Monday, April 30, 2007

Get your drugs here!

I just received an email from Bennie Bryant [wei-mingow@barringtonhomesinc.com] over at Barrington Homes Inc.

He's telling me about "the nicest prices for top quality drug$!"

And I thought drugs were frowned upon...



Included in the email was an attachment I did not open, and the text below. I'm wondering if it means anything..


learning of course but it's very different coming and doing it in a real life,
believe that offers enough protection. Opinion and Editorials The documents
who met the Russian former spy on the day he was taken ill, has also returned
be heard, and another year to schedule a hearing. After years of spiralling
in Camden were not afraid to get their hands dirty during their field trip to Epping
paper or by the dead layer of outer skin. Dollar falls to 20-month low vs. euro
to tell them of a visit made by Mr Litvinenko to its offices. My Sources > All Science from
AP WASHINGTON - In a decision that could roil Democratic unity in the new House, Speaker-to-be
complaints E-mail this to a friend Printable Mario Scaramella, the academic
and so on - the real thing is still better." Reuters ----------------- USATODAY.com
ago Site Index Enter your postcode:What's this? AP - 27 minutes ago TALK
poisoning. BBC News health correspondent Elsewhere on the Web Police say mother microwaved
on Elder Abuse says the delays are inexcusable. Nurses facing the most
AP - 1 hour, 7 minutes ago Patient safety is at risk because of delays in hearing misconduct
Iraqi man and five females, ranging in age from an infant to
Papacy and the Vatican 'Off the radar' Ask a congressman There is
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of self-confidence as the final hearing was repeatedly delayed. AP EXPOSURE
insisted patient safety was not being compromised. Unlock the code at Y! Movies Opinion
in SA court Politics Iraq WEATHER Some cases are already taking more than a year
said he had not spoken to Russian President Putin over the matter, but would "do so at

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Early summer days

A lot of things make me happy.

One of them is watching my roommate come home, continuing straight out onto the veranda, standing out there with ear plugs in his ears and a cold beer in his hand.

He's smiling, not knowing I'm watching. Bending down to take his socks off, moving his head along with the music. It's a beautiful day.

The gentle breeze is making his shirt blow gently, his cap holding his hair, which keeps growing longer, in place.

Just standing there, he looks happy.

And that makes me happy.

Earth II

Richard Macey
April 25, 2007 - 11:08AM


The first planet that could support life as we know it outside our solar system has been discovered.

A team of European astronomers say they have detected a rocky world, possibly only 50 per cent larger than the Earth, circling a small red star called Gliese 581, 20.5 light years away in the constellation Libra.

What makes the discovery so important is that the planet orbits in what astronomers call the "Goldilocks zone" - where makes it neither too hot, nor too cold for life.

Astronomers have found more than 200 planets circling other stars, but, until now, all have been unsuitable for life because they are either massive gas balls, resembling Jupiter, that circle scorchingly close to their parent, stars, or have eccentric orbits that take them out into the bitterly cold depths of space.

The newly found "super-Earth," about five times more massive than our planet, is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the sun. As a result, its year lasts only 13 Earth days. It has been named , named 581 c.

However, because the star is only a third the mass of our sun, it is also much cooler.

Astronomers estimate that the world's surface temperature would therefore be between 0 and 40 degrees.

"Water would thus be liquid," one of the discoverers, Stephane Udry, from Switzerland's Geneva Observatory, said.

"Models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."

Another team member, Xavier Delfosse, from France's Grenoble University, said: "Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will probably be a very important target of future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life. On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X."

Gliese 581, one of the 100 closest stars to our solar system, is a red dwarf, one of the most common types of stars in the universe. It is already known to have a planet about the same size as Neptune, the fourth biggest world in our solar system.

The astronomers say they also have strong evidence that the star is circled by a second rocky planet, about eight times as massive as the Earth.

That such a common type of star could have three planets, including two rocky "terrestrial" planets, has boosted speculation that many other red dwarfs might also have their own Earth-like worlds

"Red dwarfs are ideal targets for the search for low-mass planets where water could be liquid," another astronomer, Xavier Bonfils, from Lisbon University, said.

The new "super Earth" was not directly observed by the astronomers who discovered it with the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

Instead, they tracked the red star's wobble, which revealed it is being tugged from side to side as it is circled by the unseen planet.

Chris Tinney, an Australian planet hunter whose team at the Anglo-Australian Observatory has found 30 planets, said today he was still to "check the homework" of the European team.

"These guys have done excellent work in the past," he said.

"But what's a little bit more up in the air is whether it really is Earth- like."

Dr Tinney said science was not advanced enough to be sure that all planets of similar mass had rocky surfaces and could not be worlds of ice and gas, as is Neptune.

"But if it does indeed have a rocky surface it could indeed have liquid water and it could indeed be habitable for life."

