Saturday I Learned

a bunch of things about Scandinavian writers and citizens. Did you know Norway has its own Ten Commandments? A list of rules like "you must not think you are above we," if you can believe the translation provided by the Believer at a PEN event I went to Saturday night.

The Scandinavian writers were droll and good looking. They alluded to tensions between Scandinavian countries that were mystifying to those who knew none of the history. The woman from Iceland said people in Iceland only commit murder when they're really drunk. She was thrillingly strange.

The writer pictured above is Christian Jungersen. He's written a book called The Exception, which was at first humorously described as being about a typing pool, petty jealousies in the office, and genocide, and later seriously described as being about that.

Another subject: I'm losing my Google presence. My most prominent listing is now my Facebook listing. Yuck. That's hardly a prestigious Google entry. For years an essay I wrote about Canada and the U.S. was first on my Google page and now it's second. This is unsettling, and so is the fact that I used to have the whole first page and now a gymnast with my name is edging up there.

I'm sure this serious matter will come to someone's attention soon.