København - Copenhagen

Stories from Copenhagen is coming up, in the meantime check out Sarah's blog.

Friday night: The Sad Beads, capitalism and development

Yesterday I met Åse and Espen, two friends from development studies, at Mir at Grünerløkka to hear "The Sad Beads" play Nick Cave. I got the chance to show off my camera phone, but the result was a bit blurred, as you can see. My flashy phone triggered a debate about capitalism and development. Can my work contribute positively to development, or is all about making money? I think it is both. For a commercial company to take any interest, there has to be money in it, either through direct sale or through reputation as a company with "social responsibility". But it is possible to earn money on selling products that people can use to better their life situation. Getting the right prices on chicken in the nearby market through her mobile phone gives a poor widow the information she needs to know whether the middle man who takes them to market for her is cheating her or not. It doesn't give her the power to challenge him, but at least it gives her facts to base her challenge on, if she will take the fight. And this is only one example. For more, read the short version of Prahalad's "The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/ict4b/Fortune-BoP.pdf

Closing the summer house for the winter

Two weekends ago, my mother, father, brother and I went to our summer house at the south coast to close it for the winter. Luckily, the weather was good. November is a bit late to take up the boat, because there can be some nasty storms that time of the year. The house is the building you see on the right side. It is on a group of three small islands called Lyngør. My grandparents bought the property in the fifities, making their best buy in their lives.

The lighthouse, viewed from outside our kitchen.

The boat that is still on the water is ours, and we are about to drag it ashore with my grandfather's homemade wiresystem.

Cleaning the boat. (Charlene, notice my Joe F. pants ;)

To the right is the beach. The water is quite shallow, so it gets warmer there than on the other side of the house where it is deep.

Come visit me at Lyngør this summer!

Work

I am slowly learning the mysteries of modern technology, after spending my time at BRAC with word pad only. Tonight I have figured out how bluetooth works, and the result you see above! This is the Telenor headquarter. It is, as you see, a futuristic looking building located on the beach. In my mind the perfect combination. Behind the bathing house you can see Oslo, or at least accept that it is there, in between the trees.

Today I came to work 8 o'clock in the morning to hear about the new must-have; a little rabbit you can take home to read the weather forecast for you and wave its' ears when someone is calling (if you for some reason don't hear your phone ringing). The best thing is that it can get married with another rabbit through Internet, and then your rabbit's spouse will wave its' ears when your rabbit does...marvellous!

Oslo

This is it, my hometown. This is the harbour with the old castle where I used to work as a tour guide in the background. Saturday I went shopping for wollen tights and socks with Shaheen, BRAC colleague who has moved to Oslo to study.

I'm blogging!

Hello, everyone! Today I have reached a new stage in life. I've got a blog! Now I just have to figure out how to use it...

For those who don't know, 'pølseveven' means 'the sossage loom', alternatively 'the product of a sossage loom'. If it is not totally clear to you just why I chose this name, 'pølsevev' is more often used referring to 'nonsense' than referring to a woven structure of sossage.

I hereby declare Pølseveven for opened!