nisse72

Mini tax table, for someone living in Stockholm (basic tax rates vary by local council):

  Gross: Net per month, SEK
  15000: 12408
  20000: 16080
  25000: 19753
  30000: 23424
  35000: 26931
  40000: 29827
  45000: 32334
  50000: 34842
  55000: 37220
  60000: 39374

Because many people responding seem to believe that there is no significant difference in salary between a barista and a doctor, here are some real numbers (monthly gross):

Barista: http://en-sv.statsskuld.se/lonestatistik/for-Barista-523/

GP: http://en-sv.statsskuld.se/lonestatistik/for-Husl%C3%A4kare-...

The median barista is earning somewhat better than a living wage. The median GP earns 53% more than the barista, and can probably afford a small house in a nice area. Also note that the 90th percentile barista still earns less than the 10th percentile GP. Even Swedens high, progressive taxes do not fully compensate for this difference.

(edit: english language links)

Could it be that it's not the sound itself but the association with lazy summer weekend afternoons, lawnmower in the distance, that is the relaxing part?

In the mid 90's, before Linux had gained any traction in corporate environments, IE was available for some flavours of Unix such as Solaris and HP-UX. In the Solaris shop I was working at the time, I remember we had a great laughs at the slogan they were using: "Bringing the internet to Unix". I don't believe it was particularly popular and it dissapeared quietly a few years later:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_for_UNIX

Exactly. Timing is everything:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110...

If you have to pay tax on your investment return but can't deduct the cost of your debt, then reducing the 6% debt is more akin to getting a guaranteed return of something like 9% (more or less, depending on tax rates where you live).

In Swedish, "brast" is the common and AFAIK only past tense of this word. Brista brast brustit.

Somewhat related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8005529

Here in Auckland, I think we only have those countdown timers at intersections where pedestrians can cross in all directions at the same time, so there are no cars speeding up to make the light, all of the cars are stopped.

Based on your username I'm guessing the country is Sweden. Which corporate conglomerate and which system are you referring to? Telia e-legitimation? BankID?

Not sure about the others, but the Kiwis certainly have been appealing the government to stop spying, and questioning New Zealand's role in 5 eyes:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objecti...

CN? When did China join 5 eyes?

And 40 years later, still no IKEA in New Zealand.

My TV is a Nokia "fat screen", bought in Stockholm some time in the late 90's. Where I live now, people only know their cellphones and don't believe it's "that" Nokia who made my TV :)

I believe the biggest danger with speeding is related to the speed difference between various vehicles on the road, than the actual speed itself. So what you're suggesting would make it more dangerous, not less, with different groups of vehicles moving at significantly different speeds than others they're sharing the road with.

edited to add: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve

I was thinking about those "kn" words a few months ago and sat down with a dictionary to see how many there were. I think there were about 20 or so common ones, and every single one has a cognate in Swedish that starts with an audible k, and same for words like gnat. I wonder why English has dropped that sound. Are there exceptions?

Maybe it's a central Stockholm thing, I don't really know. And I certainly didn't mean to imply that it was common, I only noticed it now and then and vaguely recall some mention of it on P1 Språket or in the newspaper, that it seemed to be making a return.

I've only ever known du, would never use ni except for a group, and feel odd being called ni myself. Not insulted mind you, closest I can describe it is like when a small child refers to you as "that man" but you're only 16 or 17. :)

Ok, did some googling...

This from P1 Språket says that it wasn't a trend in 2004 (but then why were they asking?): http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=411&arti...

And this blog from 2008, in response to a column in DN that I can't find in their archive: http://lingvistbloggen.ling.su.se/?p=352

And finally this in DN from 2013: http://www.dn.se/insidan/fjask-eller-respekt-ar-du-pa-vag-at...

So trend or not, it certainly seems to be a recurring topic of discussion in Sweden!

Swedish has du (singular) and ni (plural). Prior to the "du-reform" in the late 1960's however, ni was also used as a formal singular form, but for the last 40 or so years the formal form has been dropped, leaving ni for plural only. In fact many older people would find it mildly insulting to be addressed singular ni today.

Of course there are a few exceptions, most notably when addressing members of the royal family. If you ever get to speak with one of them, the correct way is to address them by title, in third person ("would her majesty like fries with that?").

Around 8 or 10 years ago I started to notice a trend, particularly among younger people (in their late teens maybe), typically working in shops and cafes, who started once again to use singular ni with customers, but I haven't lived in Sweden for several years now and don't know if that's continued. I hope not!

One could ask the same thing about Guantanamo. If those people are sufficiently dangerous that it's necessary to keep them imprisoned for 12 years (and counting), then the least they should expect is to be charged with something and tried for it.

Apparently cheese is so expensive in Canada that there are (profitable!) cheese smuggling rings:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19751695

When I worked in Stockholm, I had a few colleagues who preferred to take a large portion of their generous (32 day) annual holiday in february or so and go someplace warm. Working through the summer is not unpleasant: the pace is slower, the office is quiet, the evenings are long, and you could still have a week or two off.

You mean, like this one?

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/prosecute-director...

If you'd been travelling with SJ (Swedish railway) you could have chosen a quiet section, where cell phones are expected to be turned off and even conversations are discouraged.

http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en

No worries, they might win again the following week!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6202...

Finding a rental apartment in Stockholm can be a nightmare unless you're happy commuting from the distant suburbs. It can take many years (even decades) of queuing to get something within the central city ("inom tullarna"), and there is a large black market where rental contracts are sold. You might be able to find sublets, which tend to be for short times only (typically less than 2 years) and even then, competition can be tough unless you know someone looking for a tenant. If you're not in a position to buy, I'd strongly suggest you get your employer to help you find a place to live, or perhaps even rent it for you.

That said, Stockholm is a great city and I'd jump at the opportunity.

Of course, when they decided to release "Internet Explorer for Unix" (IIRC, for SunOS and HPUX) in about 1997, coming late didn't prevent them from marketing it with a widely ridiculed phrase along the lines of "Bringing the Internet to Unix".

On Linux at least (not sure about OpenBSD), every open file has a name somewhere in /proc, so you could pass that.

I seem to remember a case, possibly in Sweden in the late 90's or early 00's, where a woman was unable to call an ambulance for her husband who was having a heart attack, because of an incoming caller who had not hung up properly (or something along those lines). After some panic I think she ran to a neighbours house where she was able to make the call.

If I remember the story correctly, this resulted in some debate followed by a law change, such that now if the called party hangs up, you have only a few seconds before the connection is broken.

I don't know how it went for the husband though...

I'm inclined to suggest that secret laws are themselves a symptom of an already corrupt government, and simply open the door to further corruption.

I understand that money never needs to cross borders. But presumably this only works when there are enough local senders of money to offset the "incoming" funds to be collected by local recipients.

My question was what happens if, for example, people in Helsinki are always only recipients? The Finnish branch of the organisation is providing them with Euros, but if there are no Finnish senders of money (or more likely: the Finns as a group simply don't send as much as they receive) where do the Euros come from?

I suppose the system only works as long as the net sum of all transactions arriving (+) and departing (-) any given location is zero in the long term. But I can imagine there are locations that are net payers and others that are net receivers of money. What happens then, to settle the difference?