Jacob Christensen

I’ve been off-line for something like 24 hours and … whack! My Google Reader has something like 217.000 items. This will take me forever if I don’t skip 99% of the posts.

I need an aggregator aggregator. Seriously.

Ahem … the New York Times has the sordid details.

HT: Laura McKenna, who also does the maths.

While we’re at it: I haven’t tried firing up my PowerBook (TM) on my way to or from campus, but the 41 (or some of the buses on the 41) in Odense has wifi.

At one point in time, I have the ambition the write the ultimate “Umeå vs. Odense” post but I want to get Odense a bit more under the skin before I say anything definitive. Still, at double the size, Odense has much more of an urban feel to it compared to Umeå-the-oversized-suburb.

But in some aspects Umeå beats Odense hands down. Or rather Umeå University beats the Odense campus of the University of Southern Denmark.

First, SDU is placed on a field in the middle of nowhere. Our nearest neighbours are Bilka followed by Rosengårdcentret. Throw in Jysk and IKEA and you get the picture.

Second, the University library in Umeå was open all days, often with long evening hours. SDU’s library … not so.

Third, UmU had cafés and restaurants all over the place so you could get a meal or a sandwich, in case you had forgotten to bring your own food. SDU … well, today I realised that I had forgot to buy rye bread, so I hoped for the best.

Come by the restaurant at 2:30 and … nope. Not a chance. Not a sandwich in sight. Which meant that I had to head for the nearest megamarket to get a hot-dog. But at least Bilka is open until 9 pm. on week-days. And I have a grand selection of restaurants and cafés just across the street from my apartment.

• Mother of all bailouts and what it means for Europe | vox – Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists
  The US financial system is being nationalised. The piecemeal approach which culminated with the AIG operation was clearly not working. The US government had taken control of its biggest insurance company just two weeks after it had to save Fannie and Freddie, by far the world’s largest mortgage underwriters. All this was not enough to restore orderly market conditions, hence the US political system is working over time to find a general solution whose outline is already apparent. The US government is going to buy the so-called “toxic” assets still on the banks’ balances and will then recapitalise the banks to the extent that they make losses. As a result, it will soon own a large share of its own banking system.
  (tags: trade politics markets europe economics banking)
• Ambiguity and extremism in elections | vox – Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists
  In theory, presidential candidates should clearly articulate their platforms as they move to persuade the median voter. But candidates are often ambiguous and do not tack to the centre. Recent research documents how money-politics pulls candidates away from the median and encourages ambiguity.
  (tags: elections politics politicalscience)
• Dansk Folkeparti – Årsmødetaler
  (tags: denmark speech danskfolkeparti)
• Margrethe Vestager – Landsmødetale: Mere menneske, mere Danmark, mere Europa – radikale.net
  (tags: denmark politics radikalevenstre speech)

I have neither been shot at nor randomly strip-searched during the week-end.

According to Swedish media, the Swedish state and commercial banks have stopped selling government bonds because of heavy demand for what is generally seen as safe placements (the risk of the Swedish state defaulting its payments is somewhere really close to zero).

Swedish observers point to a large inflow of foreign investors. We are free to speculate why they are suddenly attracted to the Swedish bond market.

Update: The Swedish National Debt Office has announced that it will throw some 150 billion SEK of bonds to the hounds market. So, Sweden as a relatively safe haven?

Or maybe the best way to honour the memory of Richard Wright?

No, not more about my Facebook woes, but this looks like a first in Denmark: According to the blog Dansk Politik Niklas Zenius Jespersen and five other members of the Red-Green Alliance have been set to be excluded by the party for joining an unauthorised Facebook-group.

There seems to be more to the story though, as Jespersen cites the FB membership as the pretext and substantive – if you excuse the term – policy disagreements as the real reason behind the move.

I noted that SDU flew the Austrian flag today. If I had checked the public calendar I would have made a note of this arrangement: The Austrian ambassador and Associate professor F. Talbo Stubkjær discuss the Austrian identity and the upcoming elections.

Dang! My routines are not quite up and running yet.

(But why doesn’t the calendar have an rss-stream?)