Dawit Isaaks

Dawit is Sweden's oldest, and from what I'm aware of, only political prisoner. (He's not being held as a political prisoner in Sweden, in case you thought that.)

He was arrested by Eritrea's military police 7 years ago for being one of the owners, and news reporters, of one of the leading papers in the country, and put in jail. He's been there ever since. With him in prison is also about 10 of his colleagues, of whom 4 have died during unlawful detention so far.
No trial, no jury. If you criticize the regime you get "detained indefinitely", it seems.

He came to Sweden around 17 years ago, as a war refugee, and was granted citizenship there. He lived here for 10 years with his family, and returned to his home country once the conflict had come to a rest. If he wanted to stay there or not I don't know, but as long as he is in jail without a fair and correctly performed trial, we can't afford to ignore it, just as little as we can ignore the Guantanamo "Prison", which is just another illegal detention facility.
It is indeed illegal since the people being held there are suspected, not guilty, of terrorism. I know, if they are terrorists they should be put in jail.

But what if they're not?
How the hell do we even know that they are terrorists? If there was evidence of it, then surely there could have been a trial, right?
Or maybe the problem is that since that trial would need to take place in a international court there is the possibility that the defendant would be declared not guilty? If he/she was then detained even after the ruling, that would be a clear violation. But as it is now, it is, somehow, a smaller one. One we can seemingly ignore it seems.

For now, I'd be happy to know that Isaaks is released and able to return to his family. But when that's done, the only legal battle I'll have an interest in here in Sweden would be the FRA-law. And after we get rid of that... Who knows? Maybe I'll try and end up in Gitmo just for the hell of it? I'm quite sure it's possible, and if I did, and could have my innocense proven in my absense, that would at least put a dent in it's already doubtful credibility, right?

Quote of the Day

"Moreover, Don Pederasto's society was part of a general homosexual conspiracy to take over Spain."

From The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity by George L. Mosse

ARE YOU AWAKE

Want a movie that makes you think? Not only that makes you think, but that forces your mind to wander and become part of the movie? Then this might be for you. Then again, if you're the kind of person that can't sit still, it might be for you. Stalker.

Biopunk

What is this strange word I throw in your face all of a sudden? Is it the bastard child of cyberpunk perhaps?
Not an entirely faulty assumption to be honest.
Biopunk is biology performed by people outside of labs, in places fashioned to house there activities, but that was not originally meant to. Like their garage, or a spare closet for instance.
They play around with DNA, crossbreeding the furry things that grow on spoiled food, mixing their own genome with that of a doves to see if things go boom, or they've just discovered something that may give them a braingasm.
Sailing the seven seas of biology, taking what they need to pursue their own goals, outside of the laws and ethics of modern science.
Biopunk may very well be to us what cyberpunk was to the late 80s/early 90s, a prophecy foretelling the future.

Warlord

Some more awesome music, with an at least equally awesome video.

This is Bag Raiders. The song is Fun Punch. I just had an orgasm.

Burma: Only Relevant During Riots

Burma still have elections. This might come as a surprise to you, but there are still elections being held that, more or less, accurately announces the people's choice.
The democratic party NLD (National League for Democracy) has also won this election several times.
Not that it matter's to the military regime, who 1990, when the NDL won an overwhelming victory, killed around 200 people instead of handing power over.
There are still hundreds of political prisoners in jails, as well as Buddhist monks, who made the mistake of openly protesting the regime.
Ms Suu Kyi, the leader of the NLD, has spent the last 20 or so years either in prison or house arrest.
There are now rumors curcinating that she, and her two aids, have gone on a hunger strike. What the goal would be if this rumor is indeed true is unknown.
Meanwhile the regime continues building their new capital city, Abode of Kings, presumably as a monument over their own glory. Who else would be surprised if only the rich, famous and powerful get to love there, while the rest remains in the old capital?

