Cam's Corner of the World

Cat is much better! After a visit to the vet, he's now eating again and acting far more energetic. It looks like he will be all right for now. Thanks for all the well wishes; they were much appreciated. Meanwhile, I've had an exhausting week and have another coming, which is reported might get as cold as -25C here. Oh fun.

I will also be sending out Christmas cards in the coming week, so last chance if you want one.

Here's a charmer: Cheerleader kicked off the squad for refusing to cheer for her rapist. Not in some demonstrably non-cheer way either - she just didn't want to say his name. I don't even know what to say here that wouldn't be filled with a good deal of rage, so yeah.

Here's a penis and Berlusconi: Italian PM under fire for restoring a penis to a ancient Roman statue. But for next year he's suggesting cutting 40% of the fine arts funding in an austerity package - I guess no penis is too austere even for Berlu.

Here's something cool: A planet from another galaxy has been found in the Milky Way. The Milky Way has swallowed several minor galazies in its liferun, and one day it might merge with the Andromeda Galaxy. (Merging galaxies can look something like this and later this. Awesome, no?)

Here's a charmer II: An alleged rape victim in South Africa is charged with having underage sex. What is this I don't even.

Here's naked Norwegian men: Say, is that a fire hoze between your legs? More shirtless men here. They and many more are apparently available in a calender now on sale.

Fics I want time to write, damnit:
- The Ghost of King Past (Uther after death, haunting Camelot and observing the changes that happen).
- Season 3 AU with Morgana not evil, but struggling with her darker nature.
- Five Times Merlin Interrupted Gwen and Arthur (and One Time It Didn't Matter).
- A fic where Gwen saves Uther's arrogant ass and the two are forced to work together.
- Five Good Female Magic Users That Saved Camelot (and Told Off Uther)
- Merlin runs into the Doctor in a tavern; hijinks involving Daleks and dragons ensue.

Now I just gotta figure out which to do first. Right after I figure out where I stored my extra, extra warm clothes last spring. I think I might need them.

I can has new LJ headers! Made by the very lovely distaff_exile. They are a Norway one, a TARDIS one, a FlashForward one and a coming WoW one. But now I gotta figure out a layout or stylesheet to fit them all so I can easily alternate.

We bring you today's Hooooooooooly Overreaction, Fandom Batman!: In which authors of a Stargate AU open up for people to write stories based on the central family - and then literally says 'fuck you' to someone with a darker take on it. And everyone who complimented said dark take ficlet. And also the ficlet is slurring all those serving in the military and vomiting poison and hurting an ideal.

... Yeah. Man, that's a lot of fuck you and rage. Wow. I get being attached to your fanfic and all, but whut. That's just maybe a little bit too fucking far.

Viking paradise, a British reporter calls Norway and goes on to caution against too-simple explanations of why Norway does well, and thus how others (like the UK) can as well.

Then of course everyone tries to explain or explain away Norway in the comments anyway. Especially people who've been here once and thus are experts, of course.

It's actually hard to understand a country, I think. Because a country is its people and people vary and are complicated and contrary. I've been trying to understand Italy of late, and the US before that and Australia when I lived there and I always end up at least a little confused. So Norway is Norwegians and we're a peculiar lot, yes.

But with very nice weather this weekend that was. I even got a bit of colour and now look slightly less like a Scandinavian ghost now as well. And today is 100 years since women got the right to vote in Norway - local and regional elections first, then national ones a few years later. Maybe take a moment to remember that in some countries, women can't even do this most elementary democratic act.

I hope the future will change that.

In other news:

- Portugal has its first gay marriage. Go Portugal.

- Nordic bank Nordea sells shares in BP, citing a lack of transperency over the oil spill. That's actually my bank, heh. Well, well.

- Porn actor falls off cliff following a stand-off with the police. He was accused of attacking colleagues with a samurai sword, which was apparently used as a prop. For porn, I assume. Yeah, I don't know

The volcano erupting in Iceland has closed all air traffic above Norway and we still don't know for how long. (It's affecting the UK too.) Check out the massive bile of ash drifting in over Norway and you'll get why.

Video from the still ongoing eruption. Map of where the ash is heading.

Yeah. Norway's definitely going to stay blanketed by ash through the day, and if the eruption continues, tomorrow too. (Thanks to the wind.) For now the ash is high up, but downpour could cause it to come down with. It will probably be so deluded it won't be hazardous, though.

The trains are getting huge increasing in traffic and can't quite cope with the demand. This on the day we might be a bus strike, too. 120,000 Norwegians are hampered by this, and quite seriously, air ambulances are also grounded. In worst case scenario, this could last weeks.

*eyes volcano very sternly*

I'm feeling vaguely guilty all I seem to write of late come out Olivia/Lloyd from FlashForward, but oh well. *eyes fic-in-progress* Once I get attached to something, there is just no helping me. I even got a meta post on FF in my head, including my thoughts on book versus show, free will versus determinism, the joy of physics and why Jack Davenport is hot. Um, yes.

Seriously need more FF icons, too.

