Worlds Longest Hangover

The Scots of always had a reputation for heavy drinking, well now one of them has another dubious honour, the worlds longest hangover. A man walked into a hospital complaining that he had headaches and blurred vision and it had been going on for four weeks.

The doctor did loads of test unitl they finnaly discovered that the man had drunk 60pints of beer (32 litres) in four days after an argument with his girlfriend. This had caused a very rare condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis , which only affects about four in every million people and most of those are children.

It's worth remembering this story as it will probably appear as a case for Dr House (SVT4)and his team in a few years time!

Burma Crisis Edging Nearer to Tragedy

For the last week the world has been gripped by the events unfolding in Burma. Here are the people of Burma, led by the Buddihst Monks protesting against the oppressive military rule of their country. But it has been an entirely peaceful protest, no rioting, no firebombs, no murders or suicide bombings to terrorise the authourities into submission. Instead we have seen people of conviction and integrety taking a stand.

And now it looks like what the world has been fearing will come to pass and the military will brutally put down the protests as they have before.

You know something is fundamentally wrong in a society when the military, who must always be the servants of the people, turn on the people. We can only hope that the government will agree to negotiate and take note of the wishes of the people. The government freeing Aung San Suu Kyi is maybe too much to hope for. In the meantime we can only look on and give our support.

Iran: A Safe Haven for Transvestites

Iran might not have any homosexuals (presumably becuase they have stoned them all), but it is the safest place to live if you are worried about people finding out you are a transvestite..., as this picture from Theran Transvestite Accociation shows.

Persson: Makes the Alliance Look Like Wimps

So it turns out Göran Persson, the former standard bearer and leader for the Social Democrats, is now milking the system for all its worth, in the true style of fat cats everywhere. Though not leagally wrong it sends a very clear message that taxes are not for the rich and powerful, but just for the prolatariat.

It really makes the alliance look like wimps in the tax avoidance stakes, I mean what are a few unpaid TV liscences and a bit og back labour compared to this?

I never liked Göran Persson anyway and he always came across as a big arrogant Mr Potato Head kind of guy. I wonder how many voted for the alliance just to get rid of him...

It's something for Fredrik Reinfeldt to think about, but stories like these will only make people more certain, that despite the alliances recent policies, it was still the right thing to have a 'regime change' in Sweden.

Anniversary of the Battle of Stamford Bridge

Today is the 941st. anniversary of the Battle of Stamford Bridge where King Harold of England fought and defeated the Viking army of Harald Hardrada of Norway and Earl Tostig.

It was Tostig, Harold's brother who pursuaded Harald to launch the invasion as he felt the English thrown should have gone to him and not Harold after the death of King Edward the Confessor.

The Viking army landed in the North of England near to York and were first met by the Earls of Northumbria and Mercia at Fulford on the 20th. September where the they easily routed the English.

After the battle they went to Stamford Bridge on the 25th. September to exchange prisoners with the people of York, when to their horror King Harold arrived with a second English army, which had marched a staggering 240km in only four days. Though exhausted, the English army had the critical element of suprise. The battle was very long, fierce and bloody but after King Harald was killed the Vikings lost their moral and it was their turn to be routed. Of the 200 Viking ships which sailed from Norway only 24 returned.

This Battle marked the beginning of the end for the Viking way of life as so many Vikings leaders where killed. As for the English, their success was short lived for they then had to march all the way back down to Southern England to meet an even greater threat from William, Duke of Normandy.

On October the 14th. 1066, the English met the Norman army at the Battle of Hastings and this time the English were not so lucky...

No Private Driving Liscence Tests in Britain

Privatising the driving licence test is not a good idea. Right now the quality of the test is carefully controlled centrally and has a high standard. Allowing the driving schools to control both the teaching and the assessment of the tests can create a conflict of interest and make the high standards more difficult to control.

As a parallel you can look at the bilprov test we all do every year on our cars. In Sweden this is done centrally by independent professionals and so the standard is very high across the board. In Britain it is done by private certified mechanics, who not only control whether you pass the test, but also provide the services to repair the problems if you fail and so conflicts of interest do occur.

Incidentally, in Britain the driving license test IS done by an independent body.

Madeleine Media Circus

When people start to discuss why the Madeleine McCann case has become such global media phenomena it is worth considering why this story is different to the stories of other missing children stories.

The bottom line is that this story is very media friendly in terms of the circumstances of the disappearance'. The family were on holiday, which should be a very safe and relaxing time. The parents left the kids alone to have dinner which polarises people between those who have never done such a thing and feel outraged at their negligence and those that have, who want Madie found safe to offset their own guilt.

