July 2025 – Brock at Cliff Cottage

2025-07-272025-08-06

Cirrus Aircraft

Cirrus may refer to a type of high-altitude cloud made of ice crystals, typically appearing wispy and delicate. The name comes from the Latin word meaning curl or fringe, and these clouds usually form between 4 000 and 20 000 meters above sea level. Interesting, but it is not the cirrus being discussed here.

Quill-shaped cirrus cloud over Gåseberg, Sweden. The sun is setting behind and to the right of the cloud bank, illuminating the “quill” while some of the lower clouds are in shadow at the time, so they appear darker. Photo: W. Carter, 2016-09-28.

In general aviation = light aircraft, Cirrus is an aircraft manufacturer, known for developing some of the most popular piston aircraft and light jets in the world. It The was founded in 1984 by brothers Alan (1958 – ) and Dale (1961 – ) Klapmeier, who started by designing and building a kit aircraft called the VK-30 in their parents’ dairy barn. The prototype debuted at Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh in 1987 and took flight the following year, eventually leading to a small run of kit deliveries.

In the late 1990s, Cirrus shifted to certified aircraft production and launched the SR20 in 1999. The SR in Cirrus aircraft stands for Single-engine Reciprocating, indicating that these are single-engine piston planes. This naming convention was chosen to sound appealing and modern, similar to military aircraft designations. With its advanced avionics, composite materials, and safety-first features like the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), the SR20 marked a major turning point. The more powerful SR22 followed in 2001 and has since become the best-selling general aviation aircraft of the 21st century, with nearly 8,000 units delivered.

Cirrus SR22 at Schönhagen Airfield, Trebbin, south-west of Berlin, Germany. Photo: Matti Blume, 2020-09-18.

Cirrus was the first aircraft manufacturer to install CAPS = a whole-plane parachute recovery system as a standard on all its models—designed to lower the airplane (and occupants) safely to the ground in case of an emergency. The device is attributed with saving over 200 lives to date. In addition, an all-composite airframe construction and glass panel cockpits on production aircraft were used. These features revolutionized general aviation

Scott Anderson (1965 – 1999) was director of flight operations and chief test pilot for Cirrus. He was responsible for the certification of its SR20 single-engine four-seat composite aircraft. Innovative design features included a single power-lever that adjusted both throttle and propeller RPM, a side-yoke flight control system, a spin-resistant wing design, and a large LCD cockpit display for the avionics. In 1997, Anderson became the lead test pilot on a groundbreaking safety innovation by Ballistic Recovery Systems and Cirrus Aircraft. CAPS was first installed on the SR20 to counteract a loss of control or structural failure, such as: engine failure, mid-air collisions, pilot disorientation or incapacitation, unrecovered spins, extreme icing and fuel exhaustion.

An SR20 aircraft, piloted by Scott Anderson, descending to the ground, supported by a ballistic parachute. The system was designed in the mid-1990s by Cirrus and Ballistic Recovery Systems. Photo: NASA, 1998.

Anderson died while putting the first production SR20 through experimental test flights before it went on sale. The purpose of the flight was to perform routine torture-test maneuvers and assess changes to the aileron if there were any issues. The incident occurred after the plane’s aileron had jammed. Cirrus redesigned the aileron to prevent the problem that killed Anderson, and sold their first SR20 in July 1999.

Building on that success, Cirrus introduced its first jet in 2016, the single-engine Vision Jet. It was marketed towards owner-operators seeking a step up from turboprops. The aircraft features a pressurized cabin, a parachute system, and an autoland function. The latest version, the Vision Jet G2+, entered the market in 2021 with improved takeoff performance and onboard WiFi.

In 2022, Cirrus sold 539 SR-aircraft (almost 40% of the entire piston market) and 90 Vision Jets = 629 deliveries, nearly $1 billion in total revenue. It became the largest single producer of general aviation aircraft in 2022 for the first time in the manufacturer’s history. It continued this trend in 2023, with SR shipments accounting for over 50 percent of the worldwide piston market, more than twice the output of any competitor.

Since the start of the pandemic, the company has experienced supply chain problems resulting in a backlog of almost 700 SR aircraft (as of March 2022) or nearly two years (as of January 2023). It has also faced challenges from the Federal Aviation Administration with two separate airworthiness directives dealing with its Continental piston engines and SR power levers, as well as a company service bulletin dealing with its firing mechanisms for the primer material that ignites the parachute rocket on some SR and Vision Jet aircraft.

