A Roll in the Universe

Interests keep changing. Or rather, focus does. I obviously still enjoy taking photographs, because I kept my camera busy during my vacation. But even photography requires inspiration—and weather that won't ruin a camera. And so I let Wordless Wednesdays slide. I stopped forcing myself and let my blog rest, too. The nice thing about long days on the autobahns of Germany, is that it is very relaxing. Nothing to do but watch one field after another blur by, sometimes spotting a bird or a cow or a house. But sometimes even that loses its charm and I ducked into my Kindle, finishing three books during my trip. But that—plus discussions about blog resuscitation with my good friend Alice —has given me inspiration. I know now where I want to take this blog next, and I even have ideas for a visual make-over. I don't think blogs are dying. They are too useful to do that. Blogs may no longer lead the pack in social networking on the internet, but they definitely supplement it ...

10 days in a bus can still teach one a thing or two. Like how asphalt will tent in extreme heat, blocking the whole autobahn. Or how upsetting Norwegians find dealing with older German tourists who speak fondly of their time in Norway back in the 40's (I'm sure some US GI's have made the same faux pas when visiting Europe). Or that whatever may be going on financially, the Germans and Austrians still manage to keep the sides of their roads manicured. Or that words like "cup" and "large" don't translate at all. It's "large cup" in English, "grosse Tasse" (more or less) in German and "stor kopp" in Norwegian. My German was terribly rusty, but I did manage to use it. And I discovered that German-speakers have something in common with the French: They love that you try to use their language. So, this year's summer vacation was a bit early for me, and it feels like I didn't actually have a vacation. Still, I...

Sailing out from Copenhagen, on the ferry bound for Oslo, we pass by a long line of wind turbines standing tall out in the water. As "green" as I am, I have never liked the looks of the modern three-bladed wind turbine. There is something about them that bothers me. When I watch them turn, I find that there is no evenness to their rotation; visually, it looks to me like three Barbie doll legs, one "falling" down after another. (I have rarely seen these things moving so fast you can't make out the individual blades.) Apparently, these turbines are not as environmentally friendly as we are led to believe. In the county of Rogaland in Norway, one array is noise polluting a nearby neighborhood. I have read that the maximum three blades on modern turbines is chosen because it makes a minimum of noise. Still, anything that big, rotating in the wind, will make some sound. Another array was put in a white-tailed eagle breeding area two counties north of where I l...

My high school teacher told us students that we may not have anything to vote for, but we always have something to vote against. That statement has often been the only reason I have bothered to vote. In the US it is easy to find who or what to vote against. Most questions there are yes/no: The Democrat candidate? Yes/no. A yes means the Republican candidate gets a “no”. I definitely voted against Jimmy Carter in 1980, and against Sarah Palin in 2008. I have no vested interest in the candidates who got my “yes” since all presidents annoy me (they just do), and since I know that politics – and the presidency – tend to be like farming: Hard to do without producing a pile of manure. Now, the US does have more than two political parties and they often offer presidential candidates, but due to changes in how the presidential debates are held, you never hear from them. In Norway, as with most European countries, there are several political parties. Norway ha...

Yes, this post will be about boobies. Also known as tits. Mugs. Jugs. Bazongas. Melons. Breasts. Breasts and the big squeeze. Also known as getting a mammogram. In Norway, all woman are automatically offered bi-annual mammography examinations between the ages 50 and 69. Just before Easter this year, I got the letter informing me of my first appointment, accompanied by a questionnaire and a brochure, all delicately done in pleasant shades of pale green (now long recycled). Every time I see the picture of a well-endowed woman (they always seem to have pendulous, D-cup boobies), topless, standing next to a large piece of machinery, with one breast flattened between two plates of glass, I cringe. I cringe mightily. Breasts are sensitive and don’t like rough handling, and it hurts like hell to get them squeezed. So I’ve read about breast cancer and mammography and I’ve also read about alternative technologies of spotting growths in mammaries, like shining a light through like wh...

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I don't advertise vacation time anywhere online because I'm told that if I do that, I may as well leave the key to my place under my mat. But it sure is nice to just disappear and come back and discover I've been missed. Very nice, and I love the two of you who have said so. :-D I have had such an heady adventure. I have been an American in France, which went amazingly well. The French are very nice, even when you don't know the lingo. Menus have translations and a phrase book and a lot of bonjours and mercis go a long way. The heady part isn't the joy in discovering I could order food without trouble, but the visits to World War II museums, the walk on Juno Beach, the view over Omaha Beach and the tears I shed walking among the crosses in the American cemetery. It's going to take me a bit to digest all that. It'll be easier sharing photos from Bremen… …And a drive through Paris. We had a brief stop at the Trocadéro , and my photos of the Eiffel tower...

Wordless Wednesday

I have always been interested in Christianity. More specifically, I have always been interested in the answer to this question: Does Jesus save? I have always struggled with having a faith in Jesus. My own family is made up of theists, but nobody ever bothered with the traditional religions. Grandma couldn't understand why anybody wanted a faith where you looked up at a bloody, half-naked man every Sunday (good ol' Catholics), and I couldn't understand how anybody could put their faith in a man who looked like a hippie (good ol' Protestants). So while Grandma and I both ended up deists (that's not a typo), we found our spiritual sustenance outside the mainstream. Still, I've always had the question. Norway has a state religion. It allows for freedom of religion for everyone - except the nation itself and its monarch. The reigning monarch of Norway must be - according to the country's constitution - an Evangelical Lutheran, since the Evangelical Lutheran ...

