Every 100 posts I produce a milestone post. Forget the past, I have now decided to use it to publish information that does not warrant a separate post of its own. This will combine up to several hopeless, unfinished drafts (current count 157) that have not come far enough to be scheduled (current count 49), then published (600 when this one gets published). Then there are all of the other things, that are never considered topics for a weblog post, such as …
A passport photo
Recently, Trish found an old passport photo from the early 1980s, that showed what I looked like in what she described as my prime.

When I retired from teaching at the very end of 2016, I estimated that I would spend five years working in construction, refitting our house so that it would be more energy efficient and more suitable for elderly residents. Most of the time, I am unsure who these old people are, but receive a rude awakening in the mornings when I look at myself in the mirror, as shown below.

At the bottom of the above photo, one can see a portion of my hand-held device (HHD) = phone, protected by a pink case. While Trish chooses blue as in dark blue, light blue or turquoise, I typically choose pink (sometimes purple, even red). These are colours we each feel comfortable with. Our original protective cases were ordered on 2022-09-11, when we also ordered our Asus Zenfone 9 HHDs. While Trish’s blue case was still in good condition, by 2024-08-07 my case was showing signs of wear, so I decided to order two additional cases, in the same delightful pink colour. I finally transitioned to the second case on 2025-06-04. My time estimates are not realistic. I thought I had received the cases a couple of months, not ten months, before. My revised estimate is that the cases will last about 2 years and 9 months each, or a little over 8 years in total. By that time (at the end of 2030), it might even be time to update our HHDs.
Undecided: Should I call this section school or sculpting?
Not everyone excels at school, and I remember when I was in my early twenties, I met a similarly aged man, who had decided to engage in sculpting. His grades were insufficient to allow him to attend art school, and he was relatively broke, so he bought himself tools and various types of rock, with the aim of teaching himself. I soon lost contact with him. However, I understand his predicament. Society has become far too competitive, and much of that relates to academic grades, not the ability to use tools. There are few places for people to learn basic or unusual skills. Admission to an art school is based on academic qualifications, not artistic ability, or interest. The world needs more working-person educational institutes!
I was in a similar position. As a young teenager, I had built a small boat, and as an older teenager tried to find an apprenticeship where I could continue to learn these skills to become a journeyman and possibly a master boatbuilder. Yet, there seemed to be no pathway forward. After failing at university, I had to settle with working for a firm of stockbrokers, because that is where my family connections lay. Similarly, after moving to Norway, I improved my basic wood- and metalworking skills while learning the Norwegian language, but could not become an apprentice furniture maker. Instead I had to take degrees in business management, and computer science. I ended up as a teacher.
Some people never face these types of decisions because they are at the apex of power. There is the billionaire class that many comment on, but I think especially of the monarchies of Europe, currently seven in number, in: Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This is not a system of government that I support. I am a republican, yet hold citizenship in two of these monarchies, Canada and Norway. I see no good reason why a presidency in these countries should not be given by appointment, possibly election, to a citizen, who has made an outstanding contribution to these societies, earlier in life. They should be old – possibly sixty-five to seventy when assuming office, yet wise. Normally, they should hold office for a single term, possibly four years, without any possibility of renewal. Both genders should be represented, all ethnicities should be considered, both native born and immigrant citizens should be eligible.
In the case of Canada, I observe that Charles III (1948 – ) has many conflicts of interest. In Britain he is to be consulted in advance, about any laws that can affect him personally, such as with respect to his vast property holdings. I imagine that there are also conflicts between the needs of Canada (and other commonwealth countries) and those of England. In Norway, a monarch is specified as head of state in the constitution, possibly because of the time when it was originally written, 1814. This makes it the second oldest constitution in the world. This does not make it appropriate.
DNA
23&Me was engaged in bankruptcy proceedings that ended on 2025-05-19, when Regeneron agreed to buy 23andMe out of bankruptcy for $256 million. Because of concern that this could result in us loosing control over our genetic information. I have now downloaded the available information for both Trish and I, stored it in four separate places, and asked 23&Me to destroy the saliva and their analysis of it.
Genetic information by itself has limited value. Although 23&me has detected markers that indicate geographical origins in my DNA, initially it was not very specific in terms of location, when it was first analysed in 2015. I was able to combine genetic information with genealogical events to piece together my heritage, first with the Salters/ Pentlands, then with the Bradds.
