Norwegians are a bunch of complainers

Summary: Norway complained to South Africa about Jimmy Manyi, the Department of Labor’s director general, for promoting private business interests in a meeting with the Scandinavians about job creation. The Manyi dude was disappointed about the complaint because he was offering a free presentation on South Africa’s black economic empowerment program. Norway's ambassador said that he had discussed issues that were not relevant to South Africa’s “decent jobs” program.


My Thoughts: I think this is really uncool of Norway. Let the man say what he wants to say. It's not your country so you have no say in what he gets to discuss. Get off his back. Even if he was talking about irrelevant stuff you don't need to go and complain about it. He wants to talk about it so let him be. GOODNESS GRACIOUS!



Source: http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2010-05-28/norway-complains-about-south-african-labor-official-business-day-reports.html

Norway loves hockey almost as much as Canada..

Summary: In the 2009-10 campaign a 22 year old Norwegian led the league in scoring with 64 points and earned himself MVP honors. This guy is considered "The Norwegian Hobbit" because he is 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. Mats Zuccarello-Aasen officially signed with The Rangers even though the whole world already knew that he was going to sign with them.


My Thoughts: I think this is an important article because sports are important in all cultures. I could care less that he signed with the Rangers because I don't watch hockey but lots of other people are excited for him. Sports get lots of different people together and helps people socialize and share a common interest. (if that made any sense) People learn a lot from sports. They learn how to stay healthy, work with others, get along with them, and have positive attitudes and not be a sore loser. I know this isn't what the article is about but that is what the article makes me think of.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37362348/ns/sports-player_news/

NORWAY HAS THE KEY TO TROPICAL DEFORESTATION

Summary: Norway hopes to boost aid to fight tropical deforestation at a conference tomorrow, and to set in motion a partnership to unlock cash pledged at the Copenhagen summit to help slow climate change. Fifty nations will take part in the Oslo meeting, to be attended by Britain's Prince Charles and the financier George Soros, to forge a "partnership" between donors and countries from the Amazon to Congo basins for protecting forests. The United States, Australia, France, Japan, Britain and Norway agreed on $3.5bn from 2010-12 to save forests.


My Thoughts: This article is basically the same as the one I did yesterday but i didn't realize it until half way through my article i thought to myself "this sounds familiar". so yeah, I'll just write about it again. I think it is fantastic that everyone is trying to save the forests so much. So many countries want to protect the wildlife.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/26/norway-climate-deforestation

Eurovision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summary: This week’s 2010 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals are being held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Contestants from 39 countries compete in front of an audience of 125 million people. This is scheduled on May 29th. Eurovision is one of the world’s longest-running television programs. Was made in an effort to bring unity to the war-torn nations of Europe. Travelers to Norway should be prepared to be overwhelmed by the country's rugged beauty. Visitors to Norway can expect to enjoy a variety of activities which include hiking, guided glacier walks, camping, fishing, horseback riding, cycling and winter sports.


My Thoughts: Singing competions are always so much fun. You get to see people either sing really bad or really good or just average. I'm sure everyone watching the singing contests always wish they could sing as good as some of the singers. Since the Semi-finals of the show are being held in Norway then there aren't going to be anyone who is a horrible singer. This is still an interesting concert to go and watch though. I think it is nice that in the article they tell what other activities you can do in Norway. Norway is a very outdoorsy country so people who do not like to be outside might not have as fun of a time. But I'm sure they'll still enjoy the concert and enjoy looking out the window at the beautiful country.


Source: http://www.huliq.com/10012/93669/2010-eurovision-song-contest-shines-travel-spotlight-oslo-norway

John Tate.........what a cool guy.

Summary: American John Tate accepted Norway's 6 million kroner ($900,000) Abel Prize for mathematics Tuesday for his role as "a prime architect" of number theory. The article talks about how he hopes the prize will inspire governments and other funding bodies to increase their budgets for basic research. This guy is now retired. The annual Abel Prize was created by the Norwegian government in 2003. The winner is selected by an international committee of five mathematicians.


My Thoughts: Awards are always fun. I think it's great when nice people receive awards. People who I consider nice are people who win awards and don't take advantage of it. John Tate just wanted to send out a message to the world and ended up getting an award for his smartness. What a cool guy. I hate the stuck up smart people who win and are like "oh look at me I'm amazing and smart and so cool" blah blah blah. Those people don't deserve awards.



Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gjDzyeOZqmG7iomYNI0-CilaONKQD9FTUTAG0

SAVE THE FOREST

Summary: This article tells how president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left for Norway at 7am local time on Tuesday to attend an international conference on climate change and forests in Oslo on May 26-27. Representatives from 40 countries would attend the conference. The meeting is expected to be able to produce an agreement regarding the REDD+ mechanism for immediate implementation.


My Thoughts: I love the forest. I think the forest is a beautiful and sacred place and should be preserved as long as possible. It's important to get everyones opinion so i think it's great that other countries were at this meeting.



Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1274801311/ri-president-leaves-for-norway

The ship, the ship, the ship is on FIRE!

Summary: One of Germany's best-known cruise ships caught fire Sunday while visiting the coast of Norway, forcing a ship-wide evacuation. all 364 passengers aboard the Peter Deilmann Cruises vessel were taken off safely and are now on land. The news service says the fire began in the ship's machine room and was quickly contained. There's no word yet on how significant the damage was to the vessel.


My Thoughts: I think it would be horrible to be the people on the boat because you would have to stop before your destination and it would just ruin your whole vacation. Some people don't get a lot of time for vacation so when they make time to go they really want to relax. But, if there's a fire on a ship that wouldn't be very relaxing. I think it's good that none were hurt.


Source: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=93809.blog

norway trying to stop binge drinking

Summary: Norway health people say that binge drinking has become increasingly higher and they want to stop it. They try to stop it by raising the taxes on alcoholic drinks and make tighter marketing regulations. The reason they have decided to do this is because they realized that drinking leads to accidents, health and mental problems, and death. They estimated that drinking caused around 2.5 million deaths a year. This article also talks about self-regulations.


My Thoughts: I think that they are smart to do this but i'm wondering why they're doing it so late. OBVIOUSLY alcohol causes death, people could've told you that 10 years ago. It's smart to make the taxes higher though because the economy is bad so no one wants to buy anything. But, the alcohol companies with eventually lower their prices or make deals(see picture above) and people will start buying alcohol more. There will still be many many deaths in Norway caused by alcohol but regulations and higher taxes will make the death rate decrease some.



Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64J0LN20100520

Gas Leak

Summary: At Norway's Kollsnes gas processing plant there was a gas leak that caused the work to be delayed and workers to leave. This article tells how the workers are now coming back to work. Work production and deliveries have both been reduced temporarily. The gas is very explosive so the building was immediately evacuated and police rushed over to the building. All together the plant employs 350 people.


My Thoughts: I think gas leaks should be taken very seriously just as they did. The gas could potentially explode and kill anyone near by, plus the company could be out a lot of money. I'm sure there's many cases in the world where gas leaks have cause many deaths so I'm glad they evacuated everyone out of the building.


Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64J21K20100520

Norway Noodles?!?!?!?!?!?

Summary: This article tells about how Asian Noodles are becoming very popular in Norway culture. The increasing demmand for these noodles are due to the 2008 Beijing olympics, it boosted the interest in Chinese culture. Some noodles include, chilled noodles, frozen noodles, instant noodles, plain noodles, and snack noodles. The article also talks about the markets over the past few years in Norway.



My Thoughts: I think it is important for other countries to be interested in other cultures. People don't want to just eat the same old stuff everyday, they want to try something new. Change is good. Many cultures have adopted chinese food into their country but after the 2008 olympics many people throughtout the world took a strong interest in China. I think many people either forget or don't think about the other countries besides their own. But, when something important or maijor happens in another country people take an interest. Such as when the earthquake hit Haiti, everyone started talking about the country and adapting their culture in some way. Before the earthquake, i didn't even know Haiti was a country. This all relates to Norway suddenly becoming interested in asian noodles.



Source: http://www.pr-inside.com/norway-noodles-market-r1902398.htm

Syttende Mai

Summary: This article talks about how today is Syttende Mai which is their form of celebration to celebrate their countries independence day. Most would say that today is the greatest spring festival. The article talks about the events that are going to take place throughout the day. The events include lots of games, arts & crafts, and parades. They love this day so much because its important in history because they got their constitution and independence from the vikings.

