Facebook officially entered the stock market on 18 May. The initial public offering with a price per share of $38 valued the company at more than one billion dollars.

Facebook’s earnings are extremely tiny compared to its size: $5 per each user per year. Imagine if a store, cinema, airplane or train would earn the same amount for each user per year; such businesses would most probably already be bankrupt!

Take in the pageant along Esplanade • Stargaze at Kaivopuisto observatory • Go caving on Suomenlinna • Spend a sunset on Torni terrace • Stand in the Cupola Hall of the National Library • Stage dive at Tavastia • Borrow a boat and island hop • Drift over the city in a hot air balloon • Wait for a bus in Kallio • Admire Eira’s art nouveau architecture • Say hello to Emu at Digelius music shop • Skinny-dip at Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall • Stroll around Seurasaari • Haggle for deals at Valtteri flea market • Stop in for a pastry and java at Cafe Crustum • Go car spotting on summer Fridays • Revel in the Gallen-Kallela works at Ateneum

NOTHING LASTS – not even good ideas, nor fine feathered friends. Helsinki recently got stung with a double whammy this spring when all 16 flamingos at the Korkeasaari Zoo met their end in one fell swoop at the teeth of a wild fox, and the city announced that its free-to-use public bicycle programme would be discontinued.

The appearance each year of the green CityBikes was a sure sign that summer was on its way. The concept of a two euro deposit against a spin around town on two wheels seemed like a brilliant idea – both environmentally friendly and convenient. The yearly service had been in operation from May through September since 2000 and was getting rave ...

WHEN SOMETHING truly original happens in the arts it can have ramifications far and wide. This is especially the case with popular music. When a new sound is recognised, branded and widely embraced, it’s often the catalyst for an entire cultural shift. Unfortunately, music seems to be stuck in an extended period of stagnation.

While there certainly has been a ton of great music made in the last decade, not much of it can rightfully be called original with a capital “O.” No new “movements” have sprung-up lately on a scale to compare with the arrival of such pioneering forms as rock and roll, folk, reggae, punk, rap, world, techno, grunge and ambient. The youth of today are missing out. They are embracing musical and lifestyle ...

AH, AT LAST, a proper winter – miles of piles of snow, bone-chilling cold, and lasting well into the spring. Now, that’s what it’s all about. Some people are starting to think it surely must end any day now, but they just might have another think coming. This chill has teeth and looks like it intends to stick around, despite a few respites and regardless of what the calendar says.

They say Helsinki hasn’t experienced this kind of snowfall since the 60s, and throughout the country records on the length of frost periods have been broken right and left. Hey, this is Finland, what did you expect? At least now we get a glimpse of where all those rumours of polar bears roaming the streets of the capital and so on are coming from.