ISI99 Daily Bulletin · 2006-11-02 · ISI99 / Daily Bulletin / Monday –Tuesday, August 9–10 /...

ISI99 / Daily Bulletin / Monday –Tuesday, August 9–10 / 1–2 1

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Monday - Tuesday, 9 -10 August, 1999

ISI99 Daily Bulletin 1-2

1–2 / Monday – Tuesday, 9–10 August / Daily Bulletin / ISI992

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Contents

• Welcome to Finland! 3

• Participants make the conference 4

• Opening ceremony 4

• ISI in a nutshell 5

• Changes in the programme 5

• Behing the scenes and in the frontline 6

• The Finlandia Hall 7

• The man who loved the waves 8

• A brief history of Finland 10

• Visit Statistics Finland 12

• Sights worth seeing 12

• A foreigner in Finland 14

• Teach yourself Finnish 15

• Try some crayfish 15

Cover photograph from Nature Photo Agency, photographerHeimo Rajaniemi:

The Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) is a migrant inFinland, often seen on meadows towards the end of the summer.

Be punctual!

A note to the chairs: please see to it that speakers do not exceedtheir given time limits. All meetings should start and end punctuallyat the time indicated in the given schedule. Speakers, please showconsideration to your fellow speakers by keeping within yourallotment of time.

Say “cheese”!

Photographer Reino Havumäki will be taking photographs of theparticipants on the opening day and during the welcome receptionon Tuesday 10 August. These pictures can be bought at theentrance level of the Finlandia Hall on Thursday 12 August for 30FIM a piece.

Reino Havumäki will also take photographs on Friday 13 Augustat the General Assembly.

Another gentleman, who wishes you say “cheese” wheneveryou meet him, is Daily Bulletin’s own photographer Juhani Korpi.Pictures of both photographers will be published during the Sessionin the Daily Bulletin and on the website of the 52nd Session.

Sold out!

Some events on the social programme have been so popular thatparticipants who have not booked their reservations well inadvance, have unfortunately been left without tickets. You can askfor cancellations at the Registration Desk at the entrance level ofthe Finlandia Hall.

The concert on Friday night is fully booked. The church can onlyaccommodate 700 listeners, and all seats are reserved.

Of the Sunday Tours, the Hiking Tour and the Lakeland Tour arealso fully booked.

The Post Session Tour to Tallin, included in the social programmein the Information Bulletins 1 and 2, has been cancelled due to lackof interest. You can ask about other possibilities to visit thesouthern neighbour town of Helsinki at the Travel Agency at theentrance level of the Finlandia Hall.

The ISI99 Daily Bulletin will be available every morning at 8 (except Sunday) during the conference in the foyer of the Finlandia Hall.

ISI99 Helsinki Daily BulletinTel. 050 373 6490e-mail [email protected]

Editor in ChiefIlkka Mellin, Statistics Finland

EditorTarja Mikkonen, Statistics Finland

Photographer, drawingsJuhani Korpi, Statistics Finland

LayoutStelosEdita Ltd

Printed byEdita Ltd


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J’ai le plaisir de vous souhaiter la bienvenue en Finlande, à Helsinkiet à la 52ème Session de l’Institut International de Statistique.

La statistique a une mission très importante et reconnue dans lasociété moderne. La contribution de la statistique aux progrèsréalisés en physique, en biologie, en médecine, en logistique, encontrôle de la qualité et dans de nombreux autres domaines estremarquable. A l’aide des plus récentes méthodes de statistique, ladescription des phénomènes économiques et sociaux s’est préciséeet diversifiée.

Les analyses statistiques faites à l’origine sur les possibilités degain dans les jeux de hasard et les phénomènes naturels ont pris ladimension d’une science dans laquelle l’essentiel est l’estimation dudegré d’incertitude et la prise de décision qui le prend enconsidération. La statistique moderne comprend en réalité desdizaines de branches scientifiques différentes. La statistiquemathématique forme le noyau de la théorie, mais un grandnombre d’applications s’y rattachent, depuis la physique théoriquejusqu’à la linguistique, depuis les procédures judiciaires jusqu’àl’archéologie.

La production exhaustive et fiable de statistiques est unecondition nécessaire non seulement pour la réussite des entrepriseset pour les forces du marché, mais également pour celle del’Administration et de la politique. La crédibilité et le succès d’ungouvernement dépendent de plus en plus de la quantité et de laqualité des données statistiques.

La Finlande est une société moderne qui - également à lalumière des comparaisons internationales - fait un usageexceptionnellement vaste de la plus récente technologie del’information et de la communication. Ces dernières années, la

It is my pleasure to welcome you all to Helsinki, Finland, and to the52nd Session of the International Statistical Institute.

Statistics has a very important and acknowledged mission inmodern society. The contribution of statistics to the advances inphysics, biology, medicine, logistics, quality control and in severalother fields is remarkable. With the aid of the latest statisticalmethods the description of economies and societies with statisticshas continually sharpened and specified.

The early statistical analyses, whichserved to establish winning odds ingambling or describe natural phenomena,have grown to a science in whichestimation of the degree of uncertainty andmaking due allowances for it whendrawing conclusions are key elements. Infact, modern statistical science embracesscores of different scientific disciplines.Mathematical statistics forms its theoreticalcore, but the areas of application associatedwith it range from theoretical physics tolinguistics and legal processes toarchaeology.

Exhaustive and reliable statisticsproduction is a necessary condition not onlyfor the success of the corporate sector andmarket forces but also for the success ofpublic administration and politics. Agovernment’s credibility and success alsodepend more and more on the quantityand quality of statistical data.

Finland is a modern society which – alsoin the light of international comparisons –makes exceptionally wide use of the latest

Welcome to Finland!

information and communication technology. During the last fewyears Finnish economic and social success has been built more andmore on high technology areas of which the production of statisticsis one. In the 1990s the transfer to the information society hasbeen raised to an important political aim in Finland as in manyother industrial countries.