Dr Tinney said living on the planet could be a gloomy experience. The "sun" hanging in the planet's sky would "be very dark red. There would not be a lot of light, but a lot of heat".


Constellation of *Libra*?
- my star sign

"Goldilocks zone"?
- my nick name in high school

"not [...] a lot of light, but a lot of heat"
- I can deal with that


Catch my drift?
This planet is meant for me!

I wonder when I can go...

Times of year


A guy I used to know showed me this picture and told me how he loved it - and how he looked forward to going to Trondheim, where the picture was taken.

A year later I found myself back in town and I wondered what it would look like during summer. Not quite so magical, but I guess magic is something which exist in our hearts and is hard to recreate with a camera.


Arc du Triomphe



One day in June Ben, a British guy, came to visit. We were walking around Paris - he wanted me to show him the sites - when we came to the Arc de Triomphe. Some men were trying to get this huge flag to hang just right. They started by pulling it out of a big bag, we didn't have a clue what it was until we started seeing the three colours of the tricolore.

It was blowing like crazy and the flag was sweeping the floor of the entire Arc before they caught hold of it. By then it had tipped over the markings, the flowers and candles of the Tombe du Soldat inconnu and the eternal flame burning there.

I could swear they were about to extinguish the whole thing, wouldn't that be symbolism for you - the French flag itself putting out a symbol of eternal life. Maybe even the flag itself catching fire.

However, such an historic event did not take place. They hoisted the thing up and it waved in the wind, harming nobody, looking good like a good flag should.



I found the explanation as to why the flag was there in the first place quite funny. I heard they put it up there each time the French football (soccer) team played a match in the European Championship (Euro 2004).

Whether that was true or not I couldn't say but I liked the explanation and knowing the French, I wouldn't be altogether surprised if it was true.

A whole lotta pictures

The past few days I've spent some time sorting through all the photos I've taken the past three years. I started at about 5,000, removed all duplicates, copies and most blurry shots and now I'm down to a little under 4,000.

It's fun seeing 'old' photos but what strikes me is that the photos I like the most, are those with people in them. I usually don't take pictures of people, I like beautiful things (not that people aren't beautiful) and I tend to take pictures of mountains, trees, the ocean, the sky, things like that.

I think I'm going to have to get a little better at taking pictures of not only the things I like but also the people. After all, the mountains, the sky and the sea will stick around until I'm 60 - the people may not.


Anywho - I'll probably post some random pictures before storing them all on CDs (and checking them three times before copying them to make sure they're all there before I delete them. I'm way overprotective of my photos).

Friday, April 27, 2007

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Monday, April 23, 2007

Annoying visitor

When someone is writing unpleasant comments on your blog and refuses to leave you alone, what do you do?

I'd love to delete the comments but I just don't do that. I can't bring myself to censor people. Rather than continuing to ignore this problem, I've now decided to face it.


So what can I do.. Ban this particular person?
- Can't do that. He's even posting anonymously (which is chicken shit behavior if you ask me)

I could ban anonymous comments.
- But that would exclude other people as well, people I don't want to exclude. Plus he'd only get himself an account.. or twenty.

I could ban everyone from Turkey?
- Not possible.

I could stop responding to his comments.
- I've tried that and if anything it only got worse.


Up until now I've just asked him to leave me alone and hoped it would eventually work. Apparently it hasn't. Until now I've also said I prefer not to delete anything and rather have some annoying people from time to time. But this is getting a little too much.

How does someone end up being like that? A person like that? You know people don't want to hear from you, you know people don't like you, but you still come back again and again. Can't people take a hint? Even when I've said "please just leave me alone" numerous times?


This is my blog. I shouldn't have to dread publishing posts because I know I'll only get some incomprehensible comments, way outside the point of my post, criticizing something or other. I know it doesn't help to explain what I meant or what I'm saying because that will only lead to more comments from a person with whom I already do not wish to communicate.


So what do I do?
Apart from murder (he's too far away) I can't think of anything that might help.

It's just getting too pathetic.
I wish he'd realize that.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Heia Brann, Heia Brann!

Easter is over and The Guy brought me along to my first football match ever!
(that's soccer to you foreigners)



He likes saying it was my first football match, as if I don't know anything about the sport.

I think it makes him feel more like a man... and maybe he thinks it makes me more of a stereotypical woman if I don't know much about sports. I believe it has been quite a while since he learned I'm not a stereotypical woman, but that doesn't keep him from dreaming!

Anywho.. the team is Brann and in Bergen it's mandatory to be a fan. The opposing team was Strømsgodset and the result? 3-1 to Brann. Of course.

Now all they need is to keep up their winning streak for, oh, another six months (this was their second game this season). Then they might win gold in the series. Maybe.


For more pics, among them a lucky one of the winning goal being scored (took me a while to figure out where the ball was), check out appleshots.