Wednesday 21 July 2021

bohus fästning

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1WRAqqhDaIFD9vg3_9UnhhjIdLHDaT8UGhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ua36-ik9Cp_VTv-_saE17Q1KJBQj7LBYCrossing again the large island of Orust to travel inland on the outskirts of Göteborg, we came to the convergence of the Göte Älv (the River of the Geats and basis of the Göte Canal) to Kungälv to visit the ruined bastion once a stronghold of Håkon V. Magnusson to protect trade and defend from incursions at the former Norwegian-Swedish border, guarding the region from 1308 until the peace and territorial re-allotment of 1658. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=19JDyj1pm0Md4LumCU-8M3XMDn_s_8e6rhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1k4PjMsZJcp5YLPtBc8hqjv_QR08mubr9https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1VMV2WmHmeXoAehL-PZ1hspvAECPk23j4https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1HLw9N9QGTRbc83CUm55QRxbFGr7Sr3Wmhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1fKnJDOHSUwfRq-xkaYztk18qIMr--0q1 Besieged no less than fourteen times, the fortress was never taken but allowed to fall into disrepair after it lost its strategic importance. The grounds held a variety of activities for those whose attention is not satisfied with history alone. Afterwards we toured the old town centre with its wooden structures. On the way back to the campsite for one last night’s stay, we stopped at an archeological site called Nedre Hoga—a settlement occupied for the past six millennia but with artefacts, a rune stone (locally referred to as Raimund’s Häll) and Thingstatte or Domarringar—a stone circle once believed to be a seat of justice but now believed to be the setting for funerary rituals that date to the ninth century and the transitional period between the Vikings and the Vandalshttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1FaBqCpxlHiSkRsPasu63nLyy9EWNXpV6https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1s3RYeHpUg87IKJSsKGTHij7ShlQOeO-ihttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1P-sf_dPiukQft4HUf_p08ZYqrTBmsvgA The inscription reads, “I, Haur of Stream, raise this stone for Raimund—the name preceding the translation by hundreds of years just as Hoga’s farm refers to the proto-Nordic term for the mounds of the Iron Age grave-field. We also encountered a few current residents along the way, including a horse masquerading as a zebra, to thwart flies and hooded, I’m given to understand, to let him acclimate to new surroundings.

the state of tennessee v. john thomas scopes

Ending on this day in 1925 with a guilty verdict for the defendant for being found in violation of state statute, the Butler Act, making it unlawful to teach or promulgate the concept of human evolution in a public school, the show trial, test case had been deliberately staged as a publicity stunt for the plaintiff town with Scopes himself unsure whether his syllabus had ever actually risen to that threshold. The media event was engineered to pit progressive Modernism against biblical literalist and Fundamentalism that held that the word of God was primary to mundane research and exegesis with celebrity lawyers and was broadcast on the radio nationwide. The ensuing manufactured crisis and attendant entrenchment on both sides of the inchoate conflict and helped codify an anti-evolution movement that had heretofore been active in only a few jurisdictions but was now regarded as a countrywide moral panic despite the initial characterisation of Inherit the Wind as a win for science and reason over fable and superstition and only serves to illustrate how one ought to adhere to the status quo and create an ostensibly fake flashpoint for a false dichotomy.

ns savannah

Though following the first civil application of nuclear-power for civil maritime purposes after the atomic-fueled ice-breaker Lenin (see also), the first cargo and passenger liner, a flagship for the US president’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative (see previously), was launched on this day in 1959 by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. With several educational ports of call in US coastal cities, the vessel was a demonstration project on the safe and responsible harnessing of nuclear energy, including exhibits on the preservation of food through irradiation, x-rays and other medical diagnostics and other emerging technologies—like the microwave oven, and had the state rooms and galley and the other amenities of a regular cruise ship with swimming pool, promenade deck and lounge all decked out with Atomic Age styling. 



In 1964, the ship crossed the Atlantic for the first time, stopping in Southampton, Dublin, Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Rotterdam on an international good will tour. Ultimately decommissioned in 1971, the Savannah is now a museum ship moored at Pier 13 in Baltimore, Maryland and can be visited by the public.

