the difference in immigrant crime levels in Sweden vs Norway is dramatic. there's no reason the difference should be so dramatic in two countries that are so similar.
they say it's because the Swedes took the wrong approach to integration, resulting in parallel societies and segregation.
as i understand it, the Swedes accepted more refugees than us and did less to integrate them. the Swedish government is a bit more liberal and doesn't intervene as much in people's lives, which appears to be the worse option when it comes to integration.
what i have less information about is how their approach differs more concretely. the news never goes into detail about it.
leaning right and being overly emotional about it leads to fascism.
leaning left and being overly logical about it leads to communism.
is it strictly true? probably not, but i think there is something to it.
for anybody wondering: yes, you can definitely use oats to thicken a sauce with, if you don't have any flour. you just have to sift it. it won't taste like oatmeal. i know this because i just tried it and it worked.
having bizarrely good luck probably doesn't feel bizarre to people who have it, because that's just how life is for them. the bios of famous people usually feature more lucky encounters than what's common. there's probably also a self-amplifying effect. good luck creates opportunities for more good luck, and the same goes for bad luck.
it's tasty and the packaging makes it look healthy, but 16% sugar :mildpanic:
maybe those vikings left Norway because they didn't like the women here either
Halloween is like one of those pre-Christian pagan festivals in disguise - such as Easter - except the Americans invented it, and they were already Christian
slowly getting ready to leave for the pub. it's a bit unusual for me to plan pub visits ahead of time unless i'm meeting someone there, which is rare. i'm need to meet new people and spend less time home alone for the sake of my own sanity, which is why i'm doing it.
i guess this is what you call "taking care of yourself".
validation
creative insult
Norges svar på Loch Ness
no clue when to go out, exactly, but probably not any sooner than 8.
plan for this evening:
- go to bar
- buy ONE beer
- talk to strangers
it's not a weekend, but that's the idea. i'm more likely to meet people who have walked off the beaten path if i go out on unusual days.
*angels singing*
sign me up
Scandinavians: have everything but are lonely and question the point of living
Latinos: are poor but surrounded by loving people and glad to still be alive
the good old times
😬
the natural urge to wear things on your head because you're balding
8000 lightning strikes registered in south Norway this morning
see, this is what happens when i wake up grumpy!
safety, food and shelter is considered "rock bottom" in Scandinavia. violence, hunger and homelessness is very rare.
once i lost my ego and realised that i don't really have to work to survive here, it became apparent that i had been neglecting a more basic need.
if you're not fighting for survival, what comes next? maybe the company of people who care for you.
that's the one thing i'm craving, now that i stopped panicking about the rest.
which makes perfect sense. that's what it says right in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
that's probably why i'm trying to find a partner despite having nothing else sorted out. because it's more important.
they're talking about Amy Winehouse on the radio, and it's so weird to think that she was born the same year as me.
unlike other artists of my generation, i didn't really hear about her until i was much older.
it appears she was known in the UK for years before she hit the Billboard list in the US.
death by Basset's
if the documentary i watched about Russia after the war in Ukraine is accurate, what the government has done over there is to use classic terror and propaganda tactics on the population to intimidate it into submission.
it's not that a Russian won't agree that Russia is the aggressor in that war - it's that he doesn't have the option to. if most authority figures in a community say that dissent is bad, then it will be socially unacceptable to dissent.
have you ever pretended to not know somebody because they're being extremely embarrassing in public? same dynamic with dissenters. it's both socially and legally risky to associate with them or defend them.
compare to this taboo in Western culture: it's completely unacceptable to befriend known pedophiles or speak in even vaguely positive terms about them. now imagine if it was also illegal to do so.
being accepted by your family, friends and community is a very strong instinct. most people would rather shut up than risk having their reputations tarnished, losing their jobs or going to prison.
these tactics are old and familiar, but even if you understand how they work, there isn't much you can do to resist if you want to stay safe and stay a member of your community. you'd have to be very bold or even crazy to try it.
this is how easy it is to oppress people.
just learned of the difference between a soulmate and a twin flame. the words are a bit flowery but basically:
soulmate: they're very similar to you - like you're a matching pair
twin flame: they're your perfect opposite - like you're two complementary halves
and basically, the soulmate is the one you're more likely to have a successful relationship with.
there's an idea that the twin flame is supposed to complete you, but this is basically a codependency, which is usually considered unhealthy.
it's better if you're both complete people who are very similar and therefore understand each other very well.
this is enlightening, because i think that woman i dated recently was closer to being a twin flame than a soulmate. she was opposite to me in important ways, and there was definitely a feeling that she could complete me.
to some extent, i think she felt the same, because i could sense an urgency in her at times. she'd reply super fast when she got worried, and she'd go very far to find extra time for me, beyond what i think is normal for friends with benefits, which is what she insisted that it was for her.
i think on some level, the basic craving was to feel complete. because that's what i felt when i was with her in person. we spent a lot of time just embracing each other and not talking much.
it was something very special and very intoxicating, unlike anything i've felt before, but it can't possibly be healthy.
lunsj: Pasta Carbonada
nordlendingen: ka du sir førr nokka? har du KASTA karbonadan?!
they should just call them face apps instead of dating apps - you're just looking at a bunch of faces. i usually do better if i have a chance to talk to people.
man, i was acting hyper-extroverted the last time i went to a bar to meet people. i had enough to drink to completely numb my feelings so i just walked up to people and chatted them up like it was nothing.
but that took enough alcohol that it gave me selective amnesia the fact. i only remember bits and glimpses of it.
i'd almost call it social phobia instead of social anxiety, because my fear of walking up to strangers can really be that strong at times.
all that fear disappears once the conversation gets going, but initiating it feels like jumping off a cliff.
is there such a thing as a white label Internet bank
like, you just put custom branding on it but another bank runs it
or alternatively, they give you access to the API but you build your own website
i'm not sure exactly how such a concept could benefit both the entrepreneur and the bank, or how it would be more profitable than simply being a public-facing bank and skipping the middleman though...
nostr:npub16qct6ge6zdr72yxrw2cc0rsqyp9j9qrjs9pkz3gkydc839jrtk5sj8al6e there's mostr.pub which is relaying our posts right now, but it's not super reliable, and is rarely found in Nostr clients