At the time of submitting saliva for a test, my intention was to find some general information about my paternity. This came, but mostly through my paternal half-brother, Brad, who contacted me 2018-10-01. From there I gained information, especially related to my ancestry in: Fredrikstad, Norway; Haarlem, Netherlands; Grenoble, France; and Mohawk territories in North America. My paternal haplogroup, I-M253, is associated with Doggerland, currently underwater in the North Sea.
In terms of my maternal DNA (through the Salters and Pentlands), I was already aware of a British connection, particularly from Orkney in Scotland, and Cornwall in England. Gradually, more geographic detail emerged, including 11.3% originating in southern Europe, especially 6.7% from Spain and Portugal; 2.7% from Sardinia; 1.4% from Italy. I asked Brad, with whom I share paternal genes, but he said he had no southern European genes. Presumably, then, these come from my maternal = Salter/ Pentland side of the family. It delights me to have some Sardinian DNA.
For me, the greatest benefit of being gene tested has been to trace my genetic origins. As an adopted person, without significant background information, it was always something vague. It was especially satisfying to find a Norwegian connection, and even a date: Fredrikstad, in south-east Norway, in about 1630.
A 23&me genetic analysis gives a north-American bias. So I have not found any living relatives in southern Europe. My most exotic relative is probably Catalina, a fourth cousin, twice removed, currently living in San José, Costa Rica, but with DNA originating in Medellin, Colombia.
Cooking for Beginners, Jerks and Clowns
The title of this section is taken from an article that appeared in Pensjonisten – a major magazine for Norwegian pensioners. It is about Per Borglund (1961 – ), who was once the editor of Mat fra Norge = Food from Norway. Now, he is best known for his Guinness record for having the largest collection/ library of cookbooks in the world, almost 13 000. The title is taken from what he describes as his most unusual cookbook, written by Norwegian pianist Kåre Siem (1914 – 1986) = Kåres-nam-nam-bok: Primitiv minikokbok for de absolutte nybegynere, duster and kløner. In English, nam-nam would be written yum-yum. I have simplified the subtitle to: Cooking for Beginners, Jerks and Clowns, without mentioning it being a cookbook. The rest of the title should be understandable, as long as one realizes ny = new.
I decided I needed to find out more about Kåre Siem, and searched his name on YouTube. The most promising video was titled, Accordion Captain’s song composer Kåre Siem. Statistics showed 2 153 plays since its release 2008-11-26. There were 20 key words association with the work in various languages: accordion and harmonica along with various geographical locations: balkan, bulgarian, paris, norvegian, romani = gypsy, arabian. No capitalization. I listened politely for the first 33s of 4m03s. Another videos demanded my attention, How the Black Death Saved the English Language.
Books in Norwegian
Most of my books are printed on paper. Other people in our family have different tastes. Most of Trish’s books are digital, downloaded onto her two Kobos: white for non-fiction, black for fiction. Almost all of her content is in English. I think Shelagh is also a consumer of digital books, but she uses an iPhone to read them. Alasdair seems to prefer audio books.
I try to divide my reading between English and Norwegian. For some reason, my Norwegian language books are more problematic, than those in English. Sometimes I buy a book and its content is so depressing that I refuse to read it, beyond the first few pages. The latest, most serious incident involved Odd Karsten Tveit (1945 – ), Palestina : Israels ran, vårt svik (2023) = Palestine: Israel’s robbery, our betrayal. On the other hand, I found Geir Pollen’s (1953 – ) Volga : En russisk reise (2021) = Volga: A Russian trip, insightful. The book was so good that I bought a second book by the author, Armfeldts armé : historien om en katastrofe (2014) = Armfeldt’s Army: The history of a catastrophe. It was about a failed Swedish attempt to re-capture Trøndelag, the county were we live. Sweden had occupied Trøndelag and parts of Møre og Romsdal (where we initially lived) from 1658 to 1660. In 1718, after several defeats in the Great Northern War, Sweden had lost its eastern territories to Russia. Too weakened to retake these, Charles XII of Sweden instead planned an attack on Norway to force the Dano-Norwegian King Frederick IV into concessions in subsequent peace treaty negotiations. It is called the Carolean Death March, because of the resulting loss of life.
Recently, the Norwegian book I enjoyed the most was Terje Tvedt (1951 – ), Historiens Hjul og Vannets Makt: Da England og Europa vant, og Kina og Asia tapte (2023) = The Wheel of History and the Power of Water: When England and Europe Won, and China and Asia Lost, I then read his previous book, Verdens Historie med fortiden som speil (2022) = World History with the past as a mirror. Visiting a bookstore on 2025-05-19, I found another of his books on sale, Nilen: historiens elv (2014) = The Nile: history’s river.
