I am sad ...

... about something I can do next to nothing about, and which everyone in the whole world could be whining about, if they felt like wasting their time on it.

Namely the fact that there are those among my countrymen - those whom I am forced to acknowledge as my countrymen, like it or not - who are SO FUCKING STUPID & IGNORANT that I really almost despair at the system of education in this country, and if that wasn't bad enough, I almost lose hope that there's any point in educating these snowed-in lackwits anyway. >:-(

What's brought all this on then? Well, indirectly, Joralf Gjerstad, the supposed healer/clairvoyant/all-around charlatan. I really ought to have written something about him long before now. But, well, I haven't. I am slow. :-) If you read Norwegian, you can read a couple of fantastic posts on the subject written by my blogger friend Gunnar Tjomlid - first post here, followup here. Those aren't what's got me so pissed off, though. (Those are in fact pretty fantastic.)

There's an article in Dagbladet today about how Gjerstad refuses to have his so-called abilities tested as part of a special on NRK's popular science show (pun intended ;-) Schrödingers katt. Gee, what a surprise. They've opened the article for comments, so ... let the good times roll, as usual. There are lots of wrongheaded, ignorant and just plain dumb comments ... but this one takes the cake. This one really takes the whole fucking bakery. (Yeah, I watched Shallow Hal this weekend. How did you guess. ;-)

(My translation.)

The placebo effect as it's called is the power of thought. That thought can be your own or for instance [Gjerstad's] that he shares with you through a tool (healing hands etc)

What the FUCK is wrong with people??? How is it possible to be so enormously ignorant and still be able to operate a computer?? It shouldn't be possible!! I don't want this person to be Norwegian. I seriously don't want to come from the same stock as this guy.

Read a book, people. (Not in any way saying that any of my readers are necessarily idiots. ;-) But sheesh, you never know what's out there.)

Worst Argument Ever

Dagbladet online published an article last night about how Denmark will in all likelihood give gay couples 'the right to adopt'. Which in itself is incredibly annoying, because it's obviously totally false - they won't give gays the right to adopt, no one will ever give gays the right to adopt, just like no straight people anywhere have the right to adopt. That right doesn't exist. What we're talking about is the right to be evaluated as adoptive parents, which is something completely different. It so bugs me that our stupid media can't get something so simple right. It messes up the debate. Anyway.

They opened this up for comments, and one poster wrote the following: I don't agree with this decision.

So relevant, right? He's a Norwegian citizen (it's safe to assume that), this is an article about domestic policy in Denmark. WTF does he care. He is of course entitled to his opinion, but why bother. But anyway, another poster asked him to explain why he took this position. He answered, and here it is, the Worst Argument Ever for why gay couples should not be allowed to adopt: the children can't go on vacation with their 'parents' to for instance Saudi Arabia, Iran or Sudan as homosexuality is illegal and is punishable by death.

ROTFLMAO!!!! Oh no! An end to those glorious summers in Sudan!! LOL!!! Who on earth in their right mind would even stumble on the idea of going to Saudi Arabia on vacay?? :-D Spring break in Tehran! LOL!

See, this is why the debate on this issue is so lopsided. It's not because we live in a PC society. It's because of dumbassery like this. I'm straight myself, but I strongly support gay rights - I'm not adopted, and I have no adopted children, but I think adoption is a wonderful thing and people should do it more. Those are my views. I'm not sure I can be talked away from them, but maybe if I was presented with some incredibly convincing arguments ... ? But when 'the other side' argues that I'm wrong because if my views are transformed into law, then a very small number of Scandinavian families will not be able to go on vacation to Saudi Arabia ... ? Which there is no way in hell they would ever even consider doing in any case. Then I'm probably going to stand by my opinion. :-D

In other news, congratulations to my cousin R. and to my friend Dag Erling, who are entirely unconnected but both have their birthday today. Happy birthday to both of you!! :-)

Play nice ... !! ;-)

We're moving (among other things)

But fortunately, happily, I am not moving. ;-)

I hate moving. I think moving is just the worst. It is such a hassle, it's so much work, and it's unsettling. I'm kind of a pack rat, I have a lot of stuff, and I like to have a lot of things, too. In the sense that … well, as my friend NyxRo once said, 'Minimalism never really came round to Leisha's.' :-D I like having various bits of furniture – 'eclectic' is probably the word I'm looking for – I like having knickknacks and geegaws around, they're fun to look at (and maybe even to play with ;-), they tell a story and they tell you something about their owner. And above all I like having lots of books. I think it was Cicero who's supposed to have said that 'a room without books is like a body without a soul'. I so believe in that. :-)

But anyway, this means that I have a lot of stuff to move, and so when I do move it's a big job … even without the emotional upheaval that living in boxes entails. So I'm very happy that it's not me who’ll be moving. :-) It's just the company where I work. The Oslo branch of the company, that is. We're moving at the end of this month … not very far, but to somewhere much better. The new building has been designed and constructed for us, it has everything we need just the way we want it. It'll be so great once we're settled in. ;-) I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product – I've only been there once, weeks ago, when it wasn't completely finished. But even so, I could tell that this place is going to be something on a completely different scale from the place we're in now.

