The Power of Weakness 3: Norwegian News Flash

Trond Giske taler pフ NBF-møtet
Image 1: Trond Giske, Norwegian minister of culture

Technically we’re off topic here (unless our topic is very broad indeed) but I just realized that the near-Danes of Norway have taken a drastic approach to the lure of gaming.

Distressed with the rise of gambling addiction, the Norwegian government last year chose to ban all privately owned gambling machines. Lest riots should appear, the government is rolling out strictly controlled tailor-made machines which uphold a strict time and money limit and which are intentionally free of all the bells and whistles which normally attract gamers/gamblers.

Now, this is not directly related to the power of weakness, but a government is arguably a group’s way of controlling itself by adjusting the attraction of certain actions. I’ll get back to that in a later post. Right now I just thought that this was interestingly drastic and game-related to boot.

More details from Associated Press and for pictures of the unattractive wonder see VG.

I speak with angels through horses, says Princess of Norway

Horses

Says princess Märtha Louise of Norway: “I learned to systematize sensory impressions enabling me to read others and through the horses I learned to communicate with animals at a deeper level. It was while working with horses that I assumed contact with the angels. Recently I have appreciated the value of this enormous gift and would like to share it with others.”

Perhaps there is some cosmic link to a previous post on David Lynch or perhaps the Nordic monarchies are just headed for trouble.

(quote from Politiken)

Oh, and on the subject of baroqueness, the guy next to the demonstrator around 55 seconds into this clip is just off the charts. They live among us.

[Photo by dcJohn]