Charlie's Caviar - A Very Swedish Taste

A reporter at the New York Times once described this Swedish delicacy like this: "Made from cod roe, it is squeezed out of what looks like a bright blue toothpaste tube and should not be confused with fine Russian caviar. Swedes love it, but for the rest of us, it can be hard to swallow, unless a salty and fishy pinkish goo appeals to you."

I use it on eggs, instead of salt, To be honest I use it on every kind of bread made by man just because it's so delicious. It is true, Swedes love it - whether we are 5 or 95 years old. We only seem to share this acquired taste with Norwegians and Finns, while the rest of the world frown or gag after tasting it. 

However, you really should try it, especially with eggs. If you don't live in Sweden, Norway or Finland, you can get it at any IKEA near you, or in specialized stores.

The following videos shows you how Kalles Kaviar was received in Los Angeles, Costa Rica and lastly by Swedish tourists in New York (where they complain about only getting two servings)

Bock & The Russians (Updated)

I am probably a Russophobe. I have a profound and insistent belief that president Vladimir "Little Father" Putin, his fanboy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and the rest of the present Russian leadership wish to expand the Russian hegemony over their neighboring countries (like Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic states and also Sweden).

Trump & Putin by Liutauras Strimaltis

In 2013 the (then) Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces admitted that in 2023 Sweden would not be able to defend itself longer than seven days against a concerted attack by an enemy (and "an enemy" for your information is Swedish code for the Russians) against any given target, until 2023 the time frame was shorter.

The Russian people, as a collective, seem to share the notion of being Biggest, Best and Most Beautiful with a god given or historical right to subjugate the rest of the world, much like the Americans today. (Just as the British and French people in the 18th and 19th centuries and perhaps also the Swedish people - in the time of our former glory - in the 15th and 16th centuries.)

Although Sweden has never been a part of any alliance, our defense policy has hitherto always relied on an intervention by NATO in the event we were attacked. Our defense policy has been built upon the reliance that we only need to see to it that an enemy cannot just roll in over us without expecting any losses or delays until the NATO - in it's own interest - would come to Sweden's protection if nothing other than keeping a buffer between NATO and the Russians.

After Trump's victory in the presidential election that defense policy is being jettisoned, because president-elect Trump is perceived as not abiding by formerly accepted rules, seems disinterested in in NATO and is a fan of Putin. So as a result we are now getting signals that the Swedish defense budget must be severely increased.
---
Update, later the same day
The more I think about it, the more absurd it seems for a country consisting of some nine million inhabitants to keep up a defense against a country with 146+ million inhabitants.

Perhaps we should do as the Danish populist politician Mogens Glistrup (1926-2008) once suggested, that we replace our defense ministry and weapons with an answering machine that says "We surrender!", in Russian of course.

The Russians Are Here - Again!

Throughout the centuries my country, Sweden, has - due to it's precarious geopolitical position - had an eternally suspicious attitude towards our immense neighbor to the east.

This situation was aggravated after Sweden lost it's position as one of the major powers in Europe in the 18th century and especially after the Swedish-Russian war ended in 1809, with Sweden proper losing a third of the realm (Finland) to Russia.

King Charles XII (1682-1718) pointing to
the East to tell us from where the enemy
will come.

Depending on who the rulers in Russia have been the situation has been better or worse, but the suspicion has always been there. Whenever we think of the risk of war or aggression, we look to the East.

Since the cold war the official defense policy of Sweden can be summed up in the phrase "non-alignment in peace aiming at neutrality in war".

That policy has served us well for half a century, but it seems to be losing support as we see the Russians, under the present president Vladimir "Little Father" Putin, becoming increasingly aggressive and militant towards it's neighbors.

During the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's Sweden has had it's territorial borders violated repeatedly by Soviet Union/Russian submarines or or other submersibles.

Once one of them even ran aground in the archipelago of Karlskrona in the south of Sweden and created an international incident.

The "Whiskey on the rocks"-incident. 

"Soviet submarine S-363 was a Soviet Navy Whiskey-class submarine of the Baltic Fleet, which became famous under the designation U 137 when it ran aground on October 27, 1981 on the south coast of Sweden, approximately 10 km from Karlskrona, one of the larger Swedish naval bases. U137 was the unofficial Swedish name for the vessel, as the Soviets considered names of most of their submarines to be classified at the time and did not disclose them. The ensuing international incident is often referred to as the Whiskey on the rocks incident." Wikipedia

At this very moment a search is yet again going on, this time in the Stockholm archipelago, for what is suspected to be another Russian submersible.
---

I am sad to admit that, like many other Swedes, I am increasingly leaning towards a change of our present defense policy and I am starting to believe in the necessity for us to apply for membership in NATO in the immediate future.

Tom of Finland Stamps

Image: Itella Posti Oy

The Finnish postal service Itella is to release a set of stamps commemorating Tom of Finland. Itella says it wants to celebrate the iconic artist’s ‘proud homoeroticism’.

Artist Touko "Tom of Finland" Laaksonen's (1920-1991) erotic art is of great importance for the modern gay culture. His themes usually represent leather clad bikers or sailors, often involved in sexual acts. 

The three stamps motifs are based on two drawings by Tom of Finland, and represent the artist's characteristic muscular male figures. The motifs were selected by graphic designer Timo Berry.

"The sheet (of three stamps) portrays a sensual life force and being proud of oneself. There is never too much of that in this northern country," said Berry in an Itella press release.