We're going to get s o ... m u c h ... s p a c e … o_O

In other news, Martti Ahtisaari received his Peace Prize today. Congratulations to him … except that what he said about cluster munitions yesterday kind of stuck in my craw. It probably makes sense to him. I disagree. But I am happy about him being this year's winner, I really am – in fact I had hoped that he'd win last year, instead of what I felt then was a wrong choice. Not that the IPCC and Al Gore haven't done important things. But I don't really feel, as the Nobel Committee does, that Nobel's Will is open to a great deal of interpretation. Alfred Nobel wanted to award those who achieved arms reduction. That, specifically, was his aim. Let me see if I can translate. 'To be awarded to whosoever has achieved the most or the best for the fraternization of nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies as well as the forming and spreading of peace congresses'. Shit, what a lousy translation.

But anyway … sure, times have changed. The world is different now. But does that automatically confer a license upon the trustees of the Will to reinterpret as they see fit? As much as I admire, say, Wangari Maathai, she has done very little that is relevant to the terms of the Prize as set out in the Will. I fully understand the wish for an investigation … or whatever you want to call it. Certainly, if the Committee has nothing to hide, there can be no harm in it. And I really don't see why we can't debate the issue, even though it's such worthy recipients they have chosen to reinterpret for.

If I say that I don't think the IPCC and Mr Gore should have won the Prize in 2007, does that mean I automatically belittle and deny all the good work they've done? I just don't see how that follows.

I'm going to see The Day the Earth Stood Still today. Me and Anéa. Opening night. We're pretty psyched … maybe me just a little bit more than her, I don't know. ;-) I got us tickets for the first screening at the big screen at Colosseum. As I've mentioned before, that's the biggest THX screen in the world. I don't think this movie can get much better than it's going to be for us tonight. :-D Review coming up, sooner rather than later, I hope.

And to close, check out the coolest help wanted ad ever. Seriously. Look at this. Does that rock or what!!? :-D For those who don’t read Norwegian, let me explain: this advertisement has been placed by the Royal Court, and they are looking for someone for the position of chambermaid to Her Majesty the Queen. The place of work will be the Royal Palace and 'other royal residences, private and official', and the main duty will be to 'plan and organize Her Majesty the Queen's wardrobe'. 'Some travelling must be expected'. :-D

Be warned, though: if you're even the slightest bit lazy, do not apply for this job. ;-) A friend of a friend of mine is lady-in-waiting to queen Sonja; she's been at court for years and years, I think even while Sonja was still crown princess (so, OK, back then I guess she wasn't really at court, but you know what I mean) … so I've heard some stories. It's well known that HM is an extreme perfectionist … and this friend of a friend says that she does tend to … I want to say butt in, but of course that sounds a little rude … but she does want to know what everyone is doing all the time and she MUST know that they are getting it JUST right. She's a very demanding boss. But since she holds herself to the same standards, no one at court has any problems with that. Lazy people might find it annoying, though, I guess. :-) But this is definitely the coolest thing I've ever seen on finn.no. :-)

And the Nobel Prize for stupid goes to ...

... Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio.

'The Internet could have stopped Hitler'. WTF? Yeah, it's safe to assume that, because it's been so fantastically effective in stopping George W Bush, Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong-Il, Omar al-Bashir, king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, Pervez Musharraf, Islam Karimov, etc. Boy, we sure got rid of those guys quickly. Our almighty ridicule ran them out of town.

News flash, mister clever book writing man: Adolf Hitler was really popular. Really, really popular. Most people thought he was great. Who exactly do you figure would have listened so eagerly to all this mocking that would have flooded the information superhighway? Oh wait, I know - people who already didn't like him?? Wow, what an achievement that would have been. 'THIS JUST IN: Democrats Comprise Main Fan Base of The Daily Show'. Wow!

'The Internet could have stopped Hitler.' Yeah, or did you think about this: maybe he would have put a stop to it. >:-(

My inevitable conclusion has to be the following: if you're a writer capable of writing books that impress the Swedish Academy, then you're probably too intelligent to function properly in the real world. Do the rest of us a favor and just stay in your ivory towers.

Shame on you, USA.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) was signed here in Oslo yesterday. Representatives from almost a hundred nations gathered in our City Hall to sign the Convention, which is a commitment to 'prohibit the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions'. How effective the Convention will be remains to be seen. Perhaps, sadly, not very. But IMO it is a very important step in the right direction – it is saying to the world that we, the undersigned, are aware that these things are happening, we know that they are horrible, and we want them to stop. We want to work together, both affected and non-affected nations, to make these things stop.

The Convention is the end result of the Oslo Process which was initiated by a great politician, a man who is almost universally admired and who I'm sure will be remembered by history as a true statesman, Norway's current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, in February 2007. The treaty has a double aim – partly the goal is to end the use of cluster bombs, and partly to 'secure adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and clearance of contaminated areas'. This is IMO very admirable. Cluster bombs are vicious weapons, the use of which is basically, when you get right down to it, terror. Not least because in the long run, the main targets of these weapons (98% of victims) are civilians, and often primarily children.

