This being Sunday morning, no serious news from Norway.
Tomorrow, Monday, the Federal Reserve Bank is releasing the 2005 five-cent pieces, with a bison on the reverse side--if someone can post a picture of that, or of the Indian Head-Bison five-cent piece of 1913-1938, I would appreciate it (too tired from pneumonia to figure it out myself, at the moment).
The Indian Head-Bison five-cent piece (usually erroneously called the "Buffalo nickel") was, in my opinion, one of the most aesthetic coins ever made by the United States mint--but alas like the Standing Liberty quarter-dollar of 1916-1930, the coin seemed to wear quickly, losing all of its fine points.
There is much heated debate here in Nebraska, the Norway of America, about the Nebraska quarter-dollar. While the bigwigs want Chimney Rock or the state capitol, the people want the American Indian Chief Standing Bear.
One hopes the people win out; of course the rock looks nice, but the state capitol unfortunately provokes comments about its similarity with that thing which makes we males, male.
There are scarcely any American Indians in Nebraska, and sure, yeah, we have some jerks here who do not like anybody or anything, but generally, most Nebraskans are aware of, and respectful of, those people who maintained the prairies and bison for us until we showed up.
The proposed "cut" of Chief Standing Bear is remarkable; it is nothing like the cartoon-character on the one-dollar coin. Taken from a photograph, the chief exudes stoic dignity and a fragile fortitude, those things which earn great merit from God.
Okay, I'm headed to bed again. The instructions are to sleep, sleep, sleep, and do nothing else, but I steal five minutes here-and-there, to post the Norway ping list, and to admire and absorb the Eastern European ping list, after which I "fade away" again, and hit the sack.