Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to all of You!
And I wish you a great evening!
I'm going to a wedding tonight!

Threatened with spear

A heavy metal fan did not take kindly to being asked to turn down the volume on his music.
A court has now sentenced the heavy metal music lover to 42 days in jail after he threatened and terrified a neighbor.
A female student was studying for an exam but found it difficult to concentrate due to the music booming into her room from a neighbor.
She decided to knock on the door and complain. To her horror, the man who answered the door responded by going to get a spear.
After telling her that she had no right to ask him to turn his music down he cut her finger with the spear and then chased her into her room.
Kilde: Aftenposten

Carew makes Team of the Year

Norwegian soccer striker John Carew has won more recognition for his success in France.
Carew returned to Lyon from his Christmas holiday in Norway to find that he had won a spot on the French league's dream team picked by sports newspaper L'Equipe.This was nice - especially since it is for all of 2005 and I have only played here for half a year," Carew told.

Holmenkollen Ski Jump can be torn down

The Directorate of Cultural Heritage has approved the demolition of sporting and cultural icon 'Holmenkollbakken', the ski jump in Oslo's western hills.
The decision does not necessarily mean the end of the popular tourist attraction and traditional sporting venue. International skiing body FIS demands a new ski jumping facility if Oslo is to host the world championship in 2011.
Aftenposten(Norwegian)

Cold New Year's Eve predicted

State meteorologists were predicting a cold New Year over most of Norway, with strong winds along the coast but only a little new snow in the south and east.
The forecast called for cold, dry and fairly clear weather from the north to the south, with the exception of coastal areas. There, temperatures were expected to dip to -5 to -10C with strong winds and damp sea air adding to the chill.

Merry Christmas!

Cow flees Navivity scene

A local humanitarian group in Drammen, west of Oslo, wanted to display a classic scene of peace and goodwill this holiday season, but their effort instead led to a wild chase through town involving one of their Nativity scene's cows.
It all started when the urban mission group Kirkens Bymisjon tried to set up a special, living Nativity scene at the main town square in Drammen. The exhibit included a cow from a nearby farm, but just before the rather large animal was about to be tied up inside the stall, she spotted a chance to simply take off.
What ensued was a near comical chase through the town streets.
The cow was finally cornered about a kilometer away from where she took off. There were no reports of damage along the way.

Norway priciest of all

Most everyone living in Norway is already acutely aware of the country's high prices, and a new study confirms it once again. Income levels, though, are also among the highest.
The study, conducted by Eurostat to examine purchasing power in Europe's 31 countries, shows that prices in Norway are an average 38 percent higher than those in the 25 European countries that are members of the European Union.
Prices in Norway were fully 60 percent higher on average than in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, according to survey data from 2004.

Lost custody after paternity test

A single father lost custody of the boy he thought he was his three-year-old son, even though the claim of another man for parenthood proved invalid.
The 31-year-old man took custody of the then seven month old boy when his relationship to the child's mother ended over two years ago. But last autumn another man demanded parental rights, and a test was taken to determine who had sired the boy.
The test revealed that neither of the two men was the boy's father. The man caring for the boy then had custody revoked, and child services refused the mother rights, meaning the child is now in a foster home.
What a mess!!
Norwegians

Winter in Norway

Drunk and naked

A troublesome Finn who was arrested causing a disturbance on a Bergen bus on Wednesday turned out to be one of Norway's most annoying characters.
The man, who was arrested drunk and naked on a bus on Wednesday has apparently been fined 99 times and has yet to pay one.
According to police the Finn has a noticeable tendency to remove more and more clothing the higher his blood alcohol level gets.

Good chance for White Christmas

Statistics suggest there's more than a 50 percent chance that it will snow in my place over Christmas, adding to the holiday atmosphere and allowing skiers to hit the trails and slopes.

Salma Hayek lead Nobel concert

Mexican film star Salma Hayek and Julianne Moore host this year's Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo Sunday.
Salma Hayek is one of my favorite actor.

