Month: May 2012

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National day in pictures

Yesterday Norway was celebrating its independence. It was a pretty big celebration, considering the efforts Norway put into acquiring its independence; nevertheless, it was a nice show to watch even despite the weather (+8, rain, jacket, hoodie). Generally, this looks a lot like a mix of the May 1st parade and the German Karneval, but in serious. The idea is that all city’s societies that include more than twenty people join the parade, wave some society-related flags, do some performance (optional) and carry Norwegian flags (mandatory).

By “all city’s societies” I mean literally all of them. Even the 501st legion was there:

“Dude, where is my Death Star?”
“Hey, do you know these droids we are looking for?”
The 501st Legion of the Galactic Empire of Norway
Somebody always has to hold the banner…

I discovered at least ten different big bands performing on the National Day. The most stunning part was when the band standing in front of me started playing the first notes from the “Farewell of Slavyanka”. I first thought I misheard, but then again, the tune is unambiguous and hard to confuse with something else. To explain my cognitive dissonance: The tune is a Russian patriotic march, very popular and very well-known. Seemed kinda misplaced to me.

It has to be said that every Norwegian was wearing a bunad, which is a very formal traditional dress (as depicted) or at least something that looks formal enough. It is National day, it has to be celebrated – no exceptions.

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Spring in Trondheim, for reals!

Since yesterday there is no real sunset, and soon the nights will be bright enough to make night walks enjoyable.

I have used the last days to take some photos of the city, the weather was so good you could almost walk around in a t-shirt.

 The Nidaros cathedral.

 In contrast to Germany, national flags appear in Norway everywhere.

Scandinavian melancholy. Pictures of nature + black and white filter = cover picture for any melodic metal band

 Mandatory pictures from the Bakke bridge are mandatory:

 A monument for sailors.

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Philosophy ahead, brace yourself!

At some point in the past, I have discovered a wonderful, fully general argument against (some kinds of) biological research. The argument goes like this: “People should not be allowed to play God”. This sounds great, looks great and gives you an awesome +10 bonus to wisdom. But what does that mean?

This sentence implies that there are matters puny humans are not allowed to investigate, because meddling with them means a lot of responsibility nobody can be trusted with and is beyond the boundary of the socially acceptable. But that sounds patronizing and cold, right? And it opens the road to uneasy questions like “Where is the line?” that disrupt the generality of your shiny argument; note that in the “playing God” wording the decision is (implied to be) deferred to God. This sentence carries all the premises from Christianity: that the world has been purposefully created by a deity, that humans are no deities, and that humans are (unlike deities) not responsible.

I shall not discuss whether deities exist; in this context, this is mostly moot. The real problem here is that constructive arguments (like the lack of responsibility/control and what one can do about it) are replaced by irrational, faith-like constructs. Which is not okay since the discussion is about mundane, scientific things and has to be conducted via rational arguments and not via media campaigning and fast-food philosophy.

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Last days of classes…

…were last week. Now, I am officially entitled to have some fun, finish one last lab and prepare for the exam. My time in Trondheim comes slowly to an end, and it feels rather surreal.

On the positive side, the days are really long now. The first sunlight is visible at 3 AM, and sunset is somewhat around 11 PM. I am looking forward to virtually nonstop sunlight and hopefully some night walks 🙂 The only downside of this is my window which is directed eastwards, which means that I wake up to the sun shining into my eyes.