You're correct that Sweden isn't a NATO country. But to say that Sweden does not have strong ties to the US is bullshit. Sweden has previously assisted the CIA to transfer two persons who were seeking asylum in Sweden to Egypt where they could be tortured. This in direct violation with international laws.

Sweden has also acted as a happy sock puppet for the US in the whole The Pirate Bay fiasco.

Sweden is definitely an ally of the US, and as for high integrity... I think that went out of the window with the FRA law ("Yeah, any and all information can and will be exchanged with foreign intelligence services"), The Pirate Bay, weapon exports to dictatorships, etc.

I'll do a food trip, as usual. Most years I choose my destinations based on the cuisine in the country as whole (hence I've been to Spain, South Korea, Italy, France and India the last few years), but this year I decided to pick just one restaurant (The Waterside Inn in Bray, UK).

Hopefully I'll be able to score a reservation at The Fat Duck (also in Bray, UK) or Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark) next year.

At the very least Hillary would require some surgery before she could...

Because the committees are just recommending YES/NO based on their specific area of (sometimes "so-called") expertise.

For instance, a committee specialised on power and industry might be totally for opening another coal mine. A committee specialised on environmental issues is probably gonna be against it.

Since ACTA is a trade agreement, the Trade committee is the main committee, and their recommendation thus -- normally at least -- carries the most weight.

In the end though, the representatives in the parliament are the ones deciding whether or not to follow the recommendations of the committees. The EU parliament can be quite unpredictable from time to time...

The ChromeOS kernel is Linux.

... Except: Apple is doing it on their own hardware. Microsoft is requiring it from all hardware manufacturers that want a "Certified for Windows 8" sticker, which means pretty much all non-Apple hw makers. See the difference? If Microsoft were doing their own hw and restricting that (like, say, the X-Box), I'd think it was fair game. A pity, yes (just like I consider it a pity that Apple cripples their hardware), but monopolistic? No. But this *is* monopolistic.

Patents have shorter expiration dates because they're far more encompassing. It's practically impossible to duplicate a copyrighted product by chance, and there's little value for society even if so happens. It's quite likely to get close enough to someone's patent though when researching in similar areas, and patents to further inventions, not to hold them back. True, it's less likely in the area of drug research than in computer science, but it's still a risk. Besides, pharmaceutical patents might be of value in countries where people can either afford health insurance or have public health care, but for most people in third world countries, and for that matter poor people in rich countries, generics are the only viable option.

Then how about 5 years from clinical approval?