Penguin Ponderings

Sign in Subscribe

How to use your vote wisely in the 2026 Swedish election

sweden Featured

How to use your vote wisely in the 2026 Swedish election

A recommendation for those who wish for Sweden's guiding pillars during the next four years to be solidarity, equality, and prosperity for ordinary people.

Red-Handle Signals: How Organized Workers Benefit The Company

An organized workforce is a critical mechanism in a large organization, and employers benefit from having access to the input of their workers, particularly in times of crisis.

AI And The Loss of Discovery

Starting with nothing but an idea, then iterating on it over and over again based on your own evaluation and feedback from others, is the essence of how good art is made.

Edible Economics makes me hungry (for change)

Edible Economics makes me hungry (for change)

I think about economics whenever I go grocery shopping because of this book.

This blog is moving!

This blog is moving!

Update your bookmarks!

Happy 2026! I'm not dead!

Happy 2026! I'm not dead!

Let's make this year better than the last one.

Media Roundup - July 2025

Media Roundup - July 2025

As I mentioned in the last post, July is the month in which virtually every Swede goes on vacation at the same time. I am usually an exception to that rule, but this year I was forced to take two weeks off, and so I spent most of that time

The project I spent a tenth of my life on was just cancelled — none of our work belongs to us

The project I spent a tenth of my life on was just cancelled — none of our work belongs to us

We laid down years of our lives, but no one will see what we made.

Media Roundup - June 2025

Media Roundup - June 2025

I meant to publish this post in the first days of July, but I ended up writing way too much for each section. It took some time to edit things down, hence the delay. Sorry about that. June is over, which means we're officially entering the month in

Tsugumi Project (vol. 1) - A Manga Review

Tsugumi Project (vol. 1) - A Manga Review

Tsugumi Project is a post-apocalyptic manga by Ippatu about a man on a mission to find a secret weapon somewhere in the ruins of a Tokyo devastated by nuclear war. This is a review of the first volume of the manga.

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - May 2025

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - May 2025

Welcome to June, everyone! I didn't post anything this month (except for the April edition of this post), largely due to two reasons: First off, I've been dealing with some stress in both my work and personal life, so I've been spending more of

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - April 2025

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - April 2025

Happy Labor Day, everyone! Whether or not you're participating in demonstrations, I hope you're having a good day off—assuming, of course, that you do not work in one of the few countries in which Labor Day isn't a public holiday. You know... like

The Greatest Failure of the Swedish Model

The Greatest Failure of the Swedish Model

We look to our unions to fight for us, to get us the best possible outcome. We expect this of them, because that's how the model works. It'd be a shame, then, if the unions completely failed to meet our expectations.

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - March 2025

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - March 2025

Welcome back to this (aspirationally) monthly post in which I share my thoughts about interesting things I've read/watched/played recently. In February I was busy moving houses, and this month I've spent a lot of time turning our new apartment from an assortment of moving

Is Dataspelsbranschen anti-union? Thoughts on the Swedish Game Developer Index

Is Dataspelsbranschen anti-union? Thoughts on the Swedish Game Developer Index

This article expands on a thread I originally posted on Bluesky in November, when the 2024 Game Developer Index was originally released. Every year, the Swedish games industry trade organization Dataspelsbranschen—essentially our equivalent to the ESA—releases a report called the "Game Developer Index". The report is

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - February 2025

What I'm Reading / Watching / Playing - February 2025

What I'm Reading A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin We have a semi-functional book club at Playdead, and most recently we read A Wizard of Earthsea, the first title in Ursula K. Le Guin's "Earthsea Cycle". This wasn't my