My Thoughts: I think it's important for each country to all share a day like this because most holidays are for religion and it's always nice when the whole country comes out to celebrate the same thing. Everyone gets to play games and be happy together. I know that i always have during the 4th of July so they probably have lots of fun during their independence day.



Source: http://www.mioboo.com/967/syttende-mai-parade-schedule-and-events-for-norways-independence/

Days Before Norway's Independence Day

Summary: Every year around the time of May 17th, members of the Sons of Norway Lodge will host a noon lunch beginning at 11 a.m. at Gyda Varden Lodge. This lunch is in honor of Syttende mai and will include many, many tasty treats. The weekend of the independence day is very special to the Norwegians because it means it's time to get ready for summer. Everyone gets really excited and it's just a week of celebration.

My Thought: I think this is a very fun time in Norway because it sounds like they get to eat A LOT of food and celebrate with family. This day is probably very similar to our 4th of July. Except it doesn't sound like they have a bunch of fireworks. The lunch that the members of the Sons of Norway Lodge puts on has a lot of delicious sounding food involved. Such as, cream cake, cream pudding, sweet soup, and Norwegian sandwiches. After reading this article i became very hungry.


Source: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/161464/group/News/

Canada beats Norway in Hockey

Summary: During the second round of ice hockey in the world championship Canada destroyed Norway. The score was 12-1. Canada now has a winning record or 2-1. Canada was defeated by Switzerland only.


My Thoughts: I THINK THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!! Norway should become better at hockey because they're in a very cold country. Also, someday they should beat Canada just like Switzerland did. Hockey, may not be Norway's best sport but that shouldn't stop them from winning! and if they don't win, then they should just win at every other sport. BEAT CANADA!


Source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2010-05-14-2188286460_x.htm

Norway will not force the oil

Summary: This is a short article but to Norway it seems like it is a big deal. They are concerned with the environment so they do not want to hurt it. Norway owns 67% of Statoils shares so therefore when they make a decision they decide everything. Norway decided to withdraw from Canada's oil sand development.


My Thoughts: I think this is very good of Norway. Saving the environment is a very, very important thing to a lot of people right now and any chance we get i think we shouldn't hurt the Earth. Norway obviously felt that they should not ruin the beautiful Canada so they went a denied the oil sand development.


Source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Norway+will+force+Statoil+pull+Alberta+oilsands/3008497/story.html

Norway will not force the oil

Inflation in Norway

Summary: This article mostly talks about statistics in Norway concerning the rising prices in consumer goods. Compared to a year ago in April the prices have raised 3.3%. Month to month the prices raised 0.2%. Also, producer goods increased 26.7% in April.


My Thoughts: I think any type of raising of prices is bad because it forces some people to somehow alter their own lives. Maybe it's eating at home more, driving less, or doing anything possible to save a few bucks all because the stuff they normally buy went up in price. It can be good news for the market owners though because they make more money, unless people stop buying it all together because it's too much for them. It is kind of like what happened to gas and milk in the United States.


Source: http://www.rttnews.com/Content/AllEconomicNews.aspx?Node=B2&Id=1298455

Norway could become the net Gulf of Mexico

Summary: The oil spill that happened in th Gulf of Mexico is similar to what could happen in Norway. This article says that other countries should learn from this mistake. Technology does not always work 100% of the time. Therefore countries, like Norway, should watch closely and know what to do if this were to ever happen to them. Once they find out what exactly happened in Gulf of Mexico they were hold lessons in Norway to teach them how to prevent the problem.



My Thoughts: I think this is a very good idea because obviously if there is a problem you need to learn how to fix it and prevent it in the future. If something major in the world happens, we've learned from history that the same thing could happen again in another country. So, knowning how to fix is a great idea.



http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64412A20100505?type=marketsNews

America is friends with Norway

Summary: this article tells how norwegian americans help out both countries. Norwegians come to america to learn technology and stuff. The article tells how they were in San Fransico and learn.

My thoughts: I think this is important because other countries need to learn our technology and the way we live and stuff. we also need to learn the knowledge they have.


http://www.norway.org/News_and_events/Norway-in-the-US/Norway-Innovates-in-San-Francisco/