Apparently someone had a bit too much time and made a Spanish Euro coin into a Homer Simpson likeness.

D’oh!

Don’t you hate it when you’re signing up for something online and you’re REQUIRED to “Choose State”!? Grrr!!! It makes me embarrassed to be an American knowing my fellow countrymen/web developers never thought that someone outside the U.S. would visit their site.

When forced to choose, I always choose Alabama. Not only because it’s laziest choice at the top of the list, but because I think it’s the closest state to Finland. Geographically speaking.

Saw this while driving in Espoo today - I think Otto the bus driver from the Simpsons got way too stoned this time, and took a wrong turn… LOL!!

Haven’t posted anything in forever, apologies to all of you (and YOU’RE WELCOME to others ). I just received my portion of George Bush’s $145 billion economic stimulus package…well, $300 of it. I’m rich bitch! HONK!!! I think I’ll buy a big bag of crack, that’ll help the U.S. economy! Or maybe I’ll spend that $300 here in Finland, that’ll help the U.S. economy equally.

So you think the government is retarded for giving out billions while racking up trillions in debt, right? How could they make it even more retarded? By spelling “Espoo” with a ‘5′, check it out below…

LOL!!! I’ll be “laughing all the way to the bank” when I cash this thing. I’d like to think George Bush himself wrote that check. Reminds me of Mr. Burns’ illegitimate son spelled “Yale” with a ‘6′ in his Yale application. Too fucking funny, man.

I’m trying to do a community service and clear the spamtrap moderation queue that got a bit out of hand due to the database glitches. So yeah, theres been a few genuine messages there, some of which I’ve found, and some that have been flushed as the finger was faster than the brain. Now I am still facing about 10 000 messages in the queue, which I noticed my first one is dated 2007/10/28 and the last one 2007/10/18. So ten days worth of spam, thats like a thousand comments *a day*. Sweet Jebus on a dinosaur. No wonder people like me would like to go chop off the fingers of nimble little “electronic marketers”. The approved comments queue is riddled with spam that got through the trap, but I think the one we are using is pretty good in catching the drivel. One thing to implement would be to disable commenting on old posts, just today theres been about a hundred spam comments added to a post made 31.8.2005. It seems viagra and porn are still winning over insurance quotes and kayak passage walden… really obscure links. I used to gather real businesses and send the people extremely rude abuse back in the day you got email spam… seems futile. I still just hope a bear shits into waldens kayak. 9800 to go…

As it is summer we need to dig up old crap according to the best journalistic traditions of Finland.

Old news from around Easter - I think we were out to lunch when this happened, but Phil mentioned he got RickRolled… I guess he can count himself in good company.

The “minister of information” is saying “it is not a (security) breach before we have confirmed it is a (security) breach ourselves”.

Don’t know how far the “primitive system” has evolved from that, but its almost been… 4 days from the last time any “problems” were reported.

The Helsingin Sanomat has written about some British & Irish paving labourers who apparently have not had “trouble finding work without speaking any Finnish”. So that proves false the assumption Finns are discriminating xenophobes and racists. Doing a paving job for 3500, sans receipt, when the Finnish quote is 8500-10K and the material cost alone is between 2-3K though might have something to do with the equation. Also the claim that Finnish officials are xenophobes and racists is proven wrong, as if a local Finnish resident would be driving drunk, stealing and doing black labor without paying the social fees and VAT; they’d be in serious trouble. But EU citizens are free to do whatever they effin please. So apparently there is a “need for workers” in Finland indeed and the EU has once again proven to be the source of multiculturalism that enriches the nation. Again three basic theses regarding immigrants in Finland have been proven wrong. I find this quite hilarious, though there’s an owner of a campsite full of complaining Finns (as opposed to whining foreigners) that might not think I am so funny.

Cliff notes: Snatch in Järvenpää

It’s time for my fourth annual summer board game auction, yay!! This time I’ve teamed up with my neighbor and close friend, Saku S., to bring you even MORE great games - here’s how it works…

Below are the starting prices. Simply leave a comment below with your bids. Each bid must be 1 euro higher than the previous. Please include both your name and e-mail address. (if your message doesn’t immediately appear, it may have got caught in my spam guard - I’ll check my spam throughout the day so just wait a few hours and it will show)

I will update this page daily with the highest bids - however, when placing a bid, search through the comments to be sure you are the highest bidder.

I’ll be at Ropecon 2008, so I can bring the games there. If you won’t be at Ropecon, I can meet you in Espoo, or send the games in the Post (at your expense). I’ll accept bank transfer or cash.

The auction begins now (July 30th) and ends on Friday, August 8th at 12:00.

