A Roll in the Universe

It's New Year's Eve, December 31st, and all afternoon, some kids have been lighting firecrackers and simpler fireworks. It's not legal; they need to be over 18, but not a single adult, not even me, has said a word to the 10 or so boys who have been happily lighting stuff, and diving for cover as sparks and smoke fly out of control and whistles while banging, whistling and crackling. I could lean out my window and yell at them. However, in today's world, the boys would very likely yell back, and carry on with the fireworks. I have instead chosen to be amused by them, to wish them safe and noisy fun, and to actually enjoy some of the action through my window. I do have one of the best seats in the house, for what may be one of the last new year's eves with regular folks allowed to send off their own fireworks. Because it tends to injure people, that sort of thing. (Ya think?) But as the Norwegians say, luck works better than brains (lykken er bedre enn forstanden).

I went a little nuts this December and bought me a bunch of DVDs. Among my purchases were a few in glorious black and white, including "12 Angry Men" , which I watched last night. I knew the plot, I knew the outcome, but what got my attention this time around, was the reaction of the men to the one juror's racist tirade. One by one, the men get up and quietly move to a position where the racist speaker can see only their backs. There is no pre-arranged agreement to do that that I could see. Each man got up and found a spot where he wouldn't face the racist, and eventually the racist shut up. And for the first time, watching an old movie, I felt a complete disconnect from the past. I did not recognize this behavior in the men, that is, I don't see people nowadays acting this way. Where did this calm but effective way of showing dissent go to? I know it was used at the time, in the form of sit-ins and boycotts, by the civil rights movement, and initially used by

The Recipe For Keera 3 parts Sass 2 parts Slyness 1 part Passion Splash of Instinct Limit yourself to one serving. This cocktail is strong! What's the Recipe for Your Personality? Funny thing is, this actually fits. Cheers! (Found at Paula's , where else.) PS: Upon rereading my blog post title, I was reminded of the conversation in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", chapter 6: "[Y]ou'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk." "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "You ask a glass of water."

I'm watching a show about Mexico on Discovery Channel and they describe how the migratory monarch butterfly seems to sit in lifeless clumps for three months, until the February sun penetrates the trees and strikes the butterflies. Because of buildings in front of my 2nd story apartment, I don't get any sunshine in my apartment from about mid-November to the very end of January. And the day I see (should I be so lucky weather-wise) a ray of sun briefly lighting up my wallpaper is a true solar return for me. And I stop being a lifeless clump just like the butterflies do.

I tripped over a Norwegian trivia and puzzle site (finally, I may win money with my sudoku addiction), and discovered that I know more about pop stars than I do Sweden. Twice I got the question "Who is Sweden's prime minister?" and twice I gave the wrong answer. So why don't I know his (or is it her?) name? I know which Mel is a member of Spice Girls, I'm pretty clear on Harry Potter games, and I know which private detective Tom Selleck played. So why don't I know who the current Swedish prime minister is? I blame the media. No, really. A steady diet of online Norwegian newspapers over the years has left me, against my will, with more knowledge about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears than whoever runs Sweden. When Norwegian newspapers write about Sweden, it's usually about Norwegians shopping there, Swedish prices being a tad lower than Norwegian and Norwegians always loving the illusion of getting something cheap (even if the price of gas getting there e

It's been stormy for the last couple of days. Tear-trees-up-and-close-roads-with-them stormy. I haven't stuck my nose outside (as the Norwegians say) since I was with friends on Christmas Day, which was the one day we had some lovely weather. The temperature dipped to freezing, the skies cleared and a wane sun actually managed to make a few weak shadows. We walked off some of all the good food we'd been filling ourselves with for two days, and delighted in seeing a few not-so-common birds and beautiful blue skies. So I spent two days being "housebound" (every time I thought I should go out, the wind would kick up and howl around the house corners, or a hail storm would pummel my windows). I finally got out of the house to go shopping today because today the storm abated and that's when I realized another reason why getting out at all had been so difficult: It was black out. The cloud cover has been so thick, hardly any light penetrates it. No sunshine in t

I have joined something called Blog 365 , thanks to Paula . The idea is, for 2008, to blog every day. If the computer is not available, write something and post it later. (Leap Day is a day of rest.) Also, if you have more than one blog, then posting to one if not the other counts. And that should motivate me to write more both here and over on my other blog. I hope. Now to go find me a purty badge to stick on this here blog.

