Finally!

                                                                 Finally! It’s over!

This spring 1.9 million students have accepted  certificates of achievement from various US colleges and universities and rejoice in joyous relief that their many, many years of scholastic efforts have ended.

Good News!

 Their newly won accreditation will earn them the right to look forward to employment that could not be expected without the knowledge they just compiled. The struggle is over! This is their time! They can now reap the benefits of their choice profession.

Bad News!

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But after the celebration,  new realizations of uncertainty soon become the next  issue to complete. Student loans  have to be repaid..

Each member of ‘The class of 2015’ graduated with an average of $35,051 in student debt according to an analysis from Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Edvisors.com, a website that provides information to parents and students about college costs and financial aid.

     Carrying tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt has become the new normal.

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 Thanks to climbing tuition and inadequate planning -for- college savings, 40 million Americans now have at least one outstanding student loan, according to new analysis from credit bureau Experian. That's up from 29 million consumers back in 2008.

While a High School diploma has been the basic accreditation expected in a US student’s scholastic record, the Bachelor’s Degree was preferred. Current business leaders are now expecting job-applicants  with a Master Degree to be the new norm. Higher accreditation usually is rewarded with higher income. Now it’s time to get the job. Education is expensive and rising each year.

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US Politicians have been heard urging support for “free Education like other countries do” while critics respond with the knowledge that someone has to pay. “ Scandinavian countries do, why can’t we?”

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Students seeking ‘higher education’ in Norway do have free tuition, but the cost is paid by Norwegian residents in various ways.Norway has a strong economy based largely on natural resources including petroleum exploration and production, fisheries and exports that pay high wages to offset the high cost of living in the current high standard to all workers. Then, after retirement, social benefits are repaid to  residents providing a comfortable future which includes the benefits of free health care, pensions and respectable social status. Jobs are plentiful as Norwegian graduates join the workforce.The cycle continues.

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There is a shortage of skilled workers in Norway, particularly in the wholesale and retail trade and in the building and construction industry. There is also a shortage of nurses and certain types of engineers.The strongest developing areas of business in Norway are currently in the information technology and communications sectors.Norway has a strong economy and a relatively low unemployment rate and the skills shortages mean that if you have some knowledge of Norwegian, your chances of finding a graduate job in Norway are reasonably good.Average yearly salary in Norway is 524,616 NOK or $63,111.00.

    1 NOK = 0.1203 USD

    63,110.78

    US Dollars

    1 USD = 8.3126 NOK

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US students might think “free Education” must mean everyone would graduate with excellent accreditation, but only 40 percent of bachelor students and 43 percent of graduate students in Norway complete their education on time at all levels from bachelor to PhD. 

The University of Bergen is clearly the best of the five largest PhD rewarding Norwegian institutions, with a rate of completion within six years at 77 percent. Students are commenting that their program of studies needs updating. Access to teaching assistants is limited, as well as student feedback and resources.

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Students have been asking for the opportunity to be more involved in the construction of  their academic system. At the present time, after gaining sufficient general knowledge, discontinuing their studies and joining the working force is relatively easy and  profitable.Also, because wages in Norway remain high for blue-collar occupations, there’s less of a financial incentive for some Norwegians to bother with college. They can get jobs more quickly, and earn almost as much money, working as plumbers or electricians.

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Even though tuition is almost completely free, Norwegians whose parents did not go to college are just as unlikely to go themselves much as are Americans whose parents did not pursue higher education.“I don’t think that people understand it’s not about money,” said John Gomperts, the president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance, a coalition of organizations trying to steer more young people, especially socially and financially disadvantaged ones to and through college.

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“A bachelor’s degree in the U.S. has been seen as a serious option for getting into the middle class, whereas in Norway, everyone is already in the middle class,” stated Curt Rice. Rice has been selected to be the president of Norway’s Oslo and Akershus University this August. There seems to be little resistance for any Norwegian resident, whether ‘high degreed’ or basically required schooled to protest the current ‘free education’ system even though their youngsters will not be ‘free-schooling.

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Americans are taking notice of the Scandinavian educational system, and while the American graduate values the education benefits, graduation time brings a focus on the quick need for a job.

It’s time to pay back those student loans.

On The Road, Again!

                                              Let’s go for a ride!
Now that the weather is beginning to lose the sting of wintercold, everyone is being seen getting their lawns cleaned up, the grass has been cut at least once here in Wisconsin. Most everyone is planning, or at least dreaming about gassing up the family car and taking off for a few days.

