Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full, a song in Swedish and English.

As a little lad, my grandfather put me on his knees and sang this little lullaby. He was a skipper, having been both “on the Heat” and fishing on the banks of Iceland, so he sang it with emotions, slowly rocking as if we were sailing.

Update (8/5/2019): I have been singing it for my grandchildren, and somehow the text changed to “boil the kettle full” rather than boil the kettle so full. It sings better that way.

Update (9/15/2020) this was my grandfather’s schooner.

_DSC1349

This is how I remember it.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där kommer tre vandringsmän på vägen,
byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där kommer tre vandringsmän på vägen.
Den ene, ack så halt,
den andre, o, så blind,
den tredje säger alls ingenting.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
på himmelen vandra tre stjärnor,
byssan lull, koka kittelen full.
på himmelen vandra tre stjärnor,
Den ene är så vit,
den andra är så röd,
den tredje är månen den gula.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där blåser tre vindar på haven,
byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där blåser tre vindar på haven.
På Stora Skagerack,
på lilla Kattegatt
och långt upp i Bottniska viken.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där segla tre skepp uppå vågen,
byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
där segla tre skepp uppå vågen.
Den första är en bark,
den andra är en brigg,
den tredje har så trasiga segel.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
sjökistan har trenne figurer,
byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
sjökistan har trenne figurer.
Den första är vår tro,
den andra är vårt hopp,
den tredje är kärleken den röda.

Byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
de tre äro heliga ena
byssan lull, koka kittelen full,
de tre äro heliga ena.
Den förste är Gud Far,
den andre är Hans Son,
den tredje är den Helige Ande.

And now for the English translation:

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three wanderers are coming down the alley.
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three wanderers are coming down the alley.
The first one, oh so limp,
the second, oh, so blind,
the third one is mute, saying nothing.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
in heaven three stars are a-wand’ring,
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
in heaven three stars are a-wand’ring,
The first one is so white,
the second is so red,
the third is the moon, bright and yellow.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three winds blowing over the oceans.
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three winds blowing over the oceans.
On greater Skagerak,
on little Kattegat,
and far up in the Bothnian Bay.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three ships sailing over the ocean.
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
three ships sailing over the ocean.
The first one is a barque,
the second is a brigg,
the sails of the third are so tattered.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
the Seaman’s chest has triple engravings.
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
the Seaman’s chest has triple engravings.
The cross is for our faith,
the anchor for our hope,
the heart is for charity the crimson.

Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
these three are in one that are holy.
Byssan lull, boil the kettle full,
these three are in one and are holy.
The first is Father God,
the second is His Son,
the third is the Holy Spirit.

And here is the music score, as per Evert Taube.

State College broke the record for ice luminaries! A Limerick.

World record for lights in State College

for ice lanterns frozen with knowledge.

Up and down Allen Street,

see the lights, ain’t it sweet.

A record, will Guinness acknowledge?

The number of ice luminaries made by community members show State College broke the world record that was set in 2013 by Vuollerim, Sweden with 2,561 ice luminaries. The town in Sweden is located only 10 miles south of the Arctic Circle and has about 700 inhabitants, so that record was quite remarkable. John Stitzinger, a founder of The Make Space in downtown State College announced the total, 5,622., at the Light Up State College event Saturday night.

Way to go, State College. Go Penn State!!

From Sweden come the trolls, They are climate feminists, cold. A limerick.

From Sweden with love came the troll.

They must live in darkness, their goal.

Must reduce CO2

dark and cold, way to go.

They’re feminists, that plaid a role.

Trolls are very special creatures. They live in the deep forests of Sweden, do a lot of mischief, come out at night and you can see them in the dim moonlight of the most dense woods, but at the crack of dawn they disappear. No one have seen them by day. But for a true image, take a look at the John Bauer paintings. He must have seen them clearly.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 23: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump signs the first of three Executive Orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, January 23, 2017. They concerned the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a US Government hiring freeze for all departments but the military, and “Mexico City” which bans federal funding of abortions overseas. Standing behind the President, from left to right: US Vice President Mike Pence; White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus; Peter Navarro, Director of the National Trade Council; Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President; Steven Miller, Senior Advisor to the President; unknown; and Steve Bannon, White House Chief Strategist. (Photo by Ron Sachs – Pool/Getty Images)

The newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump went on a signing spree, signing several executive orders the first days of his presidency. One of them was to deny tax funds to international organizations that promote abortions. This didn’t sit well with the Swedes, so they took notice.

Sweden is a very egalitarian society , so naturally the government cabinet since many years must consist of 12 men and 12 women. It is now a very weak coalition between the Social Democrats and the Greens, and they have less than 40% support in the uni-parliament. The Sweden Democrats have 14% of the seats, but all other parties refuse to have any dealings with them, even the opposition. Climate control is the holy grail however of Swedish politics, so they managed to get along well enough to sign a Climate Bill that promised “zero net CO2 emissions by 2045”.

