I was at my sisters place over christmas, and was reminded of my grandmother by this oilpainting of her (painted by Ragnhild Thrane in 1904). Her mother and father both had unusual family names, and for a laugh I thought I should see what I could find on that grand internet of ours. Continue reading “noble genealogy” »
My next-door neighbour is the guy responsible for the bomb in Oslo and the massacre at Utøya. It is a prison. But there is an ironic twist, that he is incarcerated at Ila Landsfengsel. During the occupation of the second world war it was only known as Grini, the first concentration camp in Norway. It mainly housed political prisoners, and a large percentage was transported to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Continue reading “crime and punishment” »
Dear Amerikay -
You have some people camping out in your parks and squares. They are not so happy. Your middle classes are becoming the great, unemployed masses. It is quite simple really, it is the rat analogy. Corner a rat, and see what happens. Corner 2000 rats and see what gives. Continue reading “#occupy” »
This has puzzled me for a long time:
We invest emotions into massive companies, because they produce our computing tools.
You have the Apple fans and the – until recently slightly guilty – Microsoft followers. The MS crowd seems to have gained some confidence back recently, and they yell as loud as the macApple clan. Continue reading “great expectations, the macApple clan & the MSboys” »
Some of the best non-fiction books I have read. Some of them are not necessarily well written, and would not win prices for excellent language; at least one of them is actually annoying in that respect, but I have included them because the subject is interesting/important. I am sure I have forgotten some, but there you go. Teflon brain.
The art of looking sideways
Alan Fletcher
This is how it looks like inside my head. It a fountain of musings, facts, the odd, solid, and whimsical. It is design, doodles, unfinished thoughts, images, drawings. It is colours, shapes and wisdom. It is a delight and frustration at the same time – if I could show what goes on in my head, this is pretty much it. Continue reading “best books – non-fiction” »
I admit I don’t really keep up with Northern Irish news much these days. It’s either desperately provincial – or just plain desperate. Yes, someone planted a bomb the other day, and yes, somebody got hurt. And I’m sure the obscure rural radio show is still going on without me. So. Some things never change.
But the other day, I got tangled in a BBC-infused NI-news-net. And some old skeletons dropped out of the closet. Good old names like Michael Stone and Mad Dog Adair.
Gerry Adams and Martin McGunniess nearly had their parliamentary meeting disturbed by Michael Stone, the old rascal, who wanted to slit the throats of the Shinners. Seriously. No kidding.
Michael Stone – exceptionally bad haircut and not-a-winning personality – stuck his nose out again, and this is a good wan!
Continue reading “Northern Irelands silly ghosts. Attempted murder, hahaha!” »
enforce peace
authentic replica
burning cold
friendly war
wooden irons
liberal conservative
modern history
Continue reading “OXYmoronic, said the misanthropic humanitarian” »
The sea – most of all the sea.
Coming from Damascus, two things are sights for sore eyes: the sea, and green things. I drank in green; on corners, on waste ground, balconies, flowerpots. My friends had lived in, and not really left Damascus, for a month at this point and I can only imagine how they felt. Nurseries. Trees in pots. Trailing ivy. Gums. Mimosa (?). Breathing air.
And the sea.
Awfully toxic and polluted, but to see a horizon. Delicious. Sniffing salt air.
The Mediterranean sea, basically a very large and deep bathtub with originally only the shallow Gibraltar strait to replace water through, the oceanographers estimates it takes a century to replace all the water in the Med, so it’s saltier (evaporation, narrow flow) than the atlantic, and have less nutrients.
The nutrient-poor, high-salinity of the Mediterranean sea getting mixed with water from the Red sea, through the Suez canal, and tiny marine creatures with it. It’s been going on for a while, but no one know quite which way it’s going.
Do we ever? Continue reading “Beirut” »
In the spring of 2008 campuses all over the country exploded in political protest. Riots spread like wildfire, and creative students built barricades of tables, vending machines and arming themselves with molotovcoctails and general kitchenwear found on campus.
The first buildings they occupied, was the server and computer labs, and from there coordinated their actions. In Østfold, they painted the glass walls and brick buildings with slogans of politcal dissent, and set up watches with web cameras and sensors on the roof of the university college.
The leaders of the riots said to the press, via video interviews, that they will not give in, that the demands must be met, and that the educational system..
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