Contemplating Sig

Sort of Random

2010-01-08T18:47:00.002+01:00

Thrill seeker, pleasure keeper,
momentary redemtion.
Driving us from salvation.

This is just a random thing... I do get requests from time to time from people asking to learn Norwegian, I usually start with showing them this video. Regardless of it being a curse word.

It is funny, it is true.. it will make it easier for me to just link people to here than all the way through searching up the video through my favs on youtube.

Congratulations all Women

2009-03-07T15:47:00.002+01:00

We sat on soft pillows on the floor, the stage was set, the light was dim. Drums rolled in the background, soft but fast. A single woman wrapped in veils colored by the rainbow suddenly appeared. I could only see her eyes, and they looked straight at me. Her feet and the drums kept the same phase, quick and light. She danced so elegantly and yet so fierce. The flickering flames of all the candles around her reflected in her hair as the first veil became an extention of her movements. And not a fibre in me could imagine to look the other way.

Today's the international woman's day. A happy day to celebrate the female gender, with all her attributes and rights. I can't obviusly make a complete "yay this is so good" post, and fear not, there's a backside to this medal aswell.

If anything, this day should be used to remember all the women in this world who are not treated properly. And by "properly" I mean as equal to men. Nothing more or less. In many countries this is far from the reality. And how easey it is to point out a bunch of arab countries where women are forced to cover themselves, and where their testemony in a trial is worth less then that of a man. Or African countries where female circumcision is standard procedure. A procedure which kills and destroys lives every day.

The Suffragettes have done their job in the western world, but there's still more work that needs to be done.

Whale and Seal Fishing

2009-03-03T19:51:00.004+01:00

It never crossed my mind as a kid, that my father could be wrong. He spoke with such conviction of the victory to come. And mother would nod in acceptance, adding her two cents of approval of the new system. I did not mind the uniforms, and it was fun to march like little soldiers. The sense of belonging, of achievement and something to strive for was so strong. We felt stronger by the day, and believed in every word. And father told me one day, looking up from the newspaper during brekfast; "I am so proud of you son, a prime soldier of Der Führer."

Just months later everything was turned up side down. We were the villains, but it took years to understand what we had done.

If there's one thing I am certain of, it is that knowledge is the key ingredient to making right decicions. Regularly I am debating with people about whale meat which I consider to be most delightful, and the fact that Norway hunt whales. The usual first comment I get goes in the lines of "Whales are a threatened species." And I'm always humored to correct that whales are not a species, but two sub orders containing around 40 species. Some threatened to near extinction, and some who's population is thriving. A blue-copy of this intro would be the start of a seal-fishing debate.

I guess we should get some facts down about Norwegian fishing policies.

Only one species of whale is hunted, the Minke whale.
Two species of seal are hunted for, Hooded Seal (which has not ben hunted for in 2007 or 2008 due to population uncertainties), and the Harp Seal.
Each year quotas for hunting these species ar given based on scientific recommandations from the ICES and NAFO.
Public inspectors must be onboard each seal catching ship, and all crew members must have gone through a course in the laws and regulations.
There is now a need to increase seal hunting due to population growth.
Norwegian seas are today of the richest in the world, and Norway remains one of the biggest and most successful fishing nations.

So what does this tell us? The seas of southern Europe are fished out, and Norway still manages to make a great income annualy without overfishing, they must be doing something right.

I could go into detail about fishing policies but that's not the point here. What brought me to this topic in the first place is a propsed EU resolution to ban all import of seal products. It is completely ridiculus and serves no purpose other then to harm the Norwegian fishing industry. The seal-fishing can today only be conducted through state funding, even though it is essential to keep the fragile balance in our seas.

Instead of "Save the seal" posters the enviromentalists need to wave "Save the sea" posters instead, and vote against this proposition.

Should anyone require further data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp_Seal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_Whale

The Worst of Crimes

2009-01-07T23:05:00.003+01:00

The internet is a meeting place for any and for all kinds of activities. This sadly includes child molesters posting and exchanging child pornography. I just watched an episode of Oprah about this and now I'm sitting here with a huge urge to first vomit, and secondly seek out and kill some pedophiles.

A close friend of mine was abused as a child, by her own father. In 3 out of 4 ceases it is someone close to the kid, which only makes it worse. It's a really sick world out there, pedophile networks produce how-to guides on making child pornography, making sure the kid will not be able to tell what happened or not resist abuse.

To sexually abuse a child is of the worst crimes I can imagine. You take an innocent little child and ruin it fysically and mentally just for own personal pleasure. Being alert and making sure your kids don't talk to strangers is not enough anymore. The police (in any nation I can think of) needs more funding to hunt down child molesters, and also the penalties are way too low. A perfectly reasonable penalty would be to chop off the abuser's private in addition to prison sentances and fines. A enuch cant repeat the crime.

Bloggalicious

2009-01-06T13:14:00.003+01:00

Just figured I'd let ya'll know I now have three blogs, not just this one. I'll keep the politics stuck in Politisk Presis which I'm writing in Norwegian, and also just for the heck of it really I'm also writing The Random Item . Basicly just covering the weirdness of the world, will try to post daily there.

That's all I have to say today. cya lata.

Israel vs. Palestine

2009-01-05T14:43:00.002+01:00

To have and to conquer these are the rules of war. We re-write the borders on the map, again and again. One empire dies as another rise. With the slashes of swords against skin have we shaped the world. Built cities, sacked, pillaged, established kingdoms and overthrown kings. In the end the only right you have to any land, is the right you can defend on the battlefield.

These last few days the middle-east conflict have yet again become a war. Israeli forces are moving inside Gaza, removing one target at the time. And knowing this will create hatred towards me I still feel obliged to say that I'm fully supportive of Israel's actions.

Norwegian media are mostly very pro-Palestine. And thus the lack of objective reports is a huge problem. I keep hearing about a humanitarian crisis, but the images from Gaza projected in the news dosn't show this. Why? They show civilians with injuries rushed to hospitals, but they are carried by men who appear both well dressed and fed. Last night they sent images of people fleeing the Gaza strip, with their sheep aswell. And to my eyes those sheep looked pretty well fed too. I can't see any humanitarian crisis as long as even the Palestinian-loving news channels fail to show it.

Also there's been alot of talk about the wall around Gaza. A problem with that is Israel does not surround Gaza. Take a look at the map if you don't believe me. Gaza has both a long coast-line which Israel has not shut off, and a borderline to Egypt. No one is yelling at Egypt for building a wall there though, funny isn't it?

Religious Rants

2008-12-29T00:32:00.005+01:00

He held my hand with his hand so strong and firm, and all my body yearned to find a strenght like his. A source of hope and faith to hold on to in the darkest hours of the night. Yet as he turned around and dragged me across the moist grass of the garden the only strenght that kept me on my feet was his. I was like a leaf that shivers in the wind, horrified by the scenes I had just witnessed. The noise of gunshots and pain faded behind us as we ran. I had no thought of where we were heading to, or what intent he brought me away with. "Just any place but this." I told myself, not once did I pause to look back.

It's Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid..Well, in these jolly holidays I hope you're all enjoying a good time with family. I for one, become more aware of my religious beliefs, and there's a certain film I've wanted to have a little one on one with for a while. Now I've chosen the stage of battle. Apologies to those who don't enjoy a good read, this one's about to be a long one.

I hope the movie Zeitgeist is something you perhaps have heard about or seen, and not a film you validate as truthful. I have decided to use only what knowledge I already possess from research done for other reasons and tare this little piece of a poorly made attack on my religion to slitherines.

Do youself a favor and skip the first 10 minutes. They hold only a little joke about how the church always collects money, and tons of images of suffering people collected from a news channel website. Plus some crappy "doomsday" music.

Similar gods;

The comming of Jesus had been foretold for millenias before his comming. There are more similarities to predating divinities then those mentioned here as well. Such as the use of the pentagram and the nickname "morning star".

If you know some of the research done by Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdal you'll be familliar with the fact that all these civillisations were at some point connected by sea. Even the Aztec, the Easter isles, Egypt, Greece and India had connections of trade and travel. And where people travel, so does stories, legends and myths.

So is it not possible that when the prophets foretold the comming of Christ, these stories travelled and changed slightly becomming these different myths from all over the world?

The date december 25th is not even mentioned in the bible. It gives not either a date or a year. The year has been roughly calculated by historians by examining the other events of the time. This year has later been re-calculated to be a little off, but details such as that has no importance really.

3 Kings? Funny enugh, the bible does not say there were 3 kings either. It only mentions 3 different gifts given by them, but does not point them out as the only gifts, or say that there were no other wise men, (correct, no kings at all, only an un-clear number of wise men.) At these two points Zeitgeist prooves to know nothing about Christianity, but merely the common simplified main stories bound to the religion, used to tell the word to small kids.