In an attempt to escape Halloween (I'll talk about that later) yesterday, I went to a theater play. "Operasjon Almenrausch" (sorry, little info in English) was more like a live docudrama, and what a great way to tell a story! Extremely clever staging, with the action taking place all over and the audience seated in the middle of the floor and in the middle of the action. The director defines the play as an audiovisual hearing. The actors didn't act anything out; they (and the audience) were told they could never recreate the terror, so just tell the story; just answer the questions. And they did, backed up by vintage film footage and actual recorded interviews from the people involved. The play was about a couple of unsung war heroes. Norwegian resistance folk who were never invited to ride in any ticker-tape parade nor given a memorial plaque or any medals. Why? Because they were communists. No matter what they had sacrificed on behalf of their country during five...

Here I was, thinking that the data the Norwegian meteorological institute ( NMI ) uses to forecast the weather for the 70,000 places it brags about forecasting via the website yr.no was collected by charming geezers in wayward places, who empty little cups marked in tenths of millimeters to say how much rain has fallen and observe the wind sock next to the chicken coop to say which way and how hard the wind is blowing. But it's not cups and wind socks. It's more like fishing nets. I got curious about the weather, that is, the weather forecasting, after reading in today's local paper that areas that rely on cabin rentals as a source of income are complaining about yr.no's forecasts. The complaint is that the forecasts are so pessimistic that tourists cancel their cabin stays. Rain or cool weather is often forecasted by yr.no but the reality is sunshine or milder temperatures. Yr.no had an explanation: They don't actually measure the weather in all areas on their l...

I'm watching the Eurovision Song Contest for a change (it's been a few years since I last did that) and it is a perfect opportunity to do some housekeeping on the computer. But what to do with pithy sayings found here and there? Put 'em in a blog post, that's what to do. Truth was the only daughter of time. (Leonardo da Vinci) Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. (Arnold H. Glasow) Re middle-aged: I'd like to say we're in gliding-age. We've been yanked and pulled up into the air, blasted by cold winds, hurled through turbulence and now we're gliding, finally both old and smart enough to enjoy the view and the pace, while also being young enough to still experiment and fiddle with our course. (Me, in a comment on a friend's blog) We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. (Kahlil Gibran) If an item resists classification, it is easier to deem it unworthy. (Unknown) The secret of ...

No, this is not the usual cheer roared by Norwegians, but a sentiment stated by US republicans. Today's dead-tree edition of my local paper, Bergens Tidende , has a hilarious editorial on the GOP panic in the US that America is turning into Sweden. Illustrated with a photo from the opening of an IKEA store in Brooklyn. (All quotes are my translation from the printed article. No online version yet.) "There are terrible rumors about president Barack Obama and his family these days. They are so bad that we really shouldn't repeat them here […]. But, what the hey, we have a duty to inform: […] According to the internet, […] the president and his family are actually - Swedish. Apparently, the Obamas are trying to Swedify the US. According to the editorial, Mitt Romney wants the US to fight against becoming European. Mike Huckabee thinks Lenin and Stalin would have loved this latest development (i.e. Obama). Mark Steyn warns against a Scandinavian armageddon (says my paper)...

My friend Alice has gone on a rant about her experiences with health care in her neck of the woods (and her desire for socialized medicine that we living in other countries enjoy). The same day she ranted, I had been to see my doctor. Here is my comment on Alice's blog about that: Contrast what you say with what I experienced today (as one of those people living in another country - thanks for the linkage!): I’ve been feeling overwhelmed at work and took a sick day off yesterday to see if that would help. It didn’t (bad sign: wanting to cry today because someone asked me a question). So around 9:30 AM I went down to my doc’s office and asked if my doc could see me at all today. Oh, joy, he could, at 1 PM (he was on time, too!). They set up their day in such a way as to leave about an hour free for emergency consultations. For like when you throw your back out. Anyway, left his office with a 100% sick-leave for what’s left of this week, and 50% sick-leave for all of next week...

Heard at work: The Finns invent things, the Swedes manufacture them, the Danes sell them, and the Norwegians buy them.

For a tourist, there's always stuff to see that doesn't fit typical tourist photo categories. This is the stuff that reminds a tourist that she truly is not at home, but somewhere else. Here are some photos of how Berlin reminded me of that fact. I enjoyed the lampposts on parade on Unter den Linden, wondering who was the kind soul who set up such a nice motif for a photographer.   Anothr nice motif on Unter den Linden.   A detail at the foot of one of the columns of Brandenburg Gate.   Berlin is a city of both old and modern architecture and the embassy complex shared by five Nordic countries expresses a bold and yet uniquely Scandinavian architecture. Each modern building uses materials native to the country it represents. A lot of wood and stone.   Berlin's water table is only about 2-3 meters down, so whenever there is digging, the water has to be led away. This and the temporary rerouting of water supplies is done with colorful pipes above-ground. I...

I like riding subways. I don't know where it comes from, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience in London in 1981, and have sought out subways where available when playing tourist. People like to ride the double-decker buses in London, but I found that being stuck in traffic annoyed me. I'd rather ride to my sightseeing destinations quickly in mysterious tunnels, my brain furiously working out how many stops to go or did I just miss it? No, wait, it's after the station we just passed - or walk. I carefully counted out the change I would need to buy two subway tickets - Potsdamer Platz and back - only to be fooled by a ticket machine that would not take copper coins (the smallest cent coins). A nice young Berliner took pity on me and gave me the 10 cent coin I needed, wanting nothing in return. Berlin is a nice city to be a tourist in. Potsdamer Platz. No sign anywhere of it being bombed to smithereens during World War II, or intersected by the wall during the cold ...