The joys of modern aviation

A retard terrorist wannabe gets to board a plane with his undies full of explosives. Meanwhile my bottle of water is getting confiscated by the airport security, because clearly it poses a lethal threat.

Ah, the joys of modern aviation.

Limo madness

The Swedish taxpayers paid 3,5 million kronor to transport the fat, lazy delegates to the EU European Development Days 2009 in Stockholm in limos to and from the airport.

Unfortunately that's just pocket change compared to the costs of closing down E4 repeatedly during those days just so these overpaid bastards could get their fat asses to the conference without any interference from other traffic. Way to throw taxpayers money out the window and annoy the hell out of them.

My personal favorite was the Stockholm police refusing to let motorists know exactly at what time they would close E4, "for security reasons". More like "for annoyance reasons" if you ask me. How could knowing the closure time and therefore avoiding complete chaos be a threat to security? If I wanted to blow up one of these pompous bastards I wouldn't abandon the plan just because I didn't get the exact time for when this stupid idiot would show up in his limo, would I?

My God, the stupidity...

Plotting new evil

The "axis of evil" are gathered in the White House and plotting new evil in collaboration with the US government. What kind of insanity can we expect as an outcome of this meeting? More censorship? More oppressive legislation? More "guilty until proven innocent"?

Among those expected are Sony's Michael Lynton, Warner Bros.' Barry Meyer, Viacom's Philippe Dauman, NBC Universal's Jeffrey Zucker, Warner Music Group's Edgar Bronfman, Harper Collins CEO Brian Murray, Universal Music Group's Zachary Horowitz, the MPAA's Dan Glickman, the RIAA's Mitch Bainwol, IATSE's international president Matthew Leob, AFTRA'S Kim Roberts Hedgepeth, DGA president Taylor Hackford, DGA exec director Jay Roth and SAG's David White.

Yup, the whole "family" is here, ready to take on new acts of extortion, threats, bullying and corruption. In more civilized countries these bullies are actually convicted for their crime instead of given a carte blanche by the government to do whatever they want. Well, I guess if they refuse to give the "family" this carte blanche at this point they'll each receive a friendly reminder in the middle of the night, consisting of a severed horse head or something.

And why does it come as no surprise that there's no-one from the consumer and human rights side present at this meeting? Goddamn criminals the lot of them.

Damn choos!

My wife insisted to buy me a pair of Jimmy Choo by H&M shoes, and while I tried to resist I lost the fight and she ordered them on the Internet. So the first pair of shoes arrived a couple of days ago. The first impression was good, except the very notable smell of glue, they fitted nicely, but I soon noticed that the leather that was glued to the sole (I have to say I'm wondering how long these shoes are meant to last anyway if they're only glued to the sole...) was wrinkled at one point on one of the shoes. Back they went.

The next pair arrived today, they too reeked of glue, but imagine my surprise when I felt the leather and noticed several really rough patches, in addition to several visible wrinkles, like they had been worn for quite a few weeks (which they hadn't, they looked absolutely mint except for the irregularities in the skin). It basically looked like the skin from a very old, wrinkly cow with a rash. Not very nice, and obviously they're going back as well.

Now the question is how many times are we supposed to try before forgetting about it and finding some other shoes in some other store? How poor of a QA process does H&M really have, and how badly does this impact the Jimmy Choo brand? After this experience I'll always think of Jimmy Choo shoes as poor quality and overpriced. Unfair, perhaps, but this cooperation with H&M hasn't proven to be great PR for the Jimmy Choo brand.

Restrictions, restrictions...

Politicians never get tired of trying to restrict people's freedom, in any way possible. The latest, and probably least serious although extremely annoying, pointless and unnecessary is banning smokeless tobacco, snus, for council workers during working hours. This has been introduced by a number of municipalities in Sweden lately.

I'm struggling to understand how these municipalities are justifying this completely pointless invasion of people's personal life.

• Snus doesn't make workers less productive, as they are able to continue working while using it. Also, the users' mental state isn't altered in any way that could possibly affect work.
• Snus doesn't bother any third parties, unless looking at a person with a snus under his or her lip bothers you (in which case you should have your head examined).
  
• Snus is a legal substance.

What will be next? Banning coffee during work? Banning looking through the window during work? You can't just go and ban something because you don't like it. Stupid, ignorant bastards.

Who cares about consumer rights?

Swedish minister of infrastructure, Åsa Torstensson (Centerpartiet) expresses surprise and disappointment in that Vänsterpartiet-politician Eva-Britt Svensson says she is willing to knock down the EU telecoms package altogether if the Council (or "The Evil Empire", if you want) insist on throwing basic human rights out the window by adopting the completely bizarre amendment 138 that would allow oppressive regimes such as the UK and France to punish people without a fair trial.

Torstensson:

– Det är beklagansvärt. Parlamentet har varit för de flesta delar av telekompaketet och bejakat att det är bra för konkurrensen och konsumenterna. Jag är överraskad att hon uttrycker att hon vill att det ska falla, säger hon till SvD.se.

Now, excuse me Mrs. Minister of Infrastructure, but who the hell cares about competition or consumer rights when basic human rights are at stake here? Would you amputate your foot because it was itching a bit? Are you really that dumb, Torstensson, or do you just think your voters are?

Social democrats say no to children getting in debt

So the socialist democratic party, Socialdemokraterna, have hatched yet another brilliant idea: Providers of loans via text messages ("SMS loans") will be prohibited to provide loans to anyone under 18 years of age. Wow, that must have taken them a long time to agree on.

And here I was thinking that the law already protected people under the age of 18 against taking loans or any kind of credit really, whether it's approved via SMS, e-mail or in a store or bank. What's the bloody point of making these regulations depend on specific technology that exists today but might very well be gone tomorrow? When will Socialdemokraterna insist that we ban Facebook-loans for people under 18? Or MySpace-loans? Or iPhone app loans?

My god these people are dumber than breadsticks.

