2017.10.16 - Road trip in Norway [The New York Times]

Complete story/report @:

https://nyti.ms/2kSG4Tg


MIKE

2017.08.22 - Oslo's car ban sounded simple enough. Then the backlash began

The Guardian [link]

MIKE

2017.07.21 - F16 cockpit view, Norway

MIKE

2017.06.13 - Why Norway is full of Teslas

MIKE

2017.02.10 - Dia nacional SAMI

Desde 2004 que o dia nacional Sami é comemorado a 6 de Fevereiro. 
O dia é celebrado na Noruega, Suécia, Finlândia e Rússia, e serve como símbolo de união e cooperação transfronteiriça da nação Sami. 
A data invoca o primeiro congresso Sami, realizado em 6 de Fevereiro de 1917.

Mais sobre o povo/nação Sami em:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people

MIKE

2016.11.21 - The Limits to Growth

I start by saying that I recognize the hypocrisy and the irony in this post.

Jørgen Randers (Norwegian), together with Dennis Meadows (American) and Donella Meadows (American) wrote in 1972 “The Limits to Growth” (ever heard about the “Club of Rome”?).

Since then the book was revised twice, the latest (published) in 2004.

If you don’t like reading, I suggest a crash-course on Youtube: National Geographic’s “Before the Flood”.

Don’t think I’m an anti-development, anti-whatever hippie: I’m not! I love the good life and all its luxuries.

If you are concerned with your environmental footprint and the future of mankind (your children, grandchildren and so forth…) you need to do something (recycle, reuse and reduce).

I would love to show the Great Barrier Reef to my son one day…

“Awareness is only the beginning, not the destination…”

MIKE

2016.10.08 - Oslo: o calor de uma cidade fria [Expresso]

http://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-10-01-Oslo-o-calor-de-uma-cidade-fria

MIKE

2016.06.28 - O patinho feio dos mares é o novo cisne do gelo

"Custou quase 70 milhões de euros aos portugueses e levou ao fundo os Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo. O Expresso conta-lhe toda a história do navio rejeitado por todos ao longo de dez anos, e que agora começa uma nova vida na Noruega."

LINK: http://cdn.impresa.pt/146/d57/9341566/

MIKE

2016.06.21 - Principais destinos de férias Noruegas no Verão de 2016

Baseado nas reservas confirmadas na agência de viagens "Ticket", eis os 10 principais destinos de férias dos Noruegueses no Verão de 2016:

1. Mallorca, Espanha
2. Creta, Grécia
3. Split, Croácia
4. Bangkok, Tailândia
5. Rhodes, Grécia
6. Alicante, Espanha
7. Barcelona, Espanha
8. Malaga, Espanha
9. Gran Canaria, Espanha
10. Roma, Itália

FONTE: http://www.teambjordal.com/210

MIKE

2016.06.19 - Conteúdo Português com rótulo Norueguês...

2016.05.31 - Noruega e a dependência petrolífera...

A fonte é, aparentemente, fidedigna e idónea.

E no panorama global dos países exportadores de produtos petrolíferos o país não fica nada mal. 

Mas tenho que admitir que a minha percepção no dia-a-dia é que o peso do "oil & gas" na economia é bastante superior ao aqui indicado...

Informação completa no endereço:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/which-economies-are-most-reliant-on-oil

MIKE

2016.01.17 - Pela estrada fora na NORUEGA

Do site "Proxima Viagem", uma reportagem sobre a Noruega:

http://proximaviagem.com/galerias/pela-estrada-fora-na-noruega/

MIKE

2015.11.29 - That's how you know you f#cked up!

Definitivamente não muito lisonjeiro para a reputação norueguesa!
(prestem atenção a partir do minuto 1:52)


MIKE

2015.10.25 - Why do Norwegians use 'texas' to mean 'crazy'?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34622478?

MIKE
 

2015.07.29 - Entretanto nos fiordes...

Conflicts arise over lawn-mowing on Sundays

 

Many Norwegians think it’s only illegal in Norway to mow their lawns during church hours on Sundays, from 11am to noon, but the law against it actually applies to the whole day, police confirm. They’re often contacted during the summer months by people irritated over neighbours disturbing the peace, and this year has been no exception.

 

“We generally tell them to have a chat with their neighbours first,” Elin Anja Drønnen, an inspector for the Sunnmøre Police District, told state broadcaster NRK. She confirmed, however, that a national law ensuring helgedagsfred (Sunday peace) applies all day. It’s often a case, she noted, of evaluating what can be too much noise.