Cirrus has helped lead sustainable efforts in the general aviation industry, becoming one of the first OEMs to conduct tests of unleaded fuel in SR22/22Ts and continuing tests of G100UL as part of a program to move towards full unleaded fuels, along with being an early adopter of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the Vision Jet’s Williams FJ33 engine.

Furthermore, most recently, in early 2024, the company unveiled the new variant of SR22, the G7. It features upgraded avionics, a higher-output engine, and enhanced cockpit systems while retaining the design characteristics that have made the model a staple of modern private aviation.

Other General Aviation Manufacturers

Textron, incorporating Cessna and Beechcraft

Clyde Cessna (1879 – 1954), a farmer in Rago, Kansas, built his own aircraft and flew it in June 1911. He started a wood-and-fabric aircraft venture in Enid, Oklahoma. When bankers in Enid refused to lend him more money to build his planes, he moved to Wichita, Kansas.

Cessna became best known for producing small, high-wing, piston aircraft. Its most popular and iconic aircraft is the Cessna 172, delivered since 1956 (with a break from 1986 to 1996), with more sold than any other aircraft in history. The Citation family of low-wing business jets has been well known since the first model was delivered in 1972.

Cessna was purchased by General Dynamics in 1985, then by Textron in 1992. In March 2014, when Textron purchased the Beechcraft and Hawker Aircraft corporations, Cessna ceased operations as a subsidiary company, and joined the others as one of the three distinct brands produced by Textron Aviation.

Prominent models: Cessna 172 Skyhawk – high-wing, single piston-engined, four-seat aircraft in production since 1956. Cessna 182 Skylane – high-wing, single piston-engined, four-seat aircraft in production since 1956. Cessna 206 Stationair – high-wing, single piston-engined, six-seat utility aircraft in production since 1962. Cessna 208 Caravan – high-wing single-turboprop utility aircraft in production since 1984. Cessna 408 SkyCourier – high-wing twin-turboprop utility aircraft in production since 2022. Cessna Citation family – twin-engined business jets

Beech Aircraft Company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1932. It began operations in an idle Cessna factory. The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous production longer than any other aircraft in history. More than 17 000 Bonanzas of all variants have been built, produced in both distinctive V-tail and conventional tail configurations; early conventional-tail versions were marketed as the Debonair.

Beech was sold to Raytheon Company in 1980. In 1994, Raytheon merged Beechcraft with the Hawker product line it had acquired in 1993 from British Aerospace, forming Raytheon Aircraft Company. In 2002, the Beechcraft brand was revived to again designate the Wichita-produced aircraft. In 2006, Raytheon sold Raytheon Aircraft to Goldman Sachs creating Hawker Beechcraft.

Hawker Beechcraft filed for bankruptcy in 2012, but emerged in 2013, as a new entity, Beechcraft Corporation. Among the Beechcraft models produced are the Bonanza series of single-engined piston general aviation aircraft, Baron twin-engined piston utility aircraft, Denali single-engined turboprop, and (Super) King Air twin-engined turboprops.

In April 2022, Textron purchased Slovenian manufacturer Pipistrel to form a new division called Textron eAviation, for electric aircraft development.

Piper

Piper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, originally located in Rochester, New York. It moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1937. Since 1970 it has been located in Vero Beach, Florida. Since 2009, it has been owned by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th century, it was considered to be one of the Big Three in the field of general aviation manufacturing, along with Beechcraft and Cessna. Between its founding in 1927 and the end of 2009, the company produced 144,000 aircraft in 160 certified models, of which 90,000 are still flying. It has been difficult to find out how many aircraft have been produced since 2009. Among the models currently produced are the Archer DLX, Archer LX, M500 and M350.

Diamond

Diamond Aircraft Industries is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, based in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, Austria. It has been a subsidiary of the Chinese company Wanfeng Aviation since 2017. It is the third largest manufacturer of aircraft for the general aviation sector, and has operational facilities in both Lower Austria and London, Ontario, Canada. It produces the single-engined DA20, DA40 and DA50 RG, as well as the twin-engined DA42 and DA62.

Value alignment

I have a lot of unprocessed content, waiting for some event to trigger publication. Today I discovered that my values do not align with Cirrus Aircraft. Why? They had invited Irene Entropy, a content creator, to collaborate during this year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After one day, Cirrus ended the partnership, telling her that their brands did not align, refering to the fact that she was not wearing a bra.

I have been interacting with people for almost 77 years, about half of those have been female, and I have learned not to impose my standards when it comes to clothing taste, especially when it comes to young women. I learned early in my teaching career, not to look at female students below their necks. This despite the fact that on summer days, pupils would request classes outdoors. I have on good authority that many of these would remove their blouses and T-shirts. No, they were not topless because social norms prohibited that. They all wore bras. I hope they used sunscreen. Yes, this is what happens in a climate with excessive darkness for six months of the year.