Then there is the fact this was a British family on holiday in Portugal, which ensured it would be a big story in those two countries and so more likely to be picked up by the media in other countries. Then you have the parents, both doctors, both very articulate and confident when talking to the press and willing to be interviewed. This has kept the media engaged right from the start.

As the story progressed there have been regular events to keep the media hanging on, like the parents meeting the Pope, the DNA evidence found in the flat and car and then the couple being named as suspects.

The depth of the tragedy, media circus and subsequent intrigue have made this feel more like a Hollywood movie being played out on the TV and in the press.

The only thing missing is a happy ending......

Browsing the Web at Work is Risky Business in Wales

Browsing the web at work can cost you your job, at least in Wales where 3 people have lost their jobs for spending up to 2 hours a day on eBay. They were employed by the local council and a council spokesman said:

"We have a policy of allowing employees to use the internet in their own time.
"But we clearly don't want them to use it in council time - at the end of the day they are employed to do a job of work not be shopping online."

The Unions then hit back by saying it was the council's fault for putting temptation in their way (by allowing them internet acess in the first place! ???).

The council servers already block certain sites like porn sites but not eBay.

The British Trade Union accociation has already come out and said its workers have a right to view sites like facebook on company computers.

This does show that there is a backlash now against unrestricted browsing during office hours. I can see a time when even news sites will be blocked as companies crack down more an more.

Peruvian Meteorite Crash

A meteorite crashed to Earth in Peru and people nearby have started getting sick. This has led to widespread panic among the populations affected by the noxious vapours coming from the alleged crash site.

The government has tried to reasure people and Modesto Montoya of the National Academy of Sciences has released a press statement saying...

"None of the meteorites that fall in Peru and make perforations of varied sizes are harmful for people...."

He then helpfully addeed..

"unless they fall on a house"

:o)

Thanks For Nothing !

So finally the finance minister has clarified the new property tax rules(Svd, Dn). If feel very happy that he's given me the opportunity to subsidise the high earners living in expensive villas.

I'm trying to sell my house right now and since I live on the edge of Västerås my property tax is not so high anyway. But when I sell my house the extra 2% tax on the profit will more than make up for the lower property tax. Then there's the 0.5% interest on the tax...

Where is the money going to come from to pay for this I wonder? Oh yes I forgot, it's the money the government is going to take away from all the sick people......

Digital TV Blues

Now that summer is over, the winter TV schedule is starting to fill up with all the new and returning drama series. Last night Desperate Housewives returned. So too has Grey's Anatomy and the last series of Soppranos. The excellent Rome will also be returning for a second season.

One thing though is that we have got digital TV now and you can't watch one show while recording another. What is the point of owning a video recorder if not to compensate for clashes in the TV schedule (which happen a lot this time of year)? On Tuesdays this means deciding between House and Desperate Housewives....

New technology is supposed to make life better and more convienient (or at least fun). We are used to new products being packed full of new features, but this is a big step back for the user.

Last Night of the Proms

I've just watched (and listened to) the Last Night Of the Proms concert on TV. There is just something special about this event. The enthusiasm of the audience (although it's more like a crowd now) with all the flags and hats is more like a football match than a classical music concert. It stirs my British soul in a way a football match never could (not the way England play anyhow, though maybe if we lifted the world cup again one day.....)

Land of Hope and Glory always makes me think of the Second World War, Jerusalem makes me think of the three years I sent at a very traditional Grammar School in England and God Save the Queen makes me want to stand up and salute (although like 90% of the British population I can't remember the words after the first verse).

The interesting thing is how internationally popular something so very British and blatantly nationalistic can be. As well as flags from the UK, British terretories and former colonies, there were French flags, German flags and I think an Icelandic flag (or it could have been Norwegian). I guess this is because the nationalism comes from pride in ones country and musical heritage, rather than a 'we're better then you' attitude.

Still if singing along to God Save The Queen at the Proms creates too much of a stuffy feeling of the Old British Empire you can always go along to The Sex Pistols reunion gig on November 8th. and here a very different vesion....

Swiss Government Exercises its Right to Freedom of Speech

The Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), the largest party in the Swiss government, has stuck this poster up all of Switzerland. Its part of a new campaign aimed at deporting the families of foreigners when a family member commits a crime.

The image is of the good people kicking out the black sheep, but it also has racist connotations and the back, red and white colour scheme does have that 'hint of Nazi' vibe going on.

