E: 25 words of wisdom

I am a quarter of a century old. The border mark was reached Friday. Rather than celebrating, I worked on my thesis and went to training as usual. But the amount of contact made in regards to my birthday was more than abnormal. During April 27th, including a few hours before and after, I received no less than 36 SMSes, 3 MMSes, 7 phone calls, 4 E-mails, 4 posted cards or parcels (hooray for snail mail!!), and 45 Facebook messages. In addition there were a number of in-person greetings. I kept track and share this not to brag or to seek attention, but rather show appreciation and deliver a huge THANK YOU greeting to all those who care about me. I also use this as an excuse to why I have not replied everyone in person. I did not flag my birthday (although Facebook did for those logged on there). Thus, this large amount of contact was unexpected, and totally made my day.

Turning 25 is a mathematical start of a new epoch. Birthdays are times to contemplate on life and past experiences. As finishing my thesis occupies most of my time, I do not have too much sit-down-and-think-things-over time, nor do I have time to write it. I would like though, to list 25 points of insight, mottos and valuable guidelines I have gained through my relatively short lifetime. I like lists. The order and content is fairly random and only contains what comes to mind after sitting down writing this entry. There are many other, possibly more important, things I have learned, but cannot recall right now. Likewise, there are also more specific, everyday realizations from which readers may benefit more. But these must be stored for another occasion.

1. I am a grown-up. Someone asked if I had become an adult yet. My reply was the following (translated into Enligsh). To physically grow, happens automatically. Aging to the legal age is simple chronology. To grow up is independent of birthdays. My definition is that you leave youth when you have the ability to be responsible and childlike (unlike childish) – which I think I am.
2. Anything can be interesting, if you put your mind to it. Leonardo da Vinci is the source of inspiration for my creativity.
3.Training gives energy. Exercise requires input, but puts your capacity above your starting point, after restitution. This has made me persist with training throughout my life. By the way: You can never do too much precautionary training. Being injured sucks.
4. The apple does not fall far from the tree, the saying goes. This is used to explain the parent-child relationship where the offspring generally has heaps of similarities to its “producer”. I am much like my parents, and am happy to be so.
5. To find the love of one’s life, (sadly) requires more than to find, love and wish to be with the right girl. Intellect and will cannot overpower inner convictions and drives. But there is no absolutes here, never say never etc. Nobody’s perfect, but there are more than one out there who can be perfect for you.

6. Love is ultimately a decision to step out of yourself and put someone else first.
7. Life will never run out of new impressions.
8. Education provides competence in humility – to understand better all the things one does not know.
9. Boost your mood with gratitude (Takk deg glad). This was my high school senior motto, which implies that there are so many things to be thankful for, which should be sufficient to appreciate existence.
10. To read is more work than reading, but is also more stimuating.

11. Humans are social beings with need of family and friends to function well. It is better with few close friends than heaps of acquainted ones. One can live a complete life without completing everything.
12. Choose your battles.
13. I constantly change and am never exactly who I was. Although I constantly change, there is still a set of features, physical, psychological and spiritual which make me unique and recognizable.
14. Traveling is never a waste of money or time, and always a valuable experience, even though you had a rough time.
15. Do not speak when words are not enough to express what you want to say.

16. One picture can be equivalent to a thousand words, but also a life long source for inspiration, thoughts and memories.
17. World is what you want it to be. My high school motto in Las Vegas (during my exchange student year in the USA 2000-2001).
18. To care about someone is not equal to always be kind.
19. One will never see the full range of one’s potential. Certain things about yourself you will only learn when faced with the right (but not necessarily good) difficulties, challenges, opportunities, questions, people or situations.
20. Friendships is a matter of revealing a connection, rather than creating it. Read about my theory here.

21. Meanings of life A: To be saved and share the gospel with as many others as possible.
22. Meanings of life B: To build a family and take care of it.
23. Meanings of life C: Not to be well known and have other see you living, but be seen as someone living for others by those who know you well.
24. Future: I do not know with what the future will be filled, but know what I want to fill me in the future. Jesus:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philipians 1:21)

25. Truth: Christianity has the answer. The Bible is God’s word describing how he made the Earth and created us out of love. Why else would anyone let one’s only son be crucified?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (Joh 3:16).

Nordnorske setninger, del 3 - med fasit

Ættersom dettan e tredje utgave av nordnorske setninger, tellate eg meg å presantere dagens ti utfordringe’ på dialækt. De siste par dagan har dæ røska i språkrøttern mæ så mykje konsentrasjon ruindt akademisk bokmål i masteroppgaven.

