The term "Nordic" meanwhile is clearly defined (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland) and acts as a "I do not consent to discourse" sign.

The discourse is much like the term "British Isles" in Ireland.

Fun fact: Very few Scandinavians in Helsinki. (The term is "nordic" and yes it'll be a whole thing. The kingdoms are Scandinavian. So Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. We do not speak of Åland. Can of worms.)

You could be in the wrong place OR the doctor could just be very late. Yeah, it's anxiety inducing. I've had both (and a secret third thing!) happen.

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

It's when the variant of the check-in system with paper tickets really comes in handy. Doctors can be very, very delayed.

My longest wait is over 70h. A scheduled appointment can be an hour late sometimes.

Yup. They're so regulated you can't even import them. Got to get them through the Finnish system.

I think the whole "America has banned wheelchair ramps. Finland made ice cream free." would be very accurate if they said the free ice cream is means tested. Which it is.

Codeine is definitely not OTC, and prescriptions being free is means-tested and only available to citizens in Finland. And yes, it's a paperwork nightmare.

Oh, Imodium (loperamide) is on the level of paracetamol of "no prolonged unsupervised use! none! not at all! see a doctor!" for a good reason. The side effects of long term use can be lethal.

Yup, prolonged use of Imodium will give you opium constipation, which is a really horribly painful condition that can kill you. Really, really horribly painful.

Ondansetron (aka Zofran) is a good anti-nausea med, and there's casual anti-poop meds, but both of those are locked behind prescriptions.

Which only works as an antacid. Imodium for the rest.

I solve problems like that with two phones. Can't recommend, now I have 300 phones. Glad to hear you got it sorted out though!

(E-waste. I have to deal with so much e-waste.)

To make it six, most apartments in the area come with internet access included in the rent, but you gotta provide your own modem. Verkkokauppa outlet is the source for every "it'll do for now" permanent temporary network install hardware I do. VDSL2 for under ten bux? Seen it a lot.

It would give you a number to call back to, assuming your phone supports the local bands and has a SIM slot though. Also nice five-chain of disjointed thought, I might be getting broiled.

Obviously not an immediate answer right now. The libraries generally have wifi, as do most malls, but that is at best not great.

Also I checked, it's not Prisma, it's the smaller K-Markets? Weiiird. Makes sense for them, but still weird.

A DNA prepaid on a LTE modem (much like the 4G-AX56 on the Verkkokauppa web outlet) is how I get internet whenever I can't have my trusty, delicious fiber. Well, that, or tethering to my phone.

You don't have a prepaid from, say, DNA? It has data access, too. Should be available from any R-Kioski. Or maybe Prisma?

Imodium is definitely a short term answer worth trying. Lot of emphasis on the "short term".

It'll be uudet perunat season soon. Less mayo!

Well the first advice is "call a doctor" for a reason. Until then, maybe Imodium? Prisma also sells ground flaxseed (cheapest under valo24h brand), which may help the situation.

As mentioned, icaridine! The only things that work against Finnish bugs are icaridine and DEET, and DEET's nasty, doubly so if it trips your autism (certainly does mine) or you use sunscreen. Not that central Helsinki has that many bugs. By comparison, anyway.

The reason why this came to mind is that you only see the fashion choices when people are reasonably confident the weather won't make them regret it, which is rare indeed. The nature (including the bugs) needs the rain though, so it's good to have. And it clears the air.

May blizzards are not all that unusual. Random bouts of rain out of nowhere are completely ordinary. Heatwaves happen, and then you get weeks of rain. As the locals say, "kesä on sateinen mutta onneksi vähäluminen". Though I need to check my supplies of icaridine soon (off familycare jr in prisma).

And then today revealed the true reason for boring, weather-resistant clothing. Enjoy the next few days, nicest weather you can have, the air quality badly needed rain. As did the plants.

The weather won't stop being surprising but that's why I have a roll-up hood/cloak in my backpack.

Those are imported jars, the store sells whatever they can get on the cheap. Fun fact: I first saw Jif there when I was looking for a mechanical keyboard and ended up walking out with a handheld vacuum cleaner.