As for the sun being dead and ressurected, this is an interesting consept to originate from the middle-east region, which is so close to the equator that the visible journey of the sun is not really signifigant compared to by the poles. It is only the daily death and ressurection by the battle between Seth and Horus that has any actual sources.

Symbols, the encirceled cross is just one of houndreds of examples of a symbol whos signifigance has changed through time. Did you know the pentagram has only been connected with the devil the last centrury, and was prior to that a symbold of Christ's 5 wounds gained upon cruxifiction? Or where the nazi symbol originates?

And the transition of ages, it's a little farfetched to believe that the jewish people were so based on what is really greek mythology (the western zodiac), in a time where they had been enlaved in egypt for decades. And where they had done all they could to keep own culture. And dragging out single words and lines from the bible to suit your story is just too simple when taken into account just how many words there are in the bible. With a little determination you can easily make any text as extencive as the bible be about anything you want.

Matthews 28:20. This is just too ridiculus. The King James version of the bible has been thrown away long ago. It was too infected with political means of it's time. No Bibles printed today are based on it, but instead they are built from the earlier latin Vulgata. A far more accurate source. Again this movie shows it's lack of research basis, when using a"bible" that is not aknowledged as truthful by any right-minded christian today.

Oh and I do need to add before going on, Zeitgeist has an irritating habit of showing "lists of references" that slide just too fast for the viewers to actually read it. Annoying my ass off lol.

Flood:Stories of great floods are found all around the world. From Norse mythology to ancient China. Especially in the Mesopotania region where the rivers Eurfrat and Tigris may have caused several floods. According to Zeitgeist the epic of Gilgamesh predates Christianity, That alone is a pointless statement. Seeing as that this Babylonian myth originates from a later time than the story about Noah. Itis born in a later and more advanced civillization. Anyone tell me how the copy can predate the original? Also, thought being similar on the surface the two myths have strong contradictive contents. The epic of Gilgamesh depics the flood as un-reasoned for wrath by the gods, who at the end of the story gathers like humble repenting flies around the sacrifice Gilgamesh makes. And whilst Noah goes out to warn the people around him, Gilgamesh does his best to leave everyone happily ignorant, leaving them to die.

There is massive geological, archeological and historical evidence of a huge flood in the Mesopotanian area which may or may not be the origin of these tales. Yet that will not by itself explain similar stories found in the rest of the world.

And again with Moses as described before, myths and stories travel around the world, and they were altered slightly from lack of written sources and accurate translations. To find similar stories are not a proof against the existance of an actual person, but rather they point to a common origin that must have had a high enough importance to be kept alive through tales.

Fanatic Christans who think the world is 12.000 years old... (I've never heard 12.000 used before either, usually they say 6.000.) Well, altho I find them funny the mockery of Zeitgeist is really taking free speech a little too far.

Historical evidence of Christ:

First there's the list shown of historians living at the time of Jesus Christ who have not written about him. Notice how many of these names sound latin? Jesus was concidered a threat to the Roman empire, a heretic by the pharisees, convicted and executed for these crimes. It was feared that he would cause an uprising by the jews, and overthrow the Roman rule to become king himself. Or that should his story somehow be given truth he would become a martyr, again perhaps cause an uprising. Anyone who wrote about this Jesus-character would indirectly consent to liberation of Judea, hence committing treason to Rome. The story had to be kept down, not forwarded. Especially after the body of Jesus disappeared from the grave.

And yet, 4 historians do write about him? Tell me about another person who's entire life was to be forgotten by demand of the highest authority at that time that has been described by 4 historians? Also Zeitgeist ignores the apostels and everyone else named in the bible as historians.

Christian History:
Yes Christianity was severely misused by authority during the dark ages, like many other religions before and after it. (just look at fundamentalistic islamic terrorist groups today). You won't find many Christians today defending the crusades or the inquisition. And the Catholic church is no longer as single-handed dominating in the Christian world as it was, since other sects have risen and diverted from it, or it's oldest opponent; The Orthodox Church.

I'll be more then delighted to have a proper debate regarding my faith with anyone who can offer factual arguments. However in this attempt Zeitgeist has fallen short. And I'm sadly dissappointed that I'm able to argument and shatter every single of it's "points" without needing to do any research beyond my current knowledge.

Will anyone take the challenge?