Our roadways are rarely empty as travelers speed to their destinations in vehicles that are known as ‘trucks’ now that the gas prices remain relatively low. Cars of several nations are common on the highway. European and Asian brandnames mix with US well-known companies, most with one thing in common: “Over ninety-nine percent of  cars sold still use the internal-combustion engine”according to the US Department of Energy, and this will likely continue to be true for the foreseeable future.

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However, this is changing. Europe has some different ideas.

When I was an Army GI stationed in Germany in the ‘50s, there were a few different car types whizzing

An early French Citroën

by . France had a car called a Citroën ( SIT’-tro-n’), a major French automobile founded in 1919. In1955, it was the first mass produced car with modern disc brakes. In 1967, Citroën introduced swiveling headlights, allowing for greater visibility on winding roads.These cars  received various international and national-level awards, including three European 'Car of the Year'. André Citroën had built armaments for France during World War I and after the war, he knew he would have a modern factory without a product.To stay in some business, he decided to become an automobile manufacturer once the war was finished. Not many were seen in 1950, outside of those we saw in Paris, while on leave.

Our  faithful  Opel

As  GIs , we, somehow found time to travel. I, and another Army-buddy pooled our ‘scrip-money’ to buy an older 1940s Opel that we really enjoyed.This was a car headquartered in Rüsselsheim, Hesse, Germany, later becoming a subsidiary of General Motors Company. The company distributed Opel-branded passenger vehicles that were later sold under the Buick name . Opel traces its roots to a sewing machine manufacturer founded by Adam Opel in 1862. This enterprising  company began  manufacturing bicycles in 1886 and produced its first automobile in 1899.
We drove our Opel from Frankfurt Germany to various cities in Spain.

Time for  oil

 However, the age of the  vehicle and the speed to which we were accustomed finally took its toll in engine oil. MPG were better known as quarts of oil per mile! Occasionally, early-morning village residences walking the road to their fields  quickly left for the roadside as they were startled by the clatter of our approaching Opel. This must have reminded them of menacing tanks in earlier times. However, this Opel got us all the way home.

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However, times are changing. Globally, about 15 percent of manmade carbon dioxide comes from cars, trucks, airplanes, ships and other vehicles.Global warming reports are being linked to rising levels of carbon dioxide that comes from cars, trucks, airplanes, ships and other vehicles.
     Alternative power-sources are slowly being investigated.

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Sweden has released some surprising automotive news!

Sweden has made the decision to discontinue the production of their famous Swedish Volvo.Workers at the Torslanda plant in Gothenburg and their counterparts in  Belgium have been assembling this favorite for two decades, but  age calls for change and the time has come to retire a model that has served  well. "It feels like saying goodbye to a classic, a car for which many Swedes have voiced their love," said Jessica Span, sales manager for Volvo Cars Sweden.The Volvo XC/70 is  being phased out, with production ending in the second week of May.

The final product as production ceases.

The last Volvo to leave the production line won't even be for sale! This red Volvo will be put on display at the Volvo museum in Arendal.

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There are several  reasons for ‘change’, and one is  high gas prices. A Scandinavian exchange student speaking to our  Sons of Norway group commented that the price of gas in her area was nine dollars a gallon (liter?). Another incentive for change involves the public's interest in  electric-powered vehicles.
Electric vehicle sales in Europe doubled  for the fourth consecutive year, with more than one in every 20 new auto-buyers in the Netherlands and Norway opting for battery-powered cars.

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 The largest market of electric-powered vehicles is Norway.The fleet of plug-in electric vehicles in Norway is the largest per capita in the world, with Oslo becoming the EV capital of the world.The Norwegian government has offered many incentives to buying and driving an electric car. Among the existing government incentives, all-electric cars and vans are exempt in Norway from all non-recurring vehicle fees, including purchase taxes and a tax reduction for plug-in hybrids that will become law starting in July .

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These government incentives are irritating some Norwegians who continue driving gas-combustion vehicles. There are complaints of traffic congestion in some of Oslo's bus lanes due to the increasing number of electric cars that are allowed in bus-only lanes; the loss of revenue for some ferry operators due to the large number of electric cars exempted from payment; and the shortage of public parking spaces for owners of conventional cars due to 'posted-preference to electric cars' (although this was actually the intended policy).

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While here in the US, work and research is focused on ‘driverless vehicles’ and crash-preventive computer-controls, our electric-charging stations remain ‘open for business’ but normally empty as our highways continue to be  crowded by speeding gas-powered vehicles while our family trucks and cars hurry  to their  destinations.

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Enjoy your summer..

So, What's On TV?

                                                   So, what’s on TV?

