Ras_

Perhaps. In Nordic countries the sheer abundance of lakes and ponds lead to somewhat similar things.

"Biomass overgrowth of lakes and annual blue-green algae bloom as a result of eutrophication has reduced the overall use of water resources as seen from a point of recreational and leisure use. Also fish stocks have changed so that less valuable fish dominate at the cost of valuable fish like salmon and trout. Selective fishing is an effective way to reduce the overgrowth of less valuable fish populations and at the same time reduce eutrophication of water bodies." http://www.hoitokalastus.com/hoitokalastus_en.html

I.e. they require certain amount of fishing to remain useful in that regard.

Since they are either fully government funded or jointly funded with municipalities, there are no incentives to search short term profits by running diploma mills.

Ministry of Education controls the money and conducts yearly performance target negotiations bilaterally with each higher education institution. You actually need a permit from the ministry to run any kind of school. Even our few "private" primary and secondary schools are publicly funded and regulated accordingly.

Independent expert body FINHEEC audits universities quality management schemes regularly. Some European countries use accreditation-based evaluation (for single degree programs) instead of system wide audits. At least one Finnish university has also acquired ISO 9001 cert, but it was seen as more labor intensive and not providing the same benefits (benchmarking, benchlearning) as the required peer-based audits.

Yes, Finland.

Maybe it's because all of our schools are public? For example higher ed. providers are funded based on enrollment and rate of graduation. If someone does not graduate, significant chunk (20-30%) of money won't be paid at all. This creates some incentive for the institution to actually guide and see that people don't fall through all kinds of cracks. I guess it's necessary when there is no ordinary paying customer relationship involved.

These expulsion stories sound really weird. I mean you pay for all of your studies and still could get axed on a whim? Whereas in my country I get paid to study and have zero chance of being expelled for these kinds of events.

Finland has a similar policy. Since 1958 every building above 3000m2 was required to have a bomb/fallout shelter. Current spec extends to buildings with more than 1200m2 (used to be 600m2 until 2011, which was deemed too expensive) floor space. In 2008 there were 43 000 shelters for 3,6 million people (total population 5,3M). Shelter should be no more than 250 meters away.

Also Europe could be somewhat self-sufficient in REE with just one new project (Norra Karr mine in Sweden).

Norway might not support, but Finland is majority owner of Fortum (51%), which the news article states as a partner. So governments aren't completely out of the picture. Fortum actually has slightly more nuclear power production in Sweden than in Finland. But your sentiment rings true, indeed only Finland is pro-nuclear in this common energy market (NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe, previously Nord Pool).

This could work well in countries which have dual university system (Germany, Finland etc.), with the side focusing on vocational skills (Fachhochschule-model). These Universities of Applied Sciences / Polytechnics do already have such incubators. Only a few though. They are also unconnected from people doing academic research. If undergraduates can make it work, maybe doctorate students etc. could be next.

Newspaper monopolies are local/regional and that is often not sufficient market for an analyst magazine.

I wonder how the internet would've turned up without Linu(s/x).

Your Les Paul story reminded me of this study:

"Wearing a coat thought to be a doctor’s may improve attention." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/clothes-and-self-p...

Original article is three years old. Here's two more on the subject, both less than month old. The first one also provides info about the scope of the plan and its implementation (like "Private Roads Act, Highways Act and Rail Tracks Act will be adjusted, so that cables can be placed within the infrastructure in the most economic manner possible overall").

"The Government is to keep the hundred megabit objective to be achieved by 2015, which was set during the election period. By 2015, high-speed 100 Mbit/s broadband connections will be available at no more than two kilometres from all permanent places of residence."

http://www.lvm.fi/web/en/pressreleases/-/view/4109122

In this news item, the Finnish Minister of Communications suggests that 10Mb would become the new minimum standard before end of election term in 2015.

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Legally+mandated+broadband+...

The other major frontier of exploration isn't faring any better:

"More people have walked on the surface of the Moon than have visited the bottom of the Marianas Trench. We've even been to the Moon more recently than we have the very bottom of the sea."

http://io9.com/5894566/james-cameron-says-the-current-state-...

In Finland we have a practice called vuorotteluvapaa (work sharing). It is commonplace for people nearing middle age. For example my mother used vuorotteluvapaa to do deaconess studies to complement her nursing degree. Work sharing requires that your employer hires someone who is registered as unemployed to fill in "your shoes".

