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The Norwegian online press has grabbed gradually less of my attention. The articles show no literary prowess, and the news are simply translated from other online sources. Unless, of course, they are talking about cattle and domestic politics. The more I visit web-papers (vg.no, db.no adressa.no, itavisen.no to name a few), the less I want to come back. Here is an interesting header for you:

Av Harald Brombach, tirsdag 22. september 2009 kl 07:43

Nå skal Telenor og DnB NOR teste mobilbasert betalingsløsning.
Mange har snakket lenge om å bruke mobiltelefonen til å betale småutgifter, for eksempel når brukeren handler fra en automat hvor man i dag må putte på småpenger. Årsaken til dette er at kontanter både er upraktisk for brukeren og kostbart for både banknæringen og samfunnet forøvrig.

closely translated this means:
Telenor and DnB NOR are about to experiment with payments over the cellular grid.
Many have talked for a long time about using their mobile phones for casual transactions similar to coin machines in grocery shops and vending machines in general. The reason is because cash is both inconvenient for the consumer and costly for both the banking industry and society at large.

full article: Sim kort vil erstatte bankkort

…

I think only a Norwegian news article writer can fit the word both two times in a sentence. That is not the point, however.
Mister Brombach writes that cash is inconvenient. Clearly he is a bit less paranoid than a certain swede I have lived with. That guy makes a point by dragging his Swedish passport to the bank every week or so to draw some cash. He is absolutely positive that plastic cards are monitored and refuses to use them. I am fairly certain that anyone when asked will agree with Harald. It is really a drag counting and carrying the heavy kroner coins of 0.5, 1, 5, 10 and 20, in addition to the bills of 50, 100, 200, 500 and oh! The really big one of 1000. I mean, did any one ever think we would use math in real life once we left school?
I might be very arrogant and selfish in saying this, but this particular inconvenience of mine is more valuable than the expenses of the banking industry and the society combined. The charges for production and distribution of money go out from my pocket, as ruled by the government of the society, and end up at the bank anyhow, probably. I say let them pay for their fiat currency. Besides, the Swede has a point.

[WRITTEN] 23. Sep 2009 02:12 [CATEGORY] economy, internet, ¤%"#!$

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