I have a friend who is an atheist. She's an atheist because she sees no evidence to the contrary, though she has tried. I have another friend who's an atheist, but he has figured out the "where do we go when we die" thing: We live on forever, not as who we are but as the stuff we are made of, coming from the stars, going back into them, and so on. Recycling, as it were, rather than reincarnation. So I may not be me, but I won't be no longer existing, either, and I like that idea. When the more mystical ones seem a little too theoretical, I like the recycling idea. I have a third friend who is not an atheist, but she's having trouble with being a theist because none of the definitions of God[1] feel quite right. She wants to believe, but she doesn't know what to believe. I have suggested to her earlier that perhaps her deity is nature itself - as it is for many people. Just drinking in the world in all its mundane glory, rather than focusing on the unsee

Every other blogger has something to say about the holiday, so I decided to, too, instead of feeling left out. First off let me say this: I wasn't traumatized by Christmas growing up and I knew extremely early that Santa doesn't exist. I love Christmas movies, because I love the combination of magic and inevitably happy ending with a touch of moral-to-the-story. And yes, "It's a Wonderful Life" is a favorite. So what does Christmas mean to me? Nothing. That's right, I said nothing. I'm not Christian, I'm not hung up on tradition and haven't made any of my own, and I don't have to have certain things or things a certain way at Christmas so as not to feel left out or lonely or un-Christmassy. (Except maybe my own blogpost about it.) I enjoy the lights, the atmosphere, the constant greeting other people with "god jul"/"Merry Christmas", the reminders to be generous, the spirit of the season, but I don't decorate or go

I just bought a book, Astronomy, Weather, and Calendars in the Ancient World , partly because of the introductory chapter. There, a method for "borrowing days" to predict the weather was mentioned: The weather on the day before the winter solstice forecasts the weather for the first month of winter, the weather on the day of the winter solstice itself forecasts the weather for the second month of winter, and the day after the winter solstice forecasts the weather for the third month of winter. This method applies to the summer solstice and equinoxes, too. Today we have gorgeous sunshine here in Bergen, and I'm hoping that'll keep be the case all weekend, too. Winter solstice (0 degrees of Capricorn for you astrologers) is on Dec. 22 where I live.

I think that those of us who search for meaning in our lives, do so because we need some sense in our chaos, some hope in our darkness. We have pasts that have left us with scars and we want to know how to move forward. The fact that we even think like this, is a huge strength, because it keeps us searching for improvement, for betterment. Sometimes, there are set-backs. Sometimes the past comes back for a visit and dredges up old hurts. That happened to me this summer and it's taken me the rest of the year to finally get that particular thorn out of my side. That was not necessarily a waste of time. It made me rethink a number of things, including where I want to go for the rest of my life, and giving oneself time to think is never a bad thing. However, one of the effects during this latter part of 2007 was a feeling of being separate from God. I have never read more literature that states God is not some mean man with a beard, but a life-supporting joy that permeates everything a

My friend Max took the test and got such a wicked cool picture to illustrate his results ((sorry, no linky) so I took the test, too. If you score highly on all four elements, you get Harmony. If you score equally low on all four elements, you get Balance. As I did: Your Score: Balance ~ 44% Water ~ 55% Wind ~ 55% Earth ~ 48% Fire ~ And I know and I believe There's a way out to the sea of happiness It seems your personality is in perfect harmony; your impulses are tempered with thoughtfulness, and your emotions are balanced with a healthy amount of reason. In order to maintain that harmony, try wearing a Jade , a Chrysoprase or an Agate ; all three enhance balance and stability, as does the Snowflake Obsidian that will help remain balanced during times of change . In detail : You are more balanced than most people. Your Ground Chakra , (associated with the element of fire and representing our basic desires and driving force ), your Creative Chakra , (associated with t