 

“There are many other days to mow your lawn, Sunday should be Sunday,” argued 88-year-old Per Fagerslett while sitting on his tractor at Lerstad in Ålesund, on Norway’s northwest coast. Even though steady rain this summer has prevented many from mowing their lawns on Saturdays or other days, residents of nearby Molde have been avidly debating restrictions on Sunday noise in their local newspaper Romsdals Budstikke. Some residents are also irritated when neighbours use a chainsaw on Sundays, or mow their lawns in the evening.

 

“Then other regulations apply,” Drønnen said, “and that’s the law against disturbances at night.” That’s usually between the period from 11pm until 7am, according to the rules of various homeowner- and community associations.

Others argue that Sunday can be the only option for lawn-mowing, for those who work the rest of the week. Fagerslett wouldn’t budge on his demand for quiet Sundays. “If people absolutely must mow their lawns on Sundays, then they can invest in a robot lawn mower that runs silently,” he told NRK.

2015.05.12 - A nova igreja de Knarvik

Quando o design escandinavo, os petro-dólares e a religião se cruzam o resultado é este:

 

 

MIKE

2015.05.05 - Pretensões Norueguesas na Antarctica...

Não, não estou a confundir o Árctico com a Antárctica.
Sim, a Noruega reclamou para si uma "secçãozinha" da Antárctica:
 

O dinheiro (mesmo aquele que hoje é apenas "potencial") faz girar o mundo…

Notícia completa em:

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-making-moves-in-antarctica-2015-5
 

MIKE

2015.04.27 - Social Progress Index 2015

Adivinha aonde estão os países Escandinavos? ;-)
Portugal (ainda assim), quedou-se pelo décimo oitavo lugar...

Fonte:http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi#data_table/countries/spi/sub1,sub2,sub3,com9,com10,com11,com12

MIKE

2015.04.20 - The women making a song and dance about farming in Norway

A song about farming in Norway has become a surprise hit on YouTube - but it's not just about the female choir and a wholesome rural idyll. Instead it's part of an intense debate online about the future of agriculture in the country.

Perched on bales of hay and wearing green overalls, a group of young women sing a song praising farmers. The women are university students and members of a choir called Pikekoret IVAR. Their song entitled "Norway Needs the Farmer" has been viewed more than 163,000 times. They drive tractors, feed cows and eat hamburgers. It seems light hearted - but there's a clear political message.

They do dance routines with shovels and rakes in hand while singing: "Several generations have looked after the farm, but government reforms destroy the norms. Could we have a new government in this country please?"
In one scene, as soon as the women in the choir see a character which resembles the country's Minister for Agriculture, Sylvi Listhaug, they down tools and chase her around a field. "Long live the farmer! Listhaug you can just give up." they sing.

Minister Listhaug is part of a government that wants to make fundamental changes to the way farms are run, including lowering payments to farmers, who in Norway receive one of the highest levels of subsidy in the world (according to the OECD). The government also wants to scrap a long-standing law which makes it a duty to live on the farm, to change inheritance laws around farms and also change how farm land is sold. The changes potentially pave the way for larger farms and more efficient food production, which the government says will reduce Norway's notoriously high food prices.
But the women behind the hit song oppose the changes. "We don't want big farms. It's not good for the animals or the environment," says Gina Marie Qvale, who grew up on a farm and helped write the lyrics to the song, which are clearly in support of small farmers and against cheaper, imported food. Qvale says "the idea of the song is to give a boost to farmers."
"Yes, food prices are high here," she acknowledges. "But people's salaries are also high."

A spokesperson for the minister told BBC Trending "the video is one of several political statements being made before the upcoming annual agricultural agreement negotiations. The Ministry has no comment to make about the video."
Pikekoret IVAR says they aren't linked to any farming lobby groups, and that the video was filmed and edited by a friend as part of an end-of-the-year variety concert. "The reaction has been insane," says Helen Meltzer of the group. "We've had a lot of good feedback. Most people think it's a cute and fun video."

(source: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-32237521)

MIKE

2015.04.12 - ‘Laziness’ behind fall in productivity

(source: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/02/12/laziness-behind-fall-in-productivity/)

Too many Norwegians just want to have fun and head for their holiday homes, frets the boss of an international accounting firm’s operations in Norway who’s Norwegian himself. He went public Thursday with his irritation over fellow executives and employees alike who spend too much time at their “hytter” and not enough time in the office.

“The weekend traffic starts on Thursday. Mobile phones are turned off after work. If you work long days, (there’s a fear) you’ll burn out. Is it a surprise that productivity is sinking?” Trond-Morten Lindberg wrote in a commentary published in newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on, appropriately enough, Thursday. Lindberg, at the end of a week when a government commission unveiled its first report on how productivity needs to start rising again in Norway, vented his personal observations of what he clearly sees as an alarming trend in Norway that threatens business and the economy in general.

