Top place to live - Norway (Heaven)

[soumya ravindranath]

So, This Is Heaven: Norway
A U.N. report named it the top place to live. And the once poor nation is dedicated to spreading its now substantial wealth.
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS, Times Staff Writer
OSLO -- Imagine a world so shielded from modern dangers that
children accept candy from strangers.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-110801gudlife.story
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Any Norwegians around ? Is your country really like this article says ? wow !
( leaving the house unlocked - I thought it was a privilege only we, in our ancestral village enjoyed )

[Rikard Qvarforth]

He he norway .. well actually i am not from norway but from the big brother land to the right.. sweden.. he he the thing is that sweden and norwaty has this hate love thing, auctually norway and sweden was in a union in the early 1900. Well now norway has all the oil and there for the big greens. But i have an ide : Sweden invates norway and then norway take over sweden. Sweden get to chair all the oil money . or ?
Rille
" never mind my spelling, its the thougth that counts .."

[Nanhesru Ningyake]

>darkness falls by 3 p.m. half the year
Speaking of early darkness, here in Boston (42N latitude), the sun has been setting at around 4.15pm, and its fully dark at 5pm. The farthest North I've been is about 47N in NB, Canada. But the sunset time there is around 5pm, because they are at the western edge of the Atlantic time zone, whereas we are at the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone. Quite simple, eh?
Continuing with the geography lesson, did you know that Reno, Nevada is to the WEST of Los Angeles? (Mostly North, but still West!) Just look at a map

[Guennadiy VANIN]

That is just bcoz it does not bomb indisriminatively. Some period of time due to Vietnam syndrome, USA also managed to be on top

[Guennadiy VANIN]

Can you give me a link for immigration rules in Norway (or Finland)?

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by G Vanin:
That is just bcoz it does not bomb indisriminatively. Some period of time due to Vietnam syndrome, USA also managed to be on top

I think I can speak for many Americans when I say bite me. I'm tired of you POS's coming around here and trashing us. Have we been attacking you? Nope. Have we been saying anything about any impovershed, corrupt, organized crime run, can't pay to keep their own military in shape, former super power that you may be from? Nope. So FOADYCB!

[Guennadiy VANIN]

Jason,
I do not even know whether it is male's or female's name and I am already trashing you...
You know I lived in my country and your country was obsessed to destroy my one. It succeded and now just continuing with others and majority in your country supports it.
BTW, I just wanted to communicate with those that do not like bombing others. Sorry... no interest neither to you nor to your country. It is just third by the level of life, according to UN and almost the last in my ranks

[Michael Ernest]

I think what Jason is saying is that you could have made your point without hijacking a thread to disparage the U.S. If your point rests on demonstrating that a country's well-being is damaged by its aggressive foreign policy, why not point to the USSR's intent to occupy Afghanistan, or Iraq's invasion of Kuwait? If you are in fact from Russia, you'll find people are more sympathetic if you can see the faults of your own country for what they are instead of pointing to everyone else's. No superpower, past present of future, should find its citizens so naive and arrogant that they believe their misfortunes are completely caused by others.
More to the point, you certainly didn't need to hijack a topic about Norway with some sniggering comment about Vietnam. Give it a rest, and stay on topic, please. Meaningless Drivel is not synonymous with saying whatever you want wherever you want.

[This message has been edited by Michael Ernest (edited November 20, 2001).]

[Guennadiy VANIN]

Any link about immigration rules in Norway or Finland but not Vietnam?

[Paul Stevens]

G Vanin,
It is considered rude to hijack a thread like this. Please refrain from doing so.

[Jason Menard]

When I was in Bosnia, in Sarajevo, the two bases I was at were both mainly guarded by Norwegians. Occasionally they would rotate out for short periods of time and some other nation would take over, but it was mainly Norway. I was struck by a couple of things about them.
For one thing, they were all extremely friendly and just about always had a smile on their faces. Ihad been outside the base and was walking in the main gate one evening and had pointed my weapon into what's called a clearing barrell so that I could safely remove the round that was in the chamber. While I was doing this a cat jumped up onto the barrel directly in front of my weapon. The Norwegian guards, apparently tired of this stray cat who had been bothering them all night, began laughing and imploring me (picture Norwegian accented English) to "Shoot it! Please shoot it! Shoot the cat!". Naturally I didn't (I like cats), but the way they said it made me laugh, including their feigned disappointment when I didn't comply.
The other thing that struck me about them, was that each and every one of them looked about twelve. We were like, do your mothers know where you are? So all together they kind of resembled a highschool ski team more than a military fighting force.
They seemed like a great bunch of people though, not an imposing deterent on the gates, but a good bunch none the less. If they were any reflection of the rest of the country, I'm sure it is a great place to visit.
On a side note, I also remember the Czechs, Moroccans, and US 101st Airborne taking their turns guarding the compounds when the Norwegians rotated out. The Czechs particularly looked like a bunch of people you would not want to mess with. Anybody would have had to have thought twice about making a run at the gates while they were on. Same goes for the Americans, although they didn't look as rough as the Czechs did. The Moroccans were another story. The poor guys they had on the gates didn't seem like the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree, and in fact looked mentally challenged by their duties. We were afraid that they were going to accidentally shoot themselves.
Anyway, meeting the Norwegians there (especially seeing the women ) definitely gave me the desire to visit Norway.

