[uh-dik-shuhn], noun: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics,to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
I quit smoking. Again.
I'm addicted to a lot of things. Cigarettes, chocolate, music, my favourite TV shows... The cigarettes obviously being the most serious and destructive of my addictions, and also the one I've struggled the hardest to rid myself of. I've tried it all: the cold turkey way, cutting down, nicotine patch, nicotine gum.. Doesn't work. The one thing I haven't tried, though, is this ingenious invention: The electronic cigarette! (YouTube video) Amazing. So-called "e-cigs" were first invented and marketed by the Golden Dragen Group in China, under the name Ruyan which means "almost like smoke", and are quickly becoming popular in the US and parts of Europe. There is no burning of tobacco involved, only vaporizing nicotine, meaning that you can even smoke your e-cig in the non-smoking section (today's society, that is). You can also choose the nicotine level of your e-cig, from 10 mg to nothing at all. You can even choose between different flavours, like vanilla, menthol or chocolate! Imagine that, get me one of those with chocolate and I have my two deepest cravings, on a stick. Would I consider trying it? Yes. Will I buy one? No. Too expensive, and it's the habit I need to get rid of, and I don't see how changing my lucky strikes into slightly nicer plastic cigarettes is going to help that. Plus, it sounds too good to be true, so it probably is.
I guess I'm just going to have to do this the hard way. Again. The fourteenth time's the charm..?
"For thy sake, tobacco, I would do anything but die." - Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
Today's thought provoker: Worldwide, approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute, 15 billion are sold each day, 5 trillion are produced and used each year.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Poker
/ˈpoʊ
kər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation 
[poh-ker], noun: a card game played by two or more persons, in which the players bet on the value of their hands, the winner taking the pool.
Tonight I won. The last 10 minutes I was heads up with the host, he was short stacked but hanging around, stealing blinds. The pressure was on, I had folded my fifth hand in a row, until I looked down on what was going to be my winning hand; K-9 of hearts. For the umpteenth time he went all in. I couldn't take it any more. Did his eye twitch?
- Call.
Poker by the book? Probably not. But the flop showed a king, and I was safe. I had won. 1. place paid out less than a fraction of what you would tip the dealer on any table in Vegas, but I won. Amateur poker: you gotta love it.
Today's thought provoker:
The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, recorded music, cruise ships, theme parks, and spectator sports, combined.
kər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [poh-ker], noun: a card game played by two or more persons, in which the players bet on the value of their hands, the winner taking the pool.Tonight I won. The last 10 minutes I was heads up with the host, he was short stacked but hanging around, stealing blinds. The pressure was on, I had folded my fifth hand in a row, until I looked down on what was going to be my winning hand; K-9 of hearts. For the umpteenth time he went all in. I couldn't take it any more. Did his eye twitch?
- Call.
Poker by the book? Probably not. But the flop showed a king, and I was safe. I had won. 1. place paid out less than a fraction of what you would tip the dealer on any table in Vegas, but I won. Amateur poker: you gotta love it.
Today's thought provoker:
The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, recorded music, cruise ships, theme parks, and spectator sports, combined.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
And I quote...
[kwoht], verb: to repeat (a passage, phrase, etc.) from a book, speech, or the like, as by way of authority, illustration, etc.
"I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself." -Marlene Dietrich.
Exactly. Ol' Marlene here said what I'm thinking several decades ago, and she put it far more elegantly than i could have done. I could just end this post right now. But I won't.
If you know where to look, you can find a good quote on more or less anything, it seems everything worth saying has already been said. Estimates are that between 69 billion and 110 billion people have populated the earth since about one million years ago. So many brilliant people have come and gone, so many great ideas and comments are already out there, that being original has become a problem. "What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before" - Mark Twain. Well, I couldn't find a single good quote by Adam, go figure. The level of authority in what you're trying to get across rises significantly if you can use the words of some long gone genious to back them up. To quote David H. Comins: "People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first". Benjamin Franklin said "Time is money". He also said "God helps them that help themselves", "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today" and "There was never a good war and never a bad peace". He was mistaken on some of his theories concerning electricity, but what a genious, huh?
People seem to think so, so in attempts to sound more intelligent, or to prove a point, they throw out a quote by someone a lot smarter than them here and there. I know I occasionally do. Samuel Palmer said "Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them", and Mary Pettibone said "The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote someone who is." Is it true, that in my use of quotations to prove my cause and ideas better, I actually weaken them by letting people see my lack of faith in my own wit? Maybe so, maybe I should put more effort into coming up with something genious by myself and let fools of the future use my words as their own. But what if it all actually has been said before? It seems Alfred North Whitehead was convinced of this when he said "Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it".