Inspired by the normalcy of Badaunt's list of seven random things (in other words, I tagged myself), here is my attempt: I have such good peripheral vision, I can see 180 degrees. I treat Norwegian "brunost" (goat's cheese) like candy. (It's kind of sweet, anyway.) I can type the ten-key pad by touch. I once provided a boss with many minutes of entertainment by doing a long list of addition without ever looking at my right hand. I use clothes pins to close bags of things, like potato chips: Quicker than rubber bands, easier than twisty-ties, cheaper than the specialized "bag closers" they sell. I tend to get hooked on one song and play it over and over and over again. After about a week, I get hooked on another song. This is why I listen to my stereo with headphones on, even though I live alone. I don't want my neighbor to think I'm crazy. Uhm, crazier. I'm proud of my breasts. Always have been. Even though one started budding 6 mont

The first time I saw the finale to this, I actually started to panic, wondering about how the cat would get back out. It became a little too much for my latent claustrophobia. But it was a pretty darn good kitty trick! (Via Cute Overload , who were more taken with the cheesy laughtrack.)

I am so looking forward to the solstice this year! I can't wait for these gloomy days to get more daylight. We've have more overcast weather than not this year, and as of yesterday, 2868 millimeters of precipitation so far in 2007. Sure, it's in itsy-bitsy metric, but it's still a large number even when you convert it. 2868 mm is 112.91 inches. It's 9.4 feet. It's almost 3 meters and over 3 yards. You can touch it with a ten-foot pole - barely. And still it makes 2007 only the 5th wettest year on record so far. They are promising us drier weather this coming week. I am also hoping for clear, blue skies.

I wasn't tagged. I just went and stole this from Paula , partly because it looked like fun, and partly because some of the resulting answers actually held meaning (so do mine). So let's fire up iTunes and see what happens. The rules are: Put your music player on Shuffle For each question, press the Next button to get your answer YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT (this is in capital letters, so it is very serious). BEGIN IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? "She's Out of My Life" (Michael Jackson) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? "Movement 1 From Mythodea" (Vangelis) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? "Hey Hey Guy" (Ken Lazslo) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? "Don't Worry Be Happy" (Bobby McFerrin) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE? "I Hear Talk / You And Your Heart So Blue" (Bucks Fizz) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? "Better Than This" (Hazen) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF Y

The last thought I had before letting myself out of my apartment, was to bring my cell phone because maybe somebody would need me to call the police or something. Yeah, right. Like that ever happens. As promised by the weather bureau, today was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun actually came out. From my kitchen window late this morning, I could see long shadows from trees and buildings weakly striping the lawn out back. Seeing those shadows and an increasing amount of blue in the sky cheered me. I finished baking the pumpkin pie I am bringing to the gang at work tomorrow (cuz that's the tradition in Bergen: the birthday person treats the others to cake), and checked the weather through my living room windows (which give a more reliable report than the kitchen window does, seeing as how weather comes out of the west) as well as the outdoor thermometer on my balcony door. I put on warmer clothes, and grabbed keys and cell phone. As I passed by the building that once housed

I once got to visit the library at Trinity College in Dublin. It houses manuscripts dating back to the 16th century, including some exquisite hand-written Celtic books. The library proper has bookshelves two stories high. I stood between the long rows of books, gazing at the hundreds and hundreds of leather spines, and found myself grinning like an idiot. I was happy with the thought that so much human knowledge is put forth in such a way that other humans can gain the same knowledge. I was grinning over the limitless possibilities. For the digital age, The Universal Digital Library and its Million Book Collection is a good go. It is a work in progress, but you just may find the one gem you were looking for.

1,168,440 How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard? That's my keyboard at work. 1,617,840 How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard? And that's my keyboard at home. I guess I need to stop eating at the computer. But before you get all grossed out, this is how germy I am: See? That bar thingy doesn't go up all that high. See? (But they should compare it to kitchen sinks. Toilet seats are clean because butts never touch anything but toilet seats. (Via Paula .)

