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How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

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Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#361

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Ok, but everywhere in Europe people start leaving after 16 the question was whether the working day is 6 hours or 8 in Norway?

Yes, but around three out of four people will have left by 16:30, which is definitely not common in all European countries. I’d say an average working day is 7 hours plus a 30-minute lunch break, usually taken before noon.

Sounds good. Do all tech companies have a 7 hour workday?

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#362

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> No morals outside of what is legal and not is a recipe for disaster. What are you basing this on? The common stereotype is that Scandinavians tend to be extremely conscious about not bothering others.

Yes that is true. But everything is left to the government. Parents do not take care of their children. Children do not care about their parents or family. If you have troubles, you either get drunk or shut it.... Norwegians have a fuck season which they call "julebordsesong" (Christmass party season) where a big part of the nation ends up cheating. https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/de-fleste-som-er-utro-er-de... Fami…

You can't do nationalistic flamewar on HN. We ban accounts that do this. Please stop.

Your comments on this have been curiously interesting, no doubt because they come from personal experience, and also because the rant is over-the-top which makes it a bit less mean. But it simply isn't legit to smear a whole country, and posting like this destroys the container here. HN's Norwegian readers have the same right as everyone else not show up here and run into comments that slur them. Please find a different way to tell your story.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, napping quickly everywhere is a skill one can train. I am interested! How did you, and how long did it take you?

You just need to operate on a constant sleep deficit, just above total exhaustion, then you can fall asleep whenever and wherever you want

The infamous startup founder method

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#364
post #262
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its unusual for milk not to be UHT here in Spain. I wonder if it's due to Spain being a warmer country and the milk spoiling more quickly.

Yes, that's the reason. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process...

They have fridges these days....

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#365
post #251

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You boil yours? I take my oatmeal raw, with milk and a light sprinkling of sugar.

In Norway, the oatmeal is often steel-cut oats, which you really can't eat raw. If you're eating them with milk, you've probably got rolled oats, which are already cooked.

Yes. I am aware of this, but it's a distinction that I've never really seen in everyday use of the Norwegian language. Basically, there's two common versions of the product, they have the same name, but one of them is pre-cooked. I've always used the pre-cooked one for oatmeal though. Which might not quite make it the common American oatmeal, I don't know :P

A common theme, the language often doesn't make subtle distinctions when it comes to food.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#366
post #248

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Just wait until I tell you that the Norwegian word for 'cheese' also encompasses boiled whey products that are hardened and shaped into brown blocks. I've lost count over the times this discussion has shown up with my French relatives.

Ah, but Gjetost is glorious. My family is deeply split down the middle as to whether it's fantastic or a crime against cheese.

The French have it firmly classified as a crime. Not just a crime, but a sign of a fatally flawed culture, with a language that doesn't make the discinction between this and bacterially processed cheese.

We have multiple versions, Brunost ("brown cheese") in different varieties that can generally be classified as mysost ("whey cheese"), which is the closest we get to a language distinction for this product that is distinct from cheese. I think the same term can be used for geitost ("goat cheese"). But all of these terms have the word "cheese" in them :D

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you waste 16 years of your life in a place that you dislike so much? I spend a lot of time with latino people (due to work), and yes, I agree that they are a lot less boring than Norwegians. But hour after hour of juvenile penis-jokes and giggling at what is always something sexual, it gets pretty boring too. Sure, they do laugh a lot more than Norwegians, but for anyone else, they come off as pretty boring a…

I would not call them wasted. It is a calm place.If you know how to live in it. Just like a jungle. I just treat it like my personal urban jungle where I can do whatever I want. That is the beauty of Norwegians. They are pushovers, non confrontational, scared , and very easy to manipulate and intimidate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_suppression_techniques So work is easy, money are good I found out that a Nor…

Heh, glad to hear that you've found someone you can manipulate and intimidate. That would be a perfect setting for a sociopath.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#368
post #260

The British version is the plowman's lunch. Without the add-ons one sees today. The Japanese version is Calorie Mate Balanced Food Block, from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company. Available in convenience stores and vending machines.

Fun fact: the ploughman's lunch dates back to the 1950s when cheese companies promoted it in order to sell more cheese.

The cheese mafia has gotten completely out of control. Over half of Dunkin (formerly Dunkin' Donuts) items now include cheese. Every lunchbox at Starbucks includes cheese.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory goes that a power nap shouldn’t be more than 25 minutes, otherwise you risk falling in a deeper state of sleep. I tested the assumption and I find it true. Also, napping quickly everywhere is a skill one can train.

> Also, napping quickly everywhere is a skill one can train. I am interested! How did you, and how long did it take you?

