In order to promote and to give a better perspective of the quality at Gotland University. The university launched a channel in youtube with short clips of interviews to Students and Employees. I include in this post the opinion of some of my fellows about the master in international management. Specially for those who are thinking about HGO as an option, you will be able to see the broad cultural diversity we enjoy in our program. Listen to this students from Venezuela, Croatia, Azerbaijan and China.
Author Archives: oscar
TRANSLATION – TRADUCCIÓN – TRADUCTION – TRADUZIONE – ÖVERSÄTTNING – Перевод – 翻訳 – DỊCH THUẬT – 翻译 – اللغة العربية
ENGLISH
For those who do not understand English well, press here to download google toolbar. It allows you to translate whole websites into a wide variety of languages.
ESPAÑOL
Para aquellos que no entendeis Inglés bien, pulsar aqui para descargar la barra de herramientas de google. Te permitira traducir paginas web completas en una amplia variedad de idiomas.
FRANÇAIS
Pour ceux qui ne comprennent pas bien l’anglais, cliquez ici pour télécharger la barre d’outils Google. Vous permet de traduire des pages Web en entier dans une grande variété de langues.
ITALIANO
Per coloro che non capiscono bene l’inglese, clicca qui per scaricare la Google Toolbar. Permette di tradurre pagine Web in tutta una vasta gamma di lingue.
SVENSKA
För dem som inte förstår engelska väl, tryck här för att ladda ner Google Toolbar. Den tillåter dig att översätta hela webbsidor i en mängd olika språk.
РУССКИЙ
Для тех, кто не понимает по-английски хорошо, нажмите здесь, чтобы загрузить панель инструментов Google. Он позволяет переводить целые сайты на широкий круг Языки.
日本語
人々 も、ここからダウンロードのGoogleツールバーを押して英語を理解していないしてください。それはあなたの言語の様々 に全体のウェブサイトを翻訳することができます。(ここを押す)
VIỆT
Đối với những người không hiểu tiếng Anh tốt, bấm vào đây để tải về thanh công cụ của Google. Nó cho phép bạn dịch toàn bộ trang web sang nhiều ngôn ngữ.
中文
对 于那 些谁不懂英语，按此下载谷歌工具栏。它允许你翻译成各种语言的整个网站。(此间舆论)
اللغة العربية
بالنسبة لأولئك الذين لا يفهمون اللغة الإنجليزية جيدا ، اضغط هنا لتنزيل شريط أدوات غوغل. انها تسمح لك
لترجمة مواقع الويب كاملة في طائفة واسعة من اللغات.
iNVENTIONS
Couple of months ago, while attending a seminar, the guest professor started to mention some Swedish inventions. I found myself surprised since among them, the professor mentioned some quotidian ones, such as, the pc mouse, the tetrapak or the zipper. Regarding inventions, there is always controversial opinions about the original inventor. Sometimes, ancient cultures are missed here. For instance, China counts with many inventions used hundred years before Europe. I found a video compilation in Youtube with some of the most famous Swedish inventions. As I already mentioned, the authority for such discoveries is always controversial. When watching the video, notice that the telephone was patented by Alexandre Graham Bell and Lars Magnus Ericsson sells improved version of Bell telephone.
Companies
Sweden has a prosperous economy with a significant weight in the export market. It counts with international leader companies in different fields. Some of them are known as Swedish, but not all. Did you know that skype or the newspaper “metro” were created in Sweden? Find below some of the logos of the most representative Swedish companies. Notice that SAS is not 100% Swedish but also Danish and Norwegian, as well as the bank Nordea it is also Finnish.
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The famous swedish carmaker SAAB, a classical swedish company which belonged to the American General Motors, was recently purchased by the Dautch company Spyker, which is 200 times smaller than SAAB. Victor Muller is Spyker’s CEO which states: “The main reason why we think Saab will succeed is its unique brand”. The entire acquisition – including funds that will be spent to rebuild the operation – will be financed with loans. A 400m-euro loan ($544m; £348m) from the European Investment Bank was approved on Friday afternoon. You can find more details on this article at BBC news.