Fool or not, it so happens that finding the right quotes, and using them correctly, is harder than you would think. In books on quotations or webistes dedicated to the matter, you will often find them categorized by subject, so finding one close to what you're discussing won't be very hard. But findig the one that strikes hard, throws light on the matter, and gives your cause a deeper meaning, that is somewhat close to an artform. I mean, H.L. Mencken had this to say about Shakespeare: "After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations". And I personally prefer Anatole France's way of looking at it: "When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it".
Feel free to quote me on any of this.
Today's thought provoker:
The English language contains about 540 000 words, estimated to be about 5 times as many as during Shakespeare's time.
"I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself." -Marlene Dietrich.
Exactly. Ol' Marlene here said what I'm thinking several decades ago, and she put it far more elegantly than i could have done. I could just end this post right now. But I won't.
If you know where to look, you can find a good quote on more or less anything, it seems everything worth saying has already been said. Estimates are that between 69 billion and 110 billion people have populated the earth since about one million years ago. So many brilliant people have come and gone, so many great ideas and comments are already out there, that being original has become a problem. "What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before" - Mark Twain. Well, I couldn't find a single good quote by Adam, go figure. The level of authority in what you're trying to get across rises significantly if you can use the words of some long gone genious to back them up. To quote David H. Comins: "People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first". Benjamin Franklin said "Time is money". He also said "God helps them that help themselves", "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today" and "There was never a good war and never a bad peace". He was mistaken on some of his theories concerning electricity, but what a genious, huh?
People seem to think so, so in attempts to sound more intelligent, or to prove a point, they throw out a quote by someone a lot smarter than them here and there. I know I occasionally do. Samuel Palmer said "Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them", and Mary Pettibone said "The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote someone who is." Is it true, that in my use of quotations to prove my cause and ideas better, I actually weaken them by letting people see my lack of faith in my own wit? Maybe so, maybe I should put more effort into coming up with something genious by myself and let fools of the future use my words as their own. But what if it all actually has been said before? It seems Alfred North Whitehead was convinced of this when he said "Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it".
Fool or not, it so happens that finding the right quotes, and using them correctly, is harder than you would think. In books on quotations or webistes dedicated to the matter, you will often find them categorized by subject, so finding one close to what you're discussing won't be very hard. But findig the one that strikes hard, throws light on the matter, and gives your cause a deeper meaning, that is somewhat close to an artform. I mean, H.L. Mencken had this to say about Shakespeare: "After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations". And I personally prefer Anatole France's way of looking at it: "When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it".
Feel free to quote me on any of this.
Today's thought provoker:
The English language contains about 540 000 words, estimated to be about 5 times as many as during Shakespeare's time.
Teeth of wisdom
[wiz-duhm tooth], noun: the third molar that is the last tooth to erupt on each side of the upper and lower human jaw, typically in young adulthood.
Earlier considered a sign of maturity. A full, whole set of teeth. Congratulations!
Thank you, where can I return them? Some people are lucky enough to never have them, my grandmother got one at the age of 54. Some scientists say evolution is working on removing wisdom teeth from the human race all together, but that's a few more generations down the line. I had them all before I was 20. Four times now over the last couple of years my lower left wisdom tooth has gotten infected, taking my tonsels down with it. I got sick of it (literally), so I decided to face my greatest fear.
I am no fan of dentists. I don't like syringes. I have no problem admitting I felt highly uncomfortable lying nearly upside down in my dentist's office early last Monday morning.
- Seems this flap of skin over your wisdom tooth is causing the infection, do you want me to cut the flap off or extract the tooth?
Shit. A scalpell or a pair of tongs, any other options? A magic wand, perhaps? No? Ok.. I told her to get the tooth out, wisdom teeth in my family have rarely caused anything but trouble, so I thought the sooner the better. But the syringe is out sooner than I had expected.
- Open wide.
Pulling teeth out doesn't hurt, it's just so damn uncomfortable. The pricking and tingling from the sedation, then the sensation of inflated lips, the drooling. And of course the part where she starts pushing and pulling and twisting the tooth to get it loose, so that it creaks and cracks throughout the skull. Thank goodness I haven't inherited my mom's teeth, her wisdom teeth didn't have roots, but hooks. Mine was a real beauty.
As I paid an insane amount of money for someone taking something away from me and half an hour of pain (660 NOK, close to 100 USD. Toothfairy refund?), I thought to myself "Well, at least it's over now". Oh, how wrong I was. 4 days later I'm still living on painkillers, and to top it all off my nose has started to run and my throat is sore. Boo hoo. But hey, silver lining: my 31 other teeth are looking good!