Finnish society has long been quite well organised, which is seenin the fact that there are long traditions instatistics, too. In Finland we have, forinstance, the oldest annual populationstatistics in the world. Statistics based onvarious registers have been integrated tothe normal production of governmentstatistics more thoroughly than in mostother countries.

I am quite sure that we also need moreglobal co-operation in the statistical world.In this area, the International StatisticalInstitute has a very important role. Moreand more problems in the economy and insociety have a global dimension, too. Insolving these problems we need high-quality statistics and harmonised statisticallanguage.

I wish every success to this conferenceand also to the International StatisticalInstitute in its very important work to solveproblems common to all nations.

Martti AhtisaariPresident of the Republic of Finland

Bienvenue en Finlande!

réussite économique et sociale finlandaise s’est de plus en plusédifiée sur la haute technologie dont la production de statistiquesest l’un des domaines. Dans les années 1990, le passage à lasociété informatique s’est élevé au niveau d’un objet politiqueimportant en Finlande et dans beaucoup d’autres paysindustrialisés.

La société finlandaise est depuis longtemps tout à fait bienorganisée, ce qui se voit dans le fait qu’elle a également de longuestraditions en statistique. Nous avons en Finlande par exemple laplus ancienne statistique annuelle de la population du monde. Lastatistique basée sur divers registres a été intégrée dans laproduction normale de statistiques gouvernementales d’unemanière plus complète que dans la plupart des autres pays.

Je suis tout à fait certain que nous avons également besoind’une coopération plus globale dans le monde statistique. Dans cedomaine, l’Institut International de Statistique joue un rôle trèsimportant. Les problèmes de plus en plus nombreux dansl’économie et dans la société ont également une dimensionglobale. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, nous avons besoin d’unestatistique de haute qualité et d’un langage statistique harmonisé.

Je souhaite le plus grand succès à cette conférence et égalementà l’Institut International de Statistique dans son très importanttravail en vue de résoudre les problèmes communs qui concernenttoutes les nations.

Martti AhtisaariPrésident de la Republique de Finlande


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Participants make the conference• The variety of the subjects tobe presented during the 52ndSession of the InternationalStatistical Institute in Helsinkireflects the great diversity ofthe international community ofstatisticians. The Sessiongathers together over 1,600experts from all over the worldand all areas of researchapplying statistical methods.They come from universities,national and regional statisticaloffices, central banks,international andintergovernmentalorganisations and researchinstitutes working in forestry,health care, insurance,economic forecasting andcomputer technology, to namebut a few.

It is a great challenge to theProgramme Committees tocreate a scientific programmewhich will both take thisdiversity into account and makeallowances for it while, at thesame time, attracting writers to

produce papers interestingenough to their colleagues.One way of ensuring this is toengage a great number oforganisations in thepreparations. The process ofpreparing this conference hasonce again demonstrated theimmense importance of goodco-operation between thevarious organisations involved.

Modern technology hassimplified the preparationprocess by, for example,facilitating swiftcommunication regardless oftime or place. Measured by thenumber of mobile phones andInternet connections, the latestinformation andcommunication technologieshave advanced further inFinland than in most othercountries. This meant that, forthe first time in the history ofthe ISI, the abstracts of thepapers appeared on theInternet months in advance.Without boasting, we can say

that this is an achievement weare proud of.

Yet, regardless of howefficiently or meticulously thepreparations might have beenexecuted, they only build theframework for the participants.As organisers, we are like stagedesigners who construct the setfor the main players of theshow. You, dear colleagues, arethe body and soul of theconference. You make it, byhaving interesting discussionsand fruitful debates, byexchanging views and ideas,forming valuable contacts aswell as meeting old friends andmaking new ones. We raise thecurtain on Tuesday, August 10and, for the next nine days, thestage is yours.

We wish you all heartilywelcome to the 52nd Sessionof the International StatisticalInstitute. We hope the Sessionwill be a memorable event andthat Helsinki will show you herfairest face.

Timo RelanderChairman of theNational Organising Committee

Hannu NiemiChairman of theLocal Programme Committee

Ilkka MellinSecretary General

Opening ceremony

Matti Raekallio willplay the piano at the

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The Organising Committee has invited all participants andaccompanying persons to attend the opening ceremony onTuesday the 10 August at 4 p.m. in the Congress Hall on thefirst floor of the Finlandia Hall. Immediately after the ceremony,a welcome reception will take place in the foyer.

• The programme of theopening ceremony consists offour speeches, piano music anda multi image show. Thespeakers are Mr Timo Relander,Director General of StatisticsFinland, Mr Paavo Lipponen,the Prime Minister of Finland,Professor Willem R. van Zwet,the President of theInternational Statistical Instituteand Mr Yves Franchet, DirectorGeneral of the Statistical Officeof the European Communities(Eurostat). The SecretaryGeneral of the 52nd Session,Mr Ilkka Mellin, will act as

Master of the Ceremonies.The musical programme

consists of compositions ofFrederic Chopin, Jean Sibelius,Sergey Prokofiev, AleksandrScriabin and Igor Stravinsky.They will be played by ProfessorMatti Raekallio, 45. He hasplayed at several remarkablemusic festivals in Finland andabroad and toured annually inthe United States. He has beenteaching the piano for 20 years,and during the present decadehe has been a juror of anumber of international pianocompetitions.


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ISI in a nutshell

• The International StatisticalInstitute (ISI) was established in1885, so it is one of the oldestinternational scientificassociations. Its aim is todevelop and improve statisticalmethods and their applicationby promoting internationalactivity and co-operation. Theover 1,900 elected (“ordinary”)members of the ISI are theworld’s leading statisticiansfrom over 90 countries, expertsin official, applied andtheoretical statistics. The 166 exofficio members are leaders ofnational and internationalstatistical agencies andrepresentatives of statisticalsocieties. The total number ofmembers in the ISI is 2,115. Inaddition to individuals, the ISIalso has corporate members,such as national statistical

institutes and statisticalsocieties.

