Tag: Norway

European electricity prices are sky- rocketing. The real price for going green and relying on interruptible cheap fossil fuel imports.

It used to be easy. In Europe, especially Denmark and Germany decided to go green with wind and solar power. Last year, Germany finally realized that Northern Europe was too cloudy for efficient solar power, but wind was still valid. They decided to decommission all nuclear power. The real cost of wind and solar power was 5.7 times the average cost of coal, gas hydroelectric and nuclear power. See chart that clearly shows the retail price of electricity versus percentage of renewable energy:

Those were the good old days. This year, with the war in Ukraine raging and with Russian sanctions, and the U.S. again being an energy importing country electricity rates are rising rapidly. These are recent European wholesale rates for electric production (distribution costs, profits and value added tax are then added on top of that)

The price is in Euros, which is now on par with the US dollar. The Swedish and Norwegian electricity pricing is interesting. See chart’

Sweden used to take care of its own energy, and price it low over the whole country. This year they have large regional differences, with retail electricity at about 22 cents/kWh in the two northern regions, and in the Southern two regions it can be as high as 75C/kWh. There are not enough transmission lines from North to South to equal out the pricing, and the transmission lines to Europe are also very limited. Norway on the other hand has a very good transmission line from Southern Norway to the European Continent, so Southern Norway went from having some of the lowest electricity prices in the world to over 50 c per kWh. In Northern Norway there are local grids powered by hydropower, so their cost is still essentially the cost of distribution.

The consumer price for electricity in U.K., Germany and France this winter is expected to exceed $1/kWh and even then there may be blackouts if they get a cold-snap. It is going to be a long cold winter in Europe.

The Nordic Countries show the way of COVID-19 treatment.

First, let us acknowledge that the Nordic Countries are not socialistic. They are welfare states, and as such have government controlled medical care paid for by taxpayer dollars. In Sweden the Value Added Tax is 22% and it is paid by everybody for all purchases. Of course gasoline and other luxury items such as cosmetics and spirits are taxed much higher, but you get the point. The important part is that all pay their fair share of taxes, so all contribute to the welfare state. But other than that, the Nordic countries are less socialistic than U.S.A. Even the railroads are privatized. It is true they all flirted with socialism in the 1970’s but found it was unsustainable (read Pomperipossa in Monismania), so they turned back from the brink and are now doing better than most countries. In fact, their 2021 economic freedom index is mostly higher than the U.S.A’s. They are as follows: Denmark is ranked 10th, Iceland 11th, Finland 17th, Sweden 21th and Norway 28th. By comparison U.S.A. is 20th out of 178 ranked countries.

Now to the Nordic countries and COVID-19. Almost alone in the western world Sweden decided to take the route of achieving herd immunity rather than using masking and shutdowns. Only sports and other large gatherings were prohibited. At first it looked like a catastrophe for Sweden, this was before any vaccines, but then some form of herd immunity started to form. More than a month ago Norway decided to treat Covid-19 just like a flu and abolished all Covid restrictions. Three weeks ago Sweden decided to “pause” the Moderna vaccine for people under the age of 31 years of age. Their reason was that there are more severe vaccine cases than cases in that age group. Denmark, Finland and Iceland followed.

What is the current COVID-19 situation in the Nordic countries?

. Fully Total since beginning of pandemic Last 7 days average per day

Country Vaccinated Cases/million Deaths/million Cases/million Deaths/million

Sweden 67% 114,137 2,465 58 0.40

Finland 66% 27,000 201 103 0.54

Denmark 78% 63,128 460 112 0.20

Norway 68% 35,760 161 73 0.36

Iceland 81% 36,197 96 122 0.00

(U.S.A) 56% 137,120 2,230 1,405 4.22

As we can see, Sweden, with a horrendous start is now near or at herd immunity having less than one tenth of the death rate of the U.S. The other Nordic countries are doing equally well, and this is without forced wearing of masks. Their vaccination rates are higher than In the U.S.A, but the difference in result is staggering. The masks will actually increase COVID cases.

A perfectly preserved tunic from Roman times uncovered from melting glacier proves the climate was warmer then. A Limerick.

The tunic at Lomseggen pass

a garment of very high class

got preserved in the ice

glaciers grew, then demise

the climate change sure shows pizzazz

This tunic was made in the third or fourth century A.D. It is made of wool, and like all good tunics of that time it was never washed. The original sheep tallow in the wool made it a very good water repellent, so it was warm enough to wear when going over the short pass in snow in the winter. The oldest artifacts found, stone arrow points are about 6000 years old

and the newest are from viking times around 1200 A.D.

