"Geeks" are underestimated

They often are. They are of course still geeky but according to my experience they are often easy to get in touch with, easy to talk to and don't reject you as some other people do.

Iraq in Sweden

About 1 percent of the Swedes have Iraqi origin.

My dad is the best

It's hardly breaking news. I got congratulations from people I know and people I don't know, all because my dad asked them to send me a message. One even wrote the following:

"Grattis på födelsedagen! Hoppas att du får en kul dag med spännande upplevelser men också tid över för eftertanke. Vad händer med tiden egentligen? Finns tid? Och om den finns vart tar den vägen? Sådant är värt att grunna på - då och då. Fast inte för ofta. Bättre att leva medan man gör det, som konstnären, författaren med mere Piet Hein skrev en gång. Och om livet sa hans landsman, existensialisten Søren Kirkegaard: historien kan egentligen bara begrundas, livet måste levas framåt. Vilket ju stämmer. Att leva baklänges är inte lätt."

It's about what time is, where it goes, but what is even better to think of is to live, that life is to be lived forward. Living backwards isn't easy. I don't even know the man who wrote this but he took the time to think about it and write it.

The big day was the 27th. Had a nice little dinner with a couple of friends. Loads of laughter and food.

Symbolic gifts - UNICEF

For

42 EUROS = suger and salt solution to save 338 children who are at risk of dying from dehydration caused by diarrhea.

5,8 EUROS = a malaria net. The net can be used over a large bed. 1 miljon, most children, dies every year because of malaria.

26 EUROS = will save 150 children from dying of the measles.

21 EUROS = will save 150 children from polio.

So little money can save so many children. So, if you don't know what to give as a present, give the life to hundreds of children. It is easy, I gave similar presents to my parents for Christmas, it's like buying anything else on the Internet.

Job

"Jobb" by Afasi och Filthy

Ref.
Allting kommer lösas och bli bättre igen
Om du har pengar i fickan eller ett ess i din ärm
Och vi tror vi strävar mot samma mål
Men när man tittar på dig är det bara all you!

Många dom låter strömmen föra dom fram
Av olika anledningar ligger vissa på soffan andra
får ett jobb och dom flesta dom gör vad dom kan
Så nu går man ut gymnasiet och ekonomin den är lika med noll
Och så pluggar man vidare inte för att man vill,
bara för att det inte finns några jobb

Eller så jobbar man svart japp mellan morgon och natt
Kanske till och med kvällar och helger med massa tur kan man få sej en rast
Man ska väl inte klaga antar jag för vårt land är ju tryggt
Aldrig krig, knappt nån svält - men fan inget anställningsskydd

Refr x2.

Vissa förknippar sin arbetssituation med välbehag
Och pratar om jobb som nånting som dom gör sej förtjänta av
På sätt och vis är det väl rätt och riktigt men
Dom som kvalificerar för samma sak och dom
letar efter samma jobb men dom heter Muhammed
i efternamn dom får sticka hem

I landet med om största varmaste öppnade famnar
Röstar man fram att endast vissa ska bli kramade mjukt
Det finns platser på vägen där vissa av löftena stannar
Och det gör att man får forsätta va arbetslös eller slava som djur

Allting kommer lösas och bli bättre igen...
x2

Dom lägger fram förslag efter den franska modellen
Att du kan anställas utan några som helst tryggheter
och sparkas på fläcken (va, va? meeen)
Ett litet jobb i ditt lilla liv jag menar vad är det?
Välkommen till ditt nya tidsfördriv hälsningar AUC

Och så tycker dom mest att man bara klagar och gnäller
Vanliga människor utan plats i vårat vardagssamhälle
Men man ska väl inte klaga antar jag för vårt land är ju tryggt
Aldrig krig, knappt nån svält - men fan inget anställningsskydd!

Refr x2:

Easier said than done

Why are things easier said than done? Why is it so hard to make heart and mind work better together? Knowing is not the same as doing.

217 rocks

:-)

And by the way, I had some cake for breakfast. :-)

Chiquita = murder, torture, paramilitary, war crimes

Care for a banana?

"In March 2007, Chiquita admitted that it made payments from 1997 to 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by its acronym in Spanish, AUC), a paramilitary organization that the US Government had designated a terrorist group. Chiquita settled a criminal complaint by the US Government at that time and agreed to pay a $25 million fine.