1. Eg fikk sånn sting at eg måtte gå og haille meg litt.
2. Dæ e så mykje pjæsk må å få seg tups.
3. Eg ska nok få prekkivert oppgaven, ellers bli dæ kela.
4. Dæ e søkkanes gjæft å være jøger.
5. At dæ va nyss førr guttan tapte, blei dæm vældi førrspælt.
6. Må du ainse skoltn din når du bøye deg.
7. Det jo ikkje nokka vits å bæse førr at skjorta di e korvat.
8. Dæ e bærre tøvsjure og næpskreill som jogge på glåholka.
9. Søringa trur vi har sommar så snart vi bærre gryinne tell knean.
10. Eg trur pinade eg ska lage fleire sånne sætninge, om du slutte å surske.


FASIT (02.05.07)

1. Jeg fikk slik et hold i siden at jeg måtte legge meg nedpå litt.
2. Det er mye styr med å fikse seg dame (les; kjæreste, hunkjønn).
3. Jeg skal nok få unnagjort oppgaven, ellers vorder problemer.
4. Det er svært flott å være i en euforisk sinnstemning.
5. At det lå an til at guttene skulle tape, gjorde dem veldig overrasket.
6. Pass på hodet ditt når du bøyer deg.
7. Det er ikke noe poeng i å ta til tårene bare fordi skjorten din er noe krøllete.
8. Kun dumme jenter og gutter jogger når det er is på veiene.
9. Folk fra Sør-Norge tror vi har sommer så snart snøen kun når oss til knærne.
10. Jeg tror faktisk jeg akter å lage flere setninger som dette, om du lar være å syte.

X: Everyday insight/Hverdagsinnsyn

You know you are fully concentrated when you bring a print out of the last chapter of your thesis to the canteen rather than your lunch. May 10 is hand in deadline. May 7 I must turn in the pages to print. May 3 I will meet my supervisor for the last time (as supervisor). April 29 my supervisor will read my final draft. April 28 I will proof read someone else’s thesis, and him mine. April 27 I will complete my final draft. It became April 26 three hours ago. I am motived though, and enjoy working with this.

You know life is hectic when you realize that the only time you have ”relaxed” the last couple days are the minutes lying on the changing room floor while a team mate applies tape to your back before practice (to avoid pain/injury). Life is busy, but interesting. I have a tad too much to do than what wise is, but I do not complain.

You know you are not over a relationship when the first things you see, when looking at a world map, is that your and the other person’s country is colored the same way (purple). Darsh and I are not all great on either end, but are in touch.

You know you share bathroom with four girls when you owe one bottle of liquid soap, and there are a total of 27 containers cornered in the shower. I had a count when cleaning the bathroom in the second floor of my complex house in which I live. A greater challenge than bottle excess is the fact that I will be leaving this place in not too long as I will not be a student anymore (most likely) and may buy an apartment soonish (most likely). It is a great bunch of people with whom I share mailbox, living space, silverware, prayers, thoughts and lives with.

English version from April 26.

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Du vet du er helkonsentrert når du tar med deg utskrift av siste kapittel av oppgaven i stedet for matboksen til kantina. 10. mai er endelig frist for oppgaven. 7. mai må jeg levere sidene til trykkeriet. 3. mai møter jeg veilederen for siste veiledning. 29. april begynner veilederen å se på mitt sisteutkast. 28. april skal jeg korrekturlese en annens masteroppgave, og han min. Deretter sendes sisteutkast. 27. april skal jeg fullføre mitt sisteutkast. Det er to dager til. Livet er hektisk, men interessant. Jeg er motivert og trives med studiene - dette siste studiesemesteret (på en stund i alle fall).

Du vet at du ikke er ferdig med noen når det første man ser på et verdenskart er at ditt og personens land er farget i samme farge. Det er vel ingen overraskelse at vi snakker om at både Norge og Malaysia var lilla. Vi har det ikke bare lett, hver på vår ende (hun er fortsatt i Australia), men holder kontakten.

Du vet at du deler bad med fire jenter når du har en dobbeldusj, og det står 27 flasker og beholdere ved dusjen. Badet i andre etasje i huset jeg bor i, talte jeg da vi hadde vårrengjøring. Mer utfordrende er det å tenke på at jeg snart skal flytte ut fra kollektivet – igjen. Å finne nytt bopel kan være spennende, men det er en flott gjeng jeg deler adresse, boareal, mat, bønner, tanker og tid med.

E: Will you pay to use MSN?

Every so often there chain e-mails circulating of Internet services shutting down, free telephones given or bad luck received – unless you forward the e-mail. Wednesday I thought I had yet another.

I did, but not quite.

The e-mail told me to pass on the message to at least 18 people to avoid shutting my MSN account. The argument was a lack of new user names. This is false. Secondly, there are many ways people can trace your moves on the net, but this system and arrangement is not something MSN would care to or afford to pursue. Nor do I think it is legal.

The e-mail had an URL, which most these ones do, normally not referring to what they state. This one however is authentically referring to a BBC story about that MSN is to charge a user fee.

The reason is lack of revnues and ads income. Thus, MSN will charge up to GBP 60 (USD 120, NOK 716) a year for NEW, improved services like better spam filters. But the story also clearly states:

Microsoft stresses that the site's core facilities including Hotmail will remain free.

Some people say nothing is free. To access the Internet you need computer equipment and a tele-company to provided the connection. But even though there is a growing number of paid services online, I still cannot foresee the day where e-mail and instant messaging cannot be done through free providers.

So do not worry about keeping your Hotmail account, for now anyway. And whatever you do if you do happen to get one of these warning chain e-mails, do NOT forward it to me.

BTW: Salvation will always be free. That I will forward to anyone intersted. And any one interested can forward questions my way.

X: Summer job & study application/sommersikret

After an interview Thursday, I received the awaited e-mail for a summer job in the newspaper Vårt Land. The Norwegian paper is far from the largest, but covers the entire country, and is produced from a Christian platform. Most exciting is the fact that I will be working on the desk. This means doing the layout and potentially edit the incoming journalistic products, primarily in terms of titles and introductions. This type of work was something I truly enjoyed during journalism college, and look forward to get back at it.

This job also buys me some more time to find out what to do next semester. I now have longer time to find a place to live and/or buy, search for a full-time job and decide where I will be. Oslo is by far the most likely destination, but only God knows for sure.

As a back-up plan I also applied online for various study options just in case. My eight point list has a big variety, where all but physiotherapy (three year degree) is only one year in duration. All are in Norway and all but the last three in Oslo.
My list in preferred order: development, psychology, inter-cultural communication, sport science, physiotherapy, medicine, pedagogy and sign language.

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Tirsdag kom gladmailen om at jeg er tatt inn i sommervarmen i Vårt Land for fem uker. Torsdag var jeg på intervju i avisa jeg hadde praksis i under journalistutdanninga. Mest spennende er at stillinga er som desker, det vil si den personen som tegner/gjør layouten og foredler teksten. Med andre ord skal jeg redigere og presentere de produktene journalistene kommer med, der titler, ingress og billedbruk er essensielt. Denne formen for arbeid var noe av det jeg likte aller best på journalistutdanningen, men på grunn av det lave prioritering, fikk jeg ikke rendyrket lidenskapen – før nå i sommer.

Angående høsten, er det fortsatt et relativt stort spørsmålstegn, både angående aktivitet, bolig og geografisk plassering. Mine foreløpige, løse svar er jobb, kjøpt toroms leilighet og Oslo.

Bare for å ha gjort det, klikket jeg likevel frem en liste på samordnet opptak før fristen 15. april med åtte ganske forskjellige studieretninger. Alt bortsett fra fysioterapi, er ettårig. De fem øverste er basert i Oslo. Sannsynligheten for at jeg studerer til høsten er ikke den største, men om jeg ikke har en (ordentlig) jobb, er det selvsagt en mulighet. Og jeg er interessert nok til å studere alle studiene på lista.

MINE STUDIEØNSKER FOR HØSTEN 2007

1. Utviklingsstudier (HiO)
2. Psykologi (UiO)
3. Tverrkulturell kommunikasjon (MF)
4. Idrettsvitenskap (NIH)
5. Fysioterapeututdanning (3 år) (HiO)
6. Medisinske fag (UiT)
7. Pedagogikk (HVE)
8. Tegnspråk for hørende (HiST)

X: Missing links 3/Lenkesurfing 3

Today's online helpkit contains language tools. The picture is taken from Laurelwood Books.

Freetranslation.com has a list of translating opportunities if you know English; French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Chinese and even Norwegian. The other way around do not have all that many options though. Here you can paste longere texts as well. Do not consider this a safeway to write to other people in various languages as there are a bit of mistakes here and there. But much of the time I am really impressed of the quality of the free option (you can purchase human translating too).

Tritrans has English-Spanish-Norwegian, but only word by word.

Ultralingua has thesaurus and definitions for English and French, and a list of translating combinations between English, French, Spanish, Esperanto, German, Portuguese and even Latin. Yourdictionary.com is also good as thesaurus, while dictionary.com or my favorite Merriam-Webster are the better free dictionaries.

There are tons of guides and helpful sites to help your writing, grammar and creativy. Check out these examples for misused expressions, essay writing or 50 quick writing tools from the journalist site Poynter online.

