Giving money and power to goverment, is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys

And the Danish government drunk drove and smashed my car!!!

Protesting vs Rioting

Here is another subject to be answered - since it's running late, I'm running sick, and I'm supposed to go put up a tent in one of the camps surrounding the Roskilde Festival in the morning. I just thought I'd remind myself of this video, since there are a couple of points I'd like to respond to!

Exactly.

Which is why noone is willing to put down the "toys" first - thinking that if the other sees a weak spot, a loophole (if you will), they will shoot right through it and blast the country to pieces.

But guess what? If we all put down the weapons, noone will blast the other country! We can respect the borders of a country! We can - *gasp* - BEHAVE LIKE MATURE ADULTS!

Please don't call me a naïve fool or an idiot (I'm not the one with the nukes!). I do realize that we are animals with certain instincts (like survival and protecting our home and kin), but one of the things making us superior in the animal kingdom is our ability to communicate like we can; not only like the clicks of the dolphins or the moans of the whales, but through words and empathy. It's in the detail. It's all in the frontal lobes, people! And we have so many ways of connecting.

I know it's something that's not going to happen - not anytime soon, anyways. But here's to hoping.

- and if you cough/sneeze into your elbow joint instead, you don't have to worry about washing your hands before shaking hands with someone else!

EDIT: Here are the articles she mentions:

USA Today: Swine flu vaccine would take months to develop, distribute

Los Angeles Times: Do face masks help prevent swine flu infection?

>> Most were wearing face masks, which are loosefitting and designed largely to help stop droplets from spreading from the person wearing the mask. They also protect the wearer's mouth and nose from splashes. They are not created to protect the wearer from breathing in very small particles.

[...]

Health experts note that face masks and respirators should be used along with other precautions, such as frequent hand-washing, covering coughs, staying at home if ill and avoiding crowds. <<

Bloomberg: South African Rand Falls as Swine Flu May Deepen Recession

Unable to find AP: US Flu Victims May Be Infecting Others

FOX News: Worst-Case Scenario Underlies U.S. Pandemic Plan

>> Take a breath. Even if the new swine flu from Mexico should turn out to be especially aggressive, the worst consequences could be averted.

[...]

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that the United States is preparing as if the swine flu outbreak were a full pandemic. It is not at that stage and may never reach it.

Disease detectives are following a series of outbreaks, of varying severity, all of which appear to be related to Mexico. A pandemic would spread throughout the world with explosive speed.

The government got serious about worst-case planning during the 2005 bird flu scare, partly as a result of the grossly unprepared state of relief agencies after the August 2005 monster Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed large sections of historic New Orleans, Louisiana.

"We have a playback that was developed and is being followed," said Michael Leavitt, who as secretary of Health and Human Services oversaw pandemic planning for President George W. Bush. "It's a substantially better picture than what we faced three years ago." <<

CNN: Pandemic: What would happen next?

Unable to find Telegraph: UK should expect swine flu cases

BBC: World moves to contain flu spread

>>

• Mexico: 103 dead - 20 confirmed to have died from swine flu, 18 confirmed ill with swine flu
• United States: 20 confirmed cases of swine flu
• Canada: 6 confirmed cases
• Spain: 1 confirmed case, 17 others being investigated
• UK, Israel, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand: suspected cases being tested. Suspected cases in France tested negative
<<

I just have to add that according to one of the articles she includes in this episode, it's not just "a couple of countries". According to her background material, there are only confirmed deaths in Mexico - but confirmed cases of the flu in Mexico, the US, Canada, and Spain - and other countries are testing suspected cases. While googling for one of the articles (from the Telegraph), I found numerous articles stating that cases had been found in the UK; specifically in Scotland.

But I do agree with her on the number of cases in her background material - I just don't think that it's enough to call it a pandemic (but feel welcome to correct me of you have official numbers on what it takes to call it so). In France, all of the suspected cases were tasted negative.

To be honest, I think it's best to be on the safe side. Of course, we COULD end up like France, having no cases where we thought we DID have cases - rather than the other way around. Rather safe than sorry. Still, it's been said that it's too productive to last for too long in many cases - so as long as we take care (washing hands, etc.), we will peobably last just a few minutes longer on this earth.

Blazing Saddles: Obama Edition

This is just too good!!!

If you have problems watching it, use this link.

Happy Birthday, Pops.

Happy 62. From here to where you are.

Food survey

This one is going 'round on AllRecipes.com...

1. How do you like your eggs?
Scrambled, hard boiled, or separated between a decent Carbonara and kransekage.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?
Well, I *WILL* need coffee and sugar in my foamed milk... (that's a Latte)
Black tea is with milk and sugar.
Herbal tea is straight.
So is oolong.
And my relationship with green and white teas is still too ambivalent to tell just yet...

3. Favorite breakfast food:
Mmmmmmm eggs & sausages *Homer-drool*

4. Peanut butter: Smooth or crunchy?
Crunchy

5. What kind of dressing on your salad?
A basic one - oil, lemon/vinegar, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper.

6. Coke or Pepsi?
Classic Coke. Doi.

7. You’re feeling lazy, what do you make?
Spaghetti with Irma's chili/tomato sauce.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
Pepperoni.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make?
Probably something with potatoes or my wok. Or a pasta dish from scratch.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories?
Oh yes - ris á l'amande; a kind of rice pudding served as the dessert on Christmas Eve in Denmark. Every year, my uncle claims that he will get the almond (and thus the gift) for sure, no questions asked. And then the almond is often hidden until all ris á l'amande is eaten - and then revealed.
Last year I got it, and for the first time I was able to hide it with noone discovering it.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories?
Caviar (and whatever looks and tastes like it, red or black). The first time I ate it, I vomited big time - and to this day I think that's the only thing I'm intolerant to, not being able to keep a straight face when swallowing (shaddap) - nor doing so without alcohol in the same mouthful.

12. Do any foods remind you of someone?
Oh yeah - a lot of foods reminds me of my dad or Jamie Oliver.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat?
Look at #11.

14. What was your favorite food as a child?
My mom's Spaghetti with Meatsauce (now I'm getting hungry).

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like?
I can deal with onions now.
Fish and olives are slowly growing on me (although none of them are on my favorite list as we speak).

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate?
I wouldn't say that I hate it - but I'm not eating as much meat now as I did back then (according to my mom's description, I think I looked like a wild child when eating meat back then).
But besides bacon, Danish meatballs (frikadeller), and stegt flæsk, I can't stand pork.

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable:
Avocado (yes, it's a fruit!) and tomato.

18. Favorite junk food:
A decent pizza (did anyone say Nino's Deli or Pizzaria Toscana?).

19. Favorite between meal snack:
I tend to be snacking on that plate of fruit until lunchtime - and then having liver paté on dark rye bred in the afternoon these days. Otherwise yoghurt or skyr.

20. Do you have any weird food habits?
I always seem to be stunning people when eating cheese on dark rye bread and a plate of fruit with my coffee in the morning. "You're so freakin' healthy!"

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?
Dark pasta, dark rye bread, Irma's chili/tomato sauce, seedles grapes, fruit in general.

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like?
Sodas, candy, and chocolate cake, regular pasta. But then again, I try not to do that, since I know that's the road to another diet.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?
Surprise me, and bring me some extra rolls if you see me crying.

24. Can I get you a drink?
Can I see the drink menu?

25. Red or White Wine?
White.

26. Favorite dessert?
The chocolate sufflé from the Italian place in Jerusalem.
Ris á l'amande (but only that once a year - or it takes away the magic!).

27. The perfect nightcap?
The red Caleb porto - ;) @ Brorsons