Church Elections in Sweden

In Sweden we have church elections on the 20th of September. This means that everybody that is a member of the Swedish Church has a chance to decide who will lead the Swedish church. "Representatives are elected directly to the Parish Assembly or Parish Council in parishes, to the Association Vestry in an association of parishes, to the Diocesan Council in dioceses and to the General Synod at the national level." (taken from svenskakyrkan).

People that know me will of course ask themselves why the heck I'm blogging about this since I'm most definitely not a church goer nor am I a believer but something that might be less well known is that I, just like a large majority of other Swedes, am still a member of the Swedish Church. We are about 9 million people living in Sweden and out of those 9 million over 5.5 million are a member of our church. One reason for this is most likely that when you are baptised in Sweden you automagically become a member of the church and in 2007 the number of children that were baptised were record breaking low but that still meant that 62.3% (link in Swedish) of the children were baptised. So while a majority of us are still becoming members (most likely because our parents think the cermony around the baptism is nice) most of us can't be arsed to leave the church or have other reasons for not wanting to leave it. Personally I don't believe in god nor a higher power but I do believe in heritage and history and my member fee that I pay through my tax because I'm a member goes to pay for the upkeep of all the churches we have around the country and it also pays a bit towards my grave for when that day comes. Not that I think I need a grave personally but since I enjoy visiting graves of my relatives that has passed away to reminisce about them I want people that I leave behind to have the ability to do the same in case they would like to. But I digress.

So why am I writing about this? Well it's as simple as that I watched the news this morning and they were talking about how few of the 5+ million people that are allowed to vote in the election actually do vote. I only found numbers from Lund where apparently only 11% of the people allowed to vote actually voted last time around (article in Swedish). The news this morning interviewed a priest and asked him why he thought so few people took part in the elections and he thought it's because people think the church is old, stuffy and boring. Others that participate in the elections seem to think that people in general think it's to political so they have formed sections that don't have any political ties what so ever and run in the church elections with those. Both of these things might help get more people involved in the church elections for all that I know but for me personally it won't make a difference at all. The only reason I don't vote in the church elections is that I just don't care. I'm all for keeping our old churches that has been around for hundreds of years (some getting close to a thousand years old, like this one) because they are a part of our history and our culture. But other than that they can do what ever they want in those buildings for all that I care. If they want to have rave parties in churches then go right ahead, if they want to have one priest that get all the money that are left over after the upkeep on the buildings are paid then go right ahead. The day that the churches fall apart and the priests grow to fat is the day I'll start caring about what they do and then I'll most likely work for the abolishment of the Swedish church and having the government take over as the caretaker of the Swedish churches. I will most definitely not start going to church just because you try to make it less old and stuffy, actually come to think of it that might even make me less inclined to go to church. Church to me has nothing to do with beliefs but a lot to do with traditions. And I don't mind saying a few prayers in church for the sake of tradition but I will most definitely not stand around and sing new cool tunes and I don't go to church to watch theatre ... I hardly go do theatres either for Christ sake.

So bottom line Swedish church, you don't want me to vote in your election so stop asking me to because you might end up making me not wanting to be a member just because you successfully pissed me off.

15 year old collapses while playing WoW

This past weekend a Swedish 15 year old boy collapsed in his home (or his parents home rather) after playing WoW for about 24 hours straight. He was brought to hospital and found to suffer from sleep deprivation and malnutrition. Here is a link to the Swedish newspaper 'Dagens Nyheter' that runs the story.

Now as a gamer myself I really have to ask, what the hell is wrong with his parents? To me it seems like they have failed with teaching the boy the simple art of staying alive. How hard is it to remember to drink and eat really? I have myself had sessions in front of the screen that has lasted for more than 24 hours and I have gamed so much that I have lost my appetite but I have never once collapsed or been in danger of it for the simple reason that even if I'm not hungry I know to eat and drink just because of the simple fact that I like living more than I like gaming. That does not mean I'm a fatty either, I'm about 185 cm short and weigh in at about 80 Kg. So it's not like I shovel in food while I game I do however stop to get to the kitchen and grab some food or drink.

Now I do realize that a game like WoW can be addictive and I do realize that a lot of people can have trouble detaching themselves from these games (it has been argued that I have had such problems). Also the research into how these games affect us are not really done but it would not surprise me if there is a chemical released by our body that affects us pretty much like a drug. But it still amazes me that you can go to the point of almost killing yourself just by sitting to long on your behind and looking at a screen. Actually that would be a lie, I do understand how and why that could happen but a 15 year old boy that does not seem to suffer from any sort of illness or anything like that. How does that happen?

This might all seem a bit harsh but for a person that has not been down the road of long gaming sessions. But if you have read about people dropping dead or collapsing because of gaming and do not understand it then I just want to say that I do not either and I am a gamer that periodically play so much that it would probably be considered unhealthy.

On an other note, the new WoW expansion (Wrath of the Lich King) has already been played through by a European raid guild. The content of the expansion will take most people months to go through and many of the WoW subscribers will never even finish the new raid instances. The guild, that is so far called, 'TwentyFifthNovember' went through the new instances within 68 hours and 30 minutes after release of the expansion. One can only assume that these people has also burned the light at both ends.