I really don't feel like going into detail about what these weapons are doing, long after the cessation of hostilities, to innocent men, women and children around the globe. For more info, though, here are a few links:
The home page of the Cluster Munitions Coalition.
Guardian news article about civilian casualty rates.
Yahoo news story on the signing.
Victims applaud the signing of the CCM.
Some pictures (click this at your own risk) and other information.
Survivor stories from different countries.
Of course there is much much more information available out there too. Google is your friend. But this is a start.

OK, so like I said, this is an admirable initiative, but it won't necessarily be very effective. Because – unsurprisingly – those countries most heavily involved on the perpetrator side have refused to sign. Russia, China and of course God's own country, the US. All of these are countries with a long history of human rights violations and disregard of UN policy behind them. But for my money, the US in this scenario are the worst. And I don't mean because WTF do you expect from Russia and China. Even though obviously any reasonable person would expect literally nada from both of them. Many feel that the expectations towards the Americans are higher, what with them being the self-appointed world police dedicated to bringing freedom and justice to the oppressed, and so on. At least the Russians have never claimed to be interested in bringing anyone anything other than Russian overlordship. And the Chinese, well, they're out for Chinese interests only and they're not ashamed of admitting it. They're vicious bastards, but they're honest about it. Oh, and wasn't it the Americans who squealed so loudly about cluster bombs being such dreadful inhumane tools of destruction back when the Russians were dropping them on Afghanistan … ?

Anyway, I'd be willing to let that slide. Because I don't believe one word coming from the American administration anyway when it comes to foreign policy (for one thing). They're lying through their teeth and they don’t seem to care who knows it, as long as they can keep their own population dumbed down enough not to question the status quo. But here's what makes my blood boil. They're against restrictions on the use of cluster bombs, and they don't want such restrictions placed on their own use of such bombs. Fair enough, although revoltingly unethical. But when they start threatening their so-called allies in order to – I'll speak frankly – bully us into giving them continued free rein in their terrorizing of innocent civilians … that's when someone really should put their foot down.

Although I am proud of my government for taking the initiative and following through to bring this treaty into life, I am also ashamed of them for being such cowards that they do not speak up, loudly and clearly, against this abusive conduct.

The criminalization of cluster munitions will make NATO less effective. […]
Attempts to ban cluster munitions will have serious repercussions for the alliance as a whole and will draw attention away from more important questions such as the expansion of NATO, missile shields, strategic flights and the fight against terrorism.
(My translation, I only have the Norwegian text in front of me right now.)

What in the name of all that's holy is wrong with these people??! I'll say it again: 98% of cluster bomb victims are civilians. One third of these 98% are children. And the Americans have the FUCKING GALL to call a ban on cluster bombs 'criminalization'?! NO. THEY are the criminals. And if their own children could not play outside in their own neighbourhoods without the constant risk of being maimed or killed by bombs left behind from a one-sided conflict that ended decades ago, I don't think they'd be so quick to condemn us for trying to effect some change for the better in the world.

I was going to write about NATO too today, but I think I'll leave that for some other time. This post is long enough already. Suffice it to say that I'm starting to think, more and more, that NATO's days are, or at least ought to be, numbered. It was formed as an alliance for defense, but it's becoming more and more aggressive every year, which in itself would be bad enough if it wasn't also being treated as pretty much an army reserve by the US. Something which will only get worse under president Obama. It would quite possibly be better for both Norway and the world as a whole if we withdrew from NATO and put our NATO-assigned troops at the disposal of the UN, who are the ones doing the real peacekeeping work. But I digress.

Shame on you, USA. Yes, I do know that not all Americans are the same; many of you are intelligent, educated, well-meaning people who 'voted for the other guy'. I don't hate you or your country, I'm not anti-American, bla bla bla. I'm not writing this to hurt my American friends' feelings. I know it's 'not right' to hold individuals accountable for the acts of the state. But the fact is that you do live in a democracy, one which you like to call the greatest, the best democracy on earth. Shame on you.

Tromsø 2018 - no way

Another thing that annoyed me in the news yesterday.

Gerhard Heiberg was interviewed, whining as usual about how stupid the Norwegian people is because we don't want the Winter Olympics in Tromsø in 2018. A new poll was presented yesterday, apparently, which showed that there's no more enthusiasm for the project now than there was x months ago. That was the news story, and Heiberg was interviewed about it. The issue for him was that the project needs to be state sponsored, but that money hasn't been promised yet. No decision has been made on government level on whether or not to cough up this money. Without it, presumably, the project will never get off the ground. And that's soo awful because now we're going to apply for the Games soon. Waaah.