Irene

Irene describes herself as a storyteller, artist, mechanical engineer, and musician who found herself navigating the collapse of her identity after leaving Mormonism. She spent four years working in aerospace as a lead design engineer and project engineer before choosing to pursue Irene’s Entropy full time. She is a student pilot. Her surname and birth year are unknown to me, despite searching for them.

She was invited by Cirrus to film content during the EAA event. On this first day, she flew one of the company’s Vision Jets and said the experience went well. She described positive interactions with Cirrus employees and others, and added that some attendees even recognized her and came to the company’s booth to take photos. On day 1, Irene says she had been wearing tank tops with either a golf skirt or jean shorts (similar to other creators at the event), but noted that she was not wearing a bra, which she was told had drawn comments. On the second morning, however, she was informed that the company was ending the partnership.

The whole incident may be attributable to a culture clash. In 2001, a majority interest in Cirrus was sold to Bahrain-based Arcapita. In 2011, it was acquired by China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA), which is a division of the Chinese state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). In 2024, it became a minority publicly-owned company, trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

2025-07-272025-07-26

Carrying Capacity

The first economist to suggest there were limits to how many inhabitants a country could support was Thomas Malthus (1766 – 1834), in: An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). Malthus believed that each country had a “carrying capacity,” a maximum number of people it can support. When the population is above its carrying capacity, it is full.

Carrying capacity is based on environmental factors, such as the amount of food resources that can be grown on land or harvested from the sea. If Malthus were alive today, he would point out there is a fixed amount of oil in the Earth and a fixed amount of farmland to grow crops. Sooner or later the oil will run out, and if population grows without bound, there will not be enough food to feed everyone.

Malthus predicted that if a country rises above its carrying capacity, the result would be: disease, famine and war. These would reduce the population to a sustainable level. In simpler words: The population in a country cannot grow beyond a specified point, that is constrained by death. This conclusion is one of the reasons people began to call economics the dismal science.

Jared Diamond, in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005), examines a range of past societies in an attempt to identify why they either collapsed or continued to thrive and considers what contemporary societies can learn from these historical examples. He argues against cultural explanations, but focuses on ecology. Among the societies mentioned in the book are the Norse and Inuit of Greenland, the Maya, the Anasazi, the indigenous people of Rapa Nui = Easter Island, Japan, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Montana. Numerous times in history, excessive population growth in terms of resources led to environmental damage that destroyed that society. The damage was precipitated by people being forced to move onto marginal or unsafe lands.

Many other economists hold the opposite view and argue population growth fosters economic progress, which means an ever-growing amount of goods and services.

Julian Simon (1932 – 1998) studied economics in terms of population, natural resources and immigration. He is known for his cornucopian views = nature is abundant, and as a critic of Malthus. Simon focused on the lasting economic benefits of continuous population growth, despite finite = limited physical resources. Human ingenuity creates substitutes and technological progress. A growing population is advantageous because it allows more researchers, inventors, thinkers, writers and creative people contributing to economic growth. The Ultimate Resource (1981) is a criticism of what was then the conventional wisdom on resource scarcity

These kinds of ideas were expanded by Michael Kremer (1964 – ), by suggesting it takes a critical mass of people to develop advanced societies. He contends that societies with high population densities are the most dynamic and most productive. He was awarded the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel = Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne (Swedish), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, along with Esther Duflo (1972 – ) and Abhijit Banerjee (1961 – ) for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Their work popularizing the use of randomized controlled trials (RCT) in development economics.

Among his earliest contributions was the O-ring theory of economic development, named for the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, in which a cascading failure was caused by the malfunctioning of a single small component. Complex products often require completing many steps correctly for the final product to have any value. This work was inspired by his time in Kenya, when he organized a training session for WorldTeach volunteers, but forgot to purchase toilet paper for the event.

Kremer’s Nobel lecture, Experimentation, Innovation, and Economics (2019) provided an overview of the experimental revolution in development economics, arguing that RCTs can be a powerful tool for influencing public policy and promoting innovation. To do this, he draws on many examples of his own work, including that on deworming (reducing school absenteeism by 25% and increasing adult incomes significantly) and fertilizer usage (Third-world farmers may procrastinate or postponing fertilizer purchases until later periods, when they may be too impatient to purchase fertilizer. Consistent with the model. Many farmers in Western Kenya fail to take advantage of apparently profitable fertilizer investments, but invest in response to small, time-limited discounts = free delivery, just after harvest. This policy can yield higher benefits than heavy subsidies).

