Every fourth day

Today its quite miserable and I am happy to be inside a warm computer room. I walked to uni a few hours ago and in the 15 minute period that it takes me to walk from my house to the university, I was soaked to the bone. It has been quite strange to be in Wales during winter and look up to see a cloudless sky. Now its more normal. I went to the travel nurse yesterday to discuss the list of vaccinations I need, should take and are recommended to take on the trip to Kenya - Tanzania - Zambia in May. Yellow fever and hepatitis A booster are the ones I will take for sure, she recommended hepatitis B and Cholera, while I refused rabies and a rare breed of meningitis. Of course its a matter of playing with your own health if you do not protect yourself from some of these diseases, but there is no need to go overboard with getting yourself jabbed with all of these things either. A good dose of common sense is sometimes better than a bruised arm. Refuse ice cubes in your drinks, wash your hands at every possible moment and especially before eating, wash all fruits and vegetables, or better yet, peal all vegetables and fruits, do not drink unboiled water, use purifying tablets in the water bottles bought from shops and when in doubt, step away from the food. Easy! Another factor that will save you a lot of headache is to mentally prepare yourself that there is a high probability that you will be ill at least once during your trip, as you are going into a totally foreign bacteria environment for which you have no immunity against, so its very likely that you will struck down with some sort of stomach bug. So prepare, take your own toilet paper (just in case of emergency) stack up on medicine that will help to nurse you back to eating solid food again and off you go!!!

There is this city / town in central Finland called Mikkeli, where this 63-year-old local man has become somewhat of a legend. He has on average according to computerised police records, which due to sheer number of cases only cover the last 5 years, has been arrested every fourth day and put in jail to sober up. He celebrated his 400th night in jail on the 13th of February. The police, however, did not bake him a cake to commemorate this joyful occasion. The man's crime is that he on occasion, or statistically every fourth day, has a bit too much to drink in a public place. He is not a menace to society or a risk to anyone else except himself, a valid reason for the police to book his usual cell for him for the night. On these sort of occasions, when you read something like this, its quite a proud moment for me to celebrate the fact that I am a Finn. Perhaps a pint at the local pub 'The Woodman' would be the prefect way to celebrate my Finnishness.

News from America now. US Air Force Staff Sergeant Michelle Manhart, 30, has been relieved of her duty and stripped of her rank. Michelle, who has served in the Air Force since 1994, thought it was time she made a little extra cash on the side. The busty brunette stripped for Playboy, showing all the assets God gave her in some photos, while posing partly in uniform in others. Michelle shows in her photos how to stand at attention, how to salute and other vital military know-how. The Air Force, however did not see the educational value of her pictures, because according to a spokesman of the Air Force her actions did not meet the 'high standards expected of airmen'. Michelle;
...decided she had enough and went to show someone else her assets. The row centres on moral decency and on breaking military rules. By using parts of her uniform and acting in a military fashion, she disgraced the institution of the Air Force by associating it with images of erotic nature. As she was an employee of the state at the time, she was under contract to the rules and regulations of the institution and as such by breaking these rules she was subject to punishment. Loosing one's stripes is common punishment in the military sector. Its a good thing that she did not disgrace the flag or end up burning her uniform or something, because then she would not have got away with just a proposed pay-cut and a scolding. When it comes to the yanks, they don't take kindly to people who mess with their symbols.