Joe Metro

Sunday

Today

I've just watched documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, the closest thing to the second coming of Jesus we've had so far.
Let me explain, Hunter cared about people. He might not have reported things neutrally so that we could decide for ourselves what we thought, but he did report things from his own heart. And he was damned good at it.
I don't know why I'm so fascinated by Hunter. He was a rock star writer, but I've never really understood the hysteria over musicians. The closest thing I get is a sort of respect and pride over what they're doing. I feel like what they do matters to me, and that's really the only thing you need to achieve as an artist, any sort of artist. Entertainment is secondary if what you do makes someone think for just a moment. Even if they think about something trivial, like the price of gas, you've made them think, which is a lot harder than making people feel.

That also a think that should be required for people going into politics. They need to care about people. Maybe not all people, but at least most people. If you only care about a sliver of the people your going to have an influence over, you've got no business in any position of authority.

China is apparently cracking down hard on anyone with a opinion that differs from the government to make things look nice and tidy during the Olympics. Another proud moment in the history of humanity.

McCain owns 7 homes, consider 28 million dollars to be an alright amount of money, yet media accuses Obama of attacking the American Dream when he criticizes McCain for not knowing how many homes he's got. So, apparently there is no difference between greed and the American Dream these days. What happened with "One nation under God"? Last time I checked greed was a mortal sin, but maybe they've changed the 10 Commandments to fit better in to a society that values income and property over people?

I'd rather live in the loving care of a mad freak, than the uninterested care of a normal person.

In the Future We Grow Plastic Fuel Plants

Lykke Li Kicks It

Everyone's heard Lykke Li by now, but if you haven't seen her live you might not know of her love of hip hop. When I saw her she did Everyday I'm Hustlin by Rick Ross for instance, as well as a bunch of other songs. Now I'm kinda hoping she'll make a hip hop record. Maybe with Saul Williams? That would be something, and would probably kill a few music critics from pure excitement.

Anonymous vs. Scientology 08-08-08

Quote of the Day

"Rick Rape? Is that like getting rick rolled but when clicking on a link, Rick Astley will instead break into your house and have his way with you, while singing Never Gonna Give you Up?"

Russia vs. Georgia

This whole thing seems to get more and more out of hand.
First Georgian forces went into South Ossetia, which is a former part of Georgia, they were apparently trying to hunt down seperatist, but South Ossetia asked for military support from Russia, since they presumable didn't have any means of denying the Georgian to enter their territory. This was eagerly granted, since the Georgian military apparently also managed to kill a few Russian diplomats and military personal stationed there.
So, Russia kicks the Georgian military out, and pursues them into Georgian territory. So far it only seems fair.
The problem, however, is that South Ossetia isn't recognized as a nation by any member of the UN. Instead it's still considered a part of Georgia. Why that is I have no idea, but it's a big part of the problem. It's also apparent that Russia does not seem to agree with this.
So, now Russian troops seem to draw close to the Georgian capital. Clearly overkill, but if their goals was to overthrow the Georgian government it kinda makes sense. Problem is, we can't assume anything about the situation. Since, if it turns out that the Russians where only sending a message to Georgia to stay out of South Ossetia, and we start something over it, we could kick off World War 3.

Bush is claiming that Russia will be internationally isolated it they do not withdraw. Which is of course just an empty threat, thanks to their presence in Iraq.
I've also heard speculations that the US will trade Georgia against an Israeli attack against Iran. Maybe not the most likely scenario, but it is nevertheless a possible factor if Russia do occupy Georgia and the US does nothing.

Personally I'm hoping that Russia is just doing a show of force to show Georgia that they should leave South Osseta alone. Either way, the following days is gonna be interesting.

Forbiden Thoughts

The US and Britain appear to be competing on who can create the first Orwellian society. Sure, Britain's got the cameras everywhere in London, the metal detectors in the subway, but the US got the limited liberties of the population, encouraged spying on your neighbors, and soon: (at least according to this) thought censorship.
Basically, if you have a political, religious, or an other opinion that does not work with the one supported by the government, people will figure out a way stop you. You can't disagree with the government, they were elected after all, people want them to take care of you!
Thing is, if we can't disagree with a government, how will we ever manage to change anything? Isn't politics about change? Cause it seems to me like it's more and more about maintaining an almost dogmatic belief in a political view. There's a difference between convincing yourself that you're right, and finding out what's right.