The SVP have also published a poster showing a veiled Muslim woman with the question, "Where are we living, Baden or Baghdad?".

Jewish groups, left wing parties and even the UN have complained about the poster. The United Nations special rapporteur on racial discrimination, Doudou Diene from Senegal, has asked the Swiss government for an official explanation of the campaign.

The SVP responded by saying,

"We have got freedom of speech in our country. Obviously [Mr Diene] has not understood our culture of democracy. I would suggest he reads up on it."

When Lars Vilks published his Mohammed cartoon he said he did so to provoke and to see where the limits of freedom of speech are. Much has been written since then regarding this issue, so I wonder what people think of the SVS evoking the 'freedom of speech' arguement in this case.

This isn't just a rogue person after all who one can choose to ignore, or some small rightwing group looking for publicity, but rather the democratically elected government of a soverign European country, who enjoy a clear lead in the polls.

Reinfeldt's Comments Do Not Go Far Enough

Commenting on the death threat against Lars Vilks(SvD, Dn), Fredrick Reinfeldt said that,

"There are many around the world who will be looking to see how Sweden handles this issue".

Too true, which is why I’m surprised why there has not been a official condemnation of the death threat from the government, rather this soft diplomatic speech about how we really all should just get along and threatening to murder our citizens is not very nice etc..

This isn’t about the rights and wrongs of Vilks’s cartoon or the decision to publish it. It’s not about religious freedom and freedom of speech. It’s not about 400 000 Muslim’s living in Sweden. This is about an announcement calling for the murder of a Swedish national by an international terrorist organisation, who have already murdered thousands in the most public and brutal ways.

You can't reason or negotiate with Al-Qaeda, or break off diplomatic relations (as the British did to Iran after the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie). But you can come out and say clearly and publicly, 'We reject all forms of terrorist threats against our citizens'.

There are many in Sweden who are looking to see how Mr Reinfeldt handles this issue. I'm not sure they will be impressed by what they have seen.

Government U-turn on Top Jobs

In Britain whenever a new government is elected there is what is known as 'the honeymoon period'. It's that time when the electorate loves the government and everyone is full of hope and optimism that things really are going to get better.

I wonder what happened to the Swedish Government. Did they not have a honeymoon, or is it that we, the people, were not invited?

First there was the fact that the new cabinet had enough skeletons in its collective closet to fill a graveyard, and then there has been the fiasco regarding changes to the property taxes, which has left potential buyers and sellers alike in a state of limbo regarding their future economy. Next there was the governments’ handling of the Mohammed cartoon and the changes to the provisions for people who are long term sick. And now a complete U-turn on the policy of making the hiring of people to top jobs transparent in open.

Appointing your own people to the top jobs is a way of building a political power base to spread the government influence throughout the broadest range. It serves the government, not the people. Maud Oloffson of the Centre Party says, that in other countries this would be called corruption. I disagree somewhat since all governments do this, so I doubt she would find many European leaders to agree with her. And, let’s be fair, the government is just continuing the traditions of the previous government.

No, what the real issue is that the government said one thing before the election and is saying another thing now. That is at best misleading the electorate and does not help to increase people’s confidence in a government which is already failing to shine.

Madeleine: DNA Evidence is no Smoking Gun

The hysteria surrounding the Madeleine Mcann case is growing all the time. The latest twist is that the couple are to have there own independent DNA test done to compare with the results in the possession of the Portuguese police (Svd, Dn). Sir Alec Jeffreys, the man who invented DNA fingerprinting has even offered his help.

We don't know the evidence that the police in Portugal have collected, but the 'smoking gun' appears to be the DNA found in the hire car. But as Sir Alec says, the same DNA match could be found in at least one family member. Since the car was used by Madeleine's parents and siblings, it will be almost impossible to prove that the blood belongs to Madeleine and not to another family member.

Also, let’s say for one second that they are guilty and found Madeleine dead in the flat and decided that rather than risk splitting up the family if they came clean, they decided to hide the body and invent the abduction story. Is it really likely that they could have put on such a convincing show to the world and never once broken down under the weight of all that guilt? They met the Pope for God's sake and being Catholics, lying to the Pope is a pretty big no-no. Also should we then believe that in the shadow of all this media attention, they then moved the body, using the hired car some 30 days later?

Occam's Razor states that 'All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one'. Unfortunately in this case, the simplest solution is that Madeleine was taken by persons unknown as is now quite probably dead. Going after the parents on the basic of very unsafe evidence will not help uncover the truth.

