In Knut's first white Christmas for a while, baking vocabulary is tested, the LD50 of sugar is explored, and crispy vs. soggy biscuits are debated. Chris struggles to defend British Christmas desserts' heavy dependence on dried fruit.

Links:

• Kilroy was here
• Lutefisk
• Norwegian cod
• Lye
• Gravlax / Gravlaks
• Norwegian Christmas food
• (Christmas) Mince pies
• Christmas cake (British)
• Christmas pudding (British)
• Caviar mix
• Banana equivalent (radiation) dose
• Vanilkové rohličky (Czech Christmas cookies)
• Christmas cookies (European/Nordic)
• Significance of the number 7
• Karlsbad (Bohemia)
• Karlovarské oplatky (Karlsbad wafers)
• Record formats (45, 33 …)
• Isopor / polystyrene
• Tre nøtter til Askepott
• Morgenbladet podcast: Fire nøtter til Askepott
• Marzipan pig
• Hornsalt
• Pantomime horse
• What is the deal with
• Timeshifter® app

In an episode inspired by listener emails, Knut and Chris talk about driving behaviour in Norway vs. the UK, and why Norwegian sheep prefer to be on the road. This week’s episode is presented in SurroundLingo™.

Links:

• Autonomous sensory meridian response - Wikipedia
• sanity-io/sanity-microservice-transcription: Example of a transcription microservice for sanity.io projects
• Argument - Wikipedia
• List of countries with left-hand traffic - Wikipedia
• driving - Roundabout in left drive countries - Travel Stack Exchange
• How to Adjust to Driving a Car on the Right Side of the Road
• Driving across a live runway in the Shetlands Sumburgh Airport - YouTube
• Path dependence - Wikipedia
• Nabobil.no - Privat leiebil i ditt nabolag. — Oslo's "AirB'n'B, but for cars" disruptivator.
• Cross-cultural differences in driving behaviours: A comparison of six countries - ScienceDirect
• International driving styles: how the world drives
• Circle K Norge — (Pro tip at these Norwegian gas stations: really, really good waffles with brown cheese. Seriously. Best served to cold, tired people on their way back from the ski hill.)
• Bank Holiday getaway: Road and train travel news as millions face congestion | Daily Star — Even allowing for the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality beloved of UK tabloid newspapers, this is not totally off the mark.
• Congestion Charge (Official) - Transport for London
• London reaches legal air pollution limit just one month into the new year | UK news | The Guardian
• Inversion (meteorology) - Wikipedia — (Why pollution sometimes hangs over Oslo longer than it should)
• Penalty points (endorsements): Endorsement codes and penalty points - GOV.UK — In the UK, you get 3 penalty points on your licence (the points last for 4 years) for running a red light. If you rack up 12 points within 3 years, you get banned, but a court has to decide how long for.
• Penalty points on your driving licence | Statens vegvesen — In Norway, you get 3 penalty points for running a red light; if you get 8 points within a 3-year period, your licence is suspended for 6 months.
• Speed limits in Norway - Wikipedia
• Driving in Norway – Travel guide at Wikivoyage
• BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Highland Clearances — aka Why Scotland No Tree No More
• Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee by Jerry Seinfeld
• national speed limit applies - Google-søk — This mysterious sign.
• Convert mph to kph
• Getting squirted - Cycling UK Forum — The paranoia is real.
• Stanford Prison Experiment: why famous psychology studies are now being torn apart  - Vox
• Cognitive dissonance - Wikipedia
• Men's rights movement - Wikipedia
• Meet the 'reply guys': Obnoxious Twitter trolls try to challenge prominent women — and fail miserably
• Små Forskjeller (@smaforskjeller) | Twitter — Chris is not currently maintaining the Small Differences Twitter account but it still exists :)
• Giving social networking back to you - The Mastodon Project
• Barenaked Ladies - One Week (Video) - YouTube
• BBC - Travel - Finding 'friluftsliv' in Norway
• Learn Norwegian (Bokmål) in just 5 minutes a day. For free.
• Psychology: What does operationalising mean? - The Student Room
• Discourse - Wikipedia
• Overton window - Wikipedia
• 7 tips for communicating about politics across cultural differences      
• Maniac (TV Mini-Series 2018– ) - IMDb — the new Netflix version; Chris's cultural pick
• Maniac (2012) - IMDb — The original Norwegian one
• Halt and Catch Fire (TV Series 2014–2017) - IMDb — Knut's cultural pick (again?)
• I N G E N S T E D S
• List of Friends episodes - Wikipedia