Writing Fiction

I do this from time to time. Always liked writing and reading when I grew up. So far I've only written short stories, but lately I've been thinking a lot about writing something else. So I've come up with a few ideas that I'm going to try to work on. One is a series of short stories that I'm mostly just working over in my head, but I've got quite a nice structure to it so far I think. The other is more the kind of story that evolves as I work on it. I'm thinking that one might turn into a proper book, or at least a novel. We'll see I suppose. I'm gonna put that on hold for a while though. With school starting soon again, and me still having some things I have to get done before that, writing two books at the same would probably be a bit much. Still, can't study all the time.

Glowing from the Inside: Radiation Poisoning

The fact that we at any moment can die in the instant spark of an atomic fire haven't really been a concern of ours since the Cold War. Yet those countries who have nuclear weapons spend billions of dollars on improving them. Right now we could kill everything on this planet a few times over, but that's apparently not enough for some reason. Never mind the fact that no one can win a nuclear war, we're using ancient knowledge here. An eye for an eye.
And yet, if we spent all of that money we waste on nukes on, say education, health care and public transportation, we'd have come a lot closer to a utopia than a post apocalyptic wasteland.
Sure, Fallout might be a cool game, but no one that can be considered sane would want to live there. Fact is, you'd all be too dead to live there anyway, considering the generations that would have to pass before we could actually walk around outside again whiteout a sunblock of, say, a few millions.
I've always heard that we'd have to inherit our parents mistake. It seems like their nuclear holocaust is also passed down for the next generation to worry about. Thing is though, no one does.
One day, when all the nukes are long since forgotten, some bad wiring will cause a nuclear storage facility to go, well, nuclear on our asses. Like waking up the day after under a table, realizing that you're not at home. It's confusing and it hurts, and once you get home there's not one shard of whole glass left in the entire building, someone's stolen the doors, and everything else that wasn't chained to a block of concrete. Someone's also made a fire in the living room, decided to make a hole in the ceiling to let the smoke out, burned all the furniture that the other thieves didn't want, and repainted the entire place with small dead animals, garbage and human shit.
And when you're laying there naked and mentally destroyed, with blisters on your feet because you didn't find your shoes, a pair of torn jeans and a severely stained t-shirt is all you've got on that completely fails to keep you warm, I'll come climbing in trough the window.
I'll probably be looking a little less than a bum than you do, except for a enormous beard.
I'm gonna walk over, grab your t-shirt by the collar, punch you in the face ones, say "I told you so." then throw you back on what's left of your floor.

How's that for a metaphor?

The Perfect Human Vol. 2

Another thing I find interesting is that we seem to focus on unreal dangers, while we let the real ones go unnoticed.
For instance: terrorism. Impossible to stop, near of closing your borders and creating a society resembling a machine more than an organism.
A lot more people die in traffic accidents, by slipping in the bathtub, by stumbling at the wrong moment, and other as trivial things that any terrorist could ever dream of. Yet these are things that don't seem to bother us greatly.
The difference is of course that when a threat is uncommon it can turn into a phobia. Like being terrified of spiders, or sharks while going to the beach. Sure, more people get killed by dolphins than by sharks, but sharks seem a lot scarier. They've got bad pr compared to the dolphin.
Same thing with terrorism really. People seem to have forgotten what the purpose of terrorism is. I'll give you a hint. Read the name again. Terror. Ism. The goal is not to kill a lot of people, that's just a way to reach the goal. The domino effect that ripples trough the targeted society is the goal. Fear. Anger. Confusion.
Like an earthquake in the right spot causes a tsunami, so does a strong enough hit at the right place in a society. You don't have to kill a lot of people though. You could just as easily disrupt the infrastructure long enough for people to start to panic. If done right you could halt a entire society for several days.
Luckily this hasn't happened. Probably because those that are conducting terrorist activities are driven by fanaticism. Their goal is to kill people first, scare people second.

