Read Some Stewf

Ho, Ho, Arr!

Wondering how Santa spends his days after Christmas? I can tell you because I saw him. He relaxes with the boys and some beers down at the sausage shack on the corner. Oh, and that’s a real macaw — Santa is also a pirate.

The Governor of California

Arnold Schwarzeneggar for Arinamin V at the very amusing Japander.com, who explains the product thusly:

Arinamin V is a bizarre "genki" drink designed to keep overworked "salarymen" wide awake in those unpaid overtime hours. It contains nicotine among other stimulants and gets that heart rate right up there.

White Christmas

Stockholm — The most we’ve had this year came a few days ago. I don’t have an exact measurement, but it was just enough to sled on. Some photos: kids at Vasa Park across the street from my office / the other end of the park, in front of my apartment building / a charming bird feeder

Salt Lake City — Over 20 inches since Christmas. For images of the city’s burial see this SL Tribune Photo Gallery. Thanks Brooke.

Winner: SLC. So much for the “frozen north”. Right now it’s 11 p.m. and 2°C (36°F). All our snow has melted.

Våfflor

That’s a fresh, warm waffle with cloudberries. Christmas market in the old square. The happiest I was all week. More photos at Jen’s.

“Bill Gates is a Parasite”

Noam Chomsky, interviewed by the BBC:

“My success comes from my ability to embrace and expand the ideas of others.” — Bill Gates. He is a parasite. All he has to add to that is that he’s a parasite off the public sector. Because, in fact, almost everything that he does, whether it’s computers or the internet or anything else, are things that the ordinary person paid for. Think of the internet. That’s thirty years of development, inside the public sector, mostly out of the pentagon. All of the ideas, the technology, the hardware, the software, everything. Finally, just two or three years ago it’s given over to Bill Gates. And that’s called a victory of the market.

Listen to the interview. (Try to ignore the interviewer’s obnoxious interjections of a “yeah” every few seconds.)

Killer Cheese Knife

She Did It Again

Was it Confucius who said “One always wakes on the wrong side of a cat peed bed”? Or maybe it was Carl Jung, I don’t know. All I know is she did, and I’m not happy.