Good luck! E-mail me with any questions: phil >>at>> finlandforthought . net

Latest update on the bids: Friday, August 8th at 15:00, Winners updated

	Age of Napoleon / Das Zeitalter Napoleons, Phalanx	5 EUR, Kalle Miller WINNER: 10 EUR, Valtteri Pirttilä	German version with printed English rules. Unplayed.
	Heart of Africa / Ins Innere Afrika, Phalanx	WINNER: 5 EUR, Mika	German version with scanned printed English rules. Unplayed.
	Elasund: The First City of Catan, Kosmos	5 EUR 6 EUR, raaf WINNER: 7 EUR, Mirko	German version with printed English rules. Played maybe two times.
	Quarto!, Gigamic	5 EUR	Good condition.
	Marco Polo Expedition, Rio Grande	WINNER: 5 EUR, barber	English version. Good condition.
	New England, Goldsieber	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo6 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 10 EUR, Hessu	Played condition.
	Scene it!, Screenlife LLC	10 EUR	First Edition (2003). Played condition.
	Space Dealer, Eggert Spiele	10 EUR 15 EUR, Kalle Miller WINNER: 18 EUR, Valtteri Pirttilä	German version with printed English rules. Good condition.
	Die Weinhändler, Amigo	2 EUR, Mosse 3 EUR, JoeLamer 5 EUR, Mosse WINNER: 6 EUR, metsku	German version with printed English rules. Good condition.
	Taru Sormusten Herrasta/Lord of the Rings, Tactic	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo 7 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 12 EUR,  Mirko	Finnish version. Unplayed.
	Combat Commander: Volume II - Mediterranean, GMT Games	15 EUR WINNER: 30 EUR, Vesa	In shrink. Unopened.
	Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery , Tropical Games	15 EUR 21 EUR, Patrik Lervik WINNER: 33 EUR, Tombad	With the components for extra player shipped with pre-order, box a bit caved in during shipment.
	4 x card games package	WINNER: 2 EUR, JoeLamer	Lao Pengh, Up & Down and Turbo from Adlung Spiele (all with English rules) + Herzlos from Winning Moves (German with no English rules)
	Amyitis, Ystari	5 EUR12 EUR, Mosse 13 EUR, Opettaja H. WINNER: 15 EUR, raaf	Played   3 times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Augusburg 1520, Alea	5 EUR, Ossessione 9 EUR, Mirko WINNER: 15 EUR,  Mirko	Played 4 times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Before the Wind, Mayfair	3 EUR WINNER: 9 EUR, Ossessione	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Blue Moon City, Kosmos	5 EUR 10 EUR, oskari 12 EUR, raaf WINNER: 13 EUR, Mika	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Chicago Poker, Phalanx	WINNER: 3 EUR, barber	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Darjleeing, Abacus	5 EUR 8 EUR, Jhua 9 EUR, metsku WINNER: 10 EUR, Jhua	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Double or Nothing, Uberplay (Reiner Knizia)	5 EUR	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Evergreen, Goldseiber (Wolfgang Kramer)	WINNER: 2 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Great Wall of China, Kosmos (Reiner Knizia)	3 EUR WINNER: 5 EUR, Timo Tikkanen	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Limits, Amigo (Uwe Rosenberg)	2 EUR, JoeLamer WINNER: 3 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Lucky Loop, Queen	3 EUR	Played twice, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Rage, Fundex	2 EUR, barber WINNER: 3 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Saludos Amigos!, Goldseiber	5 EUR	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Sleuth, Face-2-Face (Sid Sackson)	5 EUR WINNER: 10 EUR, Timo Tikkanen	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Walhalla, Amigo	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo 6 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 10 EUR, Hessu	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Ziegen Kriegen, Amigo	2 EUR, JoeLamer 3 EUR, metsku WINNER: 5 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Shogun, Queen (Dirk Henn)	10 EUR 25 EUR, Mosse 31 EUR, Mirko WINNER: 40 EUR, Jhua	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Thurn & Taxis: All Roads Lead to Rome, Rio Grande Games (Andreas Seyfarth)	5 EUR 6 EUR, JoeLamer 7 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Hessu WINNER: 11 EUR, Hessu	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Buccaneer, Queen (Stefan Dorra)	5 EUR, Hessu 7 EUR, Hessu WINNER: 13 EUR, Eikku	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Imperial, Eggert-Spiele	10 EUR 30 EUR,  Timo Tikkanen WINNER: 31 EUR, pillar	Played   once, like new.  English edition.
	Canal Mania, Ragnar Brothers	10 EUR 11 EUR,  Niko WINNER: 12 EUR, Hessu	Played   once, like new.  English edition. Signed by the designers!
	Eketorp, Queen (Dirk Henn)	10 EUR 11 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen 16 EUR, Hessu 20 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen WINNER: 22 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules

We’ve always suspected it, but now we have proof. The Finnish europarliamentarian Anneli Jäättenmäki had to get a new passport. Reason being her old one got “lost” in somewhere between the Europarliament and the Indian Embassy. Neither party has it. As the Ilta-Sanomat says

According to Jäätteenmäki, thefts are quite usual in the EU-parliament. The member’s “boxes” where materials are transferred between Brussels and Strassbourg are missing things, such as cameras and laptops.

- “The police can not investigate the thefts, as they do not have access to the EU-parliament” says Jäättenmäki

Not only the idiotic and expensive dual seating and travelling between Brussels and Strassbourg, but also there is then nobody with jurisdiction to investigate either… Makes you wonder who designed the system.

Ever wondered why the predictive text input in your mobile phone won’t provide you with dirty words, watch and find the answer…

Video from Stefan C. of Intomobile