Today’s Panorama (25th of October)
Sun in the mountains by the inner part of the Ofoten Fjord
City-view
View of downtown Narvik from the AMFI shopping mall towards the center of the city. Town hall on the left and the Fagernes mountain in the background.
Rico’s funeral
A dramatic day. I burried my best friend Rico today he was a mix between Gordon Setter and Flat coated retriever. The best companion and friend anyone could ask for. He was burried a place he just loved to be – out by the cottage. I was lucky to have him for well over 14 years until he died in March this year (has been frozen ever since). Now he rests beneath a mountain cliff overlooking the fjord.
Rico's Final rest beneath the cliff on a bed of Juniper
After the funeral – I went on to fix some electrical installation – and we then returned to Narvik.
Crossing the mountain in a blizzard, we came across an accident that had occurred just moments ago. I found a safe spot to park and ran out to see to the driver (no passengers in the vehicle). While I was parking he had managed to climb out of the car and seemed ok. The new BMW he drove had taken it pretty hard though ripping of a wheel and smashing several windows – pretty banged up down in the ditch, but luckily the young driver got away from the ordeal one very expensive experience richer – but with no apparent physical injuries, and already well taken care of when I arrived at the scene.
So for me the day ended on a happy note – no injuries! I must admit although I always keep my cool composure in accidents – a very good skill from my medical army officer’s training, after all running around screaming doesn’t help anybody very much – the adrenalin rushes and first aid and medical procedures starts running through my mind and body. Having drilled procedures almost to the point of boredom is very useful when the real “red alert” hits you. Knowing what to do and in which order cuts valuable time wasted scratching you head – SO LEARN FIRST AID TODAY. You never know who, when and where – it will almost certainly come in handy one day!!!
I guess this accident was a combination of a rapidly dropping temperatur, snowfall, ice on the road and a very inexperienced, young driver. Well, all is well that ends well. A bit of paperwork left and I can already hear the bed calling.
Jack Lihaug’s Photo – Fjærvollstranda
My friend and photographer Jack Lihaug shared this picture with me taken the 15th of October in Bø in Vesterålen. Isn’t this just beautiful contrasts!? I haven’t got the full resolution. This pictures was nicked with Jack’s permission from his Facebook-profile.
(Photo: Jack Lihaug)
The “Hand of God”
It looks like outstretched fingers. This extraordinary photo was taken by the NASA’s Chandra Observatory. The “fingers” we see in the picture were created by a spinning neutron star known as a pulsar buried deep inside the fist, which releases energy as it rotates. Although the pulsar itself is only 12 miles in diameter, the cloud or nebula that it produces stretches across 150 light years of space.
This is an X-ray image. It was recorded by NASA’s Chandra Observatory which is circling 580.000 kilometers above the Earth taking images of high-energy locations across the universe, such as the remnants of exploded stars.
Neutron stars are created when standard stars run out of fuel and collapse, and NASA believes that the one pictured IN “The Hand of God” is rotating around seven times a second! The golden-red lights in the image are actually part of a neighbouring gas cloud, which has been energised by the wind of electrons and ions being spewed out from the pulsar. The colours of the image represent different energy intensities – the blue lights are the areas of highest energy X-rays, followed by green and then red.
Isn’t Nature just wonderful!?
Source: NASA, Wikimedia, Telegraph.co.uk
Hand of God - a pulsar and a nebula. Captured by NASA's Chandra Observatory circling 580.000 kilometers above the Earth
Peace, Joy & Freedom
“Children Playing” with the National Monument of Freedom “Trinigon 3” in the background. “Trinigon 3” consists of the polished steel plates and is 18 meter high.
Flaming Silver Birch
Silver Birch (Betula pendula) with autumn colored leafs in the evening sun. This photo was taken this evening at the cemetary in Narvik.
Classic Norwegian Fishing Vessel – Ariadne
Classic Norwegian Fishing Vessel – Ariadne – in port. The building on the left in the background is the head office of “The Most Beautiful Sea Voyage in The World – “Hurtigruten”. Hurtigruten is a group of ships continuosly transporting tourists, Norwegians, cars and goods up and down the coastline of Norway. It has done so for more than 115 years!
Wing Clipping “The Yellow Angel”
The Ambulance Plane landed no less than 3 times yesterday. Nevertheless they are now going to shut down the airport and cut off some 20.000 people from this life-saving transport. Instead they are going to build a bridge and transport patients to a regional airport. Compared to the 5-minute ride from the local hospital to Narvik Airport today, the patients will in the future have to be transported to Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes. A transport-time of at least 45 minutes. How many critically ill patients will die during these some extra 40 minutes? Today the ambulance operator Lufttransport AS flies some 300 missions a year to Narvik Lufthavn.
The picture below is a montage of one of the “Yellow Angel’s” 3 missions to Narvik yesterday.
Moon above the Narvik Airport airstrip in long-distance floodlights
Long-distance floodlights on runways are remotely turned on by pilots on the commercial flights trafficing the local airports in Norway. This makes the airports visible from long distances. As the aircraft approaches the airport, the floodlights are dimmed as not to blind the pilots on final approach for landing.
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