"Please tell us why you are deactivating your account." I selected, "I don't find it useful". Facebook then informed me that if I connected with more friends I probably would. No, Facebook. The few friends I had connected with were sending virtual drinks and teddy bears and graffiti and hugs and group messages all over and I was getting notified of almost everything because Facebook wants me to know what my friends are up to. And yes, you can opt out of the e-mail notifications. But what difference does that make? Next time you log in, a bunch of unread messages, another bunch of invites to be green or international or peace-loving or whatever, and virtual bouquets of flowers, martinis or gifts waiting to be collected - and it all means adding another app and with that, another icon. The picture shows my list of apps at quitting time. Some of it was fun, yes, but it got too - messy. Too many messages, too many updates, too many tabs to click and places to ch

I am never the first one to jump on the gadget bandwagon. I was not the first to buy an iPod, the iPod I do have must be four years old by now and doesn't do color, photos or video, and I am not likely to buy an iPhone. But the Amazon Kindle e-Book Reader is definitely a gadget I want! I rarely fall for something the moment I see it but I did this time. It's small. It holds 200 books or something. I can read all I want, where I want, and not clutter my nightstand, my purse or my bookshelves! It requires no computer and interfaces to download like a cell phone. I am so sold! But should I buy it? Will it work in Norway? It's a bit pricy, but the dollar is at an all-time low compared to the Norwegian krone, so now's a good time to buy. I think that first I need to finish reading all the information on the explanatory page. I've seen only the little introductory video so far. Oh, and I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard. UPDATE: Time to let you guys know ho

Paula, who prefers purple and who inspired me to do this blogtest, needs orange . Very well. What do I need? You Need Some Red in Your Life Red will make you feel energetic, passionate, and determined. And with a little red, you will project an aura of warmth. If you want to feel intensely, you've got to get some red in your life! For extra punch: Combine red with orange or pink The downside of red: Red can provoke anger or rage. Watch out! The consequences of more red in your life: You will feel more enthusiasm for life You will have the confidence to go after what you want You will have a lot more physical energy What Color Do You Need? How about that. Three days running I've been wearing something bright red, and I deliberately chose to. I hunted for red things to wear. And I have been feeling better these last couple of days in spite of not getting a full night's sleep for a couple of nights (darned perimenopause). Now, let's find some pink and orange

That's it for NaNoWriMo for this year. I got stuck - partly because I didn't do an outline or anything, and partly because I, well, got bored with it. I don't write the way the writers I like write. Anyway, I've rather suspected that my strength is not in fiction, but in non-fiction. And while I was trying to write almost 2000 words a day, I found myself wanting to update both of my blogs. I found inspiration for Budding Yogini but not the time or calm to hash it out. And that is partly because I am distracted by my stomach and my day job. The advantage to an all-rice diet is that you do lose weight. When I gain weight, I lose my hourglass figure. My waistline is the first to go. Then my chin. Then the rest of me. Also, IBS means bloating. The brown rice was the first food I'd eaten in a very long time that did not give me gas once, which was wonderful. So I've lost a couple of pounds and my waistline is back, even when I relax my stomach. And my chin line&

Granted, there are many cute animal stories around. Me, I don't often get as good a look at a hippo as in this video, and it was fascinating to watch her behavior around people and dogs. A very sweet story.

Ooh, there's another group! What an interesting title! What are they talking about! Oh, I want to reply to that! My meandering around on Facebook tonight has been reminiscent of when I first got a computer at home with a modem and the world wide web waiting for me to dial, 10 years ago. I tripped over a weirdness called Usenet and fell in love. I do my best thinking through my fingers. Poking around Facebook and looking at all the groups to join and noting the discussions reminded me very much of my first foray into Usenet. There a few things I don't like about Facebook, but it may be because I don't know enough. I don't like the look of the main page. It's called "Profile" and is full of widgets, pictures and comments from friends. It very quickly gets cluttered-looking and I can't think straight with so much visual "noise". The other thing is Facebook's networks by region. All of Norway is lumped as one, and I'm trying to figure

The above is sun sign astrology, but it uses keywords and phrases I haven't come across before, and is breaks with the stereotype. The above fits me, with a few exceptions: "Nice to everyone" is a goal not a fact (I'm still too irritable), and I am definitely not soft-spoken. Also, I'm not sure about being romantic (though I am a sucker for a happy ending, in both movies and real life). As for being rare and wonderful if found, let me know about that one if you find me, 'K? (Via Paula .)

