@RT_com: Watch VIDEO of airliner crashing onto #Moscow highway recorded by a dashboard camera http://t.co/hvKAbkEv
Swiss roll
@LukeMeAtSix_: BREAKING NEWS AUSTRALIA IS UNDER ATTACK BY A PHOTO SHOPPED SWISS ROLL http://pic.twitter.com/FDW8A1Du
In the eye of the beholder
The Swedish tradition of celebrating Saint Lucia on December 13 is an ancient tradition. For ages it has been celebrated with children in a candle lit parade singing Christmas carols. Sweden seems to currently be suffering from a cultural identity crisis in what seems to be at a breaking point. All over the country traditions are being questioned, discarded and shunned in something reminiscent to a cultural revolution.
The ”progressive” and ”modern” elements of the Swedish society has a tendency to use racism and intolerance as the leverage in lobbying for these changes. The latest expression of this process of denial of the cultural heritage and traditions is the banning of the use of gingerbread costumes traditionally used in the Saint Lucia parade in a school in Sweden. According to the school it is racist to dress up in gingerbread costumes.
It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I tend to agree. This also means that shame, and racism is in the eye of the beholder. Gingerbread does have a brownish color. There are also people around the world that have a more brownish skin color than most Swedes have, although in the summer most of them try to get some color on their pale bones. So I suppose, but I might be wrong since I don’t know, that the school in question thinks that a dress that share a remote similarity to a color of skin that many people have is racism. I’m sorry but I’m not following. Does the school mean that the manifestation of a different color of skin, or that this is implied, is offensive? I think this is very odd and so does others as well. In all the years that I as a child celebrated Lucia, I never thought that my ginger bread costume was offensive or racist. I have asked others that similar to me dressed up in gingerbread costumes as kids, and like me no one have any memory of any racist meaning in the Saint Lucia celebration and up until now no one ever even thought about it as being racist.
So if all traditions are to be dissected, deconstructed and discarded or changed it kind of ruins the initial idea of traditions, which is that they stay the same, basically, in a world that otherwise is changing. This is very strange, since Swedes by no means are unaware of the value of traditions in other circumstances or in other countries. Swedes travel a lot and often are interested in learning about other peoples’ traditions. But the ”progressives”, in considering their own traditions as racist, it seems like they not only is missing the point with the large variety of different traditions around the world and the diversity it signifies. Also its like they attribute an unrealistic and twisted importance to their own traditions in a global perspective. If regional Swedish traditions are offensive and racist in Sweden according to these progressives, does that mean that the they also mean that other traditions in other regions and countries are racist or is it something that just applies to Sweden?
Is a world without diversity in traditions and local traditions the only world without racism according to this avant-garde? No one dress up in brown! No one dress up in red! No yellow clothes either! Are white clothes allowed? Or in the name of equality, brotherhood and tolerance maybe all should dress up in blue clothes.
S:t Lucia, December 13
Swedish court: Homeschooling = abuse
This needs to be put into perspective because frankly I find this judgment so repulsive and repugnant to all I believe in that the statement in itself cannot carry the absurdity of it.
The Swedish court is making it legal to act in direct contradiction to the UN declaration of human rights. A declaration that Sweden has signed.
The court motivated their decision with the phrase that the parents because of homeschooling are isolating their child from meeting peers and therefore are: ”lacking in care of Domenic in a way that results in permanent danger for his health and development.”
In Sweden there is an administrative policy and rule that courts shall adhere to current scientific results and research, apparently the court ignores this. There are tons of research contradicting the opinionated view of the court about homeschooling and isolation.
Its ironic that the ruling that goes against science and violates the most fundamental human right, is delivered the same day as the Nobel prize is delivered, hosted by the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, celebrating science and the peace prize.
Its ironic that the ruling that goes against science and violates the most fundamental human right, is delivered the same day as the Nobel prize is delivered, hosted by the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, celebrating science and the peace prize.
The court ruling means that parents that homeschool in Sweden loose custody of their child!
