In Estonia the MPs expenses that they have claimed for reimbursement by the taxpayers have been a constant source of ricidule. The groceries, the “meetings with voters”, etc.
Now it seems that the UK public also finally is able to join in the “fun”: this Guardian article reveals expenses claimed by Tony Blair and other UK [...]
Today is the International Women’s Day. Started out as a political celebration, the Soviet Union countries and former east bloc countries celebrate it as a kind of mix between Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, which kind of goes against the idea of why the day was concieved. Too often it is celebrated here to reinforce [...]
I have been reading/listening/watching numerous lists of best of 2007 and I thought in my opinion is the person of the year. In Estonia it is without doubt prime minister Andrus Ansip who not only hit the jackpot at the parliamentary elections in the Spring, but managed to create a coalition government excluding the Centre [...]
The OECD study shows that Estonian 15-year-olds are better at understanding science than those from most other countries. The best are the Finnish.
I think the result is so good despite our education system, not because of it. It is interesting to see that neighbour countries Latvia, Lithuania and Russia are below average in the rankings. [...]
Today is the first day of the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. My personal relationship with my country is a little complicated: I like to think about myself as a citizen of the world or Europe, Estonia seems way too small for me. Even more important than that is my dislike of authority, [...]
Finland has always had the reputation as a safe country. The shocking news of the shooting at Jokela school in Tuusula seem unreal. People are already asking all sorts of questions: Was it easy access to guns? Was it teenage angst gone bad? Was it an attempt to immortality and recognition? etc
I do not think [...]
I spend too much time online, consuming all kinds of information. In the last year or so I have started to rely on bookmarks for my browsing needs. These bookmarks are mostly to RSS feeds of interesting blogs and news sites. They are divided into my areas of interest such as the technology (Mac), Estonian [...]
I am still reading Richard Dawkins’s the God Delusion and there are some lovely quotes there, some of which I would like to share:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, [...]
I am back from Berlin, laptopless (my iBook G4 was stolen). It will take a while apparently for the new laptop to get here so until then I am forced to use a PC at the office.
In Berlin I managed to buy a book I have wanted to read for some time. It is called [...]
This is crazy. I hope that the authorities move swiftly and quell the looters. There is a difference between looting and pillaging and having a demonstration in support of your cause (even if this is caused by misinformation). Estonia is so small and our police is quite inexperienced (and underpaid for what they do) so [...]
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