The Curse of Limitations

2008-12-12T20:29:00.004+01:00

Caressed by carbon,
filling the air.
Oxygen abandon,
me in my fear.

Walls comming closer,
all around me.
My mind's a browser,
failing to see.

As I become history,
death complete.
All of my memory,
now obsolete.

People close to me know that my health has been utterly terrible for the past years. Especially the last one. All the doctors and nurses at the office know me and that really is not a good sign. Only the last months have I really gotten any diagnoses. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (bullying is one of many reasons behind this hence my previous post.) and a pair of rotten purple tonsils which I had removed some weeks ago. So how exactly did my tonsils end up like that? Well.. pretty much my immune system had decided to take a leave of absense. And continous infections had a bad influence on those poor tonsils of mine.

Anyway, the surgery is over and done with, and I'm getting theraphy as well. I've been pain-free for a week now since the operation, and feel like a completely new person! It's really a dramatic change. I've wanted to do so many things before but have been completely unable. (A side-effect of my health-issues was an immensly irritating chronic fatique.)

All this has made me think a lot about limitations. One of the worst things I know is being unable to do what I want to. Like before, I would go to the gym one day I was feeling well, and the penalty would be a week in bed. Now however, I've gone to the gym three times in 4 days, and I feel fantastic!

There's mainly two forms of limitations. Those that are set by your body and mind, and those imposed upon you by others. And the tricky part is to balance these limits with crossing them to expand your own borders, without taking it too far. I had no respect for my boundries before, and that cost me. I've learned from that, but still accepting that someone else tells me: "You can't do this." Is something that's very hard. I simply don't believe in it, that anyone besides from myself can really know what I am capable of. People may say this with the best intent, but is it not through breaking free of outer bondries such as this that one can develop oneself to the full?

So I guess the message in all this is to not let others keep you down in any way, even if done with love. Allow youself to be everything that you can be, and harvest the fruits of new found strenghts.

You wonder if you love me,

XO XO - Sig

Social Networking

2008-12-06T23:37:00.005+01:00

He was bland and utterly boring to me. A misplaced smile and loss for words. We stood on the balcony and shivered from a merciless breeze. His jacket gently landed on my shoulders, and his face spoke of triumph. Yet my heart felt empty. And my mind could not comprehend the extenciveness of his folly. Thinking that I would fall for him? No... I had even said it right to his face. This, was just a temporary game. And still this foolish foolish young man stood here with me, quoting Shakespeare's 14th Sonnet in the sunset. The deal had been so clear. We would play our parts as a couple simply to please my parents on their short visit. Now it seemed to me that I had been too good an actress. And at this moment the show had to go on. Consequenses would have to be dealt with later on. And thus, I stood there in the arms of a mannequin, returning his smile, pretending that everything was ok.

These last days have brought to mind the relations between people. How we interact and coexist. Everything we do affects all the people around us. Each word spoken can bring harm or joy. And what people do to us affects not only our instant emotions, that's just the surface of it. Over time our relations with other people shape us.

And that's where psycology becomes so interesting. Bullying for example, a harmless act? Not quite so simple. Maybe picking on a person once over something that just seems like fun feels like nothing in the bigger picture. Yet the oposit may quite often be the cease. There's so many ways to respond to being poorly treated by fellow humans. Immedeatly there's the usual sense of isolation. When you're picked to be a victim that becomes your name. And you'll carry traits that are easily recognized, and those who feed on you multiply. We are pack creatures, and outcasts are free game. Little thought is given to the victim's position.

So what happens really? To this sad person who walks alone back and forth in the school hallways? Always with the nose pointing downwards and quick steps from A to B, as if too much in a hurry with something to have time for the remarks of others. At the time he feels only cold and unwanted. Going through the mass of students is like walking on needles. It stings when they turn their backs towards him to shut him out. It hurts when they stare at him like there's a deformative in his face. And all the comments that he pretends to overhear, echo in the dephts of his mind for years to come.

I could easily rant on how a person ends up in such a position. It's not weakness that causes it. But right now that is not the essense. What I wish to clearify is what really happens to a person like this. The possible long-term effects.

