BlingYou

There is a controversial ad campaign getting ready to be showed down the throat of German TV viewers and movie goers from next week until World Aids Day on December 1st. They use strong images and messages  to make people open their eyes to HIV and AIDS, stating that somebody dies from AIDS every 15 seconds. It turns out that British research has found that one in four HIV positive does not know that they are infected with HIV, and keeps spreading it to others – multiplying the damage and suffering. Some people will be offended by both the sexy video and the real mass murderers used in the posters below. Still, if only a few – or even one, takes precautions, protect themselves and as a result does not infect another – its all worth it.

Have a look at it and make up your own opinion.

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The video should work in your browser, depending on what you have installed on your computer. You might need a media player if you do not have this installed already. I prefer the “play everything” VideoLan, as it will play media in the Firefox browser and open the external player in IE, but any player capable of handling FLV-files should do the job:

If you are going to have sex with an untested partner, or if you have not tested yourself in a while – use a condom. They are probably the cheapest life insurance you will ever get!

There has been some discussion lately, regarding the weight and look of 20 year old Lizzie Miller – published in Glamour Magazine.

On one hand, its hailed as the body of “normal” women and a healthy step away from the anorectic supermodels we have become accustomed to, while others see this as a normalization of overweight, unfit and a generally unhealthy female appearance. I think I belong to the latter category, possibly with some adjustments.

Firstly, I do not like the Popsicle look on many celebrities and models today, the twig bodies with the big heads and boobs – that’s just unnatural and frankly looks stupid. Neither do I like the soft, “flabby but skinny” or “fat but thin” models that roam the catwalks of the world, where its all to evident that they are only thin, not fit in any way – with soft behinds and flat chests. Well, then – whats left – or are we destined to become fatter and fatter?

What happened to the fit bodies of women that keep in shape, that do sports, that have muscles, that are toned, well shaped and healthy? Where are those bodies to idolize? I want to have healthy role models, with bodies that look like they have been used for something other than sipping Latte at the local mall or as extras in a concentration camp movie. Too much of everything is not good for us, not too fat and not too thin.

I must say that I admire Lizzie Miller – who daringly show off her unfit and/or heavily built and/or normal body for all to see, but I hardly find her body to be something to copy. She is slightly overweight, but more importantly, she looks unfit.

Lizzie Miller looking somewhat better

She is 20 years old and flabby – flabby like women in their late 30s have a tendency to be, or more correctly, like women in their late 30s was in the past. They say 40 is the new 20, but now it looks more like 20 is the new 40 when it comes to body shape and fitness level. Its sad, really – by promoting this body type as something to strive for, we are striving for the mediocre. The human anatomy has the potential for so much more.

The Gwent Police in Wales has paired up with local talent to produce a “what if”-video of young people texting while driving. It turns out that this is a huge problem amongst young drivers, and is potential disastrous – as it may take away up to 35% of your attention. With todays complicated traffic and amount of idiot drivers, you need that 35%!

Chief Inspector John Pavett from Gwent Police Roads Policing Unit hopes the serious message in this film will hit home to viewers and sais: “I hope that after watching this film motorists will think twice before picking up their mobile phone when behind the wheel and realize that a quick reply to a text message or answering a phone call is never worth putting theirs and other people’s lives at risk.”

If you have a drivers license, you should really spend the few minutes it takes to see this video – it will definitely make you think. You may have to confirm your birth date to see the video, as the content is not for minors.

Surveys have shown that six our of ten use their mobile phone while driving, either by calling or sending SMS messages. Among young people under 30, seven out of ten have SMS’ed while driving. Men use their mobile phone more than women while driving.

We should all stop using our cell phones while driving unless equipped with a complete hands free setup, and we’ll all be around much longer.

A few days ago I posted some images of Matt Damon from the period he was filming the movie “The Informant!“. Many of these, well all actually, showed a relatively fat and unfit Matt Damon, as the part he was playing was just that, fat and unfit. Being the method, or at least dedicated, actor that he is; he got fat to be able to play the part better.

End of story? Eh, no..

