2009 highlights

Having two of my sisters and their families visiting
In addition to spending time together, we also had a nine day road trip which included places like Madison, Wi, Chicago, Il, Des Moines, IO, and Minneapolis, MN. A vacation to remember.

One woman's quest pursuing new goals

House Party with friends
Summer, good food, good drinks, and really good friends. A friend that had left town came back to visit and a bunch of us got together for some drinks with the intention on going out "on town." The party stayed within these four walls and could not have been better. Thank you to all my friends.

Paper Lions - http://www.myspace.com/paperlionsmusic
Their live performance was unexpectedly good and cheered up an evening that had started with disappointment.

Avatar 3D
Ok so it has the advantage over other movies to be in recent memory, but what a movie experience.

Kindle now shipps to Canada

... about time.

Now, if we can only get good Internet Service and the price it should cost.

Soccer - the sport where cheating is OK

I've been reading about Henry's hands that led France to Soccer World Cup in various papers, "Tidenes Dommertabbe" and "Frances 'miraculous' Cup berth.

I find the articles and comments troublesome as the discussion refers to the referee doing a poor job and that maybe video cameras should be introduced as part of the team of officials.

But surrendering to this, is saying that "If you can get away with it, it is OK to cheat"

The reports says the referee did a good job, until that one moment when Henry could not help himself and moved his arm to stop the ball in it's path. In the heat of the moments, those things happen. However, Henry should be penalized, and he should be penalized, hard. Not for the handball, but for not admitting right away that the goal was dishonest. Players must be held accountable for the errors they make. The referee will for sure pay a price for the error he did - let's place some onus back on to the players.

Gro Hammerseng er provosert

Gro Hammerseng er provosert fordi hun føler seg presset til å fronte homosaken.

Gro sier "Jeg føler at de forventer at hvis du er skeiv og har et kjent ansikt, så er du forplikta til å alltid stå først med flagget hevet."

I mine øynte fronter Gro allerede homeosaken og det på en veldig god måte. Gro viser gjenneom sin styrke og lederrolle som hånballspiller, som partner, som fadder, en datter, og alt det andre hun er og gjør, at homser er som alle andre - og det er en god homosak det!

Mye bra canadisk musikk - som poker deg i hjertet

Leste Dagbladets musikk anmeldelse for Tegan og Sara sin siste plate. Tegan og Sara har vært på spillelisten min siden første utgivelse, og de vil fortsette å være det med denne plata. Anbefales.

Jeg ble dog litt opphengt av Dagbladets anmelder som skriver "Heldigvis er flere av låtene sterke nok til å bryte gjennom asfalten, både «Hell», «Northshore» og «The Ocean» poker deg i hjertet."

Poker deg i hjertet?!?

Er riktig nok en stund siden jeg forlot Norge og norsken min begynner å bli utvannet, men dog, er dette ett vanlig norsk uttrykk?

Jeg anbefaler forøverig

http://www.myspace.com/justinnozuka
http://www.myspace.com/paperlionsmusic
http://www.myspace.com/younggalaxy


....og nå skal jeg emaile Dagbladets musikk journalist, det får hun fordi jeg ikke kan kommentere - gratis.

in the land of the free...

... you got to be careful with what you keep free.

In Sky News today I'm learning about Eric, an American man who brewed coffee naked in his own kitchen and is now facing indecent exposure charges and could be jailed.

In a country where you have a right to carry a weapon in public, you don't have the right to walk around naked in your own kitchen?! What was this mother doing looking in his window anyway?

Some nudity won't kill anyone - a gun will!

Paper Lions - a musical adventure

I had plans to see Young Galaxy tonight, but unfortunately they were not able to make it to town in time for the concert. Instead, I ended up waiting around for the "Late Show" which was to be put on by a band called PAPER L IONS, written in small print on the ticket.

Let me tell you, PAPER LIONS should not be printed in small letter because this is a band full of talent, creativity, and energy. Lucky for you, Paper Lions is back in Thunder Bay on November 5, 2009.

Visiting their myspace page I would not say that the music you can hear fully represents the performance I heard tonight. On stage, live, they are raw, loud, and shear musical joy - go see them!

“You guys said we did this for the show.”

I guess when the attention from participating in the show Wife Swap died down, the life as an anonymous every day family was too much to handle, so lets go for a helium balloon ride - or not.