Celebrities
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been a brand icon for Swedish companies for many years and Stieg Larsson´s saga, “millenium”, became very popular overnight. Those are examples of characters who most of the people would associate to Sweden. But, there are other names which young generations would not recognize so easily. For instance, this is the case of the Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren, who many of you remember from movies like Universal Soldier or Rocky IV (I always thought he was from Eastern Europe) .Another example is the famous actress Greta Garbo, who played during the silent films Hollywood period. She was awarded as the fifth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute. Find below some pictures of some of the most known Swedish celebrities: The tennis player Björn Borg, the Swedish band Mando diao, the inventor of the dynamite, Alfred Nobel or Pipi Langstrump.
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Pipi långstrump
When I was definitively coming to Gotland I started to google in detail about this peculiar island on the Baltic sea. What a surprise when I found out that a TV series which many of you probably remember from your childhood was entirely recorded here in Gotland. We are talking none other than Pipi Långstrump. The famous Villa Villekulla is now located just 3 km far from central Visby. The name of the place is Kneippbyn summerland and it is an aquatic park. There is also a small camping and you can rent accommodation next to the facilities with beautiful sights to the sea. I visited it at the end of August, and It was an experience to see Pipi’s house and the Ship. Although, It was rather weird to see everything converted into an amusement park with mini-golf. What to say, everything is marketed today. Anyway, the place was lovely for the kids. The price to get into Pipi’s facilities were roughly 140 kr/14 euros. The aquatic part was closed when I visited so I do not know about the prices. Anyway you can just take a look around, it is for free! Click HERE to go to the website.
Here below, some more information for those who do not know about Pipi. You can also check the VIDEO section.
Pippi Longstocking (Swedish Pippi Långstrump) is a fictional character in a series of children’s books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series. Pippi was named by Lindgren’s then nine-year-old daughter, Karin, who requested a get-well story from her mother one day when she was home sick from school.
Nine-year-old Pippi is unconventional, assertive, and has superhuman strength, being able to lift her horse one-handed without difficulty. She frequently mocks and dupes adults she encounters, an attitude likely to appeal to young readers; however, Pippi usually reserves her worst behavior for the most pompous and condescending of adults.
After an initial rejection from Bonnier Publishers in 1944, Lindgren’s manuscript was accepted for publication by the Swedish publisher Rabén and Sjögren. The first three Pippi chapter books were published from 1945 to 1948, with an additional series of six books published in 1969–1975. Two final stories were printed in 1979 and 2000. The books have been translated into more than 50 languages. Wikipedia.org, 2010
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Do you want to see how Pipi looks some years later?
Winter in Visby
Before I came to Visby, I read that Gotland is the part of Sweden which counts with more light hours, and probably one of the best climates. But unusually, this winter is being one of the coldest and snowiest for the last 30 years. It is curious since something similar happened the year I lived in Finland, they had the warmest winter for the last 20 years. Anyway the city snowed is lovely and that is why I took a bunch of pictures to show you. It is not so unusual to have sunny days here. Do not compare it to Spain though.
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Taking into account that Gotland is not a capital, the winter here sometimes can be a bit boring. Gotland is specially known by Swedish as a summer place. Actually it is very popular and many people from Stockholm and other parts of the main land come to spend the summer here. For those who stay for the winter we recorded a funny video with some activities you could try…
Nobel Prize
In 2007 I traveled from Finland to visit Stockholm with couple of friends. Right after visiting the National museum we saw a row of cars with the sticker that you can check in the picture on the left. We were in front of the hotel which usually hosts all the candidates for so known Nobel prize. It was the week in which the Nobel prizes were given but we did not know. Lets take a look into the history of this prize. Did you know that was established by the inventor of the dynamite?…
“The Nobel Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. An associated prize, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was instituted by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.[1] The Nobel Prizes in the specific disciplines (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature) and the Prize in Economics, which is commonly identified with them, are widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive in those fields.”
wikipedia.org
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Stockholm, Sweden, 21 October 1833 – Sanremo, Italy, 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. He owned Bofors, a major armaments manufacturer, which he had redirected from its previous role as an iron and steel mill. In his last will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him. Nobel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1884, the same institution that would later select laureates for two of the Nobel prizes, and he received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in 1893.Alfred Nobel is buried in Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.