Also full points for the MAAPÄHKINÄVOILEVITE. They could use a simpler word, but that is very accurate. (maapähkinä-voi-levite, for peanut-butter-spread, instead of just peanut butter.)

Woo! How many did you have to check?

Now stock up since it's anyone's guess when the next shipment arrives.

Oh, thing is, this isn't about displaying the not-guns, it's about storing and owning them too, and the only requirement is that someone says you could mistake it for a gun or a gun part. It's a real bad law because it's vague and a recipe for selective enforcement.

The rest is the security guards taking the law into their own hands, acting like US cops. And the least trustworthy people demanding more cops and less social programs. And a moral panic about the youth of today. And blaming immigration. Nothing new under the sun.

The bad regulations are about guns that aren't guns and won't be guns without a skilled gunsmith. It just has to look like it's a gun or could be a part of a gun to fall under gun regulations. The only limit is how dumb and petty you are. Real problem for theaters and museum pieces.

It's just the usual suspects whining about how the solution to every problem is more power for them, and then being told no. They complain about the police regulations a lot if you pay attention to politics news. The only bad regulations are the rules on guns that don't work, imo.

You're taught the basics of CQC and how to survive in the wilderness by eating the native wildlife and if you can't master both, you don't get to be a cop, no matter how much the law and order types whine we need more cops and don't have enough suitable candidates.

Oh, yeah, it's amazing how much a difference it makes when the police education system disqualifies people who cannot physically do the job without weapons and who fail to demonstrate they remain calm under pressure. And the police know they have to follow the law!

Auyp, fair enough. Finland and Switzerland both have a lot of guns, but also training and permit systems that make sense. The snägäri may be dangerous, but that's mostly blades, and the police actually get properly trained! (The security guards, unfortunately, don't.)

I've got bad news about the amount of armed people in Finland. Real bad news.

There's a reason everyone born here knows to treat the sausage stalls with due respect.

They're around. But what on earth are you doing in Helsinki with a truck? Don't do that, drive a sensible car or use the public transport. Pickup trucks are for work and gravel roads.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they carry their backpack. It's like the handkerchief code, but for nerd hyperfocus.

Adjusting the straps, or god forbid, a new backpack always means goddamn weeks of being a bull in a china shop every time I take a quick turn.

I'm pretty sure that's just the autism. Source: Literally every native autistic person I know. That damn maze requires really good backpack awareness, and it takes a while to grow the nerves required to know when it's touching something.

Ayup, that's the one. They get pallets of American stuff sometimes.

I remembered I saw Jif somewhere, but I thought it was a K-Citymarket Americana isle.

Nope, it was NORMAL. They got a pallet. I don't know which ones did and I'm in Tampere. There's a few around Helsinki, including in Kamppi?

Tomorrow it will be something else and today's jokes are forgotten. I don't get why but I'm certain that's just me getting old.

It could be just me since I'm known to be on the pulse, but the references used don't seem to be real references, the communication has a bunch of riffing on things that could be real but aren't. Like Twitch Chat with a joke that got away from them. Possibly because I'd get most real references?

The youf seem to think irony is for Reddit-posting grandpas and have gone full throttle into dada. If you can grasp the tone from the text, just wait a few days.

Check the outlet shelves, sometimes they have amazing deals. The web-only outlet is the source of half of my networking gear because I know exactly what I need and have scheduled outlets for reboots.

Tech. Tech never changes.

I went "wait, I know all Finnish hymns, it's definitely not one... oh, wait, I get it".

Verkkokauppa Outlet is another source for cheap tech. 90% of the time it's what I ordered, working, and not too filthy.

People complain since it used to work much better and was less expensive, but it's still far from the bankruptcy engine of US healthcare. Use it if you need it, that's why it's there.

Public services in Finland have a deductible cap (yearly), and ambulance services tend to be affordable. Just be prepared to wait. And then wait a lot more at the ER if you're not actively dying. Not free though, it can add up. (If you, say, need five ER visits a month.)