ales stenar

Sticking to the southern coast, we came to a megalithic so called stone ship (see previously)—a burial setting from the late Nordic Iron Age, most likely, of an oval of colossal stone pillars weighing up to five tonnes with larger ones stern and aft. It’s true purpose a matter of dispute, researchers are divided whether the Ale‘s Stones were primarily a funerary monument, a worship site or a sort of lunisolar calendar as there are points of correspondence throughout the year with the turning of the seasons. 

 The outline of an astral boat, seventy meters long and consisting of fifty-nine boulders,  overlooking the sea reserves some mysteries and projects a certain energy.

tatort, tätort

Arriving in Sweden, our first stop was the Brick Gothic, Art Nouveau town of Ystad that’s the setting of the popular detective series (Skandi-Krimi—whereas the Swedish near homophone just means a locality rather than a crime scene) called Wallander with the eponymous police inspector and enjoyed exploring the old town with mix of eras going back to medieval times plus a well appointed church and monastery. 

Tracing the coastline south, we picked a campground in the pine dunes by the beach at Löderup. Cooking outdoors and pitching the tent and generally roughing it are part of the fun of course and I liked the beach view for doing the dishes. I noticed an innovative use for the ubiquitous IKEA squeegee, Lillnaggen, as a doorstop by camp staff that seemed quite fit to purpose. This campsite was a staging spot for the next day’s agenda with a trip first to the megalithic stone ship, Ale Stenar.

just passing through or something forgotten in the state of denmark

Having the chance to finally realise in some form a trip we'd planned two years ago but had had to defer until now—gingerly, cautiously—due to work and other prior engagements to southern Sweden and we both have given some rather serious consideration for those transit zones that are of course destinations in their own rights and ought to be spared a thought in these trying times.  Passing the Elba Canal outside of Hamburg and through Schleswig-Holstein and crossed onto the island of Fehmarn via the modernist brige over the sound from the mainland, finished in 1963 and affectionately known as the Clothes Hanger (Kleiderbügel) because of its distinctive girders and trusses.  

 

For an easy morning get away to the ferry to Denmark from Puttgarden, we chose a campsite at the village of Strukkamp, populated by fearless bunnies abd gulls but unable yet to achieve escape velocity just yet from the dreary and driven rain, we were mostly confined to our tent. We crossed the island, storied itself and one beach music festival in September 1970 that was the venue for Jimi Hendrix‘ last concert performance and stopped in the eponymous insular capital, called locally Burg. Arriving at the seaport, we realised it was our second time only seeing Denmark from the expressway and pledge to make a proper visit to all of these places one day soon.  Crossing on the monumental Øresundsbroen /  Öresundbrücke (previously) bypassing Copenhagen and likewise skirting Malmö upon arrival in Sweden.

noordzee

The always intriguing and enlightening Maps Mania refers us to a suite of tools and tracers to help us visualise the huge among of marine traffic that passes in and out of the North Sea bordered by the Low Countries and Scandinavia, the waters off Belgium far exceeding the throughput of either of the shipping industry’s great corridors and potential bottlenecks, the Panama and Suez canals. Especially interesting is the data-driven scrollytelling from the financial daily De Tidj (pictured) which shows the activity and congestion of navigable routes along with the dredgers that keep the trade routes open to traffic.

100% birgitta

Pictured here among the influential and aspirational on the beach in Ibiza in crocheted attire, we quite enjoyed learning about the crafter and dyer become wardrobe artist and celebrity in her own right Stockholm native Birgitta Bjerke who turned the patchwork of old-timey bedspreads into fashion that the rock royalty of the mid- to late 60s with icons like Jimi Hendrix, Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger sporting her outfits. Much more at Collectors’ Weekly at the link above.

scale model

Via the always marvellous Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (lots more to explore here), we are introduced to the life-sized sculptures by Swedish-born, Berlin-based artist Michael Johansson inspired by his fascination growing up with model kits (Plastmodelltillverkning) whose injection-moulded parts, prior to assembly are held in a plastic frame called a sprue or a runner. The pictured piece, this 1:1 dinghy with some assembly-required, is the first in his series spanning a decade with installations decorating recycling centres, fire stations, residential estates as well as an archaeological site, see also here and here. Johansson has also produced some smaller, deconstructed household items as wall hangings.