Miss World 2006 from Iceland

Congratulations to Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir from Iceland, Miss World 2005
Congratulations also to our good neighbour in the west Iceland!

U2 and Human Rights

U2 and Bono gets the Amnesty's Human Rights Prize. Amnesty announced this Saturday.

The Nobel Peace Prize to Mohamed ElBaradei

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 was awarded Saturday to a man and an agency said to best symbolize the international cooperation needed to hinder the spread of nuclear weapons.
Rock musician and social activist Bob Geldof, a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize himself, was also there, sporting a pinstriped suit and spotted taking photos inside the elaborately decorated City Hall.
IAEA

Piercing

Paid for teen bride

A 67-year-old man has bought the future right to marry a teenaged girl. The down payment was made in April 2004 and the rest will come when the marriage takes place.
The senior citizen has promised a total of NOK 800,000 (USD 118,700) to marry the girl, now aged 17, and has already paid NOK 70,000 for this right.
Family members on both sides are shocked. The man's daughter wants the police to intervene. She believes what her 'obsessed' father is doing is illegal and also fears that the mother and daughter have milked him for over NOK 1 million.
Aftenposten

Wolf population in Norway

Wildlife experts say they have found signs of as many as 26 wolves in the southeastern forests of Hedmark County. Legal and illegal hunting have been threatening to wipe out the wolves in Norway once again.

Robbie Williams vs Norwegians girls

Robbie Williams said on Norwegian TV last night that he did not have had sex with the two girls Aylar Lie and Lene Alexandra Øien last year.
The girls have sold their history to a magazine.
This seems to be an easy way to make money.

Norwegian
Nettavisen

A prince is born

Crown Princess Mette-Marit gave birth to a son on Saturday morning. The boy becomes third in line to the Norwegian throne.
The boy was born at 10.45 CET (a.m.)
Norwegian

Weekend

Have a nice weekend to you all over the world!!

Norway not so "green" after all

Norwegians like to think of their country as environmentally progressive and at the forefront in championing environmental protection. A European agency, however, claims there's a lot of room for improvement.
Norway unleases more carbon dioxide emissions per resident than the European average, claims the EU's environmental agency EEA, nor is the country on its way to meeting its goals for reduction of such emissions.
Norwegians thinks that they are the best in the world , but they are definitely not!

Friends

I've heard that cats can't be friends.
It's that true?

Vandals attack graveyards

More than 130 graves outside a church in suburban Bergen were systematically vandalized over the weekend. The graves of children were hardest hit.
Shame on you to the vandals who did this
Norwegian

Big eyes

Why do I have big eyes?
I accept an initiative

Drunken moose terrorizes family

A Swedish family is being plagued by a drunken moose.
It helps itself to the fallen fruit from the family's ten apple trees.
The decomposing fruit have begun to ferment, and the result is a tipsy moose. The animal eats all it can, stumbles around the yard and finally falls asleep.

Hawk through the window

Hansen was relaxing at home, listening to some music over the weekend, when his peace literally was shattered by a bang and splintering glass. A fully grown hawk, flying at high speed, crashed through his veranda window and landed on his living room floor.
The hawk wasn't injured and immediately started making himself at home, proving to be a messy houseguest in the process.

Got a flu?

If you got a flu, this is a useful equipment

Christmas Tree from Oslo to London

A majestic fir tree from the forest outside Oslo began a sentimental journey to London on Friday, where it will do service as the city's Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square.
It's the 59th year in a row that Oslo has supplied London with a towering Christmas tree for outdoor display. The tree-tradition started shortly after World War II ended.
You can ask just about anyone you like in London, and they will know the tree is a gift from Norway and Oslo.
I think Rotterdam and Antwerpen gets a tree as well.
Norwegian (Old article)

Cancer boom

The Cancer Registry of Norway believes the nation faces a steady increase in the number of cancer patients in the next 15 years.

