Those European countries seem to have relics of old feudal hierarchies still prancing about, which we (and they) mostly seem to ignore except when they do something amusingly silly. The latest royal clown is Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, who is opening an “alternative therapy center,” which is loony enough, but now we learn that this particular center is going to specialize in harnessing the power of angels. She claims she got in touch with the angels through her experience with horses.
I hadn’t known there was a connection. This makes My Little Pony look a little more ominous.
She’s fourth in line for the Norwegian throne. I hope she isn’t applying her wacky quackery to the first three — is this part of a cunning plan?
Drink enough aquavit and you can see angels too ;)
Sounds like woo, but it looks like some of the cheapest woo I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t even get a weekend seminar with Chopra for that little.
“HARNESSING the power of angels” “her experience with HORSES.” Come on now, That’s just plain awful.
Well, she’s royalty. I doubt she needs the money.
European royalty are pretty badly inbred. Let this stand as a counterexample to people who claim it’s fine for cousins to marry.
Don’t take monarchies to serious PZ, I know I and most of my countrymen don’t. The only reason the Netherlands (where I live) still has a monarchy is because it helps tourism and international trade delegations. And for queensday of course, sorta like july 4th for americans i suppose, everyone can freely sell their old crap on the curb and there’s parties and festivals throughout the country.
It sells more gossip rags too i think.
Let’s see if she parallels Louis Mazzini in “Kind Hearts and Coronets.”
— CV
I always thought Royalty came with hemophilia.
—
I’ve heard of “seeing god” while making love, but the horses thing: T.M.I.
Here in the Netherlands we also have those. Over here a sister of the Queen is the worst. She is famous for talking with trees, Dolphins and the inevitable horses. She is a sort of patron for everything spiritual and mystic and gives it credit…. Absolutely no shame those wackos, the stupid it, burns.
Astarte Education centre? Angels?
Make up your mind!
I mean, really. This is like mixing metaphors, wearing plaid with stripes or, I suppose, modern royalty. Name your place after a Phoenician fuck goddess and then claim to talk to Hebraic psuedo-deities who waged mythological warfare on said demoness of lust? WTF!?
I just hope that she doesn’t “gallop faster than her angels can fly.”
Hey, if Prince Charles and Camilla ever break up, I think we just found the perfect replacement!
You Americans have your own versions of royalty. They’re usually referred to as Hollywood celebrities and are equally as whacky. Well some of them anyways. At least we can point to generations of inbreeding as the cause for our royal wackinesses…
In Europe there are people who call themselves kings and queens, and yet they have no power. In America there is a man who calls himself president, but he wields greater tyrannical power than the royal despots of old. We call ourselves citizens, and they call themselves subjects, but it seems that we’re the subjects, and they the citizens of free republics.
I’ll be watching for a follow up report:
Three Norwegian Royals Trampled By Horses
Alas, being common-folk “salt of the earth” doesn’t come with common sense, either.
Well actually, our current queen was a commoner, so the inbreeding factor in this case is somewhat less than usual among royalty. I rather think she has spent too much time around the royal family of the UK for her own good. Anyway, even in the unlikely case that she does inherit the throne it is good to remember that royalty has very little actual power in Norway, other than filling up newspapers and television airtime with trivia about their lives (which is bad enough). Oh, and the money angle: She no longer receives any money from the state I believe, so she does indeed have to make some of her own (or live off her husband).
Pah, we have Prince Charles as our next monarch. He’s nuttier than squirrel poo. He thinks that drugs get more powerful the more you dilute them and other such woowoo.
As someone else said up thread, don’t pay too much attention to the royalty thing. They are tourist attractions and figureheads. No one with any sense takes much of what they do seriously, although they occasionally get a few things right.
Mind you, that said, the Queen Mother (now deceased) was a diamond. Won the bloody war for us she did (and so on and so forth).
Louis
Umilik (Умник?)
I dunno. Celebs are celebs. Movie stars etc. aren’t royalty, they’re celebs, and lineage extends beyond a second generation. Now look at the UK. On one hand they have Becks and Posh, on the other, Her Majesty, Charles, Wills and Harry.
Here in the USA, on one hand we have… well, we have Becks and Posh, and Brad and Angelina; on the other, we have the heirs and heiresses of the fabulously rich and powerful, spoiled rich kids such as Paris Hilton, and pretty much anyone named Bush or Kennedy. The Kennedy star has faded a bit, as will the Bush star with time, so there’s no perfect analog to a royal family here. It’s the Hiltons, DuPonts, Rockfellers, etc. that have staying power, but most of them are smart enough to stay off the tabloid radar… Few members of any royal family even have that option.
Hmmm. It occurs to me that I’ve spent far too much time thinking about this stuff. :-D
Sigh… Another proofreader joins the unemployment line.
“…lineage RARELY extends beyond a second generation.”
“Oh, and the money angle: She no longer receives any money from the state I believe, so she does indeed have to make some of her own (or live off her husband).”
Aaaaah – I knew it. Where there’s a want, there’s a woo.
Well, I guess there has to be someone to make sure that fools are efficiently separated from their money.
P.