The Prizes
The erroneous publication in 1888 of a premature obituary of Nobel by a French newspaper, condemning him for his invention of dynamite, is said to have brought about his decision to leave a better legacy after his death.[2] The obituary stated Le marchand de la mort est mort (“The merchant of death is dead”) and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”[3] On 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality. He died of a stroke on 10 December 1896 at Sanremo, Italy. After taxes and bequests to individuals, Nobel’s will gave 31,225,000 Swedish kronor (equivalent to about 1.8 billion kronor or 250 million US dollars in 2008) to fund the prizes.[4]
The first three of these prizes are awarded for eminence in physical science, in chemistry and in medical science or physiology; the fourth is for literary work “in an ideal direction” and the fifth prize is to be given to the person or society that renders the greatest service to the cause of international fraternity, in the suppression or reduction of standing armies, or in the establishment or furtherance of peace congresses. There is no prize awarded for mathematics.[5]
The Formulation about the literary prize, “in an ideal direction” (i idealisk riktning in Swedish), is cryptic and has caused much confusion. For many years, the Swedish Academy interpreted “ideal” as “idealistic” (idealistisk) and used it as a reason not to give the prize to important but less romantic authors, such as Henrik Ibsen and Leo Tolstoy. This interpretation has since been revised, and the prize has been awarded to, for example, Dario Fo and José Saramago, who definitely do not belong to the camp of literary idealism.[original research?]
In 2001, Alfred Nobel’s great-grandnephew, Peter Nobel (b. 1931), asked the Bank of Sweden to differentiate its award to economists given “in Alfred Nobel’s memory” from the five other awards. This has caused much controversy whether the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is actually a “Nobel Prize”.
wikipedia.org
On the right, a picture of the Nobel prize Museum in Stockholm. If you are interested you can find lot of more information on the website of the Nobel prize organization (click here). There are many recorded interviews to the Nobel prize awarders. I found interesting this one made to Professor John Nash (click here). The author of the Nash equilibrium and the character on whose life is based the popular movie “A wonderful mind” with Russell Crowe and Jennifer connelly.
Did you know that…
The Nobel Prize amount for 2009 was set at Swedish kronor (SEK) 10 million/1 million (EUR) per full Nobel Prize. Who finances this extraordinary amount of money? the Nobel Prize is financed by the Nobel Foundation, a private institution established in 1900 based on the will of Alfred Nobel. But, it does not go into detail to explain how do they generate such amount of money for each one of the 6 categories:
Physics (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
Chemistry (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
Physiology or Medicine (decided by the Karolinska Institute)
Literature (decided by the Swedish Academy)
Peace (decided by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Storting)
Economics (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
As I read “The economics prize has no foundation in Nobel’s will, and is not paid by his money, it is technically not a Nobel prize (and the present Nobel family does not accept it as such). It is however awarded together with the other Nobel prizes.The prize was instituted in 1968 by Sveriges Riksbank, the Bank of Sweden, as the “Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences”
I was interested in knowing more, so I contacted the Nobel foundation. They answered the following:
” The Nobel Prizes are financed by the funds which Alfred Nobel left in his last will. These funds have successfully been managed by the Nobel Foundation and they finance the prize amounts and the work of the different Nobel Prize Awarding Institutions. The prize amount is the same for each prize category – 10 million SEK in 2009. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel is financed by the Swedish Riksbank. They give the same prize amount – 10 million SEK in 2009.”