Life Goes On After Svennis

After England's 3-0 win over Israel and Russia, finally the England football team is playing like the kind of team they need to be in order to win competitions. The last two matches have shown that the great players in the squad can work together as a coherent team.

I hope now that people will give Steve McClaren some room to do his job and stop comparing him to Svennis. Svennis was the right man at the time, but that time has passed and now it's time to move on. Under Svennis's time as manager, England never quite managed to gell and look like force to be recond with. I hope that McClaren has found the key to unlock this potenetial.

For one thing I want to see an England-Sweden match that does not end in a draw and before I die I'd love to see England raise a major trophy and bring footbal home.

Engineers Lesss Likely to Succumb to Contagious Yawning

It has always been suspected that yawning was contagious, but now it seems that this is truer for people who have high levels of social empathy.

The study by the University of Leeds concluded that psychology students were much more likely to succumb to yawning in response to other people yawning than engineering students, because they were intrinsically more empathic.

I'm not so sure about this. I work as an engineer and frequently sit in meeting where everybody is yawning.....

I wonder if any research has been done regarding empathic drinking...When I was a student this was a common phenomenon with engineering students.

Shakespeare: To Be Believed or Not to Be

Three hundred actors in Britain have sighed a 'Declaration of Reasonable Doubt' regarding whether Shakespeare really did pen all those plays. The thrust of their argument is that William Shakepseare was a commoner who was raised in an illiterate household, so where did he get his background information on historical figures, high society and geography of far off cities in Italy for example.

They want to see more research done to look into who might actually have written the plays. Of course for some this is the literary equivalent of denying the holocaust, so it is not without it's critics (not least from the people of Stratford on Avon who make a tidy living selling the Shakespeare brand to US tourists).

Still, there are some heavy weight actors behind this including Sir Derek Jacobi, whom I saw performing as Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford.

Ultimately the authorship will do nothing to take away the brilliance of the plays, but it would be great to know the truth and if Shakespeare was not the author, who was and why were they so happy for Shakespeare to take all the credit?

Bodyshop Founder Dies

Farewell to Anita Roddick, the founder of Bodyshop, who has died suddenly at the age of 64.

She was an inspirational business women, philanthropist and environmental campaigner, who showed the world that it is possible to be both successful and ethical in business. In Britain shed led her support to a campaign to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry, which led to a change in the law.

After stepping down as director of Bodyshop she turned her attention to the human rights issues especially the treatment of women and the treatment of workers in developing countries and was major supporter of Amnesty International.

She never lost sight of her desire to make the world safer and fairer and it is a sad loss to loose somebody who had such drive, such passion and such principals

Facebook Friends - no Substitute For The Real Thing

An article in SvD regarding Facebook put forward the idea that the reason Facebook has become so popular in Sweden is that Swedes are so socially awkward that they need the anonymity of the computer screen to feel relaxed enough to make friends.

The thing is though, it is all just a fantasy and not like having real friends at all, especially if your aim is to have as many people as possible on your friends list. I use Facebook mostly to keep an eye on what my friends back in the UK are doing. The best bit is seeing pictures they have posted of what they are up to in their lives.

But its not like actually seeing them and being there. It's not like I can go to the pub with them or the cinema, it's not like having a real friend. I think Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends, but is not the best way to meet new friends. Being a friend is much more than just chatting about any old bollocks with somebody when your’re supposed to be at work. No its about sitting face to face with somebody in a bar of coffee shop (and then talking bollocks - if your a man anyway)

Anyone who uses Facebook should try to borrow 100Kr form each of their friends. The ones that come up with the money, those are the true friends (so don't forget to pay them back)...

Time To Act Against Trimmed Up Mopeds

I use a moped to get work as an environmentally friendly alternative to having a second car and I think it’s great. But I don't know how many times I've been cruising along only to have some young kid zoom past me on a trimmed up moped, doing will over 40km/h. This is the problem with mopeds in Sweden. It's too easy for young kids (mostly boys) to trim up the mopeds and then drive around like idiots taking no responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

The new suggestion that moped riders should need a drivers licence is a bit hard but so be it if it puts a stop to these assholes who think its fine to do 50+km/hr on a cycle path. What surprises me most is that the parents of these kids allow them to do this. I don't understand how the parents can sit back whilst their sons and daughters are out on trimmed up bikes running such an increased risk of hurting themselves and others.