If you want poetry with rhymes, try Rhyme zone or simply Rhymer.

If you look for slang, there is a Norwegian portal with various slang, including American, British, Irish, Australian and Norwegian of course.

The top of the iceberg is hereby presented.

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Språkverktøy på nett er det mange av. Ettersom de fleste er på engelsk og for å spare litt tid, referer jeg også til teksten ovenfor.

Av norske kilder jeg har lagt meg på minne er ordboka en selvfølge i usikre skrivetider. Og for rettskriving er korrekturavdelingen en klassiker.

Men det finnes mange flere ordbøker der ute. Nordisk skolenett har en skandinavisk ordbok i fall du står fast med svenske og danske ord, og TriTrans har en norsk-engelsk-spansk og utgave. Disse ordbøkene mangler en del oppslagsord, men kan svare for veldig mye.

For slang, har Språkservice en eksepsjonell portal, ikke bare for norsk. Og for de som ikke har vært på Odalizeren til Øyvind Borgenholt er dette et must. Med fikse skript har han laget ”oversettere” av hvilken som helst nettside, også din egen, til enten odøling, trøndersk eller barnespråk. Trykk her for å lese Mastermind på trøndersk. Engelsken blir selvsagt ikke like strålende, men ellers er det nokså morsomt.

En annen liten morsomhet på siden er en samleside for ordtak og sitater med egen seksjon for dumheter uttalt i offentligheten.

E: Do I look like Matt LeBlanc and Penelope Cruz?

The picture below is a celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. According to their matching machinery, my current blog profile picture looks like the following five famous people: Jason Newsted, Shahrukh Khan, Penelope Cruz, Jon Bon Jovi and Matt LeBlanc, among others



I only know for sure who Cruz (actress), Bon Jovi (artist) and LeBlanc (actor) are from before. I found out that Newsted is a bass guitarist, formerly a member of Metallica. And Sharhuk Khan is a hot shot Bollywood actor, who I recognized when put into context.

I have not and doubt I will be mistaken for any of the five :)

Hverdagsspekulasjoner 3

Kampfiks
I går trykte Dagbladet et innlegg jeg skrev på :Sterke Meninger for en god stund siden.

Etter å ha sett EM-kvaliken mot Bosnia-Hercegovina i slutten av mars mistenker jeg flere enn bortelagets landslagsledelse for å være korrupte. Én ting er at de norske spillerne ikke klarer å omsette noen av dusinet med målsjanser. Et litt mer grelt eksempel er at keeperen lett ville tatt Carews straffe om han bare hadde blitt stående midt i målet. Men det mest opplagte tegnet på kampfiksing var å sette knøttene Hæstad og Strømstad i muren på frisparket som ga 0-1. Det er som å gi en langrennsløper en brukket stav; den har ingen effekt.


Skiva fikk jeg for flere uker siden, og var god den.


Forkastelig studentliv
Det er greit at man skal ha fritid i løpet av studietida. Å motivere seg kan være vanskelig og det er mange aktiviteter som pirrer nysgjerrigheten. Men å melde seg opp til fag uten å møte opp eller legge ned noe arbeid er uhørt. Da bør man heller la være. Ille er det å gjøre det bare for frynsegodene. Verre er det for at man tar opp studieplasser til studenter klar til å gjøre en innsats. Aller verst er dog mangelen på respekt for den unike, gratis muligheten vi i Norge har til utdanning. Dette er et privilegium mange land bare kan drømme om, og mange ikke en gang kan forestille seg eller tør håpe på.

VG skrev i oktober om at på Universitetet i Oslo, hvor jeg er immatrikulert, gjelder nullytelsen en fem fulltidsstudenter på bachelornivå. Jeg kan forsikre dere om at jeg ikke er en av disse, og i nåværende periode jobber jeg for to.


Kristne skoler vinner
Kristne friskoler og idrettskoler gir de beste resultatene i klassen blant samtlige norske ungdoms- og videregående skoler.

Dagsavisen var først ute i den nasjonale pressen med resultatene fra tidenes største sammenligning av elevresultater, utført på NTNU.

Jeg mener Jesus var tidenes beste lærer, og Bibelen den ultimate lærebok, men vil ikke påstå undersøkelsen skyldes åndelig påvirkning (ene og alene). Lærerstaben, ressursene, oppføling fra foreldre, og med mindre andel elever fra oppløste familier tror jeg har mest å si for topplasseringen.

Jeg liker at saken ikke prøver å henge skolene ut på grunn av funnet, presentert i november.

E: Quality hotel

Every now and then there is time for self-examination. Reoccurring issues for me are time consumption and ways with social relations.