I don’t know. I think there’s a pretty good chance I’d see “angels” if a horse kicked me in the head as well.
Slightly OT: Speaking of Europeans going soft in the head, a group of Hindu monks are resisting warrants to have their “sacred” castrated bull slaughtered by the authorities because it has bovine TB.
The post title is really absurd on the face of it. Royalty comes with royal sense, obviously. Us commoners aren’t privy to that.
About communicating with angels, my personal experience is that it works better with dogs and Tomato plants. But it nneds to be on a full moon and the day of the month needs to finish with 7…
It isn’t just a European disease, it is also an Asian flu.
I’m an amonarchist of course. :-P
It isn’t just a European disease, it is also an Asian flu.
I’m an amonarchist of course. :-P
“It isn’t just a European disease, it is also an Asian flu. ”
Yeah, the Thais are insanely devoted to their king- they still have lese majeste laws in force. They are going to have a very rude awakening when the current king (who is actually a pretty decent guy) dies and his son (an unpopular jerk) becomes Rama X.
One of the great things about the Royals is that they are living, breathing proof of the fallacy of eugenics.
Think of it: A thousand-year selective breeding program culminates in the Windsors. Charles is moderately successful in business, Anne seems down to earth, Edward footles around in media and Andrew plays golf, but not an ubermensch among ’em, by any means.
Ah, the spiritual heiress to Catherine the Great, I see.
(Actually, in fairness, I must admit that Cecil has debunked this story. Which is a real shame, since I prefer to snark factually whenever possible.)
Hey Kseniya, whaddya mean “It’s the Hiltons, DuPonts, Rockfellers, etc. that have staying power, but most of them are smart enough to stay off the tabloid radar…
Couldn’t help that there is one Hilton that came to mind who dosen’t seem to be, uh shall we be gentle, not too well equipped in the cerebral department nor does she seem to stay out of the limelight. But your point is well taken about the Kennedys and Bushs.
PS: Я не русский
haha, when i read about it in the paper this morning, the first thing i thought about was pharyngula and what PZ would have to say about it … i spend to much time here
God, this is so embarrassing! I hoped it wouldn’t leak out of my country, but of course it did.
The only thing I can say in defense of Norway is that most thinking people here first cringed at this and then made merciless fun of it.
Greetings from Norway, land of the midnight angels.
Umilik: Nyet, vih ne russkiy, and I suspected not, but you are a clever fellow nonetheless. (Umnik=a clever person)
But hey! Paris Hilton is one BIG reason why I said “most.” You don’t seriously think I overlooked her, do you? *poke*
Her antics and profile do not invalidate the claim that most Hiltons (et al) are off the radar. That’s why we can’t name many of them. Paris and her sister are significant (and obvious) exceptions.
Ack now she’s in my head. I’d better go do something else. How I wish I could overlook her. She gives us blondes a bad name. [snicker]
Ты сибирьский или аляский, возможно?
(if you don’t mind my asking. Mr. Raven and I began studying Yup’ik when it looked like he might go to Bethel for a job, but that fell through, unfortunately.)
Well, Frodo.. Some people in Norway have defended her right to believe in whatever she wants. In the name of religious freedom or something. And by all means..
I have been criticized for making merciless fun of Märthas angels in my own blog. -Nothing comes with common sense these days..
bm
Heh! You found me.
#7, I’m not sure why I thought “Kind Hearts and Coronets” was “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover”, but I did. At least for a few moments.
I wish I could find C/T/W/L and watch it again – the first time was in a loud room on a tiny screen.
Isn’t the entire remaining function of royalty to do amusingly silly things? In the UK I think we’ve merged the functions of heir to the throne and Court Jester.
The Astarte/angel connection is probably just a nod towards pop spiritual feminism — that women have always been connected through networks of Goddess worship which has tapped into the deep wellsprings of Wymyn’s mystical ways of knowing, blah blah blah. Some women announce their belief in angels the same way they might admit that they cry at sad movies or love babies. How sensitive and attuned to the gentle promptings of the heart they must be. I’m not sure how much of it is sincere belief, and how much of it is sincere desire to belong to the Sincere Club.
“I’d heard my parents read their horoscopes aloud at the breakfast table, but that seemed pretty innocuous to me. Occasionally, I read mine, too – usually so I can do the exact opposite of what it says. But my parents have done what the stars suggested – altered schedules, changed travel plans, stayed home, cancelled appearances.”
— Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan), The Way I See It
Except that royalty wasn’t part of a selective breeding program in the first place.
I was shocked to read about this in the paper, as I’ve always assumed the members of the royal family were somewhat rational. This is really embarrassing to me as a Norwegian, and to most of my countrymen as well. It’s about time we got rid of the monarchy anyway.
Kai, I wonder if Elba or St. Helena would be available to house the remaining members of the Royal families of Europe. We could tell them all it was a free junket to the Alps, or Mustique or whatever floats their boat. I’m sure we could get the French to do the actual job. Though us Brits are just as big Regicides as them over the channel.
I forgot to say we would have to have strict sex segregation to stop them breeding any further.