8x8

persons of the year: more Year End lists from Miss Cellania—see previously  

75x75: seventy-five superlative photographs captured by as many photographers  

mys: the Swedish word without an exact translation compliments hygge when it comes to coping with the prospect of a long, dark winter  

benedict donald: more fine art work (see also)—suitable for framing  

the twenty most powerless: the disenfranchised and estranged of the art world 

she said see you later, boy: McSweeney‘s most read monologues, vignettes and confessionals of 2020  

dance, dance revolution: a dance number from a trio of Boston Dynamics robots—see previously  

refreshing your feed: fifty superlative podcasts according to The Atlantic—via Super Punch

mindfulness adjacent

Open Culture presents us with a thorough-going reflection on niksen—that is the Dutch art of doing nothing. Between hygge, lagom (in moderation, in balance) and other concepts, we can all take a cue from our Nordic neighbours in terms of de-stressing and letting go. Whilst not the panacea that attracts us to read and write articles like this, there are admittedly many routes to relaxation and calm but cultivating the art of disconnecting, niksing seems like an important skill to hone.

vitalienbrüder

Executed by means of a beheading that as capitial punishment goes was extraordinarily dramatic on this day in 1401 (*1360), Klaus Störtebeker (see previously for more of the lore) was the leader of a band of privateers—the Victual Brothers—engaged to supply Stockholm with provisions during a siege with Denmark.

Once their services were no longer needed after peace was achieved, they continued their piracy, adopting the new name for their group “Likedeelers”—the equal-sharers, maintaining a stronghold in East Frisia. Threatened with disruption to trade, a fleet of ships from Hanseatic Hamburg finally took on Störtebeker, double-crossed by a disgruntled mate who sabotaged his escape vessel, and brought the fugitive back to city to stand trial. Despite offers to exchange a gold band long enough to encircle Hamburg for the freedom of him and his crew, Störtebeker and seventy-three of his companions were sentenced to death for their crimes. The Lord Mayor did agree to acquises to one last request: that Störtebeker be beheaded first and that all men he could pass after decapitation would be spared. Störtebeker’s body rose (minus the head) and managed to walk past eleven crewmates before being tripped up. The Lord Mayor, however, did not honour those wishes.

9x9

dry dock: a drone surveys a cruise ship graveyard  

one of these things is not like the other: match memes described as having the same energy—via Waxy 

anti-trust, anti-social: leaked documents show how viciously Facebook (previously) plans to fight regulations and its forced break-up

verticalisation: photographer Manuel Alvarez Diestro has Chongqing in frame a decade after his first visit 

rephotography: vis-à-vis, the above, staging the same photos decades later—via Things Magazine  

we bid a hasty retreat from his lair: School House Rock’s Unpack Your Adjectives  

begagnade varor: IKEA to open a second-hand outlet in Sweden—via Kottke  

space ghost coast-to-coast: a retrospective of comics illustrator Alex Toth 

even keel: a tiny, personal boat to navigate Amsterdam’s canals

älmhult almanac

Previously we posted about the archival qualities of the IKEA catalogues dating back to the company’s 1951 founding, though beforehand it was just what was featured on the covers and not the older contents, and now—via Plain Magazine—we discover that the store’s museum has curated each edition in its entirety and makes them available digitally for all to peruse. The next leap forward we think will be arranging a 3D download for some retro furnishings.

8x8

cheese tetrahedrons and synergetic stew: a celebrity cookbook presented to author and futurist Buckminster Fuller (previously) reissued for the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of his birth  

lüften: tried and true ventilation and fresh air may be the most effective way to stave off more infections  

heart of sharkness: winning images and honourable mentions from a drone photography contest  

föräldrapenning: a South Korean man living in Sweden documents his daily routine 

adobe flash: an appreciation of the platform that shaped the internet and the implications of suspending support for the multimedia plug-in and player—via Kottke  

disaster constitutionalism: EU taking the UK to court, despite only breaking international law in a “specific and limited way”  

can our government be competent: celebrating Jimmy Carter’s ninety-sixth birthday (previously) in campaign buttons

eat fresh: with tax implications for the franchise, Irish high court rules that one fast food chain’s bread cannot be called bread or a dietary staple due to its high sugar content—via Boing Boing

plurale tantum

From the Latin for plural form only, we encounter a host of words whose singular form is inconceivable or as the terms as collective ones rarely invoked: scissors, news, trousers, spectacles, subs, outskirts, thanks and heroics.
As well as sharing at least some of the preceding English examples, in other languages, pluralia tantum point to a period of time: kalendae for the first day of the month, German Ferien for vacation, to go on holiday(s). Some cases don’t have an obvious semantic logic to them like the Swedish and Russia words respectively for currency—pengar and деньги always as monies or the problematic case of the German word for parents only exists in the plural form Eltern—with the current possibilities of expressing a single parent awkward and normative. As one can do a scissor-kick or be possessed of a trouser-press there are exceptions and ways to compose the singular, unpaired form and bridge that morphological gap. The opposite, singular tantum, refer to mass or uncountable objects and conception, like information, milk and popcorn.