Reversed "pay per click"

When it comes to retarded suggestions on how to regulate the Internet in order to maximize the profit of the media industry nothing surprises me anymore. Not even the insane suggestion from the media industry in Germany who want to get paid from anyone linking to (meaning generating traffic to) their websites in "commercial use". A sort of reversed "pay per click" policy, where the websites generating traffic to the media websites will have to pay for the traffic they generate. Just like if the newspapers had to pay the advertisers money for every person who bought a product from these advertisers after reading the ad in the newspaper. Because, clearly:

"Intenet kan inte längre vara en upphovsrättsfri zon"

Yeah, right.

This ludacris suggestion is apparently backed up by severily technologically impaired German politicians.

Why road tolls are the work of the devil

I've already written about how the Swedish politicians are increasingly adopting the terrible Norwegian way of financing basal infrastructure, where billions of kronor are wasted every single year in administration of toll roads and interest on loans.

It seems Socialdemokraterna are prepared to take this even a step further, because obviously increased income and housing taxes and a new net wealth tax that they've already promised isn't enough:

Kongressen fattade på torsdagen beslut om att i högre grad än i dag låta
bilisterna själva betala nya infrastruktursatsningar med så kallade brukar- och
trängselavgifter.

We need more road tolls, and we need to finance the roads in the worst possible way, both from a social point of view and from an economical point of view. If you're still wondering why this is such a bad idea, let me explain:

Socially
Road tolls are anti-social in nature, as they are a flat-rate tax on transportation that will hit low-income citizens unreasonably hard in comparison to the wealthier citizens. Would any social democratic politician dare to suggest a flat income tax of 100.000 SEK a year, no matter how much you actually make? Probably not.

Furthermore the tax hits you not based on income or wealth but solely based on where you live in relation to your job, the kindergarten, shops and public services.

I have to say I'm particularly shocked that a party claiming to be socialist is proposing something like this.

Economically
Now this, on the other hand, isn't really the socialist democratic party's strongest skills, but still... Collecting road tolls costs a lot of money. In 2008 the road tolls in Stockholm cost 380 million SEK, approximately 50% of the total income. In Norway, a country where they have made the collection of road tolls into an artform, 15,5 billion NOK out of 46 billion NOK that has been collected in road tolls during 1990-2007 was spent on administration and interest on loans. That's more or less 30% of tax payers money wasted on nothing. In one particular example the motorists are forced to pay 3,79 billion NOK in road tolls on a road that only costs 3,5 billion NOK to build...

There is absolutely no good reason to remove the building of new roads from the national budget and increase the costs of these dramatically by turning them into toll roads.

Public enemy number 1

Enemy of the Internet and the free world, Monique Wadsted, is taking the absurd rounds in the Pirate Bay farce one step further. She's once again used her comradeship with some rotten apples at Stockholm tingsrätt in order to get what is arguably one of the most bizarre court rulings I've ever heard of here in Sweden:

Nu tvingar Stockholms tingsrätt Pirate Bay att stänga ner. De har vänt sig mot personerna bakom sajten och har bestämt att de ska betala totalt 1 miljon kronor i böter om de fortsätter driva sajten.

Mind you it has not yet been established whether The Pirate Bay is illegal or not, and there is no proof that these two gentlemen are actually involved in the website anymore. I guess if I had a friend in that corrupt institution called Stockholm tingsrätt (or a lot of money to bribe one to be my friend), I could accuse Svenska Dagbladet's website of being illegal, and force them to shut down way before the case had actually been settled. Also, I could just point out a random person who I believed was responsible for running Svenska Dagbladet's site and make this person legally responsible for shutting the site down or pay the consequences. For instance, this person could be my nosy neighbor that I dislike. He'll never know what hit him.

Reminds me a lot of The Trial.
Mrs. Wadsted herself is obviously happy as a clam, as she has once more demonstrated the absolute power of the entertainment industry over the court of law, and the complete and utter contempt of basic human rights that this industry stands for. Money über alles.

– I somras fick vi ett förbud mot Black Internet och nu har vi fått ett förbud mot Fredrik Neij och Gottfrid Svartholm säger Monique Wadsted, som företräder Hollywoodbolagen juridiskt i rättegången om The Pirate Bay.

Tuva Novotny on censorship

It's always refreshing to read a piece on Internet censorship that the author has clearly put some thought into. It's all the better when the author is a well known actress, as it lends a certain weight to it. As opposed to the not-so-intelligent rants of another female "artist", best known for her boobs, which seem to be out in the open more than not. Has anyone ever actually heard one of her songs?

Rip and replace

Socialdemokraterna, the social democratic party, are experiencing a fight of generations within the organization. The old farts, with Thomas Bodström as prime example of how much damage one person can do, destined to tear down every shred of personal integrity and civil liberties for it's citizens, and the young generation who are at least portraying an image of the opposite.

The problem is, even the young generation of social democrats are not really interested in freedom, integrity and civil rights:

– Partiet är helt fel ute. Ipred borde rivas upp och börjas om från början.

Right, so you don't really want to tear up this revolting new legislation, you just want to pretend to tear it up, to gather votes for the 2010 elections, and then replace it with something similar right after the elections, should you - God forbid - get the people's trust. You've already promised to tear up the FRA law (and replace it with a similar law...). How dumb do you really think your voters are? Presumably they're pretty damn dumb, but still.

Sverigedemokraterna - next in line to denounce integrity

Apparently Sverigedemokraterna, a political party mainly known for their hostility towards immigration (and immigrants), have included the installation of 285 new surveillance cameras in the city of Örebro, at a cost of 20 million SEK, in their shadow budget.

Centerpartiet politician Rasmus Persson claims on his blog that Sverigedemokraterna want to shatter the integrity of ordinary people by doing this.

Well, yes, obviously, and they better get in line, because all political parties in Sweden are at this point involved in what can only be described as a grotesque race to dismantle ordinary citizen's civil rights and integrity in the most bizarre ways. A race in the complete opposite direction of the voters, moving back into the middle ages at warp speed.

So, welcome aboard Sverigedemokraterna! You'll fit in just fine with all the other integrity-hating political parties.

