Too heavy to fly... 900 kilo excess keeps jet on ground.
A flight from the airport in Malmö to Iraq was delayed last month because the total weight of passengers made the aircraft unable to take to the skies. The jet, which was stopping mid-route after having flown from Birmingham, UK, took on 25 more passengers in Malmö and discovered that there was a 900 kilo excess in the maximum weight that the plane could carry. Ten recently boarded passengers selected to leave and lighten the load broke into a heated scuffle in the airport terminal that stopped just short of fisticuffs. Police were called to calm the situation, the airlines arranged transportation and accommodations for the bumped ten persons and the flight proceeded at last, some four hours delayed, toward their destination.

Too heavy... to drive and do time.
Obesity played a central role in the case of a northern Swedish drunk driver who pleaded to the judge that he was too fat to be incarcerated. Weighing 458 pounds at a height of 5 feet 9 inches, the overweight lawbreaker stated in a letter to the court that he hardly goes out of doors, cannot walk and could not endure the 30 day sentence. According to a report in the local newspaper, Northland Social Democrat, he requested house arrest with ankle cuffs that monitor and register whatever movements his portly size might be able to accomplish in the first place.

Oden's Antarctic round trip.
Swedish and American scientists study ice on Oden. Serving as a platform for Swedish and U.S. research projects, and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation along with the Swedish Maritime Administration, the icebreaker Oden's fourth Antarctic research voyage has departed the U.S. McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica and is expected to reach Punta Arenas, Chile, within days. Swedish researchers from Stockholm, Lund and Uppsala universities and the Royal Institute of Technology conducted geophysical tests and examined sea bottom types using a multi-beam sonar manner to observe the retreat of ice, and marine ecologists explored the effects of UV radiation. The ship will soon return to Sweden through the Southern Ocean while Swedish and American researchers work on studies in astro particle physics, geology, oceanography and marine ecology for an upcoming project. Oden, in astro particle physics, measures cosmic rays in order to gain better understanding of the structure of the universe.

Eating cyber-style.
Swedish Internet grocery shopping is jumping by 10 percent per annum. According to March statistics from Internet retail food sales firms, Swedish cyber grocery shopping is jumping by 10 percent per annum, and researchers see the trend spiraling upward as delivery routines, prices and quality improve. Companies that sell food on the Internet already existed ten years ago. But Swedish consumers were skeptical and and felt services were overpriced, so early Web sites vanished after a few years. "To buy food on the Internet is a very hot trend right now. The Swedes are mature in a completely different way. Also, some of the companies involved are investing in aggressive advertising campaigns," says Pernilla Jonsson, Ph.D., consumer science. New companies include Stockholm's Mathem.se (www.mathem,se), which Internet World declared today's best, and they will expand outside the capitol. "Our biggest problem is keeping up with the demand. We are almost fully booked, and we expect turnover a tenfold increase this year," says company president Tomas Kull.

Flocking prize from prince.
Next month, Sweden's Prince Carl Philip will present an award of half a million crowns to Anna Svedberg, a doctoral student at the Royal Institute of Technology. The 2010 Competence Prize award, from Gunnar Sundblad Research Fund, will pay for her stay at the University of California-Davis, where she will study flocking machinery for paper manufacturing. Svedberg is conducting research of the relationship between paper manufacturing's retention and formation. Although current teaching indicates a negative correlation between the desired high retention of filler in the paper and intended formation, Svedberg has shown that this relationship can be broken in order to produce packaging paper or paperboard with increased strength, and printing paper with high filler content, with the result of significant savings. She will use advanced instrumentation to further her theories and also study how fluid borne multiphase systems can be best pumped and transported.

Claudia – this year’s “Nova”
She speaks five languages and studies at both Handelshögskolan (Stockholm School of Economics) and KTH (Royal Institute of Technology) simultaneously. Meet Claudia Olsson, 26 years old – this year’s “The Nova”, which means Sweden’s absolute top talent. Nova 100, a top talent network, can do nothing but state what’s obvious: Claudia is a bit more talented than the rest of us. At the moment she studies international economy at Handelshögskolan in Stockholm, as well as industrial economy and energy technology at KTH. And as if that isn’t enough, she is also studying Japanese and Hindi on the side. She has also led multiple international projects, among them Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar for the Nobel Foundation, Swedish-American Life Science Summit and Project Peru. The question we want answered is: How do you do it? Says Claudia: “One explanation is that I do what stimulates me. Another thing is to do something that makes a difference in other people’s lives. That creates a lot of positive energy.” Do you suspect you have a talent but don’t quite know how to develop it? Claudia’s tips for you are: 1. “Discover the possibilities. There are always possibilities in the here and now, always people to get to know, always projects to get involved in… Do it, even it you don’t know what it will mean long-term. With a strategy like that, you’ll go far.” 2. “Create your own path. Don’t get pressured into doing what everyone else is doing. We all have our own dreams and strengths. Focus on what you have a passion for, and enter challenges you get excited about right now. Trust your intuition when it comes to picking the right projects.” 3. “Enjoy the process. When you are making your way towards a goal, either on your own or along with other people, make sure you enjoy the process. One way of doing so is to enjoy meeting new people. Let go of preconceived notions, otherwise you’ll miss a lot. Release your natural curiosity.” www.nova100.se

Frida is hot to trot.
The hottest model on the catwalk right now? She’s Swedish of course, and her name is Frida Gustavsson. Ms. Gustavsson is taking the fashion world with storm. Recently she adorned German Vogue, and during New York’s fashion week she was the model everybody wanted: Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Herve Leger, Jill Stuart, Marc Jacobs, just to name some. The pretty girl, whose agency is Stockholmsgruppen, is 5’11 so most clothes of course look great on her. But what does she wear when she’s off the catwalk? “Uhm, this trench coat is from Zara, the sunglasses from H&M, tights from Falke, sneakers from Gant, small black clutch/envelope-bag is from a really nice Swedish brand called Whyred, and the backpack is vintage,” she said. We think Frida would look lovely just wearing a sack.

International women’s day.
March 8 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the international women’s day (Den Internationella kvinnodagen in Swedish). Is a day like that needed today? What do you think? Here’s what some prominent Swedes had to say about it: Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt: “Yes, unfortunately, ‘internationella kvinnodagen’ is still needed today. Even though we’ve come quite far in Sweden, we still have a way to go (to gender equality). But the day is needed mostly because there are countries in the world, where we see a decrease in terms of women’s liberties, where violence against women is increasing.” Singer Peter Jöback says: “Perhaps we’re more equal now, but the international women’s day is still needed. If it was not needed, it wouldn’t still be there.” Elisabet Höglund, a noted journalist and author: “No, the international women’s fills no function anymore. Nobody takes it seriously. It’s almost degrading to be a woman when only one day a year is set aside for women – especially since 51% of the world’s population consist of women. A day like the international women’s day is not doing anything to better women’s situation in the world – daily work, legislation, and sacrifices do.”