In conclusion, the nobel foundation distribute, only in main prizes, 50.000.000 Kronor/ 5.ooo.ooo euros. excellent job with Alfred ´s last will.:)
In 2009 the Nobel Peace Prize was for Barack Obama: “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. Although some people argue that Nobel foundation gave the award to Obama to force him to differentiate himself from the predecessor governments characterized by warlike approaches. A nobel prize in peace promoting the war would not be very well regarded. Anyway, if that is the real reason, BRAVO! By the way, for those who think that it is unfair that a President of the government win $1,4 million, do not worry, he donated it to charity.
 |
| Photo: Pete Souza, Obama-Biden Transition Project, licensed by Attribution Share Alike 3.0 |
| Barack Obama |
|---|
| USA |
| 44th President of the United States of America |
| b. 1961 |
Stockholm – European Green Capital 2010
Välkommen till Stockholm!
Around the end of October, I took the ferry to Stockholm with couple of friends for second time (I already was there in December 2007, when I lived in Finland). We were lucky since we had a great sunny weekend. I uploaded photos from both trips, so you can appreciate the contrast with the dark winter. At this time, I got a better overview of the city since I did not go to any museum (I already visited the most important ones on the first trip). The city is not as big as the great metropolis like London or Paris but for those of us who do not like huge masses of people is perfect; I would also say exclusive. It is surrounded by water, many bridges and archipelagos that make it really nice. Some people say that is one of the most beautiful archipielagos around the world.
The subway works really good. It does not travel always underground; sometimes it travels through bridges over the water so you can appreciate nice sights of the city. It is clean, fast and pretty silent (people included). Some stations are decorated by different artists and they are pretty impressive (I uploaded some photos). Although the subway is rather expensive you can buy a 72 hours ticket by 200 kr /20 euros and it works for buses, trains and boats which connect the different islands. By the way, for those who plan to party, it also works at night on the weekends, it is much slower though. If you are planning to stay, you can find good prices for hostels by 20 euros per night (if you reach couple of weeks before, of course). You can find it in Hostel bookers or Hostelworld, I enclose the website addresses at the blog roll.
Below, I enclose some more information about the city, for those who are most interested (Great tool Wikipedia; warning for children: it is not the most reliable source):
“Stockholm (help·info) (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːɔlm]) is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag (parliament), and the official residence of the Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of Stockholm as his workplace and official residence. As of 2008 the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 21% of Sweden’s population and contributes to 28% of Sweden’s gross domestic product[citation needed]. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden with a population of 825,057 in the municipality (2009), 1.25 million in the urban area (2005), and 2 million in the metropolitan area (2009).
Founded c. 1250, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden’s cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-.[3] In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia.[4] Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant open water and many parks.[5] It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.[6] Stockholm is the second most visited city in the Nordic countries, with around one million visitors in 2006.”
www.wikipedia.org
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European Green Capital 2010!
Stockholm has been selected as the European Green Capital for 2010 by the European Commission. This is the first year this award is given and it is based on recognising the important role that local authorities play in improving the environment, and their high level of commitment to genuine progress. According to the European commission “The award marks a city’s wish and capability to solve environmental problems in order to both improve the quality of life of its citizens and reduce the contribution it makes to the global environment as a whole”. Thus, one European city will be selected each year. The award is given to a city that:
- Has a consistent record of achieving high environmental standards;
- Is committed to ongoing and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development;
- Can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices to all other European cities.
The next candidate selected for 2011 is Hamburg. I think it will take a long time for Madrid to get it, first we have to get the Olympic games…¬¬
Why Stockholm?
“The Swedish capital – which will be the first European Green Capital in 2010 – has the ambitious target of saying goodbye to fossils by 2050
‘The Venice of The North’ is a term often used about the Swedish capital Stockholm, beautifully situated on the Baltic coast. Ten per cent of the city area is water, and the many lakes and water sheds are highly valued for recreational purposes. In fact, 95% of the population live only 300 m away from green areas, thus augmenting recreation, swimming, boating, better well being, water purification, noise reduction, enhancement of biodiversity and ecology.