"This item is available for shipping only"

Not that I'm in the market for a new OS, but I thought I'd check out Windows 7 anyway, just to see what the fuss is all about. And to be honest, I don't care how fancy schmancy it looks, an IT company that is not yet, in this day and age, able to deliver it's new operating system as a download on demand, but insists on shipping it to you in a big box with 2 DVD's, wasting it's own and my money, not to mention my valuable time and the environment, isn't worth it.

Luckily there's alway Ubuntu, that takes me an hour to download and install, without having to wait for days for the DVD's to arrive, and without any annoying registration processes. Oh yeah, and it's for free. Sure, it doesn't have transparent windows and features and functions you'll never use, but it's got something Windows has never had: Security.


"This item is available for shipping only" my ass. This is 2009, Microsoft!!!

You're corrupt. You're incometent. Congratulations, you've won the jackpot.

You're corrupt and you're completely incompetent. That would normally be a good reason for an employer to give you a dishonorable discharge, and even report you to the police.

Well, not when you've managed to kiss ass far enough up in the political system. Your reward for doing a completely worthless job and making a laughing stock of yourself and your department is a new job, in this case investigating the sex ethics of the various government offices. What an important piece of work that is. And of course the ridiculously high paycheck remains the same.

Way to waste taxpayer's money!

A ban is always best

So, the Swedish government has decided that cars on winter tires with studs can now be banned from entering certain streets in certain cities. Another brilliant decision by our finest.

This means everyone using studded tires will have to make unnecessary detours to avoid these regulated streets. It also means somebody will have to follow up and make sure that the ban is actually working, handing out fines to those who are caught driving in the "no studs" streets on studs. What an incredible waste of police resources.

Instead of this ridiculous ban, why not impose a charge for motorists who for whatever reason feel the need to use tires with studs during the winter? The driver could pay a fee of say 500 SEK per season in order to drive inside the Stockholm toll zone. This would definitely reduce the amount of people driving on studs, it would let those who still need the studs keep them, and it would generate money. But noooo, a ban is always best.

Evidence in the way of "justice"

According to lawyer (yes, this buffoon is actually a lawyer, believe it or not!) Peter Danowsky, you can't expect the entertainment mafia industry to protect their new business models if they actually need any kind of evidence to obtain info on the person(s) behind an IP-address. Obviously, a mere allegation based on insufficient information gathered using plain criminal methods should be more than enough to get this information from the court, and proceed to ruining a persons life, innocent or not:

Bokförlagens juridiska ombud Peter Danowsky bedömer i överklagandet att syftet med lagen riskerar att undermineras om beviskraven ställs för högt.

What's that? Rule of law? Naw...we don't believe in that.

– Hovrättens beslut är inte acceptabelt för rättighetshavare, säger Danowsky.

Well, Mr. Danowsky, I can assure you it's perfectly acceptable for all those people who would be hunted down and had their life destroyed just because they might or might not have shared the latest Shakira album with others. I think most people, with the exception of politicians, entertainment industry lobbyists and Peter Danowsky agree that no one should be convicted without a shred of credible evidence. That is what has made us a civilized society, you don't burn a person on the stake just because someone accused this person of being a witch. Unfortunately it's the first thing to go now that an increasing number of previously civilized countries have decided that democracy, freedom and human rights are deeply overrated, and are moving back into the dark ages at a frightful speed.

Sweden turning into Norway

The introduction of the road tolls in Stockholm in 2006 sure opened pandoras box. Or the gates to hell, depending on you point of view. We've already seen the city of Gothenburg eager to plague their motorists with a similar toll ring system. Tolls will be collected on E4 near Sundsvall. Road toll plans have popped up regarding the new Skurubron in Värmdö and now even more road tolls are planned on E4, this time outside Örnsköldsvik.

All this because the 70 billion kronor that Swedish motorists annually pay in various car-related taxes apparently isn't enough to pay for a bit of road here and there...

I'm sad to say this country is turning into Norway fast. And no, I'm not talking about the oil, if only it were that well. I'm talking about punishing the motorists in every way possible. You guys who have ever had the "pleasure" of going to Norway by car know what I'm talking about (and you probably think twice before going back). And for the rest of you, have a good look at what's in store for you:


Looks nice, doesn't it? Norwegian motorists will pay almost 6 billion NOK in road tolls this year, half of it wasted on administration costs. We might as well just give Vägverket our credit card and let them charge us at will, because this toll road hell is exactly what awaits us if the current politicians get to decide. Bloody leaches.

Life behind the iron curtain

I woke up today and realized I'm living in DDR. Who would have thought, on that fateful day in 1989, that the fall of the Berlin wall, and the fall of the iron curtain, would in fact not export democracy and freedom to the east, but rather oppression and surveillance to the west? Who could have imagined that in Sweden in 2009 one would have to meet in secret places, talk quietly and constantly look over one's shoulder in order to stay out of the prying eyes and ears of the "Ministerium für Staatssicherheit"?

I sure as hell didn't.

A secure FTP server is...well, secure

Svea hovrätt just announced that having a secure FTP server that requires a username and password to access, means it's files are not publicly available. No shit, Sherlock. Although, I have to say I'm a bit surprised that this incompetent institution actually managed to find a judge that had no affiliation with the entertainment industry, and that actually made some sense. This means the ISP Ephone does not have to give up its customer's integrity.

Now what I want to know is when Antipiratbyrån will be prosecuted for breaking into this server in the first place, to gather the pathetic piece of "evidence" that was presented to the court (and found to be more than enough by the retards at Solna tingsrätt)? Last time I checked hacking into secure servers was still a crime. A much more serious one than copyright infringement, I might add.

Extorsion is the new business model

A german parasite company called Digirights Solutions are specializing in hunting down and threatening alleged pirates on behalf of the entertainment mafia, demanding 450 euro for the victim to avoid a lawsuit. Whether or not this person is actually guilty is irrelevant. Approximately 25% of the victims pay up to avoid the devastating costs of a lawsuit. Much like most people would give up their wallet and watch to a crook on the street to avoid a beating or a bullet in the head.

