Royal cartography
It's possible its all the work but several things have amused me greatly recently:
1. The Norwegian royals. They used to be boring and rather predicable, and the most exciting thing that happened was that stuff like Old King Olav taking the tram during the 1970's petrol crisis, so that he could go skiing.
In case you're wondering Olav is the grumpy old man by the window, insisting that he should pay his fare. Title of king be dammed. Incidentally this is perhaps the most famous photo of Olav in Norway. Hee.
But then Olav died, and his son Harald became king - and bless his little soul but Harald is rather dull. Thankfully he had kids, and his oldest daughter Martha Louise - previously famous and controversial for starting a new age school dedicated to communicating with angels* - has now given birth to her third child. The child will be called Emma Tallulah, and for some reason this has made the shit hit the fan. One Name-scholar went out and said he thought the name sounded too much like Abdullah (really? Really? Because I'm not really seeing that), then someone interviewed Harald and he said he would probably just call her Emma. Subsequently the papers managed to dig up the only other girl in Norway called Tallulah and write about her under the headline: "Tallulah is sad because the king won't use her name".
* She is also somewhat famous for marrying the so-called writer Ari Behn, who is basically famous for being a douche and paying some prostitutes in Las Vegas to do drugs so that he could film it for his documentary. He also showed up a bit stoned to a live television interview and kept on and on about how he had just shot a moose. Apparently this made him feel very manly.
It's event like these that make me reconsider my rather negative attitude to the fact that we have a royal house.
2. The blog called Strange Maps. I love cartography, and so this blog is perfect. Among other gems it includes :
The American pop vs. soda map. American f-lister, does this match your experiences? Sitting here as I do, in my little fishing village somewhere near the arctic circle, I have no way of knowing.
Also there is this glorious map about how the world looks when viewed from Paris:
One map detailing the Lost Rivers of London, which I find absolutely fascinating:
And one map of Canada made out of cheese:
1. The Norwegian royals. They used to be boring and rather predicable, and the most exciting thing that happened was that stuff like Old King Olav taking the tram during the 1970's petrol crisis, so that he could go skiing.
In case you're wondering Olav is the grumpy old man by the window, insisting that he should pay his fare. Title of king be dammed. Incidentally this is perhaps the most famous photo of Olav in Norway. Hee.
But then Olav died, and his son Harald became king - and bless his little soul but Harald is rather dull. Thankfully he had kids, and his oldest daughter Martha Louise - previously famous and controversial for starting a new age school dedicated to communicating with angels* - has now given birth to her third child. The child will be called Emma Tallulah, and for some reason this has made the shit hit the fan. One Name-scholar went out and said he thought the name sounded too much like Abdullah (really? Really? Because I'm not really seeing that), then someone interviewed Harald and he said he would probably just call her Emma. Subsequently the papers managed to dig up the only other girl in Norway called Tallulah and write about her under the headline: "Tallulah is sad because the king won't use her name".
* She is also somewhat famous for marrying the so-called writer Ari Behn, who is basically famous for being a douche and paying some prostitutes in Las Vegas to do drugs so that he could film it for his documentary. He also showed up a bit stoned to a live television interview and kept on and on about how he had just shot a moose. Apparently this made him feel very manly.
It's event like these that make me reconsider my rather negative attitude to the fact that we have a royal house.
2. The blog called Strange Maps. I love cartography, and so this blog is perfect. Among other gems it includes :
The American pop vs. soda map. American f-lister, does this match your experiences? Sitting here as I do, in my little fishing village somewhere near the arctic circle, I have no way of knowing.
Also there is this glorious map about how the world looks when viewed from Paris:
One map detailing the Lost Rivers of London, which I find absolutely fascinating:
And one map of Canada made out of cheese: