The heavens dance

Last week a strong solar storm, the strongest since 2005, hit earth and I was unaffected.  But those lucky enough to live in more northerly climes were able to watch the heavens dance.

You can download your own dancing heavens screen saver from the VisitFinland web site here.

And here is a lovely piece of music, Aurore Boreale, by the Finnish composer Uuno Klami.  Wikipedia asserts that Klami is the only composer to have fought in five armed conflicts.

Spongebob and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - Presidential Elections in the U.S. and Finland: Compare and Contrast

The fantastic sideshow (think Tod Browning's Freaks ) that is the Republican primary has moved to the Sunshine State. The clear winner in South Carolina was Tubby Soft Squeeze a.k.a. Mr. Stay Puft, a well known villain from the past. If you have forgotten the evil deeds of Mr. Stay Puft you can rewatch Ghostbusters (circa 1984) or talk to any federal employee (also circa 1984). 1984 is the year Ben Jones, D-GA, filed an ethics complaint against serial adulterer Newt Gingrich. Yes, yes, Cooter pointed the finger at Newter. U.S. politics is stranger than fiction!

And what about Finland?

Finland's first round of presidential elections took place on Sunday. 7 candidates vied to fill the opening left by Tarja Halonen. Halonen has served her maximum two consecutive terms in office. Of the 7 candidates running for President of Finland, two were women. Of the remaining five male candidates, 3 had the first name Paavo. Any non Finno-phone following the election results on the Helsingin Sanomat web site had the fun of seeing that Google translate informed the world that Spongebob Squarepants had placed an impressive third, fifth, and sixth in the first round of the Finnish presidential elections. Spongebob Squarepants in Finnish is Paavo Pesusieni.

I will write more about the two finalists in a future blog. But first I have to post a short clip of Newt returning to power in Washington. Who're you going to call?

Ethereal beauty under ice

My friend Mike Cantrell posted this video from Finland on his blog and now the Washington Post has buzzed about it. I thought I would get in on the action. The video shows ice fishermen IN Lake Saarijärvi.

In Concord it is cold enough for the Republicans to flock to town, but not yet cold enough to skate on the White Park pond. If you read what Santorum and Newt think about aiding the disadvantaged you will know their hearts were frozen long before they came to the Granite State. We can only hope their hearts will thaw, but I won't hold my breath!