It’s happening more and that the owners of blog communities and other social networks are censoring material. Not just inapproriate material but things that they seem to think do not belong.

Community censorship

Did you know that Digg.com the popular news voting site has allowed it membership to remove any blog or news item concerning search engine optimisation? How hypocrytical can you get? They pose themeselves as an alternative news and information source but go out and start censoring things not because they are illegal but because they just don’t like it.

Six Apart the company that runs Live Journal has started banning members and their blogs. They will not even discuss the material and the reasons behind the censorship.

Metrobloggen will start

This is one of the dangers of using  a website like Metrobloggen as versus having your own WordPress installation on a webhost. You never know when policies that never were there before will be set by some employee or volunteer. Poof your whole blog is gone and you have to start over. Rest assured that I will be making backups of my post from now on.

During a routine blog post about updates and improvements, Brokep, one of the administrators of The Pirate Bay officially announced the opening of the forum a few minutes ago on the TPB blog. This means that you can get help and information from those closest to the Pirate Bay action.

A Big Community

I am really interested in seeing what software these guy are going to use. The SuprNova community which they are going to base the new community on had 300,000+ users. A good part of the memebership was active online. This means some heavy server activity and a really robust froum script will be necessary to puul this off.  At present about 1400 members are signed up but this could explode into thousands in a very short time as the word gets out. The new community is called SuprBay.

There are probably several professional bloggers here at metroblogger. Question: Do you think you need a Union?. After all you are getting paid (well some are) and Sweden is one of those countries most known for it unionized labor. But let’s be real, a labor union for people that are inspired by freedom of thought and speech is ridiculous.

Professionalism

To say that bloggers need to be respected for their professionalism is an arguement that does not hold water. The main reason that blogging is as popular and a growing as it is is because anyone can do it. If you start with ”professionalism” then the next thing is testing and schools. We already have that for writers. Bloggers are not writers. They are everyday people. Some are better at blogging than others but this does not stop them from becoming bigtime.

Join the Writers Guild

If you think that you are so professional and your livelyhood depends on your blogging then you might consider joining any one of the many writers guilds and other organizations. But a union is pure stupidity.

A small out break of hoof-and-mouth diseased cattle may cause the banning of beef from the U.K. on Monday. Experts are having trouble locating the exact source of the infection but suspect a local research facility.

Where it Happened

Cattle on a farm outside Wanborough, 30 miles southwest of London, tested positive for the disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, pigs and goats. Though It does not affect humans. All livestock at the farm were slaughtered Saturday, as well as animals at a second farm nearby.

Already Banned

Because of mad cow disease the U.S and Japan have already banned British pigs and pork products. The EU is likely to ban British livestock imports on Monday following a meeting.

Open U.K. Electorinics Shipping

I just bet that the U.K. is going to want to be exporting something to other countries to compensate for the losses. They can start with electronics. Or perhaps there is some rampant viruses runing through British electronic exports?

Scientist in a new study have found that eating a good meal cause more harm to the global environment than driving. Because there is no controls on the effects of food production it has become the number one cause of plutatnts like CO_2.

Cow Farts are Not Alone

The production of beef and milk products now cause more problems for the environment than the methane that cows release. Organic cows fart more because of their diets. Things like paperbags have become more poluting than platic bags because the weight more and cause more polutants to be released during transport.

Eating Less is Green

Not is eating less better for you but it has now become more environmentally friendly. Driving less might not be so effective if you sit around shoveling kilos of meat in to your face. Execising in moderation is good. But too much execise means having to replace the proteins and nutriets in the body with more than is actually necessary for satisfaction and survival. Food production rates are increasing for the parts of the world that really could go on a diet. But one real concern is how would shipping  tons of food to desperate nations effect the worlds environment?

Soylent Green is People

The old movie about how in the future we might be killling each other off to provide food for the rest of the population may come true. If we don’t start keeping track of food production and transport we may be killing people to ensure the survival of others. 

The Swedish file sharing website Pirate Bay is looking to expand. They will re- open a well established BitTorrent site SuprNova.org. Previously SuprNove.org was plagued by legal matters. Pirate Bay is no stranger to legal battles and has promised to reopen the community with all of it’s proevious glory.

Cannons ’r Ready

This is a blow to the American film and music industry as they have been trying to put Pirate Bay out of action for years. The only thing they have managed to do is to add money in to the treasure chests of the Pirates. Now the pirates are taking their booty and adding new ships to their fleet.

