Ginger Spice

Yes, I did go to a Spice Girls concert once but that's not what this post is about.

This time of the year, Swedes consume A LOT of ginger thins, or pepparkakor as we call it. We eat them all year around but the holiday season is the peak. Pepparkakor was plentiful already back 1,800 B.C. in Mesopotamia, because they kept long and wasn't attacked by mildew. Roman soldiers used to keep pepparkakor in their rations. In the 15th century nuns in the nunnery at Vadstena baked pepparkakor for medicinal reasons; the spicy and sweet cookies were thought to help with digestion. The Swedish "pepparkaka" refers to old receipes where pepper was one of the medicinal ingredients. Pepper has also been a term used for spices in general.

One of my favourite brand of pepparkakor (except for homemade ones) is Anna's (of course!). Anna's was founded in 1929 by two north Swedes, sisters Anna and Emma Karlsson, who ran a domestic household school and a bakery in Stockholm. The cookies became so popular that the bakery turned into a company and in 1945 the factory was moved to what is now the Stockholm suburbs. 1963 the company was bought by the Mattsson family who still owns it. In 1978 Anna's went abroad and today the company produce over 3,000 tonnes cookies annually, of which 60 % is exported and sold e.g. at IKEAs around the world. In Sweden, Anna's has 45 employees but the cookies are also produced at other locations such as Calgary, Canada, where 500 tonnes cookies come out of the owen.

Swedes are perhaps a bit traditional and prefer the original flavour but in other parts of the world, Anna's has experimented with mint, orange, almond and other flavours. Swedes are more for the combos, such as the original flavour with blue cheese (roquefort or gorgonzola). I know, I didn't believe when I first heard about a few years back, but it's delicious!

e-Wasteland

Some basic but sad facts of e-waste*:

• 4,000 tonnes of toxic e-waste is discarded in the world every hour, equivalent to the weight of 1,000 e-lephants
• Between 1997 and 2007, experts estimate that there will be more than 500 million obsolete computers in the US alone. That includes 2.87 million tonnes plastics, 717,000 tonnes lead, 1.36 million tonnes cadmium, 862,000 tonnes chromium, and 287 tonnes mercury.
• The Basel Convention on Transboundary Movements of Harzardous Wastes and their Disposal (1994) bans export of all hazardous waste from rich to poor countries for any reason, including recycling. The US, Australia and Canada have failed to ratify the Basel Convention.
• 50-80 % of the e-waste collected for recycling in western US is not recycled domestically, but shipped in containers to destinations such as China
• Imports of e-waste have been illegal in China since 1996, so there is no official figures on how much is coming into the country, but environmental groups and academics estimate that Guiyu alone handles more than a million tonnes of e-waste annually
• In May this year, Greenpeace China tried to shame electronics companies attending a trade show in Beijing by unveiling a 2.7 m high statue in the shape of a wave built using the companies' e-waste collected from Guiyu
• The Computer TakeBack campaign aims to protect the health and well-being of electronic users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded, by requiring electronic manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products.

Source: Scanorama Magazine, November 2005

*electronic waste

Teenage Alert

I sometimes check out the blog of an American woman in exile in Skellefteå, which is a town quite far up north in Sweden. She has three children, among them a girl who just turned 9. Last week they headed to the town centre in the afternoon - and by 4 pm it's pretty dark already in Sweden this time of the year. Under the heading "Be afraid... be very afraid", Beverly writes:

"As we were walking from the shopping center to where we had parked the car, Lydia said to me, “I don’t like being in town at night. It’s all dark and scary and the teenagers come. Teenagers come mostly at night, right?”

Hilarious and cute at the same time!

The Asylum Tribunal 2005

On Monday evening I attended a very special event here in Stockholm, the Asylum Tribunal. Based on the historic Russell Tribunal of 1967, the Asylum Tribunal investigated a state's crime against humanity. In 1967, experts and prominent guests gathered in Stockholm to determine whether US warfare in Vietnam broke international law. Now Swedish and international expertise met again in Stockholm, but this time the indicted is Sweden itself. Is the Swedish state breaking Swedish law and international conventions to which we are signatories? According to these laws and conventions people who are fleeing persecution and oppression, torture and other inhumane treatment, have the right to receive protection and residence permit in Sweden. But fewer and fewer are granted asylum or residence.