The loot is split 80-20 between Digirights Solutions and the entertainment mafia, making it a very profitable "business" for both. In fact, Digirights Solutions claim it's 150 times more profitable than actually selling content online.

In other words, as far as this mafia business is endorsed and encouraged by corrupted governments in Europe and the US, there's really no reason for the entertainment industry to come up with new business models. The threats and bullying business model is by far the most profitable. And we all know ethics is not part of the equation.

A brave new world

It's a brave new world, indeed...

Who knew Warner Brothers owned Casablanca...

Threats and lawsuits are in no way a new invention in the entertainment industry, and Warner Brothers have a long and proud tradition of harassing their customers, peers and actors:

Dear Warner Brothers,
Apparently there is more than one way of conquering a city and holding it as your own. For example, up to the time that we contemplated making this picture, I had no idea that the city of Casablanca belonged exclusively to Warner Brothers. However, it was only a few days after our announcement appeared that we received your long, ominous legal document warning us not to use the name Casablanca.
It seems that in 1471, Ferdinand Balboa Warner, your great-great-grandfather, while looking for a shortcut to the city of Burbank, had stumbled on the shores of Africa and, raising his alpenstock (which he later turned in for a hundred shares of common), named it Casablanca.
I just don’t understand your attitude. Even if you plan on releasing your picture, I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo. I don’t know whether I could, but I certainly would like to try.
You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about “Warner Brothers”? Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye, and even before there had been other brothers—the Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (This was originally “Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?” but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”)
Now Jack, how about you? Do you maintain that yours is an original name? Well it’s not. It was used long before you were born. Offhand, I can think of two Jacks—Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and Jack the Ripper, who cut quite a figure in his day.
As for you, Harry, you probably sign your checks sure in the belief that you are the first Harry of all time and that all other Harrys are impostors. I can think of two Harrys that preceded you. There was Lighthouse Harry of Revolutionary fame and a Harry Appelbaum who lived on the corner of 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Unfortunately, Appelbaum wasn’t too well-known. The last I heard of him, he was selling neckties at Weber and Heilbroner.
Now about the Burbank studio. I believe this is what you brothers call your place. Old man Burbank is gone. Perhaps you remember him. He was a great man in a garden. His wife often said Luther had ten green thumbs. What a witty woman she must have been! Burbank was the wizard who crossed all those fruits and vegetables until he had the poor plants in such confused and jittery condition that they could never decide whether to enter the dining room on the meat platter or the dessert dish.
This is pure conjecture, of course, but who knows—perhaps Burbank’s survivors aren’t too happy with the fact that a plant that grinds out pictures on a quota settled in their town, appropriated Burbank’s name and uses it as a front for their films. It is even possible that the Burbank family is prouder of the potato produced by the old man than they are of the fact that your studio emerged “Casablanca” or even “Gold Diggers of 1931.”
This all seems to add up to a pretty bitter tirade, but I assure you it’s not meant to. I love Warners. Some of my best friends are Warner Brothers. It is even possible that I am doing you an injustice and that you, yourselves, know nothing about this dog-in-the-Wanger attitude. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that the heads of your legal department are unaware of this absurd dispute, for I am acquainted with many of them and they are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits and a love of their fellow man that out-Saroyans Saroyan.
I have a hunch that his attempt to prevent us from using the title is the brainchild of some ferret-faced shyster, serving a brief apprenticeship in your legal department. I know the type well—hot out of law school, hungry for success, and too ambitious to follow the natural laws of promotion. This bar sinister probably needled your attorneys, most of whom are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits, etc., into attempting to enjoin us. Well, he won’t get away with it! We’ll fight him to the highest court! No pasty-faced legal adventurer is going to cause bad blood between the Warners and the Marxes. We are all brothers under the skin, and we’ll remain friends till the last reel of “A Night in Casablanca” goes tumbling over the spool.


Sincerely,
Groucho Marx

Source.

Miljöpartiet wants your money

Miljöpartiet (Mp) needs money to finance their highly hypothetical national budget. They've already promised their miserable, masochist voters higher income taxes, but obviously that's not enough. Now they want to increase the fuel taxes as well, which will add another 2 kronor on the petrol price.

My only question is why? It sure as hell isn't to save the environment. Today the first generation of "environment cars", miljöbilar, are already up to an impressive 37 percent market share, up 20 percent from last year. These cars are boring as hell, with tiny diesel engines (Volvo DRIVe) or poor handling (Toyota Prius), but people are still buying them - to contribute to the environment and to save money on fuel, on toll charges and on the company car taxation.

When plug-in hybrids hit the market around 2012 or so I suspect the environmental car market share will increase significantly. Seeing as these cars will cover most of their daily driving without burning as much as a liter of fuel not only will they make the fuel price less relevant, they will also contribute to less local pollution. Let us not forget that this second generation of environmentally friendly cars will also be bigger, perform better, and be more suited for a broader public.

And after the plug-in hybrid era perhaps we've got pure electric cars waiting around the corner? Powered by some new battery technology or by hydrogen? All I know is that the research is moving away from the traditional fossil fuel combustion engines fast, and that there is absolutely no sense in pestering the regular car owners with an increased fuel tax at this point. We're simply waiting for an environmentally friendly car that can suit our needs, ok? If anything go bother the car manufacturers to increase their R&D speed.

My guess is that Miljöpartiet is suggesting this moronic tax increase to satisfy their bitter, car-hating core voters. There simply is no other explanation.

A conviction at any cost

Have a look at Peter Sunde's blogpost on how the dutch branch of the entertainment mafia, Brein, are committing a serious crime fabricating evidence in a desperate attempt to convict some people of something that shouldn't even be considered a crime, in a country these people have no connection to whatsoever.

So, what's worst? Fabricating evidence to get people wrongfully convicted, or possibly aiding in copyright infringement by providing an infrastructure that lets people communicate and share files with each other? Who should really be on trial here?