Unless you have just recovered from a three-month coma, the soap operas continue, but the tweets, facebook comments as well as all social media consists of angry comments, personal attacks and  accusations being hurled in attacks from individuals to others wishing to be ‘chosen’ to be our next leaders. It’s an election year!

 Constant repetition of improbable promises become stressful when repeatedly presented to the public. Many will be relieved when this process is completed and calmness is heard once again.

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Remember an American “artist” named Andy Warhol? In the 1960s, Warhol was a controversial figure producing images of “Mushroom Clouds”, “Electric Chairs”, and Soup Cans while writing books as well as dabbling in film-production of anti-social leanings. One day, Warhol phoned his close-friend John Giorno who, after work, had been sleeping. Warhol decided to film his friend as he slept at a later time. His film consisted of  a combination of close-ups, profiles and facial expressions for over five hours on film. Labelled an “Anti-film”, the production was called ”Sleep” and was edited to 40 silent minutes of Giorno’s rest.         Five hundred people were present for the film’s premier.

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'Sleeping'

It didn’t take long before viewers became restless and several  started to walk out  after only seven silent minutes. At a camera close-up of the man’s head, someone who had seen enough, ran up to the screen and shouted in the ‘sleeping man’s’ ear. ‘WAKE UP!!’  Warhol had pushed “calm” a bit far! However, the point of ‘calm’ and resisting the 1960’s period of social unrest was made.

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Perhaps, we need some ‘calmness’ in our time.
 If we were in Norway, we might tune in WPIX and NRK, Norway and enjoy Norwegian slow television.

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 Norway has taken Warhol to a new level.

 Slow television, (Norwegian: Sakte-TV), is a term used for  live "marathon" television unedited coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length. Its name comes from the long endurance of the broadcast as well as from the natural slow pace of the  program's progress.

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The idea for ‘Slow TV’ was born over lunch at NRK Hordaland in West-Norway in 2009, the year that “In a world where everything moves so fast, it was refreshing to find something so captivating that you did not want to look away from it.” said a  senior VP of development.”We are constantly looking for very loud, distinctive formats and characters, and we believe we have found just that with the Slow TV concept.” A train-ride became an early hit !

The 'Bergensbanen', or The Bergen Line, (a train that runs from the capital of Oslo to Bergen, one of the other largest cities in the country) celebrated its 100th anniversary.This film became so popular, Norwegian viewers wanted more.

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The Hurtigruten "Nordnorge."

In June, 2011, one of the well-known passenger and tourist ferry Hurtigrutens  steamed on it's standard voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, near the Russian border before returning to Bergen. Filmmakers recorded the northern leg of the voyage  as cheering coastal villagers greeted the ship's passengers. When later viewed on TV, the ratings increased as the voyage film progressed. For this 134 hours of film,     3.2 million viewers tuned in to enjoy the broadcast.

 

This concept of calm, meditative and commercial-free TV viewing has been well-received by Norway’s TV viewers. Every sakte-tv production has drawn at least 1.2 million viewers of Norway’s population of over five million people.

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Since 1966, when an experimental  weekend-long showing of a Yule-log burning in a fireplace with 

A sweater in the making..

Christmas music playing in the background, all productions have been well-received. There were three such broadcasts in 2012, three more in 2013, one of which featured  “Knitting a sweater from the start to the finish”. Twelve hours of non-stop knitting with the goal of breaking a Guiness Book' knitting' record.

 This has to be the epitome of  ‘calm’!

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NRK  has been working on the possibility of satellite coverage to transmit these images from Norway’s far north to the rest of the country. A test run is planned for this spring to see if this is possible. Soon, we may be able to view productions such as footage of a train-ride in Northern Norway. On this trip, a camera is

North of the Arctic Circle

positioned on the front of the train as it travels through tunnels and over bridges through a landscape that changes from snow to grass. Occasionally, the voice of the conductor is heard announcing the next station, but normally the scenes are repetitive.1.6 million Norwegians watched at least a portion of this unedited five day broadcast.

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Norwegian National Hymnal

On November 28–30th in 2014, NRK aired the 60-hour broadcast, Salmeboka – minutt for minutt”. Utilizing 200 choirs  plus soloists, musicians performed the entire contents of the Church of Norway's national hymnal from cover to cover. Most of the performances were done live at a church in Trondheim, while recorded performances came from other sites as distant as Karasjok in northern Norway and even Decorah, Iowa. The Norwegian church was open throughout the filming,  and more than 16,000 visitors came in to view the performances. Totally, 2.2 million viewers watched the TV production at some time, with an average of 87,000 at any one time. All 899 hymns in that hymnal published in 2013 were done by 3-4,000 singers of choirs and soloists invited from all over the country.