There are those who say that the Green Party vice prime minister Isabella Lovin trolled Trump. Maybe so, for she also tweeted

Isabella Lövin ‏@IsabellaLovin 17h17 hours ago Just signed referral of Swedish #climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future.

756 replies 12,339 retweets 25,595 likes

A remarkable response to a tweet from Sweden.

She also claimed “We are a feminist government”.

Well, if zero CO2 emissions is feminism I remain cold. Not even candlelight for Valentine!

Background: Sweden’s prime minister on Thursday criticized climate skeptics within the new Trump administration and warned that all countries need to “step up and fulfill the Paris Agreement.”

“The position we hear from the new administration is worrying” Stefan Löfven told The Associated Press after announcing an ambitious new climate law promising zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and a 70-percent cut to emissions in the domestic transport sector by 2030.

The Swedish minister in charge of climate policy, the Green party Isabella Lövin, urged European countries to take a leading role in tackling climate change, since now “the U.S. is not there anymore to lead.”

The new Swedish law sets long-term goals for greenhouse gas reductions and will be legally binding for future administrations.

Lovin said Sweden wanted to set an example at a time when “climate skeptics (are) really gaining power in the world again,” and felt encouraged by pledges by China and India to fulfill their commitments to the Paris Agreement.

China is “investing billions and billions of dollars in solar (…) it’s a game changer,” she said warning that “those that are still wanting to invest in fossil fuels will be ultimately the losers.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a Chinese hoax, has raised speculation that he might pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.

The new Swedish law enters into effect on Jan. 1, 2018. It was developed after agreement from seven out of the eight political parties in parliament.

Oh, as to the picture of President Trump surrounded by only men, there was at least one woman witnessing the signing

The Muslim Clock boy is back! A loser, a Limerick.

The Radio Shack Clock boy is back:

A frivolous lawsuit attack.

But the judge cleaned his clock;

for the boy quite a shock!

All court costs and lawyers’ fees! Smack!

Background: Barack Obama surely know how to pick winners.

A 14 year Muslim boy finds a 30 year old alarm clock from Radio Shack, opens it and modifies it slightly so it can be used as a timing device for bombs. He shows it to his science teacher who tells him – Good, but don’t show it to anyone. He does carry it in class the rest of the day, and when it beeps (that’s the circuit you splice to the detonator) his English teacher freaks out and calls the police. He refuses to cooperate and gets arrested.

For this he got invited to the White House?After this ““severe psychological trauma”, meeting President Obama on social media and an invitation to the White House, where he meets the president Monday on the South Lawn at the astronomy event other equally traumatic experiences followed:

2. A meeting with Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, at a science fair;

3. Praise by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg;

4. Being named the beneficiary of a $20,000 fundraising campaign;

5. An invitation by a Canadian astronaut to visit;

6. An appearance with Dr. Oz;

7. Praise from MIT scientist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for being “my ideal student”;

8. A proclamation by New York City of “Ahmed Day”;

9. A visit with Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide.

10. A visit with Turkey’s Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu;

11. A trip to the Middle East during which, as the Huffington Post described it, he “hung with Jordan’s Queen Rania”;

12. A visit to Mecca as an honored guest of Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. (Source: http://www.wnd.com/2017/02/clock-boy-gets-clock-cleaned-in-free-speech-victory/#vp7tzO2jEo2clGro.99 )

In spite of these traumatic experiences the judge was not persuaded and ordered the boy to pay all court costs and the lawyers’ fees for the defense.

There is yet hope for America.

Duelling groundhogs 2017, a Limerick.

The duelling groundhogs’ predictions:

They come with their voters’ restrictions.

One is hot, one is cold;

all to fit in the fold.

It’s all from the hogs’ jurisdictions.

This was totally predictable. Punxutawney Phil comes from the county of Jefferson, Pennsylvania, a county that voted 78.3% for Trump, so naturally he predicted six more weeks of winter. He is a representative of the 2,623 counties that voted in favor of Trump. No Climate Change here.

The impostor, Staten Island Chuck stems from the borough of Staten Island that voted 58.6% in favor of Trump. But New York City as a whole voted 81% in favor of Clinton, and as the Mayor of New York City, Bill De Blasio was master of ceremonies, he didn’t dare to predict anything but an early spring, remembering what happened to his predecessor, a very unlucky grondhog the very same mayor dropped to the ground, after which fall he (she?) got hurt so badly he (she?) died a few hours later back in the zoo. It was then discovered that Chuck was actually Charlotte, an impostor, but what can you expect from New York City politicians? It didn’t prevent PETA to give De Blasio their award of the year anyway.

Chuck will represent the 520 counties won by Hillary Clinton, nearly all inner city counties, where people live Climate Change. The Urban Heat Island effect has lead to more than one degree heating in the last 30 years, and these concrete jungles will heat up some more even when there is moderate worldwide cooling.

Groundhog day 2017. A Punxutawney Phil Limerick.

The Phil Punxutawney prediction:

Six MORE weeks of winter affliction.

In the Climate change game

it is worth ’bout the same

as IPCC claims of fiction.

