fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2405 ]

[ SECRET POST #2405 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2405 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 099 secrets from Secret Submission Post #344.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I keep forgetting to log in, oops

You would be a lot richer then! :) But probably less happy, or what do you think inhabitant of the "Happiest country in the world"? I for one think us Scandinavians should just do a USA thing and join together as states and take over the world!

Yeah same here, hm. I can't think of any other laws that are specifically Norwegian?

That's true! I'm glad for you guys, but it would've been nice if we could've had a share ;) I always find those "happiest country in the world" stories kinda hilarious. The main reason we get that title is because we're content. I mean, we have a lot of good stuff going for us (social security, free education, that whole thing); I really believe that the "secret" is that we're aware of the good stuff we have and that we aim to be content rather than happy. No one is happy all the time, aiming to be the happiest country strikes me as aiming too high. We're just... middle of the road and "oh yeah, we do alright". Also, no one is happy that we have to pay half our earnings in taxes, we just accept it because of what it pays for.. (Did any of that make any sense? I swear, my thesis is frying my brain).

I can't think of any laws that are specifically Danish, hm. The most Danish thing I can think of is our insane taxes, and I don't think that counts in any way.

Yeah, and I think we could have done well with you, the Swedes and the Icelandics (the Finns can come too if they want!)

Yeah probably, us Norwegians complain about everything, which is probably why we never win stuff like that.

Yeah the taxes thing is the same in Norway, we might complain but we are aware of the things we get from it, like you free healthcare, education (including Higher education), parks and so on...

A new extended Kalmar union, could be nice!

That's another thing about those stories - I always wonder if the people doing the surveys (is it surveys? I assume it is) have heard us complain. Because we do. A lot. I think we just do some weird semi-shy "pshaw, it's okay" thing when outsiders come around.

Yeah. I mean, I probably wouldn't be writing this damn thesis if not for free higher education

...dammit, me again

it is okay favourite Dane!

I know right! We would rule the world! *mohaha*

Yeah me too, whom goes around asking us? Or is it some other way to figure it out? Yeah we are opposite when outsiders come, we just go "Norway sucks, the roads are awful, the waiting lines in Hospitals are too long and our education sucks"...

Same for me, if Higher education wasn't "free" (we pay a fee of max 2000NOK a semester) and I didn't get my state student loans by default I would not be studying, because my family would never have afforded it.

Aw thank you, favorite Norwegian!

We could be awesome Nordic overlords. And I just realized, the first Kalmar Union was under the Danish Queen Margrete the 1st. We now have Queen Margrete the 2nd. That has to be a sign, right? ~~Even if she has been around for a long time by now. And there's no guarantee she would be the queen of everything if we all joined up.~~

I have no idea. I remember watching something from the Oprah show once, where she was in Denmark after one of those surveys, and it was just so weird. It focused on the strangest things... Heh. You're just more honest?

We don't pay anything for our education, just books and materials. And we get grants, not loans (well, we can get loans, but we don't have to and the grants are not paid back). And yeah, my family probably wouldn't have been able to either (though I have no idea, the system is so ingrained in me that I hardly know how to figure out what it would actually cost).

We would! Queen Margrete 2 is awesome though! I watched a documentary with her not long ago, does she still smoke? I assume she is still just as badass! Well the Swedish King is out because the sex scandal thing, the Norwegian one is just boring. The Queens are pretty okay in both countries, but both are married into it. So your queen it is! Or a collection of them all?

Watching television shows about Norway not made by Norwegians is really odd, so I understand where you are coming from.

I dunno? We have it a lot better than most of the world! But off course it should be even better, and yeah our roads does suck...

Really? We get a mix between grant and loans 40% of the sum is made into a grant each semester as long as you pass all your grades.

I just read a news article about Norwegian Higher Education, average cost of a student in my University College is 200.000NOK and we are the cheapest, the Sami one is 750.000 for each student. Weirdly enough my University College has the highest percentage of people finishing their degrees in the assigned time period.

I would assume if we had to pay for it, the sums would be higher? Because our schools get paid by the amount of students whom pass exams not by the amount of students they take in (there are probably other ways they get money too, but that is one of them)

Like you, I have no idea, our student fee thing is just to make sure we are serious about studying before we get our student loans paid out I think? It isn't like the Unis needs the money.

She doesn't smoke in public anymore (it was a big thing years ago), and I think the official word is "no", but there have been a couple of paparazzi shots. I think she's pretty much the same hehe. Yeah, when you put it like that she kind of is the best option, isn't she? I mean, it's not like it matters much since they won't have any actual power, so it would probably be a collection in the end with the actual power in some kind of EU type combined parlament.

Our roads are starting to suck too, though I know nothing of your roads.

Yup, if you can make the grant stretch (few can) you can get your higher education 100% state sponsored apart from supplies here (most people work on the side or take up loans, since rent alone (at least in the biggest cities, where most of education is centered) can take up most or all of the grant if you're unlucky).