In that vein, Australia showed one episode of FF before the US and not all are too happy about that. Also, some seem to think Australia celebrate Thanksgiving, to which I say 'bwhuh?' Sorry, Americans and Canadians, but the rest of the world doesn't really do Turkey Day, for very, very obvious reasons.

Meanwhile, the ban on minarets passed in Switzerland has gotten both the Swiss and the rest of Europe talking. And some people want to follow the Swiss. I am not digging it. Minarets are no more disturbing than bell towers, so it's not really about that. Oh no. It's about Islam becoming visible in Europe and quite a lot of fear, too. And racism.

The Northern League in Italy wants a similar ban in Italy and also wants to stick a cross on the Italian flag. Because the Scandinavian countries do and as all know, we're like the most hardcore Christian countries out there. Oh, wait...

Seriously, the Northern League is really getting on my effing nerves with their fixation on Scandinavia. They've used Norway's royal family in some family value bullshit and their attempts to point to Nordic people as some sort of yay in their racist shit makes my skin crawl so hard. So lets get this straight: MY COUNTRY IS NOT YOUR PROPAGANDA PIECE. In fact, Scandinavia represets some of your pet hates: Secularism, gay marriage, pro-choice without even a debate on it, relaxed attitudes to sex, and a fairly open definition of family.

No one has proposed banning minarets in Norway yet, but a Progress Party dude suggested banning burkas. (And was promptly told off by members of other parties.) Because dictating what to wear is so bad we should dictate what people can't wear. Right then. (Not that I like regimes that make women wear them by law. I kinda loathe those. But banning certain clothes, how does that make us any better?)

Speaking of Norway, Obama is arriving here next week to get his prize and my peaceful little Norway is turning into a big loud mess and even losing garbage cans. I do not like. I mean, I like Obama on the basis of being not Bush, but Oslo pretty much shut down for two days and armed police all over and all the media bruhaha? I'm tired of it before it's even started.

In other news in Norway, a fake robber who had been hired in a robbery exercise went to the wrong petrol station and held them up. Only when the employers there reacted with real fear did he realise it was the wrong one. In his defence, he was a last minute replacement, but yeah. Maaayabe a situation where you want to double-check that address.

Hey, it's December! How is the month treating you so far?

Managing a new low, some vandals have destroyed the Gingerbread City in Bergen. Over 600 gingerbread houses, decorated by kids yesterday with the city to be put together this week. See, it's a non-profit activity aimed at children and children with developmental disabilities. It's been running for several years. People love it.

Pictures from previous years. You can see some of the destruction here.

That's just so utterly low I have no words. But people are pitching in to rebuild it, so I hope they manage.

Meanwhile, Hollywood, I have two pleas:

1) Please, please, please let British actors you cast either keep their accent (it won't bite, I promise!) or give them a dialect coach or something. Because listening to British actors not quite managing to sound American pains me and listening to them in their original accent would just please me. Rawr.

2) Please, please, please get American actors who are trying to do non-American accents some tutoring OR just have them do it all American and count on some suspension of disbelief. Because this half-half is bloody annoying. Also, throwing "ja?" at the end of a sentence does not make you German-sounding. Really. And The Swedish Chef is not a guide to Scandinavian accents. Really. And no, playing it like a stereotype that walked out of a tourist guide written by someone who has never visited the country does not make up for the actor utterly butchering the language.

... Yeah, I shouldn't get into that rant or I'll be here all day.

Meanwhile, they've cast Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie and oh my. Granted, the comic it's based on isn't exactly staying true to Nordic mythology to begin with, and I guess this kinda reinforces it. Because the Viking gods are generally depicted to be pale in colour, mostly because the Vikings were and we all tend to envision things based on our perspective, you know? The Vikings were no expcetion. So I did blink a bit initially, I must admit. (There's even a Black Viking trope, as I learned.)

But I found myself really warming to the idea and you know why? Because neo-Nazis are going to have a fit. They've always tried to hijack Nordic mythology for their own racist, hateful agenda - just as the Nazis themselves did. To say this displeases me is putting it mildly. That's my cultural inheritance they're twisting and getting associated with their shit.

So I shall sit right back and laugh and laugh and laugh and hey, the dude isn't bad looking either. Win-win!

Drammen and Lier, some pictures from this month of September. Also features shoes, the cat, my fridge, a whole lot of forest and blue sky. Because for once, we've had stunning weather. Figures we get it after the holidays are over, but that's the weathergods' sense of humour for you.


( Image heavy! )

So there you are, that's how it's been looking in my part of the world this last week.

So, Americans are having a healthcare debate. That's very much theirs to have. But the debate didn't stay in the US and when a lot of bullshit start getting thrown around about non-American heathcare, then it's not particulary suprising non-Americans got some opinions too.

Now, I haven't read the suggested American proposal. I am however pretty sure it has some flaws to it, because pretty much everything has. I'm also sure you could oppose it based on such flaws and make reasonable and articulate arguments to such effects.

