Winterfest today

 Woot what a line-up Mid has tonight!

Taxi to the event here

Hilarious

I haven't had so much fun for a long time as when I read another Scandinavian blog this morning.

The poor blogger had somehow read herself into my post about multiple Lucia pageants in SecondLife and felt maltreated.

All I can say is that I didn´t give that particular blogger a single thought yesterday when I was writing the post, except to get the picture to illustrate the Second Norway pageant.

That only goes to show, if you have a bad conscience about something you are not an objective reader and read yourself into stuff you are not involved in.

I must say I really, really love the picture she found to illustrate her post with though (I am reusing it here), but she has always been great at that too.

P.S. To my joy I have noticed that the blogs I was referring to in yesterdays post, have today acknowledged the fact that there is another Lucia pageant in their posts although they still carefully avoid to mention it is on the Embassy.

Let me just state that the fact that a few of you have a very strained relationship with the caretaker on the Embassy sims, Ms PetGirl Bergman, should not refrain you from mentioning the Embassy or the Embassy pageant. Ms. Bergman has a very small role in the pageant this year and all the rest of us walking in the pageant still have - to the best of my knowledge - friendly relations with all the rest of you.

Good Gods Club Reopens tonight

Sexy DJ Apollon Allen will be playing for you at the new venue tonight at 2 pm SLT (thats 23.00 EMT) until he or you drop, whichever comes first...

You know you need to shake your ass, so get it over there. By the way Iendi is promising to take us all to the Grenouille Inn for bardancing before her hubby passes out so just be there.

As you may already know Apollon is co-owner of the OneLove Events with the beautiful Iendi Allen.

Your limousine is waiting to take you to the party here.

Language Tracking

My friend Apmel Goosson had a post on his blog a few days ago showing the languages that readers of his blog speak.


I checked my numbers the same day but somehow neglected to post it, so here goes!

Multiple Lucia Pageants in SecondLife

It saddens me greatly to see that so many of the other Scandinavian SecondLife blogs are pretending that the Swedish Embassy´s Lucia pageant does not exist by calling it "another event" or even "another possible event".

I will rise above this childish and petty rivalry and tell you about them all (as I have done before).

If there are any more that I do not know about yet please inform me and I will be happy to mention those also. I have no qualms about mentioning other pageants and wish them all the best of luck!

As I have told you early on the Swedish Embassy in SecondLife will for the fifth consecutive year have its traditional Lucia pageant on Sunday December 12th, 2010, at 11 am and 1 pm, this year under the leadership of yours truly.

This is the official and oldest Lucia pageant in SecondLife.

There will also be a Lucia pageant by the Swedish group at Tara Hill the same day at 1:30 pm.

Our Scandinavian friends in Second Norway will have a Lucia pageant - on the correct date - Monday December 13th, 2010, at 11 am.









The more the merrier, I say, just as in real life!

Ban Against Niqāb Is Discrimination

The Swedish Ombudsman against discrimination (DO), Mrs. Katri Linna, this week finally published her long-awaited ruling in a case where a Swedish school wished to ban a student for wearing a niqāb.

A general ban on students to attend classes wearing the niqāb is contrary to the Discrimination Act, the ombudsman found. 
 
The notifier in this case is a young Muslim woman who, for religious reasons, wears the niqāb, a garment that hides the face except the eyes. In January 2009 she began a one-year child caring education at a school in Stockholm. The school has a policy that forbids students from wearing clothing that covers the face. The woman was told she could not attend the program as long as she wore the niqāb. She then made a complaint to the DO.

Stockholm City justified its ban by the educational and social reasons and the need to identify persons who are in school. When the woman reported the school to the DO the school agreed that she would be allowed to remain in education until the DO reached a decision on the matter.

"Since A, despite the ban has been attending training, it is not obvious that there is a disadvantage according to the anti-discrimination law. The issue addressed in the case concerns a limited number of women and in the few cases where the matter has been raised it seems the schools have been able to find practical solutions in accordance with the anti-discrimination law's intentions.

DO therefore chooses not to pursue the matter to court for judicial review.As ombudsman against discrimination, I am worried about the acrimony and the simplifications that have characterized the debate about the niqab. Many have wished to exclude women who wear it from participating in training courses, from the perspective that the niqab is an expression of women's oppression and must be fought.

The protection of everyone's basic rights is one of the foundations of our democracy. Unlike other countries who through prohibitions or commands seek to direct  the citizens into a particular religious or non-religious direction, Sweden has chosen to uphold the democratic principle of the individuals free will to express or not to express their religious beliefs.

As ombudsman against discrimination I choose the principle to protect all womens and mens equal rights and opportunities and I do so based on the framework set by Parliament for our society.

To exclude women wearing the niqab from education does not promote their or other women's equality.

Disrespect towards women is expressed in many ways in all cultures, such as through the sexualization of women's bodies, or by referring women to manage home and children. But such expressions cannot be eliminated by isolating individual women from basic arenas in society.

I believe instead that education can be a platform for women to continue to develop and shape their own choices. Education is the basis for access to employment and thus access to a social context outside the home and the opportunity to support themselves. Education is a key to the closed doors that still exclude women and slow the progression towards full equality.

This long-term effort should include all women, regardless of their religious belief and choice of clothing."

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The cute young men from the American TV-show "Glee", Darren Criss and Chris Colfer, in another wonderful interpretation of a golden oldie.

It´s strange really, contrary to the prejudice I am a gay man that loathes operas, operettas or musicals or anything else where people burst out into song for no apparent reason, but like this - song by song - I find it quite entertaining.




Sony blocked this video on YouTube, but I found it again at GleeonFox. Bite me Sony!