“It’s not low oil prices that pose the greatest threat to the Norwegian economy,” wrote Lindberg, managing director accounting firm BDO in Norway. Instead, he claims, there’s a “national attitude problem” that results in lower productivity. “I think it’s dangerous for Norwegian business and Norwegian competitiveness that we have become lazier,” Lindberg told DN in remarks that embellished his published commentary.

Free time becoming more important than work time

Lindberg noted how productivity has “slowly but surely sunk” since 2005. The decline began, coincidentally or not, about the time oil prices jumped and the Norwegian economy entered an extremely robust period. Lindberg suggests that Norwegians have since become so affluent that they’ve become accustomed to “the good life,” which includes long weekends at fancy “hytter” (in the mountains during the winter and by the sea in the summer, with many families owning both) or trips abroad. He suggests that Norwegians also spend too much time working out at athletic clubs or in the great outdoors, and notes how it became so common for parents to take their kids out of school for holidays that local governments had to forbid the practice.

“We have had generations over time who have done well, we have had a rock-solid economy where many have earned well without necessarily having to roll up their sleeves and work a bit extra,” Lindberg told DN. He said he’s “amazed” by the “people in my situation (with a demanding job, a working spouse and children) who also manage to spend 15 to 20 hours a week exercising. Hats off to them if they also have time to do everything else they must do, but I believe it’s at the expense of something else. That can be their families or their productivity at work.”

He all but blasted his fellow executives and workers in Norway for their alleged desire “to use all their hytter, to exercise so much, to do everything other than what’s needed to make Norway a more competitive and clever country than it is today.” Too many Norwegians, he suggests, now take their well-paying jobs for granted: “If Norwegian productivity is to increase, we need both an understanding of crisis times and a fundamental change in attitudes.”

Facing swift reaction

Lindberg’s commentary seemed sure to spark debate in a country with strong labour laws that regulate work hours and conditions on behalf of workers. Norwegian worklife is also characterized by generous paternal and professional leave, relatively high pay and a culture that allows flexible hours and often puts “family first” over business. At the same time Norwegian workers are often viewed as being highly efficient while actually on the job, starting early and taking only short lunch breaks in order to be out the door at 4pm. Lindberg attacked many aspects of Norwegian business life that earlier have been envied from abroad and viewed as positive, not negative.

Berit Svendsen, managing director for Telenor in Norway, flatly rejected Lindberg’s claim that Norwegians turn off their mobile phones after work hours. She could produce statistics showing that mobile traffic is heavy all through the week, with at least as much traffic on weekends as on weekdays. Studies by Telenor have also shown that one out of three Norwegians work while commuting to and from their jobs, and that one out of three bosses expect their employees to always answer their email promptly.

“Norwegians are fond of their hytter and we know that good mobile phone coverage makes it practical to also work at their hytter,” Svendsen told DN. “I don’t think Norwegians work little or are lazy. On the contrary, Norwegians are good at working extra, they are good at using technology and they want flexibility.”

No longer tied to their desks

Kristin Skogen Lund, head of national employers’ association NHO and the mother of four children, shares at least some of Lindberg’s concerns. “We surely need to sharpen up and become even better at our jobs,” Lund told DN. “Many need to contribute to this, NHO included.” She doesn’t think there’s any unwillingness to work hard, but agrees that Norway “has had good times” and that “doesn’t always contribute to sharpening productivity. We need to make sure we don’t fall into a trap and take things for granted, even though most of us are very well off.”

Lund stressed, though, that spending more time at holiday homes isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You need to be careful about thinking that people don’t contribute just because they’re not sitting behind a desk in the office,” she told DN. “More and more workers have flexibility and can work anywhere.” A recent study showed that many parents continue to work even when they need to stay home with sick children, for example, and thereby aren’t shirking their jobs.

A top official at trade union federation LO disagreed with Lindberg’s outlook on working culture in Norway. “Lindberg has misunderstood some important points,” Hans-Christian Gabrielsen of LO told DN. “Productivity has not declined, it’s just rising more slowly than it was before. And productivity isn’t a result of working the most possible hours. What’s most important is what we get out of every hour.”

Lindberg, who called on business leaders to demand high productivity, maintains that it’s not a good sign that it’s “steadily easier” to find parking places in town on Monday mornings because many Norwegians are still at their hytter. The recent importance put on “work-life balance” is self-contradictory, he wrote, “because it implies that work is not a part of life. Jobs and careers are, and should be, an important part of people’s lives. Less focus on work and more focus on free time results in lower productivity. That’s simple accounting.”

newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund