Podcasts about Scandinavian

Bryan's back in El Paso with his parents and binging Australian Married at First Sight: Australia. Erin is rekindling her love of Judy Tenuta and is sent a video of a man in Helsinki obsessed with Texan cowboy culture . Erin discusses the rapid decline in the U.S. birth rate and how the government refuses to incentivize young mothers to make more babies. Bryan reviews recent polling from the Pew Research Center and YouGov showing that more Americans now believe being gay is morally unacceptable and that LGBTQ+ discrimination is not a serious problem in the country. For our Murder in Glitterball City Recaps visit www.patreon.com/attitudesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For centuries the western Norse colony of Vinland was known only to scholars of the Icelandic Sagas. But in the 19th century the work of a few Scandinavian historians helped revive interest in these previously obscure tales. When the Danish historian Carl Christian Rafn published in his work in English in 1837, many American's were exposed to the idea that the Norse had beaten Columbus to North America by 500 years. Many New Englanders were also excited by the idea that the legendary colony of Vinland may have been in Cape Cod. However, this new interest in the American Vikings also kicked off a wave of Norse flavored forgeries. Some were inspired to create elaborate pseudo-histories that supplanted the America's true first people with a lost group of Norse settlers. The real history of the Norse in North America was soon clouded by a haze of hoaxes and fantasies. Tune-in and find out how runes in Minnesota, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Newfoundlander named George all play a role in the story.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode Description: What if the things you casually scroll past are quietly shaping your reality—and your wallet?

Join the gang for another week of Eurovision hot takes as they review this year's entries from Estonia, Latvia, Croatia, and Greece! And yes, we're a little drunk, it's fine! Songs featured: Vanilla Ninja – Too Epic to be True Atvara – Ēnā Lelek – Andromeda Akylas – Ferto

Trolls in Scandinavian folklore can be a little different from what’s imagined in the rest of the world.  We begin our show with a montage of clips from recent movies, Trollhunter (2010), Troll (2022), and Troll 2 (2025) — the latter two being Netflix productions that have rekindled interest in the subject while reimagining trollsin a way that does not always conform to the folklore. While all Scandinavian countries have their share of troll lore, this episode focuses specifically on Norway, the country with the most compelling collection of troll folklore. The first portion of our show looks at the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen’s play along with  incidental music composed for the play by his associate Edvard Grieg. Introducing this topic is a clip from the 1970 musical Song of Norway, a fanciful Edvard Grieg biopic that garnered particularly bad reviews.  We learn a bit about why Grieg hated his well-known “Hall of the Mountain King,” a composition which accompanies Peer Gynt’s encounter with trolls inside a mountain in the Dovre mountain chain. We also learn what Ibsen hoped to achieve in telling the story of his antihero Peer Gynt, and how he wrestled with the movement known in Norway as Romantic Nationalism. Next we look at two figures integral to this movement, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, a pair of folktale collectors often described as the “Brothers Grimm of Norway.”  Their 1841 publication, Norwegian Folk-Tales, along with updated volumes published in 1844, 1845, and  1871, provide most all the troll tales with examine in this episode. An exception to this is a book authored by Asbjørnsen alone, High Mountain Scenes, volume 2, Reindeer Hunt at Rondane. Published sometime before 1846, it’s the only volume referencing tales told about Peer Gynt, those being very loosely represented in Ibsen’s play. Asbjørnsen & Moe’s “Norwegian Folk Tales” The first of these we retell concerns a creature known as “the Bøyg,” something referred to as a type of troll in the story is described more  as a giant serpent of sorts. We follow this with more Peer Gynt episodes involving male trolls flirting with human females and a troll poking his enormous nose through a cabin window and suffering the consequences inflicted by Gynt.  The final story, “The Cat on the Dovre-Mountain,” takes place at Christmas, a time when troll encounters are particularly prevalent, and involves Gynt outsmarting a group of bothersome trolls via a peculiar stratagem. Next, we run through some lesser-known details of the best-known troll tale “The Three Billygoats Gruff.”  We follow this with another well-known (in Norway) story, “The Boy Who Had an Eating Match with a Troll.” It involves a youth outwitting a troll with a particularly gruesome ruse It was familiar enough to Norwegian audiences to be referenced in Trollhunter. Next we look at a character Askeladden, who is pitted against trolls in several of Asbjørnsen & Moe's stories.  He’s usually describing the good-for-nothing youngest brother of a trio, an underdog who surprisingly achieves great things. His name (literally “ash lad”) referenes his stay-at home habits, in particular, sitting by the hearth playing in the ashes. We learn of several characters with related names and habits in Scandinavian literature and a more insultingly rude nickname for such characters, one which Asbjørnsen & Moe chose to censor from their stories. Theodor Kittlesen, “Troll Pondering How Old iIt Is” (1911) Our next troll tale, “The Lads who Met the Trolls in the Hedale Woods,” gives us particularly monstrous trio of trolls sharing a single eyeball.  While this is atypical, we also encounter here the common trope of trolls sniffing the air for “Christian blood,” a suggestion that their kind of an older pre-Christian order.  A reference to trolls using magic is also contained in this story, something we’ll run into in other tales. We then hear some clips from a couple of Asbjørnsen & Moe-inspired films, the 2017 Norwegian film Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King and its 2019 follow-up, The Ash Lad: In Search of the Golden Castle.  The “Golden Castle” in Norwegian film title and  the title  of the relevant Asbjørnsen & Moe story is “Soria Moria Castle.” This one also features trolls, but in a peripheral role.  It’s a longer legend quest rather than a short folk tale in which we encounter three multi-headed trolls holding human women captive in three different castles. Our last story, “The Hen is Trips in the Mountain,” takes its  weird title from a strange phrase uttered to open a door into a mountain, like “Open Sesame.” When a young woman enters theis particular mountain looking for a lost hen, she meets an unpleasant end, as does her younger sister, but when the youngest of the three enters, she manages not to repeat the mistakes of her two siblings and later discovers that trolls can explode when touched by the first rays of dawn (as well as turning to stone, another common folklore trope). We wrap up the show with some interesting stats regarding the fascination trolls exert over the heavy metal subculture. Theodor Kittlesen, “Mountain Troll” (1887)    

At Real Madrid, losing isn't acceptable. Drawing isn't acceptable. Conceding can feel like failure. Álvaro Arbeloa has done the unthinkable: two defeats in a row - first to Osasuna, then to Getafe at the Bernabéu. So, how tenuous is the Spaniard's position?Dotun and Andy are joined by David Cartlidge to answer that. Also, could Oliver Glasner replace Jürgen Klopp at Red Bull? Why did Flamengo sack Filipe Luís after he won the double? And we reveal the real reason that so many Scandinavian players are heading to the Primeira Liga.Find us on Bluesky, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and email us here: show@footballramble.com.Sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon for ad-free shows for just $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate us on your podcast app. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if your home is the reason you can't heal?Most people focus on food and exercise but ignore the invisible toxins in their environment that are making them sick. In this episode, we're exploring the hidden connection between your living space and your health, from mold and air quality to building materials and vacation rentals that could be sabotaging your wellness journey.Annie Graybill is the founder of Havenwith, a non-toxic vacation rental company, and a passionate advocate for healthy living spaces. After healing her own autoimmune issues and her daughter's grand mal seizures by cleaning up her environment, Annie became obsessed with creating safe, toxin-free spaces for families.You'll discover how Annie healed her daughter's seizures naturally without brain-altering medications, why your bedroom should be your #1 priority when detoxing your home, the hidden dangers lurking in vacation rentals and hotels, and the shocking truth about male infertility that doctors never address. Plus, learn practical tools like the Scandinavian practice of "loofting" and what to look for when building or renovating.This episode is for anyone who's been doing "all the right things" but still not healing. Your home environment matters just as much as what you eat.If you're ready to take control of your health by cleaning up your space, this conversation will give you the tools to start today. Subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear this message.

STRANGE DENMARK - Haunted Castles, Weird Scandinavia, the Fae, and MORE! Steve welcomes Danish school teacher Qiriye to discuss haunted castles, the fae, and more from Scandinavian region.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/missing-persons-mysteries--5624803/support.