Knut has a puppy. Chris has a new language to learn.

Knut learns how to be a train commuter; Chris hides from the sun; nobody grills. The Small Differences Social Club gets a very exclusive carpet.

Links:

• Oslo City (mall)
• Oslo city (city)
• Sørenga sjøbad badeplass (Sørenga sea bathing area)
• Nudity in Norway
• FACT CHECK: Mussolini and On Time Trains
• Russell Davies on 'barely games' at Playful 2009
• Ain't It Awful: A Party Game | From Games People Play by Eric Berne MD
• NSB: How to claim a refund and compensation - nsb.no/en
• Refunds - Refunds for a booking - Virgin Trains
• Railway electrification in Norway - Wikipedia — Literally nobody will make it to the bottom of this page.
• Trainspotting (hobby) - Wikipedia
• Trainspotting (film) - Wikipedia
• Vanity licence plates in Norway
• Carspotting - side 24 - Generell bilprat - Ford Club Norway — Example of Norwegian carspotting-type-nerding.
• SÆKKECENTRALEN Etabl. 1924 — Knut's new offices. No longer jute sacks. Maybe the odd beanbag.
• Mews - Wikipedia — The British equivalent of Knut's new offices.
• Zoom F1 Field Recorder+Lavalier Mic | Zoom — Knut's new recording jam.

Knut and Chris pack in Norwegian national day, contrasts between Norway, the UK and Estonia, how to make digital government non-creepy, and strange flavours of UK snack food. Nobody makes any announcements.

Links:

• Dan Benjamin - Wikipedia — Dan is the reason our podcast is hosted on Fireside. We love you, Dan.
• Norwegian Constitution Day - Wikipedia — 17th May.
• Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson - Wikipedia — They don't name people like this anymore. Well, maybe they do. But we don't hear about it.
• The flag debate (can you take another flag than the Norwegian one on 17th May?) — Usual Google Translate warning applies.
• Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - Wikipedia — Link included for completeness. Hosts utterly indifferent.
• Eurovision Song Contest 2018 - Wikipedia
• Alexander Rybak - That's How You Write A Song - Norway - Official Music Video - Eurovision 2018 - YouTube — Norway's weak-ass Eurovision entry of 2018
• Benjamin Ingrosso - Dance You Off - Sweden - LIVE - Second Semi-Final - Eurovision 2018 - YouTube — Sweden's 2018 entry. Also disappointing. Why did this get so many points?
• e-Estonia — We have built a digital society and so can you
• PDF about BankID in Norway — This is written by a consortium (or something) of banks, so brace yourself for heavy amounts of propaganda. But still, it works.
• e-Residency of Estonia - Wikipedia
• Economy of Estonia - Wikipedia
• Tax Return - The Norwegian Tax Administration
• Walkers (snack foods) - Wikipedia — Chris brought Knut "Worcester Sauce" and "Chicken Tikka Masala" flavours.
• Worcestershire sauce - Wikipedia
• Chicken tikka masala - Wikipedia
• The many faces of architecture in Tallinn - VisitTallinn
• Tallinn - Wikipedia
• Estonian cuisine - Wikipedia
• Uralic languages - Wikipedia — Wowels.
• Fear of missing out - Wikipedia
• Rickshaw - Wikipedia — Bike taxi
• Idris Elba - Wikipedia
• Killing Eve (TV Series 2018– ) - IMDb
• The Rain (TV Series 2018– ) - IMDb

Knut and Chris chew over the whole Facebook thing. Knut has another announcement.