RavenT, I think Siberians qualify as Russians. ;-)
Seriously, I guess you mean indigenous northeastern Siberian such as Eveni, Aleuti or Koryaki as opposed to Slavic Russian yes?
[googles]
Ah, I see that umilik means “bearded one” in Inuit. Fascinating! (I’m slow, but I catch on after a while.)
– Umnik (Rus) – clever man (wise man?)
– Umilik (Inuit) – bearded one (implying age/wisdom?)
So if russki “um” means “mind” … uh… Ax, ya bezumnaya! *g*
Hmmm, now I have a question for my dyslexic linguist friend who specializes in North American indigenous (endangered) languages…
Title: “…horse” sense, *surely*!
Kensyia, I am not sure that your association between the words umnik and umilik i.e. wisdom and beard is correct. The Inuit have very little facial hair. I would seem to me they wouldn’t associate facial hair with wisdom, rather they would perhaps ssociate beards with “foreign white-assed invaders trying to make out with our women while stealing our seal meat”. And no, Mr Raven, I am neither Alsakan nor Siberian.
Dyslexic, moi ?
I can do it. See, Kseniya, Kseniya, Kseniya.
“And no, Mr Raven, I am neither Alsakan nor Siberian.”
Canadian Inuit, then?
Angels?!? I think she’s mistaken — they must have been trolls.
And I am not *Mr.* Raven, so I guess that makes us even at guessing about the other :) :).
Although your name is intriguing, I won’t pry if you don’t want to tell. But Brownian is correct that I missed including “Canadian” as an option, a tiresome US blind spot/failing that I try to avoid committing but sometimes fall short on nonetheless.
I won’t bring up the fact that many Greenlanders are Inuit as well then.
you’re right–*sigh*. (hangs head)
Tee-hee! Sorry RavenT, but I couldn’t help myself.
I kept wanting to jump into the conversation about Russian, but unfortunately I only know a smattering of mat. Apparently, Lithuanian vulgarities weren’t vulgar enough for my father and grandfather.
I remember watching Tailspin or some other made-for-TV movie about Korean Air Lines Flight 0007, hearing one of the Russian pilots say “ёб твою мать” and wondering if the film editors knew what it meant.
In fact, most of the Inuits live there :)
Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s NOT correct, but the coincidence interested me, and it merited a look. A quick look, after which it appeared to be an amusing but fruitless effort, and so I declared myself “bezumnaya”:
bez = without
(um = mind)
umniy / umnaya / umnoe = clever, wise, intelligent
bezumnaya = literally mindless, but typically used to mean crazy, insane.
Ack! Look at the time! *poof*
Inbreeding is a tragic thing, isn’t it? It’s not just hemophilia and funny looks.
-jcr
I can see only one good thing about this; that she breaks away from the state church, which is headed by her father (who is constitutionally obliged to be a Lutheran). She is now being doomed to eternal hellfire by some Christian pastors who fear she might get in touch with demons. And according to polls, about 40% of the population believe her. I laugh at her, very loudly.
@ Brownian — :).
Law and Order does that, too. I think they enjoy tweaking the censors. At least both your example and mine are in the proper context, though.
On the other hand, according to IMDB, the “Cheyenne” [in John Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn] are actually Navajo, telling dirty jokes in their native tongue. Now *that’s* getting something past the censors!
What? No poofing is supported on Pharyngula. And perhaps you meant “*руф*” anyway.
What? No poofing is supported on Pharyngula. And perhaps you meant “*руф*” anyway.
Нет! * Пуф *
:-)
As a Swede, I’m not that suprised. Those Norwegians are crazy ;)
On a more serious note, Norway and Sweden share the interesting exception to religious freedom that the monarch must be of a specific faith. This means that for Märtha-Louise to gain the throne, I would suspect she would have to stop having her current beliefs. In Sweden, I don’t know how serious these laws would be for a non-believing monarch, since we sometimes even debate if priests have to have the same faith as their church.
The funniest part is that this has upset a number of priests. According to TV pastor Jan Hanvold,
and:
The only reason the Netherlands (where I live) still has a monarchy is because it helps tourism and international trade delegations. And for queensday of course, sorta like july 4th for americans i suppose, everyone can freely sell their old crap on the curb and there’s parties and festivals throughout the country.
Really? You must live in some sort of parallel universe, because the Holland I inhabit is still very favorably disposed towards the royal family, especially our (yours and mine) future queen. You must know this.
Absolutely no shame those wackos, the stupid it, burns.
Not all of them are wackos. And they’re not wackier then a cross section of our fellow countrymen (not a very good situation to be in BTW).
Our previous queen was quite something too, she had a psychic healer running around the court for years. It drove her husband into adultery, driving fast cars and taking bribes from Lockheed. Or maybe he was like that before the healer came along, we’ll never know.
Tsk. Horses aren’t angels — they’re gods. Haven’t any of you seen or read Equus?
Another example of the dangers of inbreeding depression and the increase of homozygosity (except for the cheetahs).
To tie the inbreeding and Inuit threads together, an Inu friend says she regards the inbreeding of her ancestors to be half good, half bad. Good because of what it did for legs and bust, bad because of blood diseases and other such things.