He seemed well prepared young Heen where he was hiding in the attic, with his snacks and toys and I think his statement on CNN last night speaks for itself; “You guys said we did this for the show.”

Made by a misstake - nothing but wrong.

It has already been blogged about, thankfully because there is nothing but WRONG in the latest Ralph Lauren (RL) ad. Ralph Lauren claims that the ad was created by a mistake, but somehow I doubt that - does Ralph Lauren seem like a company that would make mistakes?

Well, actually they do make mistakes, and this ad is the proof, however it was not a mistake from their end. On top of it, they tried to quiet all bloggers by threatening to sue based on copyright infringement. Then, according to Filippa, the face in the ad, RL fired her for being "too large."

I should throw out the two pieces of RL clothes I own, I am quite clearly NOT the type of person they want to be wearing their clothes and guess what - it will be a while until I step foot in a Ralph Lauren outlet, if ever again.

Photo: Courtesy of Dagbladet.

Give Olympic athletes flu shot priority

CBC could today report that Bob McCormack, chief medical officer for Canada's Olympic team, told CBC News the Olympics provide a potential breeding ground for the H1N1 virus and that provides justification for making athletes a priority for the vaccine.

Knowing how anal top athletes can be about their health, I think I would be more worried about the audience, the volunteers, and everybody else that will be in and around the Olympic trails.

And,until I see Canadian Top Athletes take over for Younger Women as the group hardest hit by H1N1 I'll say "Get in line!"

Nobel's Peace Prize 2009 goes to....

...Barack Obama! (Barack Obama får Nobels fredspris )

I'm not quite sure why as I still need to read the committee's rationale. Not that I don't think President Obama is not capable of ever receiving a Nobel's Peace price, however, I would like to see him demonstrate his capability rather than giving it to him based on his vision.

You know, Yassir Arafat and Shimon Peres also received the prize - for their work in Middle East.....

What I do think is clever about the Choice of President Obama is that it will again raise world wide awareness about the Nobel's Peace Price.

Or maybe, the Committee Members, really, really, really wanted President Obama to visit Norway and this is the only why they knew how to get him to come visiting.

Canada - slow at advancing the use of Technology?

When I first moved to Canada about nine years ago I wondered where I had moved to.

My first job in Canada I received a pay cheque which I had to go to the bank to cash - since my first pay I've been used to direct deposit - ten years prior to moving to Canada.

I wanted to SMS with people, but they looked at me funny. Either they did not have a cell phone or, if they did, they did not know what SMS was - which makes sense, since it was not available.

In the last nine years, much have changed, however now, we're falling behind once again. What does Canada not have in common with Angola, Congo, Haiti, Greenland, and about 100 other countries? Kindle!

The ignorance of the Catholic Church

Once again the Catholic Church is "struck" by a scandal that involves church officials and young children. You can learn more about the case that unfolded in Nova Scotia, Canada, by reading Globe and Mail.

Globe and Mail also covers an interview with Father Molloy in today's paper. Father Molloy was the priest that a young boy confided in when he 20 years ago observed pornographic material (apparently of young boys ) at the home of Rev. Raymond Lahey - the man that now, 20 years later now has porn charges against him.

Yesterday, I heard an interview with Father Molloy on CBC radio and he said "I wish this case would just go away. It's been 20 years and this case just don't seem to want to go away."

Well, here is news for you Father Molloy - THINGS JUST DON'T GO AWAY! Regardless of how much the Catholic Church just closes their eyes and thereby things "go away" - things are still there. Obviously you can't go around with your eyes closed all the time and once in a while you will catch a glimpse of reality and low and behold - the reality is not the same as with your eyes closed.

I don't really care for or about the Catholic Church - but I do care about its victims therefore I hope to see the Catholic Church actually handle these sex scandals in a proper way (other than closing eyes) and start DEALING with reality to put an end to abuse.

er det andre årsaker til at homofile gutter mobber mer?

I denne artikkelen hos VG kan du lese at homofile gutter mobber mest. Forskeren Erling Roland har ingen forklaring på hvorfor det er slik, men mener det kan være på grunn av at de homofilene ungdommene føler seg trengt opp i et hjørne.

En annen årsak som ikke er nevnt, kan jo være at homofile gutter er mere selvreflekterte og er klar over hva de gjør kan karaktriseres som mobbing, mens heterofile gutter ikke anser slengbemerkninger, en dytt, eller andre metoder som mobbing. Hvor mange kjenner du som vil si: "ja, jeg er en mobber"?