I lead a life of great efficiency jammed with various activities, responsibilities, interests and people. I enjoy being involved all over all the time. I never have time to be bored, and I get to experience a whole range of things. However, there are more than one backside to this kind of lifestyle – some of which I have encountered already. All of them are interlinked.

Time
a) Time shortage. If your schedule is too crammed up, you are extremely vulnerable for unexpected happenings, sickness, delays or other problems. One thing is filling your time. But what to do when you have activities worth more hours than a week actually contains?
b) Inflexibility. The more tied up you are, the less spontaneous you can be. Sometimes there are surprises and short-term options you have to turn down, other times there are crisis or issues. Chances of a break down may be unavoidable.
c) Lack of presence. A feature I have possessed is to lose a bit of touch with present, while there is always something to do or someone to meet in the future hour or two. In this way you are ripped for enjoying the moment and relaxing. It should be unnecessary having to break off from something way cool just because there are other (possibly less appealing) appointments lined up.
d) Lack of insight and right value. Linked to the previous point; with less time to relax and think, it can be harder to figure out how one is and why. Moreover one’s life should be valued for who one is, not what one does. This can be tough if there is action around the clock.
e) Bad consciousness. For all the things one has to turn down, leave or miss, negative feelings can arise.


Relations
f) Too many friends in circulation. There is only a limited number of people one can keep in touch with on a close basis. If one wishes to depend on and be depended on, sufficient time and depth are required. With a great number of contacts, the contact hours needed grow proportionally. Point a)-e) may apply.
g) People must live according to your premises. This is what made the alarm go off this time. I can beat myself up for trying over-pack bag of existence. But when I notice that friends struggle to cope with my time slot schedule, which has been a fact, I am reminded that no man is an island. The last thing I want is to produce bad from the relationships that are created and kept for good.
h) Sending/giving the wrong signals. Combined with point f ) is the message that the loaded life spreads. No matter what I say, feel or mean, what people hear is that I do not have time for them or anything else. This can reduce the willingness to make contact and thus weaken our friendship connection. What I found equally bad, maybe even worse, is if this means that people are not approaching me if they have problems they need to share or with which to get help and do NOT ask me because they think I will be occupied.

My ideas for solutions
1. Pray. This is not a joke, as I believe God is almighty and in control. Then there is time to act.
2. Apologize. Sorry to all you who know me and feel put down by my ways, even if there has never been my intention.
3. Say no. This is a lifelong lesson to learn, at least for people like me too willingly letting go of positive replies to requests. More is not necessarily better, sometimes worse.
4. Focus. I am only one person who cannot do everything. To accept this and commit to less may ease my everyday and make it more pleasant. I must stress that I enjoy life and what I am doing. Sometimes though, there are too many enjoyable things.
5. Quality hotel. Unlike the Facebook mania where the goal seems to be gathering as many “friends” as possible, I think the key is to possess a fairly reduced number of individuals more frequent, serious and comfortably. My best friend, Thor Oskar (who turns 25 tomorrow), used an analogy of the quantity and quality hotel to describe in what kind of “buildings” our lives can be in terms of friendship masses and importance. We both know “the quality inn” has more stars.

Hopefully I can practice what I preach on this one.

X: Easter thesis/Påskeskole

I recently read a blog entry from a Norwegian bishop igniting the thought of how the world had been if Jesus was not crucified.

To be frank, I have spent more time thinking about what would happen if I took a Easter break and did not study full fill time every day from Thursday, after returning from my trip to Italy and San Marino, and Tønsberg (city in Norway where my best friend is from). My Easter days have been spent at my faculty, with the exception of Easter Sunday at a church service.

What these two lines of thought have in common is that I am not too concerned about what could have happened for neither one. In the same way I have laid down some time to complete my thesis before deadline, I believe Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross was a divinely timed action to save believers on time.

My presence in the study hall can be acknowledged from checking the log on who has been swapping the access cards at the institute buildings recently, in spite precious few eyewitnesses. Jesus’ death is also funded on a historical event, with more witnesses and accounts than my past few days, and based on no abstract belief out of the blue. The resurrection and Jesus walking about until the ascended into heaven (the Ascension) also have numerous documented encounters. And this in a time where the Roman empire had complete control of the media and whatever was released in the public sphere, orally or in writing. The Romans could easily have stopped or falsified the risen news by displaying the body or explained how hundreds of people were hallucinating simultaneously. They did try to seal and guard the tomb to stop the rumors of someone returning from the dead, but “fell asleep” on duty (which meant death penalty in those days).