The reason why large populations are good is straightforward. Few ideas come from people who are isolated. Numerous people who are together in close proximity produce more ideas because they learn from each other and compete. Proponents of population growth point out most of the new ideas and products come from cities like New York City, London and Paris. The places brimming with ideas are dense, crowded major urban centers teeming with people.

The United States of America has not reached its carrying capacity. Despite this, President Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of immigrants, which could upend American farming economies.

Immigrants make up about two-thirds of the nation’s crop farmworkers. About 40% of them are illegal immigrants. Agricultural industries such as meatpacking, dairy farms, poultry and livestock rely heavily on immigrants. Many agricultural employers can not find enough laborers. Employers have a hard time hiring enough farm laborers because such workers generally are paid low wages for arduous work. The H-2A visas program can provide workers for seasonal work, usually 6–10 months. However, these can be extended for up to three years before a worker must return to their home country. Employers must pay H-2A workers a state-specific minimum wage and provide no-cost transportation and housing. The number of H-2A positions has surged from just over 48 000 in 2005 to more than 378 000 in 2023. Agricultural employers that operate year-round, such as poultry, dairy and livestock producers, can not use the seasonal visa to fill gap. Farmers may also employ foreign nationals who have temporary protected status under a 1990 law that allows immigrants to remain if the U.S. has determined their home countries are unsafe because of violence or other reasons. There are about 1.2 million people in the U.S. under the program or eligible for it, from countries including El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, and Ukraine. Many have been here for decades. However, the current administration has threatened to end this program. Immigration advocates want a pathway for H-2A workers to gain permanent legal status, and agricultural trade organizations are pushing for an expansion of the H-2A program to include year-round operations.

2025-07-262025-07-20

School 2000

Nord University campus at Nesna, was founded as a teachers’ college in 1918. Centralization thoughts in 2019 resulted in it being scheduled for closing in 2021. However, student protests and an intervention from the Minister of Education, Ole Borten Moe (1976 – ) preserved its existence. Photo: Finnrind (1971 – ) 2007-07-09.

This weblog post was completed on 2019/05/25. I am now working on it 2 248 days later on 2025-07-20, with an intention of publishing it on 2025-07-26. It is the oldest unscheduled = draft post that I have. With the exception of this paragraph, and the introductory photogaph, the content is identical to what it was in 2019. Content about Nesna is included because I am a proponent of decentralized education. Nesna municipality has a population of about 1 800 people.

In this weblog post, readers are presented with an example of political misuse of the educational system. They are encouraged to reflect on politicians spending billions (of whatever currency) to make meaningless changes to school buildings, while failing to implement free or less expensive changes that would improve the learning situation for millions of children. In particular, I would like readers to consider that the real winner of this situation is the construction industry, while the real losers are everyone else, including school children, taxpayers and teachers. This inappropriate enthusiasm for meaningless changes is depriving children of their right to a good education.

Life is full of learning experiences. In fact, some people might feel that they just get the hang of what life is about, before it abruptly ends. There are many ways in which people can learn skills, gain knowledge and develop wisdom. Not all of these involve schools, but most involve some form of pedagogy. Pedagogy refers to the arts, practices and methods of learning (and teaching), that can be used to acquire these skills. In other words, how rather than what, one learns or teaches.

Swedish school politicians, like the Norwegian politicians, were inspired by the school model, School 2000, which was established by the couple Ingemar and Ingrid Mattsson in 1990. At the center of this model is a base (rather than a classroom), that can best be described as a holding pen, where pupils from up to four classes (80 and in some cases 100 people) can be contained. I am convinced that many bureaucrats liked it, because they could count the cost saving of using just one teacher, instead of four, to monitor these large groups. Many teachers protested against the new school building concepts, because they believed bases and group rooms would bind them to an educational form that works poorly. Swedish teachers came to the same conclusions in the 1990s. In Norway, a debate about bases versus classrooms raged from about 2000 to 2015, with teachers against, and school bureaucrats for.

School 2000 promoters argued that they were simply promoting a more “flexible” form of teaching. The Swedish love affair with the new school model, however, became short-lived. Yet, the entire school structure in Sweden in the 1990s was redesigned in accord with the principles of School 2000. However, it was quickly rejected before much of the changes could be implemented, because the model showed that it did not work. It was easy for pupils to evade control by teachers in bases. Most Swedish schools quickly switched back to traditional classroom teaching again. Finland, educational world leader according to PISA and other surveys, is the only country in the Nordic region that has not been inspired by Mattssons’ model.

