3 posts tagged “swedish”
[Cross-posted] I never expected this a few years ago, but a few weeks ago, it was becoming more likely: Koenigsegg will buy Saab, says The New York Times.
GM and Koenigsegg say there is now a memorandum of understanding, contingent on loans from the European Investment Bank, guaranteed by the Swedish government.
I am confident. Christian von Koenigsegg strikes me, in the conversation I had with him some years ago, as someone who is not afraid to answer questions directly. He is accessible, and he loves cars.
People also had doubts about how Jaguar and Land Rover would fit with Tata, which made subcompact cars and heavy trucks in India. Yet, Tata has shown a readiness to push forward new models that Ford never had the guts to do. We need to look at the management style and the national culture. continued
I have been a Clear customer since the 1980s and Li at the Telstra shop in Courtenay Place remarked that most clients had nine-digit customer numbers (ours has six).
So far I have been delighted with Li’s candour and courtesy and the phone has amazed me from a technical standpoint, especially those MicroSD cards and the 1,600- by 1,200-pixel resolution on the camera (2 Mpixel).
The unit has a lot of silly things compared to the old Samsung: no flight mode, no mid-sentence capitalization (it’s either all caps or all lowercase) no T9 texting for filenames, no European languages (the Samsung had French, Swedish and German, all of which I used at various times, and Italian and Spanish as well). TelstraClear tonight stripped out all European characters out of a Swedish SMS I had to send, yet I understand that one can send in Chinese—technologically a far more difficult language to support—perfectly.
I certainly welcome the chance for my fellow Chinese to send their text messages, but what of even the English language? Someone at TelstraClear has not thought this through: words like café, for starters, will appear as caf. There are still people on this planet who are proud of their writing—even on a cellphone.
I also haven’t figured out how to record an outgoing message, so I will probably bug Li tomorrow to get that sorted.
I still dislike these things on principle and, not being a parent, can really only see a reason for them for courtship and, admittedly, digital photography.
[Cross-posted from Lucire] The search for the next Miss Sweden has begun.
My own affiliation with this pageant—Fröken Sverige to use its name
in its native language—began six years ago, and I am happy to say this
year I will be far more involved. I will let the publicity machine talk
about my role in due course. (I will remain a judge at Miss New
Zealand.)
But for now, let me announce that the pageant is open and accepting
entrants. The winner will go on to Miss Universe 2009 at Atlantis
Paradise Island, Nassau, in late August.
After protests grounded the pageant in Sweden some years ago, it was
retooled to reflect modern women, though during the past year, Miss
Sweden was, according to the organization, a ‘dormant project.’
It continues, ‘The Board of Directors have spent this time
evaluating and collecting impressions and inspiration from around the
world—all in order to further develop the concept.
‘During this time intensive pressure from various channels and
interests have shown that Miss Sweden is missed and more and more
people have raised their voices asking that the pageant continue. Just
now, when in these somewhat darker times, it is more important than
ever to brighten up the world with hope, engagement and all the
positives that Miss Sweden represents. We think it is important that we
once again place in focus sound role models who create faith in the
future and trust in one’s own abilities.’
The role-model angle is important and it is one I have always borne
in mind, ever since I began judging beauty pageants in 2007.
I have always said to entrants that the interview is ‘80 per cent’.
While the points don’t add up that way, judges place a great deal more
on the entrant’s intelligence and initiative far more than we are given
credit for.
It may be fairer to say that after an interview, I can usually pick who could win with 80 per cent certainty.
In New Zealand, interviews can last 20 minutes with each candidate.
After speaking with a former Miss Israel, Gal Gadot, who is in the new Fast and Furious film, I understand that she was subjected to eight to ten minutes per judge—and there were eight to ten of them.
Sweden, too, has a very involved procedure when it comes to
interviews—if it didn’t, I doubt that the first winner of the retooled
pageant, Josephine Alhanko, would be a young woman with two masters’
degrees with an ambition to get a doctorate.
For those who wish to be a part of one of pageantry’s most
successful competitions, Miss Sweden is now accepting applicants at www.frokensverige.se.
In the words of my friend, Panos Papadopoulos, the initiator of the pageant and the man behind Panos Emporio,
‘For those who are interested in participating the recruitment of the
New Miss Sweden is an adventure that proves that one can conquer the
world with the right attitude. New Miss Sweden gives endless
possibilities for talented young women to realize their dreams. One
year of important and inspirational work awaits. Everyone else can take
joy from this fairy-tale of success and be a part of the festivities
that surround it.’
My Groups
-
Stuff That Makes You Laugh Updated: 2 hours ago
-
Humour Updated: 2 hours ago
-
Asian Updated: 3 hours ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
