Dithyramb

All roads lead to...

...ROME!!!

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

Why people lie...

...an exceedingly interesting question. This topic is covered by the well-renown professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, Dan Ariely in an article in  WSJ - Why we lie

I'm currently reading his fascinating, highly original and thought-provoking book Predicably Irrational. His WSJ article on lying covers some of the themes of his new book, which I'm also looking forward to reading, entitled The Honest Truth about Dishonesty: How we lie to everyone - especially ourselves

Kyle Bass on the European economic crisis

via Amit Ghate

 

Cabin trip photos

Early morning mist in the valley

My brothers new booth before we started staining

 
...in progress...

 

From the back

  Misty valley

Spartacus has gone to the Elysion fields

Andy whitfield who played Spartacus in the series Spartacus has died of lymphoma

Akrasia

The ancient problem ...weakness of the will...I can't resist...Dark chocolate with chocolate mousse...total chocolate overload....Resistance is futile...as the Borg saying goes!

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.

 

Hysterically funny...

Pictures taken at Sognsvann

Today I was testing out my new hiking shoes. I had initially thought about taking a walk around Maridalsvannet, but since it has only been 2 weeks since my cast came off (I broke my ankle on the 28th of May in a paintball-war) I decided to take a shorter trip. Sognsvann is a scenic little lake in Oslo. One thing that I really love about Oslo is that most of the city's territory is actually forests and lakes. So, yes,...whe are still within the capital of Norway...

So, I've been enjoying a sunny afternoon. Afterwards I met up with friends and family and had a picnic inn Slottsparken.

I'm feeling fine and my ankle I think is healing nicely, although it is a bit frustrating that I can only walk at a slow pace...but a slow pace is excellent for enjoying nature on a bright sunshiny day!

 

Pictures of a flowery downtown Oslo

These are some photos that I took walking in downtown Oslo earlier today.

The Henrik Ibsen statue outside the Ibsen Museum

Outside the Town Hall

...and in most buildings flowers are put into every nook and cranny...

Spikersuppa

 

Oslo Domkirke


  Youngstorget

Flower in the Crannied Wall

Alfred Lord Tennyson, (1809-1892)

                                Flower in the crannied wall,
                                I pluck you out of the crannies,
                                I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
                                Little flower -but if I could understand
                                What you are, root and all, and all in all,
                                I should know what God and man is.

I'm safe...

I had been in the area where Anders Behring Breivik set of a bomb in downtown Oslo about half an hour before it exploded. I thought that it might rain so I decided to make my way homewards. A lucky decision.

I was near Solli Plass when the bomb went off.So I was outside the blast-range. Initially I just thought that it was a lightning strike or thunder. I could not comprehend that a terrorist attack had been launched on my beloved Oslo. It took some time for it to dawn on me.

It's been 2 days since the cowardly attack and all I feel is a mixture of anger and sadness.

Sadness for all those who died or were harmed and their families and loved ones. Extreme anger at the vicious hatemonger who so coldy could walk around and shoot young teens at a summer camp.

I fear a new and terrible era is upon us.

Join the...

A classic form Not the Nine O'Clock News

 

A Capella version of Rammsteins Du Hast

Via Izismile

 

Delightful and ingenius

Of interest...

In the world of science...

Explenation of the Aurora Borealis phenomenon

 

Via

The Aurora Borealis from Per Byhring on Vimeo.

 

In the world of politics...

Christopher Hitchens asks some much needed questions to the "activists"(or the life-hating terrorist supporters in a normal persons vocabulary) on the Gaza Flotilla.

The little boats cannot make much difference to the welfare of Gaza either way, since the materials being shipped are in such negligible quantity. The chief significance of the enterprise is therefore symbolic. And the symbolism, when examined even cursorily, doesn't seem too adorable. The intended beneficiary of the stunt is a ruling group with close ties to two of the most retrograde dictatorships in the Middle East, each of which has recently been up to its elbows in the blood of its own civilians. The same group also manages to maintain warm relations with, or at the very least to make cordial remarks about, both Hezbollah and al-Qaida. Meanwhile, a document that was once accurately described as a "warrant for genocide" forms part of the declared political platform of the aforesaid group. There is something about this that fails to pass a smell test. I wonder whether any reporter on the scene will now take me up on this

I somehow doubt that he will get much of a rational answer.

 

In the world of entertainment...

The world will forever be changed for air guitar players!

Better lead off on a happy note, so...

Glympse

I'm currently testing out Glympse

...apparently Gowalla and Foursquare are sooooo 2010

G*Power

Testing out a free statistical program G*Power.

A program for testing out statistical power.

Kringla Heimsins

So which is it?  Amazon tablet ships later this year or no improved displays this year? I'm quite satified with my Kindle 3. It has excellent battery life and has a nice readable display even outdoors in bright sunlight. I don't really care that much that it's not in colour...what is really needed is better note-taking capability.

Some more happy news...when they killed Bin Laden they also got hold of his computer files. Now...killing one man, doesn't kill the terrorists' ideology... The battle rages on...

Christopher Hitchens has some thoughts on the death of Bin Laden....a fitting eulogy :-)

What "really" went down at Osama's compound!!! :-)

 

Ohhh! Catharsis...

Finally...

...Bin Laden is dead! Shot while hiding behind a woman...like a complete coward.

Fight of the century: Keynes vs Hayek round 2

Quite enjoyable, even though I hate rap!

Anthem the graphic novel

I just finished reading Ayn Rands Anthem: The Graphic Novel

Overall, I quite liked the rendition and found it true to the original story.

The drawings are nicely stylized and heroic. This a work that will appeal to the very young and the completists who want to have everything of quality that is related to Ayn Rand.

All in all quite enjoyable.

 

Tired...

...of PowerPoint...try Prezi

Moon over Oslo

Tonight we have a supermoon!

The moon is at its biggest tonight

Which location-based social networking application is your favourite?

And Why?

 

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!