Random Musings: Estonia, Movie Cliches, OWS Sociology, Khaddafy, Landmines

I stumbled across this article on Estonia, Finland’s sister country across the Baltic. The country is dragging itself out of the pit that decades of Communist rule dug for it, but it’s not easy. The country has a very interesting, unique attitude, however. Their prime minister admits they would love to do more for the poor in their country:

“But you have to have the money. We don’t have it. Our average monthly income is €800. So we have to reflect on what’s important for a society’s development. It’s the top performers, the successful ones. Ideas! Companies! Products! If all you do is administer, nothing comes of it. The state must clear the way for those who want to achieve something. That’s the function of the state.”

I had to smile at the line about the Finns, who come there to stock up on Vodka. Years ago on one of our visits to my wife’s family in Finland we took a day cruise to Estonia. A large number of passengers took empty travel carts with them. When we came back from Tallinn those carts were all loaded full of booze.

I have a soft spot for Estonia. My wife studied ballet there for many years while the country was still part of the Soviet Union, and experienced first-hand how difficult life was there. The progress was very evident when we visited about ten years later. Estonia is a country with a goal, and the population are all behind it. It’s really something to see.

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On a lighter note, Pleated Jeans has a fun poston “50 Things I Learned From The Movies“. a few highlights:

3. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there, and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.

9. The more a man and a woman hate each other, the more likely they will fall in love.

15. Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are assigned partners who are their total opposite.

26. No matter how dead you think you’ve killed a bad guy, he can still get up at least three more times.

42. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

47. If an expert makes a prediction and is disbelieved, then it will come to pass exactly as he predicted. If he makes a prediction and is believed, it won’t happen.

Read the whole thing. It’s quite good!

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I know I already talk too much about Occupy Wall Street, but here’s an interesting article from a completely non-political viewpoint. If they’re not already doing something about it, the Reality series producers and sociologists are missing a goldmine here.

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As I mentioned last time, I’m concerned about the casual way our leadership are treating the circumstances of Khaddafy’s death. It looks like I’m not the only one. It should come as no surprise that the world expects that any action we participate will follow established conventions, even if we were not in a position to enforce them. If we thought that Libya would be a “clean war” for us, we were wrong. I think they’re right to criticize.

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Oooooh! What does this button do?!: Landmines found in luggage SLC Airport.

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