Where Y'Eat: Finding Great Coffee and Scandinavian Bread in the Bywater

It's EV News Briefly for Wednesday 04 March 2026, everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the EV News Daily Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/EVNewsDailyVOLVO ADDS CAPACITY TO BUILD EX60  Volvo will extend production at its Torslanda plant to meet surging demand for the all-electric EX60 SUV, which has seen strong early orders across Europe. German wait times now stretch up to 17 months, prompting Volvo to negotiate shorter summer breaks with unions, mirroring BMW's own ramp-up for the iX3. VOLVO PUSHES NEW UX TO 2.5 MILLION CARS  Volvo is rolling out a major over‑the‑air update to around 2.5 million vehicles, bringing its latest infotainment system from the EX30, EX90 and EX60 models to cars as old as 2020. The update ushers in a unified user interface and, later this spring, a switch from Google Assistant to the more conversational Google Gemini AI. CUPRA RAVAL SPIED UNCOVERED AHEAD OF MARCH 2026 REVEAL  Cupra's upcoming Raval — its most affordable EV yet — has been spotted fully uncovered during Scandinavian winter testing. Riding on the new MEB+ platform with two battery options, it launches mid‑2026 from around £23,000 to rival the Renault 5 and Peugeot e‑208 in the urban EV segment.  DENMARK HITS 81.6% BEV SHARE IN FEBRUARY  Battery‑electric vehicles made up 81.6% of Denmark's new car sales in February, surging to 94.4% among private buyers. The shift reflects strong government incentives and rapid public adoption as EVs become the mainstream choice in the Danish market.  2026 WORLD CAR AWARDS SHORTLISTS TILT ELECTRIC  Electric models dominate the 2026 World Car Awards shortlist, with the BMW iX3, Nissan Leaf and Mercedes‑Benz CLA leading major categories. Luxury and performance finalists like the Lucid Gravity and Hyundai Ioniq 6 N further show how EVs now span every segment from affordable urban cars to high‑end models.  2027 BMW IX4 SET FOR X4 REPLACEMENT  BMW's 2027 iX4 coupe SUV is testing in Sweden, set to replace the X4 with two all‑wheel‑drive variants and a 108 kWh battery offering up to 800 km WLTP range. It adopts BMW's latest design language and a minimalist cabin similar to the iX3, with a large central screen and refreshed controls.  BARCELONA TO PAY €600 FOR ELECTRIC MOPED SWAPS  Barcelona will grant residents €600 to trade in petrol mopeds for new electric ones starting March 2026, covering up to 40% of the purchase price. With €15 million in funding through 2030, the scheme could replace around 24,000 mopeds and is open on a first‑come, first‑served basis.  ENBW SIGNS MULTI-YEAR XCHARGE DEAL FOR HYPERNET  German utility EnBW has sealed a multi‑year deal with XCharge to supply 400 kW DC fast chargers for its HyperNet network after successful trials. The high‑power C7 units, supporting dual CCS connectors and liquid‑cooled cables, will serve high‑throughput highway and hub charging locations.  STELLANTIS SETS 2026 SPAIN BUILD FOR LEAPMOTOR B10  Stellantis will start producing the Leapmotor B10 electric SUV in Spain in late 2026, marking the brand's European manufacturing debut. The €29,990 model anchors Leapmotor's expansion through Stellantis's joint venture, which now runs over 800 European sales points and continues rapid growth.  THATCHAM TARGETS EV WRITE-OFFS WITH REPAIR BLUEPRINT  Thatcham Research has launched an EV Blueprint to stop repairable electric cars being written off after minor crashes by improving safety, diagnostics and battery repair standards. The plan calls for modular, serviceable battery designs, open diagnostic tools, and replaceable safety components to cut repair costs and extend EV lifespan.

Hello everyone - We've been teasing this for a few episodes - this week is another special - It's the Scandinavian Special.....we have it all covered this week.   this week and it's all about the Letter Y on the show. We have our usual assortments of Rock and Heavy Metal as well as our usual features of "Song of Epic Proportions", "Shredder of the Week" , "Slice of NWOBHM" ( kind of !!!) and "Double Live"    The Show Playlist  Rockin Horse - Michael Monroe Ain't Got Time - Royal Republic Caravan - Great Tide Sleeping May Day Away - D-A-D Savage Heart - Pretty Maids The Road is Ours - Thundermother Crystal Ball - Yngwie Malmsteen Still The Night - John Norum As Far As The Eye Can See - TNT Harvest - Opeth Mary in the Mystery World - Electric Boys Rats - Ghost The Mob Rules - Jorn Lights Out - Europe w Michael Schenker Fields of Verdun - Sabaton Amaranth - Nightwish The Devil's Bleeding Crown - Volbeat Raise Your Horns - Amon Amarth Pachinko Pt. 1 - Moron Police Are You Listening ? - Bonafide Enjoy the Show Matt and Brian. 

Koselig is a Norwegian word that is hard to translate, it's kinda there in the borderline between cozy, warm and inviting, but it usually involves that nice warm feeling inside.Welcome to this edition of The European Ham Radio and Linguistics Show!TEHRS is: @labcat73 @LB4FH @LB0FI @radiohyperactivity @AH6UN_OE4JHW #hamradio #amateurradio #amateurfunk