The Registry said that the total number of cancer patients will increase by 26 percent by the year 2020.
For women it is breast and lung cancer that is most on the rise.

Working day

One cigaret shortens your life by to minutes.
One bottle of wine shortens your life by five minutes.
A working day shortens your life by eight hours!!
Norwegian

There's no life before coffee!

Violence against children

In the past three years parents have abused 20 small children to death in Norway, and now police want legal changes.

According to the magazine Police Forum, seven children a year die in Norway because their parents mistreat them. Child welfare authorities must be notified when an abused child arrives at a medical center - police are not warned automatically
One case involved a father who beat his five-month-old daughter to death because she wouldn't stop crying. She suffered several fractures of the skull, fractures in six ribs, her leg was broken in two places and hemorrhaging in both eye.
Link in Norwegian

Female rapist

A Norwegian jury Tuesday upheld a lower court's conviction of a young woman found guilty of raping a male acquaintance.
The 24-year-old woman was earliers sentenced to nine months in prison for raping the man after a night on the town in January 2004.
This is the first time in Norway that a woman is sentenced to prison for rape.

The woman was found guilty on Thursday of forcing sex on a sleeping man has been sentenced to eight months in prison by a Bergen court.

The woman was sentenced according to rape laws. This was the appeals trial, after she had been sentenced to nine months for the same offense.
Link

Olympic Games 2008

I'm training for the Olympic Games i Beijing 2008

Warmest autumn in Norway since 1850

Norway looks set to record its warmest autumn for 150 years. Some welcome the unusually mild temperatures, but they're upsetting the natural order of things.
Ski competitions already have been cancelled and foliage in the forest seems downright confused. There's even been scattered sightings of wild strawberries blooming eight months early.
Link
Aftenposten

Am I the father?!?

You have been unfaithful to me!

Cocaine record in Norway

Customs officers uncovered a record 190 kilos of cocaine during a routine check of the South American ship "Crusader" in northern Norway on Wednesday night.

Cocaine with an estimated street value of NOK 80-90 million (USD 12.25-13.8 million) was found aboard the Panama registered "Crusader"

The old record for confiscation of cocaine in Norway was 49.8 kilos

I'm a Metallica fan

Grete Waitz New York-bound

Norwegian marathon star Grete Waitz, running the race of her life against cancer.
The nine-time winner of the New York Marathon has been undergoing cancer treatment since January, and now needs to go through chemotherapy.
Waitz says she's optimistic about her chances for winning her battle against cancer, and that she's grateful for her prize. Money raised at the Chamber dinner will go to charity, and she'll also spend time working with budding Norwegian athletes who are in New York as part of an exchange program she's worked to set up. "I love New York, but after a week I tend to get tired," she said. "It's a city with so much energy."

Grete Waitz will undoubtedly be remembered as the pioneer in women's marathoning as well, most probably, as the patron saint of the New York City marathon.
Winning the New York City marathon an unprecedented nine times is no mean feat, then to set a new world record on 4 occasions is simply unbelievable.
As a barrier breaker she became the first woman athlete to break 2Hr 30min.
Waitz came from a background of track and cross country before she went on to make her name in the marathon.

The race proved to be a turning point for Waitz' career. She would return to New York and win an unprecedented nine times, in '78, '79, '80, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86 and '88. She set world records in '78, '79 and '80.

Holocaust

A growing number of young Norwegians doubt the truth of the Holocaust after a website has begun translating neo-Nazi propaganda.
Vigrid(Norwegian neo-Nazi group) and their leader Tore W. Tvedt try to convince readers that the killing of millions of Jews by the Germans during the second world war is a bluff, and the presentation of arguments in Norwegian is something new.
The Mosaic Religious Community is concerned about the development.
My recommendation: Send them to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland to see the truth.