Not the person you were asking, but-

I learned how to nap while adjusting to the Uberman polyphasic sleep schedule (20 min naps every 4 hours). Wouldn't have described myself as a proficient napper before that, but do now.

My memory of the process is a little dim given it was in 2011, but the first thing most people I talk to about this say is "Man, I could never do that, I'd never fall asleep fast enough," and the answer to that is simple - during the adjustment period your problem is never falling asleep; it'll definitely be waking up. :)

But I still nap even though I stopped Uberman after a year (it worked fine, life just took me elsewhere), and things I've learned:

- I think most people would agree that meditating is definitely a trainable skill. The edge I ride while meditating is being completely immobile, comfortable and relaxed while keeping my awareness focused and sharp. Allowing my mind to wander is one failure mode, but falling asleep is another. For me, a "poor" meditation session frequently feels like a great nap ;) But in all seriousness, for me the physical setup for meditation and a nap is almost identical - comfortable position, no pressure points that I'll need to adjust in five minutes (this is just experience), and as relaxed as I can get. Some guided meditation tracks help train this by making you go through each part of your body and relax them one at a time. That's helpful to do a few times imo, but you get the hang of it quickly and should be able to do it yourself and all at once very fast.

- As far as my thoughts go - it's almost the opposite of meditation. In meditation, I'm constantly wrenching my attention back to my breathing or my big toe or whatever. For a nap, I drop the reins on my mind and let it do whatever it wants. Free association. I have basically one rule, which is that I don't think about problems - nothing that I'm trying to solve or understand. If I'm fresh off of work or an intense game or something, I'll seed my thoughts with some pleasant topic, situation or person and then let it wander from there. The more nonsensical and unreal the thoughts are, the better - it's almost like maintaining internally-consistent thoughts keeps my brain conscious and vice versa. Think Alice in Wonderland nonsense-poem level absurdity. When I'm on a well-balanced schedule (I'm on a two-nap schedule now and trying to hit my naps with about 30 min accuracy), my naps are light enough that I dream easily - so frequently, whatever free-associated thoughts I'm having transition seamlessly into dreamstuff.

- I used to sleep with closed-back around-ear headphones playing music the vast majority of the time (my naps are almost always on my back; my core sleep is usually on my front). I was diagnosed ADD years after learning to nap; I interpreted my use of music as giving my brain the stimulation it needs to relax or something. I was also in a college dorm, so I also experimented with earplugs under the headphones but generally found them uncomfortable (basic etymotics, not foam ones). I don't sleep with music much any more, but I still frequently sleep with headphones on for some basic background conversation reduction and as a visual "don't interrupt me" signal if I'm in public.

- sleep masks are a gift from heaven. I didn't use them back then, but I seriously picked them up last year and after a week or so of getting used to sleeping with something strapped to my face, they are astoundingly helpful. It's worth it to get a pair with eye cups so your eyelashes don't brush the inside (much) when your eyes move or open. These are a much stronger "don't interrupt me" signal than headphones, lol.

- I'm pretty skinny and don't have a big caffeine habit so small amounts of it noticeably affect my ability to nap. Be aware of any stimulants you're consuming - coffee, cigarettes, adderall, what have you - and if napping is hard, consider experimenting with timing / ordering naps and stimulants. During the Uberman transition period, I did play around with chugging a bottle of Coke and immediately taking a nap, so I could fall asleep but the caffeine would hit as early as possible after I woke up and not affect my next nap too much. I don't remember if this worked well, but this is the kind of thing you can play with.

- During Uberman, I was sort of forced to nap anywhere and everywhere - on lawns, in the backs of SUVs, on buses, in movie theatres, etc. I actually put my mattress away, and when napping in my room, I folded a rough blanket into four or six layers on the floor and slept on that (to make it less tempting to stay in bed). This definitely got me more accustomed to sleeping in mildly uncomfortable places and that's stayed with me. (But I tell you what, it's real hard to nap at Disneyland. All the benches I found were too short to stretch out on, there are no grass areas that aren't fenced off, shade is a valued resource that's almost always either in a high-traffic area or, in the more isolated pockets, already occupied. I ended up on a bench in the sun with a sleep mask on, my legs threaded through the armrest and my head on my gf's lap so randos wouldn't call security on me... it was not a best nap ever :) )

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. It's like people are forgetting to enjoy their lives.

> It's like people are forgetting to enjoy their lives. you mean by seating in front of a table for the most part of the day and constantly talking about food? :)

Nice stereotype but lunches in Italy are usually 30 minutes, just like in many other European countries. It's the 3 minute long, bland lunch in front of your laptop that's depressing to me. But as other people said to each their own.
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