Archive for July 3rd, 2007
iTunes 7.3 – Podcasts
iTunes 7.3 – Podcasts, originally uploaded by jacobchristensen.
Isn’t the button “Hent alle” (“Get all”) a new feature on iTunes 7.3?
Ghost Villages
Jøgen Møller from Aalborg University argues that local and regional authorities should deal with the migration from villages in Northern Jutland by applying the same rejuvenation policies that have been used in towns and cities.
In the case of villages, hovever, that would mean tearing down 20 – 30 percent of the houses in some areas as they have been allowed to decay.
I haven’t heard politicians argue for such an approach in Denmark – yet – but there are parallels in some of the minor Swedish industrial communities that were hit by the huge changes in the industrial structure from the 1960s onward: Here, local councils have been forced to demolish even relatively new houses.
In many ways the regional economic and demographic developments are similar in Denmark and Sweden: Modern service and knowledge-based industries concentrate in the bigger cities while peripheral parts of the countries experience a stagnation or even decline in population numbers.
Both countries might benefit from a concerted effort to handle the effects, not by pretending that regional policies can rejuvenate villages but by abandoning a number of villages and settlements.
Hm – I’m beginning to sound like an editorial writer from Svenska Dagbladet…
EUTube
Pigen uden ordforråd
Via Blogbogstaver: Pigen uden ordforråd. 
Only in Danish. Sorry. And there’s no way you can translate the puns. 
The Return of Svante
SCB tells us that Svante is making a comeback. The name was the 93th most popular for boys born in 2006.
Hired Hands
According to Tagesschau, you can hire a ghost-blogger if you have too much to do in your daily life. I would like to state that I’m me, writing my own entries. If you’d want to hire me to write your blawg, that would set you back some 35.-40.000 SEK per month, social charges included.
A Minor Health Care Problem
As it turns out, I’ve been a bit careless: I forgot to order my blue European Health Insurance Card in time.
Danish media have written a lot about the blue European Health Insurance Card but there actually some strange differences between the Danish and the Swedish health care systems which can make even certified political scientists despair.
If you’re a resident of Denmark and an EU citizen travelling on holiday in Europe, not having an HIC is in fact not a problem. You’re covered by the yellow national Health Care Card for 30 days. And even better: You get the card automatically.
If you are a resident of Sweden, things are a bit more complicated. When I moved to Sweden in 1999, I didn’t receive a national Health Insurance Card until a year later after I had a minor accident resulting in a broken arm (let me just on a side-note point out that the doctors and nurses in my Danish family agree that the post-operation treatment I received by the hospital in Östersund was outstanding – even if it was a tricky fracture, the prescribed exercises and controls meant that I retained the original flexibility in my right hand) – and, unlike the Danish Health Care Card, a Swedish Health Insurance Card isn’t valid outside of the Nordic countries.
This means that you have to apply for a document to prove that you are a resident of Sweden qualified for medical assistance when you go abroad.
In 2004, the Swedish authorities made things a little easier by introducing a blue card – see above – which was not only handier than the earlier documents but also valid for three years. But you still had to apply for the card before travelling abroad.
2004: Well, d’oh. That meant that my card expired in mid-June. 
As noted above, I can still travel to, say, Denmark, but taking a holiday outside of the Nordic countries is a little trickier. You can get your health care covered but you’ll need to get the the doctor or hospital to contact your local branch of the Swedish Social Insurance Office to prove that you qualify for health care.
Still, I suppose it’s easier to be a Scandinavian with a minor bureaucratic hassle than an American looking for health care.
links for 2007-07-03
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Slate Magazine – Health Costs Screw Business, Too
Yet one significant victim of America’s market-based health care system is left out: market capitalism itself.
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Slate Magazine – Michael Moore and the Beige Bomber
You would need to cut the salaries of doctors, reform the legal system, enrage our allies by causing their prescription drug costs to escalate, and accustom patients to a central decision-maker authorized to determine what procedures they are and are not
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Ezra Klein: Perfect vs. the good
As we’ve already seen, the incentives and practices within government care systems really can sharply cut spending growth.
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At the nadir of his presidency, George W. Bush is looking for answers. One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search. The reality has been daunting by an
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DJØF – Forsiden af medaljen
Rigtig mange mener noget om djøferne, men hvad mener vi selv?
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Slate Magazine – Cycling’s Biggest Dopes
There’s no smoking gun—nobody stepping forward to say, yes, they saw Armstrong inject himself—but there is an awful lot of smoke.
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American dream still burns bright for many – but results vary | csmonitor.com
“The main reason that family incomes have risen is that more women have gone to work, buttressing the incomes of men by adding a second earner,” notes the Pew economic mobility report.
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Denmark a destination for couples tied in red tape | csmonitor.com
Despite Denmark’s tough immigration laws, the country is a beacon for foreign couples, with one of the most liberal marriage laws on the Continent.
Worst. Telephone Carrier. Ever.
Reihan Salam has seen the Light of the Apple:
Ever since I belatedly hopped on the iPod bandwagon, in mid-2004, I’ve rapidly descended into Applemania. Since then I’ve purchased seven iPods, an iBook, a Macbook, and a 24-inch iMac. Strange as this may sound, I’ve even taken to buying and eating actual apples.
So, yes, he’s bought an iPhone which is great as long as he doesn’t have to actually call someone.
Buying seven iPods is quite impressive. I chose to replace the dead battery in my 3G 2003 iPod instead, And having an unlocked mobile phone was always the most important parameter to me.
Danish Suicides
If a Danish doctor is the man (or woman) of your dreams, you might like to know that Danish doctors and nurses have a significantly higher probability of committing suicide than people from similar high-status vocations. An expert in suicide reaseach suggests that this is not just due to the pressures of the job and the availability of know-how and drugs but also issues with the way admissions to medical schools are conducted and the private and workplace roles of medical staff.