The bulwark against Simon taking over the world [entries|friends|calendar] Pengolodh (s.c) [ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ] [ calendar | livejournal calendar ]

[13 Mar 2012|02:10am] [ mood | weird ] Today I went out guiding again - same tour as yesterday when we almost went off the bridge. I won't deny that there was a tightened feeling in the chest when we got near the place. On the way home I saw that the railing on the bridge had a very prominent dent where we'd hit it. The bus was a VDL Bova, very similar to this one. The accident itself knocked loose the entire righthand headlight mount and the lower center panel between the headlightmounts (not sure what to call it - it's not a grille, as the engine is rearmounted with side-mounted air-intakes), bent the front door out of shape and jammed it, and knocked loose side panels behind the door. That's from what I could see just by looking around the bus just after the accident - there might be more that I could not see. Also, when the bus was transported back to the depot, it seems to have gone into the ditch at least once, gaining further damage - weather was still bad, with strong winds and bad surface conditions. Apparently VDL feels the damage is so extensive that they say it should be written off as a constructive total loss (CTL). This entry was originally posted at http://pengolodh-sc.dreamwidth.org/100907.html. You can comment there using OpenID. have commented there 1 comment|post comment

[12 Mar 2012|03:26am] Tonight I came very close to getting killed in an accident. Or at least it felt, and feels, very much like that - I am not sure I've ever been so scared. ( What happened ) This entry was originally posted at http://pengolodh-sc.dreamwidth.org/100635.html. You can comment there using OpenID. have commented there 7 comments|post comment

More weather [27 Dec 2011|03:54pm] This Christmas seems to be a stormy one - we'll be getting a Force 11 storm (Violent Storm, winds of 64-72 mph/103-117 km/h) tonight. Am expecting the power to black-out at some point. This entry was originally posted at http://pengolodh-sc.dreamwidth.org/100503.html. You can comment there using OpenID. have commented there 4 comments|post comment

[25 Dec 2011|11:25pm] [ mood | awed by nature ] Southwestern Norway seems to be getting a Force 11 to 12 storm/hurricane for Christmas, possibly the strongest one in Norway for several decades. So far extensive material damage is reported - a seven car garage building carried 170 feet away by the winds, various damage to buildings, roads and ferry connections closed, blackouts and phone networks down many places, and one ship somehow sunk in harbour. So far no people are reported injured, although with the amount of airborne debris around, that seems to be purely by luck. There will be more property damage, even as the wind is slowly settling down a bit, because the storm surge will peak in about an hour's time. We have had storm for Christmas round where I live, too, but nowhere near as strong - Force 10, at the most. There has been a storm surge here, as well. This entry was originally posted at http://pengolodh-sc.dreamwidth.org/100203.html. You can comment there using OpenID. have commented there 2 comments|post comment

[26 Oct 2011|08:32am] [ mood | puzzled ] Who/what is ad.adriver.ru, and why is my LJ friendspage trying to load it? 1 comment|post comment

[07 Aug 2011|08:22pm] [ mood | cheerful, if tired ] Carrying away treasure and rowing a Viking ship is hard work. My arms are tired now. 2 comments|post comment

[24 Jul 2011|11:30pm] [ mood | saddened ] Earlier today there was a memorial service in the cathedral in Oslo, for the victims of the terror in Oslo and at Utøya. The King and Queen were present, as was the Prime Minister and other members of government. The P.M spoke at the service. Here is a ( translation of the speech, based on newspaper VG's transcript ) 2 comments|post comment

[23 Jul 2011|04:22am] [ mood | in shock ] Police has confirmed that at least 80 teenagers were murdered at Utøya. The King sounded years older on the radio. 7 comments|post comment

