Øblog

It was time for a trip with the sports school again, 31 kids and 8 adults. Before walking the glacier we spent the night near Jondal, the kids loved camping as usual and had a great Saturday evening. No TV, just play and having fun – and some Saturday-candy ofcourse which we allowed them to bring with them. Most of the kids used lots of their dry clothes which were meant for the glacier walk but we had access to a dryroom so we didn’t panic. We heard it was raining cats and dogs up there plus windy and only 5 degrees celcius so if any of the kids didn’t have proper clothing they couldn’t tag along.

Everything went fine, the kids got a crash course in glacier walking and were equipped with helmet, climbing harness, ice axe and crampons (spikes). Keeping them warm while equipping 31 kids were not any problem, the kids jumped around and hacked anywhere with their ice axe.

It was a great experience, but the weather was insane, after the walk the guides said that the kids were extremely though, there were lots of adults who turned around earlier that day when they saw the weather. While having fun the kids learned a lot on how important it is to work in groups while walking on glaciers, holding a tight rope between them didn’t mean much at first but when a friend stumbled and fell downwards they learned quickly how to work together.

I think all the adults enjoyed themselves too despite the weather, a new experience richer. I’ve taken dosens of photos of the glacier from above when I’ve been flying and I’ve always wanted to be down there walking on it – a dream came through. Folgefonna is a collective term for three glaciers, northern which covers 26 km², central – 9 km² and southern which covers 168 km². Its the third largest mainland glacier in Norway. The ice is up to 500 meter thick and the highest point is at about 1600 meters above the ocean. While walking we were about 1300 meter, it was too windy up there for us. This glacier isn’t from the ice age, it was formed about 5000 years ago during a period of temperature drop and lots of snow. Still it is very exciting to walk on that old ice, especially to look down the deep cracks and ponder how many years we can see back in time down there.

I hope to return some day, hopefully when the weather is a bit better, its a great resource for skiing and walking during the summer – skateboard enthusiasts loves it. Maybe without kids next time, not to be selvfish but… If you’re in Norway visiting the western parts of Norway I recommend checking up on Folgefonna and visit it, the staff up there is awesome and can adapt or create a fitting walk for you. They are great with kids as well, they proved that yesterday – equipping 31 kids in a flash was impressive, and talking to them and explaining while doing it kept the kids curiousity awake. Kudos to them.

We see it everyday whether we want it or not ; commercials, health and other warnings on products around us. Marketing is probably one of the areas that are most researched and where unbeliavable amounts of money go, everyone wants to sell most and get most of the global cake. We all have a certain understanding of how things work but there is a lot more to it. In US alone over 600 billion dollars are being used yearly on marketing, that is over $2000 per person.

Did you know that the tobacco industry speculate on the warning-labels on cigarette and tobacco-packs? The warning labels trigger something in a smoker’s brain and what people thought would help people quit smoking does the opposite! That kind of explains why the tobacco-industry don’t mind at all putting the warning-labels on their products. Though it seem to have a wanted effect ; it helps non-smokers decide not to start smoking.

In 2005 Martin Lindstrøm launched a project called Buyology which lasted 3 years. During this time they used the latest technology to reveal consumer behaviour by scanning brains on 2000 individuals. Lead by Lindstrøm and a panel of scientists based in Oxford several companies are part of the project, Coca Cola, American Express, Samsung, Apple, Nike, Sony, Ford, Louis Vuitton and several others. According to the outcome of the project most of the 600 billion dollars spent on marketing is a waste of money and out of track.

With neuromarketing they will test what will work and not before launching the advertising, marketing experts say that this project supplies businesses with a deeper understanding of the largely unconscious forces that shape consumer reactions.

Lindstrøm’s book were released yesterday and on his site where he presents the chapters. There he mention James Vicary’s experiment were an image of a coca-cola and popcorn were displayed in 1/3000th of a second on a cinema and people rushed to buy. Isn’t that claimed to be a fabricated story?

That makes me wonder if Lindstrøm is in the same class as Vicary but it confuses me that so many large companies and scientists take part of this project, whats up with this? Will we see a change in advertising after this study becomes aknowledged within marketing? Is it going to help them to hide advertising more? I mean, if I look at a commercial without knowing it is one – will it become more powerful?

Exciting stuff…

After SureShot at Travelin’ Show posted about the Funnelweb Spider on her porch I instantly thought that we have dull spiders here compared to those. Maybe I got a bit jealous as well.

Here is one of ours on the back porch, I have no idea what it is called.