The stamps are to be released in September and will be available for purchase at the Finnish postal service's online shop.

Source: Itella Oy webpage

Americans and Firearms

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The second amendment to the United States Constitution (Bill of Rights, adopted 1791)
----

The poster above and the information below are from the Brady Campaign's website. The numbers and statistics are from 2010.

Gun Murders by Country
In one year, guns murdered 17 people in Finland, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 194 in Germany, 200 in Canada, and 9,484 in the United States.

The United States has weak gun laws. The other countries have strong gun laws. 

Gun Murders by Country and Population SizeWhen the countries are compared on the basis of firearm homicides per 100,000 population, the United States remains an outlier.

In one year, the U.S. firearm homicide rate was:

• 5 times that of Canada
• 10 times that of Finland
• 13 times that of Germany
• 19 times that of Australia
• 24 times that of Spain.
• 44 times that of England and Wales

A 2010 study affirmed this pattern: U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than 22 other populous, high-income countries combined. For a summary of the study, see: http://bradycampaign.org/studies/view/191.

Guns Used in Crime = More Deaths
Research indicates that the overall rate of crime in the United States is comparable to the rates in other developed countries (see Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America). However, in part because of our weak gun laws, guns are used more often in crimes in the United States than in other countries, which means that more people die. This partly explains why, even when our homicide rates are low by historical U.S. standards, they still are far higher than comparable countries.

We Can Do Better 
The U.S. needs to do a better job of protecting its citizens from the dangers of guns by making it harder for dangerous people to get guns. We can start by requiring Brady criminal background checks for gun sales, including those at gun shows. Join us in this fight. Lives are at stake. Go to www.bradycampaign.org and sign up today!
---
Addendum 12/16/2012, 05:50 PM
My initial reaction to such tragedies as the Newtown killing spree is always an utter disbelief that such a thing can happen and a then a deep sadness for the fate of the victims, their families and yes -  often enough also - for the perpetrators and their families. The initial shock is then followed by a longer lasting anger and passion concerning how something like this can happen and how we must act to stop it from ever happening again.

It seems like an open and shut case that these killings occur with such regularity in the U.S.A. due to the lack of political will to regulate the owning and selling of firearms, handguns and semiautomatic weapons.

How the American judiciary and politicians (historically and to this day) could interpret the second amendment in such a way as it is implemented today is a complete mystery to me.

I Received Email Also

Today I received an email from my family in Finland.

I did not see it at first because it had been swallowed by my spam-filter. I really should have trusted my well trained filter and let it stay there, but my curiosity got the better of me when i saw the name of the sender, alas.

Let me just say that two men in Finland can count themselves as very fortunate, because the only thing stopping me from posting the video contained in the e-mail is my consideration for the delicate olfactory senses of my highbrow readership.

Lesson in Geography

Sweden and Finland highlighted

When I was talking with my brother in-law Dejerrity yesterday we somehow slipped into the unusual subject of geography.

Dej told me he new where Finland was because "the country looks like a penis".

I had to correct him of course, and informed him that the penis is in fact Sweden while Finland is the ball sack, or as the Urban Dictionary describes it "the hairy, hangy; unusual, disfigured sack that hangs precariously from a penis". I also told him that in first life I live way down south at the tip of the penis "where the external urethral orifice is normally placed" or words to that effect.

When teaching someone anything it is always an excellent idea to use images you and they are familiar with. Dej and I both know penises well.

Fatherly Advice

My son Guyke is going to Finland - again - to meet up with his man Janttu.

I don´t trust the boy to pack correctly for the trip and am not sure he really understands everything he should know about Finns and their barbaric customs.

So here are a few hints on some essentials.

What to pack

1. Loads of clean underwear. You don´t know when you get a chance to wash and I don´t want to hear you were in an accident wearing filthy underwear.

2. Lots of clean flannel shirts. I think thats what they wear mostly, as they all live isolated out in the deep forests close to a lake somewhere in the wilderness. (There are tens of thousands of lakes in Finland.)

3. Socks. You need to keep your feet warm at all times.

4. A fur coat. Baby, it´s still very cold there I don´t want you to catch pneumonia.

5. Condoms. For those "really cold nights and days" this is added protection. You can share with Janttu - and by that I mean give hi m his own, don´t try to use the same one. 

6. Elbow grease. I don´t want to hear that you have been walking around in the wilderness with chafed elbows and dry skin. Apply some on your lips too, it keeps them shiny and gives you a winning smile.

Remember to always moisturize, thats what keeps us McMillan men always looking good.


You have heard about saunas I am sure, but the Finnish saunas are not like the ones you have encountered in the seedy Belgian gay clubs. People behave properly there, no hanky panky!

This is what you need when going into a Finnish sauna. A bunch of twigs to beat off the guys molesting you or trying to fondle you. Just smack them and if they complain about it you just go ahead and tell them "My daddy told me so!".

You also need a small bucket of very cold water, which you can use to cool down the really bad boys.

Towels are optional and are mostly used to sit on so you don´t burn your buns. Never ever wear a bathing suit in the sauna, thats an absolute and definite no-no and may get you thrown out head first.

And this is how you sit in a real Finnish sauna, no staring around or exposing yourself flamboyantly or any such behavior. Look serious and morose, talk very little and - for the love of me - keep your hands to yourself!

Have a great time Guyke, and see you again soon!

Janttu, I will smack your sweet ass if my son has lost a single hair on his body or if you send him home to me barefooted and pregnant.