The Landbreen Glacier in central Norway grew, and from about 1400 to 2000 A.D. the pass was under the ice pack of the glacier. This proves that the climate was warmer  in roman and viking times than it was up till the 20th century. To prove this point we can see the temperature records from the Greenland icecap, at about the same latitude. (The temperature is in degree Celsius)

As we can see, there is a negative correlation between CO2 and temperature. This is counter-intuitive, but far more important than the amount of CO2 to affect the climate is the amount of clouds, the amount of snow they contain and when and where they occur. It turns out that clouds are the main temperature regulator for the climate, and we are eventually and slowly entering another ice-age. The recent rise in CO2 from 280 ppm to 405 ppm will delay the onset of the next ice age, surely arriving in the next 10000 years. Right now we are almost back to the conditions of the Medieval warm period, but still much below the ideal conditions during the Roman warm period. The climate is getting better.

Why is Norway winning the winter Olympics?

What is it with Norway? A country of barely 5 million people winning the Winter Olympics time after time? In fact, they have won the most medals of any nation since the winter Olympics started. Are they, as descendants from the Vikings genetically superior? At first glance, looking at the athletes, trim and good looking, that is certainly a possibility, but I may suggest it is more in the geography of the country and the attitude of the Norwegians. They are proud, and the whole country stand behind their athletes, not only the very elite, but also the run of the mill also-rans. And it runs in families. they start early with children skiing from the age 2

Image result for barnskridskor

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Then the whole family skis up for an outing on “fjellet”

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When it comes to sledding they start early. And they have real hills, right in their backyards, so sledding season is every day for monthsImage result for familjeutflykt på skidor

There are even skates for toddlers.

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The Norwegians are brought up on skates and skis.

In most towns they put up a lighted ski track, so people go after work and complete a few laps, rather than go to the gym.

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Of course, children need help at first. But that is what parents are for.

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So when the Olympics come, the whole country can celebrate!

Norske flagg og folkeliv har det vært i Lysgårdsbakkene under verdenscuprenn. Men ikke nok, mener Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset.

With five million Norwegian Flags, no less!

 

 

 

Trouble in Sweden. A knife wielding, masked man kills 2, wounds 2 in a school in Trollhättan, then is killed by Police.

3769552030Sweden is in serious trouble. Once a peaceful country of Swedes with a smattering of Finns and refugees from the Baltic countries it has now swelled by about 2 million new arrivals, immigrants and  asylum seekers, mostly from Muslim countries. This year alone they are set to receive about 190,000 asylum seekers, nearly all from the Middle East and Muslim parts of Africa. In a country of less than 10 million inhabitants this causes great stress on the resources, so much so that the Government is saying: “If any more come, we will have to let them winter in tents”.  Yet they keep coming, by the thousands a day.

Sweden has made an effort to assimilate the immigrants. People with jihadist tendencies have been given preferential treatment in job placement in the hope that given a job they will change their behavior, leaving an increasingly jobless Swedish youth resentful.

The immigrants live mostly in segregated enclaves in the city suburbs. Such is the case with Kronogården, Trollhättan, and teaching in the schools there can be challenging. This afternoon, Swedish time, a man donning a star wars mask and an object that has been described as a sword, a machete, a Crocodile Dundee knife or a knife-like object depending on the eyewitness came to the school. The students gathered around him and wanted to hold the sword thinking it was a Halloween prank. A teacher got worried, called the Police and went up to the knife-wielding man to talk to him, but was promptly killed by the sword. In all two were killed and two students seriously wounded. The Police came and shot the perpetrator, a 20 year old man. He has been identified, and the knifemanPolice is now raiding his apartment. When I find out more I will update the post.

Update: Early reports say the perpetrator was a Nazi sympathizer and critical of Islam.

He had a clean record, was not known by the Police.

He had a job as an apprentice at a local firm.

his high school classmates are flabbergasted he could have done it. All considered him kind but withdrawn, living in his own world, spending his free time playing video and internet games.

Update: His name was Anton Lundin Pettersson. This is a very Swedish name. In searching his internet files he had no connection with any right wing organizations. He had downloaded one Nazi propaganda film and the music piece “När ondskan talar” (when evil speaks) on his computer. That was pretty much it.

Update: About the school where the murders took place.

