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BBC World’s Table: The controversial sweet that fuels Norwegians.

“Kvikk Lunsj is a four-fingered chocolate bar that’s beloved across Norway and synonymous with outdoor exploration. The snack’s slogan is “tursjokoladen” (“the trip chocolate”), and ads for the wafers often depict hikers spinning a compass, skiers summiting frosty peaks and people drinking water from rushing rivers. Today, roughly 60 million Kvikk Lunsj bars are produced each year – about 11 for every Norwegian – and whether you’re skipping across mountain brooks or striking out in a kayak, no journey into the Norwegian wilderness is complete without one. That’s because Kvikk Lunsj isn’t just a sweet treat; it’s part of our national heritage.”

We spent three weeks in Norway last summer, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only tourist enjoying Kvikk Lunsj. It had been a while since I had a Kitkat, but I have to agree with this article from the Guardian that Kvikk Lunsj tastes much better!

The Guardian: KitKat v Kvikk Lunsj: which four-fingered chocolate bar tastes best? “Nestlé has been trying to trademark KitKat’s shape – but is its taste equally distinctive? We put it and its doppelganger to the test.” (Article published on 19 March 2017.)

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“As climate activists we need to stand up for democracy”

The Guardian: . “Fridays for Future organiser warns conspiracy theories are increasingly taking hold despite effects of global heating.”

Link via MetaFilter.

““It’s no longer green technologies that are the issue, but the fight for democracy and truth,” said Neubauer. “If there’s no shared reality in which we operate, it will be impossible to move forward with the climate transition.”
[…]
Before the last German election in 2021, all parties bar the AfD promised to stop the planet from heating by 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. But in the four years since, public interest in cutting pollution has waned, anger at the Green party has surged – egged on by politicians across the political spectrum – and policies such as phasing out gas boilers have sparked fury among some voters.

“With the German heating law, I think media and party politics tested the waters on how easy it is to get people tricked into believing the Greens want an eco-dictatorship … and that we need to protect ourselves from [climate activists], rather than the climate crisis,” said Neubauer. “Apparently that worked out well.”

Neubauer has previously criticised centrist politicans, including the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, from the centre-left Social Democratic party, for polluting the discourse and normalising hateful rhetoric against climate activists. She said Fridays for Future’s greatest failure in Germany was not embedding climate policy across the democratic spectrum “in a way that it could sustainably live on without us”.

“It’s a disaster,” she said. “And I fear Germany is a very prominent example of what is happening in many liberal democracies around the world.””

Die größten Mythen der Energiewende

Maithink X: Energiewende am Ende? (YouTube, 32min)

“Sind Wärmepumpen teure Stromfresser und Holzheizungen viel nachhaltiger? Wie viele Vögel sterben durch Windräder, wie laut sind Windkraftanlagen und wie umweltschädlich sind erneuerbare Energien?
Rund um das Thema Energiewende kursiert viel Halbwissen. Was davon stimmt und was Mythen sind, ist oft nicht leicht zu erkennen; vor allem, wenn die Wahrheit irgendwo dazwischen liegt. Deshalb schauen wir uns sieben Energiewende-Mythen genauer an – wissenschaftlich fundiert und unaufgeregt. Wir klären, warum unser Strom so teuer ist, wie nachhaltig Holz-Heizungen, Wärmepumpen und Wasserstoff wirklich sind, ob Windräder uns krank machen, wie viele Vögel durch sie sterben und wie umweltschädlich erneuerbare Energien sind.”

Anschauen und sachlich fundierte Argumente parat haben, wenn die Familie oder die Arbeitskollegen mal wieder mit den üblichen überholten Ansichten um die Ecke kommen… egal ob an den Feiertagen oder später beim Endspurt auf die Bundestagswahl.

Die Elphi in Hamburg

Nahre Sol: Acoustics at the MOST EXPENSIVE Concert Hall in the World. (YouTube, 11:18min) The concert hall in question is of course the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. Ever since it opened its doors after the building phase that took way too much time and money I’ve been wanting to go there for a concert. Nahre Sol was the “Creator in Residence” at the Elbphilharmonie for a year and takes behind-the-scenes looks at the hall, the acoustics and the organ, about which she did a separate video:

The ONLY instrument with NO LIMITS. (YouTube, 10:26min)