For walking in these claustrophobic corridors is not a dream. You always look for safe spots. Preferably empty rooms or hidden corners where few are likely to come by. Loneliness sometimes means safety, and in the dark silence your mind is left to dwell on everything. It broils with frustration, hurt and anger. "Why me?" It asks.. "What did I do to deserve this? What is wrong with me?" And there's a few possible conclusions to end up with here. One is the acceptance that you are indeed at fault. You're a lesser being and for that you are punished. The result of which is that you don't do anything about it, believing that the bullies are justified in their acts. Thus creating a downwards spiral where you feel more and more useless, worthless, unloved and unwanted. A typical start of self-molesting and eventually even suicide.
An entirely different line of thoughts can be with aggression. "It's their fault, they don't see what I am, they don't respect me. They just follow the crowd and think it's cool to pick someone who's down." You start looking for ways to stop them, or continue to ignore these "lower induviduals" whilst looking for friends that accept you. At first glance this may seem as a better way to deal with it all.
Yet that is when you fail to see the sad truth. It's a traumatic experience to be isolated and bullied. Simply because we are social creatures that need to feel that we belong somewhere, and that we are part of the group. And when you become an outcast for years and years.. It leaves nasty prints in your subconciousness. And that is a dangerous place to have traumas stored. Traumas linger there like bad tumors in the brain. They become memories painfull to touch. But more dangerous is what havoc they may cause the brain.

The human brain is.. the centre of control. It where everything is administrated by millions of tiny electrical impulses going to and fro destinations in an immensly complicated network. Dark holes from the past cause disturbances in this system. And the outcome of that can be so many different things. Emotional psycological issues are one side. Post Traumatic Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Self-Harming, and the list goes on. Another is the fysical side. The brain can easily be fooled and messages end wrong. Unexplainable pains that move around in your body. Immune system that shuts off, hormones acting up, clouded judgement, hyperventilation, migrenes, energy loss, liver malfunctions. And I could write at least a couple paragraphs of other possible things that could happen. The point is.. That it can cause serious health problems to this person in the future. And you can't just take a pill to remove memories, so getting well is ofthan a many year long process. And it can even ruin a person's life.

And all because some kids decided to have "fun".

Two little Bs

2008-12-04T16:38:00.007+01:00

I stood upon the treshold of insignificant victory. Worn and bruised from the blades of battle. The air lay thick and moist over the hills, consentrated in drops on our skin. Speckles and ponds of red blood lay everywhere. It was as if the very earth bled. And it wept for the fallen in heavy streams from the sky. We were victorious, but no cheers or trumpeth salutes would congratulate us. Dark clouds weighed over our heads, a reminder of our deeds. We felt no glory in the defeat of our opponents. For they were unarmed. A simple misunderstanding had cost this tiny village dearly. For our pride could not allow anyone's refusal. Yet by the venting of our anger, every reason for pride was diminished. And here we stood, soaked, feeling only guilt.

I've got two guineapig girls living in my room. They're my precious babies, but also a couple bandits and mini-houdinis. When they were just 5 weeks old they had two visitors. Mia and Line, which belong to some of my neighbours. Having 4 guineapigs roaming about in my room was great fun, but they sure made my room look like a mess! You can see for youself here:

Credits to DjRattie for editing my video clips

My girls Edel and Nataly have grown alot since this video, but they still look just as adorable. However they have become a lot more mean. Last night I found they had attacked the floor and made a hole in my wall to wall carpet! And my poor furniture are also victims to their teeth. I will either have to cover all chewable items on floor level, (the floor included) with metal or keep them in the cage. And it really dosn't feel good at all to hold them captive like that for something which really isn't their fault. If anyone have any brilliant solutions to this problem please let me know.

In the Beginning

2008-12-03T18:57:00.005+01:00

So, here we are..
On the first day, Sig viewed the darkness and said: "Let there be words." And she put words onto the darkness of the page, adding a slight touch of white.
She looked upon her creation, and saw that it was good. Letting off a sigh as she realized that creating words would be a task never complete. She decided not to have a day of rest and rather spend her life as the un-named author of yet another blog.

Nonsense put aside, I guess some may wonder why I've chosen to write in English. And there's no single answer to it. I enjoy the extensiveness of the language, allowing for so much wordplay. And I will be writing to and of many people who will never study Norwegian.

Some people may inquire about my name, is it really "Sig"? Not quite as simple it isn't. But I would like to counter the question with another. What is in a name but the taste of one's parents? Or tradition? Or if a name has some meaning attached to it, will it not say more of the parent's expectations of their child, then of the child itself?

People close to me will have the link to this blog slammed in their face at some point, that is a promise. Some sooner then others. And I actually DEMAND (gosh that is a harsh word... ), that they too stick with calling me Sig.

That will be all for now, I bid thee farewell