But that dosen't really matter. What matters is what seem to do to protect ourselves against our phobias. We lock ourselves up, we destroy our own lives because we imagine ourselves to be safer that way.
Then we have the conspiracy theorists who do the same thing as the terrorists really. They turn into fanatics because they refuse to believe that people would agree to the sort of things that makes them safe but also takes away their freedom. They accuse the government and different authority's, along with media, banks and all kinds of places to have manufactured the current situation to take power over the world, the country, or something like that. What they don't seem to realize is that there are people in these places. Who are probably also afraid, although maybe not at the same level as the ordinary person. And even if they're not, they get affected by everyone else.
Humans are social creatures. Anything that affects enough of us affects everyone to some degree. Unless you're a hermit that lives in a cave somewhere.
The point is, we all react to what happens. The problem is that we sometimes forget to think about what we reacted to, why we reacted the way we did, etc.
Basically, use your skull.

I am Blond

Once upon time, when I was still a child I used to have blond hair that flew in the wind as I peddled my tiny bike around like a madman on speed.
With the passing years my hair has turned the strings of dead cells attached to my scalp darker and darker. Theses days they that certain brown color that's between dark brown and light brown that makes you look like a dead dog.
But thanks to science and a fair dose of vanity, combined with a slight panic that disrupted my usual "fuck it" attitude towards my hair, I am now blond. Ish.
You see, some of the spots look like I am an Asian that has tried and failed at making my hair blond. Nature has decided to punish this trespass by turning these spots into the color that attracts birds and insects. It is some-sort-of-orange, basically.
Others are almost too blond. I've got spots of white-blond hair that cold probably reflect sunlight to a low orbital space station.
Needless to say, I love it.
There are two reasons for this:
One: It will offend people that I like how it looks.
Two: If I use chemicals such as concrete and glue I can make something even more offensive.
If I can not stab you to death with my beautiful yet repulse hair, I don't want it.
Add goggles and a strange coat and I'm a mad super villain.
Hell, I can probably wear anything with this hair. It sorta demands it in a way. Either I look super weird, or super awesome ninja-cool, there is no middle ground.

The Perfect Human Vol. 1

I'm expecting this to become something of a series of posts, all revolving about humanity, our history and future, and our genes. Though that's probably just a small piece of what I'll mention. So, let's get to it, shall we?

We all know that there's always been a notion of a perfect human being, either the übermench of Nietzsche, the Nazis addition, the perfect athlete, movie star, astronaut, or thinker.
Some, like the samurai, tried to incorporate several aspects of the ideals of that time. The monks aimed for another. All, in a sense, striving to become perfect in what they saw as the only way possible. Either by fighting or meditation. (A really bad comparison in this case.)
But what I think about, not disregarding the past of course, is the future.
Thanks to watching Gattaca, and reading the latest from Iain M. Banks about us joining the Culture after genetically erasing racism, greed and so on from our DNA.
I can't help but think that it might not be such a good idea.
For instance, what if the modifications, instead of erasing all competitiveness, makes us passive and uninterested in everything?
What if the people who have been moded becomes the obedient workforce of the unmoded, who only care for their own gain?
Not that I think that would happen, but you could write interesting fiction about it. And fiction have more than once become reality, so who knows?

When we've got so far into the future that we can get rid of unwanted personal traits in people, we're probably also able to actually turn everyone into superwomen and men from birth. This presents another problem, does a superior body lead to a superior person? Here we get into the debate about inheritance vs. upbringing, which is fascinating, since I think both play into it. But I have to say that I think upbringing gets the upper hand for the most part. Sure, you can be totally fucked up from birth in a number of ways, but can also be so from upbringing. And with the right upbringing I'd like to think a monster could become a saint.
In Gattaca the protagonist does things his physically and genetically superior brother could not not, not because he is better than his brother, but because he has a reason and a goal that motivates him. Which in turn makes him better. Comparing this to what Banks said about competetiveness being a hinder for us, I can't say I agree there either.
It can be if you don't have control over it of course, in which case I suppose it's pure greed more than anything. But it's also a powerful way of achieving things we didn't think we could.

