Monthly Archives: October 2009
Malletopathy – the healthcare revolution
No more conventional medicine for me: Malletopathy is here, an alternative treatment that combines ancient wisdom with modern technology.
The Mallet is made of wood, borrowed not harvested, from the deep forests in Norway. The arctic climate, combined with virtually no pollution, makes the wood hard, pure and very susceptible to energy transfer The Mallet is handcrafted by experts in Malletopathy, sized and fitted to the specific illness or injury.The Cloth of Healing is handmade, using only virgin arctic cotton. It is thereby ideal for energy reception and molecular memory storage. The weaving of the arctic cotton prolongs the energy storage time to practically infinity, limited only by the natural degeneration of organic material.
The energy transfer, through the art of Mallletopathy, is a complex process on molecular level. In layman’s terms, it is similar to the transfer of light to heat, fuel to propulsion, and sunlight into vitamins. Energy is constant, what varies is the state it is in.
The secret to properly transfer and store energy lies also in the way The Mallet is struck onto The Cloth of Healing. Ten times for each element, rotating east to west. This ensures that all the latent energy is transferred from The Mallet to The Cloth, thereby clearing The Mallet for a new energy transfer session.
40′s movies marathon – part 37
Mission to Moscow (1943, USA) – Contrary to what you have been told, Russia is nothing at all like brainwashed leader-worshipping Germany. German soldiers are buffoons, Soviet soldiers are exotic. German leaders are fanatics, Soviet leaders are kind old men with grandfather beards, honest men of integrity who want nothing but peace for the world. And the Moscow trials were fair! Based on the book by ambassador Joseph Davies, a Soviet apologist. Watched it all, because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Somebody ought to .. er, do something about these Communists infiltrating Hollywood.
No Time for Love (1943, USA) – Claudette Colbert is an educated woman with a promising career in photography. But what she really needs in her life is a macho blue-collar worker who knows what he wants and is not afraid to take it. Watched: 24 minutes.
It’s That Man Again (1943, UK) – I suspect this may be funny in a Spike Milligan sort of way if you’re able to follow along. It’s too quick for me. Watched: 4 minutes.
Background to Danger (1943, USA) – As the announcer breathlessly informs us, the fate of the war lies not in actual battles fought by actual soldiers but in silly spy games among diplomats in neutral Turkey. Watched: 6 minutes.
Corregidor (1943, USA) – Just dreadful, but it begins Dramatically on the Philippines on December 6 1941, so I guess that makes it all okay. Watched: 3 minutes.
The outrage economy
Hungry Beast explains media outrage as a bubble economy:
Væ deg Bergen, du fule Sodoma og Gomorra søster
Det jeg husker av “dansketiden” fra historieundervisningen på skolen er et stort hull vi mer eller mindre hoppet over. Siden har jeg ikke gjort noe særlig for å fylle dette hullet. Jeg har derfor lite forhold til personene og begivenhetene i For Norge, kjempers fødeland av Øystein Rian.
Rian bruker 12 personer som levde mellom 1500 og 1800 for å belyse forholdet mellom Norge og Danmark. Mange av dem var mennesker som levde i skjæringspunktet mellom makt og folk – prester som måtte kreve inn tienden fra knivkjempende bønder, og embetsmenn som tjente godt på å manipulere et korrupt og autoritært system.
De mest interessante portrettene er av Kristian Lofthus og Hans Nielsen Hauge. Lofthus var den egenrådige bonden som i 1786 reiste til København for å klage på urettferdige skatter og reguleringer. Det ble noe som nærmet seg en folkereisning av det, og Lofthus ble satt i fengsel på livstid.
Hans Nielsen Hauge var vekkelsespredikanten som forsøkte å gjøre Norge til en glad-pietistisk gründernasjon. Han vandret fra bygd til bygd mellom 1797 og 1804, og sparket i gang legmannsbevegelser og lokalt næringsliv, før han ble knekt av langvarige rettsprosesser.
Rian beveger seg fort gjennom århundrene, men portrettene er godt valgt ut. Jeg liker den biografiske tilnærmingen til historie. Så får det heller være at dette ikke er representative personer, bare folk som etterlot seg nok spor til at ettertiden kan beskrive livet deres.
40′s movies marathon – part 36
Sahara (1943, USA) – The wounded tank alone in the desert is an interesting movie theme. This is the second to use it. The desert here becomes a microcosmos of the war, with individual soldiers from the US, England, France, Germany and Italy meeting and fighting their own small battle in the shadow of El Alamein. Watched it all.
So Proudly We Hail (1943, USA) – Judging from the titles, at least half of the movies I have lined up for 1943 are about the war. This time some army nurses have escaped the Japanese, and one of them is depressed about it. We go into flashback mode to learn why. I don’t care. Watched: 9 minutes.
His Butler’s Sister (1943, USA) – What the butler saw only 6 minutes of.
Sugata Sanshiro (1943, Japan) – The schools of jujutsu and judo fight it out, proving that Japan was awesome even when it wasn’t. Kurosawa’s first movie. Watched it all.
Spy Train (1943, USA) – Well how good do you expect a B-movie called Spy Train to be? Watched: 6 minutes.
The Silver Fleet (1943, USA) – The brave Dutch resistance resists bravely, etc. etc. Watched: 9 minutes.
Revenge of the Zombies (1943, USA) – Zombies sure were boring back when they were just enslaved corpses. Watched: 5 minutes, then fast forwarded to see the great zombie apocalypse, but instead of ending the world the zombies become good guys and turn on their master. I strongly object.
If an episode succeeds, they’ll say “Wow, that was great! They must have really listened to John Scalzi!”
