the last time whale oil was used in u.s. automobile transmissions was 1972.

whales are still hunted by japan, norway, iceland, and indiginous communities in the arctic. the rest of the world has banned whale hunting.

half of all new car sales in norway are fully electric vehicles. norway has a well-developed electric car charging infrasctructure, with more than 23,000 charging points.

krampus predates christmas. originally, he was a son of hel, the norse god of the underworld.

in norway, 'texas' is the slang term for 'crazy'.

if you get a job in svarlbard, no matter what country you're from, you can work there until you die without a visa or becoming a citizen.

the u.s. incarceration rate is twice as high as finland, sweden, denmark, norway, and switzerland put together.

in terms of average i.q. among its citizens, the united states ranks 19th in the world, just behind norway and just ahead of canada.

in norway, schools don't close until the temperature drops below minus 58 degrees fahrenheit. (the school buses stop running at minus 36 degrees fahrenheit, you walk.)

some scandinavian countries have an interesting cultural construct known as jantelag, which roughly translates as 'no one is better than anyone else'. in keeping with that philosophy, everyone's tax returns are publicly available for anyone to read.

if you own an electric car in norway, you get to park anywhere you like for free, plus get free ferry rides and even drive in bus lanes.

more than 1 in 4 norwegians read disney's donald duck comic books.

among western manufacturers, the u.s. ranks 14th in terms of compensating factory workers, with an industry average of us$34 per hour (just ahead of italy). norway, at #1 pays its factory workers us$57 per hour. by comparison, the lowest wage is earned by factory workers in the philippines, at us$1.90 per hour.

in new york, if you sell property, you are legally required to tell prospective buyers if the property is believed to be haunted.

obviously, new york home inspectors are part of the same union as their counterparts in norway, who check to see if a given property has trolls.

in norway, prisoners are housed in actual houses, and have a movie theater and tanning beds. in the summer, they have barbecues and go horseback riding or play soccer with the guards. in winter, they ski jump. they are also allowed to cook for themselves, and are permitted knives for this purpose.

the recidivism rate of norwegian prisoners? 1/3 that of the u.s.

in norway, all earnings are taxed at half the normal amount during november to give citizens more christmas shopping money.

you might think twice about flying in the uk, denmark, norway, or sweden. pilots in those countries are so fatigued that half of them say they involuntarily fall asleep while flying.

think gas prices are high in the u.s.? currently, gas in norway costs more than us$10 per gallon. why so high? because norway doesn't subsidize the cost of fuel. instead, they use the money for their national infrastructure and to allow norwegian citizens to go to college without having to pay tuition.