For instance: jump from one place to another. Now do it ten meter up in the air and the previously filled distance is a pitfall. It gets a lot harder that way, even though we know we can do it, if we don't have the motivation to do it we'll give up. And besides, you don't have to compete against your übermenchian brother, you can compete against yourself.
It's harder, but also a lot more rewarding if you ask me.

Playing Catch

I have once more returned for a joust with the words and letters you see before you.
Lately things have been kinda busy, I'm back home for the first extended period of several days this month though, so that's probably about to change from now on.

First of I was at the Arvika Festival, awesome funtime all around there. Then I got home and the same day my friend called and told me I had work in a few days if I wanted to. So, I spent two days at home, then went over to my mateys place for the duration of about a week while we worked. Then I was home once more for a few days, before leaving for the capital around these parts, namely Stockholm. I spent arond 10 days there mostly just relaxing with my dad, various relatives, my dads girlfriend and her kids, and my trusty laptop.
I played trough Max Payne 2, half of Mass Effect, and got to see a bit from Bioshock (awesome) Witcher (not really my thing), and I saw Hancock as well. I have to say that I really hated the ending to that one, way to Disney-cuddly for my taste, especially considering that Hancock actually killed quite a few badguys in it. Not grapchically or anything, but punshing people trough walls generally have that effect if you ask me.
Now comes the spoilers, so skip the last part here if you wanna see Hancock:
The movie would have been a lot better if it ended with them dying, or with Hancock hurling himself to the moon.
First option have the advantage of being a shock to the viewer. The immortal hero, and his immortal on and off girlfriend gets killed by a simple bunch of criminals.
The second one could go in a few ways: He drifts of into space, becoming more and more powerfull as he gets further and further away from earth.
He stays on the moon, becoming a hermit.
Or he ends up fighting an alien scourge coming towards earth?
That last one would be a bit of a return to Independence Day though, so maybe that's off in this case.

Either way, now I'm back home once more. Brain hardly functioning thanks to severe lack of sleep, due to riding the train down here instead of sleeping.
Riding a train in the current heat that's pounding on us right now wasn't the best idea either. Sure, it was at night so it wasn't to hot outside, but a train crammed full of people trying to sleep, with windows that you can open, but that will prevent you from sleeping because of the occasional bursts of sound made by the train?
The choise was: either you sleep in suffocating heat, or you get a little sleep interupted by bursts of ear-shredding sound.
I manged to sleep a bit, but mostly I read about Anarchism or listened to rhe Roots.

This resluted in the usual state somewhere between perfect clearness and sleep that presents itself when you've neglected sleep, about a hour before I was supposed to catch the train while in transit in Gothenburg. Things seemed suprigsingly clear, I knew what I would do with my life, this included parkour workshops, politics, and writting.
And none of it seems all wrong after a good nights sleep either, which actually scares me a bit, since I've never really known what I've wanted to do before.
Maybe I've changed a bit, but that much?

I also had a feeling of meeting myself when I was headed out of the station. The glassdoor was reflecting the sun in such a way that I could see myself in it, but in my tired state I didn't realize it was me, and I tried to move out of the way of my reflection.
When I relized my mistake I kinda froze for a minute, the realization was quite huge, at least to me. It felt as if I was outside my body watching myself for a moment, and it didn't feel too bad actually. Which either means I'm an egotastical maniac, or just quite a mellow dude, hard to tell.

Stuck

For the time being I've got this terrible feeling that I'm stuck. I can't get anywhere, and even if I tried, it would inevitably just end up as another half finished project in the graveyard where such projects go when I tire of them.
This is not exactly true, but that's never the less the feeling I've got right now.
So I decided to come here, to share my painful confusion and indecisiveness with you!