To get work share you need to have worked at least 10 years of which at least 13 months to your current employer. You can work share for a minimum of 90 days and maximum of 359 days. Compensation is 70-80% of what your unemployment benefit (25.74€ base per day + 45% of your normal day's earnings) would be.

Weihenstephaner is very good and well known (outside of Germany). For example "Hefe" is one of the best Weissbiers in the world (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/weihenstephaner-hefe-weissbier/...) and certainly the best of widely available ones. Absolutely no reason to complain. Stella is only average (gets 18/100 vs Hefe's 99/100 at Ratebeer), but it is also different type of beer - lager.

Do yourself a favor: try different types of beer, not just brands.

"Military service holds a vaulted position in Israeli’s entrepreneurial culture. Many start up founders attribute their success to those post-adolescent years spent following orders and memorizing technical manuals in specialized army units."

Unfortunately this only seems to work in Israel. From a Scandinavian perspective, and personal experience in the Finnish Defence Forces, our conscription and entrepreneurship seem to have nothing to do with each other. Our service does provide connections, but they don't readily turn into businesses. Perhaps because there is nothing like the current threats around Israel. Thus there is less procurement etc.

Finland's and Israel's aerospace/weapons industries have surprisingly much common history. We had the leg up after WW2 until about 80's. Tampella (mostly known for grenade launchers) and other Finnish manufacturers provided quite many designs (for example Israel's Galil rifle was based on a design licensed from Finland) and consulted in the development of Israel's armament industry. Nowadays the tables have turned - Finland buys a lot of defense materiel from Israel.

Scandinavian countries already have quite selective conscription. International op requirements and cutbacks seem to be leading to rapid professionalization (very apparent in Sweden). Soon Finland could be the only N. European country with mandatory conscription, since it's the only non-Nato country which borders Russia.

Military & entrepreneurship: Very interesting pair. Remember Steve Blank's Secret History of Silicon Valley? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFSPHfZQpIQ

'Taxi wars' is also current in Finland. Few young entrepreneurs tried to enter the market with moped-car taxis. Those teens were immediately choked out of existence with heavy handed bureaucracy. We've also had Maxi Taxis (a more serious venture), which entered the streets of Helsinki unannounced. They were trying to exploit a loophole (minivans registered as trucks) in the legislation. Besides heavy lobbying against them, they were constantly harassed and even physically blocked by taxis and their drivers (very radical approach in regards to current Finnish society). Maxi Taxis folded quickly as the legal loophole was closed in record time.

Our taxi licenses are cheap, but supply is artificially restricted. The Ministry of Interior decides how many taxis can operate in each town. Taxi licenses cost about 300 euros; processing expenses. Toughest prerequisite is a short (few weeks, cost less than 1k euros) taxi-entrepreneur course.

The Ministry of Interior resorts to micromanagement. They set the maximum number of licenses for each and every town based on estimated need (which is quite sensitive to lobbying). For example the current maximum number of licenses in Helsinki is 1386 (for a population of 590k). In 2008 100 new Helsinki-licenses were issued, and just as anamax commented above: It was protested with an argument "Cabbies don't make a "living wage" as it is". This number was reduced by 51 in 2010.

There are queues, but they are generally not very long (in Helsinki you might need to wait for 10 years, but many smaller towns have free spots which you can claim without delay). You can drive a taxi as a hired man as the license is vehicle-, not person-specific. Hired man gets paid about 30-40% of the turnover of his rides.

Both the number of licenses and fare rates are national monopolies. A ride of similar length costs the same in Helsinki as it does everywhere else. Rates are set by the Ministry of Interior.

No price competition and artificially restricted entry to market. Friction with modern society: heavy. Taxi monopoly might not be the first to fall, since we still have, e.g. state monopolies on gambling and liquor. Of these, the former could end soon thanks to the EU.

Intro caught my attention: "The ancient city of Nuremberg, steeped in medieval and Nazi history, is home to a cluster of fiercely competitive pen and pencil manufacturers whose survival is driven by innovation."