Education researcher Lars Näslund found why School 2000 didn’t work, observing students at a primary school from 1996 to 1999. He concluded that the pedagogical form used in School 2000 failed weak pupils. Despite overwhelming data showing the model’s failure, and despite the published evidence, Norwegian politicians chose School 2000 as their educational model when at the beginning of the millennium, they searched for ideas to reform schools.

Norwegian politicians, school leaders and bureaucrats and teachers travelled from Norway to Sweden in thousands to look at Swedish schools. While teachers observed the failure of the system, this was lost on the politicians and bureaucrats. In Norway, hundreds of schools costing billions were remodelled to mirror School 2000. While the same problems emerged as in Sweden, Norwegian politicians failed to turn off the funding.

2025-07-192025-07-17

Dining 2

People lined up to watch the second First Nations [referrred to as Indian, back then] canoe races, at the New Westminster waterfront. The King Neptune Restaurant on Front Street is visible with its “Seafood” sign. Photo: Bob Dibble (1943 – 1979), 1967.

In my youth, I enjoyed eating food in restaurants, but it always involved a special occasion. Most times, we drove down to the King Neptune seafood restaurant, on the New Westminster waterfront. On 1978-01-13, Trish and I were married twice. The first ceremony was at the Provincial Government Buildings on Sixth Street and Fourth Avenue in New Westminster. We then had lunch at the King Neptune, with my family and Jane, a friend. Later we had a Baha’i ceremony at Patricia’s parents’ house in Vancouver, with both our families as well as Baha’i witnesses.

My most exotic restaurant experience was a Polynesian dinner at Trader Vic’s, located at the Bayshore Inn, in Vancouver. It opened in 1961 and closed in 1996. I think I ate there about 1963. I still intend to visit Trader Vic’s again, but the next (and last) time will be at their flagship restaurant in Emeryville in northwest Alameda County, California, between Berkeley and Oakland, on San Francisco Bay. It is an 19 km/ 14 minute drive from my daughter Shelagh’s house, that she shares with husband Derek and son Quinn. This is not the original Trader Vic’s location in Oakland, that opened in 1934 and closed after 38 years, in 1972. The replacement opened immediately after the original closed, and has been operating for almost 53 years.

Relative poverty in the early years after moving to Norway probably influenced my current preference of not eating in restaurants. With a limited range of culinary skills, I am happy that Trish enjoys cooking. I try to reciprocate in areas where I have some competence. In the kitchen, this includes washing and drying dishes. However, it should be noted that we have had Clea N, a dishwasher since 2023-01.

Breakfasts are the most standardized of meals. On Thursdays we eat waffles, three each, usually with cheese on them, possibly with something sweet on top of that, especially the last one, which usually involves a dark syrup. On Sundays we eat pancakes, which follows the same procedures. We also eat various types of hot porridge. Twice a week this is oatmeal, with an optional, usually more exotic ingredient, perhaps once a week. This leaves two or three breakfasts with granola.

Before there was a greater choice, with several cold cereals, but these are being eliminated. The general rule is that we only buy products that contain three or fewer ingredients, in an attempt to avoid ultra-processed foods. Take Kellogg’s Rice Krispies as an example. In addition to Snap, Crackle and Pop, they typically contain rice, sugar, salt and malt flavoring. They may also include added vitamins and minerals, but specific ingredient lists vary by area. This is at least one ingredient too many.

I try to follow a daily routine, at all times, especially with respect to liquids: a cup of green tea at breakfast = 09:00, followed by glasses of water interspersed with cups of black coffee. After dinner = 14:00, I only drink water and herbal teas. Otherwise, I may drink two, possibly three, bottles of non-alcoholic beer throughout the year. No other carbonated beverages. We also eat a third meal, an evening snack = 19:00. Note: different rules apply when travelling!

Yes, people should reduce the amount of processed and ultra-processed food they eat. I have not yet eliminated everything from my diet in those categories, but am making progress. With hard, outdoor chores we allow ourselves to indulge in two cookies each, or divide a small chocolate bar between us, or even eat a pair of crown ice-cream cones = krone-is. Trish eats chocolate flavour, while I eat strawberry. Strawberry is a recent indulgence, perhaps a decade old, when I allowed myself to admit that I sometimes preferred the taste of strawberry to chocolate, at least in ice cream. One Tuesday, Trish dug out some Ukrainian chocolate that Oksana had sent us.

