The attacks are unique - at least in a Scandinavian context - because of the coldblooded and refined planning and execution, while the attacker and his views are not. He set out to, and partly succeeded in, eliminating a generation of politicians of the Labor party, taking the rhetoric common in the national conservative and counter-jihad circles to its logical conclusion.

I lived in Oslo at the time of the attacks, spent the night guarding a store with blown-out windows a block from the Labor party headquarters. I walked in the rose marches, attended the memorial ceremony. It was a national trauma that affected everyone. I now live in Sweden but much of the public discourse remains the same; he was a lone mad man; don't politicize the attacks. But at some point, as a society, we need to face the truth: the attacks were an act of far-right terrorism aimed at young social democrats. The terrorist shared his worldview with one of the largest parties in our parliament. Claiming that you should not make politics of an event is very much to make politics out of an event. To say that a political act isn't political is a political act.

The sauna reconquista is progressing, the workshop/storage will soon be finished.

Any ideas for what to do with a pile of thick heartwood of varying lengths?

Around here it's legal. Drinking while out on the water has historically been a legal free zone in Sweden, it was only 2-3 years ago that legislation around drinking while steering a boat (with an engine) was introduced, despite loud protests from the bars and restaurants out in the Stockholm archipelago.

I just came home from a kayak trip with my father and siblings. It was a late birthday gift for my father who turned 60 last year. I was a bit anxious beforehand since the planning and logistics mostly fell in my lap, but it went smoothly and I think everyone had a good time.

Not pictured: the roaming packs of Germans with cases of beer in their canoes, and the JAS Gripen that showed up and put on a show for us during a lunch break.

I came back to the sauna looking like this:

There's a stove somewhere in there. At least it's motivation for getting the workshop/storage space in order.

So far this summer I've only read books in Swedish, which has been a nice and relaxing change since I usually end up reading in English because it's easier to find pirate copies.

Skymningstid (Dusk) is a political thriller set in 1970s Sweden written by Henrik Bromander. Like many other western European countries after WW2, "neutral" Sweden also had a Stay Behind movement, a network of cells training and preparing for armed resistance in case of a Soviet invasion. Unlike other countries like Norway and Italy, Sweden haven't had any official investigations or acknowledgements of this movement, even though it was very much a real thing. One of the few things we do know about the movement is that one of their bases of operation was Skandiahuset, where Stig Engström worked, the man pointed out by investigators last year as the likely murderer of prime minister Olof Palme. If that isn't fodder for some great conspiracy theories, or in this case a fictional account of a conspiracy, I don't know what is.

Svarta bär (Black berries (but actually it's blueberries?)) follows a group of Ukrainian berry pickers working in Lappland in 2020. The days are long, the working conditions horrible and the translated swearing very colorful.

The book I'm currently reading is about the terrorist attack on Utøya and is called You can flee from a madman but you can't hide from a society. It's really good, but I've had to put it down so many times because it really gets to me. Might have more to say about it when I've finished it.

I remember reading the first arc of Chew as it was coming out and really liking it, but then I stopped reading comics for a while and forgot about it. I'm gonna have to pick it back up.