The Science of Sound
Sound is energy created by vibration and travels through the air, not unlike waves of water in the ocean or on a lake. Sound can travel faster through liquid and objects, but is distorted by obstacles depending on the strength of the sound-wave and the mass of the obstacle. Much like ripples on the water surface, sound will find it’s way around corners and through passages, but loses its energy along the way.
Wind, rain and humidity will diminish the energy of a sound-wave as it travels through the air. On a windless, dry, balmy and dry night, sound can travel undisturbed for quite a distance without losing much in clarity and fidelity. According to the Guinness Book of World Records there is a recorded case, under optimal acoustic conditions, of the human voice being detectable at a distance of 17 km across still water at night. Marius was much closer than that on his island hideaway…
“Vinmonopolet” – A Monopoly On Alcohol Sales
Some forty years ago, this writer remembers seeing people queuing up in droves in front of “Vinmonopolet’s” store near his school long before opening hours, carrying plastic buckets and empty bottles of all sizes, mostly large. There had been a story in a local newspaper that morning that surplus wine held in big barrels was on sale. It was April 1st. Nobody I know ever admitted to having been in that line.
Vinmonopolet – The Wine Monopoly – is a government owned company that holds the exclusive license to selling wine and spirits, even beer over a certain strength, to the public in Norway. Ostensibly it was set up to help curb alcohol consumption and is a legacy of the pious protestantism that once held sway over the populace. Not too much of that piety left, but the Wine Monopoly stays.
The modern version is actually one of the largest wine retailers in Europe, employ top notch vignerons and sommeliers, offering a superb selection of wines and spirits from all over the world. But it is expensive. Ridiculously expensive, primarily because of very high excise taxes imposed “to keep consumption down”, according to the double standards of the government enjoying the ever increasing revenue.
The reality is the opposite, of course. Norwegians are famous for their binge drinking and anyone and everyone uses any opportunity to get hold of some moonshine or smuggled spirit for a fraction of the price. So much so that nobody really considers either a crime, even though it is.
Marius Tokle certainly doesn’t think so…
Public Transparency in Norway
Norwegians are supposedly quite reserved, and guarded of their privacy. Yet Norway is in many ways one of the most open societies in the world. For instance, every October, the tax authorities publish the tax returns of all tax payers, which means everyone that has any kind of income or owns assets. Citizens used to be able to go down to the local council office and check it out, now it is on the internet.
But it doesn’t end there. Walk past a house you like, want to know who owns it, when they bought it and what their mortgage is, just look it up on your smartphone. Got cut off by an aggressive driver during morning rush hour? No problem, send a text with the registration number to the Road Authority, back comes the owner of the car.
It is a culture of public openness and fairness on the one hand, envy on the other, as epitomized in what Norwegians refer to as “Janteloven” – The Law of Jante, a Scandinavian peculiarity in opposition to individualism.
It may not be a principle that Marius and his protagonists adhere to, but they sure take advantage of it!
Nymphomania
As with most things sexual, myths, misconceptions, and conjecture abound. Nymphomania is simply defined as “excessive sexual desire” typically by a woman, although the urban dictionary refers to it as equally a male phenomenon, ignoring “satyriasis”, the male version of the word.
The venerable sex researcher, Dr Kinsey, simply referred to it as someone who “has more sex than you”, and it is no longer seen as a clinical condition by the medical profession. It has thankfully moved on from Victorian times when doctors feared that eating rich food, consuming too much chocolate, dwelling on impure thoughts, reading novels, or performing “secret pollution” overstimulated women’s delicate nerve fibres and led to nymphomania.
Nevertheless it is real for those it afflicts, and may be treated as an addiction. Unless of course it is not, as is the case with our heroine who seemingly does not mind much. Nor does Marius, but will it lead to his downfall…?
Top Ten Facts about Nymphomaniacs – if you really do want to know.
A Monster Box of Gold
The allure of gold dates back to ancient Egypt, about 3,000 years BC. At least that’s when it first became a “thing”, archaeologists believe flakes of gold were found in Paleolithic caves dating back as far as 40,000 B.C.
In modern times, gold was seen as the paragon of fiduciary value, underpinning our monetary system. At least until Richard Nixon and his band of free-wheeling economists decided to break the bond between gold and the dollar back in 1971. The jury is still out on how smart that actually was…
But gold’s lustre survived and is still seen as a safe haven for investors, and the “Monster Box” is now very much the “thing”. A Monster Box consists of 500 coins, each weighing 1 ounce, pr approx. 28 grams. At the time of writing that is a box of metal weighing about 15 kg and worth around U$ 700,000.
Marius wanted two of them, Scrooge McDuck had a whole vault full of coins, and you can buy your very own Monster Box here!