Not only that, it will be done without any due process. The child can be removed from the parents without previous notification or possibility to defend your right as a family or parent or child in advance.
I wonder what has happened to Sweden and when did this start?
Oops!
This would probably a goof moment for the construction workers to say ”I’m sorry” alternatively move to another country.
Chateau de Bellevue was considered to be a treasure of the village Yvrac near the city of Bordeaux in France. Unfortunately the new Russian owner, Dmitry Stroskin, became a victim of the inadequacies in the Polish educational system, as the Polish construction workers hired by Mr. Stroskin apparently couldn’t understand the directive. Not only that, they not once before running the bulldozers into the chateau struck them that it would be a good idea to ask: "Is this really right?”
Instead of demolishing an old outhouse on the premises which they were hired to do, they leveled the chateau to the ground! OUCH!
Now the once proud architectural treasure of 140 000 Sq. feet looks like this! Its gone!
1.4 million to go to the moon
1,4 million for a trip to the moon. Any takers? @universetoday: Golden Spike to Offer Commercial Human Missions to the Moon http://t.co/0LmjqGEe
Hanna Widerstedt featuring Lois Vulgorette
This would probably be interesting for a non Swedish reader, or not, Hanna Widerstedt a Swedish artist is the most trending person in Google searches in Sweden. Friend of reason naturally wonders what her claim to fame is creating such interest. I believe this might take a little explanation into the Swedish mentality to be able to grasp.
Sweden has an artschool that is famous for or should notorious for its student project that runs of the charts. Not so long ago one student project was widely discussed and reported about in the media since a student had pretended to be crazy and got herself admitted to a mental institution, another brought a storm of protest since he or she, (don’t remember which it was) vandalized a subway train and had it filmed.
This time Hanna Widerstedt has made up a personality, participated in the TV-Show big brother, writing a blog and mingling with the ”hot” and popular in the cyber universe of bloggers, reality stars and wannabes in Sweden. She started her own blog exaggerating everything. She calls her made up personality ”Lois Vulgorett” and the project the ”LV Project."
She describes her experience as living in ”a bubble of angst and champagne.”
Besse Cooper
Besse Cooper, native of Tennessee, born August 26, 1896 has passed away at age 116. She was the oldest human alive, a title that now have passed to Dina Manfredini born April 4, 1897 now age 115.
Mrs. Cooper has said that the secret to her longevity was ”minding her own business and eating no junk food.” Mrs. Cooper passed away with her hair just done, and according to her son it looked like she was ready to go.
The perspective Mrs. Cooper gives is amazing. When the first Ford model-T came of the assembly line she was 12. She was 15 when Titanic made her historic journey. At the first television broadcast she was 32. When WWII broke out Mrs. Cooper was 43. In 1969 when a man walked on the moon for the first time she was 73. On August 6, 1991 when the first world wide web site went online Mrs. Cooper was 94 and just about to turn 95 and at the turn of the millennium she had reached the age 104 and was still going strong.
Mrs. Cooper has seen 12 decades, three centuries and two millennia. She leaves behind 4 children, 12 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Only in Las Vegas
@TIME: What's better than getting married in Vegas? Getting married at a Denny's in Vegas | http://t.co/Ie2FMkt8
Beware of the ”Nobel" poet!
If you thought that all writers and poets were peaceful thinkers contemplating the nature of human existence, here’s maybe something that will change that perception. The Swedish ”Nobel” poets Göran Malmqvist and Per Wästberg, both members of the Swedish Academy of literature, the very one that decides who receives the Nobel Prize of literature every year, are on a mission to destroy the Chinese poet Li Li.
In a mail to Per Wästberg, Göran Malmqvist writes about Li Li: ”I’m gonna destroy him, I’m gonna crush him like one crushes a lice with the nail of the thumb", to which Per Wästberg replies ”You can destroy him, with my blessing.”
