mitigating by Sveavägen

How's this for irony?

Me, myself and I out and about. Strolling, in particular, looking for brilliant photos to snap. Sveavägen, Stockholm, in the middle of a warm summer night. It's darkish, like it should be around midnight at the end of July. The stony pathway leads me behind a pond. Neon lights reflected in the water. Nice. Looking to my right. Looking to my left. Looking in every possible direction except where I'm walking. The dimly lit stony pathway has a certain inclination and here's a step. Or, to be precise, there was a step. Me did not notice. Now me notice. This is not your average stumbling. The world turns roughly 90 degrees as I'm falling like a log. This wasn't part of the plan. No, I would have remembered that. Wasn't even in the fine print. Now, one thing which definitely was part of the plan is that my camera has been tied to my wrist. I wouldn't want to lose it. And guess what? After a second of falling (not particularly gracefully) I land on my right hand. With the camera in it. To be precise, I land on the camera. It's being smashed onto and scratched along that stony surface as my less-than-discreet weight follows on top of it all.

So there you go. I tie the camera to my wrist for protection and end up crashing on it. Mitigating one risk sometimes creates a new and possibly greater one...

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from Jörn with love

I keep returning to Inlandsbanan. This old railway is surrounded by lots of good news these days. Record crowds are booking the tourist trains. A proposal for electrifying the southernmost part is turning into an official study, complete with EU funding. And the previously closed line between Jörn and Arvidsjaur just might be reopened after twenty years.

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SEK 14, so what?

The price of petrol goes up, like any summer. So what? It's not high enough. Take a drive at rush hour, just look at all those cars and see what kind of effect this price has. None whatsoever. Watch how people drive on a highway. Their speed, their distance to the vehicle in front of them, watch those red tail lights flickering. Most drivers could easily reduce their petrol consumption by 10-20 percent by driving smoothly. Why don't they? Because they don't care. Apparently, petrol is still way too cheap.

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fett grymt

Languages are mysterious things. Words find new meaning. A highly negative word becomes a term of adoration.

We just got ourselves a new word for being cool, outstanding, brilliant.

We found "grym" which used to mean "cruel". That's right, cruel like in cruelty to little creeps.

du är så grym - you're simply outstanding

Not necessarily cruel, though. Or does that matter anymore? A language and how it evolves probably says something about us and our time. Finding out exactly what it says is left as an exercise for the reader.

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andra om svenska

Silvio is back

I attended a big rally in Rome some years back and I can still hear the ladies standing next to me (alright, not the youngest ones) shouting "Silvio, Silvio" at the mere thought of Him appearing. Which he didn't. But you've got to hand it to him, this is not a politician without magnetism. Not surprisingly he has once again won an undisputed victory for his coalition in the national elections so it'll be Prime Minister Berlusconi again although he'll remain "Silvio" to his devoted fans.

Most foreign comments are rather negative. He's not serious, he's incompetent, we're told. Let's take the "competence" matter. As far as I know his recent government remained in power for five straight years between ordinary elections and this had never happened in post-war Italy. That's sufficiently serious and competent in my book.

Berlusconi is an eccentric person. I certainly wouldn't endorse everything he says and does but then again but I wouldn't do that for any politician. Facts remain, the Italians put their hopes once again in this media mogul, he will have a strong power base in the parliament and the economy will need some tough measures. Let's see what happens. It won't always be predictable, it will never be boring.

Silvio is back.

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living daylights

My old pager handles Daylight Savings Time by itself, automatically adjusting on the minute. Then I got my previous cell phone which handled this automatically but only after first asking me for confirmation. Then I got a new cell phone. It hasn't got a clue and I'm back to manually setting the time twice a year. I wonder what kind of progress we'll have next time.

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andra om sommartid

if you don't like the song...

I wonder what it is about the yearly Eurosong qualification race that generates such a lot of negative vibes with many citizens. There are plenty of examples but this was particularly evident with the entry "I Love Europe" with Christer Sjögren in the first round. The song immediately qualified for our national finals so obviously I'm not the only one appreciating it. It did get a lot of votes.