Allen, Rosemary, Yolanda, and Matthew discuss highlights from Blades USA including the carbon blade debate. Plus TPI Composites’ bankruptcy sale hits major obstacles as partners dispute over $100M in claims. And Europe’s offshore and onshore wind developers clash over state aid, with WindEurope’s new CEO urging unity. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! [00:00:00] The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com. And now your hosts.  Allen Hall 2025: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host Alan Hall, and I’m here with Yolanda Padron, Rosemary Barnes and Matthew Stead. Yolanda and Matthew have just wrapped up a couple of days at the Blade USA forum in Austin, Texas. Maybe we should start there. Thoughts on the forum this year? Things that were highlights?  Matthew Stead: Yeah. Lightning Root de bond. One positive was that, um, there are a couple of startups there, so, you know, kudos to them for, you know, making the investment. There was a. There was a startup around, you know, data analytics and, you know, bringing machine learning in. And then there was also another startup looking at recycling. [00:01:00] Um, really trying to get that, that food chain through of, um, you know, grinding and then turning into some sort of valuable product. Um, yeah. However, I think someone also from EPRI said that, you know, at the moment, you know, the recycling path is, you know, eight times more expensive than the, um, the landfill path. There was a lot of carbon discussion actually. So, and, um, yeah, a lot of discussion about repairs, a lot of discussion about testing, uh, a lot of discussion about, you know, how maybe a carbon blade can last 40 years. Um, so a lot of discussion about lifetime extensions around carbon. Um, but, but, but, but, you know, really, really hard to repair.  Allen Hall 2025: That goes back to the comments Rosemary and Morton Hanberg made about carbon blades. Should we be making. Carbon blades are not. And I think Morton’s opinion, and maybe Rosemary’s, I don’t wanna speak for her, was carbon blades are okay, but they are really difficult to repair. Almost impossible to repair. And is it [00:02:00] worth even building them?  Rosemary Barnes: I think if you consider the blade in isolation, then it probably is adding more headaches than it’s worth. But carbon fiber is a bit of an enabler for improvements across the whole system of a, a wind turbine. ’cause when you take, like you can take a lot of weight out of a blade by using carbon fiber. I mean, it’s never been cheaper to make a blade with carbon fiber than an equivalent blade with glass. You do, you buy the more expensive carbon fiber blade because it’s lighter, a like, a lot lighter, and then you can take, um, weight. It, it reduces the requirements for basically every other component in the wind turbine, but especially stuff like the pitch bearings. Um, so you solve a lot of other problems, but you create blade problems. So. I think if you ask some of the only works on maintaining blades, then you’re gonna be like, why would you make a carbon fiber blade? It is so much headache. Um, but that’s not the reason why they were ever made in the first place. [00:03:00] So you’d need to talk to, you know, somebody on, uh, I dunno, front end engineering. Someone from the sales team about why it is that they are going with a more expensive carbon fiber blade. Even acknowledging that they probably underestimate how many problems there are with o and m with, uh, carbon fiber blades. But even so, like they’re already aware that there are trade offs. Um, and yeah, there’s non blade reasons for, for taking, taking that pain.  Allen Hall 2025: Are there other fibers that could be substituted besides carbon? There, I, I know fiberglass. A, a good, relatively strong fiber and carbon obviously is much stronger. But are there things in the middle that could be substituted that are non-conductive? Rosemary Barnes: Uh, y yeah, there are, but carbon fibers, it’s not just strong. It’s really stiff. And that’s what its benefit is. Um, like there’s Kevlar but it’s not very stiff. So you would, we would make a really heavy blade if you used Kevlar. It would be probably bulletproof though. So I guess that would be a plus. I, I haven’t looked into it recently, but nothing is [00:04:00] at the, um, like got the performance specs and the cost specs that you would need to, um, make it replace carbon fiber. Matthew Stead: So one thing that I picked up I thought was pretty, uh, interesting was that by having a stronger, you know, carbon protrusion, you know, the, you know, the backbone of the blade, um, it took a little bit of pressure off the skin. And so therefore, um, you know, the life, life of the blade, um, and the ability to keep running it ’cause the skin is not so critical. Those seem to be a real, a real plus as well.  Rosemary Barnes: I don’t know, people talk about this in like absolutes, but everything is just a con continuum, right? Like you can make an all glass blade that would last a thousand years if you really wanted to. You just, you know, you just have to make it very, very strong. ’cause it’s, you know, it’s all based on fatigue lifetime. And the smaller that your, um, strain on every component in the blade is, then the less, um, the less fatigue damage is gonna accumulate. Making it a little bit stiffer will actually increase the lifetime by [00:05:00] a a lot. I think the main benefit to protrusions is just that you avoid all of the um, or you avoid a lot of the possibilities for manufacturing defects. It’s easy to control the manufacture ’cause carbon fiber, like much more so than glass fiber. It’s so, um, it’s so dependent on the fibers being perfectly straight. If you have a little wrinkle, like a little wrinkle is bad in glass fiber, but it’s like really bad in carbon fiber. So protrusions mean that you won’t get wrinkles. Uh, and you can, you know, control the manufacturing process a lot better, but they are barely repairable, right? So that’s the trade off. You can do some small repairs, but you’re not gonna be just. Um, if you’ve got a, a, a full thickness crack or something, it’s, you know, it’s gonna be game over. You’re not gonna be building that up again. Allen Hall 2025: Delamination and bottomline failures and blades are difficult problems to [00:06:00] detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. C-I-C-N-D-T are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their non-destructive test technology penetrates deep to blade materials to find voids and cracks. Traditional inspections, completely. Miss C-I-C-N-D-T Maps. Every critical defect delivers actionable reports and provides support to get your blades. Back in service, so visit cic ndt.com because catching blade problems early  Yolanda Padron: will save you millions.  Allen Hall 2025: Well keep going on the, the subject of blades. Imagine if you were selling your house and you told the bank you owe nothing on it. Then the bank shows up with a bill for over a hundred million dollars. That is essentially what’s happening right now in the TPI composites bankruptcy. Uh, the wind blade manufacturer canceled its [00:07:00] February 17th asset auction after only one bidder came forward. A firm called ECP five LLC, which is, uh, part of Energy Capital Partners, which is based in New Jersey. Uh, but before TPI. Can hand over the keys. It has to settle up with its business partners. TPI told the court many of those partners were owed little or nothing. Uh, the partners check their books. Strongly disagree. Now, the judge has a mountain of competing claims to sort through before the sale can close. And everyone, I mean, the, the claims are big. Uh, there are several large names listed, and if you go through the filings, uh, Siemens C Mesa is probably the largest one, and it, it claims TPI owes about 84 million plus an unpaid inspection, repair, and replacement costs. Plus under 22 million [00:08:00]under apparent guarantee. Others include Aurora Energy Services stating it is owned about $5 million, uh, for post-bankruptcy services, plus 38,000, uh, for before the filing of bankruptcy. The landlord up in Iowa for the TPI facility there is objecting because they’re owed some rent. Some other ones include, uh. Oracle, uh, which is, uh, has a lot of software licenses that TPI currently has, and they’re saying those licenses will not swap over to the new owner. So there, this is a series of these filings going on at the minute, and they’re pushing back the closing of the, uh, sale hearing until March 9th. So they got about another two weeks as we record right now. This is a big deal and, and although I have seen almost nothing about it in the press. Because it’s hard. One, it’s hard to find, and two, it’s really [00:09:00] difficult to sort through. Uh, but it is a major milestone for TPI that they’re gonna be able to sell the, or at least transfer ownership to, uh, energy capital partners. And the none of the buyers investors had bought part of the facilities. But GE Renova or Siemens cesa, for that matter, are not involved, at least at the top level. Which is really to, in my opinion, odd. I thought GE Renova would’ve been involved, at least at some level. They have been supporting TPI through this process. But in terms of going forward, doesn’t look like too much is going on with Renova or Siemens Ga Mesa in, in terms of the operations of these facilities. Thoughts.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I agree. It’s strange that they wouldn’t have taken that opportunity and that makes me wonder what I don’t know that, you know, ’cause obviously it’s not a strange decision to the people who have made it so. They’ve got more information, a lot more information than us. So what is it that made it unappealing to them? That’s, um, that’s my question. [00:10:00] Yolanda Padron: What did TP, I think was gonna happen with all of that money that they owe everyone?  Allen Hall 2025: Well, it’s a bankruptcy hearing. Obviously they like to wipe that debt free and so would Energy Capital partners. They don’t wanna pay the a hundred million plus of whatever, uh, the court would ict, but. You just like to get the assets. If you can do it, that’s your cheapest option if you’re Energy Capital partners. But do you see Energy Capital Partners running the facilities? There’s a lot of organization within TPI that manages those facilities and controls the operation. From the quality side engineering side, there’s, there’s a lot of pieces to TPI here. Do you think they’re just gonna pick it up and run, run the company as it stands today? Or, or,  Rosemary Barnes: oh my goodness. I would be so nervous to, um, buy blades, uh, from them in that situation. I mean, we’ve seen so many examples in the last few years of decisions being made by senior management that have really compromised the quality at the end of the day. Like in theory, yes, the factory, you know, all the processes are in place to do things. Um, to do things [00:11:00] right, but you know, as soon as they get the next new project, which they’re doing constantly, right? It’s not like they just make a blade and they just make it over and over again. They make many different kinds of blades. There’s decisions to be made and you’re trying to get the price right and the quality right. And then, you know, given that we know that TPI was not profitable the way they were doing it before, they’re gonna have to spend less money. Then somebody who isn’t from the industry is making those calls about where to save it. It just seems like totally implausible to me.  Matthew Stead: Can I just add though, you know, TPI was mentioned multiple times at, um, at Blades, USA, and so, you know, a lot of people are relying on them or have relied on them and so forth. And so maybe this is a strategy about supporting the industry into the future. Like I think Alan, you, you said that they’re involved in, um, this investment business has other wind assets, so maybe it’s just like. Securing supply chain and, which I mean, that’s a pretty logical approach, isn’t it?  Allen Hall 2025: Oh, it would be. Uh, they’re about 50% owners of Ted’s US onshore fleet and a number. There are [00:12:00] other projects they’re involved in a number of renewable projects. Uh, so it would make sense for them to try to keep the supply chain going. But the largest purchaser of GB GE turbines that I know of is NextEra. So you would think NextEra would want to step into the mix too and at least in all the court filings, I haven’t seen much from NextEra or nothing from them at all. It if Osted US is wanting to keep their supply chain and Energy Capital partners wanted to keep the supply chain going, that would make a lot of sense to me. However, I just don’t know if they have the infrastructure to manage it. As Rosemary has described on numerous occasions running LM wind power is not easy. There’s just a lot of moving pieces, supply chain problems. You’ve got people problems, you have quality problems, you have repair problems, warranty issues. It’s a lot to that business. It isn’t like you’re stamping out widgets. You, you have a responsibility to that product after it goes out into [00:13:00] service. So if you have problems out in service, you’re, you’re kind of on the hook for all those warranty claims. It’s complicated.  Rosemary Barnes: You make it sound like I was running lm  Yolanda Padron: Rosie runs the world. Rosemary Barnes: I just wanna make it clear I was not running lm  Allen Hall 2025: Not yet. Rosie. There’s still time.  Rosemary Barnes: I was ru running one very tiny, tiny corner of it.  Yolanda Padron: I’d almost be curious ’cause like since ECP is so much into risk management and just, just in general, they have so many things that they are like part owners in, but they don’t necessarily manage the day to day hands on. Uh. I’d almost be curious to see if maybe they take a page out of Rosie’s book and try to make one thing. Well,  Matthew Stead: mm, that’d be novel, wouldn’t it?  Rosemary Barnes: It has actually been tried before. Um, you know, it’s, it’s uh, not something that has escaped the notice of blade engineers, uh, that if you make one thing, you can do it right. And wind turbine blades are a pretty similar there. No, you know, like great [00:14:00] differentiator between. How well performing the blades are from one company to another. I know at, at least at lm, they did have a blade that they designed, and their plan was to sell just heaps and heaps of those to multiple different manufacturers and just no one wanted it. Um, so it just quietly died. Um, so yeah, the, the concept is good. I think it’s. A little bit harder to pull off than you would hope. There are also some Chinese companies that are kind of selling just parts, generic parts. And so if you wanted to make your own wind turbine, um, company, if you wanted to be a wind energy o and m Yolanda, you could just buy an assortment of parts from Chinese manufacturers and put a. Yolanda Wind energy sticker on it and um, and, and, and you could be an an OEM. So it is, it, it, it is possible. I haven’t seen any of these out in the wild. Um, I have [00:15:00] heard of, you know, people considering it for, you know, certain aspects of certain types of projects. So it kind of exists in a way.  Matthew Stead: But the financial aspect, I mean, that’s accounting 1 0 1, I mean. You gotta know your assets and to owe people a hundred million dollars, that’s absolutely shocking. Really?  Allen Hall 2025: They owed a lot more than that before the bankruptcy. It is a lot of money.  Matthew Stead: How do you miss that?  Allen Hall 2025: Well, I don’t think they missed it. I just think the warranty claims and some of the repair that was going on and the, the, it sounded like price discounting was happening to some of the OEMs just caught up to ’em. But at the end of the day, I, I, I guess the question is. Does TPI as an entity remain? Obviously the Vestas portion will, because Vestas is gonna make them Vestas factories in a sense, and, uh, integrate as part of their overall operations. But Renova is not, Siemens is not interested in doing it, at least as we speak. No one’s [00:16:00] making any noise over at Nordex. It, it does leave these assets questionable as to what the real value is. We haven’t heard how much, uh, ECP has paid for them yet. The Vestas factories that were purchased, I think the, the two TPI factories in Mexico, I think Vestas paid about $10 million for each factory, which is a really inexpensive price to pay for new factories because Vestus had talked about at one point a year or two ago, about standing up a new factory saying it would cost him roughly a half a billion dollars to do. So buying a, that same asset for $10 million is a discount, a deep, deep discount, which maybe Vestas figures, Hey, it’s 20 million bucks, plus they got the India operations. Uh, it’s not that much money. If it all goes sour, it’s not that much money and we’re okay. Whereas Ver Nova decided to not to participate in that. As wind energy professionals, staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it difficult. That’s why [00:17:00] the Uptime podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit p ps wind.com. Today, over in Denmark, a fight has been brewing between offshore and onshore wind developers and. Sted once State Aid brought back for offshore wind auctions, onshore developers say that would tilt the playing field against them. Well, some have even walked out on their own trade group, uh, over it. Now the new CEO of Wind Europe, Tina Van Stratton, uh, is stepping in the middle of that discussion with a simple message. We need both. Don’t let offshore and onshore wind divide us. Nearly 90% of Europe’s installed wind capacity sits currently on land, and [00:18:00] she says that is not going to change anytime soon. Uh, so there, there is a big dispute about this right there. There does seem to be a, a amount of money being poured into offshore wind and requests of governments to support offshore wind at the same time. Onshore wind, which has been the primary growth market for wind in Europe, is getting the cold shoulder. In a sense. How does this play out everyone? Is there a, a good solution to it or is the need for offshore wind so great that, that they have to ignore onshore wind development for a couple of years?  Matthew Stead: I think we should just all be friends. So, I mean, really. Yeah, we need both and, um, I mean for the diversity and, you know, uh, I’ll leave all the technical topics to Rosie, but, um, um, really I think we need both. I mean, so what, it’d be crazy to, to drop the onshore, onshore industry.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah. I mean, it makes sense that, or said, especially Orid Europe doesn’t have any onshore anymore. Right. So it’s just [00:19:00]offshore. It would make sense that they really wanna push for help for themselves. And it’s, it’s great. It, it’s, it’s great to help, but I, I agree with Matt. Allen Hall 2025: Well, the Northern Europe and Scandinavian countries are talking about 100 gigawatts in the water by what, 2050? Something of that sort. So that’s a lot of energy in the water. In order to do that, you have to devote a number of resources to it, which. Will mean onshore wind is not gonna get the support it probably deserves, even though it has a proven track record. Rosemary Barnes: I just think it, it’s really interesting because I guess wind is, um, a very Europe. LED industry. Um, and so yeah, in Europe, e everything big and exciting is in offshore and the volume is in offshore. Um, I feel like that’s kind of filtered through to other regions though, because I mean, in Australia we don’t even have any offshore wind yet. We are probably getting some, but you go to any wind energy event, it’s gonna be. [00:20:00] More than 50% offshore wind and sometimes like 90% offshore wind, um, focused, which is, I think crazy when onshore is, is exists and has plenty of problems that need to be solved, and we need to be building more, a lot faster. I, I do actually wish that. If we could spend as much of the, you know, like some of the effort and the political effort that’s going into paving the way for offshore wind, I think would be much better spent on solving the problems. Um, the obstacles stopping us from rolling out onshore wind faster. Because we’re not on track in Australia to meet our renewable energy targets if we can’t get that under control. And then in the US yes you have some offshore wind, but it is not a growth industry at the moment or it’s not very appealing at the moment, at least. Right. So, and I dunno how much you talk about it there, but I do hear a lot of, like a whole lot of talk about offshore compared to how important it is for regions outside of Europe. Yolanda Padron: I think it’s important too to [00:21:00] note that. When you have a lot of offshore wind in your fleet, like you can sometimes test out products onshore that maybe they’re, of course not the exact same conditions, but you can test out products to a degree onshore. And I’ve seen, you know, owner operators that have to go across continents just to test that product because it’s cheaper to do that onshore than to do it offshore in your home site, in your backyard. So I mean that that would really benefit from an RD standpoint. It would really benefit everyone. If  Allen Hall 2025: they gave it up attention  Yolanda Padron: to onshore.  Rosemary Barnes: When I was at lm, one of my, well my key team member who was an electrical engineer, he had, um, done a bunch of work for a system that was only implemented on an offshore wind farm. And it sucked up so much time when stuff started going wrong with that, like even small things. And he was the only one [00:22:00] that could do it. You know, you go out, if you’ve got a five minute job to do, to get, you know, like turn something off and on again off. Reconnect something that’s a whole day of work, right? Like you, and, and not like a normal day, but like a 12 hour day, you’re gonna go out in the morning, they, you know, they go around in a boat or whatever and drop people off and they don’t come get you when you’re done 10 minutes later, you know, they come get you at the end of the day when they’re picking everyone up again. So, um, it, it was, it was incredibly challenging. I mean, for him personally and the team. Um, and I always recommend to, or, you know, sometimes I’m advising, um, companies that have offshore wind, um, technologies. And I’m always advising anything that you can test on shore, do it and get creative about it as well. ’cause you might think that you can’t, you certainly can’t get all the way there without testing in your real operating environment. But any problem that could happen onshore that you, um, learn about when it’s onshore is gonna cost you probably like, you know, one 10th as much [00:23:00] to fix. Um. So, and, and the time as well. So, yeah, I, I think that you’re right that we should be actually considering onshore as an opportunity for, um, improving offshore technology as well.  Allen Hall 2025: Can we talk about, uh, data centers for a minute? Just off the top of mind, I’ve been listening to a number of podcasts over the last month or two talking about powering AI data centers and how much coal or natural gas. It’s gonna be needed to provide the stable, reliable power that these data centers supposedly need. In the meantime, there’s like this industry being built, uh, and you see the, the purchases of gas turbines going out to like, what, 2032? I think it’s what Renova is talking about now is when you could actually get in line for a gas turbine. Other manufacturers or gas turbines are basically saying the same thing in the meantime. [00:24:00] Elon Musk and SpaceX are talking about putting AI data centers up in space where you don’t have any regulatory issues. You don’t have to burn coal or natural gas or any of these things. So the, the ground-based AI data centers appear to be locked into making these really expensive buildings and assets and putting generation and transmission and, and this infrastructure together, which will cost them. Hundreds of millions at a minimum, likely tens of billions of dollars to do, and that’s just in the United States. Meanwhile, SpaceX is really on a pathway of doing this up in the sky for probably a fraction of the cost. Is there a break point here? Because it does seem like the, the natural gas, coal, oil, petroleum industry and the on ground build, the building, people are ignoring that. SpaceX has a [00:25:00] capability of doing this, and if Musk decides to do it, and SpaceX decides to do it, that all those gas turbine orders, all that infrastructure, all the gas pipeline, all the drilling that would have to happen would just go immediately. Poof. Gone.  Rosemary Barnes: I don’t know about immediately because I mean, we’re not at the point yet where you can just launch a data center into space. So there is a bit of a, a, a transition period. Um, I. I also think that it’s overblown that, you know, I think you might have even fallen into the trap also, where you’re like, oh, when data centers need more energy, so therefore it has to be coal or gas or nuclear.  Allen Hall 2025: Nope, I agree with you.  Rosemary Barnes: Those things aren’t quick to build either. If you truly wanted to do it quickly, you’d be putting in, um, you know, heaps of solar panels and batteries and, and you know, wind turbines where that made sense. But that said, I, I do agree that, uh, like I, I don’t think space-based data centers is farfetched at all. I, I guess the biggest [00:26:00] challenges, uh, are, um, the cooling and heating requirements space has very large temperature fluctuations. So I guess you’re gonna need to design that carefully. I don’t think it’s insurmountable. Um, and then the next thing is a cost of launch, which I’m sure you’re about to tell me how. Dramatically the cost of launch is dropping. Um, you know, like, it, it’s got, it’s got a very good learning curve. The space launches, which is basically, you know, SpaceX is probably the main reason why that is just dropping and dropping and dropping. So I don’t think that it’s unrealistic at all. I don’t know the timeframe. You would know more, Alan, you work in, um, aerospace. I just. You know, um, follow it for general interest.  Matthew Stead: I reckon it’s stupid. He’s really stupid on a number of grounds. So first of all, you know, why do that when. You just, I can’t see how it can ever be more cost effective and you know, [00:27:00] I, you know, you should really, should be putting that effort into things like, you know, better healthcare and so forth. I mean, what a waste of resources. But why? I mean, why, why?  Allen Hall 2025: Because it’s a lot less expensive and it’s faster.  Matthew Stead: You’d do it in the ocean before that, wouldn’t you?  Rosemary Barnes: No, but the ocean still has, like how do you power it? You, you get the 24 7 solar power in space. That’s what you. That’s what you get, um, which you can’t get on Earth  Matthew Stead: or you put it next to a wind farm and you, you, and you make the load go up and down depending on the wind. I mean, seriously, there’s so many other ways of doing it. You put it next to a wind and solar.  Rosemary Barnes: I agree with you, Matt, that I think that the, the bulk of the solutions with data centers is gonna come from one demand not being what people think it is today. Like the numbers that get reported are just like the. Absolute best, best, best case scenario and then multiplied by three or four times because they’re looking at different options for locating each of the data centers they plan to make. So I think I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with 10% of what people think that we’re gonna get. [00:28:00] Now, the first thing, secondly, people assume that it needs to be 24 7. Just, you know, like a hundred percent reliable power, and that’s. That’s simply, yeah, it’s not, not everything needs to be just, um, you know, done at, at the exact time that it’s requested. There’s heaps of things that can be shifted and uh, when the price differential is there, then people are naturally going to choose that. And in fact, there are already some companies offering different levels of reliability depend, you know, for different prices. And companies can choose which of their processes can be put on hold. Like a lot of the training stuff, you’re happy don’t. Need 99.999% reliability, you’re probably happy with 90% reliability. And so, you know, if it costs a whole lot less than you will, I, I agree with you, Matt, that that’s gonna take most of it. But I do still think that for the, like, super reliable, um, data centers, I, I bet that we see at least one. And even if it’s just because Elon Musk is the type to push something through, um, you know, [00:29:00] first and. Wait for the market to catch up later. Uh, maybe that will be the reason, but I, I honestly think it’s more than 50% likely that we see a data center in space in the next, in the next decade,  Matthew Stead: it would make more sense to like drill a hole to the center of the earth and get the, the hot well cutting rock  Rosemary Barnes: and or there’s also plenty of geothermal. You did thermal projects as well.  Matthew Stead: Yeah, it’s just ridiculous.  Rosemary Barnes: I think that we’ve had our first hot take from Matthew, so I don’t know some sort of sound effect to be added here. Claire. Uh, yeah, Allen Hall 2025: that wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Just reach out to us on LinkedIn and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you found value in today’s conversation, please give us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. For Rosa, Yolanda and [00:30:00] Matthew, I’m Alan Hall, and we’ll see you next week on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

