Monday, December 31, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Today we got a little snow. I hope it will not "rain cats and dogs" in the near future... [Editor's comment: In Sweden you say iron nails instead of cats and dogs.]



[Editor's note: Check out Marina of HotForWords.com]

As an inspiration for the new year, please take some time and read Rudyard Kipling's poem, If. Here is the first part:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

(Capitalism Magazine, 02/13/2000.)


For more on Kipling, read the post, "Boys need an arena" by Sissy Willis.

More inspiration: The Special Holiday Edition Of The Carnival Of Cities at Norway - An American In Oslo An Expat And Expatriate Traveling The World. [Editor's note: Please give me a list of your favorite cities.]


Happy New Year!

In the news: Good Riddance Day!

MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

I have updated the EGO template with some new features. [Editor's note: A nice upgrade of the layout will occur during next year. It will be a top of the line thing and the perfect "icing on the cake". For a "mysterious" clue, read my post, WARCRAFT...]

I have added the feature "popular pages today" under the Post from the Archives section. Feedjit gives recommendations ("Visitors to this page also liked") in the List of Links category if you want to browse the web. Talking about recommendations, check out Bloggers Blog. (Via Feedjit Blog.) [Editor's comment: Do you agree with Greg "Daily Gut" Gutfield's post, Blogs Are Overrated? My wish for the new year is that Ahmadinejad is ending his blogging due to a natural cause...]

You could now see where my readers are coming from the live traffic feed and map. [Editor's comment: Globalization, baby! EGO blog could reach for the 200,000 visits milestone if I count the start of 2008 according to the Chinese calendar on February 7... ;)]

Talking about rats, have you seen Ratatouille?



Check out the following blogs and carnivals:

Sunday, December 30, 2007

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

The New England Patriots team is still going strong... I learned to enjoy watching American football during my studies in New Hampshire. Right now, I am wearing a sweater with the text: Super Bowl XXXVI Champions New England Patriots.

In the news: Perfect scoundrels: why the US just loves to hate the New England Patriots - Times Online, UK.

Related: My post, IS PUTIN A NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS FAN?

Saturday, December 29, 2007

PANTYHOSE MILK TEA

I didn't drink "pantyhose" milk tea (cha chaan teng) during my visit to Hong Kong in 1992.



James Pomfret gives a report (Hong Kongers crave their iconic pantyhose tea) as follows:

The drink, a Chinese take on English tea-drinking traditions, is brewed in a long cotton "sock" or filter resembling a beige pantyhose, rather than a female undergarment itself.

Over the decades, pantyhose milk tea has become a city-wide institution, craved daily by regular Hong Kongers as well as film stars and tycoons who flock to the city's best tea-diners. (Reuters, 12/27/07.)

PIZZA SLICE

After I watched the new ad by Pizza Hut, I had to republish a pizza recipe, inspired by my visit to Hungary. [Editor's note: Go to Rókalyuk ("Foxhole") in Sopron.]



PIZZA (09/15/05)

I took a recipe (pizza dough and tomato sauce) from a magazine specializing in Italian wines, and then added my own ingredients.

Pizza with Hungarian sausages

Dough (6 pizza pies)

* 1/2 package yeast
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoon sugar
* 2.5 dl water (lukewarm)
* 0.5 dl olive oil
* 6 dl flour



1. Put the yeast in a bowl and mix it with the lukewarm water, sugar, and salt.
2. Add olive oil and flour in batches, and make it into a dough.
3. Put a cloth over the bowl and let the dough rise for about an hour.
4. Take out the dough and cut it into pieces.
5. Roll out the dough.
6. Put the pizza pie on a cookie sheet.


Tomato sauce

* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, chopped
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons tomato puree
* 1 can of crushed tomatoes
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon basil
* salt and black pepper


1. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic.
2. Then the ingredients are "soft," add sugar, tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, oregano and basil.
3. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Add some salt and black pepper.


Toppings

* Salami
* Beer sausage
* Paprika (bell pepper)
* Chile pepper
* Tomato
* Olives
* Grated cheese



1. Add the tomato sauce, cheese, and the toppings on the pizza pie.
2. Put the baking plate in the oven for circa 15 minutes at 275 degrees Celsius.


[Editor's comment: Which is your favorite pizza restaurant / chain? We have Pizza Hut here in Sweden, but I haven't tested in Gothenburg yet. Cyrano Bistro is one of my favorite pizza places in Gothenburg. Back in America, I went to Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's and Donatos. ]

In order to stir things up a bit with a non-political correct attitude, here are two great quotes:

Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demiglace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. (Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential, page 70.)