[23 Jul 2011|03:25am] In latest news, the arrested suspect is now named in Norwegian media, as one Anders Behring Breivik (32), a self-styled nationalist and anti-islamist. He owns some sort of vegetable farming company (meaning he possibly had access to significant quantities fertilizer as well as diesel for tractors). He is registered as owning a Glock pistol, a rifle and a shotgun, but the car used by the gunman to go to the island reportedly also contained several additional weapons, including assault rifles. He did national service (presumably when he was around 19), but has no further military background. He tweeted once on Twitter, six days ago, reportedly quoting John Stuart Mills: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests." post comment

[23 Jul 2011|12:32am] [ mood | Heartened ] ( The Norwegian Prime Minister speaks about the terrorist attacks in Norway: ) post comment

[22 Jul 2011|10:14pm] [ mood | shocked ] Just for the record, while I live in Norway, I live about a thousand miles away from Oslo, where the terror attacks today happened. The biggest shock today is not the bombing of the government buildings in Oslo - the truly horrible thing is how a person (disguised as a police officer) who probably was involved in the bombing, then proceeded to an island full of teenagers on summer camp, and started gunning them down. Ten teenagers confirmed killed so far, and numbers may climb very high - many are badly injured, too. I heard about this about an hour or two after it happened, while at work, but had limited ability to keep up with updates. Coming home to learn the full extent of this has been horrifying - particularly the deliberate targetting of young people - and I am left with a clenched feeling in my chest. 7 comments|post comment

101 How To Embarrass Yourself In Front Of Tourists, Lesson #13: [19 Jul 2011|01:31am] [ mood | sleepy ] First, explain how funnelshaped glasses, imported from Bohemia, the Frankish Empire, etc., for a while were the most common shape of drinking glass in Viking Age Scandinavia. Then, proceed to explain how glass was an extremely rare and expensive commodity in that age, possibly being more valuable than gold, and how over a period of about 300 years only 15 glasses were broken at the chieftain seat. Finally, while demonstrating how the funnel shape makes the glass itself difficult or even impossible to balance on a table, fumble and accidentally smash the glass right in front of the tourists. 5 comments|post comment

Slow TV - 134-hour live broadcast of Hurtigrute-sailing [18 Jun 2011|01:51am] [ mood | cheerful ] Norwegian broadcaster NRK is currently broadcasting directly (on its NRK2 network) from the Northbound sailing of the Hurtigrute vessel MS NORDNORGE. Cameras film not the onboard life, but the seas and the landscape surrounding the ship, boats accompanying the ship, work in the harbour, cultural shows put on in harbour in honour of the broadcast, etc. In Kristiansand, for instance, the mayor was present, and a show was put on by a dance-troupe of youngsters, with a cheering audience of about 50+ people, at 1:30am. As might be expected, this filming has brought out lots of people to greet and cheer the Hurtigrute as it passes, flotillas of private boats accompanying the ship into harbour, marching bands serenading the ship in harbour, and so on - it is not dissimilar to how people along the coast mustered in force to greet and cheer MS KONG HARALD on her maiden sailing in 1993 as the first of the new generation of Hurtigrute vessels. Hurtigruten still performs a valuable liner service on the Norwegian coast, carrying both passengers and cargo, and is loved by the people it serves. Not for nothing do we refer to the Hurtigrute service as Highway Nr. 1. Service was inaugurated in 1893, with weekly sailings from Trondheim to Tromsø, and has by now extended to daily sailings between Bergen and Kirkenes, calling on a total of 34 harbours along the way. The broadcast can be seen at http://nrk.no/hurtigruten/?lang=en I believe, but do not know for certain, that the broadcast/netcast is viewable also outside Norway. Apparently NRK will make all of the footage available for download under the Creative Commons licence, too. More information in English about the Hurtigrute broadcast can be found at http://nrkbeta.no/2011/06/16/hurtigruten-eng/ The broadcast builds on the unexpected success a year and a half ago of the real-time broadcast of the seven hour Oslo-Bergen train trip. On Sunday, the ship crosses the Vestfjord to the Lofotens - if the ship has mustered enough tourists for the excursion, I shall await it in Stamsund at 7pm CET, wearing my workclothes: Viking clothing, with helmet and axe. post comment