This after Li Li published a poem that offended Göran Malmqvist since it was about a man with a 40 year younger wife, as it happens Mr. Malmqvist’s wife is 43 years younger than him. This in turn was, as one can deduct from the heated reaction of Mr. Malmqvist, interpreted by Mr. Malmqvist as a direct response to Mr. Malmqvist criticizing Li Li for translating poems by the Swedish poet Tranströmer wrong, translating ”kantarell” (a mushroom) into ”caramel” when translating his poems into Chinese.
Well there you have it, beware of the poets because they have sensitive egos as it appears and sharp claws, I mean pens.
Tomboys will be tomboys
"More surreal news from Occupied Sweden. The most insanely socialist, watchful, interfering, nannying and just plain paranoid society on earth appears to have arrived at its nadir. How did this clique manage to quietly take control of a previously independent-minded people?"
The author of the article in SVD sums it up at the end of the article by asking what men are so afraid of?
I don’t think that one automatically is afraid just because one does not agree on all the ideas and theories that are popular at the moment. When I grew up as a boy, no one tried to make me wear dresses or decided for me that I should play with dolls. When I think back I cannot recall that I have had any major trauma due to this. I played with typical boy toys, all days long. I have daughters, they play with toys. They have cars, guns, bows, firetrucks, spiderman suits and pirate stuff, when my daughter recently turned 8, I got her a compound bow but also some typical girl toys. They love girly toys, dolls, ponies, princess dresses and what not. But here’s the thing, first of all, no one is telling me what is right or wrong to buy, secondly, they prefer to play with the girl stuff, it is their choice.
I have daughters that now are adults, they were raised the same way. They turned out just fine. They were more into the boy toys growing up, they were real tomboys. Sometimes they’d crack me up running around with helmets and waiving toy swords wearing princess dresses, taking off their helmets and underneath they had their hair full of pink bows! Now they're two typical young women with nail polish and make up and all that. But again its been their choices no one else’s.
Speaking of Peace: Captain Vasili Arkhipov
This is what a real hero looks like, the Russian Submarine Captain Vasili Arkhipov, he saved the world during the Cuban crisis.
In times of the Nobel Peace Prize I always think about this amazing hero that is so unjustly kept in anonymity. The Nobel Peace Prize has been criticized for being a political venue instead of giving the prize to those who really deserve it. This year it was awarded to the European Union.
In my mind, as long as the Nobel Peace Prize is NOT awarded to the memory of Vasili Arkhipov, it is awarded to the wrong guy. He is without a doubt the one man in history, any time period included, that to his merits can add: ”I single handedly saved the world!” Not only that, he also showed us something else, he showed us that ”the buck stops here.” He is an excellent example of that every person has the possibility to choose and change the world, in 1962, the buck stopped with Vasili Arkhipov.
In accordance to this my question is: What is the Nobel comity doing?
Captain Vasili Arkhipov, refused to follow orders during the Cuban crisis in 1962. He refused to fire a nuclear weapon against the United States. For this he was punished in the Soviet Union. His heroism was kept a secret for 40 years, and he has suffered for it and died humiliated as an outcast in 1998. How does the world thank him? It doesn’t. The Nobel Prize goes to the European Union!
Every organization depend on the chain of command and in a way even society does the same. In the Armed forces to refuse an order is not appreciated to say the least. I have myself served as a green beret, an order is meant to be followed and our lives actually depend on it. But as Captain Vasili Arkhipov showed our lives also depend on our ability to be able to determine when not to follow orders. Captain Arkhipov did not by his action endorse anarchy or civil disobedience, he endorsed humanity. If we would put ourselves in his shoes, it is easy to realize that by making this decision he knew his next stop would probably be Siberia and the Gulag.
One needs to put this in perspective. In 1962, during he Cuban crisis everything was under tension. Basically The U.S. and the Soviet were staring each other down from the barrel of a gun and the Soviets lost their nerve. That’s what happened, they ordered Captain Vasili Arkhipov to fire a nuclear weapon. They meant business, they didn’t start of with mortars or conventional bombs. For some reasons the Soviets were freaking out and went for the big guns right away.