The procedings were led by qualified jurists who called in experts and witnesses: international law experts, legal and political sciencists, doctors, psychiatrists, etc. A jury consisting of prominent people - among them George Bizos, legendary human rights lawyer from South Africa - gave a final verdict.

The Tribunal tried to answer the questions:
• Is the asylum law being undermined and hollowed out?
• Is the rich Europe - and Sweden - closing its doors to persecuted people?
• Do we want to live in a country and in a world where one of the basic human rights - the right to asylum - is neglected?

Many people in Sweden believe that Sweden is very generous and that we welcome hords of refugees every year but the truth is that never before has Sweden admitted so few asylum seekers. Only 1,45 % of asylum applications were approved last year compared to 45 % in Canada. Moreover, no other country has been convicted by the Committee Against Torture (CAT, the UN organ) so many times (11) as Sweden. Not for torturing people but for sending people back to countries where they risk being tortured.

Needless to say, Sweden was convicted by the Tribunal jury. They have written a number of recommendations for Sweden, which I will post here when they become available.

Confession

I'm such a sucker for gossip. Not the office rumour spreading but the whereabouts and activities of the Hollywood crowd and the like. I mentioned Defamer earlier but two of the best sites at the moment are Pink Is the New Blog and Just Jared. Enjoy!

Work Ethic: Part One

Yes, I know, I've been a poor blogger lately. I've simply had too much to do, both work-wise and in the evenings. I will tell you in due time. For those of you who are not that busy at work but would like to appear to be, here's a list of tricks to apply in various circumstances at work in order to seem like the busy, diligent bee.

23. Delaying. If your boss comes and asks you for a chat, don’t bounce right away. Delay by saying “I’ll be there as soon as I finish this.”
Advantage: You appear to have integrity and moreover, you buy time to prepare for the meeting.

22. The Jimmy Connors trick. To be tired is human. To doze off at work is bad. The solution is to pretend to pick up paper clips though you’re actually sleeping. Like Jim Connors sort of. Sprinkle paper clips on the floor, lean forward and slumber. If someone comes in you pretend you’re picking.
Advantage: No one notices that you’re tired and sleeping like a baby.

21. The “I do work” trick. Reject phone calls when you’re on your way home on Fridays after lunch. If you get a message, return the call at 18.45 and explain that you’ve been in a telephone conference until now.
Advantage 1: You appear to be sacrificing everything for work.
Advantage 2: The person in question avoids leaving messages coming Fridays.

20. The reading trick. Put your own reading inside e.g. a relevant annual report. Lean back towards a fall and enjoy Hello magazine.
Advantage: You’re seen as a person who keeps his/herself informed.

19. The important telephone call trick. You’re in an open-plan office and a friend calls. Say loudly: “Then I will just collect some material and find a meeting room”. You’re free to chat and gossip for at least 15 minutes.
Advantage: You appear to be an important person who is consulted on important issues.

18. The font 6 trick. Write private emails with text in font size 6 so that people passing by cannot read them. For further smoke screen, keep excel sheets open half-screen.
Advantage: You can write whatever you want, whenever you want.

17. The ”I’m in the game” trick. At the weekly meeting, always express your opinion with authoritative voice early on in the meeting – preferably in general terms that data steer documents and the ball is round.
Advantage: You appear to be in the game.

16. The email trick. Write some general email to co-workers and preset the transmission time so that the emails are portioned out at regular intervals during the day. You’re free to play golf or pick your nails. Transmission time Sunday should be avoided.
Advantage: You seem to have an even and high work capacity.

15. The walk and talk trick. Important job call? Take a walk around the office with the office mobile phone, wave your arms and say loud and clear: “I hear what you’re saying and I understand – but it does not change anything”.
Advantage: You seem to have authority.

14. The offensive walk trick. With high speed, purposefully. When it comes to walking decidedly there only one no-no: you cannot seemed stressed.
Advantage: Make you seem effective and efficient.

13. The mobile at the meeting trick. Ask the other meeting participants if it’s okay that you keep your mobile switched on as you’re expecting an extremely important call. Leave when it rings.
Advantage: Make you seem (more) important.

12. The ”classic”. Or the ”light switched on and coat left behind” trick. To leave the office without turning your light off, without turning off your computer and without taking your coat. Warning: If you use it too often your colleagues might see through it.
Advantage: It looks like you’re still at work although you’re not.

To be continued.