Canada is failing history

Marc Chalifoux and J.D.M. Stewart could via the Globe and Mail this morning report that "Canada is failing history." They precede by stating " Four in 10 Canadians cannot name our first prime minister or identify the year of Confederation." And herein lies the problem, it's not relevant to today's society who was the first prime minister, nor is the year of the Confederation. What is relevant is what's the consequence of the first prime minister and the establishment of the confederation.

So in addition to fewer hours of history in school, the problem also is how history is taught. When something happen is not really all that important. What happened, what was/is the consequence of the event, and what was the precursor is much more relevant to understanding history and understanding today.

SEO BOOK learn.rank.dominate - usability fail

By reading Sitepoint blog I was adviced to use SEO Book's SEO for Firefox. Visiting their website I've been sent in an endless loop that leads me back to the "sign up for free" web page, even though I have both signed up and signed in already.

They may be good at SEO but I'm sure Jacob Nielsen would have fun tearing their site apart when it comes to usability and if a site is not easy to navigate it does not matter that you are number one on Google, people won't spend time looking for the information, particularly when they think they have already found it (such as Download now, really should lead to the download rather than the sign up for free). Never mind the fact that their navigation menu and site structure is all over the place. Oh well, I did find the download eventually, in the welcome email....

Norsk media i ekstase

Det brukes mye store fete bokstaver når VG skriver om Den største norske vitenskapelige sensasjonen noensinne og det kan godt være at det er mere av missunnelse enn av nøkternhet at K. Christopher Beard of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History i Pittsburgh sier
"I actually don't think it's terribly close to the common ancestral line of monkeys, apes and people''
Men ulikt norsk media (Dagbladet, Aftenposten ) NY Times og BBC skal ihvertfall ha litt kudos for i det minste og ha inkludert litt skeptisisme i sine artikler.

Kan jo være at Norsk media falt helt for Sirkus Ida Seeking a Missing Link, and a Mass Audience

NRK tabbe - men Synnøve leverte

Jeg synes at denne debatten blir litt for stort angrep mot en person jeg ikke hadde forventet noe annet av. Er glad for å se at hun får noe støtte. Synnøve Svabø har for meg gjennom årene blitt den underholdningspersonen jeg hørte på lørdag kveld. Jeg ler oftest av Synnøve jeg, og synes hun er morsom, tøff, til tider vågal.

Og det er da jeg undrer meg, hvorfor i all verden hyret NRK inn Svabø til å lede programmet på norsk kringkasting? Vi har kommet i en tid der de flest vet hva "eigth, ten, and twelve points goes to Norway" betyr (selvom om det ikke skjer ofte). MGP er jo i seg selv ett underholdningshow, så dere trenger ikke Svabø til å legge til ekstra underholdning, det funker ikke.

Så kjære Svabø, jeg synes du er flott underholdning jeg, og jeg håper ikke dette legger en demper på deg. Men takk nei til framtidig oppdrag med mindre du har planer om å legge om stilen, dette passer deg ikke for øyeblikket.

Til NRK, legg inn litt mere tid til "the fitting room"

vær kritisk til det du leser - små nyanser gjør forskjeller

Leste i Dagbladet at "Kanadisk kvinne død av svineinfluensa".

I Kanadiske nyheter så kunne ikke legene bekrefte at hun døde av viruset. Sant nok hadde de funnet viruset hos kvinnen, men siden kvinnene hadde en fortid med kroniske helseplager, så kunne det ikke bekrefte at H1N1 var årsaken, og i hvertfall ikke ene og alene, fra Globe and Mail "...medical investigators are still trying to figure out how they caught it and whether it caused Ms. L'Hirondelle's death."

Leser man hele artikkelen i Dagbladet, så kan man jo også få inntrykk av at det sålangt er 2 kvinner som har dødd av viruset, men i skrivende stund så er det ingen, men 1 av h1n1 relaterte årsaker. Fra Dagbladet, "En kvinne er død av H1N1-viruset i Canada. Dermed har den nye influensaen tatt liv i tre land.

45 personer er døde av influensaen i landet der H1N1-influensaen brøt ut, Mexico. I tillegg er to døde i USA. Fredag døde også en kvinne i Canadas vestlige provins Alberta, opplyser...."

Kan jo åpne for feil i oversettelsen fra orginal artikkelen journalisten jobbet med, men av en eller annen grun, så har jeg vodt for å tro det.