The immediate result of an attack like that considering the political climate of the times would probably have meant the annihilation of the human culture as we know it. President Kennedy would have been forced to retaliate and Europe would have seized to exist more or less, it probably would have been vaporized in a nuclear cloud.
So every year at ”Nobel” times, I thank this great man in my mind for his heroism and for my life and health, and for everything else I have in my life that would have been extinct or wiped of the map. The Nobel comity gives the Peace Prize to pop politicians and super organizations, peacefully killing the great symbolical and inspirational meaning of the prize in the process.
Make October 27 "Vasili Arkhipov” day in memory of this extraordinary man and the gifts his heroism has granted us all.
Skynet is arming up
Europe is testing its drone project ”Neuron”, an unmanned stealth attack drone. Neuron flew for 25 minutes in Istres, France and was piloted by two pilots. Neuron is the biggest drone for the time being with its wingspan of 12 meters and length of 10 meters.
The use of drone technology has been criticized by international law experts, apparently a bomb from an unmanned plane is more dangerous or unethical than one from a manned conventional aircraft(!?).
I for one fail to see the logic in that, and how come there are no international law experts condemning the use of missiles? Their unmanned too, aren’t they? My reservation would be that it is with a certain feeling of uneasiness that I see unmanned ”things” of destruction that flies, walks, rolls or swims around. One need only to take a quick look into the world of fiction to realize that there are avenues down that road that we definitely do not want to go.
Christmas Calender of Advent ”Luck No 1"
This is a good occasion to introduce a tradition that is commonly practiced in Scandinavia. Its the Calender of Advent, basically a Christmas Countdown. Every day has its own ”lucka” followed by the number of the day, ”lucka 1"! is december 1 and "lucka 24" is Christmas eve, which is the big day in the Scandinavian counties. As an adjustment to the rest of the world my Calendar of Advent will run to ”lucka 25” or ”Luck 25".
My Calendar will comprise of special and interesting photographs. Usually a Calendar is a picture of something Christmas like, Santa, snowy Christmas trees, the Nativity sceen and has 24 or 25 little openings that you can open each day with a little image behind it, or a little peace of chocolate or a little present, the imagination is the limit. Kids love these things.
Christmas - 24 days!
Lars Gunnar Björklund
@AlexTJohansen: #Lars Gunnar Bjorklund: Tråkiga nyheter, Lars Gunnar Björklund har gått bort. RIP Lars Gunnar Björklund. En Förgrundsgestalt i Svensk idrott.
The world’s best schools are in Finland
Homeschooling in Finland, the best educational system in the world
The study can detect that there is a correlation between results and spending, but it is not as important as the general attitude towards education. It is also interesting that of the top 20 countries it’s only one that has made homeschooling illegal, Germany. In Sweden homeschooling is also illegal, but then again, Sweden did not make it to the list of the 20 best educational systems in the world.
Finland allows homeschooling and has the best educational system in the world. My conclusion based on this, is that the ban on homeschooling has nothing what so ever to do with quality of education. So what is the Swedish agenda, really?
In Sweden homeschooling is a crime and parents wanting to homeschool labeled as mentally challenged.
EQ World map / Världens känslor
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Gallup har tagit fram en karta som visar känsloläget i världen rapporteras det om i engelskspråkiga medier. Det ser inte bra ut för Singapore som rapporteras ha känslomässiga problem, eller som det heter på engelska ”känslomässigt utmanade.”
Här kan man gå in och roa sig med en interaktiv världskarta och se hur det står till med Sveriges grannländer. En besvikelse att Norge inte har deltagit i undersökningen. Ryssarna hetsar inte upp sig i onödan enligt studien.
I Finland är man tydligen mer känslosam än i Sverige, där ser man, och vem hade kunnat tro att Sverige är mer känslosamt än Italien? Undersökningen visar också att USA uppvisar stor förmåga att erfara känslor.