Of course the outcome of this ridiculous case is already given. Brein's fabricated evidence will be accepted without and questions by a court consisting of people with close affiliation to copyright lobbying organizations, and another miscarriage of justice will be committed.

If anyone's interested the documents are available at wikileaks.

Socialists don't work

Only 43% of socialist voters in Sweden feel the current politics are to their advantage, which leads me to the conclusion that most socialist voters don't like to work, they prefer to sit on their ass and cash in that social security check every month.

Of course it's upsetting for them to see people who actually make their own money getting to keep a bit more of their paycheck, while their own welfare benefits are shrinking and they are increasingly forced to get out into that cold, estranged world of work.

Democratic (Banana-)Republic of Sweden

The chance of the guys behind Pirate Bay ever getting a fair trial in the "Democratic (Banana-)Rebublic of Sweden" look slimmer than ever. As if a corrupt police investigator and a legally incompetent judge wasn't enough in the first trial, two of the judges in the upcoming trial, Kristina Boutz and Ulrika Ihrfelt, are involved in entertainment industry lobbying organizations. Which is perfectly fine by Svea hovrätt, even though they contradict themselves quite a bit:

Samtidigt konstaterar dock rätten att SFIR, som Kristina Boutz är medlem i, ser efter rättighetshavares intressen och rättigheter.

Trots det har det "inte framkommit några konkreta omständigheter som tyder på att SFIR har ett särskilt intresse av utgången i just detta mål eller att SFIR engagerat sig i de konkreta frågor som ska prövas i målet"

I guess you'd have to be on the entertainment mafia payroll to get the reasoning. One of the defendants, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, sums it all up pretty well:

"Men det var ju såklart inte oväntat, det verkar finnas en lag §13.3.7 som säger att "i tillfälle pirate bay anmäler för jäv, så stämmer inte detta. Jäv får enbart utdelas i tillfälle målsägande sidan så bestämt"

By default any claim by the defendants is completely ignored by Svea hovrätt, and everything put forward by the claimants is instantly accepted - no questions asked. It's pretty obvious who's calling the shots, to say the least, and I don't really see the point in hosting another mock trial wasting a lot of tax money when we'll just get a default ruling for the claimants anyway. I have to say I'm completely fascinated by the fact that this miscarriage of justice is so blatantly being carried out here in Sweden. I mean, had it been Congo or Iran or something, but Sweden?

Everything is OK

Found this over at opassande.se.

Surveillance, inc.

Opassande.se has published a brilliant, and chilling, list of all the new and oppressive surveillance laws passed, implemented and being discussed in Sweden and the EU, many of them bizarrely enough written and directed by the entertainment mafia themselves, giving them a carte blanche to continue their extortion business at the sacrifice of ordinary people's integrity and legal protection.

It's an utterly revolting list, and it certainly makes you question what kind of society you live in.

Google censorship "a mistake"

Apparently last week's decision to exclude thepiratebay.org from Google search results was a "mistake". Riiiight.

In the meantime the entertainment industry mafia is doing what it does best: Bullying and threatening perfectly legitimate businesses.

It's David fighting against Goliath again. Good versus evil. Small entrepreneurs versus a global mafia(a).

Stocks and stuff

DN had an article this weekend on how to invest your money, in stocks or funds. These are only my two cents, but I'd stay far away from funds. My experiences with these two are the following:

Funds:
+ Buy shares for any amount of money, and forget.

- Problem is, you fund agent will also forget. To manage the fund, that is. No matter how "actively" a fund is supposed to be managed, in the real world they usually don't do much trading.

- You'll pay quite a lot, often 1-2% of your total share amount in fees. This will eat up quite a lot of the profit.

- Selling your fund shares is a hell. It often takes two business days, and during that time the rate might have dropped significantly, which could cause you to lose a lot of money. Quite simply, when you press that "sell"-button you have no idea at what rate your shares will be sold.

Stocks:
+ Quite a lot more fun than buying and forgetting those fund shares.

+ No fees except the broker's commission when you buy and sell.

+ You get your dividend usually every year, some times even several times a year.

+ You buy and sell at the price you want, and the transaction is made more or less instantly.

- There is a risk that a company in which you own stocks goes bankrupt, which is why it is important to spread your risks.


If you want to put your savings in a fund, consider the exchange traded XACT funds, Bull or Bear. There's no annual fee, and you trade it just the way you trade stocks.

Apart from that, forget about those funds. Create a nice and diverse portfolio of stocks instead, with a couple of investment companies with different strategies, some "safe" large cap stocks, and a smaller number of underdogs, just to make it a bit more interesting.

Google censorship policies

Search engine Google is no stranger to sacrificing freedom of speech on the altar of mammon and censoring links to content found objectionable by various oppressive regimes in order to gain market shares. This censorship has up until now been limited to specific countries, which is bad enough, but not half as bad as the global censorship they've launched today, based on the demands of a global, oppressive regime (see picture on the right).

I've already removed Google from my Firefox searchbar, and I expect a lot of freedom loving people will do the same (you can find other search engine plugins here). Since money and market shares is the only language these people understand, I guess a decline in traffic may have an impact. Now if only I could summon the know-how and enthusiasm to move my blog away from Google that would be swell...unfortunately I don't. Not at the moment, anyway.

Today's lesson

Today's lesson to all you miserable punks out there who have nothing better to do with your pathetic little lives than messing up your own neighborhoods: Threats of arson and violence do actually pay off. Congratulations guys, and my condolences to the society.

All work and no fun

Apparently the average monthly salary in Norway is 41.000 kronor, as opposed to the Swedish average of 27.100 kronor. And this figure is supposed to tempt Swedes into moving. First of all, I'm assuming the Norwegian numbers have been converted into Swedish kronor, which means the average salary in NOK is 32.800, far from as impressive.

Second, you're gonna need every little bit of those extra kronor living in Norway, where a car costs as much as a house, having a beer at a restaurant will set you back about 500 kronor, and a big old steak costs more or less an arm and a leg.

Sure, you can make a few more bucks working in Norway, but unless you're planning on living in a box and eating out of a dumpster that money will disappear before you can say "kjempemorsomt".

