
Download the free monthly PDF magazine from here, which contains original articles and other material:And that was 2008 .html">February 2008 ...Published: 2008-02-29 (8.06MB)How many months have 29 days? Yes, all of them! However, this Leap Year the extra day in February means you lucky readers have gained an extra cover story for the month.Ovi Online Magazine
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"Regiões, Sim!" vai realizar sondagem
2008-03-17 13:29:00
Segundo o diário "Região Sul", o Movimento Cívico “Regiões, Sim!� pretende realizar uma sondagem a nível nacional sobre a questão da Regionalização. Segundo o diário, para tal, o movimento necessita de verbas, tendo iniciado uma campanha de angariação de fundos que financiará igualmente a campanha nacional de subscrição de assinaturas.Em Fevereiro último, em Assembleia Geral, o movimento decidiu avançar com a campanha de assinaturas para uma petição a entregar na Assembleia da República, e realizar uma sondagem sobre o tema.Também segundo o "Região Sul", as duas acções carecem de meios financeiros pelo que o movimento acaba de lançar a campanha de angariação de fundos.Pode ler o artigo completo através deste link.Decidimos fazer aqui uma mini-sondagem, acerca da questão da Regionalização. A pergunta colocada é a seguinte:Concorda com a instituição das regiões administrativas? (segundo o modelo das 5 "regiões-plano")[Pode votar na coluna do...

Manufactured Landscape - Landscape as Architecture
2008-03-14 20:06:00
Photo by Edward Burtynsky / www.edwardburtynsky.comWho are the users of an industrial structure like a factory , a mine, a quarry or an industrial village? Obviously they are the workers. In fact, who defines the requirements of those structures are the investors or the capital owners.Read moreHowever, it should be the governments and the populations to have the power to decide the projects’ viability, both engaged in a formal process of EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) that is also an educational process, because it involves professionals and users.On the other hand, who defines the indirect environmental impacts of the material and human resources exploitation, in remote areas? Maybe nobody does it. In fact, the resources “developers� of those areas leave them abandoned after the contractual period of exploitation. Perhaps they aren’t aware of the profound scars that their action causes in the environment.In the conception of industrial structures, the “func...
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Function and Aesthetics
2008-03-12 16:36:00
"Function "The functional requirements of buildings and other physical structures are defined by the requisites that the users make for the realization of their activities.Read morePhoto by Edward Burtynsky / www.edwardburtynsky.comActually, the term "function" covers all criteria, not only practical (such as structural security, habitability and economy) but also aesthetic, physiologic, psychological, socio-economic and cultural.Besides being a design process, architecture is also an experimental and sensory process. If we are moving in a 3D environment, in a temporal sequence we can see, touch, smell and have good or bad “vibrations�. There are thus two different channels: one is the design process, the other one is the sensory experience.To satisfy the new concept of sustainability, any structure should be constructed in an environmentally friendly way. The materials, the environmental impact on the evolving area and the external demands on energy sources (needed for the ...