ENGLISH
Gallup has produced a map showing the emotional state of the world, it is reported in the English-speaking media. It does not look good for Singapore reported to have emotional problems, or as it is called in English "emotionally challenged."
You can go in and have fun with an interactive map of the world and see how things are with Sweden's neighboring countries. It's disappointing that Norway has not participated in the survey. The Russians are no drama queens according to the study.
Finland is apparently more emotional than Sweden, how’bout that, and who would have thought that Sweden is more emotional than Italy? The survey also shows that the U.S. has a great ability to experience emotions.
Pink Elephant
SWEDISH GOV'T IN SAS COVERUP@dagensnyheter: DN Plus: Regeringen morklagger SAS-raddning http://t.co/EnRijAC1
Conformity
SWEDISH CONFORMITY 2.0 @AlexTJohansen: "@Noterad: #SvD Swedes want to censor public art that is perceived as provocative. http://t.co/bnt873bl #noterad"
Cold case
So, is this the culprit in the sinking of the Titanic? Many believe it is and the photograph is up for sale at an upcoming auction Dec. 13, 2012. The prize tag is estimated to $8 000 - $10 000.
Undoubtedly a piece of history that is slightly disturbing in a way. It is said that a picture says more that a 1000 words. In this case its silence speaks more than the movie. It tells a story about 1 517 passengers and in a very chilling way.
GOOGLE LIABLE FOR SEARCH RESULTS
GOOGLE AS PUBLISHER OF LIBEL @KM_Entourage: Google Must Pay For Libelous Search Result, Says Court http://t.co/elZnqn9j #SocialMedia #Business
This could mean the beginning of the end of the free internet as we know it. Although libel is an infestation, the alternative, internet where only ”fair weather nice driving” is allowed is an absolute no no.
Evil / Ondska
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DN skriver att en undersökning av Alexander Haslam och Stephen Reicher visar att ondskan inte är banal. Gamla teser kastas på soptippen och nya förklaringar omfamnas. Den gamla ståndpunkten att ondskan är passiv, att det handlar om människor som liksom lyder order och inte mäktar ta ställning emot visar sig inte stämma. Samtidigt så tilldelas Augustpriset till Göran Rosenberg för hans författarskap om ondskans implementering.
Jag tycker det är intressant att den ”banala” teorin har fått sådant genomslag, för personligen tycker jag att den nog är kontra intuitiv. Jag tror alla människor har någon erfarenhet av sadistisk ondska i livet. Det kan vara någon elak unge i skolan, eller någon sadistisk distanserad byråkrat som i sken av förment professionalism är slående oberörd av situationen.
Den banala synen har en tendens av självbedrägeri över sig, ett sätt att sticka huvudet i sanden, för att fortsätta kunna tycka att de flesta är ganska hyggliga, följer order, men ville egentligen inte. Man slipper också omaket att behöva förklara ondskans väsen, eftersom människor inte ÄR onda, de bara råkar GÖRA onda saker.
Det tycks mig som om man genom att anta den banala synen också på något sätt minskar på ansvaret. Man kan fortsätta gömma sig i sanden och inte behöva ta tag i problem som finns, men som det blundas för eftersom de ”inte finns.” Ta tanken på den ”goda staten” som är så förhärskande i Sverige, ett antagande som effektivt tystar alla försök att reformera den offentliga verksamheten. Varför har vi till exempel inte en författningsdomstol i Sverige? För att vi har demokrati och lagen som ett uttryck för majoritetens, dvs folkviljan inte kan ha fel? Det gick ju himla bra i Tyskland. Men som de experiment som citeras i DN:s artikel visar så kan bevisligen människor bete sig grymt mot varandra, om möjlighet ges. Det är kanske så man ska se på det.
Författaren Laurence Rees har skrivit: ”It is worth trying to understand why so many of the former Nazis I have met over the last fifteen years appear to find an internal justification for their crimes (”I thought it was the right thing to do”) rather than an external one (”I was ordered to do it”).