… and English
There are times when I feel too comfortable, having lived my life in middle-class Canada and Norway. Thus, I have recently thought I should expose myself more to African influences. Thus, at the moment, I am attempting to read Africa related literature. In terms of novels, I decided I should begin by re-reading The Alexandria Quartet = Justine (1957), Balthazar (1958), Mountolive (1958) and Clea (1960), written by Lawrence Durrell (1912 – 1990).
My plan then is to explore the works of Tayeb Salil (1929 – 2009). Wikipedia tells us: Salih’s writing draws important inspiration from his youth in a Sudanese village; life that is centered on rural people and their complex relationships. “At various levels and with varying degrees of psychoanalytic emphasis, he deals with themes of reality and illusion, the cultural dissonance between the West and the exotic Orient, the harmony and conflict of brotherhood, and the individual’s responsibility to find a fusion between his or her contradictions.” Furthermore, the motifs of his books are derived from his religious experience as a Muslim in 20th-century Sudan, both pre- and post-colonial. Another, more general subject of Salih’s writing is the confrontation of the Arab Muslim and the Western European world. The books I have to read are:
The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories (1968). Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies. It includes: The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid, A Handful of Dates and The Wedding of Zein.
Season of Migration to the North, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies (1969).
For non-fiction, I am reading John McWhorter (1965 – ) an American linguist, who describes himself as part of the Black middle class, who plays the piano and has an interest in music history. In the following short list of his books, I am awaiting those marked with an * from a Norwegian bookseller:
Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care (2003)*
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English (2008)
The Language Hoax: Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language (2014)*
Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths about America’s Lingua Franca (2017)
Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever (2021)
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America (2021)*
Inspiration for this change did not come from reading an article in the Guardian that appeared Wednesday 2026-06-11 at 06.55 BST: A moment that changed me: I went to a death cafe – and learned how to live a much happier life, by Elizabeth McCafferty, but it confirmed that I was on the right path.
Mathematics
I have a fascination with mathematics, despite not being particularly good at it. Recently I have attempted to understand the proofs of Maryna Sergiivna Viazovska (1984 – ) with respect to sphere packing. The usual starting point is the Kepler conjecture, named after mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630). It states that no arrangement of equally sized spheres filling a 3-dimensional space has a greater average density than around 74.05%.
Viazovska solved the problem for dimension 8, which led to a collaboration with others, and a solution in dimension 24. It is frequently commented that these proofs are stunningly simple. For her work, she was awarded the Fields Medal in 2022-07. She is both the second woman, and the second Ukrainian to be awarded the prize. In 1990, Vladimir Drinfeld (1954 – ), a Ukrainian, was awarded the prize. In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first Iranian as well as the first woman to win the Fields Medal. It is awarded to two, three or four mathematicians under 40 years of age. The first awards were made in 1936, and since then every four years starting in 1950.
A simpler, but related, problem involves the placement of ten coins in a square. Its non-mathematical solution can be appreciated by watching this video.
Back on 2022-10-26, Duolingo offered an update in terms of courses, expanding into mathematics and music. They refer to it as multi-subject Duolingo. I intend to try this out after I have visited the maritime provinces of Canada, in the middle of July.
Yet, I am uncertain if I should trust Duo with basic math skills, such as adding. Back in 2017, when I started my current streak, it would add an extra day every time I used a different device. This problem did not last long, but there is an offset. Today, I should be on day 3020, but Duolingo claims this is day 3059, so I have been credited with 39 days too many. Many years ago, I contacted Duolingo requesting them to correct this, but nothing happened.
Currently, I am using Duolingo to learn Scot’s Gaelic. In recent years, I have also spent time on: Ukrainian, Finnish and Swedish. Originally, back in 2014, I began with French, then Portuguese, then German. I also used other sources to learn some Icelandic. I am thinking of returning to French when I return from my trip to maritime Canada. This is because my next trip to Canada should be to visit Quebec, in 2026. In addition, Duolingo fails to offer courses in Norn, formerly used in Shetland and the Orkneys. Essentially, it is a Norwegian dialect. The other language I was thinking of learning was Sardinian. Shetland and Sardinia are also on my travel list for 2026, in addition to a possible trip to California.