A Norwegian airline paints the tails of its planes with a portrait of Norwegian heroes (“tail heroes” or Halehelter) — which seems like a very nice idea to me. One catch: they determine who to paint on the tail with an online poll. Unfortunate consequence: Norwegian Christians (they exist? Wow!) have leapt into the fray and have been upvoting Verdensevangelist and misjonær — evangelicals and missionaries — instead of scientists and engineers and explorers and similar good things. Who wants to fly in a plane cursed with a portrait of a born again Christian fanatic or Baptist missionary? Ick.
Aim higher. A Norwegian reader sent in some recommendations for better choices. There are four cities, Stavanger, Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim, each of which has a different list of candidates.
Stavanger: Peter Waage, chemist.
Oslo: Wilhelm Bjerknes (or “Christian Bjerknes”), meteorolgist
Bergen: Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, Leprosy research.
Trondheim: Fredrikke Marie Qvam, suffragist.
To vote, go to http://www.halehelter.no, select a city (top right), press the big red blob “Stem på en kandidat”, find your candidate from the list (or search by name), press the heart on the right to vote. Each internet visitor can vote once a day.
The lists are sorted by rank. Let’s see if we can push these choices to the top!
Vote at “Stavanger”; the south has the highest density of christians(;
Here’s another that could use Pharyngulating. It’s from a military town in Georgia, about Fort Bragg’s Rock Beyond Belief concert:
http://fortstewart.patch.com/articles/should-fort-bragg-hold-an-atheist-concert
I thought you’d get one vote per city per day, but if I’m getting it right, you only get to vote once per day, period.
Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, in Bergen is currently in 16th.
I’m voting for Joachim “Jokke” Nielsen. A great late Norwegian rock poet. He was no scientist or politician, but he was both bright and political enough for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Nielsen
#3 – It looks like you get one vote per day, period, but in practice it’s one vote per web-browser per day. It’s probably cookie-based.
Voted for Fredrikke.
I’d be a strong advocate for Professor Astrid Løken in the Bergen region. A world-leading Bombologist and a significant member of the Norwegian Resistance during the war. Her wikipedia entry gives a flavour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_Loken
Norwegian born again christians is not the same as your born again christians. In norway people are seen as fanatical if they go to church.
But everyone should try to get the loons out of the running.
And follow @asttei s advise vote under “Stavanger” for best effect
@Odd: Closing your eyes isn’t helping. Norway’s got the YECs, the OEC/YEC schisms, the JWs going from door to door, the “masturbation and/or extramartial sex will send you to Hell” meme, the pastors who claim that massacres and natural disasters are “warnings from God”, etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Maybe not in the “big” cities, but all over the countryside.
The only significant difference is that our politics aren’t totally fucked up. Even our biggest xtian political party (KrF) is more about humanism than about being full-time crazy.
Clear out your cookies, refresh, vote, repeat for as many times as you want.
Lars @ 9: Give the wingnuts in KrF (and FrP) the little finger, and they’ll take the arm to the collar bone. It’s only because the sane people shout them down that they stay mostly quiet.
I voted for Harald Hårfagre. He founded the country and lived just down the road from me at Avaldsnes.
Onsager FTW!
Yes, they may not be as common as they are in the US, but crazy fundie christians are present all over Europe. I live in Belgium and used to think this was all stuff happening far from my own home. Then I realized that there is actually an evangelical protestant community close to where I live, who actively spread creationist propaganda (Whenever I get their shit in my letterbox, I send a corrected version of their leaflets back) and there are of course the Jehova’s witnesses, who are all too often regarded as harmless, but a lot of domestic violence and child abuse gets covered up by these people.
I will admit: When I read “Norwegian tail” my mind went to a completely different place.
How about Saint Hallvard for Oslo … or maybe a troll or two?
You must have cross-posted. The masturbation thread is here.
Brownian,
Clearing cookies == Destroying Catholicism == (a different thread)
OK, got it.
What about Snowshoe Thompson?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe_Thompson
Currently ranked at 15 for Oslo.
Arild Edvardsen! Herregud (!)
Ooh! Hansen’s disease on an airplane stabilizer! Voting now…
Sastra, David Utidjian didn’t get it!
Vote for Varg Vikernes! World famous Norwegian musician.
While this is OT, I’m curious about the current news that Norway is taking steps to disestablish its national church. Anybody know what’s up with that?
krisrogers @ 21
No. Varg Vikernes is a neo-nazi and a convicted murderer.
Vote for Pirkka (Pirka, Piirkka) the most famous finnish immigrant in Norway. References (atleast part of them) can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPeQ3e9knSw
At the moment Øystein Aarseth who was maybe better known as Euronymous is winning by a landslide. He was the Mayhem guitarist who was murdered by Varg Vikernes.
Seems like Norwegians Pharyngulated the fuck out of this one without PZ:s input. :)