Inderøy has its own chesse and ice-cream manufacturer, Gangstad gårdsysteri = Gangstad farm cheese factory, located in the north of the municipality, not far from the boundary with Steinkjer. It has an interesting internet address = ysteri.no = cheesefactory.no. Its products are expensive, and we don’t normally buy products made there.

In terms of the ice-cream hierarchy, the next most expensive ice-creams commonly available are produced by Hennig-Olsen, started by Sven Hennig-Olsen (1899–1945) in Kristiansand in 1924, after a trip to Chicago. It has an ice-cream market share in Norway of 46%. Hennig-Olsen Ice Cream set a world record in 2015 with the World’s Largest Crown Ice Cream. The crown ice cream was 3.08 m high and contained 1080 l of ice cream, 60 l of chocolate and 40 l of strawberry jam. It was consumed by an audience of approximately 9000 people who were present in Kristiansand during the awarding ceremony. The ice cream is featured in the Guinness World Records book for 2018.

This is followed by Diplom Is who produce a bog standard product. This brand is owned by Tine, the Norwegian dairy co-operative. The forrunner of Diplom, launched Krone-Is in 1953, but increased its size and price (to NOK 1 = one crown) in 1954. We buy the almost identical Coop brand, which is a lower priced variant.

Gangstad is not the only Inderøy company that has a generic internet address. Take Ystgård gartneri, where we buy most of our vegetables as well as eggs, when they are not available at our local farm. It has gartneri.no = horticulure.no (according to Google translate). I would have said something more like garden centre. Located in Straumen, they advertise that they are a local supplier of flowers, vegetables, farm food, eggs and funerals in Nord-Trøndelag.

Yes, I would like people to believe that I always avoid carbonated beverages! However, that is just the situation when I am at Cliff Cottage. When travelling I can indulge myself, especially with root beer when travelling in north America. In Europe, travel may involve cola. I remember that in 2023 I drank a bottle of cola with lime (or was it lemon?) taste. This was repeated in 2025.

Once I even misunderstood Alasdair, and avoided a taste treat that I had hoped to find = non-alcoholic Guinness, in Portsmouth, England in 2024. I have regretted mishearing him ever since. I think he understood that if he encountered it in the future, he is not to ask, but just buy to buy it. His expenses will be reimbursed. I did get a chance to taste this in 2025 and have decided I do not need to repeat the experiment again.

In Inderøy, we – on occasion – support local cafes and restaurants, this includes: Kjerringa med Straumen = The old woman with the flow, which is a double play on words rooted in Norwegian literary history: Kjerringa mot strømmen = The old woman against the flow (1871), a fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812 – 1885) og Jørgen Moe (1813 – 1882), inspired by the brothers Grimm. Straumen is the name of the municipal centre, but it refers to its tidal flow in and out of Børgin, the local fjord. Strøm, strømmen (with the definite article -en) is a more general name for a tidal/ river current. Also located in Straumen is the Internet Cafe, as well as a cafe run by the Sanitetsforeningen, a woman’s health group. In addition, there are eateries at Kjerknesvågen, Mosvik, Røra and Sandvollan.

Outside of Inderøy, we also stop at Biltema = Car Theme, a warehouse store that originally focused on automotive components, for various types of milkshakes, usually chocolate. This may happen once a month. We also eat pizza at specific restaurants in Steinkjer, Verdal, Stjørdal and some more distant places. In the Detroit area, Brad has encouraged us to be enthusiastic about Buddy’s pizza. I can understand his point. The frequency of these visits? Well, perhaps once or twice a year, in total.

In the distant past, and for possibly twenty years there was a Chinese restaurant in Steinkjer, and another in Verdal. We preferred to patronize the one in Steinkjer, located close to the library. However, it suddenly closed down. I suspect the owner had made his fortune, and retired to China. It was replaced by another, more upscale one, that we have avoided patronizing, except for a first visit.

At Norwegian hotels, breakfast is expected to be included, in the price of a room. It is a major performance, and includes quality ingredients. Take eggs as an example. They will be available in a minimum of hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled and fried variants. There will always be a large quantity of different types of fruit and breads available. However, one should avoid the Scandic chain. It is now charging extra for breakfast. Outside of Norway, the quality of breakfasts quickly deteriorates.

At one time, we tried to support independent local restaurants, but this is now avoided, as there is too much variation in quality and too much salt. If we do have a meal at a fast-food chain in Norway, it is most often at a Burger King. It offers a standardized experience. However, I did appreciate eating a vegetarian burger at T.G.I. Friday’s in Bergen.