A considerable part of thework of the ISI is done in thefive sections, open to anyoneinterested in the goals of theorganisation. The sections haveover 5,000 individual membersin all. The oldest of thesesections are the InternationalAssociation for StatisticalComputing (IASC) and theInternational Association ofSurvey Statisticians (IASS), bothfounded in 1973. The BernoulliSociety for MathematicalStatistics and Probability (BS)was founded in 1975 and theInternational Association forOfficial Statistics (IAOS) in1985. The youngest section isthe International Associationfor Statistical Education (IASE),founded in 1991.

Objectives and funding

The ISI has as its objective “thedevelopment and improvementof statistical methods and theirapplication throughout theworld, all this in the widestsense of the words”. Inparticular, it seeks to encourageinternational co-operationbetween statisticians, and theexchange of their professionalknowledge, to further theinternational integration ofstatistics and contribute to theimprovement of statisticaleducation.

The Institute’s activities arefunded by grants fromintergovernmentalorganisations, governments,local authorities, foundations,private business, and otherbodies. Membership fees andproceeds from the sale of ISIpublications are traditionalsources of income.

Organisation

The Permanent Office of the ISIis situated in Voorburg, in theNetherlands. The GeneralAssembly, open to all individualmembers of the ISI, meets inconnection with the biennial ISIconferences. In the interimperiod, the activities are lead bythe Council and the ExecutiveSecretariat.

The Executive Councilconsists of five members: thePresident, the President Electand three Vice Presidents. TheCouncil has 29 members: theExecutive Council, 16 othermembers and 8 ex officiomembers, such as the PastPresident of the ISI, thepresidents of the five sectionsof the ISI, the Secretary/Treasurer of the ISI and theDirector General of StatisticsNetherlands.

Changes in the programme

Wednesday, 11 AugustIn IPM56 “Improving the

effectiveness of data collectionthrough innovativetechnology”, at 13.00, thename of the introducer is G.de Bolster, NOT W. Keller.

In CPM75, the paper to bepresented at 11.00 has beenomitted from the programme.The title of the paper will be“250 Years of PopulationStatistics in Finland”, presentedby Mauri Nieminen (FINLAND).

In CPM 82 at 9.00 -11.15,the paper scheduled at 9.30,“A representation of the ratefunctions in large deviationprinciples for U-statistics withdegenerate kernels” by ShuyaKanagawa from Japan, hasbeen cancelled.

In CPM 143.1 at 9.00 -11.15, the paper scheduled at10.30, “Influence analysis ofstructural equation modelswith polytomous variables” byWai-Yin Poon (CHINA), Shu-JiaWang and Sik-Yum Lee, hasbeen cancelled.

The paper of Mario Palma(MEXICO) “Inegi’s experience intechnical cooperation onstatistics”, originally scheduledfor CPM137 on Monday 16August at 13.00, has been

moved to CPM116.2 “Technicalco-operation to help countriesto meet national andinternational requirements II”,on Wednesday 11 August at14.30.

Friday, 13 AugustThe meeting of the

Agricultural StatisticsCommittee (Gregor MendelCommittee), originallyscheduled for Monday 16August at 11.15, has beenadvanced to Friday, 13 August,11.15. The place will beannounced later.

Saturday, 14 AugustIn CPM73.1, the paper of

Patrick D. Bourke, scheduled at9.00, has been cancelled.

Monday, 16 AugustIn IPM18, “Multiway data in

psychometrics andchemonetrics”, to be held onMonday 16 August at 9.00, thetalks of Pieter Kroonenberg andClaus Andersson will be givenin the reverse order. MrAndersson will speak at 9.04,and Mr Kroonenberg at 9.39.

New item for CPM81: at17.00, “Intervalle de confiancede l’indice de végétation, de

l’indice de brillance et de lamatière séche totalle” byAbdellani, F. and Chamayou, J.F. (FRANCE).

Tuesday, 17 AugustIn CPM134, the paper

“Generalised kernel densityestimator” by Novak, Serguei(NETHERLANDS), scheduled at9.30, has been cancelled.

IPM12 on “Whitherstatistical publishing?”,scheduled on Tuesday 17August at 13.00, has beencancelled.

Some names of the speakersof IPM 42 “Statistical trainingof people working in and withofficial statistics” have beenomitted by mistake in theInformation Bulletin No 3. Themeeting is to be held onTuesday 17 August at 13.00 -15.15. These should be added:

As organisers:Blumberg, Carol Joyce, UNITEDSTATES

Smulders, René H. M., THENETHERLANDS

As chairpersons:Blumberg, Carol Joyce, UNITEDSTATES

Smulders, René H. M., THENETHERLANDS

Papers: 13.25 Impact of

Internet on official statistics:User opportunities

* Bregar, Lea; Ograjensek,Irena (SLOVENIA)

Wednesday, 18 AugustA new meeting, IPM84,

President’s Invited PaperMeeting on “Recent advancesin probability and statistics”,will be held on Wednesday 18August at 13.00 - 15.15. Theorganiser is Willem van Zwet,the speakers will be

Jef Teugels “Wind andStochastics”

Richard Tweedie“Publication bias in meta-analysis”

Elja Arjas –Title to beannounced later

David Siegmund –Title to beannounced later.

In IPM20, on 18 August at13.00 - 15.15, the discussantBertrand S. Clarke from UK, hascancelled his appearance.

In CPM132, on 18 August at13.00 - 15.15, the paper“Reseaux de neurones etregression logistique enfinances” by Ana Silvia Haedo(ARGENTINA) and LeonardoFocsaner has been cancelled.


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Behind the scenes andin the frontlineThe preparation of the ISI 52nd Session is a joint venture ofStatistics Finland, University of Helsinki, Finnish Statistical Societyand the City of Helsinki. It would be impossible to mentioneveryone who has contributed to the preparation. The ExecutiveSecretariat alone consists of nearly twenty experts. This is a shortcharacterisation of the persons you are most likely to meet. Thepresentations will continue in the coming issues of the DailyBulletin.

Ilkka Mellin, 52The Secretary General of theConference and the initiator ofthe whole project, Ilkka is astatistician specialising ineconometrics and regressionanalysis. Ilkka has beenteaching statistics as assistantprofessor, lecturer and associateprofessor at the Department ofStatistics of the University ofHelsinki.