I just really have to take issue with his logic. It's so awful that there's so little enthusiasm, because this project is so wonderful. Well, he will say that, because that's his job. If the project really was all that, maybe we'd be more enthusiastic?? He felt that the people in charge of the PR, or whoever, had failed, because they were supposed to get us to come around, and we haven't. Well, maybe it's just a bad idea. Maybe it's that simple. And finally, on the subject of how the politicians are uncertain now about forking over that much money, because something like 50% of the population, or was it 60%, apparently don't want the Games: that sucked too, of course, because ... how did he phrase it ... the politicians were letting themselves be influenced by popular opinion, and deciding what to do by what the people want on this matter.

WTF?? Yeah, because that's their job!! That's what they've been elected to do - to carry out the people's wishes!!! That is sort of fundamentally why we call this country a democracy.

Go back to China, Mr Heiberg, since you think things are so wonderful there. >:-(

BASE jumpers - what's wrong with them?

Because obviously something is.

Here's a friendly warning: I'm having a shitty day today - I'm at work and we're having computer problems from here to eternity, and we completely depend on our computers. So I'm in the mood to rant ... about several things, actually, which annoyed me while I watched the Daily Review yesterday and which, all combined, go pretty far towards proving that it isn't good for my mental health to watch too much news on TV. :-(

Let's just get one thing clear straight away: BASE jumpers are enormously stupid, and their 'hobby' is excellent evidence of the truth of the theory of evolution. These imbecilic genes don't benefit the species, and they are being removed practically before our very eyes. Almost kind of fascinating.

The reason these people were on the news yesterday was that one of them killed himself in Trollveggen the day before yesterday. Getting the body down from there apparently turned out to be tricky ... difficult weather for the choppers, etc ... the rescue took longer than expected, the body fell further down the cliff before it was recovered, and the 'BASE jumping community' apparently complained somehow somewhere. OMFG.

That has got to be pretty much the ultimate effrontery.

I really don't understand why the rescue workers bother. I wouldn't. I really truly think that they should save themselves the trouble. If these people kill themselves jumping off cliffs and mountains, then that's their own lookout. Let them lie there and rot. Their 'buddies' can get them down if it's so important.

As for the ones who don't die, but just crash for whatever reason and end up on the cliffside more or less busted up ... I don't think the rescue workers should help them either. They put themselves in that situation; let them get out of it on their own as well. They're adults and responsible for their own actions - that's their mantra - so why not follow that to its logical conclusion?

Because these rescue workers are volunteers. They're doing what they're doing on their own time, for no pay. They're willing to put their own life and health at risk in order to help others, people they don't know who find themselves in danger. But there ought to be a difference between finding oneself in danger, and putting oneself in danger.

A couple of years ago a young British person - I think it was a woman - did a BASE jump in this country ... I don't remember if it was in Trollveggen or not. Somewhere that was obviously very dangerous. She fucked up and crashed and was left lying injured on the hillside. Because of the weather - fog coming in, rain, etc - the rescue workers took a long time to get to her. They made numerous attempts, but the conditions were extremely difficult. When they finally managed to reach her, she'd died. And some time after this had happened, this chick's mother had the utter cheek to sue the local Red Cross team or whoever it was that had been responsible for the rescue operation. :-o

If I'd been one of the volunteers on that team, I would have quit that day. And sent a letter to that woman. She accepts her daugher's supposed right to be completely irresponsible, and then has the gall to complain that others have not properly carried out their responsibility towards that same daughter? That really is beyond low.

The BASE jumpers voluntarily risk their lives. That's their choice. They can choose not to. The rescue workers should have the same choice - whether or not to voluntarily risk their lives. They should choose not to.

Maybe that'd be a way to get these cretins to grow up and get over themselves. >:-(

Begrepsforvirring?

De fleste har vel fått med seg oppstusset rundt bryllupet til Lars Lillo-Stenberg og Andrine Sæther, og dekningen Se&Hør ga dette. Det er mange som har skrevet om det og jeg tenkte egentlig at jeg ikke skulle gidde. Men så sa Per Edgar Kokkvold noe ganske bortreist på Dagsrevyen i går ... og da ombestemte jeg meg litt. (Hadde forøvrig ventet meg noe bedre av ham.)

Først et par andre poenger. S&H er en ren søppelblekke som ikke burde ha livets rett. Det er en av de aller tristeste tingene ved Norge som nasjon at dette er det bladet i landet som selger nest best. (Nest etter Donald Duck & Co, tror jeg i hvert fall.) Det at de prøver å forsvare seg med at de som del av medieverdenen må få lov til å rapportere om ting som har allmenn interesse ... det blir jeg rett og slett nesten kvalm av. JA, det er viktig at media får undersøke og rapportere om ting som har samfunnsmessig betydning. Men det har jo INGENTING med S&H å gjøre. INGENTING de trykker har noen som helst samfunnsmessig betydning eller allmenn interesse. Det er en ren løgn at det argumentet de prøver å bruke har noen gyldighet for dem.