This post began when I wrote that visiting north America is usually an excuse for me to drink root beer. Theoretically, root beer is available in parts of Norway, near Stavanger. It is typically consumed by American oil engineers. Otherwise, it is not consumed, and is unavailable.

The World, including North America

Travel usually involves eating other meals in restaurants. For me, this is seldom enjoyable, because of excessive salt usage, and ultraprocessed foods. At one time, I tried to find places that looked like diners. This has become more difficult. On my travels to the Maritime provinces and Maine in 2025, I learned that I could order something to eat without fries.

A trip to British Columbia usually involves at least one dinner at a White Spot restaurant, founded in 1928, at Granville and 67th Avenue, in Vancouver. In addition, A & W = Allen & Wright Restaurants, is a preferred choice for fast food, distinguished by its draft root beer in frosted mugs. The Canadian A & W head office is located in North Vancouver. The first Canadian A&W restaurant opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1956. However, A & W’s origins date to 1919, in Lodi, California, south of Sacramento. It claims to be the oldest extant chain, after Fred Harvey’s Company, started in 1876 but now closed, with varying proposed dates. This is disputed by Nathan’s Famous, where Nathan Handwerker started a restaurant on Coney Island in 1916. It was only a single restaurant until 1959, when it became a chain. My dating proposal is to date chains from the time they acquired their second restaurant, so Nathan’s Famous, is far down on my list.

Two other fast-food chains I appreciate had locations in New Westminster, British Columbia, in my formative years: Dairy Queen, founded in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois; and, the International House of Pancakes (IHOP), founded in 1958 in Toluca Lakes, a neighbourhood in Los Angeles, California. Because of its proximity to my sister’s house, there is also Wendy’s, founded in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. At the top of my list, but no longer in existence, was Beano’s, visited regularly because of its location on Sixth Street in New Westminster, with a second location on Kingsway near the Renfrew Loop = bus station, and good tasting chocolate sundaes, in the late 1970s. I prefer waffles made at the local Waffle House, in New Westminster, rather than pancakes at IHOP. Waffle House is not part of a chain.

I am not enthusiastic about all restaurant chains. I am hesitant to use: KFC, founded in 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah; and, Macdonald’s, founded in 1955 in San Bernardino, California. 1969. I am neutral towards: Denny’s, founded in 1953 in Lakewood, California; Burger King, also founded in 1953 but in Miami, Florida; T.G.I. Fridays, founded in 1965 in Dallas, Texas, and Wendy’s founded in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. I had a very positive experience of the Rainforest Cafe at Metrotown in Burnaby, British Columbia, and was enthusiastic to repeat the experience. However, when I did try it again, in London, England, all of its charm had worn away. It was started in 1994, by a Houston, Texas, company.

In California, in addition to Trader Vic’s in Emeryville, I hope to visit the original A & W in Lodi. It is 130 km away from Shelagh, Derek and Quinn’s house. There are also several branches of In-N-Out Berger, founded in 1948 in Baldwin Park, in Los Angeles county, California. There is also one in Oakland, about 10 km away from Shelagh and family. Also on my restaurant bucket list is a meal at Carl’s Jr, founded in 1941 in Los Angeles. It allegedly appeals to hungry, young males. Depending on the route taken, there is one only 5.5 km away from Shelagh.

Note: Bog standard is a Norwegian expression, originally Danish, where bog (Danish) = bok (Norwegian) = book (English). So it refers to something done following the book = the rules.

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Unsplash

While I was working on a weblog post titled Dining 1, 2025-07-05, I lacked an illustration, so I went to one of my major sources for free artwork, Unsplash. I found this drawing by Chris Costa. I found it appealing, but it was not quite the image I was trying to portray. I placed it in the post, with the intention of finding something more appropriate., which I did the next day.

Yet, I found the illustration compelling. So I decided that I could write a post just about Unsplash, transferring the illustration there. There is one word that describes why people are willing to have their artwork used: Exposure. While I am a cheapskate, unwilling to pay for art, that does not mean that everyone is in that situation. I am willing to accept that an illustration is not 100% appropriate. Yes, I am willing to compromise at 95%. The above illustration was only ranked at 90%, so it was replaced.

In addition to Unsplash, my other sources of free artwork are Pxhere and Wikimedia.

Yes, I would encourage others to use these sources of free artwork, but only when they are appropriate.

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Dining 1

A meal, served on a plate, with a sauce. Caroline Green, Unsplash 2021-09-11

My contribution to fine dining is preparing dinner about once a week. There are two limitations at play here. First, that is about my productivity limit. Second, that is about as much suffering other diners are willing to subject themselves to. Some of these other diners may think the adjective fine is inappropriate. I have come to an age where I accept my delusions as reality.