Instead of introducing a driving license maybe instead it would be enough to raise the age limit to drive a moped to 18years. In this way it would not penalise those people who use a moped precisely because it does not require a driving license. Also the penalties for trimming the bikes up should be raised.

Swiss Government Exercises its Right to Freedom of Speech

The Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), the largest party in the Swiss government, has stuck this poster up all of Switzerland. Its part of a new campaign aimed at deporting the families of foreigners when a family member commits a crime.

The image is of the good people kicking out the black sheep, but it also has racist connotations and the back, red and white colour scheme does have that 'hint of Nazi' vibe going on.

The SVP have also published a poster showing a veiled Muslim woman with the question, "Where are we living, Baden or Baghdad?".

Jewish groups, left wing parties and even the UN have complained about the poster. According to the BBC, the United Nations special rapporteur on racial discrimination, Doudou Diene from Senegal, has asked the Swiss government for an official explanation of the campaign.

The SVP responded by saying, "We have got freedom of speech in our country. Obviously [Mr Diene] has not understood our culture of democracy. I would suggest he reads up on it."

When Lars Vilks published his Mohammed cartoon he said he did so to provoke and to see where the limits of freedom of speech are. Much has been written since then regarding this issue, so I wonder what pepole think of the SVS evoking the 'freedom of speech' arguement in this case.

This isn't just a rogue person after all who one can choose to ignore, or some small rightwing group looking for publicity, but rather the democratically elected government of a soverign European country.

Suspected but not Charged

You have to remember that Madeleine Mcann's parents are only being made suspects so that the police can follow a particular line of questioning. Nobody has been charged yet and they are not the first suspects in this case. Reading between the lines one might conclude that the police have some forensic evidence which has made them suspicious enough to question the Mcann's but not so much as to actually charge them.

I imagine this is why the police are offering the mother a deal whereby if she confesses it was an accident she might only spend two years in prison. This is because they don't have enough conclusive evidence and so they need a confession to secure a conviction.

You can understand why the police do this as they have a first responsibility to Madaleine and not her parents. But if the parents are innocent, then this must be living hell on top of the hell of loosing their daughter.

The Lab working on the blood spots has been doing so for a month now and so far they have only released preliminary results. It's not like on TV where a few blood spots would have been enough for the CSI team to have wrapped the case up in a few days....

Nepal Airlines sacrifices goat to fix airplane

When a Nepal airlines plane sufferred repeated technical problems one solution was to sacrifice a pair of goats to the Hindu god of the sky protection, Akash Bhairab, in front of the plane, a Boeing 757.

I once flew Nepal airlines between Kathmandu and Pokhara and although the plane landed ok, whilst taxing back to the terminal building the hydraulic brakes failed and the plane just bounced along the side of the runway until it finally stopped by hitting another stationary plane.

I can therfore understand why some prayer might be in order to keep the planes airworthy!!

Still my worry is that Ryanair might considered that sacrificing goats to the gods is much cheaper than paying ground crews to service the planes. Maybe we'll see a 'goat charge' being introduced sometime soon....

Delicate Tightrope for Reinfeldt

When Fredrik Reinfeldt meets Muslim Ambassadors on Friday to discuss the controversy over the publication of the Mohammed cartoons, he is going to have to walk a delicate tightrope between the Swedish people who support freedom of speech as an absolute right and the sensitivities of the Muslim world.

One problem is that now it has been shown how easy it is to provoke the anger of the Muslim world it will be easy for anybody to publish their own pictures purely to get a reaction. What would happen if far right groups started doing this as a way of provoking Muslims? And every time this happens, the whole Swedish nation and Swedish government are held accountable.

I'm all for freedom of speech, but also I don't want every idiot who wants to piss of the Muslims to be able to do it in my name.

The Muslims on the other hand need to understand that people will always say and do things to provoke a reaction and the right thing to do is to register your distaste and ignore it. If they react so strongly to everyone who insults them, they risk opening up the floodgates to anyone who wants to upset them for their own personal ends.

Time for a Change in Military Doctrine

So we've had a trade minister who doesn’t believe in paying taxes, a culture minister who doesn't believe in paying for TV and now a defence minister who doesn't believe in carrying arms!!

Seriously though, the thing about having a military is you need to know what its purpose is and then equip it for that purpose. Sweden's military is not going to stop a foreign invasion (from where I don't know, Russia?) and it's not going to fight an invasion (even as part of a coalition) since I don't believe there would ever be the political will to do so. That leaves patrolling the air and sea borders, peace keeping and counter terrorism. Patrolling the air and sea borders needs highly mobile well armed planes and boats (not mine layers), for peace keeping you need light armoured companies and for counter terrorism you need Special Forces units.