Facebook is rather obscure. It could have answered my questions "why" and "why register" itself, if it had bothered to put this bit of text from its privacy policy on its main page somewhere: Facebook is about sharing information with others — friends and people in your networks — while providing you with privacy settings that restrict other users from accessing your information. We allow you to choose the information you provide to friends and networks through Facebook. Our network architecture and your privacy settings allow you to make informed choices about who has access to your information. Yes, I finally signed up. No, it's not obvious to me that registering equals being able to set privacy settings, or what "privacy settings" are. Registering on Facebook itself means giving private info (like full name and birthdate) to something public. OK, so my neurons travel in crazy wormholes. Point is, Alice's mention that she finds out about loc

I already turned down one friend who invited me to befriend her on Facebook, and now here comes another. So why don't I sign up so I can see what they're up to? Because, honestly, after years of web use, there are so many places I'm registered with and ditto number of passwords to remember. I have Yahoo, Google/Blogger, NaNoWriMo, Flickr and LiveJournal (that last only to avoid commenting anonymously). I had Frappr and Orkut. I gave up Frappr because some men were trolling for women, and when I went to log in to turn the latest offer of friendship down, I couldn't remember what I'd signed up with. Took me two days to work that one out, so I closed the account. I obviously had no use for it. One attempt at joining something (Orkut?) stranded because I had to fill out all this stuff, like name and age and gender and sun sign and favorite quote (I don't have one) just to sign up, so I gave up. I don't even bother with Web 2.0 stuff like Backpack. Everyt

I ran into a former neighbor yesterday, picking up my new LaCie D2 Quadra, and we stood in the snow talking for a good while about the weather. It is just about zero Celsius and snow is coming down. The first snow of the season is usually wet and fleeting, but it looks like this one is taking hold. The somewhat melted stuff of yesterday has been covered by a fresh blanket, and has turned the naked trees into models for Christmas cards. It won't stay, though. There's no freezing temperature reported for the coming days, so it'll all turn to mush and be a nuisance. But I am happy to see it. Last year's winter wasn't. We had no freezing temperatures and no snow and no days of clear, crisp weather. For three months straight, we had rain. It is so normal to have a first snow in November that doesn't stay. So it's nice to have. The new LaCie 500 GB external hard drive is so I can move some stuff off my tiny (umpteen songs and photos will do that) 80 GB inter

Disclaimer thingy: I am writing about this because of something I learned during our last class, something relevant to today's political and cultural maps. If you want an actual history lesson with dates and stuff, try Wikipedia . The rise and fall of the Roman empire did not happen with any single event. The fall was actually a combination of reorganization, erosion and invasion that took about a millenium to complete and yet the Roman empire lives on, its spirit divided into three. Sometime in the 5th century CE, emperor Constantine, who simply didn't like the city of Rome, set up shop in Byzantion, and renamed it Constantinople. The empire then basically split into a western and an eastern part. Rome was already being abandoned by its population for various reasons, so when someone asked, "Shouldn't we elect an emperor of Rome?" the answer was basically a shrug. The Roman Empire, as a military power, continued in the east, while the Goths finally seized Rom

on my novel, I've let myself be distracted by Google sets (via Paula . The trick is to do as Paula did, and ignore Google's example of a set. I entered "cat" and "angels" and got a list of things that fly , including "cars" (must be the DeLorean ) and "Buddha". (I'm sure cat + angel = Buddha, anyway. Entering "Norway" and "striptease" gives a surprisingly mundane list . "Dragons" and "striptease" was far more amusing, offering underwear and Disney (heh). Your turn!

