Quote of the Day

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
- Alfred Tennyson, from "In Memoriam"

Quote of the Day

Nothing endures but change.
- Heraclitus

Quote of the Day

Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Day

Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.
- Miguel de Cervantes

Quote of the Day

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
- Robert Heinlein

Quote of the Day

I think my favorite sport in the Olympics is the one in which you make your way through the snow, you stop, you shoot a gun, and then you continue on. In most of the world, it is known as the biathlon, except in New York City, where it is known as winter.
- Michael Ventre

Quote of the Day

Few nations have been so poor as to have but one god. Gods were made so easily, and the raw material cost so little, that generally, the god market was fairly glutted and heaven crammed with these phantoms.
- Robert Ingersoll

Quote of the Day

An informal survey shows that what most people want for Christmas is two more weeks to prepare for it.
- Bob Stanley

Happy Festivus!

Once again, I would like to wish all my readers (both of you) a wonderful Festivus!

Quote of the Day

Nobody ever forgets where he buried a hatchet.
- Kin Hubbard

Quote of the Day

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
- Rita Mae Brown

Quote of the Day

If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Quote of the Day

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.
- Confucius

Quote of the Day

The waste basket is the writer's best friend.
- Isaac Bashevis Singer

Quote of the Day

Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings and words only to conceal their thoughts.
- Voltaire

Quote of the Day

You can't shame or humiliate modern celebrities. What used to be called shame and humiliation is now called publicity. And forget about traditional Character assassination. If you say a modern celebrity is an adulterer, a pervert and a drug addict, all it means is that you've read his autobiography.
- P.J. O'Rourke

Quote of the Day

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
- Dorothy Parker

Quote of the Day

People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can’t fool the neighbors.
- Edgar Watson Howe

Quote of the Day

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
- Niels Bohr

Quote of the Day

Is there an intelligent man or woman now in the world who believes in the Garden of Eden story? If you find any man who believes it, strike his forehead and you will hear an echo. Something is for rent.
- Robert G. Ingersoll

Quote of the Day

At school I was taught that money isn’t everything and that the most important thing is to be good. When my mother found out, I had to change schools immediately.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Quote of the Day

The fool wonders; the wise man asks.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Quote of the Day

Comedy is tragedy plus time.
- Carol Burnett

Quote of the Day

Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.
- General George Patton

Quote of the Day

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.
- Confucious

Quote of the Day

The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
- W. C. Fields

Quote of the Day

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
- Steven Wright

Quote of the Day

It is true that wealth won't make a man virtuous, but I notice there ain't anybody who wants to be poor just for the purpose of being good.
- Henry Wheeler Shaw

Quote of the Day

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
- Werner von Braun

Quote of the Day

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
- Charles Caleb Colton

Quote of the Day

Women like silent men. They think they're listening.
- Marcel Archard

Quote of the Day

On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are created jerks.
- H. Allen Smith

Quote of the Day

Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.
- Kurt Vonnegut

Quote of the Day

You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
- Al Capone

Quote of the Day

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no profession is necessary.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the Day

Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.
- P. J. O’Rourke

Quote of the Day

We all agree that your theory is crazy, but is it crazy enough?
- Niels Bohr to Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day

To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.
- John Stuart Mill

Quote of the Day

Blushing is the color of virtue.
- Diogenes

Quote of the Day

We don’t devote enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

Susie: You’d get a good grade without doing any work.
Calvin: So?
Susie: It’s wrong to get rewards you haven’t earned.
Calvin: I’ve never heard of anyone who couldn’t live with that.
- Bill Watterson, 'Calvin and Hobbes'

Quote of the Day

Heck, what’s a little extortion among friends?
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

The real fun of living wisely is that you get to be smug about it.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

If something is so complicated that you can't explain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles!
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

For your information, I’m staying like this, and everyone else can just get used to it! If people don’t like me the way I am, well TOUGH BEANS! It’s a free country! I don’t need anyone’s permission to be the way I want! This is how I am - Take it or leave it!
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.
- Paul Valery

Quote of the Day

They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

It is not only the most difficult thing to know one's self, but the most inconvenient.
- Henry Wheeler Shaw

Quote of the Day

The value of life lies, not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them.
- Michel De Montaigne