Indian summer

Tafjord in western Norway, enjoyed a startling nightly temperature of 22.6C (72.7F) as the final day of October arrived

Indian summer (also called Old Wives' summer in the United Kingdom) is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. This time is often in late October or early November (Northern hemisphere) / late April or early May (Southern hemisphere), usually sometime after the first frost. It can persist for just a few days or sometimes over a week.

The winter is over for now

The winter is over for now. Today it was 22°C (72°F) several places in Norway!

Wife deserved kicking

Sogn municipal court acquitted a man who kicked and spat on his wife when she said she wanted a divorce, ruling that he had been sufficiently provoked.

There must be something wrong with the norwegian court!?!

Snow brings chaos

Hundreds of cars skidded off roads just in eastern Norway as an unexpected heavy snowfall struck.
Despite a deep affection for snow, Norwegian motorists yet again revealed that the arrival of winter is always a surprise.

The first snow this autumn

The first snow came today, it's one month too early.

Hamarøyskaftet

Her var det deltakerne i TvNorges 71°nord klatret.



TvNorge

Naked man shocked bus passengers

A sprinting, naked man gave a bus driver little choice but to do what he wanted.
The episode occurred in the Drammen area on Sunday afternoon. A bus pulled up to a stop in order to let two elderly ladies waiting there board the vehicle.
Here he took a seat and refused to leave. The driver saw no option but to call the police, and the driver, passengers and naked man sat and waited for the authorities to arrive. During the wait neighbors arranged a blanket for the nude passenger.

dt.no

Autumn

Autumn - Herfst - Automne - Herbst - Otoño

No immigrant neighbors

Norway has a reputation for the utmost political correctness, but more than every other Norwegian would prefer not to have immigrants as neighbors.

The study revealed that people under 30 are most likely to say they thrive in a multicultural setting, with 25 agreeing and 40 percent neutral. The next age group up, 30-39, are most skeptical, with 38 percent disagreeing with such a thought.
Norwegians,shame on you!!!

A hug...

Good friends?

Angry moose attack dogsled

Angry moose attack dogsled led by 12 huskies. The attack came just a day after another moose broke into a children's clothing store in Lillehammer.

The two incidents were the latest in a string of unusual moose behaviour in Norway. The country has a large moose population, but the huge animals are generally shy and stay away from people and populated areas.


One more moose story
Moose attacked moose statue
A family had erected a statue of a moose in their garden, but a pair of the real thing apparently didn't approve.

Anne Marie and Lars Johan Tveten heard some noise one night last week in the garden of their farm, which lies in the heart of moose terrain. "We thought it was the clothesline that had blown down.
But when the couple woke up the next morning, "two moose were staring at us just a meter-and-a-half from our bedroom window," she said. The two moose then turned their backs on the Tvetens and wandered off into the forest.

Speed skaters on ice soon

Furumo skating rink, Geithus, Norway
In one week(22.oct) it will be speed skaters on this ice, but it's still over 20°C (In the sun). In the night the temperature is just below freezing .

The swan sea

The blue dragon flew high and long,
In search of the beautiful swan,
Suddenly! With eyes yellow and keen,
He spotted this scene:
The majestic white swan,
Not looking at all wan,
Gliding softly with head held high,
Drinking in the diamond light.
Gliding effortlessly across swan sea,
Resting calmly and so peacefully,
Contemplating the days of yore,
When all the animals played nicely, for sure.
Bobbing up and down, drifting
With her feet gently paddling,
Floating through waters glassy,
This white swan was very classy.
Tilting her neck in morning’s light,
She spied a dazzling bright sight,
It was the blue dragon, wings unfurled,
Defender of all living in the swan sea world.
The blue dragon stayed and hovered a little while,
Comforting the white swan and all for miles,
Sovereign protector in his territory was he,
For he was born of bright blue royalty.
So this is the moral of this little story,
If you do not want to swim into swan sea history,
Stay straight as an arrow headed for its mark,
From this you should never depart,
Choose your words wisely,
Use them precisely,
Failing not this kindly request,
Will always serve you well and best,
And, remember always this if you please,
There is a blue dragon, guardian of the swan sea.