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Slow-TV has been getting international attention. Television viewers have accepted the phenomenon to the point where  Slow-TV (‘sakte-tv’) has become a natural part of Norwegian vocabulary. Sakte-tv was even named “new word of the year” by The Language Council of Norway in 2013.

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We may be missing something! Time to relax, meditate, maybe read a good book...

Stay calm...

Ships Sighted!

It has been a quiet 850 A.D. winter with little action on the waters, but residents of La Baie Verte are on  watch. Spring and prevailing winds are favorable for visitors, sometimes not friendly. Men from the North have been rumored to have been seen in the area and they are expected to return at any time.

"Land, Ho!"

Currently, it’s spring, 2016, and news of this nature would have little concern for residents of La Baie, now known  as Green Bay which received it’s earlier name of “The Bay Green” due to the color of the water as seen by Jean Nicolet, a French explorer.

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However, the rumors and sightings are current. Huge ships, such as “El Galleon Andalucia”, the replica of a Spanish Galleon of the historic Spanish fleet will be sailing along with nineteen other “Tall Ships” as they take part in a Tall Ship Race across The Great Lakes this summer.

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The 'Andalucia' is a 170 foot, 495 ton authentic wooden replica of a Spanish ship, sailing in this race for the first time. This festival of ships will sail the Great Lakes with port-stops along the way to Chicago, before reversing course northward to Green Bay. 150,000 people will be expected to greet these ships that are expected to dock when they arrive in Green Bay, the first of August, as the ships finish their racing schedule.

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Founded in 1973, Tall Ships America is a non-profit organization  created for youth education through

leadership programs as they take part aboard these sailing ships.Green Bay will be one of nine cities to

welcome the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes 2016 as they tour the Great Lakes. Other ‘local’ ships expected are  ‘The U.S. Brig Niagara’ from Pennsylvania, ‘Windy’ from Chicago and ‘Denis Sullivan’ from Milwaukee. Their closest ports in eastern Wisconsin will be in Chicago, July 27th, Green Bay August 5th and Duluth, the middle of August.

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However, the Men from The North will set sail April 24th and have the tall-ship fleet and North America  in mind.

 In May 2016, Draken Harald Hårfagre, the worlds largest viking ship built in modern times, leaves her home port in Haugesund, Norway to sail across the North Atlantic Ocean.
The purpose of the voyage is to retrace the Viking discovery of the New World.
After studying historic sagas and examining recovered sunken vikingships,  construction began on what would be the largest Viking ship ever built in modern times. Named after Harald Hårfagre, the king who unified Norway into one kingdom, the great dragon ship has regained  life. At 114 feet of crafted oak, 27 feet on the beam,weighing eighty tons, and with a 3200 square foot sail, this magnificent single-sail ship is rowed by 25 pairs of oars, each oar pulled by 2 men.Worthy of a king. This vessel was designed for warfare and the ability to sail across the oceans.In the Viking Age,attacks carried out from the ocean was in form of a

Warship Battle Formation

“Strandhogg”,which was ‘hit and run’ tactics, being highly mobile. However, as time went on, ships changed shapes to become larger and heavier with platforms in the front and back. This was done for the sake of sea battles, that made it possible to board ships that lay alongside each other.

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During all territorial struggles in Scandinavian history, many chieftains became kings and area kings battled for more control. Harald was a chieftain born of Halfdan,the Black and his mother Ragnhild Haraldsdotter (or perhaps  Sigurdsdotter). He grew to become a fierce warrior and a respected king.

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Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom. His colorful history involves his love for a woman who would not marry him unless he became king of the entire country! While fighting to that end, Harold vowed not to cut his hair until he accomplished his goal. Having done so, his crown of hair gave him his name of King Harald Hårfagre, or Harald Fairhair ( Earlier rumored to be called 'Harald Tanglehair').

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Becoming the sole king, Harald had a dragonship  as well as many additional large ships constructed for his warfleet. His crews were highly loyal for their strength, and courage, chosen from the best men of every district. His command vessel was feared by all. Using the best of Viking technology learned from archeology and ships that were recovered, current shipbuilders recreated the Viking ship that sails to North America this summer.

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As this Viking ship leaves Norway, it will be steered past known Viking settlements, sailing past the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. These islands had served as restocking or rest stops on early Viking voyages on their way to North America.

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On the 1st of July, the Draken will join the Tall Ships fleet in Toronto, then sail on to Navy Pier in Chicago before it reverses course back to Green Bay to drop anchor August 5-7 to be viewed by welcome crowds who are expected to number 150,000 visitors. Following this festive occasion, the ships will continue homeward bound, while the Draken Harald Hårfagre will make way through the lakes, heading for New York where the Draken will spend the winter of 2016/17 in Mystic Seaport.

