2007 was the year when Facebook, unfortunately, made it’s way into to (un)conciousness of most Norwegians. As the year grew older Facebook developed from merely being annoying to becoming entirely intolerable. I StumbledUpon pensionbook, while surfing the Internet this afternoon. It is a nice adaption of the Facebook concept applied on old people!
Posts under ‘Opinions & politics’
- Have you had my bombs checked yet, sir?
It is the third of December, it is a dark and cold winter’s morning in the small village of Sandane, in the western part of Norway, population 6000.
At the local airport, a grumpy check-in attendant is registering passengers for the morning flight to Bergen and Oslo, before urging the customers on to the even grumpier security control attendants.
A passenger decides the gloom of the situation calls for a wee bit of cheering up, and, as he approaches the security guard, asks “have you had my bombs checked yet, sir?” – upon which the desired reaction, a smile, make it’s absence painfully apparent.
Instead of the envisaged upward mood-swing, the security guard pushes his alarm button, triggering a terrorism alert, calling in the police, while simultaneously detaining the well-meaning passenger, with the ill-chosen joke, for questioning – denying him to board the plane.
At the same airport, a few years ago, a friend of mine was allowed to carry an ice axe as hand-luggage, on the sole condition that he promised not to hijack the plane.
It’s a truly wonderful world!
Google search: 25 500 hates, 22 200 loves Facebook
Following up on my previous searches conducted in May and August this year, here are the numbers for November 18th:
- Google reports “about 25 500 results” for the query “I hate Facebook”
- Google reports “about 22 200 results” for the query “I love Facebook”
Those in their right mind, who hate, still are in the lead, but the margin is shrinking towards the social-networking-addicts. Be strong brethren: We shall overcome! (We must!)
Top 10 forecasts for 2008 and beyond
The media is overflowing with criticism of past events and explanations of how it was inevitable that this and that would fail at any given point in time. Yet, nobody seems to be able to predict these things, only “postdict” them, which in all fairness isn’t such a useful gift. The Futurist has since 1985 put forward, at great risk of erring, thought provoking ideas of the future. Much more interesting if you ask me:
Each year since 1985
Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War.
God, the democrat
The Bishops Meeting, part of the management of the Church of Norway, has decided to alter future translations of the Holy Bible into Norwegian by excluding the word “tukt” (Norwegian for punishment/torment). The decision was made unanimously. It doesn’t say if God was consulted on the matter, but we must assume that He, like most Norwegians, is a democrat and will yield to the oppinion of the majority.
The background for “overruling” the word of God is a request from the Norwegian Commissioner for Children in the interest of avoiding child abuse from being exercised in the name of Christianity. A worthy cause!
It is however interesting that the Church of Norway sees the Holy Bible, and thus the word of God, as being subject to democracy. Many Norwegians will claim to be “personal Christians”, believing in their own custom subset of the Holy Bible, omitting those parts that are either too difficult (resurrection) or to uncomfortable (sin/punishment) to deal with.