[This message has been edited by Jason Menard (edited November 21, 2001).]

[Jason Menard]

And while we are talking about Norway, how about some trivia?
This one is a little obscure so we'll see who knows their music.
Background: Warren Zevon is a musician who has had some fame but is not exactly a household name. I'm not sure how best to describe his music, but I guess I would call it rock in the same vein as someone like Elvis Costello. His biggest hit was probably "Werewolves of London", although some female country singer had a big hit covering his song "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me".
Question: Norway or Norwegians haven't exactly been a popular subject in rock music. One of Warren Zevon's more popular songs, which he even performed on Letterman one night, can be described as a ballad about a fictional Norweigan. What's the song?
I know it is very possible that there are no Java Ranchers who are familiar with Warren Zevon, but I figured I'd give it a try. And no google!

[Michael Ernest]

That female country singer you're thinking of is Linda Ronstadt. No music comes to mind when I think of Warren Zevon, although I have seen the name several times.

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:
That female country singer you're thinking of is Linda Ronstadt. No music comes to mind when I think of Warren Zevon, although I have seen the name several times.

Actually I didn't know she did it too. It seems it was a hit for her in 1978. I looked it up, and the person I was thinking of was Terri Clark in 1996 or 1997. I think another one of his songs to get at least some exposure was called "Exciteable Boy".
"Werewolves of London" was featured in a Tom Cruise movie in the 80's, I think it was the one where he was the pool shark, but it might have been the one where he was the bartender.
[This message has been edited by Jason Menard (edited November 21, 2001).]

[Ashik Uzzaman]

What abt Paris,Switzerland,Singapore?

------------------
Muhammad Ashikuzzaman (Fahim)
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java� 2 Platform
--When you learn something, learn it by heart!

[soumya ravindranath]

In Singapore, people don't generally smile at each other (or look at each other in public), so i guess that is ruled out
[This message has been edited by soumya ravindranath (edited November 22, 2001).]

[Nanhesru Ningyake]

>meeting the Norwegians there (especially seeing the women)
Aren't Swedish chicks supposed to be the hottest among the Scandinavians? Which movie was this, where this blonde in pigtails says "I am Elga, from Sweden"?

[Michael Ernest]

Tom Cruise as a pool shark --> Color of Money
Tom Cruise as a bartender --> Cocktail
Jamie Lee Curtis dressed in lederhosen saying "Jah, I am Elga, from Sweden" --> Trading Places
Can't be stumped. Don't even try.

[Guennadiy VANIN]

It is my dream to visit Northen Europe.
I have a cousin in Karelia, it is former part of Finland but stayed with Russia after Finland's independence! They have 2 islands/person, 5 lakes/person and they are very economical: they do not need 2 bottles of voka per person, they are drunk after 20 grams!
As soon as I have money I go there!

[David Weitzman]

60% income tax? It sounds like it'd be frustrating for people who work hard and make a lot of money, but quite nice for people who get free rides.

[Jamie Robertson]

Originally posted by David Garland:
60% income tax

sounds similar to my country, eh? (Canada, eh)
Jamie

[Lalooprasad Yadav]

Originally posted by G Vanin:
I have a cousin in Karela

Yeah me too. But, I thought Kerala was in India. Is it in Russia now ?

[This message has been edited by Lalooprasad Yadav (edited November 24, 2001).]

[Anonymous]

So, I should use different ISD code to ring my parents this evening?

Ashok

[Guennadiy VANIN]

Originally posted by G Vanin: Karelia not Karela (you may use copy&paste). India is also nice place to visit but, I believe, a little bit overcrowded, for me.

[This message has been edited by G Vanin (edited November 26, 2001).]

[Anonymous]

2 G Vanin
Ty che ,kakie na xep 20gr?Litr v rylo i ne v odnom glazy!;-)

[Anonymous]

Nanhesru Ningyake,
Thats the brightest name I've come across...The other one was Uppinkayi )
(Don't mean to 'hijack' this thread...)

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by Daniel Dunleavy:
60% ain't bad if you get something for it.

60% is never good. Maybe if you buy into socialism, but definitely not if you are a capitalist. On second thought, 60% isn't bad if you make no little or no money to begin with and are simply living off of the state. I'm sure those people are big fans of socialism.