Dithyramb

All roads lead to...

...ROME!!!

ORBIS - The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. Using modern technology to understand premodern history.

Bounty II

Today I went to see the ship that was used in the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" with Marlon Brandon. The ship was anchored in the Oslo Harbour.

The ship is about 1/3 larger than the original and has some exceedingly beautiful lines as she lay still in the water. The ship was also feautured in the movies Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It's hard to fathom that these ships appear so much bigger in movies than they actually were. I remember when I was young and first saw a replica of Francis Drake's The Golden Hind at St Mary Overie Dock and thought how exceedingly brave and courageous these men were to circumnavigate the world in such a tiny, yet astonisighly beautiful ship.

 

Glympse

I'm currently testing out Glympse

...apparently Gowalla and Foursquare are sooooo 2010

Claim your peaks

Via The Adventure blog

Peakery is a site where you can log the peaks you climb. At present there are 150, 339 peaks (At present only 351 peaks in Norway are listed).

 

I've just joined!

Gowalla

I've just joined Gowalla. Whether or not it will prove useful or entertaining --- I have no idea as of yet. I'll test it out over the next few days.

Geocaching

I have just joined geocaching.com. Great fun. Finally I have a new hobby: Treasurehunting! I used the Geocaching application on my iPhone and that took Åshild and me to the cache near PST the Norwegian Police Security Service, In Nydalen. It was a lot of fun searching the area next to the secret police. Suspicious activity is a lot of fun...;-) No harm, no foul! I wonder if there are any caches near the American Embassy?

Here is Åshild signing our names.

Aaaaaahhhhhh! TREASURE!

That was fun, so I went on another treasure hunt today. Found two more caches.

Quiz: What extreme sport should you try?

You Should Try Ice Climbing

Cold, challenging, and downright scary And there's no way the snow is breaking your fall

What Extreme Sport Should You Try?




It's been on my list for a long time. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I also would truly love to go for a glacial walk at Jostedalsbreen Nasjonalpark

Below a photo of me in Helvete Nature Park, (Helvete, means Hell in Norwegian),  Espedalen, Norway. Summer 2008

Autumn in the mountains

2 weeks ago I was at Grotli, Norway celebrating my Aunts 60th birthday. Here are some autumn photos that I took while hiking in the area. We stayed at the fabulous Grotli Høyfjellshotel.

Vis større kart

My Camelbak

I bought a new backpack for short trips about a week ago. I've been testing it out lately.

It's a Camelbak H.A.W.G.

I'm quite staisfied with it. It contains a 3 liter hydration pack and has a pocket for my ipod and has enough room for other gear needed for a short hike.

Photo 1. My Camelbak.

Photo 2. Me posing next to my Camelbak in Nordmarka.

What is your fantasy island?

What's Your Fantasy Island?

My Result: The Galapagos Islands

 

   

When the travel bug bites you, it's time to go learn a thing or two. And the educational opportunities and environmental focus of the Galapagos Islands make them a dream destination for an inquisitive soul like you. Sure, sometimes you sit on the beach all day or indulge in a massage, but you also seek out experiences that are invigorating to the mind, body, and spirit. Adventurous? You bet. Curious? Most definitely.

Whether you're identifying rare fauna, investigating museums, watching indigenous creatures, or just thinking about evolution on a hike, your mind is always incorporating new experiences and lessons. You recognize that where you're going is meaningful, but even more important is what you learn on the way there. Take it all in!

   

Take this test >

   

Destination Mars

NASA refocuses to align with Bush's Mars vision (From Washington Times)

Amundsen-Scott Race to the South Pole - Round 2

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928)  Norwegian polar explorer. He led the Antarctic expedition of 1910-1912 and was the first to reach the South Pole.

He beat the foolish and ill-prepared Englishman Robert Falcon Scott in a race of epic proportions to be the first man to reach the south pole.

Now the race is about to begin anew.

Aftenposten reports that:

"A team of British and Norwegian polar explorers plan a replay of the classic race to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. The result will be a six-episode long documentary.

Next Tuesday the two teams will set off, equipped with gear from 1911,with a course for Greenland and the North Pole. The climatic challenges along the 256 kilometer (159-mile) trek will mirror those that faced the teams along the original route. It is no longer legal to use dog teams in the Antarctic.

The BBC, History Channel and other stations will air "The Great Race" as a six-part documentary, which may reveal the secrets behind Norwegian Amundsen's success in 1911.

"This will be a great challenge, not least because we have to use 90-year-old equipment. But we will have fun, and we will win," said Norway's expedition leader Rune Gjeldnes, who reckons the greatest danger will be the wind-exposed zone they must traverse on the first seven days of the challenge.

Norway's team is also made up of polar explorer Inge Solheim, experienced mountain climber Harald Kippenes, dogsledder Ketil Reitan and American dogsledder John Huston. In contrast to the three years Amundsen used to prepare his trip, the new squad will have two months.

The gear will include the sealskin suits, reindeer hide jackets, wooden skis and now-antiquated navigation system that the first explorers used. They hope to overcome temperatures ranging from a few degrees above freezing to -40 in 80 days - Amundsen used 99."

Some interesting links:
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Scott Polar Research Institute
Fram Museum

If you want to know more about the original race to the south pole then you ought to read Roland Huntfords The last Place on Earth

Ooohhhh! Baby

From.............................: Saturntoday.com, main site!

More Space Exploration:

ESA

Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn & Titan