It depends. For example Swedes are very talkative, but Finns not the least bit. Finns are very direct and generally do not engage in small talk. Linus comes from Swedish speaking minority of Finland, so I guess that he is more talkative than an average Finn. Extensive stay abroad helps too. Still I wouldn't be surprised if he slightly hated twaddling :)

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/02/23/failing-its-familie... (the report)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave

Going to a dentist on your holiday would be a casual example.

Fun fact: Finnish Frontier Guard is currently training their Turkish counterpart in border control / illegal immigrant prevention. I heard it yesterday in person from Finnish Minister of Interior. Geographically it makes no sense, but immigrants become everyone's problem after they reach any EU country.

I guess this means that Schengen countries have extensive cooperation and will adopt joint standards in time.

Well... I heard about this on Finnish public radio (after reading here). They should know better.

Bureaucrats can bring it back. They (and among others, arbitration committee) can access deleted articles, deletion logs etc. as they please. Undelete has its own process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Undeletion (for articles which were deleted without contest)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review (for contested deletes)

In fi.wikipedia (I am an arbcom member there) both delete and undelete are decided by a 2/3 majority vote.

In en.wikipedia it is not. But in some others, like fi.wikipedia, it is.

N. Europe:

I have 110/10M (cable-tv network) in Finland for $53. More widely available 24/1M DSL goes for $46. Usage caps are unheard of in cabled internet.

Cheap, non-capped mobile internet has recently exploded - caps will be introduced. Our biggest telco TeliaSonera has only capped versions since the launch of iPhone (they were were forced and willing to pay extra). Other companies haven't introduced restrictions, but since Android-based smartphones became popular in 2010 and currently log the most data usage per unit, this will soon change.

Mobile internet is also very popular with plain computers by using 3G usb-dongles, which telcos give free of charge when you sign up for 12/24 months. Typical offer is uncapped 384k for $6.7 or 1M for $12 (actual rates vary often due to congestion - p2p users are a major pain in the butt with 3G networks). These are available nationwide with no geological price differentiation.

In Sweden broadband is quite much cheaper. The government has been heavily involved in building fiber with subsidies, tax breaks and legal requirements to municipal providers. (IT Bill 2000) http://www.broad-band.gr/content/events/docs/Swedish_broadba...

  Finland: 
  Start-up notification by private trader 75€
  Start-up notification by private limited company (min. 2.5k€ share cap) 350€

No liability to collect VAT if annual sales do not exceed 8,5k - unless you are a foreigner with no fixed establishment in Finland.

  May neglect the appointment of an accounts auditor if more than one of following are not met:
  Balance sheet total exceeds 100k
  Net sales or corresponding earning exceed 200k/year
  There are more than three employees on average

Self-employed pension insurance (YEL) not mandatory e.g. if not resident, annual work income is below 6 775,60 euro...

http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/default.aspx?nodeid=15325 (guide text) http://www.prh.fi/en/kaupparekisteri/hinnasto.html (registrar, prices)

Quite easy, but for example dividends are taxed so heavily that Estonia is a good alternative to set up shop. You should come here mainly because of quality workforce. Finland is a low-paying country for engineers (65-75 % of German average, 60-85 % of French average, 65-80 % of UK average - stats from 2001 though).

Here in Finland it seems that marriage is seen as a "standard contract", as in the easiest way to organize common issues regarding inheritance (e.g. non-married couple: kids get their share by birthright, but spouse not without separate agreement) or possessions are divided in case of separation.

All legal avenues have been pursued. Everyone knows what to expect.

A few more:

  Teachers are given freedom to design curriculum and choose textbooks, i.e. quite entrepreneurial approach
  No national tests of learning outcomes
  No school league tables or rankings
  Plenty of (early) attention focused on individual support for the struggling learners

The best students could be underserved, because they advance at the pace of the average (or worst) students.

The prevailing social norms have some drawbacks. Equal opportunities is a good starting point, but too often we like to punish success as a way of keeping the perceived inequalities at minimum. In some way, we can't handle success. There's not enough competition to reach the top. Quite the opposite, envy and such emotions are often not agents for activating people (as in the American dream). More often they create passivity. We're only too happy to be all middle class.

In Finland Galaxy S was free with 16,90€ 24mo contract with 384kbit/s non-capped data.

We probably have the smallest operator margins (and/or most network overcapacity) in the EU. The US mobile communication prices seem unbelievable, esp. when everything related to tech is usually considerably more expensive here.