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This time, the arrival of a dragon-headed Viking ship is not to be feared. 

It arrives in friendship and will be welcomed in peace.

Music and Spring

"Here comes the sun

    Here comes the sun".

Remember that happy song from the Beatles?

If you’re lucky, you might remember checking the long counters of vinyl recordings of 78 RPMs, or  33 1/3s, and shopping the latest pop-tunes on a 45 RPM to find the latest “Hit Parade” tune on one side  while

the flip side featured a never-heard filler tune. Collectors can still find these in thrift stores and playable if  they can find a needle  for the  turntable!. Currently, our youth have earbuds full of sounds as  their eyes stare downward, glued to a tiny screen.
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 Ordered from our home computers, sources such as Itunes are making music stores obsolete.

One of these digital services is Spotify, developed in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden.and launched  October

7th, 2008. While free accounts remained available by invitation to manage the growth of the service, later subscriptions were opened to everyone.On January, in 2010, Symantec's antivirus software determined that Spotify was a Trojan horse, disabling the software for millions of computers. However, one month later, Spotify was reinstated and evolved to the point of becoming one of the world's largest music markets. To this day, music-lovers are using sources such as Google Play, Pandora as well as Spotify to enjoy their music.

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Music has always been a part of country celebrations of weddings, dances and folksongs.

The Halling was an early folk dance traditionally performed in rural Norway, with some versions of the 
dance also found in parts of Sweden. It has been documented as the oldest folk dance in Northern Europe.

The dance was traditionally performed by men at weddings and other solemn ceremonies. The Halling is a dance known today as a rhythmic acrobatic dance that requires a lot of strength. Sons of Norway features a touring Stoughton, Wisconsin High School dance team known by their program of Scandinavian dance. One of their highlight feature is a tall young man circling a hat held high on a pole. Leaping into the air, one leg is extended and his foot kicks the hat into the air. The ‘halling’ is a solo male dance described as “something bearish” as it develops into furious action we might see in a Russian Cossock dance, or our breakdancers.

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On the calmer side, composers such as Edvard Grieg have made Norway music internationally known.Modern music in Scandinavia has continued to thrive in various forms. Norway is famous for a variety of musical concerts and  musical events.

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Thousands of spectators attended a recent concert by  Karpe Diem, a well-known Norwegian rap  group. While the concert was being enjoyed, a young fan apparently got carried away. In a bizarre event in this Bergen, Norway youth concert, a twenty-eight-year-old man , who wasn’t in the audience but had back-stage access, grabbed a fire-extinguisher and sprayed several in the audience resulting with respiratory illnesses, damaging band equipment before he was arrested. Music is enjoyed in many ways.

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Justin Bieber is extremely popular in Norway, with some schools even having rescheduled exams in the past so their students could attend his concerts.

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  In another music genre, Oslo, Norway is known as the City of Music.Every March since 2001, a music festival known as The Oslo International Church Music Festival has been held featuring several concerts in   some of the city's most beautiful churches .

Heard in concert are cantatas by G. F. Händel, Telemann, Bach, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Elijah, and the list goes on .The festival has since 2001 presented choirs, ensembles, orchestras and soloists of the highest class.

 The people of Oslo love music and they  love going to concerts. Audiences fill both large venues and small basement clubs any day of the week, all year round as spring brings out the music in Norwegians. With the Easter celebrations approaching, church choirs are busy getting ready for the celebration. Easter is, of course, a religious highlight of the year , but the churches have a problem.

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Norwegian chuches are apparently in need of 
pastors. Norway is not known to be a highly-religious country with Easter popular as a secular  holiday rather than religious while Christmas remains the high point of the spiritual year.

 There is a    shortage of pastors. Even though few people are

coming to services, there is a need for church officials to conduct  weddings, funerals, and other church-related events.NOK (Norwegian Broadcasting) has reported that many Norwegian pastors are reaching retirement age and too few young Norwegians are studying for a career as a pastor. “We’ve had to advertise vacant positions and are struggling to find applicants for the vacancies” Trond Glimsdal of one diocese told NRK. This situation exists all over the country and personnel chiefs from Norway’s eleven dioceses recently met to discuss the need to fill

existing vacant church positions as well as those needed to replace retiring pastors . Consolidation of congregations is often impossible due to the large separation of communities. There are openings and opportunities for those wishing to study for a pastoral position in Norway, so here’s your chance.. Easter will soon be here.
               Easter and spring.

                                          Let the music begin.