So, what's going on lately?
I was of course at the Arvika festival. Which was awesome, great weather for the most part, all the bands I saw was at least good, new friends, the boss was nice as well.
Sure, we had to work our asses of for a few hours or so, but it was worth it.
Best shows was: Danger, The Go! Team and Saul Williams.
The Go! Team had trouble with their mics at the start, since the tent they were supposed to play in was flooded, which had delayed things, and gave them less time for a proper sound check.
Despite this I had an awesome time, at the front, with a sea of people moving with the music at my back.

Then we have a bit of a tie, although since I missed a bit of Saul Williams, and didn't really get a good place to stand, it was an awesome show. Saul is more of a rockstar than many rockstars of today. He just couldn't stand completly still it seemed, and his face was a constant display of emotion.
If I'd seen all of it, I think I'd probably call it the best show at Arvika this year.

Then we have Danger. Which you can't read facial expressions at even with a binocular, since he wears a mask while on stage. To be a bit more precise, he looks like a negative of Spiderman, wearing a black t-shirt with a neon print.
He's got some sort of white shining eyes, which in combination with the neon print flashes as the lights flash with the beat of the music.
The music, in this case, is French electro, with a touch of old videogames.d
Awesom music, accompanied by a homemade VJ set consisting of clips from movies such as Predator, Robocop, Indiana Jones, old cartoons and quite a bit of nice material made for (or maybe by?) Danger himself.

I was there for a week, 4 days of work, 3 days of music. I saw 17 bands in total, hang out a bit with friends, and had a good time in general.

Then I got home, and found out I had potential work ahead of me if I wanted, so I've worked for a few days, and now I'm leaving for the capital soon.
I had to go away to work as well, so I haven't been home a week straight this month.
At least I'm not getting bored though.

The FRA-law. Again.

Since this affects me personally your gonna hear about it until you either accept it, or jump from a building.
First of, according to a Swedish newspaper, sources close to the department doing the surveillance are saying that the main purpose of it is to intercept Russian intelligence, which would mean that the relations between Sweden and Russia might go a bit frosty.
It's not considered very nice to spy on your neighbors. But the Russian spy who defected was apparently killed under orders from the Russian government, so it seems ol' Russia is up to her shenanigans once more.

Secondly, it seems all the youth sections of the different Swedish political parties are united against the FRA-law. The old politicans must realize that they've fucked up by now, right?
Either way, it's good to see that liberals, democrats, conservatives, socialist, enviromentalists and everybody else have found some common ground for once. Hell, we might actually start getting along for once!

Fuck You McCain, Fuck You

I'm taking a stand, not saying that I'm supporting Obama or anything though. He seems way too perfect to me.
McCain, on the other hand did seem like an alright guy at first, except for being right wing, but I can't really tell the difference between Liberals and Conservatives for the most part when it comes to American politics anyway. For a Swede they're way to similar to make much sense.

Either way, McCain apparently dislike people comparing him to Bush so much that a librarian who had a sign saying "McCain=Bush" got busted for trespassing at a public campaign event. Public apparently mean a different thing than I thought it did. Or maybe McCain is penpal with Mugabe and have decided that politicans are too soft on people who won't vote for them?
Either way, a 60 year old librarian is apparently a real threath in politics, if people who can actually read is against you, the ones who can't will notice, and realize there's more to the picture than they thought.
Oh, and then we have the fact that McCain is going to fix the American economy, but haven't said how, so either he's a wizard, or he's bullshitting. Of course he could be both, but I seriously doubt it.
Not that lies are uncommon in politics these days. It seems like you have to lie your ass of to get elected, and then people act surprised that you don't turn the water into wine onces your in position.
Politicans are not divine being able to right all wrongs, in fact they're just as fucked up, intruthful and generally human as the rest of us. They like sex, to drink some booze or get stoned once in a while, watch crappy tv and eat junkfood.
To expect them to fuck up less than others just proves we think way too highly of politicans, and probably of the human race in general.
My view on the human race is well documented though, so no need to get into that here.

As I said, I don't really like anyone runing for president, solely because they want power, and people like that are generally bad news in my opinon.
Obama haven't given me a real reason to dislike him yet though, so that's good I suppose.
Not that I've been paying much attention or anything either so far.
I'll probably do so once the real election starts getting close.