I know there was something I wanted to say, but darned if I can remember... What follows is blogpost padding. Read at your own peril. I re-read the book "You Are All Sanpaku" which has made me somewhat paranoid, and very curious about other people's eyes. I'm also eating a lot of brown rice. The nice thing about that is that figuring out what to have for dinner has become very easy. It's also very confusing. I mean, the macrobiotic diet is antithetic to low-carb diets. Or vice-versa. So who to listen to? There's an attempt at leaving some white stuff on the ground today. Those crazy weather gods. They do like to tease. I discovered where the magpie sleeps during the night: In the tree next to its nest. Exposed to whatever those crazy weather gods think of. I'm rather glad I'm not a magpie (though I think it would be fun to be a crazy weather god). I wrote nothing yesterday. Well, I did, but it wasn't my novel. I finished up my course in t

I'm supposed to be writing a novel. So what happens? My curiosity, as usual, gets the better of me and I end up delightedly poking around in this map and blogpost . So Rivendell was in Norway... That puts an interesting slant on things. And in other news: The Indians almost had a state . I didn't know that about Oklahoma's history. I tripped over the above thanks to a friend's (hi, Max!) linkage to this illustrative painting of Norway, Europe, and Norway's relationship with water. Do read the comments to the above blogposts. Very informative. Now, could somebody please come and tear me loose from strange maps ? I really must write my novel. Thanks.

Shamelessly stolen from Paula (who, I admit, is my mentor in all this. Bet you didn't know that, Paula!). Now to get that percentage into the double digits (like Paula).

The title of this blogpost happens to be the title of my work-in-progress (WIP) at NaNoWriMo (see widget to the left). It's actually the whimsical title of a couple of galaxies, which was the Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 12 . For lack of a better title for a WIP, I stole this. I have no clue how to write a novel, in spite of having taken a few writing classes and having read a few books on writing (including Stephen King's "On Writing"). My cluelessness may be due to the fact that I have never written any fiction longer than a short-story. But the idea behind the National Novel Writing Month is to just put the words down - 50,000 in all - by midnight November 30. Still, that leaves the challenge of having words to put down. I submitted over 1300 words (daily target should be closer to 1700) on Nov. 1. I got bogged down in some goings on between two characters that I didn't know the end of, and one of them I had given such a trendy name to, that I go

I was surfing the worldwide web and my own bookshelves, looking something up for a friend. I therefore became reacquainted with the Japanese term "sanpaku" , which means "three whites", i.e. the whites in your eyes show up on three sides, not just two. The third is either above or below the iris. Sanpaku shows imbalance, whether physical or spiritual, and so warns of failing health or an otherwise unhappy life which can lead to an untimely death. Apparantly, cats can have sanpaku eyes, too (though I suspect these critters were merely photographed with their heads tilting down). Which was really what I wanted to blog about, but then Blogger consistently offered up all of its links in its Dashboard in Japanese. Now, I'm familiar enough with posting to Blogger to know what the mysterious links actually do (and the color-coding helps, too), but I hadn't experienced the Japanese "glitch" with my browsers at home. I could manage a post, but I coul

I came across this post in which a man boldly comments on the woman's purse . He daringly stated that we women do not need such things. At most (because of his observation of his wife), we need just a tiny hand-held clutch (hence its name). Not one comment agreed with him (or was written by a man). But one thing lept out: The biggest reason for toting a tote is to have something to read. Just about every woman who could not make due with just pockets (I try, but I hate the tell-tale bulge even a tiny lipstick makes) or the clutch, stated that she needed something to carry a book in. One commenter even noted that there were an awful lot of readers reading and commenting. Count me in. I have always had a purse that is big enough to hold a Reader's Digest, at least, or even a whole book. I keep trying to downsize my purse, but have always been thwarted by the desire to have room for something to read. Waiting for the bus, eating alone in a restaurant, waiting in a line: These

The goal was to bring the gold home. AND WE DID! Quietly, thanks to another team losing its chance at the gold in a soccer match last night. Because, you see, my claim of us winning the gold was a bit early. Even though our team, Brann, did not have a game last night, its supporters came out in the thousands, and our newspapers are filled with pictures of red-clad and extremely happy people. And our local newspaper's online version is treating us to this pop-up: It's one time I don't mind a pop-up window. What a lovely medal! HEIA BRANN!!!