In this episode, Brady from Apokalipsus Historia shares a deep dive into the etymology of "God," exploring its possible Odinic roots, linguistic connections, and cultural implications. This conversation sheds light on how language encodes ancestral and mythological stories that shape our worldview today.Greyhorn Pagans:Support us on PatreonWebsiteSupport FireFaeBrady/Apokalupsis Historia:SubstackYouTube ChannelPodcast recorded with Riverside Studios:Join RiversideMusic from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):Best Free Music in TownKey Topics:The etymology of "God" from Proto-Indo-European roots related to pouring, libation, and sacrificeThe connection between Odin's names (like Gotter) and the Christian deityHow place names like Goth and Gotland reflect ancient associations with rivers, gushing waters, and possibly the divineThe linguistic evolution of Odin's name in Germanic and Latin sourcesThe symbolic significance of sacrifices, libations, and water in pagan and Odinic traditionsThe potential pun and link between "Goth" and Odin, emphasizing the idea of "Father" or "Creator"The cultural importance of horses, trees, and blood offerings in Goth and Norse contextsThe influence of linguistic and mythic connections on modern Gothic architecture, literature, and media imageryBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/greyhorn-pagans-podcast--6047518/support.Make sure to subscribe to our Patreon for more!Greyhorn Pagans Patreon

