"Google" challenges Sweden!

Famous "Google.com" is unhappy with Sweden's language!

Sweden wants to "Ungoogle"!

Most people have heard of “Googling” something, but have you ever heard of “ungoogling”?

Google, the  search engine and Web service provider, has apparently objected to Sweden’s right to formalize the word “ogooglebar,” or “ungoogleable.” According to the Swedish Language Council, the government agency was pressured by Google to remove it from a list of new words because of copyright concerns.

The Swedish council has made a decision to include “ogooglebar” in their computer language. Swedish computers also have the term “emoji” (an animated symbol used to express emoticons); and “grexit”  and “kopimism” (a religious and political ideology focused on freedom of information if I googled it correctly!)

“Ogooglebar” refers to something “impossible to find on the Internet using a search engine,” according to the agency. However,
the Swedish council gave in to the California-based firm’s demand to kill “ogooglebar” this week and removed the word from the list. But the word isn’t dying a quiet death.
“We neither have the time nor the will to pursue the outdrawn process that Google is trying to start,” the council’s president Ann Cederberg said in a harshly worded article posted on the council’s web site, under the headline      “Google doesn’t own the language!”

Swedish keyboard

Google representatives in Sweden could not immediately be reached. So who does own the language? According to the Swedes, its users.“If we want ‘ogooglebar’ in the language, we should use it, and it is our usage which determines the meaning, not a multinational company with its means of pressure,” Ms. Cederberg said.A look at the history of ogooglebar’s root word supports her point. The verb “Google” was included on the 2003 list in its Swedish form “googla,” meaning "looking for information" on the Internet. However, like Xerox, Google Inc. is trying to keep its company name from becoming  a common word.  It wasn’t happy with the definition of ungoogleable. The search giant argued that the definition should refer specifically to Google and demanded a change and a disclaimer noting that Google is a registered trademark.

---------------------------------

In the U.S., the company is in legal questions regarding the argument that “google” as a verb has become so common that it no longer refers to a specific search engine. If Google loses, it could find it hard to protect its trademark, and could face the nightmare scenario of following the same path as extinct or diluted trademarks like “escalator,” “aspirin” and “yo-yo.”
      

Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while Ph.D. students at Stanford University. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998.
           ---------
Anything can be “Googled” and information-fact or otherwise is readily available. For instance..
April First is an interesting day for the fun-lover..Asking “Google” for April First history, we find that in sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first.

----------------------

 It was celebrated in much the same way as it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night.Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the
new year fell on January first. There were some people, however, who hadn't heard or didn't believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April first. Others played tricks on them and called them "April fools." They sent them on a "fool's errand" or tried to make them believe that something false was true.

------------------------

 But then we can get into fun and games! We might “google up” some mischief: (or find something ogoogleable.Putting salt in the sugar bowl for the next person is not a nice trick to play on a stranger. College students set their clocks an hour behind, so their roommates show up to the wrong class - or not at all.

------------------------

The Spaghetti Harvest

      On April 1, 1957 the British television news show “Panorama” broadcast a three-minute segment about a "Bumper spaghetti harvest" in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually mild winter and to the "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show's highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that, "For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti."

-------------------------

Nixon's Farewell

The 1 April 1992 broadcast of National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation revealed that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon Nixon's voice  impersonated by comedian Rich Little.

----------------------

But sometimes, you have to check for accuracy:..A gas-station was offering a discount on a great gas-price. Apparently, they were advertising “Day-old Gas” at a discount and drivers wanted the attendant to point out which pump contained the advertised special. Perhaps, it would be nice to be able to hit the ogooglebar at times..

          By the way, “Be careful, your shoe’s untied!”... April Fool!

Recalculate..Recalculate!

           Recalculating....Recalculating....

The winter season is slowly coming to an end and people are beginning to make plans to enjoy the warm outdoors.Travelers are anxious to get under way, while students are plannng their spring-break.
              The question is: “Where and how do we get there?”