[09 Jun 2011|10:58pm] [ mood | half melted ] Today, for the first time this year, I did not need to wear my woolen long underwear while driving my scooter to work. Yesterday the temperature was around 10-12 degrees Celsius (50-53.6 Fahrenheit), but overnight it went up to around 25-28 degrees Celsius (77-82.4 Fahrenheit). Not a bad show for being about 100 miles North of the Arctic Circle, though personally I felt rather overheated, and my neck is bordering on a sunburn (next time I'm upgrading from SPF 20 to SPF 50) - but my Mexican colleague was very happy with the weather. post comment

[30 Apr 2011|01:40am] [ mood | amused ] Is it just me, or did the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie ( look particularly intimidating today? ) 1 comment|post comment

[26 Mar 2011|05:11pm] [ mood | blah ] So my old computer has been in a slightly poor way for a while ("Scanning Bios Image in hard drive"), and I've been considering getting a replacement - either parts to upgrade what I have, or a whole new computer - but I've dragged my heels a bit on the issue. However, effective last night, my old computer has definitely kicked the bucket - am right now at parents' place, where I have used their internet access to order new computer. Also - am (still slightly) sick. Had first symptoms Tuesday last week - at first it was giving mixed signals as to whether it was a cold or a flu, but by Monday it still showed no signs of letting off, so I visited the doctor. Turned turned out it's a bacterial infection pharyngitis, so I got antibiotics - and sick leave. I have one and a half day left to go with the antibiotics. Am rid of most symptoms, but still coughing like crazy. post comment

[12 Feb 2011|06:06pm] [ mood | chipper ] And now I'm off to take 86 tourists to a sacrifice to the Norse gods, so the sun and summer will return. I have a good job. 6 comments|post comment

[12 Feb 2011|02:38am] [ mood | amused ] Lady Gaga is not an artist that I am particularly into - she is mentioned in newspapers, her music floats by on the radio (and I sometimes even know that it's her), and so on. But this is too good not to share. It is not Lady Gaga as such - some people at the Hui Zheng lab at Baylor College of Medicine instead made a parody/tribute remake of Lady Gaga, about ( being caught in a Bad Project. ) The costumes in themselves are impressive, being constructed of various supplies and items from the lab, including hazard bags, pipettes, absorbent swabs, "benchtop diapers", etc. 4 comments|post comment

[18 Dec 2010|12:24am] [ mood | angry ] The fact that this computer is completely unable to rip more than two CDs at a time without the DVD-drive suffering an existential crisis, is really driving me up the wall. I am anticipating that the next time there is a major upgrade of my computer, one of the elements of the upgrade will be that I carefully remove the drive in question, whereupon I will carry it outside and throw it - with great force and greater relish - onto a hard surface. 1 comment|post comment

iTunes question [17 Dec 2010|03:48pm] [ mood | curious ] Anybody know if there is some way of forcing iTunes to accept that a specific set of songs belong to the same album? iTunes is currently importing my music collection, and with some albums insists on songs being in separate almbums (in the case of The Civil War TV soundtrack, it insists on splitting it into 23 distinct albums). 5 comments|post comment

[27 Nov 2010|09:05pm] [ mood | wrinklyfingered ] This weekend my parents have recruited me to help wash the ceiling and upper reaches of the walls in their kitchen. From this I conclude that kitchen cabinets that do not go all the way to the ceiling are evil. 1 comment|post comment

