Here Are the Best 3 Minutes of Your Day. Guaranteed.

Is this Swedish sign language interpreter the new Numa Numa?

Nerd Fun: Scientists Sneaking Bob Dylan Lyrics Into Publications

It ain't me, babe. It's a bunch of Swedish scientists.

Awesome LOL: Global Stereotype Map

This is brilliant ... and a brilliant commentary on the absurdity of reductive stereotypes.  It is also delightfully insightful and incisive in places: note how it calls a chunk of Russia "Putingrad," Ukraine "Putin's Precious," and Crimea "Putinistan."  On a lighter note, Sweden is labeled "ABBA," "IKEA," and "Nobel Prizes."

Sweden and the High Cost of a Free College Education

It's free, but you still end up with debt.

Friday Fun Video: Swedish Marines in Afghanistan

Warrior poets.

Terrified By Screaming At 1 AM, Neighbors Call the Cops ...

Who rush in to find that the folks next door were just trying to assemble IKEA furniture.  

Hey, don't laugh!  If you've ever tried to put that stuff together, you'll be screaming, crying, cursing, howling, and throwing things in no time flat.

Fugly or Fabulous? The Swedish Transport Dress Code Revolt

OK, so the Stockholm train company has decided that its staff can't wear shorts even though the summer's here, and it's too darn hot.  Nope, according to Arriva, you may wear either trousers or skirts, but not shorts.  You shouldn't be surprised, then, to hear that 13 intrepid, fashion-forward employees have opted for this:

I'm too sexy for this train.

Quirky Euro Files, Holiday Edition: the Gävle Goat of Sweden

Let's see how long he can hang on this year before somebody burns him down! Here's a webcam and even a blog and Twitter account for the gigantic straw goat. You gotta love a holiday tradition that involves ritual arson.

Monday Therapy: Office Coffee

Ugh, it's Monday. Time to chug a potful of coffee so we can get our work done ... We might as well have some fun with the whole idea of coffee at the office!

What Do Real Swedes Think of the Muppets' Swedish Chef?

Slate is busy asking the important questions of our age.

Teddy Bearborne Division Invades Belarus

Here's something odd, cute, and daring all at once:

After weeks of denial, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko admitted that a small Swedish plane entered his country's airspace July 4, dropping hundreds of teddy bears on tiny black parachutes, the Belta news agency reports. 

The teddy bears carried signs reading, "Belarus freedom" and "We support the Belarus struggle for free speech."

Cutest airborne division ever? Yet ... yet ... what if all the cuddly paratroopers turn out like Ted?  That could be the biggest psyop hilarity in a while.  More here, with video!  You can also go directly to the cheeky website of the folks behind the teddy bear drop.  Lukashenko is often called the last dictator in Europe.  Dictators, as you know, cannot bear (no pun intended) to be made ridiculous.  Oh, and look at this photo!  It's raining bears!  Subversive bears!

Geek Fun: File-Sharing Officially Recognized as Religion in Sweden

I swear I'm not making this up!

7 Weird Christmas Traditions

Outstanding!  I still think the Krampus is delightfully scary-strange.

Quirky Euro Files: Arsonists Get Sweden's Goat

"It's a Swedish thing -- you wouldn't understand"?

Headline of the Day: "Drunk Swedish elk found in apple tree near Gothenburg."

No, really!  There's even an incriminating photo of the elk that partied a little too hard.  I bet it was an undergrad.

Quirky Euro Files: Sweden's Vasaloppet Cross-Country Ski Race

It's the biggest cross-country ski event in the world.  The 2011 Vasaloppet took place on March 6, covered 90 km (that's nearly 56 miles), and involved nearly 15,000 ski enthusiasts!  Check out this amazing video.

Forgotten History: Viking Navigation

Cool!  OK, I just have to add that reading the references is in itself a wee bit amusing.  See for instance: "Gábor Horváth, an optics researcher at Eötvös University in Budapest, and Susanne Åkesson, a migration ecologist from Lund University, Sweden ..."

Now I can't help myself:

Wik
Alsø wik
Alsø alsø wik
Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yer?
See the løveli lakes
The wonderful telephøne system
And mani interesting furry animals
Including the majestic møøse
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti

Nerd News: Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Play Chess Against Hot Chicks

This is hilarious.  Way to go, Swedish researchers who figured out that guys find gorgeous babes distracting and so their chess game suffers because they're too busy gawking or whatever.  People actually got grant money for this?  OK, bonus points for giving their study a cool title: "Beauty Queens and Battling Knights: Risk Taking and Attractiveness in Chess."   Heh.  Well, the Russians seem to be good at this.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Oh, I'm just playing with that famous quip about stats.  Messing with data is actually pretty fascinating, especially if you find a statistician who is both enthusiastic and fun, such as Swedish-born Professor Hans Rosling.  Here is a cool video about the field of stats.  Cine-Sib, this one's for you, since we all know how much you love number-crunching!

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable. -- Mark Twain

Satire Alert: Weird Winter Olympic Sports

The British wags at the Daily Mash take aim at all those wonderfully weird winter Olympic sports and the Nordic athletes who love them.

(Be careful out there when you're trying all this, folks. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti!)