Quote of the Day

Being a politician is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and stupid enough to think that it is important.
- Eugene McCarthy

Quote of the Day

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
- John F. Kennedy

Quote of the Day

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
- Thomas Alva Edison

Quote of the Day

Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
- Herman Melville

Quote of the Day

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.
- Goethe

Quote of the Day

I've never been hurt by anything I didn't say.
- Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day

I knew I was on to something because when I went to San Francisco to talk about it everyone said I was mad. So I thought, "Good, it means nobody else is doing it."
- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

Be wary of strong spirits. It can make you shoot at tax collectors … and miss.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Quote of the Day

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

"We're gonna give you a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging."
- Brian Dennehy in "Silverado"

Quote of the Day

"This is where the law stops, and I start."
- Sylvester Stallone in "Cobra"

Quote of the Day

"You aren't too bright, are you? I like that in a man."
- Kathleen Turner, "Body Heat"

Quote of the Day

"FREEZE! Lose the guns or I redecorate in brain-matter grey, got it?"
- Bridgette Wilson in "Last Action Hero"

Quote of the Day

There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here, you are all equally worthless.
- Gunnery Sergeant Hartman "Full Metal Jacket"

Quote of the Day

Mary: Don’t psychoanalyze me. I pay a doctor for that.
Isaac: Hey, you call that guy that you talk to a doctor? I mean, you don’t get suspicious when your analyst calls you at home at three in the morning and weeps into the telephone?
- Woody Allen in "Manhattan"

Quote of the Day

"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."
- David Bowie in "Labyrinth"

Quote of the Day

Morality in Europe today is herd-morality.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

It is a good thing that we do not get as much government as we pay for.
- Will Rogers

Quote of the Day

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.
- Henry Wheeler Shaw

Quote of the Day

I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde.
- Dolly Parton

Quote of the Day

Those are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.
- Groucho Marx

Quote of the Day

Devils are not so black as they are painted.
- Thomas Lodge

Quote of the Day

In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
- Samuel Johnson

Quote of the Day

If you pray hard enough, you can make water run uphill. How hard? Why, hard enough to make water run uphill, of course!
- Robert A. Heinlein

Quote of the Day

A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh."
- Conan O' Brien

Quote of the Day

Only the wise possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Quote of the Day

In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Day

There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.
- Tennessee Williams

Quote of the Day

Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.
- Voltaire

Quote of the Day

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
- W.H. Auden

Quote of the Day

Education, which was at first made universal in order that all might be able to read and write, has been found capable of serving quite other purposes. By instilling nonsense, it unifies populations and generates collective enthusiasm.
- Bertrand Russel

Quote of the Day

I would rather make my name than inherit it.
- William M. Thackeray

Quote of the Day

An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
- Will Rogers

Quote of the Day

I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

You should not confuse your career with your life.
- Dave Barry

Quote of the Day

One should never put on one's best trousers to go out to battle for freedom and truth.
- Henrik Ibsen

Trollstigen

The final post from my September drive to the west coast is from one of the most visited tourist spots in Norway: Trollstigen (Troll's ladder). It is a serpentine drive down a tall, steep mountain side down into a narrow valley, with tall mountains on three sides. The view is breathtaking and not a little scary from the top, where there is a viewing platform. Just behind that, there's a tourist center with shops, toilets and a cafe.

These sheep were trotting alongside the road.


This is one of the two main waterfalls coming down the Trollstigen area.


Here's where it disappears off the edge.


And this is where my brain was going "I'm gonna diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie, fuck, fuck, fuck!".


I held on to that thought for some time.


Here I was breathing again. The road, btw has 11 hairpin turns, all named for the road crew that worked that particular turn back in the 1930s.


Actually, since the valley twists and turns, it looks like you've got mountains on all four sides.


Coming down the hill gives you some stunning views though.


The main waterfall coming down. The Norwegian word for a waterfall is "foss".


The other large one is a little further down the edge. From what I can recall, they both cross under the road. One is called Stigfossen, the other Trollfossen.


The view from the relative safety of the valley floor. Notice the RV in front; these hellmachines have gone from being a mainly German nuisance on narrow, west coast roads to near ubiquitous as Norwegians have started to buy them in great numbers too. They're starting to clog up every road in the country, because fuck forbid people can't drag their house with them when on vacation. /rant


Very pretty.

