A sure sign of... whatever

I'm not sure, but this might be proof that we have too much money in the western world. It could also be a sign that our culture is somehow degenerating. It might also be a joke.

Anyway back to the first part. We need to get money from the western world and into the "third world" asap. We have so much, and they so little. I'm not really into world economics, but here is my "three point checklist" on how to save the world day by day:

1. Buy "stuff" from countries that are poor.
2. Join a charity organization, e.g., Red Cross, Amnesty, Medecins sans Frontieres.
3. Visit a country outside the western world.

Number three is actually my favorite. Not only will you generate revenue in the country, you get to decide where. Also important, it will force you to experience how people and culture outside the western world is living. I was in Kenya and Zanzibar this summer, and while I was definitely visiting turist places, it still opened my eyes for how poor people actually could be.

I'm not suggesting that you drop what you have in your hands and go traveling. Neither that you should give away all that you own. All I ask, is that you give a little and try to look beyond your nose, the borders of your country, and your culture.

PS. This is not a critisism of the site in question (by all means, go buy lucky charms for your dog), but just the thoughts it started.

Lack of updates...

Ok, so I won't win any prizes for blogging frequently. The whole Ph.D. thing is stealing a lot of time. I do need to practice my writing though, and according to this, it is important to write in order to become a better writer. The whole "If you want to become better at something, then train doing it" kinda makes sense.

In the training news, my ancle and arm are okay now. This means that I've started climbing, svimming and doing Aikido again. As I've been climbing at Oure, I managed to skip the S1 climbing course and taking the S2 exam second time I was there. Unfortunately the whole training is somewhat irregular as I still haven't found a suitable apartment (I'm starting to think that I might be too picky). I've also gone moutainbiking a few times recently (as the snow decided to mostly melt :-). The area around here is quite okay, once you find the good places. My knee is still not up for running, but it does biking, swimming, climbing and Aikido without much fuss, so I guess it ain't that bad. Might try and start running again sometime in March.

Otherwise life is not so eventfull when living in the country. I miss living in the city, though it is hard to put a finger on what. Need to think a bit about this. However I did experince this:

About three weeks ago Denmark was covered in ice. Claus also noted this, however where he took a train and got home in the evening, I got stuck in the airport on my way home from Uppsala. In the evening we left with a bus for Aalborg, however as a certain bridge was closed, we got to spend the night in a cold bus in. At eigth in the morning several of us took the train home. I got home at 11, as the bridge was opened at 13, the train was a good idea. Going from Uppsala to Aalborg took approximately 22 hours.

Thats it for now, I'll try to write something again soon. Really.