Ilkka’s hobbies include activephysical training (bodybuilding,

jogging, cycling), cinema(Bergman, Bresson, Bunuel),literature, art, music (from Bachand Brahms to Miles Davis, Elvisand Steely Dan), photographyand video filming, among otherthings. He loves Italian foodand wine, French cognac andCuban cigars. He also likestravelling, preferably in Italy.

Ilkka is married with nochildren.

a friend of Americanintellectual cinema. He enjoystravelling with public transportbecause it gives him a momentof peace (which he often usesfor reading) before or after ahectic day at the office.

Raija LöfgrenAssistant to the SecretaryGeneral, Raija has worked withthe ISI99 project since 1995.She was also involved in theorganising of the conference ofthe International Union ofForestry Research Organizationin Tampere in 1995. Otherwise,Raija works in the Secretariat ofthe Director General atStatistics Finland.

Raija loves Greek music,Greek folk dancing andeverything connected withGreece. She also likes to read,in particular novels by SouthAmerican writers. Her favouritefilms include Kieslowski’s Blue,Casablanca, and the films ofAki Kaurismäki.

Raija has a grown-updaughter who lives away fromhome.

Matti JokelaGraphic Designer at StatisticsFinland, Matti has beenresponsible for the numerousprinting jobs for theconference, as well as contactswith printing houses. He claimsnot to have much time forhobbies, but likes sports, bothas a spectator and as an activeplayer of badminton and othergames.

Matti prefers birdsong to allmusic, but on his way to andfrom work his car radio is tunedto the channel playing classicalmusic.

Mikko T. Mäkinen, 49Mikko is in charge of theInformation Desk. He isaccustomed to answering allkinds of questions also in hisdaily work as InformationSpecialist at the Library ofStatistics. He has a B.Sc. inEconomics, and is a qualifiedtranslator, and also regardsstudying languages as hishobby. Mikko likes to readbiographies, memoirs andbooks on political history. He isalso fond of theatre.

Mikko spends a lot of timeon the football groundservicing and assisting his 14year- old twin sons when theyplay in matches andtournaments all over southernFinland.

Left to right: Ilkka Mellin, Jussi Melkas, Raija Löfgren, Matti Jokela and Mikko T. Mäkinen.

Jussi Melkas, 49Jussi is Director of InformationServices at Statistics Finland,and his main responsibilities atthe conference are thepreparation of information forthe media and the overallmanagement of the publicitysection.

Jussi is married and has twochildren, one of whom alreadylives away from home. Hisfavourite hobby is local history,particularly old maps, and he is

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The Finlandia Hall

• Aalto’s plan will probablynever be realised, but the basicidea seems to be accepted bythe city planning department.The new National Operabuilding was erected furthernorth-west of the HesperiaPark, and a new concert hallhas been planned on thepresent rail freight terminusnear Kiasma, the Museum ofContemporary Art.

Finlandia Hall was designedin 1962 and the constructionwork was completed in 1975,just in time for the summit ofthe Conference on Security andCo-operation in Europe. It wasalso the venue of the HelsinkiSummit in 1997.

A few figures

Finlandia Hall canaccommodate up to 3,000

Alvar Aalto designed the Finlandia Hall originally as a part of hisscheme for a new monumental centre of Helsinki. Starting fromthe Parliament House, it was to form a chain of culturalbuildings alongside of the Töölönlahti bay.

visitors in its 22 conferencerooms. In the main building,the main auditorium (the mainconcert hall) has 1,700 seats,the small auditorium (thechamber music hall) seats 340and the terrace hall 300. Inaddition, there are fivecommittee rooms of varioussizes. The conference winghouses two large congresshalls, one with 600 and theother with 250 seats,committee rooms of differentsizes, plus a couple of pressrooms. There is also arestaurant and the lobbies haveseveral catering points.

Finlandia Hall is the homeof the Helsinki CityPhilharmonic Orchestra andthe Finnish Radio SymphonyOrchestra. It is a popular venuefor all kinds of concerts, toosmall only for megastars, such

as Kiri Te Kanawa or the ThreeTenors.

People in the lead

The main spaces of the buildingare the concert hall and foyer,the chamber-music room andthe restaurant. The great foyeris dominated by a glass wallwith a view to Töölönlahti bay.The colours of the main concerthall are dark blue and white,and those of the chambermusic room dark red andwhite.

Doctor Göran Schildt,author and biographer of AlvarAalto, writes: “All materials andcolours speak in nature’s ownsubdued way without anythingartificial to distract. This is inkeeping with Aalto’s convictionthat architecture serves as abackground for human beings.It is not startling forms orinteriors with vivid colours thatare supposed to attractattention, it is the audience andthe performers.”

Finlandia Hall is a protectedbuilding. According to thepreservation decision of 1991the facade, the allotment ofspace, materials, colours andfixtures have to remain identicalto the original. The buildingand its environments must alsobe used in accordance with itsarchitectural and culturehistorical value.

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The man who loved the waves

The centenary of Alvar Aalto, the famous architect and designerof the Finlandia Hall, was celebrated throughout last year withexhibitions around the world. The celebration started and endedat the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä in central Finland.Jyväskylä was his home for 24 years, and contains morebuildings designed by him than any other place in the world.

• Alvar Aalto was one of thefirst major architects of themodern movement to emergein Scandinavia. He is also saidto be one of the mostindividual and poetic masters offunctionalism. However, healways emphasised the humanfactor. “Architecture cannotdisengage itself from naturaland human factors. Itsfunction is to bring nature evercloser to us”, he said.

The bent woodsignature

The soft undulating line is to befound in so many of Aalto’s

works that it is almost like asignature: the word ”aalto”means ”wave” in Finnish. Inthe Paimio TuberculosisSanatorium, built in 1933,every detail in the patients’rooms was planned withprecision and care, includingthe beds, lamps andwashbasins. The Paimio chair,made of bent plywood andlaminated birch, became amodel repeatedly imitated.

