More or less important information

I picked this up from a 15 old Norwegian, between the two of us I am not sure how much authority we have, but there you go:

There are over 2700 different languages in the world.
Basque, is considered the most difficult language to learn, it shares no similarities with any other language.
Somalia is the only African country where the population speaks the same language.
For each 100 girls there are 106 boys are born.
People drinking coffee are less likely to commit suicide.

The biggest toy distributor in the world is Mc Donalds.
The animal killing most humans every year is the mosquito.
Your blood is makes up about 8% of your total body weight.
More than 80% of your brain is water.
We are born colorblind.

You read this at about 75% of the speed you would read something on paper.
Men shave on average 20 000 times in their lifetime.
A city dog lives three year longer than a country dog.
A giraffe can live longer without water than a camel .
93 % of all cards are purchased by women.

Your desk contains 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Bill Gates' home was designed on a Mac.
Nintendo started making games in 1889.
Yellow houses sell faster than houses in any other colors.

Sony's first product was a rice cooker.
The most dangerous profession in the US is fishing.
Fiji is made up of 322 islands.
There are over 187 888 lakes in Finland.
There has been more than 190 coups in Bolivia since the nation became independent in 1825.

Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, he declined.
Cleopatra married two of her brothers.
Richard Nixon's daughter married Dwight Eisenhower's grandson.
Humphrey Bogart and Diana were related.
The circumference of the moon is the same distance as from New York to London.

An average four year old asks 400 questions daily.
The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923, originally it said Hollywoodland.
The last Olympics where the gold medals were actually made of pure gold were in 1912.
Canada is the only country that has arranged an Olympic game and not won a single gold medal.
Between 1900 and 1920 tug of war was an OIympic sport.

The first televised Olympics were the games in Berlin, 1936.
Half of all Americans does not know that the sun is a star.
One of five Americans don't have a passport.
1000 times more chocolate is consumed in England than in China.
On average 0,7 % of the world's population will at all times be drunk.

Nine out of ten victims of shark attacks survive.
4 % of children are born on the date set by the doctor.
Women that read romantic novels has more sex than women not reading this type of literature.
Japan is the country in the world that consumes the most electricity.
Flying is the safest form of transportation in the world.

The End...

Not quite sure why, but this appealed to me almost too much, thanks Xander...

Bittersweet

Another from Cecilie:

All in the spirit of the Year of the Princess (most favourite being Cinderella), she has now started calling me Stepmother.

Sigh. This is in punishment for being at work all the time, as if I needed further proof that this particular parental compromise isn't working well.

On the upside, Stepmother is no longer allowed to make The Princess breakfast - 'Mommy' (aka Grandma) is the only one fit for the task. Thus letting me finish my coffee in peace and get more sloppy kisses from Lars. A small upside. Double sigh.

Rock 'n Roll

Not having digital pictures to go with these posts sucks. For example, you guys are missing the Year of the Princess, with full princess dress (courtesy of Santa) and glass slippers whipped out for every occasion. She even managed to track down Princess Gummi Bracelets at the video store last night. ("Oooh, if we're watching videos with Grandpa we'll need junk food!")

And many of the Cecilieisms these days you have to be there to get the context (her syllogisms are just getting so complex...) But really, she is just so THREE:

Riding in the car today, I asked her if she knew what N-A-P spelled. "Bible?" she guessed. Confused, I said no, but then she launched into "The B-I-B-L-E, yes THAT'S the book for me!!!" [although her spelling is more like B-I-L-I-E, as in Cilie]. Anyway. I corrected the spelling, and got the standard Cecilie response to correction: Hmph. It was quiet a few seconds, and then she exclaimed "ROCK AND ROLL!!!" then launched into "rock and roll, yes THAT'S the word for me!"

Spent a rare day off with Grandma & the kids, shopping the clearance sales. 4pm found both kids giggling maniacally, hiding under racks of winter coats at LLBean and thinking they were very clever. But not really seasoned shoppers - both were exhausted and asleep by 6.30. Bless.

Art Alive

This happens to be the title of a segment on Cecilie's own favorite TV station, Noggin ("I am using my noggin..." geddit?). ...and now here is Jeremy, in Blog form (he even has a link in the margin for all your repeat visits).

He doesn't do cute animation of little children's stick figures, but I like what he does, and it doesn't take much to see that one day he (or at least his art) will be on TV, as well as in most respectable museums and big galleries. Well, I presume it will be a step down as it is already in a feature film...

It is a great site, I certainly like the opportunity to have a glimpse into an artist's mind and recomend it highly...

Christmas card?

Fuhggeddaboud it...

If you haven't received it by now, you probably never will. It is a crying shame and we are ever so sorry...

For each of our 9 married Christmases, the ritual of clementines, glogg and Christmas cards has been a real high point of the season for us. But this year, this year.... This year our spirits were more than a little depleted, before December even started, so what little festive cheer there was had to be marshalled and totally focused on the tasks at hand: making a special Christmas for the kids and a big Nilsen family visit. (Not necessarily two separate tasks, but you get my point.)

But in the tradition of old fashioned Christmases, maybe a few stories can cheer up an otherwise glum point in the proceedings. ("A story! A story!" I hear the small children cry.)

Cecilie blows her mum a raspberry at the dinner table, and Kirsten whispers (so that the whole family doesn't notice Cecilie's atrocious manners): "What is THAT about?"
"It's a poem, that my father told me about."

She's a Dylan in the making: a poet, didn't know it!
"Just a little something I learned over in England..."

One day during Christmas, mum got home from work, and Cecilie leapt on her excitedly and exclaimed 'Mommy! The most magical thing happened to me today!' When mum enquired what that might be, Cecilie whispered 'I... ate.. chocolate cake.' (We blame Auntie Eileen's influence on tiny Cecilie for this primeval urge.)

More christmas pictures

Cousins in national costumes

Baby Jesus

If christmas was half as overwhelming for anybody else it would explain why no one has been blogging across the world the last month or so...

Well, it is officially over, today the children in Puerto Rico got the presents the three kings left under their beds in return for some grass and water.

Hey ho, even we need to take the tree down... but not before Cecilie reminded her parents that tomorrow we should call Auntie Eileen and Uncle Sasha and thank them for our presents. "...but we need to talk quietly to them, so to not wake up baby Jesus --no no, baby Reuben..."

Had we had a digital camera we would at least be sharing some pictures... We'll dig around in our analogue archives to see what we can find, and we promise to get back into the rhythm of things... cross our hearts and all that!