murmeldyr.no

The weblog of a traveller

Author Archive


   Nov 04

Getting Started

The hardest part of this work might be the timing. Undergrad lab courses have all been tightly time-controlled (do this-then do that-go for lunch-come back just in time for x while y is cooling-etc etc). Now how to plan all this? What to do when your one reaction lasts 2 hours, the other one is [...]

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   Oct 24

Master’s Project

It happened ad detours. The project assignment process was recently reorganized to ensure fairness. Still, in the allotment of projects it seems that making everyone happy/evading complaints is more important than fairness. The result is a ratrace like before where the demanding students choose first, only now covertly and unpredictably. As a qualified and less-noisy [...]

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   Sep 16

Number 13

As I was skimming through an article while waiting for my friend at a brown-ish cafe today, an elderly man approached me real close, tried to catch my eye and started reciting poetry in a calm, comforting voice. It was a gray, sobering text about the struggles of the working people in a time not [...]

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   Sep 05

Welcome to my institute

Welcome to the building where I’ve spent most of my days lately. Oddities abound, and I decided to take you here and show you around before I get so accustomed I do not notice them anymore. The first thing that meets you inside is this guy and this guy. The foyer is full of dead [...]

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   Aug 22

Report from Full City

The South Norwegian coastline is one of the most wondrous places I know. The latest Ice Age did a good job on it, neatly polishing the bedrock into friendly rounds that get nice and warm in the sun. Due to straight-edged protectionism much of it is still public although strong financial forces call for privatization. [...]

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   Jul 26

The Westerlands

I went west. Life was peaceful there. Crammed between staggering mountains, the sea way down there and more mountains so close you can throw a rock across the fjord, is an itty bitty cabin full of wonderful artefacts gathered by sailors in distant havens, truly impressive artwork created during long hours of hiding during the [...]

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   Jul 06

Tanzania I: Summing up

Bagamoyo is a small town on the coast of Tanzania, an hours drive north of Dar. As the president’s mother lives in Bagamoyo, the road is very good. We were going to learn that the government is rather person focused – but grim as this may seem to us, Tanzania is a comparably well-governed and [...]

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   Jun 30

Double landmark

As I know you were expecting a different post in this spot, I’ll make this short: Post no. 50 concludes Murmeldyr’s first year of existence. Quality over quantity! The marmot promises to keep posting wry reflections, overuse adverbs and stay different.

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   Jun 11

On life and responsibility

A young girl was buried today. As I happened to know her, this revoked all sorts of reactions and set off many slumbering thoughts, some of which worth sending down the Tubes. I always found it strange how suicide is looked upon as weak, immoral and/or foolish, and I get upset whenever someone characterises it [...]

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   May 23

The Missing Bachelor Party

Photo by Michelle A few weeks from now I’ll have a very satisfying Bachelor’s degree in hand. Also unless something  surprising happens I’ll have a masters’ admittance in the other. In other words, the next couple of years will take me further down the same road I’ve been walking some time already, although I do [...]

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