Links:

• Five things we learned from Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook hearing | Technology | The Guardian
• Cambridge Analytica and a Moral Reckoning in Silicon Valley | The New Yorker
• Cambridge Analytica helped ‘cheat’ Brexit vote and US election, claims whistleblower – POLITICO
• Big Five personality traits - Wikipedia
• Confirmation bias - Wikipedia
• Path dependence - Wikipedia
• How Russian Twitter Bots Pumped Out Fake News During The 2016 Election : All Tech Considered : NPR
• 10 Weird Blogs That Could Only Be Found on Tumblr
• Workplace by Facebook: A Work Collaboration Tool
• Mass surveillance in East Germany - Wikipedia
• Germany's Complicated Relationship With Google Street View - The New York Times
• Du er verdens prøvekanin - Innenriks - VG — "You are the world's guinea-pig"

Knut mulls Scandinavian conformity. Chris has an insect problem.

Links:

• BBC - Earth - Where do flies go in winter?
• Oslofjord frozen, Norway | Ingunn Eriksen | Flickr
• Norway & Mosquitos?
• Hyperbole and a Half: Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving
• How Smart Are Horses? : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
• Get You a Man Who Can Do Both | Know Your Meme
• Hyperbole and a Half: Menace — Really one of the best things on the internet.
• Hyperbole - Wikipedia
• You Can't Have Denmark Without Danes - Bloomberg
• Breakfast in Europe by Rick Steves
• Are Norwegians Rude? — Specifically, not talking to you if it's not necessary.
• Why American customer service is the worst | The Independent — This person is so British. But would also do well in Norway.
• Welcome | UX in the City: Manchester 2018
• Nudity in Germany: The naked truth is revealed | CNN Travel
• The Top 4 German Signs you have gone from Visitor to Resident. | The German Way & More
• List of European countries by population - Wikipedia
• A Big Little Idea Called Legibility
• Stifling Penchant : Conformity--a Must in Scandinavia - latimes — This feels like it was written a million years ago. But is probably still mostly true?
• Which Nations Conform Most? - Scientific American
• Norway: 200 years after the introduction of capitalist rule
• The history of Norwegian equality
• Norway vs. Sweden - Country Comparison — What a great website :)
• Nynorsk - Wikipedia
• Conservative (language) - Wikipedia
• Brexit - Wikipedia — That post-referendum opinion poll table. Oi.
• Linguistic relativity - Wikipedia
• Puns in second language learning — An actual research paper :)
• Field of Dreams - Wikipedia — “If you build it, they will come”
• Paleolithic diet - Wikipedia
• Viking expansion - Wikipedia
• Economy of Norway - Wikipedia
• Oslo Accords - Wikipedia
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Wikipedia
• Jens Stoltenberg - Wikipedia — Secretary General of NATO
• Calque - Wikipedia — In linguistics, a calque /kælk/ or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.
• U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
• morgenbladet.no
• Klassekampen — Our colleagues Jørgen and Julie and former colleague Ida won an award for their redesign of the Klassekampen website :)
• Rockfalls and rockslides | Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse
• NRK TV - Heimebane — Knut's cultural pick of the week
• norske istapper - google image search for Norwegian icicles — Be afraid.
• Ane Dahl Torp - Wikipedia

The problem: Norway is too good at winter sports.