Bloody nagging Facebook ads

Ok, so I get it. I am alone. Every time I login to Facebook I'm met by the question 'Alone?' from some bleedin' ad. Yes I am alone, does not mean I'm lonely though so stop bugging me already.

I do understand that Facebook need to have ads, capitalism and all that, but if they don't want people to stop visting the thing they should either allow you to just remove the ads or cycle them more or something to stop the same ones show up every time.

So Facebook, yeah I'm alone, what is it to you?

Punk rockers don't have no flowers in their hair

Ok, I know this tune isn't really new or anything but I was just sitting around browsing the genre Punk on YouTube and stumbled on Sandi Thom's 'I Wish I was a Punk Rocker' and so I watched it. In all honesty I do like the tune but what the *insert strong word here* is up with the lyrics? She sings and I quote "I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair ...". I have to admit that I wasn't a punk rocker during the age of Punk but I have both seen and known a few late 80s early 90s punk rockers and from what I know about that particular genre of music and life style the only way a punk rocker would get flowers in their hair would be if they fell alseep in a garden and the flowers got stuck in their hair.

To me it seems more like Thom is mashing the hippies (and the anti-war demonstrations from the late 60s and early 70s) together with the Punks just to get a cool sounding lyric or even just to get to the title of the tune. Not that I really mind but at the same time it just seems wrong to me. Possibly because I still have my heart and soul in the Punk genre even though I've never looked like one.

Edit:
I've been corrected by Jeffrey Lewis.

The Annoyance of bad packages

Why is it that every food item or candy ever produced was wrapped in packages designed by morons?

I don't know how often I've had to tear packages apart violently out of frustration because it's absolutely impossible to open them where it says they should be open. Take the above candy wrapper as an example. You see down to the right where it's clearly pointed out that that is where the package should be opened? Guess what? Yep, of course the package isn't perforated or even weakened there so it's easier to just tear in to the package at the middle since there at least you can get hold of enough of it to get a good grip. I guess the name of the candy should be a clue really (it's a Break in case you don't see it).

It's the same with almost every food item ever produced. Most of them you end up using a knife or scissors on even though it clearly says "rip here". Actually come to think of it I might have overstated it a bit, I actually ate a candy bar the other day that was very easy to open so obviously every food package designer out there isn't a moron. Which just makes things even more annoying since if some are able to come up with a smart solution why doesn't the rest of the business use it too?

If I were religious I'd guess that it was the devil that came up with all these bad package designs since there can't really be an easier way to cause more anger in the world with less effort. Brilliant Mr. Devil, you win again.

What is politics good for ...

... when religion controls the world?

I watched a video on Youtube the other day, it was an act by Marcus Brigstocke concerning religion. While it was funny it also got me thinking, which I'm sure was also one of Brigstocke's goals when he made the thing. While thinking is usually something that I detest and that makes my head hurt it made me rather sad actually this time. Because the more I thunk about religion and the fact that the great star of democracy called US of A just barely drag itself into the land of democracy these days when they climb over the great 50% threshold of people participating in the election, I came to the conclusion that it's no real bloody point to the whole thing.

Bare with me here for a second (or ten), I vote and I participate in the democratic process in my own country and I hate when people say that there isn't any point to go to the urns because it doesn't really matter who is in power since we are going to have just about the same government anyway. While this is more true for USA than my own country it still isn't an excuse for not voting in my opinion. If you don't participate you can't sit around and complain either and since I love complainin' I'm also votin' ;)

So what do I mean when I say that there is no point? Well, lately I've come to the conclusion that no matter what cool ideas our politicians come up with it's all going to come down to religion in the end any way. Today we, in the west, live in a rather un-religious world but many parts of it is still controlled by the religious ethics and rhetoric and so no matter what great strategy we come up with in the end there is always going to be a bloody religious nut standing in the way of progress and peace.

So there you have it good folks, if there is something we really should work towards it's the abolishment of religion and then we can start thinking about political agendas because not until then will there be any point to doing something about the political aspect of things. Until we have a world that isn't controlled by religious believes I'll just quote Rage Against the Machine, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" and keep living with respect of my fellow man but kick against the pricks.

/Peace

Avril Lavigne, the spoiled brat

I have to admit that once upon a time I really liked Avril's music and considering I'm a sucker for the Punk genre I also liked the attitude she was selling her music with. But I haven't been blind to the reports over the years about her behaviour, earlier I just blew it off as immature but considering she now is over 23 that can't really be done any more.

I recently read an article in the Globe and Mail about her that is well funny. It is a well written piece about her as a person and quite frankly I'm a bit surprised that the kids are still interested in defending her behaviour. It's one thing to kick the media, the industry and what ever else kind of establishment with some sort of power over things but to sign your autograph as eff you and spit and scream at your fans is just not acceptable. It's not cool, it's not rock and roll and it's not fucking funny. If you can't be nice to your fans, the very people that made your life what it is, then you don't deserve what you have. What you do deserve though is empty arenas, people trashing you all over the internet, no more sold albums and nobody shouting your name (since she apparently thinks that's cool).

So Avril, go fuck yourself will you. You once had a chance to be somebody but now you are just a fucking brat that deserve all the shit that you get.