While birds and other wild-life seem to have built-in guidance systems, we humans must develope and depend on artificial intelligence. Road-maps are now ancient documents, due to the fact that no one could
master refolding them. Then, there was Map-quest, a computer-generated program displaying the possible routes to the chosen destination.This proved too rigid while on the road when plans would change. Along comes Mrs. Garmin, the electronic female voice that, once given the destination, had the ability to guide us block-by-block. But even the skillful Mrs. Garmin would become confused if the driver made a wrong turn. While this system remains very helpful, there must be a better way. The modern GPS system depends upon contact with approximately

twenty-four satellites, triangulated to determine the traveler’s location. This seems like a lot of technology to help us get from point A to point B. Our ancestors managed to sail across open waters for a month without the aid of electronics. How did they do it? They used the sun, stars and ocean currents when conditions were favorable. Fog, storms,  heavy winds and long nights might have caused many changes in routes.

                    They might have had a “Secret Weapon” for their navigational needs!  A “Stone”.

Viking legends tell of an “sunstone” or sólarsteinn that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the sun, even on overcast days or below the horizon. One Icelandic saga describes how, during cloudy, snowy weather, King Olaf consulted Sigurd on the location of the Sun. To check Sigurd's answer, Olaf "grabbed a sunstone, looked at the sky and saw from where the light came, from which he guessed the position of the invisible Sun".
               ------------------
Viking explorers travelled far and wide based upon evidence of Viking settlements  excavated in North America. In remembrance of Scandinavian immigration,  The state of Minnesota has maintained Kjemkomst Center, a Moorhead, Minnesota museum and tourist attraction.  Residents decided to build a Viking Ship capable of the trans-Atlantic voyage and sail to Norway. One hundred oak trees were selected and cut for the construction of  the Kjemkomst Viking Ship. The voyage was to commemorate the Kjemkomst Expedition that originated from Norway to North America. Built in Moorhead, the replica of the long boat and it’s American crew set out in June, 1982 for their oceanic voyage. Soon, problems arose, including malfunctioning of their VHF radio that was essential for communication. After 34 days and 4700 miles, the crew had battled  storms and mechanical difficulties to reach their destination in Bergen, Norway. Their voyage was difficult, even with modern communications. How could “King Olaf” and his crew navigate this route successfully?

   Legends claim he used the  “Sunstone” as his navigational guide.

 ---------------

 The Viking routes in the North Atlantic were often subject to dense fog, and the stone could  be used to locate the sun on very cloudy days.Apparently, these legends may be true!  Researchers have determined such sunstones could have helped the Vikings in their navigations from Norway all the way to America before the discovery of the magnetic compass in Europe.  They would have relied upon the sun's piercing rays reflected through a piece of the calcite. The trick is that light coming from 90 degrees opposite the sun would be polarised, so even when the sun is below the horizon, it is possible to tell the location of the sun if they used the “sunstone”.

------------

Scientific experiments have shown that a crystal, called an Iceland spar could detect the sun with an accuracy within one degree – allowing the legendary seafarers to navigate thousands of miles on cloudy days and during long nordic nights, even when the sun was below the horizon.  This crystal can help in detecting the  distance of some object that is viewed through it ,and that is why Iceland spar was even used during World War II  by bomb squads .

An Iceland spar, which is transparent and made of calcite, was found in the wreck of an Elizabethan ship discovered thirty years ago off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands after it sank in 1592, just four years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

---------------------

Early voyagers used the double refraction of calcite to pinpoint the sun by rotating the crystals until both sides of the double image are of equal intensity. A light ray falling on calcite will be divided in two, forming a double image on its far side.  Vikings could have used a device like this to navigate.  By rotating the apparatus and determining the direction at which  two images were equal in brightness, voyagers managed to pinpoint the sun’s position on a cloudy day .

--------------------------

The Vikings might have had  a “compass in a box”. As the available light was beamed into the box, rotation focused the double polarized images into one, determining the sun’s location.
                             Perhaps the Vikings had the first GPS!

 At that time, the Viking sailors would be able to re-calculate.

Have a nice trip!

It's enough To Make You Want to....

This unruly winter would make anyone scream,

but this unhappy scene is well-known for other reasons.Last year was a big news year for Edvard Munch: “The Scream” sold at an auction for a world-record-breaking $119.9 million to an American buyer.

Edvard Munch, the artist of this piece was born in Løten, Norway in 1863, the son of a priest and his young wife.
 
 When Edvard was five, his mother died of tuberculosis. He received very little schooling, being ill much of the winters and not allowed to go to school. His family entertainment was of his father’s tales of ghost stories and readings of Edgar Allen Poe stories. Later, Edvard was quoted as saying “ I inherited two of mankind’s most frightful enemies- The heritage of consumption and insanity”. When asked about the reason for the painting of “The Scream”, he said “For many years, I was almost mad. Nature was screaming in my blood”.