Olle is a 35‑year‑old physiotherapist from Sweden and the creator of the Swedish YouTube channel Carnivore Sverige. For years he struggled with gut issues, tonsil stones, and recurring dizziness attacks, all of which resolved rapidly after adopting a carnivore diet.   On his YouTube channel, Carnivore Sverige, he now interviews Swedes who have used a carnivore way of eating to turn around their own health problems and shares their stories to inspire and educate others.   Olle has also organized the first Swedish carnivore event, bringing together speakers to discuss health, metabolism, and carnivore‑related topics for a growing Scandinavian audience.   See more of Olle here: https://youtube.com/@Carnivoresverige?si=PmxSwpcPBJdCUVBS     Join my NEW 90-day Carnivore Challenge group on Mighty Networks below! https://dr-chaffee-s-90-day-carnivore-challenge.mn.co/landing/ If you liked this and want to learn more go to my new website www.DrAnthonyChaffee.com

The Tennis Tragic #070 / The Crunching Sound / David and Matte leave voicemails for each other and accidentally make a podcast. Tsitsipas defeats Medvedev, which means nothing. David recounts his two weeks as a curling tragic. David and Matte discuss the merits of dentistry. Matte shatters his phone under a car while recording the sounds of his city. Mensik stuns Sinner, Denmark pretends it is a summery Scandinavian country, Atmane loses a match on the umpire's call, B-surnames have a big week, and Tiafoe goes Hard 75 but loses the Pear to Cobolli. David's back persists. A video game is coming. The green man flashes.

This week on America on the Road, guest co-host Matt DeLorenzo joins Jack Nerad as they dive into Jack's first-drive impressions of the revived 2026 Jeep Cherokee and updated 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Matt reviews the 2026 Volvo EX30, a punchy subcompact EV SUV with Scandinavian flair, while Jack road-tests the premium 2026 Genesis GV60 Performance, a luxury compact EV with vivid acceleration matched with luxury features. Plus, Jack sits down with Mike Cockell, Product Lead for the 2026 Jeep Cherokee, to discuss its all-new hybrid powertrain, off-road capabilities, and new pricing.

"They are fundamentally bound at the hip, because the Trump age is a conspiratorial age and a backlash against global wealth inequality... Epstein facilitated the rise of Trump." — Jason PackLate last year, Disorder podcast host Jason Pack came on the show and predicted that Mark Carney would be the "orderer" of 2025 and Jeffrey Epstein would be 2026's "disorderer-in-chief". Pack was uncannily right. Although, as he admits, such prescience gives him no pleasure.Pack is no conspiracist. He thought QAnon was a hoax; he saw the antisemitism baked into its bizarre theories. But he's come to believe there was a genuine cover-up of the Jeffrey Epstein case—not orchestrated by the CIA, but by prosecutors who didn't want to go after powerful people, journalists comfortably ensconced in Epstein's world, and a system where too much wealth has accrued to too narrow a sliver of global elites.What haunts him most is what the emails reveal about how the world actually works. Favors exchanged for favors in a network of infinite back-scratching. Noam Chomsky (!) and Leon Black busy trading intros for access to Epstein's underworld. The emails reveal completely amoral elites, Pack says, nihilists without even the pretense of moral scruples.Trump and Epstein, Pack argues, are bound at the hip—not because Trump is guilty of Epstein's crimes, but because both are products of the same angry backlash against global wealth inequality and the collapse of institutional trust. Trump is, in Pack's memorable phrase, "a legal Epstein"—someone who gets things done through connections, who can appear the most elite Wall Street type to bankers and the most common man to coal miners. The evil genius of doppelgängerism. For Pack, the Epstein files may be a tremor before the big one—AI or crypto could bring the real 1789 style earthquake—but they've already destroyed something of priceless value: the illusion that elites are working on the behalf of the people. Five Takeaways●      The Cover-Up Wasn't a Conspiracy—It Was the System: Cases sat on prosecutors' desks in Florida in 2003 and weren't filed. Journalists were tipped off in the early 2000s and didn't run with it. Pack isn't alleging CIA orchestration—just that too much wealth and power had accrued to too narrow a tranche of global elites, and they were able to cow journalists and prosecutors into silence.●      Trump and Epstein Are Bound at the Hip: Both are products of the same backlash against global wealth inequality and the collapse of trust since the end of the Cold War. The irony: Trump is himself a member of the elite who benefited from these networks, but his political appeal lies in his promise to dismantle them.●      "Order" vs. the Law of the Jungle: The world Epstein built wasn't ordered in any traditional sense—it was the logic of the jungle, based on blackmail and compromat. Russian intelligence running a financial sex trafficking influence scheme at the heart of the Anglo-American establishment. When they needed a service, they got the service.●      The Collapse of Social Trust: Pack contrasts our "low-trust" Anglo-American society with Scandinavian models where people still believe institutions work on their behalf. The Epstein files reveal completely amoral elites who believed in nothing—no religion, no moral code—and had no compunction about harming young women or stealing pensioners' money.●      A Tremor Before the Big One: Epstein won't bring down neoliberal capitalism. But AI making five families wealthier than the rest of the world combined could. Or crypto going to zero and 300,000 people realizing their life savings are gone. The true significance of the Epstein files is that they've stripped away the illusion that the system works on our behalf. About the GuestJason Pack is a historian, consultant, and host of the Disorder podcast. He is the author of Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder. He is based in London.ReferencesPodcasts mentioned:●      Disorder Episode 167 — "Epstein Survivor Rina Oh on Getting Justice"●      Disorder Episode 168 — "How Can Epstein's Victims Get Closure? with Civil Rights Attorney Lisa Bloom"●      Bobby Capucci's "Jeffrey Epstein: The Cover-Up Chronicles" — deep dives into the Epstein files●      Jewish Currents — left-wing Jewish treatment of Epstein's connections to Ehud Barak and the MossadPrevious Keen On episodes mentioned:●      Peter Bale interview (Episode 2813) — discussed the Epstein media cover-up and Michael Wolff's attempts to interest mainstream mediaAbout Keen On AmericaNobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction: Jason Pack hates being right (02:04) - Carney's Davos speech: Words as actions (05:44) - A Canadian-led initiative on Ukraine? (06:55) - The Epstein cover-up: Why I believe it (11:05) - What the New York Times knew and when (13:21) - Epstein survivors and their lawyers (15:06) - Too much wealth has accrued to too narrow a tranche (17:09) - The uncomfortable Jewish angle (21:03) - Emails to Woody Allen and Leon Botstein (23:00) - Trump and Epstein: Bound at the hip (27:03) - Trump as a legal Epstein (29:33) - Disorder or the law of the jungle? (33:28) - Does Scandinavia get off lighter? (38:05) - A tremor before the big one?

Louise Byg Kongsholm explains in this episode that companies must navigate "trend stuffification" by distinguishing between short-term noise and long-term strategic patterns that address fundamental human needs. She advocates for life stage segmentation over traditional demographics and warns that AI should be treated as a tool rather than a business strategy to protect the essential human "creative spark". Louise Byg Kongsholm is CEO of pej gruppen – scandinavian trend institute, a company with more than 50 years of experience in decoding trends and making them actionable for Scandinavian companies.She works as a trend researcher, author, speaker and advisor across Scandinavia. She is also editor-in-chief of three professional magazines and has written several books on topics such as trend sociology, the future of retail, life stage segmentation and creativity. She is known for translating complex societal and cultural shifts into clear strategic insight.Her work centres on zeitgeist analysis, megatrends and consumer behaviour, with a strong focus on how uncertainty, values and cultural change shape markets and everyday decision-making. Rather than treating trends as isolated phenomena, she analyses patterns, signals and underlying drivers. From this perspective, colour is not a discipline in itself, but a visible expression of deeper cultural moods and collective states of mind.Support the showThank you for listening! Follow us through our website or social media!https://www.thecolorauthority.com/podcasthttps://www.instagram.com/the_color_authority_/https://www.linkedin.com/company/78120219/admin/

What happens when Scandinavian performance culture meets the intensity of New York City's fitness scene? In this episode of Marni On The Move, I'm joined by Nicoline Roth, founder of NRTHRN Strong — the Scandinavian workout sensation taking over the NYC fitness scene. Born in Copenhagen and now making serious waves in New York, NRTHRN Strong is not your typical strength, cardio or HIIT class. At the center of the experience is a completely unique machine inspired by cross-country skiing — custom to the NRTHRN Strong workout — designed to deliver powerful, full-body conditioning in a way most athletes have never experienced. The workout blends conditioning, strength training, and cardio into a high-performance, interval-based format that challenges endurance, power, and mental grit — all within a strong, community-driven environment. Nicoline shares the vision behind NRTHRN Strong, how she translated Scandinavian training principles into an innovative boutique fitness concept, and what it takes to grow a brand in one of the most competitive fitness markets in the world. We dive into: The structure and flow of a NRTHRN Strong class The proprietary cross-country ski–inspired machine that sets it apart How conditioning, strength, and cardio are intentionally programmed Building community through performance Expanding from Copenhagen to NYC — and East Hampton Lessons learned as a founder Creating and leading a strong team of instructors Nicoline's daily wellness rituals and breathwork practice Finding balance in New York City The power of setting intention — in business and in life This conversation is about strength in every sense — physical, entrepreneurial, and personal. If you're curious about the future of performance-driven training and the next evolution of boutique fitness, this episode is for you

