Norwegian farming

A song about farming in Norway has become a surprise hit on YouTube - but it's not just about the female choir and a wholesome rural idyll. Instead it's part of an intense debate online about the future of agriculture in the country.

I haven't got Clue One as to what the song is about, but its popularity (if true) strikes me as somehow indicative of times when there is so much information that the mind seeks relief in such plain accomplishments as raking and hoeing ... a release from the bug-squashed sense that wars and famine and the Internet are all so big and intractable and yet in-your-face that there is a longing to answer in the affirmative when a voice speaks up, saying, "yeah, sure ... but can you grab your own ass with both hands?!"