Recreation my ass

I don't know about you, but I find few things are as annoying as having to pay fees for every stupid thing you do or don't do. I find mandatory fees on top of something I've already purchased particularly fascinating - and stupid. Unfortunately the Americans have refined this fee-policy into an art form. Where else would you stay at a hotel and be charged a mandatory recreation fee of $15 a day upon check-out??? I mean, what the hell is a recreation fee anyway? A "thank you for letting me borrow a sundeck chair and a towel, and have access to the pool, obviously such a service couldn't be included in the $150 a night room rate"-fee? Why not have a room rate of $165, since this completely insane fee is mandatory anyway - recreation or not?

Add this to the ridiculous additional car hire fees and insurances (that are often not included in your booking price, and need to be paid at the counter when picking up the car), the annoying habit of never including sales tax on the price tags, and of course the fluctuating exchange rate of the dollar, and it all makes planning that US vacation a real pain in the ass.

Doubletwist brings you choice

Brilliant commercial...

Everything counts in large amounts

Corrupt, greedy politicians at their best. "Everything counts" by Depeche Mode seems to be a fitting soundtrack.

The wind of change

Traditionally, Swedes love surveillance, they love the thought of a "big brother" watching them and slapping them on their wrists when they do something bad. This has, of course, led to the government increasing their surveillance of ordinary people - just because they can. Thank God this mentality seems to be changing now. The oppression has increased severely during the last couple of years and culminated with the FRA law, which made people think twice about the amount of control a government should have over its citizens in a so-called democracy. The frustration has sparked much needed initiatives such as Piratpartiet.

Another lesson in irony

The Swedish movie industry has the nerve to accuse food company Dole of being a threat to the freedom of speech, following a lawsuit where Dole want's to prevent the movie "Bananas!" from being shown. Isn't that cute. The big bully pushing around all the smaller kids in the schoolyard gets pushed back and runs crying to the principle's office.

Oh well, I guess freedom of speech was a good idea after all?

"Join the dark side"

In a surprising twist of events it seems the French embassy is now doing the dirty work of the entertainment mafia lobby, trying to pressure single parliament members to change their view on integrity, freedom and human rights:

- De kom till riksdagen och de började prata om min syn på internet och
telekompaketet och varför jag hade en så naiv syn så att man inte skulle kunna
stänga av sidor.

"How can you be so naive and believe in freedom and integrity? Do you really think those human rights are worth more than the profit of the entertainment industry? Come, come, join the dark side. We promise we'll make it worth your while."

This behaviour by the French embassy is something previously unheard of in this part of the world, and just adds proof that the so-called civilized world is degenerating fast. It all makes sense though, considering that the pathetic fool ruling this poor excuse of a country is literally sleeping with the entertainment mafia. Makes you wonder what those crazy frogs will do next.

Refuse / Resist - part 2

Speaking of grim dystopias, there seems to be no end to what lengths governments in previously civilized countries will go in order to control the population. Have a look at this depressing piece of reading on how Holland's citizens are on a highway to hell, quite literally. And what's really sad is that the road tolls in Stockholm are looked upon as a role model for all these new, oppressive regimes. Obviously a role model on how to monitor each citizens every move in order to maximize the tax revenues. Seriously, you stupid-ass politicians, this is nothing to be proud of.

It's for your own safety. And tax purposes.

A double set of morals is twice as good as one!

Or so artist Lily Allen seems to believe. She's stirred up quite a commotion lately positioning herself as a firm believer in draconian, revolting laws enabling the music industry to cut the Internet access for people suspected of piracy without any form of trial or hearing, let alone a sentence.

Her attempt to brainwash the public on her anti-piracy blog "It's not alright" (which she has now deleted), backfired badly. Not only did she have to take a lot of verbal abuse from alienated fans, it was also discovered that Mrs. Allen herself has been quite the busy little pirate, creating mixtapes of copyrighted material and distributing it to the whole wide world through her website, lilyallenmusic.com.

So, if anything the RIAA should come knocking down your door, Allen, and slap you in the face with a 50 million dollar lawsuit, before they cut off your Internet connection. See how you'd like the record mafia treatment, you ignorant bitch.

Refuse / Resist

Yes, mangling the free Internet was just the beginning. Because, after all, people don't spend all there time on the web. They sometimes travel by car as well, and obviously they need to be closely monitored while doing so.

Det kallas Pay as you drive. Systemet registrerar hur fort du kör, var du kör, vilken tid på dygnet, och så vidare. Baserat på den informationen sätts sedan din försäkringspremie.

(...)

Och precis som med säkerhetsbältet en gång i tiden blir registreringen med tiden lagstiftad och obligatoriskt för alla, uppger Rode vidare i en längre intervju i tidningen På Väg.

Read the grim dystopia that would have George Orwell turn in his grave here. Haven't politicians seen from various dictatorships that have crumbled over the last couple of centuries that complete and total control over citizens is neither desirable nor possible?

I'll just take a deep breath and listen to this old Sepultura classic. These guys knew what they were talking about.

"I think we're dead"

Have a laugh at the expense of this dumb-ass (ex-)police officer.

Mona Sahlin is not a fan of justice and integrity

Social democratic opposition leader Mona Sahlin wants to tear up the much debated FRA law, apparently out of concern for people's integrity. How convenient. Of course she wants to replace it with another, similar law... Quite frankly I fail to see how Sahlin's option is any more edible.

Also, Sahlin doesn't seem to understand that the legal abomination called the Ipred law is equally damaging (we're already seen the first examples of how the entertainment mafia abuses the law, and this is only the beginning), she simply sees it as a way for the entertainment mafia to protect their rights. You know, the classic "the goal justifies the means" argumentation:

Ipred handlar om hur man garanterar att artister, låtskrivare och författare också får möjligheter till att få inkomster. Det tror jag att alla tycker är självklart.

Oh well, as long as those greedy bastards are able to fill their pockets at an increasing pace, to hell with integrity and justice.