That is quite a lot of money. Kinda puts it into perspective! And yeah, it sounds likely that we'd have to pay more...

We're mostly just told to take it seriously, although we do "only" get our grant for however long the education is supposed to take, with only a few delays allowed.

Yeah, that makes sense! I am glad she is still being awesome though! ~~yeah probably, and I assume we all want to keep our own Royal families, because we are a bit protective of them, even if we tend to complain a lot about them wasting our money~~

Oh, ours is based on our individual fortune so as long as you don't have a lot of money (I think it is a couple of hundred thousand NOK in fortune) you get a full student loan. We don't really have a lot of choices, either full live outside of home, full live at home (but you have to pay it all back) and only scholarships) so I guess it is quite different?

We get 90.000 a year over 10 months for a maximum of 7 years and if you are more than two years behind they stop it until you catch up.

She's still doing her thing, yeah heh. I've always been a bit split - I think it's awesome the amount of cultural value and "advertising" effect (so to speak) they have, I think it sucks how much money they use, and in the end I'm mainly just completely uninterested in their personal lives and think the media is too crazy obsessed with them for my tastes.

Oh, our is based on income too, though yeah, it's more to do with giving us a small amount if we live at home, and a larger amount if we live on our own.

Our total amount varies a lot (most of my friends have similar backgrounds and get strangely varying amounts, for unknown reasons). I don't actually know if they stop it if you're behind, but I'd assume so.

Cool! Yeah, our royal family, especially the prince and his family are doing a lot of good things in the world, including charity and so on. I don't care about what they do, but the fact that our used to be princess, she got married and lost her title, is apparently talking to Angels and opened an Talking To Angels School, is probably annoying me more than it should.

Your income or your parents?

We apply for it and we get the same amount no matter what, except those whom don't want the loan part, whom gets less, but that is a personal choice not a choice the state makes for you. The only difference is the amount you have to pay back.

~~Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that and not being sure what's going on with that.~~

Bit of both. If you live at home, it depends on your parents' income. I'm not entirely sure how it works once you move out (it shouldn't depend on your parents' income anymore, but I think it does a bit? I really ought to know, but the system is confusing). In either case, if your own income is too high your taxes are raised (which also affects the grant, as we pay taxes of those too. I don't know why, they could just make the grants lower and avoid the paperwork, but the entire Danish tax system is nothing if not immensely confusing).

Sounds like a less complicated system, tbh. Our system ends up being more get random amount that no one can explain to you.

I think I need to go to bed now, before I fall asleep on my computer... It's been fun talking to you tonight! And thank you for the kittens, kittens are always wonderful ~~we should make kittens a part of our viking conquest somehow~~.

Re: Dear fandom friends

making_excuses - 2013-08-04 01:28 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Dear fandom friends

danish_anon - 2013-08-04 13:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Dear fandom friends

making_excuses - 2013-08-04 21:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Dear fandom friends

danish_anon - 2013-08-04 22:02 (UTC) - Expand

Oh, also re. US thing - that could be kinda fun. Sometimes I do think we should at least do a mini EU kinda thing and do a "Scandinavia is united so don't fuck with our oil and wind power ~~what else do we have?~~" thing...

I know right! With Norway's oil, the Swedes trees and your wind power, Norway water power, and our combined meat and harvests we could do pretty well all on our own!

Finland and Iceland probably also can contribute with stuff, oh Fish from Norway and Iceland. What else do we have? Eh Sweden have a nuclear power plant, Norway got a tiny nuclear thing for science stuff and I just now realise how little I know about my neighbouring countries resources...

We also have enough Universities combined to manage education, and we have SAS and Norwegian (probably more?) for planes, and we all have pretty up to date and well functioning militaries, except the Icelandics.

And we would always win in Eurovision! :P

~~yeah I am getting tired, don't mind me~~

We're apparently branching into lots of solar power too! I think we have the power plant in the world that combines solar power and whatever they call it when they burn stuff to generate heat and electricity? That's what I heard the other day, at least.

It would actually be a pretty self-sufficient thing we could get going. Now I'm wondering if it could actually be done in reality.

I'm exhausted, so I'm just highly amused by this whole plotting to take over the world. We'd take over and be all nice. I think. Or would we revert to our viking ways?

Oh cool! That reminds me The Swedes are burning so much trash for power that they have to buy trash from other countries!

It really would, we are all pretty self sufficient already so together we could probably manage quite well without outside help at all!

I actually think given enough time we will, because the EU is pretty much a disaster right about now, and us tiny countries up north needs someone to support us, and if we got bigger the rest of the world would have to listen to us.

It is fun isn't it! I think we would be pretty nice, with all of us being Socialists and at least Norway spends a lot of resources trying to make peace in countries, and we are not big on wars anymore? Though we have Viking blood, so it could go either way really...

Oh competely off topic, here is a link to distract you a bit: http://youtu.be/Qo0lbWhHLys

I didn't know that! It's kinda awesome, though.