Today I received a complaint! Someone I know contacted me off blog, in what adults call the real world, or IRL for short, and complained about just posting pictures where Matt Damon looks less hunky than his normal self. To please this person and stop the yelling and crying, I had to promise to post some pictures where he looks good too, so here is – for your viewing pleasure – a sexier Matt Damon

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The famous, at least in Norway, espionage case against Arne Treholt is finalized, at last. Arne Treholt, dob December 13, 1942, was a sub department head and press spokesman for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he was arrested on the 20th of January 1984, charged with espionage.

The case was handled by Eidsivating Lagmannsrett  between 25th of February and the 20th of June 1985. Arne Treholt was sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage on behalf of The Soviet Union and Iraq. The case was later appealed to the Supreme Court, but Treholt later withdrew his appeal.

Treholt has several times applied for a retrial, in both 1986 and 1990. The appeals were turned down by Eidsivating Lagmannsrett and later the following appeals to the Supreme Court was denied.

Arne Treholt was pardoned on the 3rd of Juli 1992 due to health issues, after having served 8 years and 5 months of his 20 year sentence. Treholt later filed a third appeal for a re-opening of his case to the Gjenåpningskommisjonen (Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission) but this was denied on the 23rd of January 2005.

Since the case now is over and done with, and there are no more possibilities for appeals or retrials, the Norwegian Police Security Service, the PST, have released some images that has not been made public before. The PST has also put together an overview of the case with more images, unfortunately only in Norwegian, but if you are interested you can find it here.

Anyone in Norway old enough to read newspapers or watch TV in the 80s know about the Treholt case. We have only had a couple of them in our country’s relatively short existence, one other being the Galtung-Haavik case, and the controversy relating to his pardon and later books and interviews has stirred up much debate.

Arne Treholt himself is states that “there are no new information in this case” when asked to comment the new images. Treholt would like more openness regarding the whole case, and has several times asked that the whole verdict be made public. He then continues “.. the only secrets in this verdict is that it does not contain anything secret“. Treholt has admitted gross misconduct during his service in the Ministry of Foreign Affaris, but has never admitted guilt for espionage.

According to the director of communications at PST, Trond Hagubakken, no more of the extensive material related to the Treholt case and trial will ever be published.

At last this case is over, and in the gallery below you can see the images that are “new” in this case.

As the title indicates, this is more of Matt Damon. Not necessarily more information or many more images – but certainly a Matt Damon that is more by himself. I am a big fan of Matt Damon, so I am not trying to put him down or anything, I just find it interesting how some actors will go through just about anything to fit the part in movies that they play in. The images below are taken while Matt was filming The Informant. Luckily he is now back to his attractive, hot and slender looking self

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If you would like another, and more extreme, example of transformations, have a look at the things Christian Bale has gone through for his movies.

The movie poster for the Informant

Matt Damon is by many viewed as one of the sexiest men alive, but he will still adjust his body to fit any part he plays in a movie. In the Bourne trilogy he was athletic and buffed, in the upcoming movie “The Informant!” – he is downright fat. According to Damon he gained 30 pounds (13.6 kg) to play the role of the company vice president turned whistleblower, Marc Whitacre.

“I definitely got doughy” sais Damon, now back to his leaner, slimmer self, according to EW.  “I started eating like crazy and drinking dark beer. Between meals on set, I’d eat a No. 1 Value Meal at McDonald’s and then Doritos on top of it. It was absolute heaven.”

Well, many of us do exactly that, but more for pleasure than high profile roles in movies, and many of us have problems getting back too..

Anyway, have a look at the trailer for the movie “The Informant!” – I am looking forward to it this September.

Today there was an article in the Norwegian newspaper VG on how many new police officers the various parties want to educate over the next few years. Since we have an upcoming election in September, the politicians is climbing over oneanother to promise more police, better care for the elderly, less taxes, better hospitals, cheap or free child care etc, all the things they think will win over more voters come elections.

When reading the article the Venstre politician Odd Einar Dørum stated that we need to educate more police to reach the goal of 2 police officers per 1000 capita in Norway. I wondered about his number for a moment, and decided to check its validity according to other statistical data.

According to Nationmaster.com and the criminal statistics there, we have already reached this goal. Norway resides as # 27 – indicating that we already have 2,42 police officers per 1000 persons.