In the Vyborg Libraryauditorium (1927-1934), theacoustic ceiling is made ofwood and bent into a wavelikeform, (…”it did little to improvethe sound distribution but

Alvar Aalto with his second wife Elissa.

The Paimio chair

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ALVAR AALTO BUILDINGS IN HELSINKI(realised and remaining)

Building Location Year(completion)

Aalto’s house Riihitie 30, Munkkiniemi 1936Savoy restaurant interior Eteläesplanadi 14 1937Erottaja pavilion Erottaja 1951Finnish Engineers´ Association Offices Ratakatu 9 1952Enso-Gutzeit Oy clubhouse Kallvik, Vuosaari 1952National Pensions Institute housing Riihitie 12–14, Munkkiniemi 1954Rautatalo office building Keskuskatu 3 1955House of Culture Sturenkatu 4, Vallila 1956National Pensions Institute Minna Canthin katu 15, Töölö 1957Enso-Gutzeit headquarters Kanavaranta 1, Katajanokka 1962Aalto’s office and studio Tiilimäki 20, Munkkiniemi 1963Union Bank of Finland(nowadays MeritaNordbanken) annex building Fabianinkatu 31 1965Academic Bookshop Pohjoisesplanadi 39 1969Power Company office building Kampinkuja 2, Kamppi 1975Finlandia Hall Karamzininkatu 2 1975

MOST IMPORTANT WORKS ABROAD

Building Location Year(completion)

Municipal library Vyborg, Russia 1935Student dormitory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 1947Theatre Essen, Germany 1959Cultural centre Wolfsburg, Germany 1963Institute of International Education, interior New York, USA 1965Scandinavian House Reykjavik, Iceland 1968Mount Angel Benedictine College library Oregon, USA 1970Art museum Aalborg, Denmark 1972Church and parish centre Riola di Vergato, Italy 1978

looked stunning,” as RichardWeston put it). The brick wallsof the dormitory of theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology also curve like thesurging surface of the sea, butperhaps the most commonlyseen Aalto ”signature” today isthe Savoy vase, a popular giftand souvenir sold in many sizesand colours. The vase wasoriginally designed for theinterior of the Restaurant Savoyin Eteläesplanadi in Helsinki,where even the serving tableshave a similar form. Therestaurant is there even todaybut, unfortunately, not quite inthe original form.

Alvar Aalto was inspired bythe Finnish nature and itselements: forests, wood, lakeand seashores and graniterocks. He liked to use naturalmaterials and plant hisbuildings into the environmentas an organic part of it. He alsobrought nature indoors byusing wooden columns andlarge windows to face theshore whenever possible.

Italy brought home

Alvar Aalto was unusuallycosmopolitan for his era, widelytravelled and multilingual. Hewas fond of the Mediterranean

countries, Italy in particular.Italian influences can be seen inhis use of marble, in theFinlandia Hall, for instance.

During his career of 60years, Aalto designed not onlypublic buildings such as concerthalls, theatres or town halls,churches, educational institutesand headquarters of largecompanies, but also residentialbuildings. Among his best-known works in Finland are theFinlandia Hall, the House ofCulture, and the HelsinkiUniversity of Technology in theHelsinki metropolitan area,Säynätsalo town hall andJyväskylä University in centralFinland and the church of the“Cross of the Plain” inSeinäjoki in Ostrobothnia.

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The original Savoy vasewas made of clear,

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A brief history of Finland

The house of the Parliamentwas built in 1931.

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The first known inhabitants arrived in Finland about 9000 –8000 BC. The early settlements of Finland were mainlyconcentrated along coastal areas and rivers, and the peoplelived off hunting and fishing.

• From about 1500 BC, or theBronze Age, the Finns have hadclose cultural and tradingcontacts both to the east andwest.

The Swedish era

Finland was part of theKingdom of Sweden from theearly 13th century until 1809.The roots of the Finnish socialsystem, legislation and cultureoriginate from this period.During the Swedish era, themost important towns werefounded (Turku 1229, Helsinki1550), a university wasestablished in Turku (1640) and

Finnish coastal towns weregiven the right to engage inforeign trade.

During the Middle Ages, thedevelopment of Finland wascharacterised by a deep impactof the Roman Catholic andEuropean culture. Its legacy arethe almost 100 surviving stonechurches, societal thinkingaccording to the Roman law,and German urban culture withits technical and consumernovelties.

The Reformation reachedFinland in the 16th century,and Lutheranism became theofficial religion. Mikael Agricolatranslated the New Testament

into Finnish, and thepublication of his translation in1548 has been considered thestarting point of Finnish as awritten language.

During the period ofSweden as a great power(1617 - 1721), Swedes wereoften appointed to high officesin Finland. This naturallystrengthened the position ofthe Swedish language inFinland.

The age of autonomy

Sweden and Russia fought overFinland in 1808-09. The so-called “War of Finland” endedin Swedish defeat, and Finlandwas ceded to Russia. Finlandbecame an autonomous GrandDuchy of Russia with its ownlaws, legislative assembly andadministration. Helsinki wasmade the capital of Finland in1812.

Each of the Russian Czarshad his own way of ruling and,accordingly, the age ofautonomy included both liberal,progressive periods and timesof repressive authoritarianism.During the more liberal periods,Finnish was accorded equalstatus with Swedish as anofficial language and Finlandwas granted its own currency.

Nationalistic ideas gainedground during the latter part ofthe 19th century, and in 1906the Czar and the Diet of Estatesset up a unicameral Parliamentand introduced universalsuffrage. Finnish women werethe first in Europe to receive theright to vote.

Independence at last

Shortly after the Octoberrevolution in Russia, the FinnishParliament approved theDeclaration of Independenceon December 6, 1917. SovietRussia recognised it on NewYear’s Eve the same year.

The differences betweensocial groups becameaggravated in January 1918,and a Civil War broke outTurku is the oldest town in Finland.

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Marshal Mannerheim has statues in many Finnish towns. This one isin Mikkeli.

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ibetween the revolutionaryReds, and the Whites whosupported the legalgovernment. The White troopswere better equipped, bettertrained and better lead (thesupreme command was held byC.G. E. Mannerheim), andsuppressed the revolt by May.