Here are the Climate models used by IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change) Models versus reality:

Boy and girl scouting are missing their goal. How about Awana?

Many years ago I met a friend that had escaped East Germany after the war. He emigrated to U.S., met a delightful Southern Belle and fell in love. She was a faithful church goer, so before she would accept his advances she asked about his faith. He answered proudly “I am a Lutheran” to which she answered “Oh, is that’s like the Catholics?” This didn’t sit well with him, but he loved her very much, so he promised to go to church with her anyhow. He liked the people very much and felt welcome, so he became a faithful church-goer, but kept his faith to himself. They married, got children, brought them to church, but when the church started an Awana program he drew the line. “No Awana for my children! It’s indoctrination! Their scarves reminds me of my childhood’s Hitler-youth“. This saddened his wife, but being a loyal wife, she submitted and let the children join the Boy and Girl Scouts. This went on for years, but one time taking his daughter and two of her girl friends home after the scout meeting he happened to listen to what they were saying to each other about the meeting and many other things. The next Wednesday he came with his whole family and exclaimed “Awana, here we come” to the delight of his wife and children, since that’s where their real friends were, and this experience was also the catalyst for his salvation.

This was 35 years ago, and Awana is still going strong. The name Awana comes from 2 Timothy 2:15 Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed and their mission statement is: God is changing the world through the ministry of Awana by equipping leaders to reach kids with the gospel and engaging them in long-term discipleship.

Meanwhile, the Boy scouts and Girl Scouts of America have taken a different route and are now even further removed from their original mission than they were 35 years ago.

Can a boy scout be pregnant? A Limerick.

What happens when boy scouts get pregnant?

The thought of it should be repugnant.

It could happen at camp

with no morals to clamp?

A boy here in camp that’s expectant!

Washington Post: “The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that it will allow transgender children to enroll in scouting programs.”

Boy Scouts chief executive Michael Surbaugh said in a video message that the organization will now accept boys based on the gender a parent puts on a child’s scouting application, ending a policy of accepting boys based on the gender listed on a child’s birth certificate.

What happened to the scout oath?

President Trump’s executive order on immigration updated, a Limerick.

Executive orders last week:

Just one was in need of a tweak.

Made the green cards exempt,

no more held in contempt;

now humming along, so to speak.

President Trump last week issued an executive order that has created considerable stir. It read: “I hereby proclaim that the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens from countries referred to in section 217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and nonimmigrants, of such persons for 90 days from the date of this order.” And it targets Syrians specifically. “I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.”

Searching through INA 8 the countries of concern are defined “The order bars all people hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.”

The restrictions used to be for only four of the seven countries, but the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 added Libya, Somalia, and Yemen as three countries of concern,

Trump didn’t select seven “Muslim-majority” countries. US President Barack Obama’s administration selected these seven Muslim-majority countries.

The word Muslim is never mentioned in the order, nor is Muslim Majority countries.

The total population in the seven countries mentioned is: Iraq, 31 million, Iran 75, Libya 6, Somalia 9, Sudan 39 , Syria 21 and Yemen about 24 million, for a total of 205 million out of a total Muslim population of 1.7 billion in the world. That means that 88% of all Muslims are not affected by this 90 day review, only Syrian refugees are mentioned, and only that the review will take more than 90 days and require further executive and legislative action.

The executive order was written in haste, and it became obvious it would have been better if the words “excluding green card holding aliens” had been added to “suspend entry”.

Realizing the mistake, President Trump wasted no time to clarify and amend the executive order exempting green card holders.

People, especially Democrats tend to forget that green card holders, resident aliens are still aliens.

President Trump’s executive order on immigration, a Limerick.

Executive orders this week:

One is in bad need of a tweak.

Let green cards be exempt,

not be held in contempt;

while aliens, will no havoc wreak.

President Trump issued an executive order that has created considerable stir. It reads: “I hereby proclaim that the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens from countries referred to in section 217(a)(12) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and nonimmigrants, of such persons for 90 days from the date of this order.” And it targets Syrians specifically. “I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.”

Searching through INA 8 the countries of concern are defined “The order bars all people hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.”

Trump didn’t select seven “Muslim-majority” countries. US President Barack Obama’s administration selected these seven Muslim-majority countries.

The word Muslim is never mentioned in the order, nor is Muslim Majority countries.

The total population in the seven countries mentioned is: Iraq 31million, Iran 75, Libya 6, Somalia 9, Sudan 39 , Syria 21 and Yemen about 24 million, for a total of 205 million out of a total Muslim population of 1.7 billion in the world. That means that 88% of all Muslims are not affected by this 90 day review, only Syrian refugees are mentioned, and only that the review will take more than 90 days and require further executive and legislative action.

The executive order was written in haste, and it would have been better if the wording had been “suspend issuing or renewing entry visas” rather than “suspend entry”. This is what I think is at the core of what the federal judge’s objection, ordering a stay on the executive order, not that all the nations mentioned are Islamic.

People, especially Democrats tend to forget that green card holders, resident aliens are still aliens.