> It's a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it's designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they're from, an equal start in life. What a wonderful idea. My daughter was born in Chicago last year, and the hospital (Northwestern Memorial) gave us a little starter kit with bottles, pacifiers, some swaddling blankets, etc. I remember thinking as I walked out the door of the hospital that…
Not sure that the pacifiers are a good idea, do they have them in the Finland box?
Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
151–160 of 275 posts
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why exactly is this worth noting? Nobody jumps to point out that there's still somebody paying for the "free" tiers of Dropbox or GitHub or whatever. Yet the moment somebody mentions a "free" social program, people suddenly have to hammer on the point that somebody pays for it. We're not a bunch of imbeciles who think that social programs just rain from the sky....
There are plenty of people that think the government has unlimited money and should spend it on the people. These people don't know that it is literal wealth transfer from one person to another with the government acting as middle man. Sure, you may realize that this is the case but many people don't. It's the same mentality that leads people to believe that insurance companies should pay for everything until they re…
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
More likely, you prefer not to pay because it costs way more than it should. I am not familiar with analysis of e.g. Day care costs, but Americans pay significantly more for healthcare than Europeans, and get significantly worse results; also, they pay significantly more for education and get significantly less. The party line is that it is a preference - but anecdotally, I've only heard that preference from people w…
More likely, you prefer not to pay because it costs way more than it should. Americans earn 30% more than Finlanders adjusting for PPP . I.e., taking into account higher cost of health care, lower cost of most other things, we still have 30% more on average. Americans do pay more for education than Europeans, but our results are quite good compared to most of Europe. The only reason it appears our educational system…
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#154Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure that the pacifiers are a good idea, do they have them in the Finland box?
What do you have against pacifiers?
I guess most kid don't really need it, parents need it, when they can't bear the cries. But even then I think you just postpone the annoyance. I have a friend whose pacifier story would make a good tv show, with the kid solemnly taking the thing in the dustbin and the father frantically searching the bin at 2am.
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regardless whether or not people are imbeciles, they still have a habit of abstracting away common knowledge, and then forgetting that the common knowledge exists. I see this all the time in the computer industry. It's good to remind everyone now and again that free is not necessarily free.
Why do people only ever bring this up with social programs, and not any of the many other "free" things that are discussed around here?
Even as a liberatarian, I'm happy to say some things are well worth the coercion. But it should never be forgotten, because otherwise people do start thinking it's just free money that has no other concerns whatsoever, and start spending it stupidly. We know this by simply looking around at political discourse, to the point that I almost wonder if you're dissembling when you claim that nobody thinks this way. Look harder. We should never forget that social spending is a cost/benefit question that never has zero costs.
I actually personally find it a bit bizarre that people find this an objectionable statement. Realizing that money is not free and should be spent on worthwhile things to account for the coercion should lead to better spending. Defending the proposition that we shouldn't be so concerned about the costs is a recipe for producing less efficient spending, as always happens when costs are misjudged. The fact that this sort of thing has been politicized ought to lead you to wonder who is politicizing it, and what they're hiding behind it.
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you have against pacifiers?
It's inconvenient and better avoided. Toddlers cry, that's the normal thing. Some are unbearable and then a pacifier is ok but they become addicted and you're easily in deep shit if you travel and forget them or lose them (I had one in each pocket when taking a plane). I guess most kid don't really need it, parents need it, when they can't bear the cries. But even then I think you just postpone the annoyance. I have…
Right, but toddlers also normally nurse to comfort themselves. If you're not breastfeeding (or if you're like me and you're the night-time parent but have no breasts) then a bink can be pretty clutch in terms of getting the kid to sleep so you can go to work in the morning.
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Duh. It's obviously not the box itself that has reduced mortality. The "cardboard box" is a rhetorical shortcut that refers to the contents of the box and all the associated materials such as the written guides on infant care. There's a strong autistic trait in HN discussion sometimes...
> contents of the box and all the associated materials such as the written guides on infant care None of that did anything either, since other countries didn't have them and infant mortality went down there too.
If I lose weight because I start exercising and my neighbour loses weight because he started eating less, it's foolish to state that my exercise had no effect since my neighbour didn't do it and he lost weight too.
[edit: too harsh]
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Duh. It's obviously not the box itself that has reduced mortality. The "cardboard box" is a rhetorical shortcut that refers to the contents of the box and all the associated materials such as the written guides on infant care. There's a strong autistic trait in HN discussion sometimes...
> contents of the box and all the associated materials such as the written guides on infant care None of that did anything either, since other countries didn't have them and infant mortality went down there too.
Re: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do people only ever bring this up with social programs, and not any of the many other "free" things that are discussed around here?
Because social programs get their money from coercion. GitHub doesn't. (To the extent that you think you can find a private company that can and does use coercion, I object to that too.) Even as a liberatarian, I'm happy to say some things are well worth the coercion. But it should never be forgotten , because otherwise people do start thinking it's just free money that has no other concerns whatsoever, and start spe…