Which is why bullshit claims like Sarah Palin's 'death panels' of last week, this 'hey, this healthcare reform is just like Nazism, except, you know, UTTERLY FUCKING NOT' stuff and the utterly vile 'Stephen Hawkins would have been killed in the UK' (except, you know, he is British and has lived his life there and is very much still alive!) doubly displease me.

I'm gonna have to echo calapine here: Fuck that kind of bullshit.

It's also doing a massive disservice to people with actual relevant issues with the proposal. And to brand anyone who doesn't agree with it with the same brush as the batshittery mentioned above is massively not good. It makes the whole thing a screaming match that will benefit none. It kills critical thinking and you need critical thinking in a democracy; you don't need a roar no one can hear anything in.

What I do think as an outside observer to the US system is that it needs some sort of change. The sheer number of uninsured and underinsured tells me that in a very calm factual way; the stories I've heard from people I care about in the US have told me so in a very personal one too.

In that vein, liz_marcs is hosting something she calls 'Time For a Little Truth, Baby'. She encourages everyone to detail their experiences with healthcare and for non-Americans, explain a bit about how their government healthcare system works (if they want to).

Americans can tell their stories here.

People from countries with varying degrees of government healthcare can talk about it here. I've explained Norway's system here (over two comments since I hit the word limit). I spent a good hour making sure I got all my facts right. I listed some of our issues as well, to make it as balanced as I could.

Generally, I like Norway's healthcare system. But I don't think it would work for the US. It's a part of a much, much larger public scheme here and it wouldn't translate too well to a much larger country without some serious changes. I also don't think Americans are comfortable with the government in the same way Norwegias are, for various cultural and historical reasons. Norway's system also has flaws and needs critical thinking (mmm, critical thinking) so it can be improved.

So dear Americans, I hope you get a healthcare system that works for you. Maybe how other countries do it can be of some inspiration, maybe your own experiences will lead the way to where you go. I don't know, I've given up predicting the US (I'm too Norwegian to, I think). Either way, I do commend all who think critically about this issue, whatever their stance on Obama's actual proposal is. Heck, I commend anyone who thinks in general. Think! Be informed! Argue your points! Make your choice!

But don't let fear, bullshit, propaganda and sensationalism decide your direction please; it rarely has a good final destination.

And tell people to bring their facts and check their Nazi analogies at the door, yeah? Once you get a swastika into the room, that's pretty much all people see.

Now I must have some breakfast.

Today, this post is going to have quite a bit of fail in it.

Four boys arrested for gang-rape of an eight-year-old girl. Also reported here.

The boys were as young as nine and as old as fourteen, which isn't old at all. They're all from Liberia, which has been ripped to shreds by civil wars. What those boys might remember from there, I cannot know - but it was a war with a horrifying number of sexual assaults and kid soldiers fighting too. And then the real kicker - the parents of the girl disowned her. Because they blamed her for being victimized and bringing shame to the family. More on that here.

You know how sometimes a story is just depressing on all levels? That one is. I will not excuse those boys, but rape wasn't even illegal in Liberia until 2006. I have to wonder what they've been raised to think.

We have so far to go still on sexual assault.

So, NBC's new The Wanted show, which attempts to track down (alleged) terrorists and war criminals, took its first episode to Norway. They were there for this guy: Mullah Krekar. I watched this show (it aired in Norway as well, due to special interest) and I was not impressed at all.

( Much ado about Mullah Krekar, Norway's issues and why I will defend still having an alleged terrorist here )

I do note this show got some less than stellar reviews. And I shall have to agree with this one in this:

Can you believe the arrogance of a cooked-up, American, prime-time news-entertainment show telling a government like Norway how it should behave?

I can believe it, but I am seriously not impressed by it.

I'm also not impressed by EA, due to this. Who thought that was even remotely a good idea? Women get bloody well objectified enough as it is.

I think I have to post cat pictures or something tomorrow to make up for all this. Ugh. For now, I shall watch me some Star Trek.

Yes, it's Norway's National Day - with stunning sunlight across most of the country as the children's parades go on. This is what it looks like in Oslo, along the main street.

Meanwhile, my cat is snoozing and enjoying himself, while I've put out flags to celebrate.

Gratulerer med dagen!

This shit makes me so fucking depressed.

Swine flu, now being used to fuel and justify xenophobia and racism. Of course, this is nothing new, but it's as repulsive as ever. Not only has Mexico had to suffer the worst of this virus so far, now it gets blamed for it and its people as well. Blame the victim, always so classy.

FUCK THAT SHIT. To a flu virus, we're all equally human. Do you really wanna be lower than a flu virus, you hateful bastards?

Last night I watched Trouble the Water and that too depressed me proper. It's a great movie, and very powerful, but oi.

In Holland, the driver that killed six people driving through the crowd in an apparent attempt to get at the Royal family has died. The footage is quite startling and horrifying. Police is still investigating to attempt to find his motive. Not sure they'll find one that satisfies much, because how do you explain something like that?

Meanwhile in Norway it's May 1st, and it's a particularly lovely one. So I went out and snapped some shots.

( Pictures, pictures... Bonus cat, of course. )