That is why, in 2006, the City Council adopted a water protection plan setting standards for cleaner water and outlining methods by which this could be achieved. The ultimate goal is that all water in and around Stockholm should meet the requirements stipulated by the EU water directive by 2015. This should be done in a manner which preserves the recreational value of the lakes, water sheds etc.
Fewer green house gases
Stockholm has just under 800.000 citizens but is growing rapidly. The city council’s holistic vision combines growth with sustainable development and includes the ambitious target of becoming independent of fossil fuels by 2050.
The amount of green house gas which each inhabitant of Stockholm releases is 50% lower than the national average, and emissions per person have, since 1990, been reduced by 25%. Transport emissions are relatively low, and all public transport (all trains, and all inner city buses) run on renewable fuels, although the buses are not strictly classified as ‘low emission’ vehicles.
Sharing of experience
Through its well-conceived communications strategy, Stockholm has shown its commitment and eagerness to share their experience and act as inspiration for other cities.
Strong networking and the involvement of local and international stakeholders will ensure that Stockholm and other cities further their efforts and boost environmental awareness across Europe. A separate organisation will be established to monitor the communications programme as a Secretariat.”
European Commission
SYMBIOCITY
I also would like to mention about and interesting project which is also involved in all that environmental issue. In the south of Stockholm in Hammarby Sjostad there is an urbanization named Symbio city. It is not exactly the name since Symbio city is a sort of commercial brand but this one in Hammarby is the first one built. It was built over an old port zone and it can be considered as the first example of self-sustainable urbanization. For instance, the rain water is used for the toilettes and the garbage is burnt to give heating to the houses. More information at Symbiocity.com, find it on the blogroll.
Högklint
Welcome to Högklint Nature Reserve!
Yesterday I visited this Nature Reserve that is roughly 8 km far away from Visby centrum. You can easily get there by bike in 20 minutes and is a perfect place for preparing a barbeque while you appreciate the sunset. Is such a calm place where you get quickly relaxed. Below you can find more information about the place. It is interesting the story about the thief Jonass Nilsson Lilja. For those who are lazy to read I marked it in bold type.
This reserve comprises a roughly 1.5 kilometre-long section of the steep and high oastal cliff south of Visby. The cliff is 48 metres above sea level at its highest point, which is known as Högklint at the north end of the area. Högklint offers a magnificent view across the sea in the west and towards Visby in the north east.
From the clifftop, steps lead down to a ledge, known as “Getsvälten”. Goats which once grazed at Högklint sometimes managed to jump down to the succulent grass on the ledge. Unable to climb back up, they gradually starved to death. The sea has scooped out several caves in the cliff by “Getsvälten”.
A path leads from Högklint southwards through the nature reserve. In the middle of the reserve, landslide has resulted in two clefts in the cliff.
Further south, an entire piece of cliff has broken loose and slid down to form an almost 20 metre high “false sea stack” on the shore.
The cleft cave, which has formed behind the “sea stack” is known as “Lilja the Bandit’s Den”. This refers to the thief Jonas Nilsson Lilja, who used the cave as a hiding plae and base for his looting raids in the Gotlandic countryside in the mid 18th century.
Natura 2000
Högklint nature reserve is part of the EU’s ecological network of protected areas, Natura 2000.
Högklint was designated a nature reserve in 1969, but certain parts of the area were designated a natural monument as early as in 1919 and 1931. The reserve has been extended on two occasions, in 1979 and 1988.
Information by Gotland County Administration Board
It is almost October but look how sunny is still. The Weather in Gotland it changes fast but we still have sunny days often. Although we can not generalize the climate to the inland. For instance Stockholm is quite rainy.
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http://www.rindi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=104
oscar