Stumbler Interviews by Michael
2008-03-04 22:28:00
Michael created a new blog strictly about StumbleUpon and decided to conduct a serie of interviews with some members of this social networking service (including me). Enjoy!Stumbler Interviews by Michael:Stumbler Interview - My InterviewStumbler Interview - BrianreederStumbler Interview - Bdarbs
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Shall the Nordic Region be a GMO-free zone in the future?
2008-02-19 01:43:00
"The Nordic Region should be declared free of genetically modified organisms and the Nordic countries should join other European states like Austria, Greece and Poland, which have already declared themselves GMO-free zones," according to a proposal by the Lef-Socialist Green Group (VSG) on the Nordic Council."Research suggests that the use of genetically modified products has a negative impact on health,"(...) "It would provide a boost to sustainable development and underpin the positive environmental and health image the Nordic Region aims to project," says the Group. Full article [www.norden.org]Read moreApril 19-20 2007 at the European Parliament in Brussels, in the 3rd International Conference on GMO-Free Regions, Biodiversity and Rural Development, more than 230 regions, over 4200 municipalities and other local entities and tens of thousands of farmers and food producers in Europe have declared themselves "GMO-free" expressing their commitment not to allow the use of genetical...
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98 % of Nokia is ownership of American funds
2008-02-11 19:55:00
In the last film of Aki Kaurismäki, "Lights in the Dusk" - third part of a trilogy begun by “Drifting Clouds� (Kauas pilvet karkaavat, 1996) and “The Man Without a Past� (Mies vailla menneisyyttä, 2002), the first about unemployment and the second about homelessness - the actor Janne Hyytiäinen plays the role of Koistinen, a lonely night watchman, who meets an attractive woman (Maria Järvenhelmi in her role). Being deceived by a group of criminals, he loses his freedom, job and his dream of becoming a small enterpreuner , being convicted of a crime he did not commit. Koistinen is a common man, who tries to improve his position in a world with scarce opportunities, but who sees the most powerful denying him this wish.Read moreLast November, in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper JN - which you can read entire through this link (in portuguese) - the Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki answered to some questions: [9] How to define the character of Koistinen? M...
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The current capitalist system
2008-02-11 19:51:00
1. Concept of social class [5]The capitalist system is based on two institutions, whose integrity is crucial for its survival:The private property - the social power of private property is exercised impersonally by market forces on the capital market, and personally in administrative privileges in companies.The labour market - under-pinned by the power of the ruling class aiming to create unemployment and thus subverting the opposition to his “kingdom� through deflation, loss of confidence among investors, economic cycles of consecutive growth/slowdown.Read moreCurrent ly, there is strong argumentation against the importance of the concept of social class, considering that the mode of consumption is much more significant than the means of income or that there is a different form of social identification, largely cultural and religious, which can lead to identity conflicts, much observed in industrialized societies.However there still exist quite important arguments in favour of...
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The Global Business
2008-02-11 19:44:00
1. "Mainstream media" visionRecently, Nokia, world largest manufacturer of mobile phones, announced that it would close its plant in Bochum (Germany), by the middle of this year in a cut that could reach up to 2300 jobs, and the transfer of the production to more competitive places in Europe.Read more"We are transferring the production to existing plants, mainly in Romania, whose unit will open in the second quarter", said the spokesman of the company, Arja Suominen, stating that it had already begun the selection. [1]In Europe, Nokia has factories in countries like Finland, Hungary and the United Kingdom, being a new factory in Romania in process of building, investment of around 60 million euros. It also has factories located in Brazil, Mexico, India and China. Last December, the company decided to move some of its production lines from Finland to South Korea.According to Bloomberg, a German trade union considered this attitude "inhumane" and "socially unacceptable".Also the No...
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Koistinen
2008-02-09 21:04:00
Running the Numbers - An American Self-Portrait by Chris Jordan 1. Nokia 1.1 "Mainstream media" visionRecently, Nokia, world largest manufacturer of mobile phones, announced that it would close its plant in Bochum (Germany), by the middle of this year in a cut that could reach up to 2300 jobs, and the transfer of the production to more competitive places in Europe.Read more"We are transferring the production to existing plants, mainly in Romania, whose unit will open in the second quarter", said the spokesman of the company, Arja Suominen, stating that it had already begun the selection. [1]In Europe, Nokia has factories in countries like Finland, Hungary and the United Kingdom, being a new factory in Romania in process of building, investment of around 60 million euros. It also has factories located in Brazil, Mexico, India and China. Last December, the company decided to move some of its production lines from Finland to South Korea.According to Bloomberg, a German trade unio...

Koistinen (3/3)
2008-02-05 17:25:00
Luzes no CrepúsculoNo último filme de Aki Kaurismäki, “Luzes no Crepúsculo� - terceira parte de uma trilogia iniciada por “Nuvens passageiras� e um “Homem sem passado�, sendo o primeiro filme sobre o desemprego e segundo sobre os desalojados - o actor Janne Hyytiäinen desempenha o papel de Koistinen , um guarda-nocturno que se vê seduzido por uma atraente mulher (Maria Järvenhelmi no seu papel). Sendo enganado por um grupo de criminosos, acaba por perder a liberdade, o emprego e também o sonho de se tornar um pequeno empresário no seu ramo, ao ser condenado por um crime que não cometeu.Continue a lerKoistinen representa o homem comum, que tenta melhorar a sua posição social num mundo sem oportunidades, mas que vê os mais poderosos negaram-lhe esse desejo, empurrando-o para a marginalidade.Em Novembro passado, numa entrevista concedida ao jornal português Diário de Notícias - que poderão ler na íntegra via este link - o cineasta finlandês Aki...