S&H ønsket å 'omtale' bryllupet til Lillo-Stenberg og Sæther. Det er en ærlig sak og det kunne ingen ha hindret dem i. Men bildene har ingenting med 'omtale' å gjøre. De kunne helt fint ha 'omtalt' bryllupet uten bilder. De ville da ha solgt litt mindre av dritten sin, noe som selvsagt er et problem for dem, altså S&H. Men dét er da faen skjære meg ikke noen sak for rettsvesenet.

De spurte om lov til å ta bilder. De fikk nei. De gjorde det allikevel. Det er virkelig trist når folk som åpenbart ikke eier verken folkeskikk eller normalt vett i skallen også avslører at de heller ikke eier anstendighet. Og så tjener de pokker meg penger på det attpåtil.

Og nå: til poenget. Kokkvold sier at det er riktig at S&H ikke ble felt i Høyesterett, fordi 'et bryllup er et offentlig anliggende'. Eller hvordan han nå formulerte det, det var i alle fall det der han mente. Jeg vil faktisk påstå at Per Edgar Kokkvold, journalist, redaktør, generalsekretær i Norsk Presseforbund, tok feil.

En ekteskapsinngåelse er et offentlig anliggende.
Et bryllup er en privatsak.

De to tingene er ikke det samme.

I serien 'ting som irriterer ved Dagbladet' ...

... har vi i dag kommet til Denne debatten er automatisk stengt for nye innlegg etter 48 timer.

Hva er det for noe egentlig? Det har jo ikke noe med noen tid som passerer, 48 timer eller noe annet, å gjøre. Bevis? Vel, i dag tidlig la de ut denne saken - det står at den ble lagt ut klokka 07:40. Jeg leste den da jeg kom på jobb ... og utover dagen så fulgte jeg litt med i debatten. (Ikke mye å gjøre på jobben i dag. :-) I kveld var jeg ute, på Mela-festivalen på Rådhusplassen og så på Standup-festivalen på Latter, og når jeg kom hjem for litt siden og sjekket Dagbla' igjen (har en nesten ekstrem lakenskrekk, og noe må jeg jo finne på ;-) så var debatten stengt. Med denne bisarre forklaringsteksten hekta på seg nederst.

Men det har jo ikke gått 48 timer. Det har ikke gått 24 engang, langt derifra.

Hvorfor gjør de sånn? Man skulle nesten tro at det var for å stoppe kjeften på folk hvis man syntes at debattantene skrev ting man ikke likte. Men denne debatten var da ikke så ille. Og det er uansett langt fra den eneste gangen jeg har sett at dette har blitt gjort.

Hvis det er det som er grunnen, så burde man kunne være ærlig nok til å si at man stenger debatten fordi folk har kommet med upassende innlegg, eller 'tonen' i debatten er feil, eller hva det nå er man ikke liker. Selv om man helt sikkert ville komme til å få litt pepper for det. Pinlig at redaksjonen er så ... barnslig, eller hva jeg skal kalle det (dårlig ord, men det er seint ... :-) at de løser det med et grep som dette. Et triks. Som de sikkert kan skylde på teknisk feil eller et eller annet sånt no'. Jeg synes det er ganske feigt og egentlig litt løgnaktig.

Ja ja, enda en grunn til å føle seg skuffa og bitter som Dagbla'-leser gjennom mange år. Ikke for at jeg egentlig syntes at jeg trengte flere, men.

Formuleringsproblemer i "Church" of $cientology

Dagbla' på nett har en artikkel i dag om $cientologi"kirken"s såkalte personlighetstest og dens mulige sammenheng med Kaja Bordevich Ballos tragiske dødsfall. Jeg skal ikke gå inn på det siste der. Alle har stort sett fått med seg denne historien nå og jeg har ikke helt troa på logisk argumentasjon i denne sammenhengen. Men alle som kjenner meg vet hvor jeg står i denne saken, for å si det sånn.

I alle fall. I artikkelen slaktes testen, og ikke så rent lite heller. Eksperten som har uttalt seg virker troverdig, han ser ut til å ha en seriøs bakgrunn å uttale seg mot og det han er sitert på er logisk og sammenhengende. Så for min del tror jeg så gjerne på fyren. Co$s talsmann eller hva han nå kaller seg derimot synes selvfølgelig at hele artikkelen er sludder og pølsevev. (Som min far ville ha sagt: Vilken överraskning. ;-) Han er selvsagt 'kritisk' til uttalelsene. Hovedpunktet i argumentet hans ser ut til å være at fordi eksperten jobber innen samme felt selv, så har han ingen troverdighet når han kritiserer andre innen sitt fagfelt. Øøh ... den tar jeg ikke helt.

Hva sier Siv Jensen hvis Jens Stoltenberg sier i et intervju at FrPs politikk i forhold til fagbevegelser og arbeidstakerrettigheter er usosial og gammeldags? Sier hun at dette kan hun ikke ta på alvor, for Stoltenberg er ikke uhildet, han driver jo innen samme bransje selv, så dette bør ikke folk ta for god fisk? Hun mener nok kanskje det siste der ;-) men hun vil jo selvfølgelig ikke bruke et sånt argument for å få det fram. Det faller jo på sin egen urimelighet. Det er jo nettopp fordi han driver på det samme feltet at han har ekspertise til å uttale seg.