This nonsense leads me to the conclusion that Mona Sahlin is either dumb as a rock, or completely ignorant when it comes to questions of integrity and the Internet.

How to scare the crap out of your girlfriend

Lawsuits as a business model

Folkpartiet politician Madeleine Sjöstedt has a letter in today's DN where she asks if the new business model of the entertainment industry is lawsuits.

Could it be that politicians who have previously been so completely ignorant to this, the very same people political parties that have provided this industry with the tools needed to sue each and everyone, have finally started opening their eyes and see what every sane person has been saying for quite a while now?

This industry needs to be stopped, and the best thing you could do is not contributing to their revenue stream. Simply put, don't buy that new Mariah Carey CD. Or any other CD released on a major label.

The farce continues

The Court of Appeal in Stockholm have managed to get hold of a Spotify employee, Fredrik Niemelä, to be one of the lay judges when the Pirate Bay trial is to be tried again. As we all know Spotify is partly owned by the very same record companies who are part in this trial, so any moron would see that Mr. Niemelä ought to be disqualified at once. Except himself, of course:

– Jag har noga övervägt min anställning och kan inte se att det finns risk för jäv. I så fall skulle ingen som någonsin arbetat med försäljning kunna vara nämndeman i ett misstänkt stöldfall, säger han till SvD.se.

I'm sorry? You're saying you wouldn't consider it a problem if you were an Ica-employee and were set to be a lay judge in a trial where Ica was a party? There's no chance of you being biased with your employer sitting on one side of the courtroom? I'm impressed.

After the scandals surrounding the first trial you'd think the Court of Appeal would spend just a little extra time making sure none of the judges was on the entertainment mafia's payroll.

*Update 2009-09-24: Seems like there's more than just a Spotify-employee amongst the judges... I'm fascinated by how impossible it seems to be given a fair trial with unbiased judges here in Sweden. What is this, a banana republic?

Keep fucking that chicken

You go, Ernie.

Sweden on top of the world

Congratulations fellow Swedes, by the beginning of 2010 we'll be the country in the world with the heaviest tax burden, with a marginal tax rate of a whopping 56,7 percent! Now that's really something. In fact only 5 other countries in the world are part of this exclusive "50%+" club.

Of course confiscating over half of people's income isn't enough for social democratic opposition leader Mona Sahlin, who has already promised she will continue increasing the income-, wealth- and housing taxes, all in the name of decreasing the differences between rich and poor. Sure, I get that. After all, why should a hard-working, tax-paying citizen have more money to spend than a person living on welfare? Why should it pay to work at all?

In fact, I can't see any reason to stop at 56,7 percent. It would probably be best just to confiscate 100 percent of people's income and then redistribute it equally so that no one is left behind.

It had to be said

Well, yeah, it had to be said.

Where there's a will there's a way

According to Scania CEO Leif Östling there's absolutely no room for wage increases within the Swedish industry next year.

Not quite so. Apparently where there's a will there's a way... Ah, but wait, of course Östling was referring to the blue-collar workers, not hot shots like himself and his peers. Sorry, my mistake. You miserable industry workers can't expect a penny more next year, and that's final!

Housewife without a cause

Did any of you catch the new show "Svenska Hollywoodfruar" on TV3 the other day? I have to admit I didn't, but I've read a few reviews here and there, and I guess if you look at the show as some sort of bizarre, ironic reality-sitcom about Swedish gold-diggers gone mad, and you've got absolutely nothing else to do, it might work.

Anyway, I noticed one of these housewives, Kalle Anna Anka, actually wrote an article on Newsmill trying to justify her not so flattering appearance on the show, and stating that she wants to be a role model for women in Sweden (good luck with that, Anka!). I didn't read all of it, as frankly it bored me to death, but this particular part was brilliant:

Hur som helst, jag och min man skrattar hela vägen till banken. För självklart förhandlade jag till mig ett bra arvode för att ställa upp i "Lyxfruar". Inte för att jag är girig, för det är jag inte, utan för att min tid är dyrbar. Återkommer till det lite längre fram i texten.

I scrolled around a bit trying to find the part where she elaborates further on this, but failed. As far as I can see there's absolutely nothing valuable with Mrs. Anka's time. According to her very own article it's basically spent getting a massage or a pedicure, insulting gardeners, pleasing her 30 years older husband (come on, is she really only 38 years old???) sexually, and traveling around with him as his appendage. The kids are taken care of by a maid, and so is the house. In fact, I can't see her having any purpose in life, other than the sexual pleasing part, so why is she under the impression that her time so precious?

I don't know, all I know is that my time is precious and I've spent way too much time already pondering on what's going on in the plastic fantastic mind of Mrs. Anka.

FRA is illegal

The Stasi FRA law is in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights, says lawyer Anders Lagerwall in today's DN.

No shit, Sherlock. How can wiretapping the entire Swedish population just in case any of them should ever commit a criminal offence be in conflict with human rights? I just wonder how long it'll take the experts to figure out that the Ipred law is in conflict with the same rights.

ARTICLE 8

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Want to stay anonymous? Incognito might be the answer.

Just read this article on idg.se. Obviously I'll take Incognito Linux distribution for a spin on my old laptop as soon as I get the time.


*Update* Speaking of avoiding the prying eyes of totalitarian governments, it seems Ipredator is finally approaching something that might be considered a public release, adding new users as capacity becomes available. Of course I'll take this for a spin too.

Socialdemokraterna - a success story

The Social democratic party, Socialdemokraterna, are not gaining any popularity in Stockholm, quite the contrary. Why, you might wonder? I think Socialdemokraterna's election manifesto speaks for itself:

We're gonna tax you Stockholmers to death.

Way to go. This strategy has left them with what is still a surprisingly high support in Stockholm, with roughly 20% of the voters claiming they would give their vote to these buffoons in the upcoming elections. Half of these are obviously the unemployed, who plan to stay unemployed for an extended period of time and would like their unemployment benefit to increase. The other half are just idiots.