I think Sweden needs to define what the reason for the military is and then direct the spending accordingly, so that it can function efficiently within these defined rolls. Reinfeldt has got it right on this one. You can't keep pretending the world is that same as it was during the Second World War and the Cold War.

The Joys of Pappaledighet

Ah....This is the life....

I dropped my son of at dagis and then headed into Västerås to wander around with my daughter and watch the world go by. We started by walking around Lillåudden and enjoying the sun shinning over Lake Mälaren and then continued along the harbour before following Svartån into the city centre. Since my daughter was still asleep I took the chance to sit in a coffee shop for some morning fika and watch the people heading off to work (suckers!).

The mornings are definately the best, since the little angel sleeps really well so long as I keep her moving. In the afternoons, I need to feed her and then feed me and then its not so long until we have to colect my son again. He is often over tired when he gets home, so it can be a real struggle to keep home happy and then of course there's dinner to prepare...

The dream ends tommorrow when I return to work for five days where its back to endless meetings and working my fingers to the bone slaving over a hot keyboard. But for now I can look forward to the next time I'm at home...

More Cat Recipes

The Australians are being encouraged to eat cat stew to control the wild population. I couldn't actually find a recipe for cat stew on the net, but I did find one for Cat Teriyaki

1/2 cup soy saucejuice of one orangejuice of
1/2 lime
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup beer1 T. sesame oil
1 t. red chili flakes
4 garlic cloves, halved
1-inch piece of fresh ginger - smashed and cut into small pieces
1 fresh cat

Prepare the sauce by combining all ingredients except the cat in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a slow boil and cook, stirring, until thickened. About 20 minutes. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.Cut cat into 1 inch slices, season with salt and pepper. Place cat in a single layer on a sheet pan. Line your sheet pan with an Exopat mat and you'll save yourself a lot of clean-up later. Bake cat for 8 minutes.Strain sauce into a bowl. Using tongs, dip each piece of cat into the sauce and put back onto baking sheet. Return to the oven and bake for another 8 minutes.Serve with sticky rice!

Time for media companies to learn to live with file sharing

In the great debate over internet file sharing this is one of the dumber suggestions. Broadband suppliers supply the infrastucture by which we as consumers can access the internet. They should be free from prosecution over what is being transferred so that they can get on with the job of providing better services, rather than trying to police their own services, which we as consumers will ultimately pay for in higher costs. It also means more personal data will need to be saved and made available regarding our broadband habits, which has privacy concerns.

The truth is that now the cat is out of the bag, there is no way to un-invent the technology behind file sharing, nor stop people from using it. Media companies should instead learn how to use this new technology to their advantage and make money from it in some other way. Having failed to convince the courts that sites like Pirate Bay are responsible for the information they host, they are now going after the braodband suppliers.

Baby 2.0 User Guide

Today is the first day of my paternity leave. For the next 12 months I will be ay home for one week looking after my daughter and then at work for one week looking after me project!

So Last night my wife and I sat down to write the User Guide, a sheet of paper telling me what and when to feed her, when she sleeps and how to keep her happy when its time to leave or collect our other child from daycare. This should be enough to get me through the first week, until my daughter has me properly 'schooled in'.

Working 50% for a year is the same solution we used for our first child and it worked really well. I got to see his development for a full year instead of onlu 6 months, whilst at the same time keeping that adult contact at work and staying 'in the loop'.


The weather today has been fantastic. We went out for a two hour walk through the forest and my daughter slept the whole time. I really hope this will continue......

Cat Stew: A new Australian delicacy

Wild cats are a real problem in Australia, where they eat almost anything and destroy populations of indigenous species. One new solution to the problem is to encourage people to hunt the cats and eat them. Cats apparently are considered by some to be ‘good eating’ and taste like a cross between rabbit and (like everything else) chicken. One woman even entered a cat casserole into a cooking contest in Alice Springs.

I guess one persons cuddly pet is another’s tasty lunch. In Peru I was offered Guinea Pig (Marsvin), In China and Korea they eat dog and even in Britain people are happy eating rabbit, whereas in Sweden rabbits are considered more of a pet as there is not a big wild rabbit population here.

If this catches on in Sweden I would like to start with the two cats who think my garden is a litter box. I’d stew them up and have them with favor beans and a nice Chianti.