Michelle Chew is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and editor for the British Journal of Anaesthesia. Hear her sharing her Perioperative Profile on TopMedTalk with Andy Cumpstey. After initial anaesthesia training in Denmark, she moved to Lund University, Sweden, combining clinical work and research, later establishing her own experimental haemodynamics group studying septic and haemorrhagic shock and myocardial changes. She balances academic and family life by prioritizing rather than seeking "life balance," noting challenges for women in academia despite Scandinavian support. She explains journal editing—from rapid assessment, literature checks, peer review coordination, to feedback synthesis—and entered the field via the European Journal of Anaesthesiology, later serving at BJA and other journals. She also describes developing clinical guidelines, emphasizing expert panels, systematic reviews, consensus, and local adaptation, with involvement in Scandinavian and European anesthesia societies. Throughout, she highlights lessons from mentors and family, especially her grandmother, stresses taking opportunities and putting in the work, and emphasizes that science and clinical medicine ultimately serve patients. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Film: Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), 2008, dir. Tomas Alfredson — the original Swedish version, not the American remake Oscar as the kid who fell through every crack in the social safety net — absent parents, unchecked bullying, zero adult intervention The film's place in the Nordic noir tradition alongside The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — horror as a lens on the failures of Scandinavian social democracy Eli as an ageless predator disguised as a child — the anti-romantic vampire, feeding scenes played as animal attacks rather than seduction The castration subplot: the book, the brief film moment, and how it connects to the history of the castrati and the "monstrous trans" trope in horror (Silence of the Lambs, Sleepaway Camp) That pool scene — one of the top 10 horror scenes ever committed to film, don't @ us The grooming debate: Is the ending a love story or a tragedy on repeat? (Spoiler: it's the second one) Top 3 vampire films: Let the Right One In, Coppola's Dracula, The Lost Boys (According to Johnathon) What We've Been Watching: 28 Years Later, Abraham's Boys, The Thing, The Abominable Snowman, The Shining, Together Coming Soon: Scream 7, Undertone (A24) Next Month: True Detective Season 1 with the Baldwin Boys!

There was a time, not so long ago, when the fate of the planet hinged on the stern glare of a Scandinavian teenager.World leaders trembled. Journalists genuflected. Schoolchildren skipped algebra to chant in the streets. And at the center of this eco-theatrical hurricane stood Greta Thunberg, who, despite not yet being old enough to rent a car, was apparently qualified to repossess Western civilization.She was the Left's Joan of Arc, except instead of hearing voices she heard carbon emissions. Every time someone started a lawnmower, somewhere a cable news producer lit a candle in her honor. Politicians who could not balance a municipal budget suddenly discovered they could forecast global temperatures in the year 2087. And corporations, terrified of being labeled climate criminals, lined up to sponsor the apocalypse.And then, almost imperceptibly at first, the roar quieted.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jon Henriksson is a Stockholm-based double bassist and composer who has become one of the leading voices in the contemporary Scandinavian jazz scene. Born in 1996 in Gothenburg, his path to the bass started when a high school big band director gave him just two months to learn the instrument for a Christmas concert. His 2023 debut album Harmonia placed second in Orkesterjournalen's Golden Album readers' poll, and his new album Shapeshifter drops March 20th, 2026, featuring a quartet with pianist Rasmus Sørensen, drummer Jonas Bäckman, and saxophonist Karl-Martin Almqvist. In this conversation, Jon talks about discovering bird watching and nature photography during the pandemic as a counterbalance to musical life. He shares his compositional process of improvising at the piano and layering ideas on his phone, the Swedish folk high school system that's created a vibrant jazz pipeline to Stockholm, and the jam sessions he hosts twice weekly at Stompin in Old Town. Jon explains how he writes music drawing from Brazilian influences, folk, and pop alongside jazz traditions, and why he wanted Shapeshifter to give space for his favorite musicians to express their personalities. Connect with Jon on Instagram, and listen to his music on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Connect with DBHQ Join Our Newsletter Double Bass Resources Double Bass Sheet Music Double Bass Merch Gear used to record this podcast Zoom H6 studio 8-Track 32-Bit Float Handy Recorder Rode Podmic Sony Alpha 7 IV Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Lens Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM Lens   When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.   Theme music by Eric Hochberg

Mads Buchardt founded Buchardt Audio with a vision of offering high-end sound and Scandinavian design at the best possible price. Known for “big sound in compact designs,” many of Buchardt's speakers are handcrafted in their woodshop in Denmark using the finest Danish oak, and their loudspeakers exemplify the minimalist aesthetic that is a hallmark of Scandinavian design.Simon talks with Mads about how Buchardt Audio is delivering on its vision by offering speakers that sound incredible, are visually stunning, and a great value.We Want to Hear from You!Have a topic, craft category, or craft company you'd like to see us cover? Email us here to share those or any other thoughts you have about CRAFTED.RELATED LINKS:Blister Craft CollectiveBecome a BLISTER+ MemberHeaven 11Floreo Coffee CoBuchardt AudioTOPICS & TIMES:Growing up with Music (6:03)Getting into Hi-Fi (8:04)Founding Buchardt Audio (9:42)Mads' First Speakers (12:08)What are Passive Radiators? (12:55)Staying Small & Running Lean (16:53)Early Challenges (18:53)Big Sound in a Compact Design (22:22)Manufacturing in Silkeborg (25:30)Buchardt's Masterpiece: the E50 (27:14)Active Speakers (43:57)What's Next for Buchardt Audio (55:36)SEE OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicBikes & Big IdeasGEAR:30Blister PodcastBLISTER NEWSLETTER:Get It & Our Weekly Gear Giveaways Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A long, quiet, deeply unsettling journey through Year Walk, a folklore‑rooted mystery that feels part ghost story, part documentary, part “did this really happen?” Blair Witch energy. This playthrough ended up spanning almost four hours because we deep dive into and read everything - including the Journal at the end and all of its entries. I'll be thinking about this game for a long time. The folklore, the symbols, the creatures, the journal entries… everything feels like it's pointing to something older, sadder, and more human than a typical horror story. And when you reach the researcher's notes at the end, the whole narrative reframes itself in a way that's genuinely tragic, shocking, and leads you into a rabbit-hole of wonder. If you like slow, atmospheric mysteries, Scandinavian folklore, or stories that blur the line between myth and memory, I think you'll enjoy settling into this one with me. Thank you for walking with me through this strange, beautiful, heartbreaking little world ❤️ Developer: ⁠ ⁨@simogogames⁩ ⁠ simogo year walk, year walk gameplay, year walk full playthrough, year walk lore, year walk ending explained, year walk journal, year walk story, year walk analysis, year walk walkthrough, atmospheric horror game, folklore horror game, swedish folklore, indie horror game, cozy horror, quiet horror, narrative horror game, blair witch vibes, unsettling games, eerie games, mythic horror, atmospheric lets play, longplay, long playthrough, cozy narration, slow gaming, immersive storytelling, indie game playthrough

On this episode of Hyperion to a Satyr, Siskoid and his guest Ryan Blake discuss the 1987 Finnish film Hamlet Goes Business, a modern Noir adaptation by director Aki Kaurismäki set in the Scandinavian rubber duck industry. Listen to the episode below or subscribe to Hyperion to a Satyr on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK: Visit the Fire & Water WEBSITE: https://fireandwaterpodcast.com Like our Fire & Water FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork Support The Fire & Water Podcast Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts Credits: Theme: "Fanfare" from 1996 Hamlet, by Patrick Doyle, with clips from that film, starring Ray Fearon; the 2000 Hamlet, starring Ethan Hawke; and the 1990 Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson. Bonus clips: Star Trek's "Amok Time", starring Leonard Nimoy. Leave a comment, I love to read!

It is a privilege to welcome actor, model, and producer Jake Jensen to The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast.  Jake is a former professional tennis player turned actor, producer, sports psychologist, and mental health performance coach. He brings a rare blend of grit, intellect, and emotional depth to every role he inhabits – on screen and in life. His portrayal of Finn Larsen in Challengers is a profound statement of his ability to channel lived experience into cinematic authenticity. As a trash-talking Scandinavian tennis pro, Jensen's character embodies the psychological warfare and raw ambition that define the sport's most competitive tiers.  Yet Jake's story doesn't begin—or end—on the court. He holds a PhD in Sport & Performance Psychology and serves as a tenured professor at California State University, Northridge. His work with elite athletes, actors, and creatives focuses on optimizing mental performance through mindfulness, emotional regulation, and strategic mindset training. Whether coaching one-on-one or lecturing in the classroom, Jake's approach is grounded, intuitive, and transformative.  As a producer and creative collaborator, Jake is currently leading the romantic fantasy drama Believe, where he stars as a war veteran entangled in a mysterious love story with Eve from the Bible. He's also a gifted pianist and composer, scoring original work while developing new scripts that fuse psychological insight with artistic storytelling.   On this episode of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Jake Jensen spoke about the lessons that he learned from the Challengers and King Richard sets, previewed Believe and Power 98.5's In the Actors and Athletes Studio, where he co-hosts with Steven Cuoco. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.