Many of our readers rightfully pride themselves on their rationality and objectivity. Certainly, they bristle at the thought of irrationality affecting their lives, or worse, being accused of irrationality by others. And yet, most every one of our readers persist in at least one form of irrationality: the mindless obeisance to a tradition: the American dining etiquette.

Clearly, human beings possess two hands. But, to place one hand aside and engage in the disturbing and hindering process of transferring one utensil from one hand to the other, over and over again, while neglecting a perfectly useful hand – smacks of irrationality. Two things are striking about this habit. It clearly violates European etiquette – brought to Europe by the Greeks - that tells you to keep both hands above the table wielding gracefully knife and fork. European etiquette is objective as it is well reasoned out to make the most effective use of hands and utensils at a table setting. Secondly all Americans eat the American way (black, yellow, red, white) which is amazing if you think of the different ethnic origins, cultures, and value systems. (The Irrational Exhuberance of American Dining Etiquette by Harry Roolaart. 2005.)


[Editor's comment: I have a funny memory from the first time I had pizza in college and I asked for a fork and knife. My fellow classmates looked at me in a strange way... They informed me to eat the pizza slice directly with my hand.]

Related: My post, EATING PIZZA IN A DEFENSIVE FIGHTING POSITION.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

WRITING DOWN NEW RESOLVING THOUGHTS

From Scott A. McConnell's article, What is the Meaning of New Year's?

What then is the philosophic meaning of New Year's resolutions? Every resolution you make on this day implies that you are in control of your self, that you are not a victim fated by circumstance, controlled by stars, owned by luck, but that you are an individual who can make choices to change your life. You can learn statistics, ask for that promotion, fight your shyness, search for that marriage partner. Your life is in your own hands. (Capitalism Magazine, 01/01/04.)


After reading Jean Moroney's newsletter, The Thinking Directions Occasional Update #19 ("To resolve or not to resolve"), I am not really sure that I am ready to make new resolutions until I have resolved more things on my old lists. You could test the resolution by asking the following questions:

  1. Is the goal concrete and specific?
  2. Which steps should you take in order to achieve the goal?
  3. What do you have to cut from the list of old activities, replaced with this new goal?

Here is an excerpt from Jean Moroney's article, New Year's Resolutions:

The deeper problem was that I experienced a conflict between doing administrative work for the business, and doing intellectual work to develop my ideas, which is what really interests me. When I used willpower to do more administrative work, it generated even more administrative work—work which then took me away from thinking and development. (Thinking Directions, 01/19/06.)


I am still still struggling with cleaning my desk and going through my to-do lists. I will get that done, sooner or later...

Have you read Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward by James O. Prochaska et. al.?



Here are some further thoughts and mental notes regarding my plan to achieve my core values in life.

Career:
Continue with part-time studies and activities, e.g., in supply chain management, project management, financial trading, speaking and leadership skills. Keeping contact with the new world in the search for partners for our meeting place, Blue Chip Café & Business Center.

Hobbies:
Develop my blogging to a higher level, with regular talk radio shows. [Editor's comment: According to Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog, EGO blog is at moment worth about $50,000. Time to monetize my blog! ;)] Try to do something with my interest in spicy stuff. In combination with a healthy dietary supplement, start to exercise more, e.g. taking long walks listening to inspirational speeches. [Editor's note: Do you have suggestions on listening devices and internet sources for audio material?]

Relationships:
Keeping in touch with friends from my trips to around the world, e.g., Hungary. Down the road - when all the "pieces of the puzzle" are in place - searching for the right one... [Editor's note: Maybe I will find my future romantic partner on the dance floor? I have "two left feet," but I want to take dance lessons someday... I got very inspired by the documentary on Herräng Dance Camp.]

Read Sasha Cagen's post, What's Your New Year's Resolution? I want to end my post with a quote from Alex Epstein's article, A New Year’s resolution ought to be a good thing:

This New Year's, resolve to think about how to make your life better, not just once a year, but every day. Resolve to set goals, not just in one or two aspects of life, but in every important aspect and in your life as a whole. Resolve to pursue the goals that will make you successful and happy, not as the exception in a life of passivity, but as the rule that becomes second-nature. (Vernon County Broadcaster, 12/26/07.)

VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE

This Day in History informs me about Charles Darwin's discoveries on board the ship HMS Beagle, starting on December 27, 1831. [Editor's comment: I wonder if the schools in Kansas have a special class on this day...]

TQM AT SWEDISH NEWSPAPER

I am happy to hear that a daily newspaper has "installed" a quality editor. [Editor's comment: The mainstream media is starting to get it, don't you think? ;)]

Somewhat random or rather not... related news: Rush Limbaugh stands up for dismembered lion - The Local.

Recommended reading: Total Quality Management at Answers.com. Check out the blog network details for Pajamas Media.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

BOXING DAY TSUNAMI 2004 AND PANIC SYNDROME

I got David Eberhard's book, In the Land of the Security Junkies ("I trygghetsnarkomanernas land" in Swedish) as a Xmas gift from my brother. The author argues that the lack of action by the government during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is the final evidence of a general inability to take action in Sweden and that a national panic syndrome is built into the society. Here is an excerpt from Ivar Ekman's article, Swedes as 'safety junkies': An accident in the making?

"Sweden is suffering from a national panic syndrome," said David Eberhard, a Stockholm psychiatrist who is writing a book about what safety has come to mean to the Swedish national psyche. "And the consequence of this is that we've become safety junkies."

The first sign of backlash against an ever-safer Sweden came in 2004, when the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet set off a furor with a profile of the Danish psychologist Bent Hougaard, who had coined the term the "curling parent." The reference is to the sport of curling, played on ice, in which players frenetically sweep the ice to remove any obstacles in the way of a heavy stone gliding toward a target. Modern parents, the article suggested, similarly remove all obstacles for their children, depriving them of the important insight that difficulties and dangers are natural parts of life. (International Herald Tribune, 01/24/06)


[Editor's comment: What is the term for "curling parents" in other countries?]

Related: My post, ANNIVERSARY OF THE TSUNAMI DISASTER.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

MILESTONES

Do you want to help me achieving a new milestone before the end of 2007? The blog is reaching for 200,000 visits. My traffic has dropped recently and nowadays I have about 50 visits per day on average. [Editor's note: As a comparison, InstaPundit has about 200,000 daily visitors.]

Other milestones in my life:

  • 1997 - I started my studies (Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - 3 Years Honors Degree Program) at Southern New Hampshire University (former New Hampshire College). I plan to attend the alumni event in 2010.

  • 2005 - I finished an advanced vocational education and training course called International Project Coordinator.

  • 2006 - I started Blue Chip Café & Business Center together with two partners. It has been a hard struggle with the start-up company. The current board of directors have decided to regroup the resources and focus on the core business and develop the business plan. We are standing at the gateway to success and therefore interested in getting in touch with international businessmen for our future franchise concept.

View Martin Lindeskog's profile on LinkedIn

Here is a quote from Dianne Durante's post, Holiday Cheer: Celebrating the Spirit of Achievement.

The Spirit of Achievement is a fitting reminder that in America, the country that comes as close to Ayn Rand's capitalist society as any nation ever has, we have transformed the December holiday season into a celebration of happiness and prosperity. Stroll through the grand lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, admire its palatial decor and its lavish holiday decorations, and count your ... achievements. (Forgotten Delights, 12/21/07.)


Related: My post, 2005 WRAP UP.

ATLAS SHRUGGED MOVIE TRAILER

Here is a trailer for the forthcoming Atlas Shrugged movie. [Hat tip to E.A.]


[Editor's comment: Is this an official trailer? Maybe Maus Merryjest could answer this question...]

For more comments on the film, read the following posts:


I don't have high hopes for the movie due to certain "elements" involved in "producing" the film. For a clue, read the following excerpt from Diana Hsieh's post, Ed Hudgins Does Stand-Up Comedy:

I can't imagine that TOC's leadership would be eager to remind its donors of the old boondoggle -- unless attempting to change the name, perhaps in conjunction with the supposedly impending movie of Atlas Shrugged. (If that happens, it'll be worse than you think: imagine DVD inserts for more information from The Atlas Society and a bonus feature of commentary on Objectivism from David Kelley.) Of course, changing the name of your organization twice in less than two decades is no way to inspire confidence in your donors. In fact, it suggests that you don't have the slightest idea what you're doing. Perhaps that's why the first name change (from Institute for Objectivist Studies to The Objectivist Center) was announced with much fanfare, whereas this second name change seems to be sneaking in the back door. (NoodleFood, 05/08/06.)


But to end on a positive note, I think that a movie based on Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, will be good for the publisher Penguin Group in the near future and for the Ayn Rand Institute in the long run.



[Editor's note: Will you join the Facebook group, I was an Objectivist before Atlas Shrugged was a movie?]

Related: My posts, ATLAS SHRUGGED FILM IN DEVELOPMENT and ATLAS SHRUGGED 1957.

UPDATE:

Comment by Andy Clarkson:

This doesn't seem like a real trailer. Isn't that the voice of Edward Herrmann?
Seems like someone jammed something together from an audio book and Second Life (or something similar to it.)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Monday, December 17, 2007

TOASTMASTERS

I have joined the Gothenburg Toastmasters Club. Toastmasters International has a group on Facebook.

Read Diana Hsieh's post, The Value of Community.

