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.

sky rockets in flight

Charting both in the UK and the US, the Starland Vocal Band’s only hit “Afternoon Delight” began its run on this day in 1976, one of the biggest songs of the year. The group which began as a wife and husband duo—Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff—wrote together with John Denver “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in 1971, eventually expanding into a full musical ensemble with keyboards and guitars and additional singers, and hosted an eponymous variety show on CBS—with David Letterman as a regularly featured writer—the following summer.

=

Coined by Welsh mathematician and physician Robert Recorde (*1512 – †1558), the equal sign (see also) entered common parlance on this day in 1557, and while not inventing +, he introduced the addition sign to England at the same time.
Wanting to avoid repetition in his treatise The Whetsome of Witte, he refers to the shorthand expression of balance as Gemowe lines—twin ones from Latin gemellus, Gemini. Appointed Comptroller of Mines and Monies under Edward VI and Queen Mary in Ireland, Recorde suffered libel from suit of a political enemy and died in a debtors’ prison, but not before leaving a legacy including authoritative works on algebra and geometry as well as the frequently cited Urinal of Physick.

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.

old rough and ready

Zachary Taylor having finally expired after an excruciating bout of indigestion from an ill-advised repast of milk and cherries on the during an especially hot Independence Day celebration, his vice president Millard Fillmore, once a contender for the distinction of being the worst ever to hold high office, Whig and backed by the nativist Know Nothing Party, but still a solid runner-up, assumed the presidency on this day in 1850.

Immediately dismissing the cabinet of predecessor, whom largely ignored Fillmore and held little ideology in common, to lobby congress for the passage of the package of bills known as the Compromise of 1850, which was seen as a concession to slave-states and enforced the law that would return fugitive enslaved people to those who claimed ownership of them anywhere within American borders. This appeasement postponed the outbreak of civil war and established the expectation of even-handed enfranchisement that continues to characterise American politics. Moreover, Fillmore was the architect for foisting trade on Japan and forcing them to open relations with the outside world and the overthrow and eventual annexation of Hawaii.

animorphs

Before the internet came along to satisfy one’s past-life regression curiosities and fulfil other needs of course, there were toll hotlines such as the one featured from 1992 which, by answering a few basic questions on one’s telephone keypad, promised to reveal what historical personage one’s pet was the reincarnation of. What a delightful theological view on the transmigration of souls. More bizarre 900 number advertising spots to be found at the sub-reddit Obscure Media at the link above.

nothing of him that doth fade but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange

Early advocate for political reform through nonviolence, atheist, free love proponent, vegetarian and Romantic poet, the anniversary of the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley (*1792 - †1822, previously) during a boating accident caused by a sudden storm in the Gulf of La Spezia, setting sail from Livorno for Lerici, having concluded a meeting with Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron about starting a new journal falls on this day. As the bodies of Shelley and the crew were not recovered for ten days, their remains were cremated on the beach. Not widely read outside of his close circle of friends, Shelley gained a posthumous fame and legacy. His gravestone in Rome bears the above epithet from the interlude “Ariel’s Song” in The Tempest.

double-platinum

After a string of in-house awards and honours represented by recording studios to promote publicise their own sales achievements, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified its first gold album on this day in 1958, the soundtrack from Oklahoma! (previously) for surpassing one million copies sold. Four months earlier, the first gold single was certified with Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star.” Internationally, most other certifying organisations follow this original set of standards.