The "best" regarding police vs. capita

When clicking on Norway in the stats you will find an overview of the police efficiency and how satisfied people are with the overall police service in Norway. Reading these numbers, the population seems to be very happy with the police, the way policing is done in Norway and how the politicians generally are running the police. See the image below for more info:

Good stats for the police, but are they true?

Anyone in Norway has noticed that the police in Norway has had a conflict with their employer over the last year, dramatically reducing efficiency, discovery and solving rates for crime and overall presence in society, and these stats (although old) seem odd. Was things really that different back then? If the goal of the number of police was reached in 2000, why make a big fuzz about educating more now?

A wise man one said: There are lies, damn lies and statistics. I have to agree, you can read these statistics any way you want. We rank very well on most, if not all of them, ban the Software piracy rate (29%) indicating that we are generally a safe and non criminal society. In many ways I think we are, but we are on a downward spiral in that respect, and I think its time to really do something about it. Educating more officers is fine, but the police need a huge increase in money and equipment to withstand the flood of crime coming to our shores shortly, especially from the eastern European states, now opening up through the EU cooperation and free travel within Europe.

Dear politicians, please think big when it comes to crime prevention!

In Norway, the department of Health have finally decided to put images and text on the packs of smokes that are available in our shops. In the past they only had text like “Smoking kills”, “Smoking is highly addictive” and “Smoking can cause cancer”. A survey performed among 1000 people of all ages, sexes and smoking habits assisted in the selection of the images. The survey showed that younger people respond better to images relating to things they care about, like potency and appearance – while older people were more fact driven. Below are the images chosen in Norway. You have to click them to see them in all their glory:

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I am a former smoker, and quit while there was still only text on the cigarettes. Is it really necessary to enhance the “Smoking kills” message by putting images on them? I don’t really know. After decades of being hammered with the unhealthiness of smoking, I think everybody knows that smoking does not improve you in any way, neither physically, mentally or coolness-wise. We all know they are coffin nails and half of those who smoke regularly will die from a smoke related disease. In Norway, even advertising cigarettes (and alcohol btw) is illegal and anything even resembling an ad for cigarettes is instantly banned. I am glad, however, that they chose somewhat less intrusive imagery than the ones I saw when in Thailand:

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Most smokers say that they are planning to quit or reduce their smoking, and recent studies have shown that less young people begin to smoke now. I think this is good news, and should reduce the number of deaths among smokers in the long run. Many young people replace smoking with “snusing”, using “Snus” – a smokeless tobacco. This does not, as far as we know now, have the same health issues as smoking, but is just as addictive – if not more addictive – than smoking. Below is some images for your enjoyment of snus and people using it

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The future for all of us?

That’s what we are all becoming, according to a recent study in the UK, paid for by Nuffield Health Fitness Report and presented by Sky News. Actually the report should have been named the Nuffield Health lack of Fitness Report, because the results are depressing.

I do not live in the UK, btw, I live in Norway. Norway is probably still somewhat healthier than the UK, but every bad trend tend to follow this path: USA ->UK->Europe in general->Rest of the world. If people are fat in the USA, we are going to be fat in Europe within a decade or two. If everybody gets diabetes type 2 in the USA, we are all getting it shortly. Its unfortunate and sad, but true – and we do not have the common sense to see it coming and avoid it.

Anyway, the study shows that:

- Around one in six people said if their remote control was busted, they would rather just continue to watch whatever channel was on rather than getting up to change channel.

- About 59% of the 2 000 adults questioned would rather use the elevator than walk two flights of stairs to get to work.

- 36%  said they would not run to catch a bus.

- 28%  said that they would exercise more if it would make them more attractive to their partner.

According to ABC Nyheter, a Norwegian online newspaper, the study also showed the following:

- 73% were too exhausted at the end of a long day to have sexual intercourse.

- 52% of dog owners did not have the energy to walk their dog.

- 64% of parents did not have the energy to play with their children.

So our future is basically this: We are going to become fat, lazy slobs that spend all our time in front of the TV, not bothering to try to stay attractive for our partner, probably talking to, but not playing with, our fat and lazy children while our obese dog walks itself in the living room. After a while humanity will die out by itself, since we do not have the energy to make any more children, as this includes some good old fashion love making, and given this outlook – its probably for the best.