My Soap Box

I live in the Norwegian region. The Swedish side of my family changed their name (as did a lot of the old timers) so they wouldn’t sound so foreign. I have never found out what it was before the change. This was an effort to “blend in” in a new society. Are the new emigrants willing to make that... Sign in to see full entry.

I remember when I was young, the emigrants were mostly from “the old country”. That could have meant Sweden, or Finland mostly in our neck of the woods. I could tell the Swedish accent from the Finnish. Some of the older people hadn’t learned English. They didn’t speak much, they were embarrassed... Sign in to see full entry.

Warmer weather and blogging don’t mix. Outside projects demand one’s time. Travel and vacation time are a chance to get out of the regular routine. Family gatherings and just plain kicking back leave little time to ensconce oneself in a tiny room with no windows and pour thoughts onto the screen.... Sign in to see full entry.

Sorry it’s just not for me. I mean would you want your kids to have an idiot smartass for a teacher? A lesson on Einstein might go like this – “Einstein’s theory of relativity says you can’t marry your relatives unless you are a famous physicist.” Or the discovery of fire. “Og, what you think, fire... Sign in to see full entry.

I always imagined a novelist making a “family tree” of characters, mapping the locale of the setting, making a time line of the story and carefully making an outline. And that’s just for the forward. A story about local author Pat McManus gives a clue how he goes about this daunting task of writing... Sign in to see full entry.

Automakers find soft market for Hybrids. That was the gist of a story I heard on the radio this morning. It seems the American public, even with gas prices poised to go over three dollars per gallon early in the year, are not interested in hybrid cars. According to the story ( I confess, I don’t... Sign in to see full entry.

Gas prices are expected to go past three dollars a gallon this summer. It is supposedly in short supply because they had to replace that nasty chemical (PTFE I think it was) with ethanol, and they don't have enough ethanol to keep production going fast enought to meet the demand. This may swing my... Sign in to see full entry.

All my life I have wanted to go on a cruise. Ok, it’s not the top thing on my list, nor do I even plan on it, I would just like to, if the opportunity arises. But really, what’s the big deal about a cruise? You get on a big floating hotel with hundreds, maybe thousands of other people. It is going... Sign in to see full entry.

Zacharias Moussaoui, notorious bad guy finally has his ticket for life punched. He finds himself at the pearly gates, where, thanks to Bill Gates, St. Peter is busy working on his laptop computer. “Wow,” the smirking terrorist exhorts, “I am getting Heaven, bring on the virgins!” St. Peter looks up,... Sign in to see full entry.

Hair, the musical teaches us, “the air, the air, is everywhere…” Yes it is, and one of the components of air and a greenhouse gas to boot is methane. Scientists have assumed that methane came from decaying matter (and I believe, cow farts) but an article in the May 2006 Discover magazine on page 15... Sign in to see full entry.