Quote of the Day

In a progressive country, change is constant; change is inevitable.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Quote of the Day

Justitia est regina virtutum
[Justice is queen of the virtues]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

Carpe diem
[Seize the day]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

Volenti non fit iniuria.
[To a person who consents, no injustice is done.]
- Latin proverb

More mountain pics

More pics from wonderful County Road 63 in Norway, between Gudbrandsjuvet and Trollstigen.

This picture was taken from the parking lot of Gudbrandsjuvet.


A little farther up the road.


Muy bien, si?


"...and the rivers sweat from the melting hills."


Norway is full of mountainous vistas like this.


Here and there you can find an idyllic mountain lake.


Or some tall tops.


The road starts dipping down towards Trollstigen (later post).

Quote of the Day

Si non caste, tamen caute
[If not chaste, then (at least be) careful]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

Mater artium necessitas
[Necessity is the mother of invention]
- Latin proverb

Gudbrandsjuvet

Gudbrandsjuvet (Gudbrand is a Norwegian male name, a "juv" is a ravine) is yet another tourist attraction I had no idea existed. It's along county road 63, one of several National Tourist Roads in Norway.

The main fall isn't all that spectacular.


And the main stream is almost hidden from view (the reason the pic looks a bit fuzzy is because of the mist from the water spray).


The bridge spanning the ravine is from 1919.


There are several bizarre holes and rifts in the mountain walls along the ravine.


The river Valldøla as it disappears from view. The river has plenty of salmon for the discerning fisherman.

More west coast pics

Just south of Molde there is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean called Langfjorden (The Long Fjord). Here, there's a ferry connection over to the other side. I believe the only alternative is to drive an hour or two around the fjord. I can't remember how much the ferry ride cost, but you can be reasonably certain that the price was 1) exorbitant and 2) heavily subsidized, in this case by the county. Anyways, these brief sailings provide the discerning tourist (me) with plenty options for photographic loot, which is still free, thank fuck.

This was the sight that greeted me when I drove up to the ferry place. Wail.


I used the wait to take some more landscape pics; this is the view back out towards the open sea.


The main route southeast, which I didn't take this time.


The little village on the other side of the strait.

The Atlantic Road

The Atlantic Road is a 5 miles (8 km) stretch of road on the midwestern coast of Norway. It begins in Kristiansund and stretches west, roughly along the coast and connects several islands with the mainland (such as it is in those parts). It's windswept out there but also quite purdy and great for tourists who just want to see a bit of majestic nature before getting into their snug campers or RVs and drive home. If I had to live out here I'd be hitting the proverbial wall within a matter of days. Most of Norway is, sadly, an acquired taste...

Ok for a quick visit, but can you imagine actually living here?


Some inland parts look quite nice.


Taking pictures from a moving vehicle. As stated before on this blog, I'm a menace to society, yo.


This motif must be in a million tourist pictures and videos in Germany, The Netherlands and Japan.


From the other side.


Naturally, I was skeptical of the Atlantic Road.

Quote of the Day

Abusus non tollit usum
[Abuse does not exclude use]
- Latin legal expression

Quote of the Day

Facias ipse quod faciamus suades
[Practice what you preach]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

"Well, would you like to know what you'd be without us, the good ol' U.S. of A. to protect you? I'll tell you. The smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire, that's what. So don't call me stupid, lady. Just thank me!"
- Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda"

Quote of the Day

"I ain't got time to bleed!"
- Jesse Ventura in "Predator"

Quote of the Day

Homer: Marge, I'm bored.
Marge: Why don't you read a book, then?
Homer: Because I'm trying to reduce my boredom.
- The Simpsons

Quote of the Day

"If you ever get a son, I hope his dog dies!"
- Lauren Holly in "Ford Fairlane"

Quote of the Day

"I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They’re the bane of my life. They’re like insects: they should be got rid of as early as possible.”
- Pam Ferris in "Matilda"

Bergen

I'd been to Bergen a couple of times before, but never as a tourist. I believe the last time I was there was sometime in the mid 90s, so I couldn't even remotely claim to have any knowledge of the city, nor any of its many sights. I spent two nights there and was pleasantly surprised at the city, though most of my suspicions about its natives were also confirmed (as I've written on another blog of mine, the now almost defunct "Ask A Norwegian", "...today's Bergensians: The bastard offspring of horny, drunken Krauts and Norwegian prostitutes.")