Still a Hobby

Regardless of all the noteriety the Pirate Bay Crew still only thinks of the website as a hobby. They told news.com that the hobby also seems to take second place after their real passion which is collecting blondes and partying.

The New Vikings?

Hobby or not the Pirate Bay seems to be a reminder of the days of the Vikings where no countries borders could stop them from plundering and pilaging. The growing statistics of Pirate Bay are proof that they are on the verge or running amok. They are out to make a point about file sharing and freedom and are well on their way with the support of millions of user and dollars.

While researching around for evidence of why the U.K. does not ship electronics to Sweden I found this. Which a good reason for the U.K. to be pissed off enough to stop all trade with Sweden

Sweden vs. U.K. Night Clubs

You would think that buying goods online within the E.U. would be easy. But it seems that U.K. citizens and businesses are all about talk. They only want to take the benfits and not share them with the other E.U. country citizens.

O.K. for the U.K.

If you are buying electronics via Amazon.co.uk or even privately through Ebay.co.uk you will find that you cannot get them to ship to Sweden and other E.U. countries. The reason for this is unkwown to me and after some investigation I have come up with no good legal or moral reason for the situation. In some cases I have managed to have private persons ship purchases to Sweden and to the U.S. but businesses located within the borders of the U.K. absolutely refuse to do so. Surprisingly none of them can even give a good reason for not allowing it. To add to this most will not ship to Ireland either!

What Good is the E.U.?

So if being a E.U. member does not allow it citizens to purchase online unbarred by tariffs and restrictions, what good is it? Why would I want to lobby for Sweden to go in with the E.M.U. (European Monetary Unit) if being a member does not carry economic benefits to the citizenry of Sweden.

Made in the U.S.A.

Another thing that is a bit strange is that I can make the same purchases for the U.S. Of course the shipping charges are a little more but not totally outrageous. Many times the seller will ship an item for free. So what is up with the United Kingdom? Why are they so biased and locked down?

In a meeting with the Govenor of California, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, the Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt showed quite a TV personality. So  why is this guy so hidden? With the presentation talents he has he should be more visible. This was a primary point of my dislike of Göran Persson. The Prime Minister of Sweden should be the most visible figure in the news and television. This is one of the secrets that Olaf Palme and Carl Bildt used in bringing in more business to Sweden and using the countries influence in global matters.

The Next Steps

The next steps for the new swedish government is to become a force to be noticed by other nations. They cannot do this by hiding and only coming out to answer questions on changes in policy that they have made. They have to present a strong involved personality before things get difficult or crappy.

Most think of Sweden as being a modern, open and technically advanced nation when it comes to the internet. But one of the hidden truths is that swedish citizens live in fear of the rest of the world. Why do I say this? Because while generally all other nations populations are open to technology and trends that come from the U.S. and other countries, the swedish population is not. Paypal, Amazon, Ebay and other well reknowned internet companies are frowed upon and miss-trusted.

Home is Where it Starts

Internet fraud in Sweden is growing. The fraud though seems to be coming mostly from within the Swedish borders. It is rare that any incident of internet fraud in Sweden does not involve a Swedish citizen. Yet Sweden refuses to embrace any business that does not look like it comes from Sweden. Though Paypal is the premier online payment service for the globe swedes choose to use companies like Payson.

Ebay in Sheeps Clothing

Ebay upon noticing that swedes were frequenting a well known auction site, Tradera.com, decided to buy it and make its money secretly. Ebay is only one of many international companies that are disguising themselves as Swedish businesses to overcome the swedish preference for home-made online trading. It would not be a surprise if Payson was bought by Paypal/Ebay also in the near future.

Sweden is For Sale

Because of the way companies must come in to the Swedish buisness market it means that Sweden is being put up for sale. Rather than opening new offices and expanding into the swedish market, businesses are buying their way in. This is dangerous to the Swedish economy because no new money is coming in. Pieces of the economy are being sold as made evident by the sales of Saab and Volvo. These names are probably the only real global connection that Sweden has to the outside world. Probably the entire countries economic system is dependant on them in some way. Yet they are being sold and traded around.

Survival

If the swedish way of life is to survive swedes will have to start being more open to the world. They will have to be more accepting of things they do not understand. There is a whole new age information out there with new choices. Time to start living in adventure not in fear.