Just a forthnight before I leave my current place of employment I've secured myself a new place, just outside Trondheim. Yes!
More on that and the trips (yes plural) to and from Trondheim later.
Finally we've gotten around to fixing the lights in the kitchen, and I can truly say I've seen the light (in the ceiling that is).
Norway loves to portrait itself as a peacemongering country, a country that brings peace wherever it goes. And of course uses the Nobel Peace Price for whatever it's worth.
But the latest statistics show that Norway is in sixth place on the world-ranking on arms-export, only beat by the US, Canada, UK, Italy and France. When one considers the population nobody exports as many weapons per capita as Norway.
(Source: Nettavisen)
Well I didn't get the job in Duty-Free as I'd hoped. But now it seems like the company who's won the contract for the next seven years have run into problems - the employees at SAS Trading (the current Duty-Free operator) hav gone to court because they claim the new contractor must take the old employees with the contract - at their current pay. So Travel Retail Norway (TRN) seems to have gotten off to a bad start - since they don't want many of the old employees, and want's them to apply for the jobs as anybody else.
But I'm once again off to Trondheim on Sunday for an interview on Monday. Hopefully it'll end in employment for me - since the terminationdat in creeping closer.
Mars (the chocolatebar which Scots tend to enjoy deep-fried) has surveyd 1000 people online on which songs belonged in a Music Hall of Shame. Not surprisingly footballer-songs came in high on the list (three among the top ten). The list features not that surprisingly quite a few chart-toppers, but the number one spot went to the Beatles for "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".
Mars Music Hall of Shame worst 10:
1. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles (1968)
2. Fog on the Tyne (revisited) - Gazza and Lindisfarne (Number 2 in 1990)
3. I'll Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf (Number 1 in 1993)
4. Diamond Lights - Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle (Number 12 in 1987)
5. We Will Rock You - 5ive feat. Queen (Number 1 in 2000)
6. Millennium Prayer - Cliff Richard (Number 1 in 1999)
7. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice (Number 1 in 1990)
8. Anfield Rap - John Barnes and Liverpool FC (Number 3 in 1988)
9. Let's Get Ready to Rhumble - PJ and Duncan (Number 9 in 1994)
10. 5,6,7,8 - Steps (Number 14 in 1997)
(Via)
Finally the first 'proper' version of Firefox has arrived. I've been using Firefox' 0.6 and 0.8 versions for some time now - but now version 1.0 has been released.
Toss IE overboard - go Firefox.
Download it here - and yes, it's free and without ads. Includeds google-search and popup-blocker.
This week is going to be long...
First of all the weekend was spend mostly driving. Robin's grandfather had a birthday last week so on Friday we drove up to visit him. Since we're sort of in the process of moving to Trondheim we also brought along an assortement of boxes which filled the VW Caddy to the brim. These boxes where driven to Trondheim om the Saturday. Sunday morning we went to visit my nephew who turned three last week. After coffee and cake it was time to head south...
What an awful drive. First of all it rained more or less the whole time. And since the darkness settles early in Noray at this time of year people have to use their longdistance-lights - somehting which baffles quite a few people, since they seem unable to operate them. We drove behind someone for a distance who where totally uanble to operate any lights. He/she fiddles with the lightswitches all the time - at times turning the lights completely off (something I do not advise when driving dark country roads at 100 km/h (62.5mph)). But the biggest peeve I have in these situations is that so many people turn on the longdistance-light too early - thereby blinding me. Also there's the problem with people wanting to put extra lights on their cars - misaligned ones, so that they blind other drivers wherever they go. It's not the nicest thing in the world having someone on your back-bumper with misaligned lights flooding you car with lights... But evetually we got home, having used two more hours than usual.
Monday was an uneventful day with a day at work before collapsing on the couch due to exhaustion from the weekend. We where supposed to go dancing but couldn't muster the strength to go. Specially since I was supposed to go dancing on Tuesday too. That I managed, but was extremely tired upon arriving home on the couch. And this morning I awoke with a headache - and tonight there's a meeting in the Malt Whisky Society, so tonight doesnæt seem to bright when it comes to getting enough sleep (meetings tend to run late).
It seems like a sideffect of Dubya's re-election in the states is that more Norwegian politicians are looking to the EU for future relations. Even the Norwegian PM will support a Norwegian membership in the EU if Dubya continues on the current track.