Poet: Maribeth Schlobohm

I'm the new Michael Schumacher

A piece of art

A fine piece of art made by Cathrine Maske






Cathrine Maske was commissioned by Magnor Glassverk to make a water decanter and glasses. The main focus of the design for the water decanter and the glasses was a logical and functional grip. The glasses can be stacked on top of each other or on top of the decanter to create a lid.
Glass is a challenging material to work with.The prototyping was a long and necessary process: first a wooden mould was made, and then the glass was blown. The designer was present throughout all stages.
Both the water decanter and the glasses can be used separately or combined to create a single piece
“Purity” was designed to fit the hand ergonomically, and thus be comfortable to use and it has been well-received in its market.

Cathrine Maske initially
gained recognition abroad for the insect motifs she suspended
within the walls of her dense glass vases. The vases attracted ahigh level of interest in the UK press and were exhibited at
Sotheby’s Contemporary in 2002. Maske continues to draw on
vestiges of the natural world for other designs, which explore
themes of transparency, light and water. This autumn, Maske is
presenting her circular Orkidé (Orchid) vase in a range of soft
colours and semi-transparent surfaces. The colour pigments
added to the glass form subtle lines that create random patterns
of hazy striations.

Playoff Norway v Chech Republic

Norway's national soccer squad, fresh from victories over Moldova and Belarus, will now have to beat the Czech Republic in order to qualify for World Cup action next year.

Norwegian coach Åge Hareide was relieved his team won't have to play against Spain. He thinks Norway has a better chance against the Czech squad.

A lottery on Friday determined that Norway will face off against the Czech Republic on home turf in Oslo on November 12, and then again in Prague on November 16. The team emerging from both matches with the most goals will be allowed to play in the World Cup in Germany next summer.

Norway beat Belarus 1-0 in Minsk on Wednesday but had qualified for the lottery after beating Moldova last weekend.

Transportation in Russia

You can use a Lada to almost everything

Moose collisions

Norwegian motorists hit about 3,000 four-legged creatures per year and the 'king of the forest' is the most damaging victim.

Each autumn moose stories proliferate in the Norwegian media as the hunting season begins and the animals make a variety of headlines. A typical case is the report of motorist Mona Austvik, who suddenly found her car smashed and a moose calf sprawled across her windshield.

Wandering thief in my neighborhood

He's called "The Wanderer," hiking from cabin to cabin in Norway's great outdoors. He breaks into them, consumes what food and drink he finds and occasionally relieves himself on the floor before heading for the next one. Now he's back under arrest.

All told, his offenses add up to around 645 break-ins during the past 25 years. Since getting out of prison in August, he seemed to pick up his pace. Police in central Norway think "The Wanderer" broke into 45 cabins in as many days.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The Norwegian star is renowned for his tendency to score vital goals after coming off the
substitutes' bench. He enjoyed an extended run in the first XI towards the end of the 2001-2002 season, linking well with Ruud van Nistelrooy. Solskjaer's finest moment came in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich when he was brought on and scored the winning goal in injury time. A prime example of his peerless eye for goal came when he netted four goals in 10 minutes against Nottingham Forest in February 1999. Saw his 2004/05 campaign decimated by injury but remains a potent threat up front.

The Norwegian Royals guarded by an extremist

Oslo police will examine a security firm's control routines after a well-known neo-Nazi took part in the safety measures surrounding a royal appearance.

Anti-racism magazine Monitor uncovered the scandal, which took place during Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit's appearance at a TV appeal to aid women victims of violence in underdeveloped nations.

Too much beer tonight?