Links:

• Balanced Ventilation Systems | Building Science Corporation
• rekkehus - Wiktionary
• Open sandwich - Wikipedia
• Windfinder — Here you can see that the prevailing wind across both the UK and Norway is generally from west to east (with fun variations)
• Article about how the Winter Olympics is now broadcast by TV Norge and no longer by NRK — Google Translate is clearly taking lessons from Norwegian Guy. Enjoy.
• London 2012 Summer Olympics - results & video highlights
• 2002 Commonwealth Games - Wikipedia
• Commonwealth of Nations - Wikipedia — Britain's answer to having an empire without actually having an empire anymore.
• ‘No jerks allowed’: the egalitarianism behind Norway’s winter wonderland | Sport | The Guardian
• As Medals Pile Up, Norway Worries: Are We Winning Too Much? - The New York Times
• Happy 2018 from Norwegian Moron - YouTube — Knut maintains that this is Norwegian Guy's older brother.
• Snowshoe hare - Wikipedia
• Trysil (Norway's largest ski resort)
• Strandafjellet skisenter - Stranda
• Splitboard - Wikipedia
• Norwegian avalanche, flood and landslide hazard warnings
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (TV Series 1990–1996) - IMDb
• Yeast - Wikipedia
• You Can't Have Denmark Without Danes - Bloomberg
• Map of all the prepared cross-country ski runs — The different colours show how recently they have been prepared. As the weather gets warmer, there will be fewer!
• Allemannsretten/Public Right of Way — Right of Way

Chris has a new hobby; Knut has an announcement.

Links:

• The Design Sprint — Google Ventures
• "The lubricating ski — what's the difference?" — "Fellowship and lubrication skiing". Google translate wreaks delightful havoc on a piece attempting to explain the difference between the cross-country skis you butter, and the ones you don't. Enjoy.
• Herringbone or "Duck-Walk" technique - YouTube
• All About Classic Skis – Cross Country Ski Technique
• Felleski for sale on finn.no
• Skiforeningen: Bogstadvannet — Norway's cross-country skiing association prepares tracks for people to use. There are a lot of tracks :) Colours on the map indicate how recently the track is prepared.
• Alfred - Why do we fall ? - YouTube — Obligatory Batman reference
• The Elements of Cross-country Skiing: Classic Technique - YouTube
• Primitive Technology - YouTube - YouTube — Knut's favourite YouTube channel.
• File:Europe sunshine hours map.png - Wikimedia Commons

Chris has inadvertently stumbled on a ground truth about the difference between the UK and Norway, and it's making her uncomfortable.

Links:

• How the sandwich consumed Britain | The long read | News | The Guardian — "I’ve had a shit morning. I’ve fallen out with my boss. I’ve had a fucking horrible journey in. A poxy lettuce-and-whatever concoction in a plastic bowl is not going to do it for me. I want a cup of tea, a chocolate biscuit and I actually want to cry. I am going out for a fucking sandwich."
• Healthcare in Norway - Wikipedia
• U4: Anti-corruption resource centre
• World Infuriated by Trump's 'Shithole Countries' Remark | Time
• Norwegian Americans - Wikipedia — "Norwegian Americans (Norwegian: norskamerikanere) comprise Americans with ancestral roots from Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census,[specify] and most live in the Upper Midwest. Norwegian Americans currently comprise the 10th largest European ancestry group in the United States."
• The Finnish Experiment - 99% Invisible
• Scotland united in curiosity as councils trial universal basic income | UK news | The Guardian
• How Grey Poupon became hip-hop’s favorite condiment - Vox
• Black Mirror (TV Series 2011– ) - IMDb
• Whaling in Norway - Wikipedia
• Romanticism in Scotland - Wikipedia
• Norwegian romantic nationalism - Wikipedia
• New York bookstore proudly displays books written by authors from 'shithole countries' - Business Insider Nordic
• Ola Kvernberg - Steamdome (Grappa) [Full Album] - YouTube — Knut's Cultural Pick of the Week
• Det norske teatret — the Norwegian theatre — Everything is performed in Nynorsk (or New Norse, as google translate has it).
• Animal magnetism - Wikipedia
• Franz Mesmer - Wikipedia
• Definition/Meaning of trolldom — Chris's Word of the Week