Assange Being Charged For Sexual Molestation of Minors?

Through the course of today Julian Assange is being arrested by Interpol agents regarding a Swedish Sexual assault charge.

More here:
The Daily Mail - The Wikileaks sex files: How two one-night stands sparked a worldwide hunt for Julian Assange

A discussion with some friends on the issue got me wondering what the legal terms of the charges were. I found my way to the Swedish Prosecution Authority

Reading a blurb about Assange's proceedings

The matter concerning Mr. Assange
Director of Prosecution, Ms. Marianne Ny, will hold a press conference concerning the proceedings in the Assange matter.

Time: 16.45 pm Tuesday 7 December

Address: Police Headquarters, Ernst Fontells plats 3, Göteborg (Gothenburg)

Next to the article there's a column for More Information, Background information and some other legal jargon. The Background section, however, contained a link to the Swedish Penal Code and a the relevant sections

The Swedish Penal Code

See Chapter 6, On Sexual Crimes, sections 1, 2, and 7.

See also Chapter 4, On Crimes against Liberty and Peace, section 7

Checking out Chapter 6, Section 1 refers to rape or coercing sexual intercourse through violence or threat of violence. Section 2 refers to coercion by unlawful means that aren't covered by Section 1 (probably where the bulk of the case is going to be focused on). Section 7 however refers to the molestation of minors and the coercions of minors from 15-17 to participate in pornographic material.

I don't know if this means anything yet but I find it extremely strange that they would list that section so directly when none of the women currently involved are minors.

Writing a Novel is Hard

Have you ever seen one of those 10k runs that all people are encouraged to participate in? There's a funny thing about the first couple of kilometers of those. The first aid stations in the beginning third usually see a LOT of people who are completely unprepared for a 1k run, let alone a 10k. I'm kind of feeling that way about my novel. 50,000 words in 30 days. That works out to about 1600 words a day assuming you don't miss any days (which I have).

I can see why writing is considered a full time job now. Even when I do manage to sit down and write I'll rarely get my full quota for the day done in the 3 hours I generally have. It's also become pretty clear to me how important the editing process is. Trying to keep momentum going when you're writing is a challenge. You can't always, and in fact, probably shouldn't, write linearly. If an idea comes into your head you've kind of got to sketch it out before it's gone. That kind of stuff puts you in a mood that might not fit the previous section you wrote so I've ended up mixing tones and styles all over the place.

It's a good thing this isn't to write a novel you're proud of or I'd really be in over my head. I've got a story figured out though and I'm satisfied with my characters that have appeared so far. It's just filling out the words in between.

National Novel Writing Month

I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year! I'm excited to see how far I get. I've got an idea and a few hundred words written already but that 50,000 word goal is looking pretty intimidating. I really like the idea I've come up with though and think that if I can figure out how to make enough content for it I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

I remember reading Stephen King's on writing last month and how much that motivated me to write more. This year I'm going to try to take it to the next step with a full novel. I probably won't be releasing it because, hey, who ever wrote a good novel on their first attempt, but there's got to be some jumping off point.

(Apparently the rest of the world also had this idea too because nanowrimo.org is crawling at this point.)

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/737370