The Progress Party and the Culture Council

The Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) has gotten in some hot water with various novelists and artists due to their culture politics and their recent accusations that the Minister of Culture Trond Giske has appointed nobody outside his circle of friends to the Culture Council (Kulturrådet). An upcoming Anti-Fremskrittspartiet political movement, spearheaded by various culture personalities is accusing Fremskrittspartiet of not playing fair in their election propaganda (duh - as if any party propaganda in the history of the universe was ever neutral and fact-based). Ironically, the latest incident in the culture backlash against Fremskrittspartiet saw author Erik Fosnes Hansen melt down during a radio debate with Fremskrittspartiet's Per Arne Olsen and actually throw pieces of crumpled paper at him. Refusing to apologize, Fosnes Hansen offered the following rationale for his stepping outside the accepted debating practices and resort to tactics favored by elementary school bullies: He deserved it.

So much for Fosnes Hansen being a master debater and wielding the power of language and argumentation. Disregarding for a moment that this political movement is little more than a special interest lobbyist effort (and I do not write this lightly, considering that Fremskrittspartiet's culture politics appears to favor little outside of dansband and soccer), do they really deny that a certain degree of nepotism has occurred in the appointments to the Culture Council? Considering the shallowness of the pool of qualified candidates and the frequent public socialization between Giske and the appointed members, I'd keep my mouth closed. Whether it's deliberate is another question, but sheer statistics suggest that in a small country such as this, it's not possible to avoid.

What's perhaps even more interesting is that this culture mafia is directing their outrage over these accusations exclusively at Fremskrittspartiet. Considering that Venstre's second-in-command Trine Skei Grande has made the same accusations and been even more outspoken by it, that is...

Send them to Africa, dammit

Unless you've lived in a cave, or you don't understand Norwegian or live abroad, you've no doubt been exposed to the Progress Party's (Fremskrittspartiet's) suggestion of shipping all refugees to Africa. Or more specifically; outsourcing all refugee camp services to Africa, where the costs are lower and the Norwegian public doesn't have to look at destitute people from different cultures.

No; it's not a joke - they actually made this very suggestion. Some of the underlying reasoning also comprises the fact that the African nations in question receive lots of foreign aid from Norway.

I can almost picture how the Conservatives' (Høyre's) party leader Erna Solberg reacted when she learned of this suggestion from a party she depends on to support her in a possible government coalition: F*ck!

No doubt she was even more pleased when the Fremskrittspartiet's second-in-command, Per Sandberg, actually took it upon himself to back this proposal in every available media outlet. Letting Sandberg speak in public is a bad idea from the get-go; the combination of his mismatched wardrobe, his propensity for being inappropriate (like suggesting that the highways and interstates should be safe enough that you can DUI without any risk whatsoever) and the fact that he sounds like a bad local revue act (or the "Public Service announcement" leding up to the first track on a DDE record) would make him an unlikely candidate for a spokesperson. Not in Fremskrittspartiet, however.

Considering that many of the refugees come from African countries and that they've thrown away their IDs, this suggestion might spur some "issues" in the unlikely event that it ever comes to fruition. Like the refugees being shipped back to the country they came from, to be held behind bars by the very same people they were being persecuted by. Only this time, their imprisonment would be sponsored by the Norwegian state. Or some of the refugees might work part-time as personnel in their home town, working in their home town, being paid by the Norwegian government to make sure their family members don't leave town.

I think this is a brilliant suggestion - our own version of one of USA's most successful builders of international relations and unbridled PR success; Gitmo.

Stood up like the president of the chess club....

...at the high school prom.

Last week some door-to-door people came and asked whether we were interested in a chatregarding how we could save energy in our home by means of inter alia an air-to-air heat pump. We set up a meeting for today - first at 6 PM, and then we immediately rescheduled it for noon so as to better suit Viktor's schedule.

The energy consultants in question are energirådgiverne, a daughter company of Eneas Energy AS.

At noon today, nobody showed. At about 12:30, I was plenty pissed, but we figured that there might be the possibility of the airhead who wrote down the schedule having forgotten to make a note of the schedule change from 6 PM to noon.

6 PM came and went, and nobody showed up. Not even a phone call.

Considering that these asshats came to ask us to take time out of our day to meet with them, and that they're actually peddling products, this is pretty shoddy salesmanship.

We're probably gonna buy a heat pump, but I'll go out of my way to make good and damned sure that we don't make the purchase via energirådgiverne or any company affiliated with them.

...and the hump-backed gargoyle they rode in on.

Best financial advice ever

I was reading a thread on a message board yesterday where some guy was lamenting his financial situation, claiming that he didn't have the cash flow to justify protein supplements and high quality, clean food in the amounts required for serious weight training. He was also complaining about his (soft science) degree being absolutely useless in the current job market. How could he best supplement his income, etc. One guy gave the following advice:

Become a ninja.....whoever heard of a broke ninja? You never see them at the bus stop or in line at the food stamp place

Truer words have never been spoken

Amplifier issue

I've got a problem with my Line6 Spider 210. Specifically, the amp is in the original state from when it was purchased in NC, meaning I've run it through a 110 to 230V power adapter ever since we moved here.

The adapter had the recurring problem of getting REALLY hot during use, and now the plugs are shot, leaving me high and dry (not the Def Leppard album) and currently unable to run my amp. What I want to do - or rather get done - is replace the transformer in the amp so as to enable use with 230V and Norwegian sockets. Seeing as how people import amps all the time, this should be a straightforward operation, right?

So; can I just haul the amp to the guitar shop and have them work their magic? And what would be a realistic estimate for how much that's gonna set me back?

Anders Boogie

Haven't listened to this blatant rip-off of ZZ Top's La Grange and Satriani's Satch Boogie boogie song written on the occasion of Anders' bachelor party in quite some time.



I think I'm gonna try to re-record it with the PreSonus + Cubase setup this summer and add some more solos and schtuff (like bass and perhaps a drum beat beyond the epic click track featured here). What say you Anders - do you want to add some bars of solos as well?

Well thanks a bunch

The infallible oracles over at adressa.no have issued a list of "acceptable hairdos" for men and women this summer.

If this is the way hairdos are supposed to look like this summer, consider me good and screwed.

Damn.