911 CONSPIRACY THEORIES

A few days ago I received a flyer by a Swedish section of the so called "Truth Action organization". You could find plenty of 9/11 conspiracy theories floating around on the internet. Related: My post, 911 REVISIONIST MEETING IN BERLIN.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

INDIVIDUAL VERSUS COLLECTIVE

Individualism versus collectivism in three photos.

Ibsen
Quote by Henrik Ibsen: "The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone."


Interesting name for a shop. Located in Oslo, Norway.


Demonstration by anti-abortionists in Gothenburg, Sweden. They could have a connection to the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.

MORRIS IN THE WINDOW

IMAGE_00394

Morris is a "day watchman"!

MARINATED ARTICHOKES WITH CHILE PEPPER

Here is a tapas dish made with homegrown chile pepper.



  • 2 cans of artichokes.
  • 1.5 dl olive oil.
  • 2 lime fruits.
  • 2 garlic cloves.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • Dash of black pepper.
  • 1 chile pepper fruit.

Cut the artichokes in four pieces. Pour olive oil in a bowl. Grate the lime and put the green peel in the bowl together with the pressed lime juice. Cut and mince the garlic, add black pepper and salt. Cut the chile pepper and add the pieces in the bowl. Let the dish marinate for several hours.

UPDATE 12/17/07: Check out the Carnival of the Recipes: Holiday Open House Edition at Everything And Nothing.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

OPEN ID

I have claimed my id Lyceum. For a background, read Anne Zelenka's post, The Next Social Network: WordPress. [Hat tip to J.E.]

Martin Lindeskog

English posts that contain Openid per day for the last 30 days.
Technorati Chart
Get your own chart!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

STEAMY COFFEE BUSINESS

From High Volume Sales Rep's post, The Hooters of Coffee Shops.

What goes better with a hot cup of latte? It's skin at Coffee Nation, a small town coffee shop located in Salem, OR, where the baristas serve hot lattes in bikinis. According to Adam Marshall, founder of Coffee Nation, plans are on the table to expand into other areas through franchising. (Badgett's Coffee eJournal, 12/08/07.)




[Editor's comment: Could this be a way of heating up the business at Blue Chip Café? ;)]

The competition between the coffee places is heating up. Read this post from October: Dutch Bros Putting the Squeeze on the Bikini Barista.



Related: My post, COFFEE HOUSE FOR GOOD BUSINESS.

[Editor's note: Are you thinking of getting The 2008 Lavazza Calendar?]

DRAW BUSH IN SIX SIMPLE STEPS

Follow John Cox's instruction on how to draw George W. Bush.



[Editor's comment: John's lecture gave me inspiration to play around with cartoon drawings again. I created simple action series in my youth.]

GOLDEN COMPASS TO REASON?

I am not a movie buff, but I intend to watch The Golden Compass. Have you read the trilogy, His Dark Materials?

Here is quote from Scott Holleran's review, Directional Fantasy Loses Its Way.

With an air of theatricality, fun and fantasy—battling the Vatican-ish Magisterium's minions—The Golden Compass recalls everything from Pirates of the Caribbean and Escape from Witch Mountain to The Lord of the Rings. But it lacks cohesion, as if it's mandated to include each literary invention without regard to intelligibility. The Golden Compass lets the needle spin around and around. (Box Office Mojo, 11/30/07.)


GETTING THINGS DONE AND TO DO LISTS

One item for my upcoming New Year's Resolution list [via Blogger Buzz] is to implement David Allen's "stress-free productivity" system called Getting Things Done.



Right now, I am still at the first stage to collect all my stuff and put in the in-basket. I have put inbox, file (someday / maybe), reference and project labels on big cartons. I have to clear my desk and and my "short-term-memory" once and for all. And then I have to try to stay in the right workflow (collect, process, organize, review and do).

Recommending reading material:


Resources and tools:

Getting Things Done at Answers.com.

Gubbing Things Done by Mike Elgan. Check out the web-based list applications, Gubb.net and Vitalist.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

DELTA FORCE

I think it is time for some "Chuck Norris action" in the Middle East. Here is an excerpt from Robert Tracinski's article, NIE Report is Propaganda Victory for Iran.

This report has virtually foreclosed the possibility that President Bush will use military force against Iran before he leaves office--even if he wants to do so. Even in this day and age, when Congress no longer has the courage to declare war on our enemies and cedes the initiative on the use of force to the commander in chief, the president still has limits on his power. He must at least have significant support in Congress before he launches any new military assault--and this report will wipe out any such support for strikes against Iran. (Real Clear Politics, 12/06/07.)


[Editor's note: I have to paraphrase Michael Ledeen's slogan: "Faster, Please!" with replacing the kind word with a strong word... "Faster, Dammit!" I usually don't use harsh and swear words, but you have to speak up, before it is to late...]