Awesome Pictures Thread

[ffc]

Amazing looking place.  I want to visit Scandinavia.  Perhaps I shall hide in your suitcase.

[K9]

[Ironwood]

Portal in camera form.

Wow.

[LK]

Shop?

[Ingmar]

Shop?

It's all the same guy, so...

[Cyrrex]

He could be sextuplets.

[Signe]

He's cute as hell, too!   

[Typhon]

You're not even sure?

It's pretty in that picture pretty way, but keep in mind that it's filled with Norwegians.  I can't imagine retiring someplace filled with nothing but Norwegians.  Well, at during off season, and off season is too much time anywhere north of Bergen, which is already too north of anywhere.  At least it wouldn't be filled with people from my family - which is a big plus.  Don't get me wrong, I love Norwegians.  Mostly.  I just don't want to live any place that's filled with them. 

I've never met any Norwegians, just Norwegian-Americans, which I think must not be the same (course, X-Americian I think is not the same as X).  What is it about Norwegians that would make you not want to be surrounded by them for long periods of time?

[Signe]

Well, maybe it's just the ones from Bergen.  Or maybe even just the ones from Bergen who are in my family.  The ones here seem perfectly okay.  All the others, though - all insane.  Ask some Norwegians.  They'll tell you the truth!  Don't look them straight in the eyes, though.  They'll kill you later.

[snowwy]

Well, maybe it's just the ones from Bergen.  Or maybe even just the ones from Bergen who are in my family.  The ones here seem perfectly okay.  All the others, though - all insane.  Ask some Norwegians.  They'll tell you the truth!  Don't look them straight in the eyes, though.  They'll kill you later.

Signe is telling the truth. People from Bergen are batshit crazy, full of themselves and annoying as hell. They have a plan to become their own country, and most Norwegians would celebrate if they ever went thru with the plan. They have a gorgeous town. It's just filled with these......things

[Teleku]

I'll have to ask all my Norweigen friends about Bergen the next time we all meet up!

[Typhon]

Thanks!

Another naive question: My wife wants to know why Minnesota is filled with Norwegians and Swedes.

I'm not sure that it actually is filled with Norwegians and Swedes, but she seems convinced.

[Trippy]

The cold reminds them of home?

[Ingmar]

Just happens to be where they settled when they came here. New ethnic groups that come to the US tend to settle near each other for cultural familiarity and language reasons, that's why you get your Chinatowns and Little Saigons and the like, same thing with all the Scandinavians in the upper Midwest.

[Nebu]

Just happens to be where they settled when they came here. New ethnic groups that come to the US tend to settle near each other for cultural familiarity and language reasons, that's why you get your Chinatowns and Little Saigons and the like, same thing with all the Scandinavians in the upper Midwest.

It also helps that land was plentiful and cheap in Minnesota when the largest influx of norwegians immigrated.  After a decent number had arrived, they also made Minneapolis the unofficial American capital for social and religious activities.  

Minnesota also has a pretty large Slovak (my family among them) and German population.  

[Teleku]

Yeah, pretty much what they said.  If you want specifics, just look at the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_emigration_to_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_American#Settlements_in_Minnesota

[Signe]

Minnesota should really be in Canada, shouldn't it?  They sort of talk similar and they're always sliding around and smashing each other with sticks.  Srsly.  No dot inside a curly cue intended.

[Teleku]

Or maybe Canada should really be in Minnesota? 

[Pennilenko]

Or maybe Canada should really be in Minnesota? 

Yah A, don't yah know.

[kaid]

Sort of my grandfather and his relatives were all farmers and they talked to some others who had went to the US before them and found that upper MN had similar climate and would grow similar crops to what they were used so they headed over. The cheap land helped as well but many liked it because it was an area pretty similar to what they were used to back in the old country.

And that kind of thinking helped draw in more people from those countries who now saw a population of folks that they could at least talk to while they learned english kinda like how chinatown works.

The cold reminds them of home?

[Typhon]

Thanks all!  Don't know why I didn't hit wikipedia, I always do that.

[Flatfoot]

Isn't it also a matter of when the immigrants arrived? The Appalachians (sp?) are populated by the descendants of Scottish Highlanders because that's where the frontier was when the Scots emigrated after the 1745 rebellion and the following retaliations of the English. Similarly Minnesota is populated by Scandinavians because they started emigrating around 1860-1880 (I think). Of course people wanted to stay around "their kind", but they also went where the cheap land was.

[Sky]

Minnesota also has a pretty large Slovak (my family among them) and German population.  

Even the black guys and rebels are vikings in minnesota.

Today I learned I should move to Bergen. Sounds like the Vermont of scandinavia.

[Signe]

If you're looking for lots of snow and ice, or any sort of weather other than rain every minute of every day, I don't know why you would have learned that you should live in Bergen. 

[Nebu]

If you're looking for lots of snow and ice, or any sort of weather other than rain every minute of every day, I don't know why you would have learned that you should live in Bergen. 

So you're saying that Bergen is more like Portland?

[Quinton]

Well, maybe it's just the ones from Bergen.  Or maybe even just the ones from Bergen who are in my family.  The ones here seem perfectly okay.  All the others, though - all insane.  Ask some Norwegians.  They'll tell you the truth!  Don't look them straight in the eyes, though.  They'll kill you later.

Signe is telling the truth. People from Bergen are batshit crazy, full of themselves and annoying as hell. They have a plan to become their own country, and most Norwegians would celebrate if they ever went thru with the plan. They have a gorgeous town. It's just filled with these......things

My officemate is a Norwegian from Bergen and does not seem to exhibit these characteristics.  I've worked with him since '98 (not continuously and not at the same company), but have never noticed anything other than him being a bit pedantic (a property of a lot of software engineers I know) and having a very dry sense of humor ("How do you know Arve's making a joke?" "His lips are moving."). Perhaps he's the exception to the rule.

[bhodi]

Am I going to have to put forward a rule that people who don't post with an actual picture in a picture thread get a vacation or their post deleted? Enough with the chatter, get with the awesome!

[Mrbloodworth]

[Teleku]

Heres a picture of the largest brick of gold in the world:

[Samwise]

That guy is stealing it!   

[KallDrexx]

I wonder how much that weighs.

[Sky]

[Nebu]

I wonder how much that weighs.

220 kg

[proudft]

If my calculations are right, it's worth ~$7.7 million.  You know, for the next question.  I kinda thought it'd be more, actually.

Edit: math is hard.

[Ookii]

You could just go to http://boston.com/bigpicture where it says the Bar is worth 7.8 mil. Math is fun though!