Editorial
Modern technologies
Modern technologies… A colleague working in this specialized field explained to me what is happening n new types of digital TV, new DVDs where you can store up to 50GB, new types of radio where you can listen to stations from around the world.
The world has become the global village that Marshall McLuhan spoke about more than forty years ago. He was the first person to popularize the concept (...)
Stand up and fight for your rights!
Stand up and fight for your rights! One should not forget that, if it were not for the efforts of those who had gone before, the world would be an altogether different place than it is today. We need only mention the names of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela among those who fought for justice and opposed racism …
And yet the problem persists. Not long ago the UN Special Rapporteur, Mr (...)
Ah! Dear me!
Ah! Dear me! One of my friends called me last night really upset. “You see,” he told me, “I wanted to make a joke with one of my lady friends and therefore I wrote an e-mail proposing marriage (knowing that she would never accept). However, I made a mistake and send it off to the wrong person…”.
Knowing my friend since our days at university, I could not help laughing. “Life is too important to (...)
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine? A colleague of mine in the “Gauche caviar” (a reference to the leftist intellectual and artistic circles in Paris) once told me that I am not an artist, because I did not attend art school! Many famous artists did not go to college before becoming painters or writers. Some did for sure, but not everybody. You can attend all the art classes in the whole world and still not (...)
Winter
Winter is arriving quickly — days are shorter and most people are waiting for the snow to go skiing — almost everybody except me! I wonder sometimes if I can be a real Norwegian, those whose reputation is to go out skiing and jogging in a winter landscape in shorts …
Perhaps what Anna Morrow Lindbergh wrote might be appropriate: "Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for (...)
"Did you know that 2007 will mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the 1972-73 oil crisis?"
"Did you know that 2007 will mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the 1972-73 oil crisis?" Although I was quite young at the time, I still have some vague memories of those days: petrol rationing, car-free Sundays, people walking and cycling to work, etc. Perhaps my generation did not feel the impact directly, but surely our parents and grandparents did! A dramatic oil price increase led to (...)
True humanitarians
Recently, I attended a Conference on Disaster Management, which included a “simulation” of an earthquake. This was an impressive event where the earth trembled, buildings collapsed, cars caught fire, buildings blazing all over –– no Hollywood action film could have done it better. It was quite a frightening experience as you suddenly realize that you are not equipped to face this kind of (...)
Not so common goals?
There are associations that have been created to promote religious or political agendas or to defend more "humanitarian" issues. Good causes are numerous, and the intentions admirable. But, as the saying goes, "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions".
Attending the annual general assembly of one of these organizations recently was quite a revealing experience. What should have been (...)
Hope
One day, I received a copy of this beautiful e-mail that a friend had sent to somebody who is a stranger to me. Since this issue of DIVA will be the last one for 2007, I take the liberty of sharing this striking message with you all and wishing you all a wonderful New Year in 2008. Marit
Dear Ursula, "Are we nuts?" was not my question but the closing of Michael Winship’s article. (...)
New trends …
If there is something our modern times do not lack it is studies of all kinds … In the late 1990s John Naisbitt published his book Megatrends 2000, an international best-seller, where the author forecast the information society and the global economy — quite controversial ideas in those days. Naisbitt wrote that networks would replace hierarchies as the prime model for getting things done (...)
Human Rights ?
Almost 60 years ago, on December 10, 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration stipulates: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, (...)
Impossible does not necessarily mean not possible…
“Impossible exists in any language, but nothing is impossible if you really want to!”, said a colleague telling me about his newest project.
Lately, we may have been overwhelmed by negative news –– financial crisis, rising energy and commodity prices, food and humanitarian crises, earthquakes, etc. No wonder many people are becoming alarmed and afraid of the future. “You feel a kind of common (...)
Greed…
"There is something I do not understand," a friend said to me the other day. "All these financial losses, banks going bankrupt… The money lost must have gone somewhere? It cannot simply have disappeared into thin air!"
At the time of writing, our civilized world seems to be heading towards one of the biggest financial crises in its history, and nobody knows yet what the consequences will be (...)
Yes we can!
“What is wrong about being positive?”, a colleague asked the other day. “Today everybody is gloomy and it seems like the whole joie de vivre has disappeared.”
How can you be positive when you are overwhelmed with negative news as soon as you turn on the TV or listen to the radio? “Despite all these negative events, there are still some positive things happening out there. Why is it that nobody (...)
Are they helping others or helping themselves?
"Every now and then we go through this awakening process that really makes us feel used and manipulated," a colleague told me the other day. Some time ago the Norwegian documentary film "The Famine Scam" was awarded first prize for its outstanding journalistic work on the "famine" in Niger.
Let us go back to July 2005 when we were confronted with photos of starving children in Niger. The UN (...)
Solidarity
How often do we hear this word? We have to show solidarity toward people in need, toward the poor, toward the less developed. Recently in the Norwegian press the case of non-reporting on the riots in Sweden in December 2008 was also put into this context. The editors of the main media — radio, TV and the press — wanted to show solidarity towards their neighbours and not reflect them in a bad (...)
REFLECTIONS …
“A new decade…”, observed my colleague, who misses nothing! Reviewing the past ten years, one could state that the most unforgettable event was perhaps September 11, 2001. Whether we like it or not, this incident has had a tremendous impact at the international level. It created an atmosphere of fear that we have been living with now for almost ten years. The war on terrorism that resulted from (...)
As time goes by…
In an overgrown corner of an ancient cemetery lies a commemorative tablet on which is carved an important message for humanity: “Good Times; Bad Times; All Times; Pass Over.” In other words, throughout life the good times will tend to get worse and the bad times will tend to get better. The Danish writer Karen Blixen once wrote: “Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before (...)
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Ita`s world
Editorial
Ita`s world
In the ‘hollow’ of An Cabhan, or Cavan, the town very successfully hosted the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil from 16 to 22 August. Warm up events such as Family Day, for people of all ages, were held on Sunday, 15th. After a break of fifty-six years Ireland’s national festival returned to Cavan keeping the town alive from morning to night with a feast of traditional Celtic music, dance, poetry, concerts, exhibitions, charity events and numerous competitions for thousands of performers. In multiple venues within and around the town, music, song and craic poured forth to the thousands of visitors (...)
National Day of Commemoration: Ireland and United NationsFather of the Nation: Nelson Mandela Day
Marconi and Salvan: Dawn of wireless telegraphy
Francis Blanchard: A personal tribute