None of the hindrances were complete then, and have scientifically been done until this very day. As the phenomenon cannot be explained without taking supernatural powers into account, something that a creator of the world possesses, there will always be someone not willing to accept the core happening in Christianity.

In the first letter to the Corintians (chapter 15, verse 14), Paul writes:

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

Wishing you a happy Easter which you can remember for the good things that did occur, not the bad things taht could have happened.

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Jeg leste et interessant innlegg fra biskop Sigurd Osbergs blogg kalt ”kontrafaktisk påske”. Dette er en diskusjon om hvordan verden hadde vært om Jesus ikke hadde blitt korsfestet.

For å være ærlig har jeg tenkt like mye i det siste på hva som hadde skjedd om jeg hadde tatt påskeferie og ikke brukt hver dag etter at jeg kom tilbake fra Italia, San Marino (torsdag til tirsdg) og Tønsberg (tirsdag til onsdag) til å jobbe med masteroppgaven. Mine påskedager har blitt tilbrakt på universitetet, med unntak av påskemorgen på gudstjeneste i Filadelfia.

Felles for disse to kontrafaktiske tankerekkene for meg er at alternativene til hva som kunne ha skjedd ikke så viktig. På samme måte som jeg vet at jeg har lagt ned en betydelig innsats for å fullføre oppgaven i tide, tror jeg at Jesu offerhandling på korset var guddommelig timet til å redde hver den som tror i tidsnok. Gjort er gjort, punktum.

Min tilstedeværelse på lesesalen kan spores med bruk av mitt IP nummer på macen og bruk av adgangskort i dørene. Selv om jeg har få øyenvitner, vil det ikke bli for vanskelig å redegjøre for mitt alibi. Jesu død bygger på en historisk hendelse og ingen abstrakt tro ut i lufta. Oppstandelsen og Jesu virke frem til himmelfarten har også en drøss med dokumenterte vitner og nedskrevne levninger. Og dette i en tid der Romerriket dominerte og hadde full kontroll over det som slapp ut i det offentlige rom, muntlig eller skriftlig, og kunne lett motbevist eller forhindret spredningen av nyheten ved å vise frem et lik eller forklart hvordan flere hundre personer hadde den samme ”hallusinasjonen” samtidig. De forsøkte å sette segl og vakter foran graven for å unngå påstandene om at Jesus ville gjenoppstå, men ”sovnet på vakt” (som betydde dødsstraff i de dager). Ingen av disse delen ble gjort, og er heller ikke motbevist vitenskapelig like til denne dag. Ettersom fenomenet ikke kan forklares uten å ta hensyn til overnaturlige krefter, noe Gud er og har, vil det alltid være noen som ikke kan gå med på kristendommens viktigste hendelse.

Paulus første brev til korinterne 15:14 (1987-oversettelsen):

Men er Kristus ikke stått opp, da er vårt budskap intet, og deres tro er meningsløs.

Med ønske om en god påske der du vil huske tilbake på de gode opplevelsene, og ikke de fæle som kunne ha funnet sted.

E: On(line) my face

A few weeks ago I had never heard of Facebook.com. The site features ”a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.” In other words; a huge online database of people who know each other. This is a home page supplement for those without a blog, and a great way to catch or keep up with people near and afar.

Normally I am pretty updated with movements and trends online, but this time it took over 112,000 members before I was one of them. In Norway the connection finder has not been that known or popular until very recently. After signing a little more than a week ago, my profile is already linked with 62 people from around the world, and the number is rising.

I have not explored all the opportunities and possibilities with this free service. Nor have I tried to search for every single person I may have had something to do with once upon a time. Although I joined because I found the offer interesting, there can be some downsides with this kind of service. First of all it may take heaps of time, either searching, updating or replying everyone. Secondly, as the number of people grows, it is one big puzzle to keep track of everyone if you use this to keep in touch. Third, adding friends will for many become a sport or competition to see who has the most, and destroy the whole purpose of linking one’s close contacts and join the groups which one affiliates. Fourth, for people with fewer friends it may be a way of meeting people, but could also be a new way of being exposed for a limited circle of friends (few good ones are better than many loose ones, but you know what I mean). This disadvantages aside, Facebook.com is seemingly a fast, convenient and appealing without delays and spam (so far).

I will stick to updating this blog as a primary data sender source, but probably still poke my face in the online book every so often to check on people I know. So if you are a friend of mine on Facebook, do add me now or when/if you decide to join (take the tour). If you want to keep in touch though, I recommend calling, writing, e-mailing or checking on this blog before using the site to message me. Absolutely best is if you wanna hang out or visit me – in real life.

E: 10000 @ mastermind!