But that was not the only thing it got. Lots of negative remarks about not just the song but the singer as well, not to mention the senile segment of the population who allegedly constitute his fan base. The commentator in our national public radio seemed to enjoy this and did nothing to provide a bit of balance. This artist happened to be the most senior one in the contest. In another country that might have generated a bit of respect. He also happens to be the most qualified vocalist and has more experience than his competitors have between them.

If you don't like the song, just say so and cut the crap. After all it's about songs and not about bad-mouthing the artists or their fans. Let's use this occasion to stay positive, enjoy the contest and appreciate the diversity in musical styles.

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the free lunch revisited

Admittance to some national museums is free for youngsters but grown-ups have to pay a small fee. This is a more generous policy than has been in place over the years but it's still a reversal of the populist policy of the former government which introduced free entrance seven days a week for everyone. Swedes generally prefer the idea that someone else pays for everything (in case anyone wonders why we have the highest taxes) and this area is no exception. Complaints emerge from all corners of the political spectrum.

Why can't we have free entrance? I'll tell you why. Because resources are limited. Our national defense, our police force, schools and hospitals are sectors crying out for reinvestments. Whenever I enter a museum I can rely on the taxpayers subsidizing most of the cost for me anyhow. Why would it be unreasonable to pay a symbolic entrance fee? What does it cost to take the family to a hockey game? A movie? Do your own math and compare.

Recent statistics shows that fewer people visit museums these days. Possibly. Is that a problem? It probably means that some people passing by, looking for a toilet or visiting the café of the museum now go elsewhere. It probably means that those who do visit on average stay longer and see more. Is that a problem? It probably means that littering and vandalism will go down so the museums can concentrate on their mission. More curators and fewer guards. Is that a problem?

It's an old expression, valid none the less. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

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andra om museum

"stockholm by me"

Photo blogs are a dime a dozen these days. I was old enough to understand I wouldn't become rich or famous and yet I started a bunch of new ones. What drives me?

I like words. I like writing. I want to write. I need to write. I keep writing wherever I am. Ask any colleague and they could tell you about endless emails on all sorts of topics. Writing, that's me. So what could be better than publishing? The web log is perfect for that. Simple, cheap technology, available to anyone these days. Yes, a web log. (At least one!)

Words are what makes me tick. Doesn't have to be my own words. I love being an "editor". The person who brings stuff together from several contributors into a seamless flow, tries to put it all together into something appealing to the reader. And then provides feedback. "Hey folks, next week we need something about this." The unsung hero of publishing, the editor. I'd love to become one and I'll keep on training as long as my friends allow me to... ;)

Last but not least I want to learn about photography. Getting those photos every month in very different circumstances is good training. After all, I'm not a very good photographer. But I intend to become one. Stay tuned for that...

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andra om stockholm

"stockholm by us"

I'm not a very good photographer. That would take some talent and - besides - I got my first camera at age 39 so I consider myself junior in the area of photography. I do like snapping photos and given enough effort I'm able to find some nice shots once in a while. There are zillions of photo blogs in this world so one might wonder what would be the point of starting not just one but several new ones for Stockholm. Well, I wanted to and together with some friends I did.

First you need a topic which isn't already fully covered. Like Stockholm. There were a number of local photo blogs when we started in October 2005, some of them good but sometimes lacking in focus. They are mostly run by single individuals which means that when that person has other stuff to do the blog dies for a while (much like the one you're reading!) and when that person travels somewhere the blog is suddenly about an entirely different place. We wanted to "do" Stockholm, always Stockholm, very much of Stockholm and Stockholm in many different ways - since we're fortunate to be a team.

Then you have to find your niche. We noticed that many who publish their own photos put a lot of effort into the picture and then forget about the rest. Wouldn't it be nice with a caption, a comment, some clues on what went through the mind of the photographer? Yes, we said, and that would become our niche. Shouldn't be a novel but some words to go with the photo.

Spending many hours every week on this kind of a project requires a bit of motivation. I'll return to that topic another day.

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