         2013 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the Norwegian artist as a range of events and the most comprehensive exhibitions of his work ever assembled will be held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth on December 12.In honor of Munch’s 150th birthday, “Visit Norway” has created a crowd-sourced video tourism campaign, which encourages people from around the world to submit their own scream videos to create the world’s longest scream. Participants not only have a shot at winning a trip to Norway, there are also weekly prizes from Dale of Norway, Norrøna, and Moods of Norway. Currently 29 minutes long, the scream video has more than tripled in length in just two weeks.

 
 
Munch died at the age of 80 in solitude at his nearly self-sufficient estate in Oslo, Norway and didn’t journey to America, however knowledge of his works and his life was appreciated by American  Fine Art collectors and scholars. The Museum of Fine Arts in New York City is currently making the famous art piece available for public viewing until April 29th.

 ---------------------

While Edvard Munch didn’t journey to the  New Country, many of his countrymen did . Beginning around 1825, more than 800,000 people left their home country of Norway . One third of the country’s population left for North America in the next 100 years.

 ----------------------

A Sons of Norway lodge in St. Paul is presenting a series describing this Norwegian Immigration to the Midwest. It is open to the public in St. Paul, Minnesota until  the project closes June 20th of this year.

While in the area, stop in and enjoy another outstanding attraction of Immigration History.
 Visit a home that evolved into a museum.
                                          ---------------------------

          Swedish immigrants became interested in the New Country at approximately this same period. One of these Swedes was  Sven Johan Olofsson, who was born in  Småland, Sweden. His family were farmers, but following a series of bad harvests, decided to immigrate to the United States in 1868 when Sven was eight years old. About 10 years later, he headed to Minneapolis, where he worked as a typesetter at several Swedish-language newspapers. Soon after arriving in the city he met another Swedish immigrant, Christina Nilsson. The couple married in 1883. His American name became Swan J. Turnblad and, in time, the owner and publisher of  a Swedish language newspaper published in Minneapolis, Minnesota known as the popular Svenska Amerikanska Posten. He became a very rich man.

-----------------

In 1903, Turnblad commissioned the building of a mansion on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. Turnblad had a architectural firm design a 30-room mansion for him, his wife, and their daughter located at 2600 Park Avenue in Minneapolis.The mansion was a fine example of early 20th century “chateauesque” architecture.

--------------

     Visitors enter into a majestic two-story grand hall viewing carved stone and woodwork, sculpted ceilings. An entire day can be spent touring eleven rooms with  floor-to-ceiling kakelugnar (Swedish porcelain tile stoves). Recently rennovated,  the mansion is now a blend of period rooms and exhibit galleries. View many displays of the  immigrant's  life.

 ----------------

A diorama of typical immigrant days

After the death of his wife, Swan and his daughter moved across the street, donating the mansion to the Swedish American community in 1929. It became known as the American Swedish Institute, now consists of 33 rooms  filled with programs and exhibits of Swedish life and culture.

------------------------

Newly arriving Swedish immigrants to the area naturally congregated with earlier immigrants as they became acclimated to the new life. One settlement became known as "Swede Hollow". Although one of the oldest settlements in the city, it was also arguably the poorest as each wave of immigrants settled in the valley. Arriving in the 1850s, they gave their new home the name "Svenska Dalen,"  an area described later as  a true slum. People and industries occupying the surrounding "upper" neighborhoods used “The Hollow” for an impromptu dump, where the inhabitants down below routinely scavenged for clothing, metals, and building supplies. Swede Hollow was never electrified, and plumbing conditions were extremely primitive. 

The residences were constructed almost entirely out of  scrapped building materials, and the entire area had only one meandering dirt road. Not exactly a great place to live, but one with a roof over  immigrant’s heads as they struggled to improve themselves in the new strange-language land.  The name remained long after the original settlers had moved on. 
In the 1950s, the area underwent renovations, becoming a scenic area known as

Swede Hollow Park

So, if the errratic weather patterns are causing you to scream, and you can’t get to New York, try a short two day drive to enjoy a tour and learn a bit more of your Scandinavian roots ,
                                       a few miles away.

He Did What??

Have you heard the one about Ole..?

                                    
When you hear that introduction, you know that Ole is going to be the brunt of the next Dumb Norwegian joke, but there are some “Oles” that are not funny, and these “Oles" are worth mentioning.

Have you heard of Ole Roemer? “Well, Ole was out looking at the stars when he noticed..” No joke here! In 1644, Ole was born in the town of Arhus, Denmark, becoming an university professor in astronomy. One of his interests was the observance of the moons of Jupiter. In time, he noted a peculiar time difference in the eclipses as they revolved. Measuring the distances related to the earth, he created the measurement that resulted in the calculation of the speed of light. Distance from earth to all planets are measured by Ole's discovery.

----------

                                   

Everyone has had an experience with a favorite construction toy created by another “Ole". Ole Kirk Christiansen, another Dane, born in Billund, Denmark became a master carpenter. In 1932, he was making some toys for his son who enjoyed playing with the left-over pieces of wood. His son began building  little creations, giving Ole the idea of making wooden blocks for the boy. Soon, these blocks became Ole’s most successful product. In 1934, Ole gave the new project the name formed from the Danish words “ Leg godt” meaning “play well”..The new product became known to us as “LEGOS”.  

-----------

                                                                              

Another Ole wanted to get some ice cream for his lady-friend and rowed across the lake to the ice-cream parlor. The day was very warm and by the time he returned, the  ice-cream was melted. Again, no joke, it really happened.This Ole was born in Norway and immigrated to the US with his farmer parents. Not interested in farming, Ole became an expert in motors, working with a manufacturing company of farming equipment. After many attempts, we know the famous outboard Evinrude motor that is famous today.

----------

                                                             

There are many Scandinavian inventors. Some are rarely mentioned, but very important to our society. It would be difficult to understand how we could possibly exist without the work of Rasmus Mailing Hansen. Every American child, youth, and adult  with their thumbs working a keyboard is using a variation of the “Hansen Writing -Ball Letter” machine. It would be very interesting to see users working this key layout!

  

Rasmus was born in Denmark in 1835. The Hansen Writing Ball was invented in 1868 by the Reverend and principal of the Royal Institute for the deaf-mutes in Copenhagen. The writing ball was first patented and entered production in 1870, and was the first commercially produced typewriter. (No QWERTY keyboard, yet!) Rasmus was a priest, inventor, and a scientist. 

                               --------------------
Four Finnish students were working on a “Master Project’ called “Erwise” at Helsinki University. Erwise was a pioneering data management system, and the first commonly available as a graphical user interface, language well-known to computer progammers today  . 

Programming language used for the WWWeb

---

How could we exist without it?!The development of Erwise halted after the students graduated and went on to other projects. Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist  traveled to Finland to encourage the group to continue the project, becoming the creator of the World Wide Web released in April 1992. Although a Brit became the creator, the project began in Finland.

-------------

 Even at the movies, we are asked to "turn off our phones". Today, everyone seems to have an electronic device in their hand or in their pocket. Eric Magnus Tigerstedt (August 4, 1887 – April 20, 1925) was one of the most significant inventors in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1917, he filed a patent for what he described as a "pocket-size, folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone". Sound familiar?

----------

When a new revolutionary "fastening device" was introduced , the public was skeptical.

"Why ditch buttons, hooks, and clasps", they asked? "Do clothes really need newfangled technology?"

Gideon Sundback was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, born in April 24, 1880, Jönköping Municipality, and became known due to his work in the development of the zipper. Several primitive zippers existed before 1914, but they were awful. Early designs jammed and pulled apart easily. They involved sharp hooks looping together, instead of Sundback's method of tight and secure metal fasteners. Sundback gets credit for inventing the zipper, because he created the first practical and reliable design. When the "Hookless No. 2" debuted in 1914, people didn't care. It was a quick-fastening device. Most still work!

-----------------------

There are many other Scandinavian inventions, too numerous to mention at this time!

Everyone recognizes the name Hans Christian Anderson,  Albert Nobel, and several others who have added some much to our  lives. The name of Borge Rosenbaum, the Clown Prince of Denmark has given everyone laughter and joy whenever he is seen or heard. Better known as Victor Borge, everyone enjoys his musical expertise and his well-known invention of “Phonetic Punctuation” as he reads using the commas, periods and grammatical marks with vocal emphasis.                                                           

Victor Borge

                                 We have been blessed with our Scandinavian heritage.

No joke!

Ready...3...2...1...