The Finnish Constitution,largely effective even today,was enacted in 1919. Finlandbecame a parliamentaryrepublic with relativelyextensive presidential powers.

The miracle of theWinter War

In November 1939, the SovietUnion attacked Finland as aresult of Finland’s refusal toaccept territorial exchanges andleases of military bases.Finland’s survival against anoverpowering enemy becamelegendary all over the world, asdid the commander-in-chief,Field Marshal C.G. E.Mannerheim.

The Winter War ended inMarch 1940, but peace did notlast long. When Germanyinvaded the Soviet Union in1941, Finland entered the war

as a cobelligerent withGermany. The “ContinuationWar” ended in an armistice inSeptember 1944, and on thebasis of the armistice treaty, yetanother war was fought inLapland to drive the Germansout of the country.

A total of 90,000 men werekilled in the wars, 450,000Karelians lost their homes, andvast land areas were ceded tothe Soviet Union.

The refugees, 12 per cent ofthe population, were resettledin a couple of years. New farmswere established by distributingfarmland to them by legislation,both state-owned andpurchased by the state fromprivate owners.

Helsinki was one of thethree capitals of Europeancountries involved in theSecond World War neveroccupied by foreign forces. Theother two were London andMoscow.

Neutrality as a basis offoreign policy

After the war, Finland had torearrange the relationship withthe Soviet Union. A Treaty of

Friendship, Co-operation andMutual Assistance was signedin 1948, and remained in forcefor the next 40 years. Thepresidents J.K. Paasikivi andUrho Kekkonen pursued anactive policy of neutrality whichmeant staying out of allsuperpower conflicts.

In spite of the closerelationships with the SovietUnion, Finland has alwaysremained a market economycountry. Until the 1980s theimpact of the state on theeconomy was quite strong witha great number of state-ownedor state-controlled companies.The arrangement was verymuch like that in the otherScandinavian countries.

The reconstruction after thewar and the reparations to theSoviet Union brought about

the industrialisation andurbanisation of Finland. Duringthe post-war decades thegrounds were laid for thepresent welfare state.

Neutrality, however, did notmean staying outsideinternational organisations.Finland became member of theWorld Bank in 1948 and joinedGATT in 1950. In 1955, Finlandjoined the UN and has playedan active role in, for instance,peacekeeping operations.Finland became an associatemember of the EFTA in 1961and a full member in 1986. In1995 Finland became amember of the EuropeanUnion. The decision was madeafter a referendum, in which 57per cent of the voterssupported the membership.

Winter War evacuees from Karelia.

Finland and Sweden have always had close relations. PresidentUrho Kekkonen (on the right) chatting with the Swedish primeminister Olof Palme in 1975.

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• The neo-classical buildingsaround the Senate Square weredesigned by an architect whoalso took part in the planningof St Petersburg, C.L. Engel.The white Cathedral with itsgreen cupolas has become asymbol for Helsinki. On sunnydays you can see people sittingon the steps leading up to thecathedral enjoying the warmthand the scenery.

Other buildings surroundingthe square include theUniversity of Helsinki, TheCouncil of State and theKiseleff Bazaar with smallshops, cafés and restaurants.

The centre of Helsinki is crammed on anarrow cape, and the most importantsights are close to each other. The twosquares that form the heart of the city arethe Market Square, Kauppatori, and theSenate Square, Senaatintori. Only theblock containing the City Hall separatesthe squares from each other.

Sights worth seeingVisit Statistics Finland

will follow, with a visit to theLibrary of Statistics.

According to interest, one(in the morning only) or two (inthe morning and in theafternoon) visits will bearranged. A bus transportationwill leave from the FinlandiaHall at 8.30 a.m. (and 1.30p.m.), return transportation willstart at noon (and at 5 p.m.).Please register at theInformation Desk orelectronically via theconference website at http://www.stat.fi/isi99 onWednesday noon at the latest.

On Thursday, 12 August, you will have achance to visit Statistics Finland, to have alook at the premises in Sörnäinen and tolearn about the production anddissemination of official statistics inFinland.

• After a general presentation,there will be four productdemonstrations on electronicservices. “Key on Europe”, adatabase containing regionaldata of Europe, and basicinformation on all countries inthe world. The Theme-CD hasregional data placed on maps,and the StatFin service includesregional and time series databases plus a number ofspecialised statistical databases.You will also get acquaintedwith the Internet services ofStatistics Finland.

A short introductory tour

The statue of the Czar

The statue in the centre of thesquare has puzzled manyvisitors: why have the Finnswanted to erect a monumentto a Russian Emperor? Thestatue of Czar Alexander II wasa cunning protest from theFinnish side. He was a liberalmonarch, and Finland enjoyeda wide autonomy during hisreign.

Both his predecessor andsuccessor treated Finland lessgently and, as a protest againstthe Russification of the late19th century, the statue was

Restaurant Kappeli (“the chapel”) in the Esplanade park is packed onsunny afternoons.

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made to remind of bettertimes. Czar Alexander III, thereigning emperor, could notoppose to the action.

The fair lady in bronze

Besides the cathedral, anothersymbol of Helsinki is HavisAmanda, the statue of amermaid, in the Market Square.Her bold nakedness upset themoralists when the statue wasunveiled in 1908, but peoplesoon got used to her. Today itis the most popular statue inHelsinki, and when Finland

The SibeliusMonument is a visualexpression of the waySibelius’ music depictsnature.

“The Church in the Rock” can accomodate 700 listeners to a concert.

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became the world champion inice hockey in 1995, peoplegathered round Havis Amandato celebrate and dressed her inthe team shirt.The impressive row of buildingsbehind the Market Squareincludes the Presidential Palace,the Swedish Embassy and theCity Hall. C.L. Engel wasinvolved in the renovation workof the Presidential Palace at thebeginning of the 19th century.The City Hall was originallydesigned by him, but theinterior was almost totallyrebuilt in the sixties.

The Esplanade Park, running

from the Market Square toMannerheimintie, the mainstreet, was also a part of Engel’sdesign.