Koistinen (2/3)
2008-02-04 03:09:00
Image by Edward Burtynsky / www.edwardburtynsky.comO actual sistema capitalista1. Conceito de classe socialO sistema capitalista baseia-se em duas instituições, cuja integridade é crucial para a sua sobrevivência:A propriedade privada - o poder social da propriedade privada é exercido impessoalmente pelas forças do mercado de capitais e pessoalmente em privilégios de administração nas empresas.O mercado de trabalho - é pressionado pelo poder da classe dominante, com o objectivo de criar desemprego e desta maneira subverter a oposição ao seu reino, através da deflação, perdas de confiança dos investidores, ciclos económicos consecutivos de crescimento/abrandamento.Continue a lerActualmente, existe forte argumentação contrária à importância do conceito de classe social, considerando que, hoje, o modo de consumo é muito mais significativo que o rendimento obtido ou que existe uma diferente forma de identificação social, mais cultural ou religiosa, que p...

Mökkikunta: Blog of the Month of the Ovi Magazine
2008-02-02 15:12:00
Mökkikunta was considered Blog of the Month by the Ovi Magazine .Thanks Asa, Thanos and the whole Ovi Team!I´m really happy for that!

"Big Bang" - Master List
2008-02-01 08:39:00
I’ve been tagged by Lekahe and now I feel this could be viral...Just follow the instructions. No thought necessary.*Start Copy Here*You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like a scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.) Scroll Box Example. (I decided not to use the box for the Big Bang for ease of copying.)5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in. Once you are on the master list people who have participated earlier will update their bookmarks and help ev...
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Koistinen (1/3)
2008-02-01 02:53:00
image by Zohar Manor-AbelNokia1. Visão “interMédia “Recentemente, a Nokia, maior fabricante mundial de telemóveis, anunciou que em meados deste ano iria encerrar a sua fábrica em Bochum, na Alemanha,, num corte que poderia chegar a 2300 empregos, sendo a produção transferida para locais mais competitivos na Europa."Estamos transferindo a produção para fábricas existentes, principalmente na Roménia, cuja unidade irá inaugurar no segundo trimestre", afirmou o porta-voz da empresa, Arja Suominen, informando que já se tinha iniciado a selecção.Continue a lerNa Europa, a Nokia possuí fábricas em países como a Finlândia, Hungria e Reino Unido, estando em fase de construção uma nova fábrica na Roménia, num investimento que ronda os 60 milhões de euros. Tem também fábricas localizadas no Brasil, México, �ndia e China. Em Dezembro passado, a empresa decidiu transferir alguma das suas linhas de produção da Finlândia para a Coreia do Sul.De acordo c...

Globalização e Descentralização
2008-02-01 02:26:00
A descentralização do Estado é uma forma de redistribuição do poder político, do topo para as bases - da Administração central para o nível intermédio de poder regional e para o nível de poder local.Significa devolver o poder ao povo, oferecendo mais oportunidades de intervenção democrática e uma maior proximidade entre o representante e o eleitor. O factor proximidade é vital para o sistema democrático e contribuí para a humanização das relações de poder.Por meio duma gestão económica global, distante e "fria", a globalização capitalista conduz à desumanização e à transformação do trabalho humano em mera mercadoria.Embora indirectamente relacionado com a temática da descentralização/regionalização, é em redor do tema da globalização económica e algumas das suas consequências, que se desenvolverão os próximos três “posts�.