Winter is definitely here to stay for some time, and sportsminded people are taking advantage of some free time to enjoy the outdoors. Ski jumping hills have been groomed, and athletes have been training for the annual winter events.

 For the more adventurous skier, the world’s best ski jumpers have gathered at Vikersund, southwest of Oslo, for this winter’s Ski Flying World Championships.  Years of hard work and training are behind every one of the young men taking part in this tournament.While there are several Olympic-style ski-jumping sites, the most famous is Norway's  Holmenkollen Ski Jump which  has been setting the standard for Norwegian skiing for over 100 years.

 -----------------

 The first ski jumping competition took place on 31st January 1892. .Oslo’s newly remodeled Holmenkollen Ski Jump opened just in time for last winter’s Nordic Skiing World Championships, after enormous budget overruns and political controversy. Now it’s apparently full of construction mistakes and deficiencies, and maintainance costs increase. Newspaper Aften has  reported that a long list of problems had cropped up, but the sport goes on.
The first widely known ski jumping competition was the Husebyrennene, held in Oslo in 1879, with Olaf Haugann of Norway setting the first world record for the longest ski jump at 20 metres. The annual event was then moved to Holmenkollen in 1892, and Holmenkollen has remained the pinnacle of ski jumping competition.

-------------

Skiing has also been a staple of Nordic winter activity. Skis were necessary to “walk on the snow” to hunt or move anywhere in the rural areas. Earliest “skis” were long boards that were pushed by the feet, unattached to the boards, making turns impossible until someone designed a foot connection to the ski.

One of the first recorded advances in binding design was made by Sondre Norheim, the "father" of modern skiing. His invention was a binding utilizing a leather toe strap that was fastened tightly with a buckle, and a heel strap of small birch roots twisted into a rope, allowing the ski to be lifted from the snow and maneuvered.

Sondre Auverson  Norheim was born at Øverbø, a little cotter’s farm, and raised in Morgedal in the municipality of Kviteseid in Telemark. Skiing was a popular activity in Morgedal. Spectators watchng Sondre leap from shed roofs to the snow might have questioned his sanity, but ski-flying and the sport of ski-jumping was born..

----------------------

The new skiing activity was not without accidents.Norwegian ski jumping star Tom Hilde took a bad spill during the annual New Year’s week of competition in the Alps. Hilde had been in first place when he took a bad fall at Oberstdorf  while in competition. The 24-year-old was quickly back on his feet, to talk to NRK on Sunday.
“I’ll just have to use the time I have to make a comeback, or prepare for next season.” Hilde told reporters after being released from the hospital.

--------------

A Telemark landing

After each jump, competitors are judged by five judges, who are based in a tower to the side of the expected landing point. They can award up to 20 points each for style based on keeping their skis steady during flight, balance, good body position, and landing. The highest and lowest style scores are disregarded, with the remaining three scores added to the distance score. Thus, a perfectly scored K-120 jump - with at least four of the judges awarding 20 points each - and the jumper landing on the "K-point", is awarded a total of 120 points. In January 2010, a new scoring system was introduced to compensate for variable outdoor conditions.

-----------------

Snowflake Skihill

Meanwhile, back here in the USA, A southwestern Wisconsin community is hosting their annual Ski-jumping event.Westby, Wisconsin , a well-known Norwegian community plays host to jumpers during their 2013 Snowflake Ski Jumping Tournament, February 1st and 2nd. This annual event is part of the US Cup schedule that includes competition in several Midwestern states.Approxmately twenty-five national and international athletes are expected to be in the competition at Westby, arriving from Poland,Canada, and Norway and the United States.

--------------------

Snowflake Ski Complex in Westby, Wi.

Westby’s Snowflake Ski Club was organized in 1922 by a group who thought the community should have such an event, due to Westby’s strong Norwegian heritage. Organizers originally tried to buy some metal jump scaffolding,  but found the cost too expensive. So, they decided to build the scaffolding from wood. They ordered 10,000 feet of 1-by-4 and 1-by-6 boards and went to work. It has been said that “They didn’t really know much about building a ski jump, but just observed the way the hill went, and built the jump.” Some of the supports were tied to trees to help hold them up. These  ski-jumping events have created a tradition that has gone on since 1923, and has put Westby on the international ski jump map.
Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 7 PM, February 1st. The tournament  has added attractions  featuring night ski-jumping events with fireworks and entertainment between jumping events.