In July 2007, a group of Colombians filed a lawsuit against Chiquita under the Alien Tort Claims Act in US federal court in New Jersey. The plaintiffs are family members of trade unionists, banana workers, political organisers, social activists and others in Colombia who were targeted and killed by paramilitaries during the 1990s through 2004. The plaintiffs contend that the funds that Chiquita paid to Colombian paramilitary organizations during this period made the company complicit in extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Chiquita’s Colombian banana-growing region. "

Do you still care for a banana?

Info from http://www.amnestybusinessgroup.se/default.aspx

Ps. I love bananas...my favorite food but I at least refuse to eat any Chiquitas.

Birthday

* a GOOD (and rather small) digital camera
* solcellsladdare
* a dishwasher, the kind you can put on a table

Can't think of so many other things...

....but I don't expect anything. I am very well aware that it's expensive stuff...

I AM CENSORED IN CHINA

I really am because in the Chinese government doesn't want the Chinese people to use www.blogger.com (Blogspot) in anyway and have therefore blocked www.blogger.com among other sites. The Open Net Initiative (ONI) surveillance those who surveil others.

"Internet censorship and surveillance are growing global phenomena. ONI’s mission is to identify and document Internet filtering and surveillance, and to promote and inform wider public dialogs about such practices."

www.opennet.net

Aren't we happy that we are allowed to use our freedom of speech? It is said to be guaranteed in China but that is only wrds and laws, not practice.

AND do you think that MICROSOFT , YAHOO and GOOGLE censor themselves so that they can get into the Chinese market? The answer is YES. YAHOO even gave out info about a man, Shi Tao, who wrote an email to an American journalist and friend about the restrictions there are in China about writing about the for the 15 year anniversary of what happened on the Tiananmen Square (Himmelska fridens torg). He's got a 10 year sentence for doing so. Without Yahoo, Shi Tao would still have been able to practice his freedom of speech, just like I am doing right now. Shi Tao on the Wikipedia.

Not so much blog writing

I really need to start blogging again, I just don't feel that I have the time and energy. On the other hand I have so much to write about. I just want to say that I haven't stopped blogging and that there will continue to be blog posts.

Did you know that in China you can't access www.blogger.com (Blogspot) because it is blocked? Isn't censorship lovely? Freedom of speech, what is that?

NFC

I miss it.

Bad words

Some time ago I got a request from my faithful reader (or? Where are you Nelson??) about swear words. So now I was thinking about writing something about that. The most common ones here in Sweden are based on Satan, not on things connected to the body in different ways. This might be because Sweden is such a secular society and the usage of "religious" curses isn't seen as harsh. So, common words are: fan, satan (same meaning), jävlar/djävlar (devils), helvete (hell), herre djävlar (herre = lord).

Ethymology (from Wikipedia) "The word "Hell" used away from its religious context was long considered to be profanity, particularly in North America. Although its use was commonplace in everyday speech and on television by the 1970s, many people in the US still consider it somewhat rude or inappropriate language, particularly involving children.^[4] Many, particularly among religious circles and in certain sensitive environments, still avoid casual usage of the word. In British English and some parts of North America, the word has fallen into common use and is not considered profane; often considered to be a safer and less offensive alternative to swearing, as in the phrase, "Go to Hell."

Too skinny or too fat

The shows on TV, articles, books and other media often talk about how to loose weight because it is a problem many do have but how often do you hear about the others, the ones that consider themselves to be too skinny and try to gain weight. Just as an example, if you click here you'll see how many questions about how to gain weight there is (vikt = weight). Why are there never any information about this?

Zombie killer

This is such an ugly car!! Although, when I passed on the street earlier today I though of one thing that it might me useful for, KILLING ZOMBIES! It's massive in the front and looks like it is a good car to run zombies over :-) Did you know that there are even books on zombies, I mean, what to do if you meet one, how to protect yourself etc.? Dodge Nitro

"Have a nice trip home"

These damn things all over the city I work in. "Have a nice trip home" and other things are written on the stickers. What makes me glad though is that pretty much all of them has been more or less torn off, like this one. SO there are many that reacts to this. I googled "Trevlig hemresa" (have a nice trip home) and the following article came up. Why is it so hard to accept people from other countries and with a different skin color? I just can't understand that...

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article456111.ab

Sun Goes Down

by David Jordan

Dalai Lama - Cancer

Yes, Dalai Lama is born in the sign of Cancer...isnt't that a "funny coincidence"?

"Want You Bad"

by The Offspring