I've been corresponding with a Norwegian-American friend on, among other things, the cheap electricity and clean water of Norway. During our correspondance, the news in Norway was able to tell me that a) the power companies don't earn enough to fix leaks that could power a city of 500,000, and b) the pipelines in Norway are several decades old, and fresh water lines are laid right next to sewer lines. There's been an outbreak of giardia and some other icky things in Oslo's water this past week. My own town of Bergen had the same about two years ago. The family of the woman who died from drinking water infested with giardia is currently suing Bergen. A friend in California lives in a city with a river that could easily overflow its borders and the shoddily-built levee that was meant to contain it. Due to other regulations, people were allowed to settle in what is now designated the flood zone. It could be New Orleans after Katrina all over again, and the reasons are

The magpies were scolding incessantly for several minutes. It finally got my attention, so I got up and looked out my living room window. I saw the problem almost immediately: Settled in the crook of the tree, looking rather comfy, was a white cat I've seen around the neighborhood before, and I'm sure, the same cat that once made its way into the unfinished magpie nest now above it. The magpies who built the nest still see this birch tree as theirs. They scolded and chattered at the cat, and, amusingly, attracted a number of other birds, like a couple of great tits and blackbirds. It took a while but the birds finally got the cat's attention; this blackbird (thrush) came very close. (I apologize for the blurriness.) It occurred to me that my first assumption about the birds being attracted to the cat in the birch tree was for the entertainment value, was wrong. I now concluded that the birds were gathering across species to rid the tree of a common enemy. The magp

I saw the company doctor today. Just a regular annual check-up. Blood pressure's up but still a healthy 120/80. Cholesterol's up but within the healthy range. Iron levels are good. Heart and lungs also sounding normal. Lung capacity still rocks. I don't feel like I'm going to be 47 in less than two months. One thing though: My doc asked me about an answer on a form about how I felt about upper management. Turns out that the subtle shift I've felt since this summer has been felt by other employees. The question is, what next? I'm still working on that question. In the meantime, trees are turning gold, evenings are turning cold, and I'm rhyming. I think I could do with a bit of Wow! in my life about now. Just to shake things up a bit. Perhaps I got a bit of Wow! Saturday night. I attended a lecture titled "Buddhism in the West" given by a Danish lama, Ole Nydahl . He had to give his talk in English, because spoken Danish sounds too consonantles

"You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay has a list of metaphysical and/or emotional reasons for physical ailments and attendant, healing affirmations. Some time this summer my right front incisor started to feel slightly looser. It seemed to be able to lean a bit against its neighboring teeth. By last week, I was feeling a sensation in my upper lip right where the root to that tooth is that I can best describe as "vibrating". Last Saturday, the wiggle seemed to be even more noticeable than ever. I took a deep breath and told myself not to panic. There are a few ways to seriously scare me. Bodywise, it just takes the suggestion of chest/breast surgery of any kind - or my teeth breaking or falling out. I called the dentist Monday morning and was told my favorite dentist was out on indefinite sick-leave. Well, dentists in Norway are generally good, I've never been mistreated yet, so I got an appointment for Thursday, yesterday. Wednesday I was home from work

My upstairs neighbor yelled and stomped his feet so loudly, I heard it from my kitchen and realized instantly that something had happened on tonight's soccer match, so I left my dishes and turned on the TV. I discovered my neighbor had yelled as our team ended the 1-1 score with a 2nd goal, and then, just seconds later, a third. Our local soccer team, Brann, has not won the series since 1963. But tonight that changed. After a brilliant season of only four not a single lossed lost matches ( just the rest wins and ties), Brann won a defining home match tonight 3-1 . We're gonna be partying all week and for the rest of the month! The town I live in will never be the same. And neither will the team's official song. They're going to have to rewrite the verse about winning last in 1963. Heia Brann!!! PS: I keep having to edit this post. Which doesn't surprise me. a) I don't use spellcheck, b) I know nothing about soccer or our team, c) except that our team ten