Since my master degree commenced in August of 2005, I have been sharing my thoughts, experiences, ideas and pictures on this blog. From relatively early on, I added a counter service to have a look at how many net users who visited my page, and where they were from.

Yesterday at 1:10 PM the number of visitors exceeded 10,000. I celebrate with writing a little entry on it. Unlike many other counters, sitemeter.com only summerizes one hit per computer (possibly per day), rather than keep adding on the number every time the page is refreshed/reloaded. This does not mean that there have been 10,000 different peoeple reading, but rather a reduced number who have kept coming back. That people care to return is far more important to me, than how many there are.

Knowing that, I am content with and have been motivated by a relatively steady flow of an average between 15 and 20 visitors per day. That I find suprisingly many for a personal blog – which does not have any special conflict, unique writing location, known author or a spot for heavy controversies and rough opinions. I believe content and regular updates are keys to have anyone interest, and not so much fancy graphics or superlong stories.

That the there is a low number of page views, the number of different pages a visior enters, is logical. Most of my content is textual, and all the recent stories is gathered on the front page for conenience.

Before I go on to describe some statistics of my visitors, I want to thank you all for caring to come by and check on me online. I started a blog much to avoid people having to receive my constant need of writing in their e-mail inboxes, and rather pursue content when/if they please. There are obviously many I know not using my blog, but there are enough for me to see the point in making my written rambeling public.

Some statistics from Mastermind’s soon to be two year history (data from end of March):

4 out of 5 users share my time zone. Though I know there are some from South Africa, Germany and other parts of the axis, most are definetely Norwegians.

Based on proximity, the greatest amount comes from within 1000 kilometers.

Country-wise, Norway holds 70 percent of the visits, the US 7, Australia 6 and Malaysia, Germany and ”unknown country 3 percent. Europe has 78 percent of the visitors.

As for operating system, 87 percent are Windows users, 12 percent originates from Mac platforms, while linux has only one.

In terms of browsers used, Internet Explorer dominates with 73 percent, followed by Firefox with 23, Safari with 3 and Opera with 1.

Another cool feature, is looking at recent visitors placed on a world map.

X: Grazie Italia & San Marino!

Times spins away when enjoying traveling. Tuesday was the sixth and last date with a physical presence in Italy on this first journey to the boot country – and probably not the last.

With greater urge to experience than need to relax, the amount of impulses are heaps greater than number of hours actually spent sleeping and resting during the tour. My temporary impression of Italians in Italy (I know a fair bit from before) showed me a friendly people with stark opinions, dark hair, fair skin, access to a scooter (type of moped) and arm-swinging gestures. The foreign language skills (English, German, Norwegian and even Spanish) appeared limited, but I believe they are better than most people are willing to admit (or try). On the other hand, those who did understand rarely answered “I do not know”, even when they didn’t – for instance in terms of giving directions.

What surprised me was how few of the cinema movies that were run in the original language (other than those produced in Italian), how quickly a pizza can be made (often when you watch) and still taste so good, how seriously the siesta is practiced, and how cheap and good the public (train) transportation is – especially compared to the fairly expensive living costs (at hostels/hotels).

Much of our voyage took place underneath dense and sometimes watery clouds, which reduced both temperature in the air and quality of the pictures. But it did not prevent my travel companion Kjetil and I from enjoying the trip to the full. We have experienced five Italian cities and the stamp-sized country of San Marino within five days, gotten to know each other better, and perceived those rows of smaller and bigger episodes that only occur while underway.

Our suggested travel route was almost kept as planned. Pisa’s leaning tower is really uneven, Florence is loaded with stunning art and architecture, Vinci has sources of genious inspiration, Rimini has kilometers with sandy beaches, San Marino is a medieval attraction spot, and Venice is a one of the few places I have ever visited which can be called unique (120 small islands connected by about 400 bridges over nearly 150 rivers and canals).

See a few selected pictures as a visual supplement to my ramblings.

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Tida farer avsted når man nyter reisen. Tirsdag var den sjette og siste datoen med fysisk tilstedeværelse i Italia på denne første reisen til støvlelandet – neppe den siste.

Med større trang til å oppleve enn til å slappe av, er mengden impulser uttalige ganger større enn antall timer brukt til å sove eller sitte stille i løpet av turen. Mitt foreløpige inntrykk av italienere i Italia (jeg kjenner flere fra tidligere) viste meg et vennlig folk med klare meninger, mørkt hår og armsvingende gester. Fremmedspråkkunnskapene (engelsk, samt tysk, norsk og selv spansk) er begrenset, men ofte bedre enn hva de selv vil innrømme, som ofte gir avslag eller ett ”non capisco” (”jeg forstår ikke”) på forespørsler. På den andre siden var det svært få av de som svarte som ikke visste å svare – selv om de ikke visste, for eksempel retning eller rutetider.