Yeah, if the EU keeps going the way it is, I wouldn't be surprised if we got our own thing going. I wouldn't mind it, I like being part of this whole Nordic thing.

We'd be such a conundrum to certain conservative Americans (they're socialists! But they do alright! What...?). I think we're still a bit too involved in warfare (we were in Afghanistan until... erh, right about now, actually) to be considered too peaceful, but if we relied on you guys for that part it would probably work out well in the end. Maybe we'd just be benevolent vikings. I mean, they did trade a lot too, not just pillage and plunder (at least that's what my history teacher used to say).

Kittens! What is that glorious thing, I have never seen that show before? Also, again, oh my god kittens, kittens everywhere. That is the cutest and funniest thing I have seen in days!(That's the guy you're posting gifs of, isn't it? ~~That sounds like I'm stalking your comments~~),

Me neither before a News thing about it. Something about the Swedes wanting to buy our trash...

Yeah, how is the whole EU thing working out for you guys? Because the EEU (Eh EØS in Norwegian) is getting less and less worthwhile each day that passes.

I know! It would be awesome! Yeah Norway was in Afghanistan too (I think we still are) and a couple of other wars, we mostly help NATO and the Peacekeeping forces, but we are not completely innocent when it comes to warfare.

We will see what happens! We might turn good, or we might turn evil! Only the future can tell:)

I know right! Watching Jimmy Carr trying to control a bunch of kittens might be the most adorable and funny thing I have seen in ages!

That is 8 out of 10 cats, and they are doing Countdown specials this season, because they did it for Comic Relief (Or the ITV version I guess?) and it was an huge hit! You should totally watch it! Or the regular episodes, which are news based and really, really entertaining!

~~Jon Richardson was in that clip yes! I am just happy anyone finds my comments interesting enough to read tbh!~~

Edited 2013-08-03 23:40 (UTC)

Heh! Well, if they want it and you're not using it...

The EU (EU in Danish as well) is not the best here either, although I have a feeling that's more an attitude found in the general population (the politicians seem happy enough, but I do sometimes wonder if they have any idea of what goes on in the rest of the country).

Sounds like we're kind of doing the same thing at this point, then! I'm pretty sure we're in NATO too. We used to be, I don't know why we'd stop.

Hehe, the world just has to prepare for their future viking overlords and hope for the best!

It was seriously adorable. I mean, those kittens were everywhere, it was perfect!

Oh, sounds interesting! If I still remember it when I truly emerge from thesis hell I'll check it out :)

~~Heh, I always end up noticing your comments because they make me think "oh hey, I know you"~~.

Yup, we can earn some money on it and get rid of it!

We are not in the EU, we are in the European Economic Union (EØS in Norwegian) because both times we voted to join we said no, last time it was like 49% yes and 51% no, but that quite a few years ago.

This year is election year in Norway, and I have not heard EU mentioned once, that is how much we don't want to be in it right about now.

We probably are, we tend to be pretty much on the same wavelength when it comes to stuff like that.

HIDE YOUR SHEEP WORLD! THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!

I know right! I love kittens! And I wanted all of them, but for now I will have to be content with my own cat.

You try to remember it!

~~Oh, that is nice! I can't do the same for you, except when you use your username instead of being Anon...~~

Oh right! I knew that. Well that you're part of something that's not quite EU, not the details. ~~Exhausted, I'm telling you. And I have a hard time remembering our own exceptions to our EU membership.~~

I can't say I blame you. I mean, there are a lot of stories right now about EU legislation messing with our legislation (our student grants, for instance - something about EU laws potentially making it possible for non-Danes to get our grants even if they're not living or studying here, though I've only seen a couple of headlines and don't know the details).

*BATTLE ROAR* (Now I'm imagining the decidedly non-viking average Dane trying to conquer the world. I'm not sure we'd do well, tbh)

I'd want a whole basketful if I could, but yeah, I have to be content with my parents' cat.

Will do!

~~I do occasionally pop up anon when I forget to log in, though that would be hard to track!~~

Yeah, it is basically a free trade thingy, but we also have to follow everything the EU decide to do and hand over a lot of money and have no vote...

We kinda have some of the same issues, probably not as bad, but Norwegian companies keep loosing contracts to EU companies, because the lowest bid thing is what have to get the job according to EU legislation. Which is in theory a good thing, but it isn't great when a Norwegian based company goes bankrupt because a company based outside of Norway (which in turn pays less tax) and takes the earnings out of Norway gets contracts instead.

Oh, along with the average Norwegian and Swede, have you seen the beaches in Spain (the ones filled with us Scandinavians), it will be total chaos and we will fail miserably. I think peace is the way to go!

Cats are awesome!

~~Yeah I don't have the ability to track Anons, I look out for your username (among others) on F!S though~~

That does sound like it's kinda causing you problems, that's gotta suck!

Peace is definitely the way to go. Benevolent viking overlords it is!

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