Black Lives Matter – Oslo

There was a Black Lives Matter protest at the Parliament building --- Stortinget --- in Oslo on June 5th, this Friday last, which I rather unexpectedly found myself participating in. Having come into town for errands, I had no clue beforehand that anything was going on, and got caught up in the crowd on my...

Truth in the trenches

Others say it better than I do, but here goes.There is a sinister agenda, or a war, Russian or otherwise, to undermine the value and reputation of scientific work and knowledge, which is gaining momentum at a frightening rate. Science is being contested by nonsense, and so far it looks as if science is losing.Moreover,...

An American Eclipse in Donaldland

"This American solar eclipse, a terrific eclipse, believe me, and I know this, and it's one hundred percent American, not Mexican, and not Chinese, even if those fake news sites will have you believe so, which happens just in my first year as President, an amazing year so far, is far more spectacular, amazingly spectacular,...

All Your Social Media Are Belong to US

The Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security now want visitors to USA to surrender their social media login information before being allowed through security. "We want to get on their social media, with passwords: What do you do, what do you say?" [Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly] told the House Homeland Security Committee....

It Ain’t So Bad Here

So it's not perfect, not by a long shot, but as the author puts it, “a work in progress”, aiming for an ideal goal which, though perhaps not quite entirely reachable, helps guide us towards an increasingly beneficial society which works for, if not absolutely everyone, then at least as many as possible, and leaves...

The Two Extremes

One side wants women to be objects of property, the other wants women to be objects of sexual desire, both of which are hardly different from the other in terms of respect for women as human beings. There needs to be another version of this animation, where the woman slaps both men silly, then proceeds...

Rooting for Hope, not Hate

Although terrible things happen in the world, and terrible people make them happen, all is not terrible, that there are wonderful and beautiful things still in the world, and that we need to see and remember those wonderful and beautiful things or else the terrible things may make us forget them, and choke us with fear and horror.

A Call to Arms: Hello, This is Fear Speaking

For as long as I've lived, and long before that, Norway has taken pride in being one of the few nations in the world where police do not carry weapons, specifically firearms. Now, about two weeks ago there was a terrorist scare; no actual attack ever took place, but according to the Norwegian Police Security...

Unbalanced News Coverage of Gaza Conflict

These two videos circulate on Facebook and elsewhere under the headline "News Reporter Exposes Israel on Live Television". "So two days ago Israel launched a bombing campaign dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" against Gaza, that's still ongoing. But despite the horrors on the ground, the mainstream media seems to only be telling one side of the...

Ytterst på fartsgrensen

Nå skal jeg ikke promotere alt hva Trygg Trafikk-sjef Jan Johansen sier uten forbehold, men så er det holdningene i kommentarfeltet jeg egentlig syntes var mest interessant å lese, da disse gjenspeiler de dominerende synspunktene jeg har hørt i hverdagslige diskusjoner om veitrafikk og fart: Fartsgrense er noe man skal holde seg OVER. Kjører man...

On abortions and reservations

Consider this post a feeble attempt at gathering my thoughts. Le Trio Bleu: Bringing love back into the wardrobe since 2013! — I wish to register a complaint! Damn, I feel as if I just moved to Texas! The latest hot controversy in Norway has to do with abortion, and a recently introduced law passed...

Obamacareface

Right. I'm not an American, but living on Planet Earth you can't help having your ears and eyes blasted full of news and nonsense from the United States of Over There. A lot of it makes you shake your head in disbelief. One such thing is the continuing opposition against Obama's health reform, popularly dubbed...

News: Hollywood Style on Russia Today

For lack of an Arabic vocabulary I'm unable to tell if this is advertising, entertainment, or actual news. If it's actual news, is this really a good way to present it? Yeah, sure, it looks amazing, and I would have given it thumbs-up for style, but I have a hard time taking it seriously, especially...

If you thought the current NSA controversy was anything new …

With all the NSA controversy of late, it might be relevant to dig up a little tidbit from the previous millennium. This article from http://www.heise.de dates back to 1999: How NSA access was built into Windows Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA. Duncan Campbell 04.09.1999 A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed...

Dette kan da ikke være lov?

[English version below] VG skriver: "Den nye Straffeloven av 2005 vil trolig ikke kunne tre i kraft i sin helhet før i 2021. Det er 16 år etter at Stortinget vedtok lovendringene." Dette er bare for dumt. Hva bør egentlig veie tyngst? At lovendringene er vedtatt, eller hvorvidt datasystemene til politiet fungerer som de skal?...

Enkel Språklære / Simple Linguistics

Nathan Eshete er barn av asylsøkere, født i Norge, og har bodd her hele livet. Han er syv år gammel, og har aldri vært i Etiopia, landet foreldrene hans flyktet fra. Han skal ‘returneres hjem’ 16. mai. Mange andre barn er i nøyaktig samme situasjon. Spørsmålet er, er det egentlig å ‘returnere’ dem når de...

Rainbow Song

Just picking up the media thread from yesterday: Norwegians have met the terrorist Anders Behring Breivik's hatred with song. Yesterday (on April 26, 2012), 40,000 people gathered at Youngstorget in Oslo and sang “Barn av Regnbuen” (“Children of the Rainbow”) by Lillebjørn Nilsen, a Norwegian remake of Pete Seeger's “Rainbow Race”. Breivik called it “Marxist...

Blackouts against SOPA

Although I'm Norwegian and not American, I wholeheartedly support the opposition against SOPA and PIPA, on one hand on the grounds that it is wrong, and on the other hand because I see the threat of global adverse effects on how the Internet works. ⇒ Wikipedia blackout page ⇒ Google petition page From where I...

Earth Hour

I've got to laugh at people who argue that Earth Hour didn't save enough power to make any difference at all, and that for this reason the whole project was worthless. You dimwits are missing the point. NO-ONE believes that turning off your lights for one single measly hour will make any noticeable difference energy...

Well said about Obama’s health reform

“Obama's health care reform came through, despite the fact that many Americans have fought hard for the right to end up living on the street if they get sick.” (Knut Nærum, "Nytt på Nytt", 26-March-2010, translated from Norwegian) Well, actually I think it says more, and rightly so, about those opposed to the reform. I...