Tuesday 20 July 2021

fiskeläge

We spent the day exploring more craggy coves and islets that were once crown dependencies granted to fisherfolk to settle and establish maritime industries on the nearby island groups of Orust and Tjörn. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Jy9h7XBx5M1Jpuqo9-gt2fH5dxc2IW_-https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1gLOHBVj_j0iclfgXrW-5yYcFmrqoNSfnhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1UdRfVxcjCKMjWYyuUvK1hj83B1c387IWFirst we came to the anchor community of Henån that once specialised in traditional boat making and continues to supply craftsmanship and expertise to larger yacht and ship manufacturers. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Zu33ieIXD7aj9urGF6gWh9dXSlWs54GOhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1zmwwOsWoNz0C8aek9oK8popGQD0oquZuhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1d5oCBwVp1LKTeUzFu7LCxiHlN7HLLLcqhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1M6iYu5_EFQR67UigX9-pe_Egwvfq_31Jhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1iAYtzFIWWSvu9b9VeNGTJexjKXRRKmsxhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1b81tl5PClqtDySiMuHrEC_OZDlBlE1qdContinuing along the coast with several stops at lagoons and landings in between, we sought today’s catch at a small fish (fisk) market in a town called Mollösund with a vista over the archipelago and looking out to sea with a widow’s walk and a busy marina below. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1PwOPr5Mqs6iZL623lOObq1CzM7qfB4onhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1w0pxO4hF2RlbSC65Gd7IEJPKgvXfV0jdhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1hnRD5NMGrZRFK36trkYwxNT2XlRUUmnEhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1i-jqUjUvP_mLNaqVNPve7mBmp0byjHWbhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1hjGvHooBUHtlwxdjjjP4BMxfeQAONE8thttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1jdIvgL6TTt7akVJCDxL8RsvrS4Rp3xyjStopping to marvel at the fjord that clefts the islands, we drove on to an Iron Age archeological site with numerous burial sites and standing stones called Pilane in Klövdal that annually hosts an outdoor exhibition of monumental sculptures, this season showcasing the work of artist Sean Scully and various others. The colossal bust over the ridge was especially transfixing in this natural setting and dramatic, ancient landscape.

Monday 19 July 2021

bohuslän

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rK3alDA8Lg0xv7hQcLIW2-edgrDEdFguhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1GabgE9IQw1b6q6SpbCHAtPTNf_UM8FBEhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1tXwpM0qw2-6VuBOwPjBH1NiF6rnWn-tqHaving secured a well-situated site to act as base camp at the marina of island of Vindön, we had the chance to leisurely explore the colourful and craggy harbors and fishing villages of the granite cliffs and fjords of Sweden‘s south central west coast, sharing the North Sea with Norway and Denmark—this rocky archipelago approaching ten thousand islands and skerries, though mostly linked by land bridges today. 
 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=14dyLC32f_IOypIMmGmxcNeCW1yYzstLHhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Jh7U3L59GIQZTRGIhhW09Y_xu3PgJRWKhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1-ddtWEzVXh7iqDg-Sydfh15FPRwL-iCoFirst we visited the larger port of Lysekil, a formerly important trading centre and a quarry but now focused on oil refining and tourism. 
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1X6-uecwSC1Q9qGzohYnUGUPVal-p2Jbshttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1AFV7KKyMHlVRpAgOaatex41myDue9fC6
Next we saw the cove of Kungshamn and Smögen with its ensemble of fisher huts. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1hItCOXJPEeWYj5RipUP0HopLyk2JVEn5https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1iQw5tQ5tBKyMBEhW2HUnAyGZyfYMdpv-
Not the Reeperbahn or St Pauli’s in miniature but picturesque and pleasant nonetheless, we saw Hamburgsund whose short-haul cable ferry takes passengers over the hundred-meter sound to the island of Hamburgö a hop away, and finally the beautiful Fjällbacka, built around a massive boulder in the centre of the village and holiday home to Ingrid Bergman.

Sunday 18 July 2021

diffraction, refraction

Via the ever intriguing Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links, we enjoyed this gallery of furry and feathered companions distorted through the lens of various spectacles and glassware. We wonder how our aquarium-bound friends regard us in outer space. Much more ti explore at the links above.

läckö slott

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1jYayRHjsozKTDRSs8KiJOjq79jS4QEWfhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=19JAxWH13Y803X8JvCRU-zP6tDFD_P0E9Rounding out the southern aide of Lake Vänern, we ventured up the peninsula of the municipality of Lidköping and onto the picturesque island of Kållandsö, the second largest of the enormous lake and visited the medieval castle at land’s end. Originally a fortification of the local diocese, with the sweeping reforms of our Gustav I. Vasa, the nearly deposed, who made the monarchy heritable rather than elective of the landed gentry, converted the country to protestantism and appropriated church property and made Sweden a European power, it fell to various favourites of the court and caretakers who oversaw its expansion as an impressive receiving stage for visiting dignitaries. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1JnhXBZrabsnrGliqQq4Wytdq9ZRmooehhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rPjKZez3EiosjH49ce8QN08_FcHX2FB3 Today it is a national monument and hosts a series of outdoor operas in the courtyard during the summer.

your daily demon: naberus

This twenty-fourth infernal marquis or field-marshal who governs from this day through 22 July and commands nineteen legion. With the office to imbue cunningness in rhetoric and the natural sciences, Naberus presents as a three-headed hound with the body of a raven and according to most Goetic sources is synonymous with the Cerberus of Greek mythology which guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from escaping. Naberus is opposed by the guardian angel called Chahoah.