Apr 30
2009

Well, the far right should have a field day with this one.

Norway’s Socialist Left Party is proposing to ban the sale of cars that run (only) on gasoline by 2015. Its legislation wouldn’t ban all cars that use gasoline, but it would require that all new cars run partly or fully on alternative fuels, including electricity, ethanol, bio-diesel, and hydrogen.

Any new hybrid would be permitted, including such well-known models as the 2010 Toyota Prius. Flex-fuel models, including some Volvo and Saab entries made solely for Scandinavian markets, would also be fine–as would all-electric vehicles. In North America, GM has promised that half its vehicles will be flex-fuel-capable by 2012; all of those would make the cut.

The proposal isn’t new; it was first suggested in May 2007. But it got a flurry of attention on Saturday, when Norway’s finance minister Kristin Halvorsen–a member of the Socialist Left Party–suggested that the plan was “much more realistic than people think” when they first hear about it.

“We are often a party that puts forward new proposals first,” she told Reuters, in a story that spread quickly around the world. Halvorsen stressed her plan does not go after existing cars, applying only to new cars from 2015. (The Norwegian public may not have understood this; reaction was apparently loud and angry.)

Reality check: The proposal isn’t likely to go far. A three-way coalition holds power in Norway, and various cabinet members are opposed–although green advocacy organizations favor it.

To the best of our knowledge, no nation on earth has legislated against a specific form of motive power for automobiles.

Reuters notes that Halvorsen spoke with journalists during a green car event at which she raced a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car around a track against several other politicians. “She finished among the slower times,” noted the news service.

For the record, Norway’s socialist finance minister is no relation to our own Bengt Halvorson. Well … they’re probably related somehow, but way back. Way, way back. Long enough, anyway, for the spelling to be changed at Ellis Island or some other port of entry (cf. “Voelcker”). We just wanted to clear that up.

http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1020294_socialism-at-work-lets-just-ban-all-gasoline-cars

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Apr 30
2009

Bigmouthmedia’s Norwegian team has won the 2009 Gulltaggen Award for best search strategy of the year.

Unveiled as the winner at a prestigious ceremony in Oslo, bigmouthmedia Norway was awarded the region’s most prominent SEO prize for its work promoting the education site Sonans.no. Judges praised the company for mounting a campaign that exploited a full range of online marketing techniques.

“We’re honoured to receive this award. While bigmouthmedia Norway has enjoyed a lot of success internationally, we haven’t been as visible as we would like to be on our home turf. It’s therefore great to finally be able to show everyone what we’re made of”, said Freddy Aursø, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia’s Nordic offices.

He continued, “Winning this award proves that ethical search engine optimisation works. By designing a strategy utilizing organic search, paid search and a variety of other digital marketing techniques we have seen great results throughout the entire campaign”

Founded in 1999, over the last decade the Gulltaggen Awards have become recognised as Norway’s most important digital marketing industry prizes. This year’s event took place over two days in Oslo, with a daytime conference followed by an evening ceremony honouring the companies and individuals that the judging panel hailed as “the new heroes of digital creativity”.

The award for best search strategy is a new category, and bigmouthmedia’s integrated SEO and PPC campaign for Sonans Education made the company its inaugural winners.

“We’re delighted to have our efforts in Scandinavia recognised with this award. The whole team has worked extremely hard to earn this honour, and I’m very pleased that their expertise has been rewarded” said Steve Leach, bigmouthmedia Group CEO.

He concluded, “Awards like this confirm that our Nordics offices are building the same reputation for excellence enjoyed by bigmouthmedia teams around the world”

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=93989

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Apr 28
2009

Archaeological findings indicate that Norway was inhabited since early in the 6th millennium BC. Most historians agree that the populations colonizing Scandinavia came from present-day Germany. In the first centuries AD, Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair (Harald Hårfagre) unified them into one, in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, becoming the first king of a united Norway.

The Viking age, 8-11th centuries AD, was characterized by expansion and thanks to the Vikings’ skill in shipbuilding they roamed far and wide in their amazing longships.  Many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and parts of Britain and Ireland. The modern-day Irish cities of Limerick, Dublin, and Waterford were founded by Norwegian settlers.

Norse traditions were slowly replaced by Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries. Introduced by the missionary kings Olav Tryggvasson and St. Olav.

Haakon the Good was Norway’s first Christian king, in the mid tenth century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected.

There followed various forms of unions with Denmark and Sweden, until in 1814 when Norwegians again asserted their independence.  During the national romanticism of the 19th century  – the long period of the unions was referred to as the “400-year night” when all royal, intellectual and administrative power was centered in Copenhagen, Denmark

With the introduction of Protestantism in 1536, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved, and the church’s incomes were distributed to the court in Copenhagen.

Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine, and with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in the rest of Europe.

Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen, Jemtland, and Herjedalen to Sweden, as a result of wars between Denmark–Norway and Sweden.

After Denmark-Norway was attacked by Great Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon.  The war led to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812.  Later Norway took the opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models.  The Danish crown prince Christian Fredrik was elected king on the 17th of May 1814.  This caused a war that was relatively short lived because of the stronger military of Sweden and the fact that Norway’s treasury was insufficient to support a protracted war.  A union with Sweden followed lasting until 1905.

During this time Norwegian romantic nationalism developed seeking to define and express a distinct national character.  All branches of culture were involved in this movement, including literature, painting, music and even language policy.  Some of the well known personalities from this period are Henrik Wergeland, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Jorgen Moe and Henrik Ibsen (literature), Hans Gude, Edvard Munch, Adolph Tidemand and H. C. Dahl (painters), Edvard Grieg (music), to name a few.

Today Norway is considered one of the most peaceful countries in the world with an enviable standard of living.  It is a popular tourist destination due to a comfortable climate, spectacular scenery, mountains and fjords.  Norway is also one of the few countries on the planet with an annual budget surplus.

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