The Old New Thing

Plane-spotters to require government license

Plane-spotters to require government license. The article spins it as a "benefit" for ground-based aviation buffs, but this is just one of those "two steps back, one step forwards" things. Plane-spotters were outright banned from airports in the summer of 2003. Now they can go back, but they'll need to shell out £15 for the ...

Norway: Pros and cons

For the third year in a row, the United Nations' Development Program has ranked Norway as having the best standard of living in the world. Norwegians beat out all others because of their high levels of education, pay and life expectancy. In a totally unrelated story: Norway world leader in casual sex. Of course, Norway isn't all ...

Varför läser jag svenska?

(Even if you don't read Swedish, you may enjoy the links at the end.) Några personer har frågat mig varför jag läser svenska. Historien börjar för många år sedan. Jag läste tidningen och såg att det fanns avgiftsfria norskalektioner i Ballard kyrkans källaren. (Ballard är...

Batman and Robin patrolling Whitley

Batman and Robin have been spotted in Whitley, providing valuable services like rescuing damsels in distress (pushing her car to the nearest petrol station), scaring away potential muggers, and even chasing streakers off a football pitch...

Dead man running

The plight of the legally dead (but physically alive) in India has been taken up by - of course - a legally dead man. And now he's running for public office. Though apparently this isn't the first time. (People are usually declared dead by conniving relatives who want to claim their inheritance prematurely.) I wish him luck. If...

Truckers block highway to protest high gas prices

To protest rising gasoline prices, a group of truckers abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the highway. It struck me as odd that a country that brims with anti-French rhetoric would adopt one of their protest techniques. Presumably they don't want French gasoline prices either...

Today is Swedish tax day

Of course, in Sweden, every day is tax day. By now, it's too late to fill out your tax form, which the Swedish tax agency permits you to file on paper, via Internet, over the phone, or even via SMS. They even have what I wish the US tax agency had: An online tax form calculator...

You wanted Extreme Crochet?

Keith Moore thought I was writing about Extreme Crochet in my previous post about Extreme Croquet. No, Keith, if I had wanted to write about Extreme Crochet, I would have used this link...