Some notable people have a better understanding of food. I rarely come across them because the last thing I want to do is read or talk about food. For 25 years (1999 – 2024) Jay Rayner was the restaurant/ food journalist at the Guardian. Fifteen years of that was at the Observer Food Monthly (OFM), one of the Guardian’s other publications. Rayner decided that he wanted to bail out when that publication was sold. So in 2025 he become the food critic at the Financial Times. While at the Guardian, he had produced 180 OFM columns, of which the last one was published 2025-02-20. I am reading his column for the first time!

I will now attempt to interpret Rayner’s advice for people who eat to live.

A table should be big enough to hold all of the dishes that are going to arrive.
Food should be served on plates or bowls.
Rayner encourages restaurants to provide small sharing plates.
Wine? Here I will insert my own advice. It is unnecessary. Drink water!
Servers should always write down orders.
Eating alone is dining with someone you love.
Food stains are a badge of honour
Great food can be found in the most atrocious of locations.

Individual foods are not pharmaceuticals
Eat a balanced diet = proteins, carbohydrates, fats.
No foods provide detoxification. Use your liver and kidneys.
No foods are dirty, that is moralizing. Some may be unhealthy, that is different.

Fat is the seat of flavour.
Salt should be avoided even if Rayner wants to indulge in it.
Rayner believes brown and messy foods are the best foods.
Picnics are a nightmare.
Buffets are where good taste goes to die.
Add bacon for taste.
Hyper-expensive foods are about status.

Good food takes skill to prepare and time to cook
Avoid cookbooks that use words like simple.
Eating a slaughtered animal comes with the responsibility to eat as much of it as one can.
Don’t share home produce with neighbours, without asking.

Tipping should be abolished.
All restaurants should use someone over 50 to test:
- print size on menus
- if lighting is bright enough
- if seats are comfortable enough for a lengthy meal
A server should not have to explain a concept.

As you may have observed, I have left the headings of each sequence to be added by the reader.

Furniture making is an area where I do have some, admittedly limited, expertise. For example, I am sufficient adept to know that I should never attempt to make anything resembling a chair. I have made benches. Tables are another matter. A firmly held belief is that people should only sit along two sides of a table, not at the head or the foot. The most appropriate personal area at a table is about 60 cm in width by 45 cm in depth. For me, a table has width, depth and height, but not length. This means that most tables should be 2 x 45 = 90 cm in depth. The width should be 60, 120, 180 or 240 cm depending on whether it accommodates two, four, six or eight people. Special purpose larger widths can be made, if necessary. In the past years I have built two tables, one for eight people following this advice, and one for two people that does not. This other table is 45 cm by 120 cm. It is for two people sitting beside each other, looking out the window at the lawn, flowers, trees, fjord and hopefully various birds, possibly even butterflies, a deer or two on occasion. In addition, it can be used by the primary cook when she needs more preparation space than is provided by the countertops. This table can be folded down when not needed.

These tables are made of oak, even if ash is my favourite wood for furniture making. I am also fond of beech. While Trish uses assorted Tripp-Trapp chairs and has no desire to change, I decided that I could buy my own, personal dining chair. It is an Ikea Lisabo designed by siblings Knut Hagberg and Marianne Hagberg. They worked at Ikea from 1979 to 2020, designing 2100 products = over 51 products a year. I have not been able to find the year this chair started in production, but some other products in the series date from 2016.

An Ikea Lisabo chair in ash. Photo: Ikea

Béchamel sauce is a creamy French white sauce that’s used in many dishes. For some, it is easy to make.

Note 1: Wikipedia tells me that a roux is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness.

Note 2: There are two numerical values that follow a description of a temperature. The first indicates stovetops with values from 0 to 10. Our induction stovetop allows heat from 0 to 14. These values have been used with descriptors.

Ingredients

butter 90 ml.
flour 60 ml.
milk 1 l.
salt none to minimal
grated nutmeg 1 ml.

Directions

Gather all ingredients.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat (5 or 7).
Add flour and whisk into the melted butter until smooth.
Cook and stir until flour turns a light, golden color. Uses about 7 minutes.
Increase heat to medium-high (7 or 10) and slowly whisk in milk until thickened by the roux.
Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low (3 or 4) and continue simmering until the flour has softened and no longer tastes gritty, 10 to 20 minutes.
Season to taste with nutmeg.
Serve hot.

Final advice: Kitchen knives at holiday rentals should be avoided. Take your own.