Today's thought provoker: Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself". Oh, and in China, September 20th is "Love Your Teeth Day".
Earlier considered a sign of maturity. A full, whole set of teeth. Congratulations!
Thank you, where can I return them? Some people are lucky enough to never have them, my grandmother got one at the age of 54. Some scientists say evolution is working on removing wisdom teeth from the human race all together, but that's a few more generations down the line. I had them all before I was 20. Four times now over the last couple of years my lower left wisdom tooth has gotten infected, taking my tonsels down with it. I got sick of it (literally), so I decided to face my greatest fear.
I am no fan of dentists. I don't like syringes. I have no problem admitting I felt highly uncomfortable lying nearly upside down in my dentist's office early last Monday morning.
- Seems this flap of skin over your wisdom tooth is causing the infection, do you want me to cut the flap off or extract the tooth?
Shit. A scalpell or a pair of tongs, any other options? A magic wand, perhaps? No? Ok.. I told her to get the tooth out, wisdom teeth in my family have rarely caused anything but trouble, so I thought the sooner the better. But the syringe is out sooner than I had expected.
- Open wide.
Pulling teeth out doesn't hurt, it's just so damn uncomfortable. The pricking and tingling from the sedation, then the sensation of inflated lips, the drooling. And of course the part where she starts pushing and pulling and twisting the tooth to get it loose, so that it creaks and cracks throughout the skull. Thank goodness I haven't inherited my mom's teeth, her wisdom teeth didn't have roots, but hooks. Mine was a real beauty.
As I paid an insane amount of money for someone taking something away from me and half an hour of pain (660 NOK, close to 100 USD. Toothfairy refund?), I thought to myself "Well, at least it's over now". Oh, how wrong I was. 4 days later I'm still living on painkillers, and to top it all off my nose has started to run and my throat is sore. Boo hoo. But hey, silver lining: my 31 other teeth are looking good!
Today's thought provoker: Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself". Oh, and in China, September 20th is "Love Your Teeth Day".
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Linntroduction
I'm Linn, I'm Norwegian, I'm in my early twenties. More or less normal, but I'm apparently an exhibitionist: I suddenly felt the urge to make my writing available to the masses, a billion people can get a peak into my thoughts, my life, through their computers, and I am happy to share. Oh well, we've all got facebook, right? I'll be blogging mostly in English because I have a profound love for the language, and, I've got friends outside of Scandinavia who simply haven't gotten around to learn Norwegian yet (I'm sure they will, any day now..)
Anyway, it so happens that I have a lot of opinions. Opinions on all sorts of things. Opinions on films, music, art, people. Opinions on how Sex and the City ruined their last season on way too many episodes with that sleezeball Petrovsky, opinions on why buying blu-ray is an absolute waste of money, opinions on how much it sucks that keeping your weight and living on chocolate don't mix. Should I be talking about global warming and the world economy, you say? Nah. I'm not saying I'll only be discussing the trivial things in life, but we've got some good people on these very serious issues allready, and enough of blogs where the opinions are being tossed randomly at topics greater than them.
Anyway, it so happens that I have a lot of opinions. Opinions on all sorts of things. Opinions on films, music, art, people. Opinions on how Sex and the City ruined their last season on way too many episodes with that sleezeball Petrovsky, opinions on why buying blu-ray is an absolute waste of money, opinions on how much it sucks that keeping your weight and living on chocolate don't mix. Should I be talking about global warming and the world economy, you say? Nah. I'm not saying I'll only be discussing the trivial things in life, but we've got some good people on these very serious issues allready, and enough of blogs where the opinions are being tossed randomly at topics greater than them.
I sound young and hopeful, even naive, in my new blogger existence, but I can assure you I won't be a very good one. My joining the blogosphere, (yes, blogosphere is an actual word) and what little signifigance it has, will probably not concern that many, maybe just me. So I write for my own sake. I'm a busy girl (or was it lazy?), so I won't be of those who open their posts with "I am soooo sorry I didn't write yesterday, so to make it up to all you faithful readers out there, here's a list of what I ate, who I met and what I saw on TV". Nothing annoys me more. Nope, I'll only write if I find something interesting to write about. Note: If what I ate, who I met or what I saw on TV was interesting to me, of course I'll tell you aaall about it. And by all means, give me feedback: what you make of what I'm writing, what you would like for me to write about, questions, etc.
Oh, and I almost forgot; today's thought provoker:
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