imartin2k

Creator of the list here. For some of the companies on the list the label "startup or scaleup" is debatable ofc. But I often find it not to be a clear-cut thing in those cases.

I tried to use a mix of "criteria" such as company age, whether it acts like a startup/scaleup (rapid innovation, invests heavily in growth, needs external funding to get going), whether it's covered intensely by the startup-focused tech media etc.

To me, Klarna ticks those boxes.

I am the creator of this list. I chose to exclude gaming studios, because I don't really cover them in the newsletter, and have not really any good overview of that sector either.

Agree. The typical pizza here is actually one of the worst things about Sweden. And the tradition of the "pizza salad" is the cherry on top, in a bad sense, so to speak. https://blogs.transparent.com/swedish/the-mysterious-swedish...

Have you tried “I Am That” by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj? That would probably be my choice, but it’s very related (Harris praises it too).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_That

As Sam Harris puts it: Meditation is the ability to not be lost in and identified with your thoughts, and to recognize when you are.

The scam is actually every second when one is not meditating. Most people most of the time live in an illusory dream world, lost in their thoughts, pushed around by those thoughts (often called “the ego”), and suffering due to them. Meditation means practicing to wake up from that illusory dream world, over and over again. And it can be done in every situation. The formal sitting down meditation is simply a process to develop, maintain and strengthen the habit.

It’s a great practice, which can both improve each moment (by realizing that each moment is actually as good as the next one, if one is simply aware instead of lost in thoughts) as well as build incremental long term resiliency against life’s adversities.

If you want to keep track of how the Klarna story evolves - and also other startup & tech news from Sweden - I allow myself to recommend my free newsletter http://www.swedishtechweekly.com.

I apologize for the spammy nature of this comment, but I know some of you will actually appreciate this one.

Nordic European winters are great for startup builders though :)

Yes. I couldn’t live without RSS (not writing code though).

If mindfulness is practiced with the goal to “ignore” feelings (as stated in the text) then the negative outcomes observed are expected. However, the much better (and more “authentic”) practice is to be with the emotions, to feel them completely, and to see whether they have messages. But yeah, that might be less of a “quick fix”, as being with uncomfortable emotions can be challenging - but also more rewarding in the long term - for oneself as well as others around oneself.

It's a total pyramid scheme. But it is somewhat interesting (in my opinion) because it incentives a behavior which is beneficial for its users (getting exercise).

So systems that make the use of drones unfeasible in a certain pre-defined area, e.g. by interfering with communication, should become a hit, too. If that's technologically possible.

I'm reading through the replies and find them strangely comforting. Seems like not worth the effort to prepare at all, but rather face and get comfortable with fears one might (or probably does) have about death.

If a nuclear war doesn't happen after all (which is the most likely outcome anyway even now), then one's life likely will take a dramatic turn, since one has faced and embraced the biggest fear there is.

Everybody is doing lots of mind reading when it comes to Putin. What the piece outlines though is that Putin didn’t have a big problem with the NATO expansion while it happened (provided that the depiction is factually correct ofc), while he clearly did have a problem with Ukraine becoming democratic and losing its pro Russia leadership. Also, as is explained, there was no risk whatsoever that Ukraine actually would have joined the NATO for the foreseeable future. To me, drawing the conclusions that the piece draws appears to be more than mind reading. It’s rather putting one and one together.

Correct. Sweden's strategy during the first 3 waves was largely a failure and human tragedy with way too many people ending up dead or in severe conditions in hospitals, until vaccines arrived. But for some reason, most Swedes are unable or unwilling to acknowledge this level of suffering that was brought onto the population (particularly onto older people and other vulnerable groups) and how the public was systematically mislead about the virus by the official channels, instead focusing on the more speculative suffering that they believe was avoided by abstaining from harder restrictions.

Also, he speaks German very well (he even talked German during parts of the 3 hr meeting with Germany’s chancellor last week), which means he has easy access to different viewpoints if he’d choose to read German media. Now I have no idea if he does or if this really is an argument against him being out of touch with reality. But it could be.

It’s extremely likely that a few weeks or months off (paid or unpaid) combined with therapy (to process everything that comes up) will do wonders to your well being, outlook and future goals. If you can afford it, do it.

Does this quote from Alan Watts help? “There’s nothing in your life that is supposed to happen. if you have no fixed view, you remain elastic.” My advice is to explore spiritual philosophies that focus on waking up from our constant thought world, and to realize that all this idea of where one is supposed to be in life at certain stages or ages, is just made-up mental load.

Soon Spotify will start to consider doing away with music altogether. It’s kind of funny that mainstream artists withdrawing their music actually improves Spotify’s financial situation (even though ofc what they need are lost of users who pay the monthly fee, but who mostly listen to podcasts - with a reduced music offering, it’s harder for Spotify to justify the current monthly subscription prices).

There is another Swedish guy, Hans Forsberg, who trained Eurasian Magpies (also corvid family) to pick up litter. He has lots of videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvmhl-E4QQ0

Isn’t that good for your wallet? 20 % saved (if you are in the US)

There was a time in the 90s when the West promised Russia not to expand the NATO closer towards its borders. Later the West forgot about it. As much as I’m critical about most things Russia, I believe it’s understandable and legitimate for Russia to push back. In my eyes, there should be room for an agreement which indeed maintains some kind a “buffer zone” between both blocks. And the West needs to stop pretending it’s only Russia who’s the faulty one here, in this specific issue.