Sweden believes strongly in culture centers. Such was the case with this school. It doubles as a public library and a culture center, complete with a Café. This café is located in the middle of the culture center, and is open to the public. It became Cafeknown as a “Gubbcafé” ( a place where older men congregate, spending hours looking at all the children passing by between classes and going to the school cafeteria.) In addition it is frequented by the immigrant community, mostly military age men making their observations and comments. The teachers and students have made numerous complaints that they felt unsafe and threatened, but nothing had been done before yesterday.

Sweden has now become the country with the second highest incidents of rape in the world, second only to South Africa. With the influx of another 180000 refugees, mostly military age men coming from a culture where any unescorted girl is free game, it can only get worse.

It has gotten so bad that Norway is considering closing the border with Sweden, something almost unfathomable until this latest invasion of refugees.

By comparison 180000 refugees coming to Sweden, a country of 9.4 million corresponds to a refugee flow of over 5 million into the U.S. in a year!

Some thoughts on the horrendous murders in a historic church in Charleston, S.C.

DylannThomasAfter the horrendous murders at the historical Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina 17 June, President Obama said early the next day at the White House. “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”

Not to be outdone Hillary Clinton said at the beginning of scheduled remarks at the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Las Vegas: “We have to face hard truths about race, violence, guns and division,” and then continued: “How many innocent people in our country from little children, church members to movie theater attendees, how many people do we need to see cut down before we act?”

The Nordic countries  have very strict gun-laws, and the murder rate from guns is much lower than in the U.S. Yet , they have had their fair share of mass murders,

Scotland, population 5.1 million.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on March 13, 1996, Thomas Hamilton, a 43-year-old former Scout leader, burst into the gymnasium of a primary school in the tranquil Scottish town of Dunblane.
Within minutes 15 children aged five and six had died in a hail of bullets. One died later in hospital. Their teacher, Gwen Mayor, a 44-year-old mother of two, died in the attack, reportedly while trying to shield her pupils. Two other teachers were also seriously injured while heroically trying to protect children. Hamilton turned one of his four handguns on himself and was found dead at the scene.
Norway, population 5.1 million
OSLO — A lone political extremist bombed the government center here on Friday, killing 7 people, the police said, before heading to an island summer camp for young members of the governing Labor Party and killing at least 80 people. The police arrested a 32-year-old Norwegian man, Anders Behring Breivik, in connection with both attacks, the deadliest on Norwegian soil since World War II. Breivik was at first accused of being a fundamentalist Christian, but as the investigation started it was established he was bent on reestablishing Nordic Pride including the Nordic Gods and the time-old traditions.
Finland, population 5.3 million.

on November 7, 2007, at Jokela High School in the municipality of Tuusula, Finland, a gunman, 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen, entered the school armed with a semi-automatic pistol. He killed eight people and wounded one person in the toe before shooting himself in the head; eleven others were also injured by flying shattered glass. Auvinen died later that evening in a Helsinki hospital.
He described himself as “a cynical existentialist, antihuman humanist, antisocial social darwinist [sic], realistic idealist and godlike atheist”

A year later, on September 23, 2008, at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences[4] in Western Finland, a gunman, 22-year-old student Matti Juhani Saari, shot and fatally injured ten people with a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol, before shooting himself in the head. He died a few hours later in Tampere (Tammerfors) University Hospital. One woman was injured.

Here are 4 horrendous shooting murders in very civilized and advanced countries in less than 20 years. The population of U.S. is 20 times larger than the combined population of Scotland, Norway and Finland. To have the same frequency of horrendous murders the U.S. should expect 80 mass murders in 20 years, of about 4 a year.

The common thread of these mass murders is that they occur in gun-free environments.  Obama’s assertion is therefore false, Hillary’s call for action is even worse: Removing legal gun ownership, but ignoring the multitude of illegal firearms, expanding gun-free zones to include whole high crime districts, leaving the illegal weapons possessors to rule those areas.

(The picture to the right shows the perpetrator, Dylann Roof with a jacket with the insignia of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia, from his Facebook page, now taken down. Warning: The patches may be photo-shopped. One never know those things anymore.)

What is the solution?

Governor Sarah Palin had a fantastic link on her Facebook page : Prayers for  Charleston: http://www.ijreview.com/2015/06/347576-the-only-comment-on-dylann-roof-s-facebook-profile-photo-will-bring-you-to-tears/

Trust me, it will bring you to tears. Pray!