Anyway, I took some pictures of the center of town and it was actually quite nice. The Latin here is quite easy to translate: "The House of the Hanseatics greets you". It is found at the entrance to one of the so-called Schøtstue, house where one could go and eat heated meals. Open fire was not allowed in the important buildings on the actual quay, so these places were usually put behind them. This custom is similar to a lot of wooden structures, for example in the US, where the kitchen building was separate from the house itself.


From the great hall. At first I thought he was flipping me the bird, but on closer inspection he was just admonishing, as religious nutcases always do, to no avail in my case.


From the cellar of a Schøtstue.


St Mary's Church, the oldest building in Bergen. Built in the 1100s as a parish church, it was used by the German Hanseatics from 1408 till 1766 and after that it was still in use by a German congregation till 1874. Sermons were still given in German till after the first World War. It is unusually richly decorated for a Norwegian church, since the Krauts had money to burn.


A memorial to the aforementioned WW1. Norway remained neutral, but our merchant marine took some hits.


Fløibanen goes from the city centre up to a mountain with great views over the city. I couldn't be bothered, but maybe next time.


This statue, standing in a very quaint little square is of the Danish-Norwegian author Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen.


The quay ("bryggen" in Norwegian).


Ouside the town library is a statue of the Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson.


Purdy buildings and cozy streets:

Quote of the Day

"I want fat, I want cholesterol! I wanna eat butter and bacon and BUCKETS of cheese!"
- Denis Leary in "Demolition Man"

Quote of the Day

"I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in braille. I used to rub the dirty parts."
- Woody Allen in "Bananas"

Quote of the Day

Faith means not wanting to know what’s true.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
- Emo Phillips

Quote of the Day

No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Quote of the Day

The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella,
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust stole the just's umbrella.
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers

Quote of the Day

I imagine, therefore I belong and am free.
- Emily Dickinson

Quote of the Day

A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.
- Aristotle

Quote of the Day

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.
- James Arthur Baldwin

Quote of the Day

I wouldn’t mind dying - it’s the business of having to stay dead that scares the shit out of me.
- R. Geis

Quote of the Day

Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

Calvin: Sometimes when I’m talking, my words can’t keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak.
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
- Bill Watterson, American cartoonist, "Calvin and Hobbes"

Quote of the Day

Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum
[To err is human, to continue erring is diabolic]
- Latin proverb

Quote of the Day

I have no relish for the country. It is a kind of healthy grave.
- Sydney Smith

Quote of the Day

It is with our passions as it is with fire and water, they are good servants, but bad masters.
- Sir Roger L’Estrange

Bergen: The Hanseatic House

Bergen is Norway's second largest city, situated on the west coast. For a time in the Middle Ages it was our capital, until people came to their senses and moved it to the much drier Oslo. One important feature of Bergen was its time as one of four trade hubs for the Hanseatic League (the three others were in Brugge, Belgium; Novgorod, Russia and London). The German traders of the League had their own laws and lived somewhat separate from the rest of the city. Their living quarters on the quay of Bergen burned several times, but some structures are as old as the last main fire in 1702. The buildings are preserved and the quay is considered a world heritage site by UNESCO, even though most of them are housing shops that carry on a brisk trade to this very day.

These pictures are from one such house, today a museum, called The Hanseatic Museum. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the pics, but flash photography was verboten (except for a couple of pics from the sleeping quarters, when no one was around and I just couldn't be arsed to turn the flash off. I'm a menace to society, yo!).

A reconstructed office.


Internal, decorated wall.


Nicely painted doors.


Seals of various trading ports.


The main item of export was the stockfish. Caught by fishermen in the north, they were brought to Bergen where they were sorted according to quality.


Sleeping quarters.


Beautiful colors on the inside wall, reconstructed.


A painting on the inside of a sleeping space. Possibly an early example of German porn.