I have read a lot about Snorri Sturlson. Unfortunately, this is not very important to very many people, but if anyone out there is going WOW!, I think we need to talk.

The name Snorri means something akin to "attack". I've yet to meet anyone named Snorri in real life. Without naming names, there are a lot of people who should have been named Snorri.

I was born in the U.S.A. "The U.S.A." covers a vaster area than many people realize, not all of it geographical.

For example, in my genealogy file I have an old city directory of the town where I lived as a child. Here are some sample last names chosen at random: Gudmunder, Osgoodby, and Ostrom. Here are some first names: Gustav, Ricka, Roland, Signe, Sigrid, and so on. Not everyone has such a name there, but enough do to give the city a distinctive flavor. Seriously, this had to have had left its mark on my psyche.

I am no longer located anywhere near the area where I was born. There is a huge cultural gap between that city and where I find myself now. This is a problem, I think, and I'm not sure that there is any way to solve it. There is too much distance involved.

I've heard it said that the cold causes the Northern people to be the way they are. You know what I mean, the Ole and Lena jokes.

Labels: every culture has to have one. Scandinavians are either big, blond, and hot-tubbing or slow, nebulous, and dumber than gravel. This is racial stereotyping.

Someone told me that the numbing cold caused thought processes to retreat deeper into the brain tissues which are much older and more primitive than the surface areas. Is that even scientific? They also told me that the goofy slowness only happens among friends. People will tell me anything.

Why wouldn't evolution give some people the capacity for a deeper layer of thought in the cold? The Berserker lived in a state of deep lethargy until he was called to battle. Apparently, he had to work himself up into an adrenaline frenzy, and then, of course, he went berserk.

Thus, may one access the Cave Man self. Again, the caveat, "Don't try this at home."