Overraskende var også hvor mange skutere (mopeder) som finnes i gatene, hvor få av kinofilmene som er på originalspråket (annet enn de italienskproduserte), hvor fort pizza kan lages og likevel smake fremragende, hvor billig og bra kollektivtransporten er – særlig sammenlignet med de dyre bokostnadene, og hvor seriøst siestaen opprettholdes midt på dagen. Jeg er sikker på at noen av de næringsdrivende må kjede seg i løpet av den ventetiden.

Mye av turen forløp under tette og delvis våte skyer, som holdt temperaturen og billedkvaliteten nede. Men det forhindret oss ikke i å nyte hver en dråpe av opplevelsen. Kjetil og jeg har blitt bedre kjent, og fått med oss en rekke attraksjoner, og ikke minst opplevd de små og større episodene som blir til mens man reiser.

Den planlagte reiseruta ble fulgt nokså slavisk, som ga oss ett innblikk i fem italienske byer og frimerkenasjonen San Marino på drøyt fem døgn. Se et utvalg bilder, som et visuelt supplement til den korte gjennomgangen av de faktiske destinasjonene.

Pisa har virkelig ”skeivet ut”. Ironisk nok har en konstruksjonsmiss under bygningen av et tårn på 11-tallet gjort byen berømt. Å bestige Torre Pendente di Pisa (det skjeve tårn i Pisa) og ta den tilhørende katedralen og baptisteriet nærmere i øyensyn er alt man strengt tatt må få med seg her, men er verdt turen.

Firenze er et av verdens høydepunkter for samling av legendarisk kunst, kultur og arkitektur. Med kort tid å avse kan det gå inflasjon i mesterverk, men man kan ikke dra hit uten å få med seg noen av de 42 rommene med over 1555 mesterverker i galleriet Uffizi. Michelangelo, Raphael og da Vinci er eksempler på kunstnernavn representert de fleste kan komme på i spørrespill.

Sistnevnte har gjort hjembygda si Vinci berømt. For undertegnede har universalgeniet Leonardo da Vinci vært en jordlig helt siden ungdomsskolen, og det var med stor fryd jeg spratt opp trappene til museet og senere enda mer andektig entret huset han ble født i.

Rimini skulle kun være en mellomstasjon, men siestaens konsekvenser forsinket turen til San Marino fra lørdag til palmesøndag. Å leie en firehjulet dobbel tråsykkel var en gøyal måte å få med seg de historiske monumentene her. Et fåtall av kilometerne med strandlinje ble jogget på i kveldsmørket, før vi til slutt tok forfriskende dukkert i Adriaterhavet.

En presset tidsplan levnet oss med tre timer i San Marino. Det av interesse ligger innenfor de middelaldrende bymurene, og her hadde vi nok tid til å tråkke landet gatelangs og -tvers før returen til Rimini. Av suverene stater, er San Marino det femte minste i areal og folketall i verden, i Europa bare slått av Vatikanstaten og Monaco.

I framtida vil jeg være forsiktig med å bruke ”unik” til å beskrive geografiske momenter. Etter å ha vært i Venezia, ser jeg at det er få andre byer som skiller seg like mye ut som denne. Folkene ser likedan ut og maten smaker den samme, men historien bak og måten byen har blitt konstruert er helt spesielt. Over 120 små øyer bygd på mudderbanker knyttes sammen av rundt 400 bruer over nærmere 150 elver og kanaler full av båter og gondoler. Vannet er ikke det reneste, men det våte element gjør den bilfrie lokasjonen til noe av det vakreste og stiligste jeg har sett av bykjerner.

Bildene.

X: R.I.P./Hvil i fred, Kristell

My former classmate from junior high, Kristell, went missing a couple of months ago. Today came the message for which I was not hoping; Kristell does not live no more. That the newspapers inform that there was nothing criminal involved reduces the need for aggression or rage, but does not remove the terribly sad in the implications of the news.

My condolences, thoughts and prayers are sent to the family, the friends and other next of kin.

Rest in peace, Kristell.

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Min tidligere klassekamerat fra ungdomsskolen, Kristell, forsvant for et par måned siden. I dag fikk jeg med meg beskjeden jeg ikke håpet på; han lever ikke mer. At avisene skriver det ikke er kriminelt, reduserer behovet for aggresjon eller raseri, men tar ikke bort det forferdelig triste i nyhetens innhold. Mine kondolasjoner, tanker og bønner går til familien, venner og andre pårørende. Hvil i Fred.

Budskapet ble lest på nettsidene til Nordlys og Folkebladet.