Men i alle fall. Talsmannen eller hva han nå er (mener jeg har hørt ham omtalt som informasjonsansvarlig også) er sitert på en veldig merkelig uttalelse i sammenheng med testen og dens sammenheng med Ballos selvmord. Måten media og Dagbladet koblet Ballos datters selvmord til scientologikirken da saken var oppe sist, gikk alt for langt, har han tydeligvis uttalt. Til og med Per Edgar Kokkvold (gisp!!) var kritisk til dette. Selv mener han selvsagt at testen ikke har skylden for det som skjedde. Så kommer det: I beste fall var scientologitesten dråpen som fikk begeret til å flyte over, men ikke det som fylte glasset.

Det er selvsagt fullt mulig at det bare er meg og sånn. Men ... 'i beste fall'? $cientologi"kirken" sier selv at det var 'i beste fall'? Hm. Freudian slip, anyone? Det er som sagt kanskje bare meg, men i min verden, hvis jeg representerte C0$ (gud forby og bank i bordet), ville det heller vært 'i verste fall' - og beste fall ville vært hvis organisasjonen jeg frontet ikke hadde noe med denne tragiske saken å gjøre i det hele tatt.

Vel vel, folk tenker så forskjellig, og the truth will out.

Happy Birthday to HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit!

I'm flying the flag today - both figuratively and literally - to celebrate the 35th birthday of HRH the Crown Princess. She's been through some hard times in her life, and although it's definitely arguable that at least a good part of them were pretty much her own fault, IMO what matters is that she's learnt from what she's been through and she's a better person for it. She is very much deserving of both our flags and all our good wishes. :-)

I think she's doing a great job as crown princess and I think she will be a dignified and beloved queen when that day comes. Happy birthday. :-)

(IMO this isn't a very good picture of her. Go here to see more and better pictures. #18 is my favorite. :-)

Jeg har dårlig sans for humor.

Det er en artikkel i Dagbla' på nett i dag om noe meningsløs dusteforskning som har gitt resultater som alle allerede hadde skjønt unntatt de teite forskerne. Med andre ord, intet er nytt under solen! ;-) Her er artikkelen. Kjedelig og meningsløs, ikke gidd å lese. Det er ikke derfor jeg skriver om den.

Det denne bloggposten egentlig handler om er hvor utrolig dårlig humor jeg tydeligvis har. Jeg så artikkelen fordi den var linka fra høyremargen på en annen artikkel som jeg leste. Og den linken var sånn:

Overskrift: Jenter blir tjukke av internett
Tekst under overskrift, for å vekke leserens interesse: Forskerne fulgte 5000 ugne kvinner.

Fem tusen ugne kvinner. :-D LOL!! Dessverre blir det vel sikkert retta på når de oppdager denne tabben etter hvert. Desto mer grunn til å blogge om det. Jeg vil nemlig ta vare på det, for tragisk nok fikk jeg helt lættis da jeg så denne skrivefeilen. Jeg er ikke veldig moden for alderen nei. Det forstår jeg jo virkelig nå. :-D Uff og fy! :-D

Hvis noen skulle finne på noe så teit som å irritere seg over at denne bloggposten er helt meningsløs: den er faktisk akkurat like meningsfull som artikkelen den handler om.

Med andre ord bare surr og rør. Agurktida lenge leve!! :-D

Happy Birthday to HRH Crown Prince Haakon!

HRH the Crown Prince is 35 years old today. I don't think I realized that it's a 'round year' as we say in Norwegian. :-) Here's hoping I'll remember to put the flag out. I think I'll get it out right away ... :-)

Haakon is IMO doing a great job as crown prince and I'm sure he's going to be a wonderful king. (Although of course hopefully not for a looong time ... !) Happy birthday!!!

Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1984!

I really hate my species. We are scummy idiots and deserve to be just as royally SCREWED as we have allowed ourselves to become.

The Americans have sunk to a new low. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but it does anyway. A sign of naivety or of continuing mental health? It certainly doesn't help me to answer the burning question: what is wrong with people??!

Many will answer that this isn't problematic for them, because 'surveillance isn't anything you ought to have a problem with if you aren't doing anything wrong'. But it's not that simple. What we're seeing now - because this isn't just an American problem. They have the Patriot Act and now this. But the Swedish Parliament recently passed a law that allows ALL electronic signals that pass through Swedish territory to be monitored. In Finland there's talk of a nationwide fingerprint archive that every single resident is to be registered in. The UK is literally covered with CCTV cameras - I read recently that an average Brit can expect to be caught on 300 different cameras in the course of a normal day. But where was I.

What we're seeing now is the undermining and gradual collapse of one of the most fundamental principles of our legal system. ('Our' = the Western world.) Any citizen of any Western democracy is innocent until proven guilty. That has been, up until now, an essential part of our personal freedom. But now our governments are taking that away from us - now they are slowly working to make us all guilty until we can prove ourselves innocent. And guess what - the real criminals are going to pay their way out of trouble every time regardless.

But in the bigger picture, does that even matter anymore? This new wiretap bill is not, as I'm sure the great majority of US citizens believe, an effort to combat terror or to 'make America safer' (I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth when I typed that). It's not about that. What it is is the biggest and most blatant espionage project in history. This law makes US industrial espionage legal. Non-American companies that are doing research and development in competition with American companies can now be spied on electronically - all legal and aboveboard. US authorities can gain access to all electronic communications between stockbrokers all around the world, all kinds of communications between companies and the authorities in the countries where those companies operate. An enormous mass of information that can and will be exploited in the American attempt to get economically ahead of Europe.

Sounds unlikely, not gonna happen? Things like that don't decide policy? Ya think? OK, so why did the US invade Iraq? What did Saddam do just then that was so bad that they just couldn't leave him in place as ruler of the Middle East's most highly functioning and secularized state? How about this: he was going to start selling Iraq's oil in euros instead of dollars. Let him rule as dictatorially as he wants, let him imprison and torture and assassinate his political opponents, let him gas the Kurds - let's give him the gas to do it - but oil for euros, that is going too far. It's a rich man's world, and no one can ever get rich enough.

This new wiretap law is about industrial and financial control, it's not about protecting anyone against 'terror'. Any terrorist worth his salt is going to be using couriers anyway. Who is seriously too stupid to realize that?? The US Senate, obviously. I want to say that the Americans deserve it for electing them. But on the other hand: who's next ... ?

Det er det jeg sier ...

... verden går til hælvete. Når man ser hva det er for slags folk som befinner seg blant 'morgendagens ledere', så blir man ikke akkurat mindre sikker på at det er den veien det går.

I dag er Ingeborg Gjærum, leder for Natur og Ungdom, gjest i Aftenpostens relativt intetsigende sommerspalte Sommergjesten. Identiske spørsmål stilles til en serie ikke veldig kjente personer. Hu hei.

Gjærum er jo, på tross av hva det følgende indikerer, en person med en viss politisk innflytelse. Og ikke usannsynlig kommer hun til å få mer av dette snarere enn mindre i fremtiden. Det er bare å håpe at hun blir litt smartere med årene også. For ærlig talt: det skulle ikke være lov å ha så liten innsikt i hvordan saker og ting fungerer når man faktisk er leder for en av landets viktigste miljøorganisasjoner. Vi får nesten håpe at det er Aftenposten som har klippet vekk alt det smarte hun sa.

Det er svarene på to av disse standardsspørsmålene som jeg reagerer på. Jeg blir oppgitt og faktisk nesten litt forbanna. Er det mulig å kjenne så lite til statsforvaltningen og forstå så lite av hvordan ting henger sammen, i denne personens stilling?? Eller tenker hun rett og slett bare ikke før hun svarer? (Hvis sistnevnte: sorry, det holder ikke.)

Først, etter en meget overflatisk skumlesning av intervjuet, la jeg merke til svaret hennes på følgende spørsmål: Hvis Norge ble republikk, hvem burde bli president?

Gjærum svarer:
Det viktigste ville jo vært at vi fikk en president som brukte makten sin på å sette grenser for norsk klimaforurensing [...].

Er det MULIG!!?

Hvis Norge fikk en president ville denne personen overhodet ikke ha noen makt til å gjøre noe som helst!! Han eller hun ville bli AKKURAT som kongen, bare dårligere forberedt og sannsynligvis med langt mer pinlige familieforbindelser. (Ja, faktisk.) Makta i Norge ligger i Stortinget, og Regjeringen styrer landet!! Å innbille seg at NOE SOM HELST kom til å forandre seg på den fronten med en eventuell innføring av republikk her i landet (gud forby!!) vitner om en ganske pinlig uvitenhet om norsk statsforvaltning. Den norske presidenten, hvis en slik skapning noensinne skulle oppstå, ville ikke ha 'makt' til å gjøre en dritt annet enn å innvie sykehusfløyer og åpne nye broprosjekter og lignende langdryge ting av rent symbolsk betydning.

Dette syntes jeg egentlig var ille nok. Men så leste jeg litt mer av intervjuet, og jaggu hadde ikke jenta prestert å klekke ut av seg noe enda dummere.

Aftenposten spør: Hvor høy må bensinprisen være for at du skal kjøre mindre bil?
Gjærum svarer: Nå har jo ikke jeg lappen, og jeg bor sentralt i Oslo, så jeg er jo velsignet uavhengig av bensinprisen.

Ja, for bussen, den kjører jo på luft og kjærlighet!!! >:-(

Jeg skal innrømme at det etter den ovenstående fadesen følger et litt mer intelligent utsagn om at vi må gjøre oss mindre sårbare for høy bensinpris ved å kjøre mindre bil og ved å bedre kollektivtilbudet. Dét er jo riktig. Men disse tingene henger jo sammen! og den første delen av svaret gir inntrykk av at hun ikke eier innsikt i den siden av saken. INGEN er 'uavhengig av bensinprisen'. Tvert imot bestemmer bensinprisen, eller rettere sagt oljeprisen, ALT i samfunnet vår. ALT er avhengig av den. Det kan være vanskelig å få øye på til tider, men det er sant allikevel.