Healthy, wealthy and sad

A new study finds that Norwegians, despite their beautiful natural surroundings, oil fortune and having the country ranked as the best place in the world to live, are the saddest people in the Nordic region.
"We have everything and that is basically all we have. The meaning of life is to do difficult things," professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen told newspaper Dagsavisen. That is his explanation for Norway, regularly rated the best place in the world to live and one of the planet's richest nations, only finishing 14th in a study of world happiness.
"We don't have what is needed to be happy. We need something to aspire to, a project, a hope. Look at children, they can build the most complicated things. But when they are finished they tear them down, it isn't interesting any more. It was getting there that was fun, Eriksen said.
On a scale of 1-10, where one is deep depression and 10 dizzying happiness, Norwegians manage a score of 7.4 on the World Database of Happiness, a major scientific comparison of the state of cheer in 90 countries.
Stiig Broby, head of the Association of Danish Interests in Norway, has been puzzled by his nine years of living in Norway.
"Norway is one of the world's most prosperous nations. One should also be one of the most satisfied. Everyone complains about schools, the health system and Oslo Transit," Broby told Dagsavisen.
Researcher Ottar Hellevik believes that the steadily rising standard of living undermines contentment by stimulating a desire to have even more.
"More people look upon material things as the source of happiness. But that joy is short-lived, so it becomes an endless race, full of frustrations," Hellevik said.
Kilde: Aftenposten

Before the morning coffee

Nobel Peace Prize 2005 to IAEA

The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee announced Friday morning that the 2005 award would be shared between the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and its director general, The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee announced Friday morning that the 2005 award would be shared between the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei.

"This came as a complete surprise to me," the IAEA director general told a Vienna press conference on Friday afternoon.
"I was watching the announcement on TV with my wife. Since no one had called, which is normal practice, I was sure that the IAEA would not be awarded the prize. Then I heard the bureau's name pronounced in Norwegian and then my own name spoken in Norwegian," ElBaradei said.

Orgy may result in charges

Swedish police ended their surveillance by raiding a hotel room where a middle-aged Norwegian woman was entertaining eight naked men, one of them her husband.

The Norwegian couple had placed a contact ad on the Internet announcing a gangbang party to be held in a room at the Hotel Scandic in Mölndal, just outside of Gothenburg.

The couple had 480 responses and picked out 15 to attend the 'party'. The invitees paid NOK 300 per head to take part, money to cover the hotel expenses.
"Both my husband and I have wanted for several years to have sex with each other and several men at the same time," the woman told police, according to Expressen.

Police waited half an hour before ending their surveillance and making their raid. They believe the gangbang party is good business for the Norwegian couple, and that they also sell film of the orgy on their web site.
Two of the invitees have been charged with purchasing sex, and police are unsure about how many may have managed to do so.
"If the court agrees then I will take the matter further. Then the Norwegians can be charged with pimping, while the other men can be charged with purchasing sex," Sjödell said.

Car prices Norway v USA

A6 (2,4) V6 Multitronic
Norway: US $ 85500
A6 (3.0) V6 Multitronic
USA: US $ 37.200
It's almost US $ 50.00 different.
Check the motor volume, it's a different too.

Model: Audi A6 3.0 Multitronic
Engine: 2,976cc, 30V V6
Max Power: 218bhp at 6,300rpm
Max Torque: 290Nm at 3,200rpm
Gearbox: Continuously Variable Transmission
Top Speed: 240km/h0-100 km/h: 7.9 seconds

Princess cashes in on title

Norway's Princess Martha Louise will be using her royal title for all its worth this month, when she sets off on an 11-day tour of the US to sell a children's book she's written. Such commercial exploitation is controversial at home in Norway.

An American fascination with royalty, the commercial success of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and the US' large Norwegian-American population bode well, however, for Princess Martha Louise. She's already been booked onto two TV programs, and it's no coincidence that some of her "live" appearances will be in the Scandinavian-American heartlands of North Dakota and Seattle.
The princess launched her career as a purveyor of culture a few years ago, around the time she started dating Ari Behn, who'd had success with a book he'd written. She's educated as a physiotherapist but seems to prefer singing, reading fairy tales aloud and, now, writing books.