Nothing like starting a Saturday with a tasty cup of coffee (Java Mocca, in this case) and an article that tickles the funny bone. This even involves some of my favorite critters: Rats, cows and Norwegians. Forskning.no - a Norwegian web newspaper that specializes in reporting on research - has given its own slant on this year's Ig Nobel Awards, including posing the very same question that occurred to me after mentioning the award-winning research in linguistics showing that rats are unable to tell Dutch apart from Japanese when hearing the languages spoken backwards . The question is: Is it animal cruelty to subject lab rats to such things? Then the Norwegian article states that Norwegian researchers have had more nominations (and wins) to the Ig Nobel Prize than to the real Nobel Prize, topping out in 1996, with, among other things, trying to figure out if blow-up dolls can spread gonorrhea (they can't), and what stimulates appetites in leeches (sour cream's fine, b

Your Deadly Sins Sloth: 60% Gluttony: 20% Greed: 20% Envy: 0% Lust: 0% Pride: 0% Wrath: 0% Chance You'll Go to Hell: 14% You will die with your hand down your underwear, watching Star Trek. How Sinful Are You? (Paula, whom I swiped this from, got the exact same score , but a different death.)

I went to hear one of my favorite Norwegian cartoonists , Mads Eriksen, speak, and took a picture of him working, but that didn't come out, unfortunately. He was sketching what was to become this: Eriksen was pleasant and humble, and he did say something about Norwegians and their attitudes to the newspaper daily comics: Those comics seem to have a special status for people, to the point that people have actually apologized to Eriksen for not reading his strip. There is something about this festival that made me realize that I need to visit it every year, and just park myself in the auditorium where the interviewing of the guest artists/writers takes place more or less continuously. Because the thing is, those guys are so enthusiastic, so happy, so generous about their work and with their art, that you leave happy, even if you have no clue who the artist/writer is or what cartoon or illustrated story he does. And this they do in between handling a long line of fans waiting for

I scored rather highly on the sci-fi/comic part of the Nerd test I took . That has made me think about the cultural difference between the US and Norway (as I understand it) in comics: Norway has a number of monthly comic books - aimed at adults. They are not adult comics in the sense that they are R-rated, but rather, they are the comics of the US Sunday newspapers, translated and offered to Norwegians of all ages. The magazines sit in the adult section of the magazine rack, not the kid section. UPDATE: Jefe's comment has prompted me to add this, since it made me realize that I was a bit sparse on the details: Just to be clear: I'm not talking about illustrated novels (like Sandman), serials (like Modesty Blaise) or manga, though those exist and are popular in their own right. Nor am I talking about the sort of magazine or booklet that offers printed stories of familiar animated cartoon characters (though we have that, too). I'm talking about the humorous strip or one

I like to think I'm not quite like other people. Usually, I'm right. Sometimes it amuses me greatly to suddenly feel myself a part of some great joined consciousness or group experience. It's not often, so for me it's like visiting a relative I rarely see. The rest of the time, I march to the beat of my own drum, and hear no echo. Then I read this about new classes of consumers: A karma queen, for example, is identified as a woman aged in her 40s or 50s who tends to buy organic food, wear Birkenstock footwear, practice yoga and buy high-end bath products. Except for the Birkenstocks, that's me to a T. Well, at least I'm something royal. (Found via The Consumerist .)

At work, I am the departmental nerd. I deserve that title: Of course I was nerdy enough to upload a photo that had been digitally retouched. ;-) (Thanks to fellow female nerd Paula !)

Well, no, it's not a flying jellyfish but I was impressed, anyway (see my comment to that post).

On my day off, I fully (I almost wrote "fooly", which may not be incorrect) intend to eventually get off my butt, shower, dress and, uh, do something. You know, productive-like. Even have some podcasts and audiobooks to listen to. But until said offgetting, etc., I'm drinking coffee, and doing these (blame Paula ): You Are Teal Green You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have. What Color Green Are You? Fits. Paula got the same thing. Now, to explore that knack. After I shower, dress, etc. You Are 81% Tortured Genius You totally fit the profile of a tortured genius. You're uniquely brilliant - and completely misunderstood. Not like you really want anyone to understand you anyway. You