Ida Victoria is a Norwegian independent sewing‑pattern designer known for creating modern, easy‑to‑follow patterns for makers of all skill levels. She's one of Norway's best designers and online retailers. Based in Jessheim, Ida designs garments for children and adults, focusing on comfort, practicality and clean Scandinavian style. Her patterns are available as both PDF and printed formats, with many translated into English for an international audience. Under IdaVictoria.no she also offers courses, sewing supplies and curated fabrics. She has built a strong creative community by sharing tutorials, inspiration and behind‑the‑scenes content, making her a well‑loved figure in Norway's growing sewing and DIY culture. You can buy Ida Victoria's sewing patterns from several official sources: 1. Her official website She offers information and links to both English and Norwegian patterns on her site.  idavictoria.com  2. Her Etsy shop (English PDF patterns) This is the main place to buy her digital patterns in English.  Etsy UK shop: idavictoria Etsy global shop: idavictoria 3. Norwegian site for Norwegian-language patterns For paper and PDF patterns in Norwegian, visit:  idavictoria.no/english  If you are able, consider supporting this podcast through our patreon account. There are 3 new tiers to choose from to support SewOver50's only podcast. Every podcast is free and the archive is gradually being uploaded on to the podcast YouTube channel. Sound with permission by Kaneef on YouTube. SewOver50 intersects with all communities. SewOver50 where we are so over ageism.  Our focus is the sewing talent each person shares on social media and providing recognition of their willingness to share their skills whether a beginner or experienced sewist. Make sure you listen to your SewOver50 friends in our SewOver50 podcast archive.  

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you're in — there's no spam and no fees. Give the gift of everyday luxury and make every moment comfortable. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code COZYMMM for 20% off sitewide. And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth at the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast.Testing a foetus or an embryo for some medical conditions is now a routine part of the modern pregnancy experience. Prenatal Down's Syndrome tests, for instance, are now so widespread that in some Scandinavian countries almost 100 per cent of women choose to abort a foetus diagnosed with the condition, or – if using IVF – not implant the affected embryo. The result is a visible change to these populations: there are simply no more people with Down's to be seen on the streets of Iceland and Denmark.New technology is now available – at a high price – for those who want to go further. So-called polygenic embryo screening can give a very full picture of the adult that the embryo could become, including his or her vulnerability to an enormous number of diseases – heart disease, diabetes, cancer – and also the physical and psychological traits that he or she would likely possess: height, hair colour, athletic ability, conscientiousness, altruism, intelligence. Is this a good thing? Should we welcome a world in which parents are routinely selecting their embryos in this way? I'm joined today by two guests who take a very different view. Emma Waters is a policy analyst at the Center for Technology and the Human Person at the Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on family, biotechnology, and reproductive medicine.Jonathan Anomaly is a philosopher, author of the book 'Creating Future People: The Science and Ethics of Genetic Enhancement', and is also the director of scientific research and communication for Herasight, a genetics startup that offers polygenic embryo screening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Victoria sits down with Ganni's Chief Sustainability Officer, Lauren Bartley. They discuss how the brand approaches sustainability and design, as they set trends rather than following them. Lauren unpacks Ganni's transparent approach to sustainability reporting, its investment in next-generation material innovation, partnerships in resale and repair, and how the brand balances trend-setting design with long-term environmental strategy. They also explore Scandinavian sustainability culture, the importance of consistency over perfection, and why innovation is key to moving fashion forward.Follow Fashion & Founders:Podcast IG: @fashionandfoundersPodcast Substack: Fashion and FoundersPodcast Website: fashionandfounders.comPodcast TikTok: @fashionandfoundersPodcast LinkedIn: Fashion and FoundersPodcast YouTube: Fashion and FoundersPodcast Links: Shop MyFollow Ganni:IG: @ganniShop HEREThe Ganni PlaybookFollow Boii Studios:IG: @boiistudiosShop HERERent the Runway:Use code: RTRXVSMITH50 and get 50% off your first month!Thanks for listening! 

In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr Joakim Goldhahn about his journey through archaeology and rock art, from Scandinavia to Australia. Together, they explore the cosmology of Scandinavian burials linked to rock art, as well as the living traditions of rock art in Kakadu National Park and the lifeways of Indigenous Australians. Central to the discussion is a reflection on archaeological responsibility: how working outside these cultural traditions requires humility, accountability, and a commitment to building genuine, impactful relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities.TranscriptsFor a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/159LinksDr Joakim Goldhahn's BiographyIntroduction to Scandinavian Rock ArtKakadu National Park Rock Art‘This is my father's painting': a first hand account of the creation of the most iconic rock art in Kakadu National ParkContactDr. Alan Garfinkelavram1952@yahoo.comDr. Alan Garfinkel's WebsiteSupport Dr. Garfinkel on PatreonArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliates and SponsorsMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Millions of Canadians are without a family doctor or nurse practitioner in Canada. But Denmark, a country where 98 per cent of its population is attached to a primary care provider, could have some lessons for us. We travelled to the Scandinavian country to see how the Danish system works for patients and doctors, and the differences are startling.

In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr Joakim Goldhahn about his journey through archaeology and rock art, from Scandinavia to Australia. Together, they explore the cosmology of Scandinavian burials linked to rock art, as well as the living traditions of rock art in Kakadu National Park and the lifeways of Indigenous Australians. Central to the discussion is a reflection on archaeological responsibility: how working outside these cultural traditions requires humility, accountability, and a commitment to building genuine, impactful relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities.TranscriptsFor a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/159LinksDr Joakim Goldhahn's BiographyIntroduction to Scandinavian Rock ArtKakadu National Park Rock Art‘This is my father's painting': a first hand account of the creation of the most iconic rock art in Kakadu National ParkContactDr. Alan Garfinkelavram1952@yahoo.comDr. Alan Garfinkel's WebsiteSupport Dr. Garfinkel on PatreonArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliates and SponsorsMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A retelling of Shakespeare's life through the eyes of his wife and a Scandinavian family with a communication crisis. We discuss Hamnet and Sentimental Value. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast Francis Diamond and Frida Infante discuss the outlook for Sweden and Norway rate markets.   This podcast was recorded on 13 February 2026. This communication is provided for information purposes only. Institutional clients can view the related report at https://www.jpmm.com/research/content/GPS-5204805-0 for more information; please visit www.jpmm.com/research/disclosures for important disclosures. © 2026 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. This material or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of J.P. Morgan. It is strictly prohibited to use or share without prior written consent from J.P. Morgan any research material received from J.P. Morgan or an authorized third-party (“J.P. Morgan Data”) in any third-party artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems or models when such J.P. Morgan Data is accessible by a third-party.

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

In this episode, we speak with old pal Joerg Frauendiener of Doping the Void about German punk, Scandinavian rock bands, choosing the bass over the flute, and the difference between touring in the USA versus Europe. Plus, the Black Forest and love of cuckoo clocks.You can check out Doping the Void at the following locations:https://www.facebook.com/DopingTheVoid/https://www.instagram.com/dopingthevoid/https://punkaroundandfindout.com/2024/03/13/doping-the-void-ungeheuer/Paul works a day job and puts out vinyl and puts on shows via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Katzulhu Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/paul.neil.12⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/katzulhu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Dont-Quit-Your-Day-Job-podcast-107924851339602⁠

Brage, Mikael and Rudy sit down to talk about Scandinavian social democracy, with a focus on Norway and Sweden. We discuss the periodization of social democracy, starting from the 1905 independence of Norway, through the first World War period, the rise of social democracy in the interwar period, the golden years and the unraveling. We discuss why social democracy was able to take hold in Scandinavia through several historic compromises, what the economics of the countries were, the limits of the politics and how the parties tried to transcend these limits, before concluding with the unraveling of the politics in the 80s. Bibliography: G. Esping-Andersen - Politics Against Markets: The Social Democratic Road to Power W. Korpi - The Democratic Class Struggle K. Ostbjerg - Rise and Fall of Swedish Social Democracy J. Pontusson - The Limits of Social Democracy: Investment Politics in Sweden M. Rasmussen, C. H. Knutsen - Reforming to Survive: The Bolshevik Origins of Social Policies F. Sejersted, M. Adams - The Age of Social Democracy

This week on Better Buildings for Humans, host Joe Menchefski sits down with award-winning architect Scott Gustafson of Harley Ellis Devereaux for a fascinating look at the intersection of science, sustainability, and beautiful design. As a leader in the Science and Advanced Manufacturing sector, Scott shares how labs and factories—often overlooked in architectural discourse—can become inspiring, human-centered spaces.From incorporating skylights into precision manufacturing plants to leveraging mass timber for rapid construction and biophilic impact, Scott reveals how even the most technical buildings can promote wellness, retention, and resilience. He also opens up about his love for Scandinavian modernism, his teaching role at Lawrence Technological University, and why architecture should be built to last, not follow trends.This episode is a must-listen for anyone who believes that great design belongs everywhere—even on the factory floor.More About Scott GustafsonScott Gustafson is an architect living and working in the Detroit metro area. He works for HED, an integrated architecture and engineering firm founded in Detroit in the early 1900s.Originally from outside Chicago, Scott studied architecture at Kansas State University from 1994 to 1999. It was his uncle—also an architect and a KSU alumnus—who inspired him to pursue the same path.After earning his degree, Scott gained diverse professional experience by working in Arizona, Colorado, and California. His time with small and medium-sized firms in those states exposed him to a wide range of project types and professional practice styles.Since relocating to Michigan in 2017, Scott has contributed significantly to the architectural community. He has served on the Michigan Board of Architects, taught part-time at Lawrence Technological University, and held leadership roles—including vice-president, president, and past president—in the Huron Valley chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He also served on his local planning commission. Each of these roles has allowed him to apply his architectural skills in meaningful ways that benefit the community.Scott's passion lies in creating buildings and spaces that engage all of the human senses. He believes that since people spend so much of their lives in designed environments, both indoors and out, those spaces should uplift rather than diminish the human experience. Poor lighting, jarring sounds, uncomfortable furniture, unattractive signage, and cheap materials can all erode a person's sense of well-being and dignity. Scott strives to design environments that make people feel comfortable, welcomed, cared for, and loved—spaces where they can do their best work, build meaningful relationships, and feel at peace.He is a registered architect in the states of Arizona, California, and Michigan, as well as in the countries of Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden.Contact:https://hed.co/https://www.instagram.com/hedadvances/https://www.instagram.com/scottmbgustafson/https://www.threads.com/@scottmbgustafsonhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmbgustafson/Where To Find Us:https://bbfhpod.advancedglazings.com/www.advancedglazings.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/better-buildings-for-humans-podcastwww.linkedin.com/in/advanced-glazings-ltd-848b4625https://twitter.com/bbfhpodhttps://twitter.com/Solera_Daylighthttps://www.instagram.com/bbfhpod/https://www.instagram.com/advancedglazingsltdhttps://www.facebook.com/AdvancedGlazingsltd