-------------

Besides the food offerings onsite, a local Westby Church will be serving a special treat for hungry visitors. At 11 AM, February 2nd,  the main-street church basement doors will open for the traditional lutefisk dinner, complete with lutefisk, meatballs,potatoes, rutabagas, and all the expected Norwegian trimmings topped off with Norwegian pastries. An alternative dinner,  a cheaper version for those who come for the excellent meal, will be for  those who, for some reason, omit the lutefisk.

                      There IS something to do on a snowy February Day!

Stop!, or I'll......

"Stop!  Or I'll ..............."

The ending of this declaration depends upon the location of the person making the declaration!

As you travel through Scandinavia and Europe, you are expected to adhere to the rules of the country. While most countries have law-enforcement officers wearing side-arms, others do not. Norway is one of only three Western European countries lacking a fully armed police force. At the present time, only "beat police" officers in patrol cars have immediate access to weapons.
  By law, however, they have to remain unloaded and locked in a box in the car unless authorization is given.Some experts worry that arming police officers would only lead to an escalation of violence as criminals become armed. However, there was little that Norwegian police could do when faced by a heavily-armed gunman, who killed 77 in the August, 2012 massacre, swaying public opinion on the "unarmed" policy.

----------------

Norway has a large population of hunters. Semi-automatic and bolt action rifles, as well as shotguns, make up the better part of the guns in civilian homes. There is a total ban on automatic weapons for civilians, unless they fall into the collector category. Modification of semi-automatic guns into fully automatic without the consent of the police is a felony crime.

 ----------------

 Norway's neighbor, Sweden, began requiring its officers to carry guns in 1965.In one incident, numerous shots were fired by Swedish police after  robbers opened fire towards them during a jewelry heist in Södertälje, Sweden. Two plain-clothed policemen were the first to arrive to the scene 3 minutes after the first 112-call was received When the  robbers, armed with  automatic weapons opened fire on officers, the  robbers were immediately shot and subdued by the armed police.

---------------

 Other incidences require less violent reaction. No one was arrested during an  incident in Vallsta, 180 miles north of Stockholm this Christmas season. Police in Sweden had to intervene after a  visitor to a spa and conference center grew angry because a visiting Santa Claus was wearing a gray instead of red costume. Police said, in a brief statement, that the foreign guest grew agitated over the Santa outfit and argued with the center's staff. They did not say where the foreigner was from, and no armed action was reported.

---------------

 In Iceland all hand guns are banned. Buyers have to be 20 years old to be able to buy and use a rifle or shotgun. Each year, it is necessary to enter a lottery that determines if you get a hunting permit that year.
Icelanders mainly hunt for reindeer and ptarmigan.

---------------

In Denmark,hand guns are also banned unless you are licensed, and you can only get that license if you compete in tournaments, and the guns have to be kept in a safe at the club where you practice.
In order to get a permit to own a rifle, the buyer is required to participate in a course that takes 3 months to complete.

---------------

Switzerland practices universal conscription for their armed forces, which requires that all able-bodied male citizens keep fully automatic firearms at home in case of a call-up. Every male between the ages of 20 and 34 is considered a candidate for conscription into the military. During their enrollment in the armed forces, these men are required to keep their government-issued selective fire combat rifles and semi-automatic handguns in their homes.

--------------

Here, in the United States, a  United Nations report states that the US ranks number one in civilian ownership of firearms. The debate over gun ownership has become an important issue due to several individuals entering public buildings with assault weapons, killing defenseless school-students and movie-goers. Gun-owners defend their right to own weapons based on the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which reads in part: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, and the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. This has remained unchanged since the adoption of the constitution in 1791, and is well-supported by The National Rifle  Association (NRA) and it's members. Currently, the US President has issued several official orders to re-instate an assault weapon ban that expired in 2004, while establishing stricter rules closing some loopholes in gun-sale policy.

---

Of high priority is the ban of the favorite AK-47, a Russian-made military weapon that is so popular and simple to operate, that sources have noted that children can be taught to use this weapon in a single hour.

--------------------

In this January 10, 2013 report: "U.S. life expectancy is lowest among wealthy nations due to disease, and violence. Not only do Americans live shorter lives than people in other wealthy nations, but they suffer more violent deaths compared to their peer countries, according to a report released Wednesday by two of the nation's leading health research institutions".

The debate rages on.