Here’s a little wider angle shot of the play we attended last night (Peer Gynt).
I don’t know what the official number is for people attending but I’d guess we had a couple thousand at least.
It’s held in an outdoor ampitheater on the bank of Lake Gala and includes a series of turf/grass covered huts which look like ones we saw a lot of on the way here.
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It’s Sunday morning now and I’m starting to wake up. The delegates are meeting already but since I’m not one, I’m taking a little longer to get going. Getting in at 2am requires more sleep on my part than what these hardy Vikings need I guess.
I thought I’d catch up with some more photos from yesterday. Before the play got started we had a little private lakeside reception.
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I don’t even want to think about what time it is locally here in Hamar. We just got back from seeing the final night production of Peer Gynt at Laka Gala. Here’s Peer and the green troll. You’ll have to get a copy of Henrik Ibsen’s play to find out what it’s all about. Let’s just say that I think it made more sense in Norwegian than it would have in English.
By the way, the cows in front of the Scandic Hotel in my last post are part of the Cow Parade. I thought they were and found some information on them in the registration materials we received when we arrived.
Did I mention that Peer Gynt is a truly bizarre play? If not, I should have. I really did not know what to expect, especially since it was not in my language. However, it was incredible and entertaining. It’s tied into the folklore of the region here which is why it fits in nicely with the purpose of an IFAJ Congress.
Besides these pictures I also recorded a short audio clip so you can hear what the native language sounds like. 
Peer Gynt Segment (1 min MP3)
In addition to the audio I shot a video clip of a dance segment that was pretty cool. I hope you enjoy it. 
Peer Gynt Segment (3 min WMV)
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Here’s the lovely Scandic Hotel in Hamar. I just arrived and am getting ready to go to a play in the mountains. I know nothing about it except that it’s a 2 hour bus ride.
My plane was a mere 2 hours late and from what I’ve heard a lot of people were delayed getting here so I’m not alone. I’ll have a lot more coverage of the IFAJ 2006 Congress to come.
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For those of you who wondered what the recent security concerns would mean for travel overseas I thought I’d let you know how it’s going so far for my IFAJ trip. I flew out of St. Louis earlier today with absolutely no problems. It was a normal timeframe going through security.
I was a victim of the random bag check for fluids guy though. He looked at my dry bag and declared it good.
So I’m in Newark and waiting. We’re on a 1 hour delay due to the late arrival of the plane that’s got to take us to Oslo. So, after having gone through about 800 in/out box emails I’m fully engaged in listening to music on my iPod. It’s nice to see the stream of people walk by in “silence” as I listen to my music.
Until later on overseas . . .
Sometimes finding the right way to control diseases in animals just takes a little magic – so that is what Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. is using to figure out just what it will take to get a handle on PCV-AD – or Porcine Circovirus Associated Diseases.
PCV is a virus that is actually present in virtually every swine herd in the world, but it has only become a problem in the last couple of years and Boehringer Ingelheim is trying to find out why it seems to be interacting with other hog diseases like PRRS and Salmonella and causing very high mortality rates.
I attended an informational meeting for media and veterinarians yesterday in Ames, Iowa where we learned all about PCV-AD and MAGIC, which stands for Monitoring Assignment for a Global Insight Into Circovirus diseases. Boehringer Ingelheim is doing an intensive study of swine herds confirmed to have PCV-AD that involves getting specific tissue samples from animals at various growth stages to try and come up with management practices that can alleviate the problem and ultimately develop a vaccine. They send out a Magic box full of carefully labeled baggies and jars for the samples, which are then sent back to Boehringer Ingelheim’s certified lab in Ames (pictured) for evaluation.
I interviewed John Kolb, Technical Manager for the project, about what MAGIC is and what they hope to accomplish. John Kolb.
I’m finally back at the home office! Just in time to pack and get ready to head out to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress. This will be my second one.
I’m doubting I’ll have much new for you until I get there on Saturday but you never know what I’ll find along the way. Like this sunset coming back from Kansas City this evening. I thought it looked pretty cool.
As I got closer to home it was time for moonrise.
This picture is why I ordered a new camera (blurry) and can’t wait to get started with it. I’m waiting on a back-ordered lens for it though. Of course this picture is blurry because it’s handheld with a 1/15 f stop.
I’m sure there will be plenty to photograph in Norway. We’ll have some traditional sessions but we’ll also get to go out into the countryside too. I signed up for the mountain farming and dairying tour on Monday.
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Business is picking up for little old ZimmComm New Media. This means more road time and Cindy on the road too. In fact, we both drove to Kansas City separately yesterday to cover and work at a couple of events. Then I was going to drive to the home office while Cindy went on to Ames, IA for an event today. After she’d been gone several hours I realized I had put my keys in my equipment bag which I sent along with her to use. Bad mistake!
I got to stay here in a hotel with just my briefcase. There’s a first for everything I guess. Now my mobile phone’s dead and well, it’s just strange. She’s coming back through here in an hour or so and then I get to drive on home. Just in time to pack for my trip to the IFAJ Congress tomorrow.
This is why I’ve got some new equipment on order (computer and camera). We will each have our own bag from now on.
I want to thank the folks at the American Coalition for Ethanol for letting me continue to work out of their media room today.
Since I’ve featured a post here about Steve King I thought I’d let you know some sad news. Steve, King Racing, was involved in a bad accident last evening at the 46th Annual Knoxville Nationals. I’ll just use the statement on the website:
Steve passed away at 15:32 today. He loved you all. Thank you so much for your support. Please keep our family in your prayers.
Steve is pictured to the right of his parents, Danny & Naomi. I met them prior to this year’s Indianapolis 500 on Ethanol Day. Steve was a tireless supporter of the ethanol industry and was a part of Team Ethanol. You can hear his passion for racing and this renewable fuel in the interview I did with him there.
Our hearts go out to Steve’s family. He and they are in our prayers and always will be.
It has been a biofuels kind of day for ZimmComm. Cindy and I have been here in Kansas City all day. I first went to the announcement ceremony for the proposed Cargill/Paseo Biofuels biodiesel plant which would be built adjacent to the existing Cargill soybean processing facility in north Kansas City. Then I joined Cindy at the American Coalition for Ethanol conference which is also taking place here. You can find more coverage on Domestic Fuel.
Wayne Teddy is the President of Cargill’s Grain & Oilseed Crush Supply unit for North America. He was on hand this morning at the Paseo Biofuels announcement.
I got to interview Wayne after his presentation. We moved into the shade because it was another very hot day in Missouri. Wayne says that while the equity drive is taking place for the new company there will be some negotiating of the final details of the joint venture and expects a groundbreaking by the fall. He says the proposed joint venture facility will mean more jobs, more demand for Missouri soybeans and be a flagship facility for Cargill.
I also asked him about whether there is a food vs. fuel concern on the part of Cargill. He says the supply of feedstocks is currently sufficient to meet the demands of both. He acknowledged that some people perceive Cargill as fueling this debate but that although it is something that should be discussed, Cargill is investing very heavily in biofuels and that it’s not an issue of Cargill being anti-biofuels but that agriculture view the whole issue of biofuels from a reasonable perspective.
You can listen to my interview with Wayne here: Wayne Teddy Interview (5 min MP3)
After doing some work here at the ACE conference Cindy headed on up the road to Ames, IA for a media day with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. on Porcine Circovirus which I’m sure we’ll have some information on here for you. I’m heading back to the office for a day before leaving to attend the IFAJ Congress. You’ll be getting a lot of international perspective starting this weekend.