Modern architectureand sculpture

A few kilometres from theMarket Square, mostsightseeing coaches stop at twoplaces exhibiting modernFinnish architecture andsculpture: the Temppeliaukio(Temple Square) Church andthe Sibelius Monument.

Again, both were fiercelydebated about when they werefirst built in the sixties. Theabstract Sibelius Monumentconsists of pipes of weldedsteel, but to satisfy the moretraditional viewer, the sculptressEila Hiltunen had to add a bustof Sibelius on one side.

The Temppeliaukio Churchhas been quarried in thebedrock. With its glass doorand 180 skylights it has plentyof natural light which, togetherwith the rough stone surface ofthe walls inside, gives a feelingof being close to the nature.The church is a popular concerthall due to its acoustic qualities.


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So, what’s it like living inFinland as a foreigner? I’ve onlylived here on a permanent basisfor five years, but have beencoming backwards andforwards to Finland five yearsprior to settling here. There aremany other ‘Brits’ who havebeen here infinitely longer.

The oft’ asked question is,“why did you move toFinland?”. I don’t suppose thatanswering “the weather” is anunderstandable response. OK,I’m British, Scottish actually, sothis means that I can talk aboutthe weather. Extremes! Takethis past winter for example,down to -51 in parts and then,just recently, we’ve had glorioussummer sunshine giving us+29. I don’t really notice thedarkness of the winter days,but maybe that’s because Iwasn’t born here, but I donotice the length of the daysduring the summer.

Winters give us theopportunity to participate inoutdoor sports, cross countryskiing, downhill skiing andwinter fishing - boring a hole inthe ice before trying your luck.Walks across the frozen sea tothe nearby islands - my friendsin Britain find that a difficult

A foreigner in Finlandconcept to appreciate. I don’tknow that we foreigners havetoo many ski-jumpers based inFinland though!!

Spring is short, heralding theverdant lushness of summer -trees suddenly turn a rich hueof green and the city iswrapped in a mantle of leaves.Pavement cafes sprout alongthe main streets and Finlandcomes to life. Helsinki’s marketplace becomes even more of abustle with the wonderfulcolours and selection of Finnishberries and vegetables, interisland ferries scuttling to andfro, the influx of tourists, theatmosphere visibly changingalmost overnight.

Things have changed

Things have changed in Finlandover the last five years, andpresumably entry into the fullEuropean Union is nowbeginning to have an effect.Shops now have a much widerrange of available products. Ican get Tesco marmalade andHP sauce easily, althoughinstant coffee has yet to createan impact. It must be noted,that Finns consume morecoffee per capita than anyother nation and their ownbrands are excellent. Also, theelectric kettle has only recentlybecome commonplace.

The selection and quality ofclothing has improvedenormously - no longer thestereotype humour of theFinnish business personwearing white socks with hissuit. The stereotype these daysis technological, particularly incommunications. I think it trueto say that market penetrationof the cellular phone is greaterin Finland tan any other country- even young children havethem - I always wonder whopays the telephone bills!!Restaurants have improved intheir range of selections, butservice in many of the

establishments sometime failsto meet the quality of the food.

Finns

Many adjectives are used todescribe Finns, it’s difficult toselect just one, but if I had to,then perhaps it would betaciturn. I would then go on toadd: honest, reliable, direct inspeech, efficient and hardworking, suspicious andsometimes envious of others,almost to the point of beingapologetic for buying a newcar, or having two holidays ayear.

One criticism that I hearlevied against Finns is theirrudeness. I find this difficult toaccept in a linguistic sense,because Finnish is no ruderthan other languages. But, ifwe compare it to English, and aFinn is using English as alingua-franca, then this Iunderstand. When workingwith British managers here, Ipoint out to them that theactual word ‘please’ does notreally exist per se in Finnish.This of course causes concernand astonishment to a nationwho are perhaps overtly politelinguistically. I must admitthough, it would be quite niceif someone said “thank you”when I hold the door open forthem and not treat me as partof the door mat.

‘Small talk’ is an interestingarea for the foreigner here. Nottoo much of it in Finlandamongst Finns. Of course thereis small talk, but it still has thisdirect style. The one thing thatdoes amaze me, is that theperson sitting next to you in thetrain, metro or bus, will makeevery effort not to engage inconversation with fellowpassengers, but does not mindthe rest of the compartmentknowing the most intimatedetails of their life whenspeaking to a friend/colleagueon their mobile phone!

So, why am I here?

I am married to a Finn,probably like many otherpermanent ex-pats in Finland. Itmay be difficult to includeFinnish women as an invisibleexport, but certainly many aremarried to foreigners, It seemsto be the standard response towhy one is here.

Seriously, though, if you areprepared to work hard,professionally and sincerely,.there is a lot of work availablein my particular field (linguisticsand management consulting).Not that I’m encouraging thecompetition to expand, Thework is enjoyable and Finns arevery appreciative of otherpeople’s efforts, their opennessto new ideas and approaches isrefreshing and exciting.

What’s it like living inFinland? To answer thisquestion would take manypages, and possibly bore otherswho are not so enthusiastic todeath! Of course there arethings that drive me mad, butthat’s my problem as a guest inFinland. It suits my lifestyle tobe here. I like the winters, I likethe summers and use them in apositive way.

Perhaps it’s difficult to get toknow Finns, but when you do,they become true friends.People can and will help eachother here. The family unit is tillcomparatively strong. Theinfrastructure is excellent,forests, lakes, clean air and thenatural world, sauna andcricket. Yes, cricket in Helsinki!Finnish design, Finnishtechnology are well advanced,and probably, most of all, withone of the lowest densities ofpopulation in the world, thereare vast deserted areas where Ican go to, and don’t have tospeak to anyone at all!!!

by Iain Muir, ManagingDirector,Get Smart Finland Oy Ltd.