This week Seth and Josh welcome Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to the podcast! He shares all about his upbringing in Denmark, family trips to Spain in a Fiat 600, his adventures hosting a travel documentary series, the cultural nuances of Scandinavian countries, his love for Greenland, and so much more! Plus, he chats about Season 2 of “The Last Thing He Told Me” on Apple TV and Season 2 of his docuseries, “An Optimists Guide To The Planet. Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 Support our sponsors: DeleteMe Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/ TRIPS and use promo code TRIPS at checkout. WildGrain Wildgrain is offering our listeners $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - when you go to https://Wildgrain.com/TRIPS to start your subscription today. Fitbod Level up your workout in the new year. Join Fitbod today to get your personalized workout plan. Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE for seven days at https://Fitbod.me/trip Shipt Download the app or order now at https://shipt.com Marley Spoon This new year, fast-track your way to eating well with Marley Spoon. Head to https://marleyspoon.com/offer/trips for up to 25 FREE meals! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Often seen as the gold standard for societal resilience, Finland has many admirers. The Secretary General of its Security Committee, Petteri Korvala, describes Finland's approach. Many nations are exploring how to build societal resilience as part of a comprehensive approach to security. The Scandinavian countries are often seen as exemplars of best practice, with Finland arguably leading the pack. But delivering resilience through comprehensive security requires trust across all elements of society and a cultural shift as much as it needs the right structures and processes. In this episode, we hear from the Secretary General of Finland's Security Committee, Petteri Korvala, about how their comprehensive security system works. Petteri Korvala has over 30 years of experience in Finland's defence forces and internationally, including in the Ministry of Defence and in Finland's Permanent Representation to the European Union, as well as having served as a liaison officer in United States European Command. Further Reading: Finnish Government, Security Strategy for Society: Government Resolution, 2025:3, available at https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/items/0126122a-1e8a-4ffa-9868-6286292efc01 Vesa Valtonen & Minna Branders, 'Tracing the Finnish Comprehensive Security Model', in Sebastian Larsson & Mark Rhinard (eds.), Nordic Societal Security, Routledge, 2020, pp.91-108. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003045533-7/tracing-finnish-comprehensive-security-model-vesa-valtonen-minna-branders. Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen & Tapio Juntunen, 'From "spiritual defence" to robust resilience in the Finnish comprehensive security model', in Sebastian Larsson & Mark Rhinard (eds.), Nordic Societal Security Routledge, 2020, pp.154–178. Tom Woolmore, The Porcupine and the Hedgehog: The Influence of Finland's Comprehensive Security Model on the British Whole-of-Society Approach, King's College London Master's Dissertation, 2025, available at: https://turvallisuuskomitea.fi/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/MA-Thesis-Thomas-Woolmore.pdf Andrew Sharples (London School of Economics and Political Science): From Bowling Alone to Fighting Together: Social Capital and Whole-of-Society Defence.

Originally Aired February 9, 2026: Dr. P answers medical questions. Thunder box. Everything you wanna know about giving kids chewable laxatives. Listen & subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Amazon Music. For more, visit https://www.93x.com/half-assed-morning-show/Follow the Half-Assed Morning Show:Twitter/X: @93XHAMSFacebook: @93XHAMSInstagram: @93XHAMSEmail the show: HAMS93X@gmail.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the brutal winter of 1933–1934, mysterious “Ghost Fliers” terrorized the skies over Sweden, Norway, and Finland. These unmarked aircraft flew low through raging blizzards and dense fog — conditions that grounded every conventional plane — shining powerful searchlights over remote villages, railways, and military forts. Eyewitnesses, including soldiers and lighthouse keepers, described silent or intermittently silent engines, impossible maneuvers, and craft that appeared and vanished without trace.MF Thomas opens this gripping episode of My Dark Path with a haunting 1910 precursor: a sleek, black phantom biplane circling New York's illuminated Metropolitan Tower at night, performing death-defying stunts that defied the era's primitive aviation. From there, the phenomenon explodes into hundreds of documented sightings across Scandinavia.Governments launched massive investigations. The Swedish military reviewed 487 reports and deemed dozens credible and unexplained. Newspapers were censored. Search parties scoured snowy mountains on skis. Landings were reported. One aircraft allegedly crashed on a remote Norwegian peak — witnesses saw figures clearing snow, heard engines restart, then found nothing but strange tracks in the snow.Were these secret Soviet, German, or Japanese spy planes? Or something far stranger — early UAPs and the direct predecessors of modern UFO encounters?Drawing on rare newspaper accounts and John A. Keel's definitive research, this episode examines one of the largest and most overlooked aerial mysteries of the 20th century.If you love aviation history, unsolved UFO cases, and true fringe mysteries, this one will keep you up at nightRead MF Thomas' novels Like Clockwork https://amzn.to/417lOzyArcade https://amzn.to/4aTpisxA Sickness in Time https://amzn.to/41apSPKSeeing by Moonlight ...

Some toy trends make sense, like the fascination with Lego or even Barbie-mania, which naturally enjoyed the boost from the 2023 film. The fad for trolls, however, doesn't immediately make sense. These strange plastic figures with staring eyes and wild hair don't really do much…but that has never stopped people wanting them. This month is going to be all about children's folklore, and that led me onto thinking about toys. While the folklore of toys might have seemed more obvious, troll dolls give us the chance to explore toys related to folklore. So let's explore where troll dolls came from, and how trolls themselves appear in Scandinavian myth and folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/trolls-in-folklore/ Check out my new book about love magic in folklore, Bring Me Love: https://www.icysedgwick.com/book/bring-me-love/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Few people know the transfer market better than Claire Rafferty. In her role at TransferRoom, she's spoken to clubs all over Europe and beyond about what they want, who they want and (crucially) how much they want to pay or earn.Claire joins Chloe and Rachel to reveal what's really going on in the transfer market: from commercially-driven signings, to the ever-growing number of Scandinavian players coming to the WSL, and the impact of no major tournament this summer.And as the spending in women's football keeps rising, will the numbers just keep going up? Plus, Chloe wants to know her own transfer value.Follow us on X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! Email us show@upfrontpod.com.For ad-free episodes and much more from across our football shows, head over to the Football Ramble Patreon and subscribe: patreon.com/footballramble.**Please rate and review us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. It means a lot and makes it easy for other people to find us. Thank you!** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Full Text of Readings The Saint of the day is Saint Ansgar Saint Ansgar's Story The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without noticeable success. Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other hardships on the way. Fewer than two years later, he was recalled, to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis's death. After 13 years' work in Hamburg, Saint Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism. He directed new apostolic activities in the North, traveling to Denmark and being instrumental in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return. Saint Ansgar's biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr. Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so until the coming of missionaries two centuries later. Saint Ansgar shares the celebration of his liturgical feast with Saint Blase on February 3. Reflection History records what people do, rather than what they are. Yet the courage and perseverance of men and women like Ansgar can only come from a solid base of union with the original courageous and persevering Missionary. Ansgar's life is another reminder that God writes straight with crooked lines. Christ takes care of the effects of the apostolate in his own way; he is first concerned about the purity of the apostles themselves.Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Minnesota's Attorney General tells us about his push to end the federal immigration crackdown there -- and about the dozens of other lawsuits his state has launched against the Trump administration. The families of two Trinidadian men killed when the U.S. bombed their boat near Venezuela mount their own legal fight against the Trump administration -- saying their loved ones had nothing to do with drug cartels. A farmer on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire tells us he's thrilled by a landmark court ruling that orders the government to make a plan to protect him and his neighbours from the ever-present effects of climate change. We'll talk to a record collector who's been on a mission to find, and promote, the band whose old, beat-up album he found in a thrift store. A Kenyan climate activist tells us why she hugged a palm tree for three full days and nights. And also -- since we're all wondering -- how. After learning Pamela Anderson's grandfather was from Finland, our Scandinavian so-called allies risk an international incident -- by starting an ad campaign aimed exclusively at luring her there.As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that urges Ms. Anderson not to cross the Finnish line.

A wind whips across the North Sea as dragon-headed ships cut through the waves towards Anglo-Saxon England. Their arrival marks the start of the Viking Age.In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Terri Barnes and C.J. Adrien of the Vikingology podcast to explore why Vikings left their Scandinavian homelands. From climate change and political upheaval to innovations in shipbuilding, they examine the forces that set these raiders and explorers on a path that would reshape medieval Europe.MOREThe Viking Age: What New Discoveries RevealListen on AppleListen on SpotifyViking Warrior WomenListen on AppleListen on SpotifyGone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.