Det er ikke oppmuntrende å se at lederen for en av landets mest innflytelsesrike miljøvernsorganisasjoner ikke ser ut til å være i stand til å se det.

Happy Birthday to HM Queen Sonja!

HM the queen is 71 years old today. (A little scary - doesn't feel like it's a year ago already that the joint 70th was being celebrated around the country. A year does go by fast.) I remembered to put the flag out this morning. I seem to recall that I forgot to do that on the king's birthday back in February. Dagnabbit. Well, here's a flag they can both share. :-)

Happy birthday to our excellent queen!! :-) I hope she will get to spend the day exactly as she wants to - with her family (and especially her grandchildren) somewhere outside in this fantastic weather we're having.

Harald Heide-Steen jr., 1939-2008

I natt døde han. Så trist. Hva kan man si – han er en historisk skikkelse, fra et underholdningshistorisk perspektiv. Joa, det finnes sånt også. :-) Dette var en veldig trist nyhet, selv om det langt fra var uventet.

Man må i hvert fall kunne si at han virkelig oppnådde noe med livet sitt, for han fikk flere generasjoner nordmenn til å le. (<-- Ikke ironi! :-) Jeg mener det, jeg synes det er en fantastisk ting å ha prestert. Bare tenk så mange mennesker han har fått til å bli glade. :-)

Jeg føler med familien hans.

Ironi er en vanskelig ting ... !

... men så er det så bra når det klaffer.

En trist artikkel, forsåvidt, i Dagbla' på nett i dag. Men samtidig må jeg si at det kunne ha vært veldig mye verre ... selv om en del av de som har kommentert ikke ser det helt sånn. For eksempel en som kaller seg 'Majorstuen', han/hun har skrevet følgende:

Dette kan bare beskrives med ett enkelt ord.
FORKASTELIG.

Og har fått følgende svar av 'rå9' - beklager, nå virker jeg kanskje hjerteløs, men dette svaret synes jeg er helt fantastisk:

Ja!
Tenk! Folk dør! I Verdens rikeste land! Med bare pårørende rundt seg! Hvorfor var ikke Trond Giske der? Hvor var kristin med olje-milliardene?
Sosialistene vanstyrer dette landet! Skammelig! Vi bør lære av andre ikke-sosialdemokratiske land i verden hvor man ikke dør som 89-åring alene med pårørende på et offentlig sykehjem.

Jeg føler meg litt delt her. Jeg har jo forståelse for at dette kan oppleves som ille for de pårørende. (Jeg er pårørende til en sykehjemspasient selv, så jeg vil vel våge meg på å påstå at jeg har et minimum av innsikt i problematikken ... selv om det ikke har vart så lenge for vår del, ennå.) Men samtidig synes jeg at hvis man ser objektivt på akkurat denne situasjonen som artikkelen her omhandler, så er den et ganske godt eksempel på at vi nordmenn virkelig er verdensmestere i å syte og klage.

Beklager, men jeg synes det.

Livet imiterer ... kunsten ... eller noe ...

Ah, the internet! Where men are men, women are men, and 14-year-old girls are federal agents.
Gammelt jungelord ...

Men av og til er det faktisk virkelig sant. Hm.

'Her sitter tre norske kvinner fengslet' ...

... eller tre norske idioter som det også gjerne kalles.

Er det MULIG å være så utrolig teit som disse tre har vært. Det er sånne ting man ikke tror kan skje lenger, fordi alle normalt begavede mennesker lærte på 80-tallet at sånne stunt ikke lar seg gjennomføre av amatører.

'Åh, vi ante ikke noe om at det var kokain i bagene, skjønner ikke hvordan det kan ha skjedd, noen helt andre må ha lagt det der ...'

Er jeg slem, eller hva skal man kalle dette her??

Ja, selvsagt er det en teoretisk mulighet for at dette er tilfeldigheter og sammenblandinger og disse folka er helt uskyldige. Men hva er egentlig oddsene for at når man kjøper seg noen ekstra bagger på markedet så ender man opp med noen som ved et rent sammentreff inneholder 23 kilo kokain i falske bunner.

Er ikke 23 kilo av de aller fleste substanser ganske tungt og plasskrevende? Er man ikke veldig nøye på vekta når man må kjøpe ekstra bagasje for å få med seg alt man har shoppa hjem på flyet? Er det bare meg, eller høres dette faktisk temmelig merksnodig ut ... ?


OPPDATERING kl. 13:07.

Det viser seg at all kokainen lå i bare én koffert. I en falsk bunn i én av koffertene, skriver Dagbladet.

Hvordan i alle dager er det mulig å liksom ikke merke at du har 23 kilo for mye i kofferten din?? Er disse jentene vektløftersker eller hva er dette for noen damer?!

Denne historien virker stadig mer usannsynlig ...