How I spent my weekend [10 Aug 2010|02:54am] [ mood | Content, though sore and tired ] This last weekend was a quite exhausting one, but in a good way. On Saturday evening there was a big feast at work - we feasted on fish, leg and (honeyglazed) heart of lamb, roast boar and more, the serving accompanied by music on bagpipe, drum, flute, nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle), table harp, lute, etc. - metheglin was served to drink, though I stuck to less intoxicating drinks. Entertainment throughout included singing, belly dancing and attempts at skaldic poetry. The feast proper was finished off with some rather wild ring dancing, again to music by those same instruments - the musicians increased the speed more and more; by the time the musicians relented, many of us were ready to drop. Following the feast a number of us, including German and Polish traders, the smith and a Hungarian ex-special forces (I think) professor, assembled by the fire into the wee hours, talking and exchaning various Polish, Germanic, Norwegian, Scots and Hungarian songs - I left relatively early and was home before 4am. Getting up in time on Sunday was challenging. Sunday was concluded by carrying off a treasure chest, before boarding a Viking ship and rowing it off some short distance - again accompanied by music. All in all a succesful conclusion to the Viking festival we'd hosted. Work at a Viking museum may not have the best pay, but there are certain intangible benefits. Pictures from the festival 1 comment|post comment

[22 Jun 2010|05:00pm] [ mood | Wondering where the summer is ] Today, the day after summer solstice, an aircraft had to make a forced landing due to the wings icing down. This took place a couple hundred miles South of here.... 3 comments|post comment

A blog about experiments on Viking Age food [06 Jun 2010|04:09pm] [ mood | awake ] I know some people on my friendslist are interested in things like historical reenactment and historical cooking, so this should be of interest to you. Lofotr Vikingmuseum has employed the Swedish archaeologist Daniel Serra to experiment with Viking Age food. He uses reproductions of Viking Age cooking equipment to cook food, inspired partly by archaeological finds, partly by Viking Age accounts of food, and partly by medieval recipes and accounts of food. The outcomes of his experiments every day also form his lunch for the day. He will be with us until some time in July, and writes about his experiments and experiences in his English-language blog eldrimner.wordpress.com. Some of the things he's been working on so far include: cold-smoking both untreated and salted meats using just the smoke present from keeping the room's fireplace lit cold-smoking us poor guides - this is a default extension of the previous point (the sacrifices we make for science...) making an approximation of the thrall's meal from Rigsthula - soup based on stock from boiled meat and tough, heavy bread regaining salt from spent brine extracting bone marrow from sheep bones without cracking the bone (ethnological accounts from Iceland indicate a longstanding superstition that breaking a bone was considered bad luck, and a find of a lamb bone with a small hole in it, from the Viking Age, is seen as support of this) popping malt He has worked on other things as well, and I would not be surprised if, in due course, beer brewing and mead making comes up as well. Most recently he is asking for suggestions about medieval uses of potash or lye, apart from soap, glass and tinder - if anybody has any suggestions, I'm sure he'll be very happy to get feedback. 4 comments|post comment

[17 May 2010|10:30am] There is nothing quite like being woken up before 7am by 21 blasts of dynamite. Winter took a break three days ago, but is due to return again tomorrow. post comment

[28 Apr 2010|07:01pm] We have somewhere between one and two inches of fresh snow on the ground today. I think I'll wait just a little while longer before taking my scooter out of the garage. 3 comments|post comment

[20 Apr 2010|02:08pm] [ mood | uncomfortable ] So today I spent one and a half hour sitting in a dentist's chair. I don't much like the taste or smell of slightly charred dentine flour. 2 comments|post comment

Oh my, Livejournal [05 Mar 2010|01:43am] [ mood | blah ] From shatterstripes, found via cambler: It appears Livejournal has had a creative (though possibly not well advised) idea for additional revenue generation. post comment

[24 Feb 2010|05:18pm] [ mood | cynical ] A Norwegian online newspaper can inform us, in the biggest size font, that if the German women's team for Nordic Team Sprint had not been wearing clothes, they would have been nude. 3 comments|post comment

[17 Feb 2010|12:49pm] [ mood | annoyed ] Yahoo!Mail's interface change just caught up with the yahoo.no domain. Now the front page only shows which unread e-mails are in my inbox, for unread e-mails filtered into other folders I have to open the large folder tree. And every time I go to the frontpage, I have to click away a bundle of social network things that keep appearing - such as the "get updates from such and such contact" - and I only can click away three at a time, and there is no way to make this actually not just go away but stay away. 3 comments|post comment

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