Voddler - a fiasco in the making

Voddler is supposed to be a kind of Spotify-like service, only for movies and TV-series. This is all good, but according to the article in SvD, Voddler will be burdened by the same antique release window system invented by the movie industry that is killing the DVD market and causing people to illegally download US-released movies and TV-series that won't hit European theaters for months:

Alla filmer kommer alltså inte att finnas i gratisversionen och filmer kommer även att kunna flyttas från gratisvarianten till premiumvarianten och vice versa. Baserat på filmbolagens så kallade releasefönster kommer filmer även att kunna försvinna helt i perioder.

Seriously, who's gonna pay for a premium account?

Unfortunately it seems as long as you want to stay on friendly terms with the entertainment mafia, you're going to have a poor, defective service. If you, on the other hand, decide to give the customers what they want, expect to be persecuted prosecuted by an industry that makes its own laws. It's really a lose-lose situation.

Stockholm needs infrastructure, not segregation

Lars Dahlberg, Social democratic politician, has a reader's letter published in Svenska Dagbladet today, where he argues that förbifart Stockholm, the planned motorway that will create a north-south passage outside the city of Stockholm, is necessary. All in all a fair letter, pointing out the importance of the infrastructure keeping up with the increasing population.

All except the following statement:

Utöver Förbifart Stockholm måste därför trängselskatten utvecklas så att ökningen av bilismen dämpas.

In other words: We need to build this motorway, but we also need new and increasingly expensive road-tolls, to further develop the segregation on the roads, where the wealthy, like Lars Dahlberg himself, will be driving around on half-empty roads with a big grin on their faces, while the rest of us can't afford it anymore, and are crowded together on uncomfortable and inconvenient public transportation, no matter what our transportation need actually is.

Thanks a lot, Dahlberg, but no thanks.

Viva megalomania

American senator Jay "I wish the Internet had never been invented" Rockefeller wants to give the American president power to shut down the Internet "in case of emergency".

I'm guessing an emergency is this case is a single mom sharing a couple of mp3-files...

Crazy megalomanic bastard.

Earphones

I'm fascinated by those kids who wander around on the streets with their cell phone in their hand, playing music that is so terribly boring, so bad, that you just want to take that stupid phone from them and throw it away.

Have they not yet been introduced to the wonderful accessory called earphones, that would enable them to enjoy that stupid music without bothering everyone passing by? Or do they simply live under a delusion that anyone else in this world is actually interested in the crap they're listening to? Is it some sort of pathetic cry for attention?

Just yesterday I was pestered by a moron walking around in the grocery store with the phone in his hands, some ridiculous arab disco-music blaring distorted out of the tiny mono-speaker. And this wasn't an 11-year old kid either, this guy was probably in his early twenties, and he still lacked basic social skills. That's just sad. And annoying.

Wasting taxpayer's money

No wonder the Swedes have one of the highest tax burdens in Europe when you start looking at how careless money is spent throughout the public administration.

I particularly love the fact that the morons at Skatteverket don't have a clue how much an e-mail system migration will cost, let alone how much money they will potentially, although not very likely, save on this migration some time in the future:

Hur mycket hela migreringen kommer att kosta - och vilka besparingar som kan göras - är ännu inte klart.

I'll give them a hint. We're probably talking of a migration cost somewhere in the 50-70 million SEK area. At best.

I'm also fascinated by the fact that Skatteverket is completely ignoring the intention that the authorities should strive for open standards when choosing IT solutions, and that these morons instead choose to "standardize" on a vendor which products are notoriously proprietary and unable to collaborate with any other product out there.

Furthermore, Skatteverket is complaining that their current system is way too expensive. Well of course it is, since you stupid bastards are paying through your nose for way more products than you need:

• Microsoft Office 2003 för ordbehandling, presentationer och kalkyler.
• Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server för dokumenthantering och delar av intranätet.
• Senselogic Sitevision som content management system.
• Lotus Notes/Domino för brev, kalender, rumsbokning och intranät. Ska migreras till Microsoft Exchange och MOSS.
• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 för chat och enklare videokonferens.

As far as I know, new versions of Lotus Notes include Lotus Symphony which is an office product based on OpenOffice.org. That would enable any sane organization to throw out at least most of the MS Office licenses, and save a lot of money there. The product can also be downloaded separately, and completely free of charge, so users can install it at home as well.

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 seems like complete overkill if all they need it for is "simple video conferencing". After all, a limited Sametime license is included with Lotus Notes, so they already have chat and awareness included in their Lotus licenses.

And do they need both Domino and Sharepoint for their intranet? I'm sure they could get cheaper Domino licenses if they only used it for mail (which is complete insanity if you ask me, but still...), and not for applications. Or they could use Domino for document management and the intranet, and skip those Sharepoint licenses. Either way a lot of money could be saved.

So, dear Swedes, this is where your tax money ends up. Down the drain. I just hope that Microsoft-sponsored all-inclusive family vacation to the Maldives was worth it for whoever made this astonishingly ignorant decision.

E-delegationen ska i sitt arbete sträva efter att den offentliga förvaltningens e-tjänster i så stor utsträckning som möjligt ska bygga på öppna standarder, använda sig av programvara som bygger på öppen källkod samt sträva efter lösningar som stegvis frigör förvaltningen från beroendet av enskilda plattformar och lösningar.

Riiiight.

Happy slapping

A Swedish artist wannabe called Anna Odell was convicted on charges of "ordeligt förfarande" and "våldsamt motstand" after faking a psychosis and attacking nurses and police. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I'm guessing it has to do with deception and violent resistance. It was all done in the name of art, of course, and DN's cultural editor, Maria Schottenius says she can't understand why this case ever ended up in the court of law in the first place. This trial has been a trial against art itself! Her teachers at the art academy, Konstfack, are shocked at the verdict. After all, you can't just strangle art with petty rules and laws that are for the common man.

I couldn't agree more. Artists should be above these stupid laws. Tomorrow I'm going to bring my trustworthy camera with me out into the streets and simply slap some casual people silly while filming it. That will be my contribution to the art world, my legacy, and I expect Maria Schottenius to stand up for me and my art as well!