The lesson Brad Wright has learned from Star Trek is that when you have a good sci-fi franchise going, you can keep it alive for decades, as long as you remember to spawn off new spin-off series at regular intervals.
Stargate SG-1 was launched in 1997 and lasted 10 seasons. It had good moments and bad moments. I enjoyed it for quite a while.
Stargate Atlantis, the first spin-off, had a ridiculous premise (vampires in space! super awesome science action heroes!), but also a great sense of fun, and was smart in its own stupid way.
With Stargate Universe, the newest spin-off, Stargate may be headed in a more plausible direction, at least when measured by the number of english-speaking aliens. There aren’t any – yet. In fact there’s been only one alien, and it was truly different. The first five episodes have focused on basic survival. A group of people are stranded on a spaceship, and they have too little air and power. That’s all that’s happened so far. I like it. It’s good, and believable in a way neither of the other series were.
Stargate: Universe feels like a show where the characters would be surprised(!) if they stumbled across english-speaking humanoids in a remote galaxy.
But is it possible to make plausible SF for television? I expect there’ll be aliens, and a babelfish along with them. But I’m not sure I’ll mind. When I want serious SF, I read books, (or rewatch Babylon 5).
Also, I love the music.
Han meinte at det hadde vore særleg mange prestedrap i Telemark
Når Peder [Claussøn Friis] vart innblanda i slåsskampar med kniv, kan det ha spela inn at han var prest; han skreiv sjølv at bøndene ikkje kunne fordra lutherske prestar. Den saka han fekk mest strev med, var å gjenreise respekten for tienda. Bøndene hadde aldri vore glade for å betale ein tidel av avlingane sine til kyrkja, men dei hadde vent seg til å gjere det, og dei hadde sjølve glede av det fine nettverket av vakre kyrkjer i sitt eige nærmijlø. Men så kom reformasjonen. Dei norske biskopane forsvann, mange bygningar rotna ned, og dei fleste kyrkjene som var i bruk, vart fattigslege og triste. Gudstenestene vart framande for folk, og folkelig katolsk religiøsitet var motarbeidd og forfølgd. I denne stoda avskaffe kongen i København bondeluten, ein firedel av tienden som bøndene i katolsk tid fekk disponere for dei fattige i soknet. Bøndene over heile landet nekta å gi avkall på bondeluten og betale full tiend til styresmaktene: ein tredel til kongen, ein tredel til soknepresten og ein tredel til kyrkjebygningen i soknet. [..]
Peder Claussøn var i skriftene sine ikkje i tvil om at det var hatet til reformasjonen som var fremste årsaka til bondemotstanden mot tienda i hans tid. Bøndene fann seg “meget nødig” i lutherdommen, og i somme len hadde dei bode styresmaktene store pengar for å sleppe å få lutherske prestar. Peder var overtydd om at mange prestar hadde blitt fordrivne og drepne. Han meinte at det hadde vore særleg mange prestedrap i Telemark.
- Øystein Rian, For Norge, kjempers fødeland
FrP som personvernparti
Via Liberaleren: Siv Jensen markerte seg klart for personvernet i landsstyremøtetalen i dag, med motstand mot både offentlige skattelister og EU’s datalagringsdirektiv. Se 37:23 – 41:53, men resten av talen er også interessant. Dette er den siden av FrP jeg liker – partiet som har som hovedmål avbyråkratisere Norge, og bare nevner skumle asylsøkere sånn i forbifarten. Mer av dette.
Associated Press skrev forøvrig om skattelistene i går, og kaller det “Norwegians’ way of keeping up with the Johansens”.
Jeg forstår ikke hvordan noen kan se på måten skattelistene har blitt brukt denne uka og ærlig si at dette er viktig for demokratiet. Det hender sikkert at mediene bruker skattelistene til noe fornuftig. Og kanskje hadde offentlige skattelister en verdi den gangen det krevde litt innsats å få tak i tallene, og hvem som helst ikke kunne leke med det på nettet.
Hvis det var mulig å gå tilbake til slik det var, ville det kanskje vært greit. Men mediene gjør det klart hvert eneste år at vi enten må ha totalt offentlige skattelister med Facebook-integrasjon, eller ingen offentliggjøring i det hele tatt. Det finnes visstnok ingen mellomløsning, hvor dataene er offentlige men brukes forsvarlig. Da er valget lett: Avskaffe skattelistene helt.
Offentlige skattelister er muligens et nyttig verktøy, men det er isåfall et verktøy mediene har misbrukt ved å gjøre privatlivet vårt til underholdning. De fortjener å miste det.
For instead of a manly tear I did another manly vomit
Today’s mid-19th century history lesson is Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Fraser. It’s my fifth Flashman novel, and I’ll keep going to the end. This time Harry Flashman takes part in the slave trade, which he gets to see from every possible angle: As a crewman on a slave boat, a slave driver in the US, a smuggler on the Underground Railroad, and – almost – a slave himself.
I love seeing the age of the British Empire through Flashman’s cynical eyes. Here’s finally a character who speaks for all the bigots and cowards of history. A true person out of the past, not a modern person in old-fashioned clothes. The problem with historical novels is that you’re usually supposed to like the main character, and it’s difficult for readers today to like someone who thinks slavery is morally acceptable. Which almost everybody did until the 19th century. So authors rewrite history. Makes the characters just like us.
But there’s no need to like an anti-hero, so Flashman escapes bowdlerization. He’s free to be a racist and a misogynist, and can provide a perspective that’s often missing from history books and historical novels.
Flashman is not completely unlikeable. Unlike his compatriots he feels no need to go out and conquer India, shoot at Afghans, or kidnap Africans. He does so only because his author creates elaborate scenarios in which going on an insanely dangerous adventure in an Interesting part of the world is the safest option available to him. All for our amusement.