906 turbo

The always interesting Nag on the Lake directs our attention to a beast of a sedan in this custom six-wheeler constructed by designer and company engineer Leif Mellberg.
Completed in 1984, it was fully equipped with a video screen, a sixteen-speaker stereo system, a police band monitor and refrigerator whose colossal scale recalls these airport stretch limousines, through this model never went into production and became a mobile advertisement for Mellberg’s side business refurbishing Saabs.

rennfahrerin

Passing away in her adopted home of Sweden on this day in 1990 (*1901), accomplished automobile racer Clara Eleonore “Clärenore” Stinnes, accompanied by film-maker Carl-Alex Söderström and a two-person engineering crew, became the first person (see this counter-claim) to circumnavigate the globe by car. In just over two years, Stinnes crossed the start/finish line in Berlin on 24 June 1929, having completed a journey of over forty-seven thousand kilometres—with the aid of ferries—crossing frozen Lake Baikal, the Gobi, transversing the Andres and through Central America to the US and Canada and finding herself in many spots with no navigable roads to speak of. The event, with a prize of a hundred-thousand Reichsmarks, was sponsored by Adler, Aral and Bosch, titans of the German automotive industry.  After the round-the-world journey, Stinnes and Söderström wed and spent many happy years together on their farm in southern Sweden.

norrmalmstorgin pankkiryöstö

On this day in 1973, a bank robbery and ensuing hostage crisis unfolded in Norrmalmstorg Square (also the equivalent of Park Place in the Swedish version of Monopoly) in Stockholm, covered live on television, and documented the counter-intuitive actions of the hostages towards their captors—empathizing with them and working to protect them during a five-day stand-off with authorities. The novelty and sensation also fueled academic interest, with one criminologist coining the term the Norrmalmstorgssyndromet to describe the captives’ bond and sympathies, later becoming known internationally as the Stockholm Syndrome.

simhall

Using surplus modern construction materials in combination with antique glass, handmaid locally in the1950s, and ceramic ornamental elements, the design duo Folkform—we discover via Dezeen—created a beautiful mural for the public bath of the community of Spånga (Dolph Lundgren’s hometown) outside of Stockholm whose ordered mosaic is informed by the village plan as seen from above. Upcycling such elements in a public and shared milieu is hoped to inspire others to apply the practise to their own designs.

7x7

what would you like to eat: bats mostly squabble about what’s for dinner

it’s a duck blur: television intros recreated scene-for-scene with stock footage

east-enders: five decades of photographic portraiture from Tex Ajetunmobi that illustrate the harmony and diversity of the London neighbourhood

ebussy: a modular electric vehicle that can transform into several different types of autos

fine hypertext products: Pudding launches its “Winning the Internet” newsletter—via Waxy

du har satt din sista potatis: useful Swedish phrases for venting steam

the garifuna collective: enjoy the calls and songs of threatened birds set to electronic music

dynamic web pages

Via Mx. van Hoorn’s Cabinet of Hypertext Curiosities (see previously) we are not only treated to a nice oddity in this vignette called OMFG Dogs! set to this splendid chiptune soundtrack, quite reminiscent of Hamster Dance, we also learn that the inspiration is Carola Häggkvist’s 1991 Eurovision Song Contest (see also) winner Fångad av en stormvind—Captured by a Love Storm, appropriate for both this horde of puppies and the Ms. Häggkvist’s energetic, besuited backup dancers.
These are linkages web artefacts well worth checking out for something out of the ordinary and waxing nostalgic for the old, weird interwebs, a disappearing legacy and something worth conserving and treasuring (as much what is given a pedastool on any given platform) rather than consigning to oblivion, supplanted by the polished, pedigreed and present.

korsflagg and courtesy ensign

First prescribed as the proper and accepted way to identify Danish merchant vessels in regulations published on this day in 1748, specifying the colours of the flag (Dannebrog), shifting the intersection to the hoist (left) side and making the outer fields 6/4 the length of the inner ones, the distinctive Nordic Cross banner has since been adopted by Scandinavian and adjacent countries and territories.
One notable exception, though the design references the idea, is Greenland once granted home rule in 1985. Although the sideways cross is associated with Philip, the Apostle of the Greeks, who is venerated on 3/11 May (see also—coincidentally both Apostles Barnabas and Bartholomew are fêted on 11 June) dragging it to his own execution though by some accounts spared by the crowd by dint of his eloquent sermon, vexillogists employ the term Nordic cross for this and inspired conventions.