Om dessa forskningsresultat får så värst mycket praktisk betydelse återstår att se. Redan innan visste vi ju att människor kan göra de värsta tänkbara saker. Vi visste också att auktoritetstro spelade en roll i detta, vilket jag tror att det fortfarande gör faktiskt även fast denna studie visar att människor agerar efter sitt egen värdering. Man har liksom bara flyttat problemet ett steg bakåt på något vis. Uppfattningen att man gör något som är ”rätt och riktigt” beror till stor del på vilket samhälle man lever i. Vilka impulser och värderingar som förstärks har naturligtvis staten och auktoriteter ett stort inflytande över, vilket ger möjlighet för den enskilde att använda auktoriteten som alibi, som rationaliseringsgrund, för sina egna böjelser eller värderingar.
Nazismen är ett utmärkt exempel. Den Nazistiska regimen tvingade inte befolkningen att hata judar, det fanns redan en utbredd antisemitism i Tyskland, såväl som i andra länder. Den tyska regimen förstärkte värderingar som redan fanns och iklädde sig altruistiska motiv i sin propaganda och vädjade till folkets bästa egenskaper, och opinionen följde stegvis efter, allt för löftet om framtiden, för folkviljan kan ju inte ha fel, eller?
ENGLISH
DN writes that a study by Alexander Haslam and Stephen Reicher shows that evil is not banal. Old theories are replaced by new explanations. The old view that evil is passive, that it is about people who, are obeying orders and not capable to act in any other way, is not accurate according to the study. With relevance to this I note that the August Prize was awarded to writer Goran Rosenberg for his authorship on the implementation of evil under the Nazi regime.
I find it interesting that the "banal" theory has made such an impact, because personally I think that it probably is counter-intuitive. I think everyone has some experience of a sadistically evil person in life. There may be a horrible bully at school, or a sadistically distant bureaucrat that in the guise of supposed professionalism is strikingly unmoved by the situation at hand.
The “banal” theory has a tendency of self-deception about it, it is a way to stick your head in the sand, to continue to find that most people are fairly decent, following orders and such, but did not really want to do all that evil. It also effectively saves you from the obvious trouble of relating to evil as an entity of itself. People can DO evil things – yes, but they ARE not evil.
It seems to me as if by adopting the banal explanation one also reduce responsibility. You can continue to hide in the sand and not having to grasp the problems at hand, simply because they "do not exist." Take the idea of the "good state" that is so prevalent in Sweden, an assumption that effectively silences all attempts to reform the system. Why have we not, for example, a constitutional court in Sweden? Because we have democracy and the law as an expression of the majority, that is the will of the people, can not be wrong? Well, that approach went amazingly well in Germany, if sarcasm is allowed. But as the experiments quoted in DN's article shows it is evident that people can behave cruelly towards each other, if given the opportunity. Maybe that is the way to look at it.
Writer Laurence Rees has written: "It is worth trying to understand why so many of the forms Nazis I have met over the last fifteen years Appear to find an internal justification for Their crimes (" I thought it was the right thing to do ") rather than an external one ("I was ordered to do it").
If the findings of this study will have any practical significance remains to be seen. Even before this we knew that people can do the worst things to others. We also knew that authoritarianism played a role in this, which I think it still does. Even though this study shows that people primarily act according to their own convictions. It has just moved the problem one step back in a way. The idea that you do something that is "right and proper" depends largely on what kind of society you live in. The state and the authorities have a great deal of influence over which impulses and values that are being reinforced in society. Giving individuals the opportunity to use the values derived from authorities as an alibi, as a means of rationalization, for their own inclinations or values, or as history has it, their atrocities.
Nazism is an excellent example. The Nazi regime did not force people to hate Jews, there was already a widespread anti-Semitism in Germany, as well as in other countries. The Nazi regime reinforced the values that already existed and assumed the altruistic motives in their propaganda and appealed to the people's best qualities, and public opinion gradually followed after. All for the promise of the future, for the will of the people cannot be wrong, right?