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Everyday phrases

Hei or Terve, more formallyPäivää HelloHyvää huomenta Good morningHyvää iltaa Good eveningHyvää yötä Good nightNäkemiin or, less formally,Hei GoodbyeKyllä YesEi NoKiitos Thank youAnteeksi Excuse me/I’m sorry

taka back (a prefix) tuli firetakaa from behind tuuli windtakka a fireplace tulli customs officetaakka a burden

• Almost all the languagesspoken in Europe are related toeach other, as they belong tothe same Indo-European familyof languages (Swedish,German, Russian, English, forinstance). For the speakers ofIndo-European languages,Finnish may seem difficultbecause of its differentgrammatical structure andvocabulary.

Linguistically, Finnish belongsto the Finno-Ugrian family oflanguages, consisting of acouple of dozens of minoritylanguages. Hungarian is themost widely spoken of these,but only very remotely relatedto Finnish. Estonian, with its 1.5million speakers, is a closerrelative. Finns and Estoniansunderstand some of eachother’s speech, although wordsmay have different meanings.The Sami (formerly Lappish)language, spoken in Lapland byapproximately 2,000 persons, isalso a Finno-Ugrian language.

Pronunciation

Finnish pronunciation is veryregular. One letter correspondsto one sound. The main stressis always on the first syllable.Vowels have almost the samepronunciation in unstressed as

One of the main difficulties to a foreign learner of Finnish is the factthat the meaning of a word may change completely if you alter thelength of a vowel or a consonant. For instance:

• Finland’s food tradition hasbeen influenced by fashionsfrom east and west. As part ofthe Kingdom of Sweden formore than 600 years and theRussian Empire for 110 years,Finland adopted habits andtastes from both. Althoughsome people claim that today’sFinns hardly know themselveswhat Finnish food is - ready-made pizza from the freezer isa typical snack in busy familieswith working mothers - thereare some characteristicelements, typical ingredientsand indigenous ways ofpreparing food.

Finns still live close to thenature and the four seasonsaffect their everyday life,including the diet. The finestingredients of Finnish food arefish from the fresh clean watersand berries, mushrooms andgame from the forests. Thelong summer days give a rich

An introduction to Finnish Cuisine Part 1

Try some crayfish!

milk products. Various types ofcheese, yoghurt and viili(soured milk, a bit like yoghurtbut more solid in consistency)are often eaten at breakfastand milk is also used incooking.

August is considered bymany to be the best season, asthe market stalls are piled upwith an abundance of freshvegetables, herbs and berries,and wild mushrooms startsprouting in the forests. It isalso the time for the crayfish, arare delicacy caught in the clearwaters of the streams, lakesand ponds. Catching crayfish isonly allowed for a short periodfrom late July to October inorder to preserve thepopulation.

The highlight of thesummer: a crayfishparty

Eating crayfish and, particularly,the rituals connected with thisfeast, is of Swedish origin.Crayfish are usually eaten as astarter, because there is notmuch to eat in these smallshellfish. They are tricky tocatch and, accordingly, fairlyexpensive.

Preparing crayfish is verysimple, although it may soundcruel. You simply put the livecrayfish into plenty of boilingwater (don’t worry, they’ll dieinstantly without feeling a thingprovided the water IS boiling allthe time!), seasoned with salt,sugar and dill and let themcook for 10 minutes. They willturn beautifully red as soon asthey are plunged into thewater. When they are cooked,the pan is removed from heat,more dill is added and thecrayfish are left to cool in thewater.

Crayfish are eaten cold, withhands, using special knives. Themeat is removed from the shells(see instructions on the nextpage) and the best parts arepiled on a slice of toast.

At some parties, peoplehave “a schnapps for everyclaw”, but this is notrecommended to a novice.Other drinks usually served withcrayfish are chilled, dry white orsparkling wine, beer andmineral water.

in stressed positions. Thedistinction between voiced andunvoiced consonants (B and P,for instance) is not as clear asin, e.g., English.

The following letters may bedifficult to pronounce:

J is like the consonantal Y inEnglish

R is a relatively clear R-sound, like in Italian

Y is like the French U, orGerman U-umlaut (Ü)

Ä is roughly like the A inHAT

Ö is roughly the same letteras in German, or the EU inFrench, the nearest equivalentin English is the long vowel inFUR.Please note that A ispronounced as U in the BritishEnglish CUP, AA as the A in theBritish English AFTER. E is likethe E in HEN, I is like the I in FIT,U is like the U in the EnglishFULL, and the consonants K, Pand T are a lot softer than theirequivalents in most otherlanguages.

Diphthongs occur frequently inFinnish. OU is pronouncedroughly as OW in the Englishword SHOW, AI is pronouncedlike the English pronoun I, andEI is pronounced like the AY inthe English word MAY.

Päivää

Teach yourself Finnish Part 1

aroma to the herbs and berriesand, because of the coldclimate, farmers need far lesspesticides than in warmercountries.

The milky ways

Regardless of the season, Finnshave a taste for rye bread,potatoes, Baltic herring, beer,coffee and pulla (sweet yeastbread made of wheat doughseasoned with cardamom,served either as small buns orslices of plaited loaves). Finnsare second in the world afterRussia in the consumption of

August is the season forchantarelles.

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1. Detach the claws from the base and remove the smaller pincers.Pierce the tip of the larger claws with a crayfish knife. Suck out thejuice. Open the side of the claw with the knife and remove theflesh.

2. Remove the back shell by twisting…

5. Suck the juice and flesh from the body. Remove the roe (in somefemale crayfish) whole and eat it on a slice of toast.

6. Twist the tail off. Take it in both hands and press the shell off ofone side. You can also use a crayfish knife.

7. Twist off the strip of flesh on top of the tail piece and remove thebowel underneath.

How to enjoy the crayfish

3. ..or cutting it with the knife behind the eyes. Then keep thecrayfish on its back to keep the juice inside.

4. Pour the juice from the back shell into your mouth. Scrape out thecrayfish butter from the inside of the shell.

ISI99 Daily Bulletin · 2006-11-02 · ISI99 / Daily Bulletin / Monday –Tuesday, August 9–10 /...

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Transcript of ISI99 Daily Bulletin · 2006-11-02 · ISI99 / Daily Bulletin / Monday –Tuesday, August 9–10 /...