Does this mean I have to work for Dubya?
You are a SRCF--Sober Rational Constructive Follower. This makes you a White House staffer.
You are a tremendous asset to any employer, cool under pressure, productive, and a great communicator. You feel the need to right wrongs, take up slack, mediate disputes and keep the peace. This comes from a secret fear that business can't go on without you--or worse, that it can.
If you have a weakness, it is your inability to say "no." While your peers respect you, they find it difficult to resist taking advantage of your positive attitude and eagerness to take on work. You depend on a good manager to keep you from sinking under the weight and burning out.
Of the 52192 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 7.7 % are this type.
Take the 20 Questions to a Better Personality (Via).
Bush did at one time vow to pursue enemies of 'democracy' both foreign and domestic. It seems his recent election-victory has given him a boost to step up the attacks on suspectet terrorist cells in his own back yard.
In the township of Little Egg Harbour (Ocean county, New Jersey - a county that actually supported Bush) the local school has been shot-up last night by an F16 from the US Airforce. The pilot fired 25 rounds from his machineguns at the school - which luckily was closed for the day - severely damaging the roof and schoolgrounds.
According to official sources the pilot was supposedly aiming for a target some six kilometers (3,75 miles) from the school. So official policy in the US Airforce is to conduct live fire exercises very close to schools and townships? What's next? Live dogfight-exercises over down-town Manhattan?
(Source: Denmarks Radio)
Found this on the web, seems to have upset a lot of people - mostly Canadians though...
(Via)
A humourcolumn usually post regular Bushisms, in respect to Bush's and his speechwriter's take on the English language. But today they have refrained from doing so to honor his 'victory' in the US elections. Instead they have posted a few classics:
"I an im the beginning of my period..." - (a newly appointed Danish female minister)
"I am a man who likes to have my balls in the air." (Swedish businessman)
"Thank you for the mess." (Norwegian PM Bondevik after attending a service in Brazil)
"I just want to lie down on the coach." (exhausted Swedish female footballer)
"But didn't you have pigs in your decks?" (TV-host Odd Grythe to a US-guest who complained about the slick roadconditions)
"I thank you for giving my wife and me the clap. I thank you from the heart of my bottom." (French/Canadian politician to the audience after a standing ovation)
A Norwegian got into a cab in London but was all out of cash, so he asked the driver: "Do you take Visa? I'm black, you see." Upon noticing the colour of the cabbies skin he tried to correct himself: "You see, in Norway we call pool people black."
"We take your bags and send them in all directions." (Ad for a Danish airline)
"Dear friends, we are the same as before, although we have lost our pricks." (Letter from when Götabanken became Gota Bank)
I've been using the AA Route Planner quite often, and I'm happy with it. But there are some other oruteplanners out there. Surprisingly enough it seems like Microsoft also has one - but is it any good?
Well, according to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet it's not. It seems like someone tried to find the best route from Haugesund (south-western Norway) to Trondheim (central Norway) - a trip that covers around 770km (480 miles) of roads, if you take the shortest route. But Microsoft seems to think another route is a bit better. This one takes the driver from Haugesund, over to Newcastle throught London, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden before entering Norway at the southern most bordercrossing before heading up to Trondheim - a drive covering a total of 2713km (1686 miles), and it includes several ferry-crossings. Just the driving part is calculated at 47.5 hours, while the proper route is done in around 10 hours.
The map below is a cut for the MSN-route page:
Just read in the Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen that the Ohio elections chief, Mr Ken Blackwell, also was in charge of the Bush/Cheney-campaign in Ohio.
Did someone mention conflict of interest?
The official elections are over, and Dubya seems to have won. But almost nobody dares to say it aloud, since the final results won't be in for several weeks yet. As they lawyers, judges, electionofficials have had their say. A lot of trouble has plaged the elections, surprisingly enough, and allegations are flying all over the place.
* Ohio needs two weeks to count the votes that came in befor electionday.
* Iowa has technical difficulties counting
* New Mexico and Wisconsin has the same problem as Ohio.
* In Florida it seems like some voters has gotten the opportunity to vote twice.
* As of 5pm (Norwegian time) yesterday the Common Cause organization (who runs a phonecentre for individuals who've encountered problems voting) had gotten 20.000 complaints.
* Officials at a special needs-school in Texas are being accused of bribing students with icecream to get them to vote.