Baltic Sea Almost Ice-Free
2008-01-27 00:00:00
Baltic Sea is still almost ice-free and sea waters are unseasonably warm. According to the Finnish Institute of Marine Research, waters around Finland are one or two degrees above the long-term average.Read moreBaltic Sea Map / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baltic_Sea_ma pNormally, the northern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia are iced over in January. However, actually, ice is only to be found in the most northern areas of Kemi and Oulu.In southerly areas ice has formed only in some sheltered bays of the Gulf of Finland, like the Bay of Vyborg and near St Petersburg. In winter, under normal conditions, ice would also be found in the open sea, between Helsinki and Tallinn. It is likely ice will form along the coast of Helsinki no earlier than in mid-February, officials are saying.There is less ice in the Baltic at present, than even at mid-January during the winters of the periods between 1988-1989 and 1960-1961. which showed the least ice cover during 300 yrs of recorded measurement...
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Switzerland Tops 2008 Environmental Performance Index
2008-01-24 01:59:00
Yesterday was released the 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which tracks national environmental results on a quantitative basis, measuring proximity to an established set of policy targets using the best data available.The 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) represents the result of extensive consultations with subject-area specialists, statisticians, and policymakers around the world, and was released by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy from the Yale University and by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network from the Columbia University.Read moreAccording to the ranking, Switzerland is the world's greenest country, followed by 3 Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland) and Costa Rica. Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Niger occupy the bottom five positions.Top-ranked countries have all invested in water and air pollution control and other elements of environmental infrastructure and have adopted policy measures...
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5 Blogs That Really Get You Thinking
2008-01-20 07:32:00
Conceptisaddict blog rewarded me with the Thinking Blogger Award! Thank you so much, Lekahe. Kiitos paljon. I am very honoured.The participation rules are simple:1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).Here are the top 5 blogs that get me thinking:allsux.com by AllsuxInventorspot by Steve LevensteinMundo da Teea by TeeaThe Remodeled Blog by LaurenVelvet Verbosity by VelvetverbosityCongratulations, you won a Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!
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Paz, Pão, Saúde, Educação
2008-01-13 02:16:00
image by by Thanos K & Asa B - Ovimagazine O início de 2008 tem sido marcado pelo encerramento de vários serviços de saúde por todo o país, gerando protestos das populações contra estas medidas governamentais. Num país desequilibrado, que ainda sofre de grandes desigualdes sociais e territoriais, medidas vergonhosas como o encerramento de centros de saúde e de maternidades causam a mais viva repulsa a qualquer cidadão com um mínimo de sensibilidade.Em Portugal, o direito à protecção da saúde é constitucionalmente garantido por meio de um serviço nacional de saúde (SNS) universal e geral, tendencialmente gratuito, que tenha uma racional e eficiente cobertura de todo o país em recursos humanos e unidades de saúde e uma gestão descentralizada e participada.Continue a lerAssim, o Estado é obrigado a garantir o SNS. Se não o fizer através da administração central ou desconcentrada, terá de criar as condições económicas e políticas necessárias às ...

The New Wars of Climate Change
2007-12-28 22:47:00
Conflict syndromeIn the year of 2005 the first Human Security Report documented a decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuse over the past decade. However, in the 2008 edition of the biennial report Peace and Conflict, new evidence suggests that if there was a global movement toward peace, since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s and early years of the 21st century, it has stalled. New challenges point to a conflict syndrome - a sum of factors that often operate in conjunction to undermine the stability of states and the foundations of human security.In fact, human-induced climate change is already taking place and it’s not very difficult to find press warnings of climate change causing violent conflict. The question is: is the world facing a new era of war?Read moreThe PastResearchers from the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong reported, in July 2007, that cool periods in China and the resulting scarcity of resources, such as shrinki...
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Christmas Peace in the Heart of Nature
2007-12-23 23:22:00
Spruce tree forest covered by snow [Valtavaara] by photographer Jef MaionChristmas Peace in the Heart of Nature Paz de Natal no Coração da Natureza Joulurauhaa luonnon helmassaChristmas peace near the Korvatunturi Fell
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Environmental Sector will create 500 000 jobs in the Nordic countries
2007-12-08 23:54:00
Working Life in the Nordic Countries Photo: AiNIn Denmark, the number of employees in the sector of the wind energy has increased from 2900 to 21000 in ten years (for 5,3 millions of inhabitants). Norway is one of the world leaders in the sector of the solar energy, Iceland in the geothermal energy, and Finland and Sweden are among the most advanced European countries concerning biofuels. There is a strong potential of development in renewable energies.New types of needs appear. For example, in Sweden, a new legislation will oblige owners of 600 000 properties to have their energy consumption checked by certified auditors, in 2008 (the first has just received his qualification).Also Sweden will have a shortage of 50 000 engineers by 2010, according the latest edition of the magazine Working Life in the Nordic Countries.The main problem is the labour shortage, at a time of the start of baby-boomer retirements and when the Nordic economic boom increases the demand for labour. But ...
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The Nordic Model – an Example for Europe to Follow?
2007-12-05 18:50:00
The Nordic Model – an Example for Europe to Follow? by Christoph MayerlThe Scandinavians have shown that economic success and an extensive welfare state are not mutually exclusive. What is the secret of the Scandinavian model? Is it suitable for the rest of Europe?Are you just residing or have you really started living? The question the largest furniture company in the world addressed to its German customers is a very Scandinavian question.Read moreSwedish success stories: Ikea and the welfare state / Photo: APThe implicit message is: we discovered the secret of good living a long time ago, so when will you arrive at it? Right now, if possible, an increasing number of European politicians are answering, as they look more and more towards the far north for solutions to their countries' problems. "We need to change course, as the Scandinavians did a long time ago," Kurt Beck, leader of the German Social Democrats, said in a television interview last summer.Sweden, Denmark, Norway a...
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