Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, boardgamer, geocacher and father of two.
View all posts by Martin R
172 thoughts on “Open Thread For March”
I realised John Lennon has been dead longer than he was alive. I am old.
.
Six persons in Umeå are being tried for being a narco gang.
It is reassuring living in a town that no big criminal networks have been able to gain a permanent foothold.
I should write a long rant about the principal in Florida that was fired for showing students Michelangelo’s statue of David, a statue considered “pornographic” by one parent.
But I am too tired right now.
Next step: Florida re-enacts the film “Oops, Apocalypse” and declares unemployment is caused by pixies.
Victorian era engineering, for the benefit of 19-century afictionados.
When early steam powered ships with rotating paddles turned out to be obviously unwieldy, it was attempted to use a helical “Archimedes screw” at the rear to propel ships.
At one occasion a screw broke, and the truncated screw turned out to propel the ship faster.
Thus, we got the modern-looking propeller, but in naval context it is still called a “screw”.
Thanks John for an update of Australian politics. The centre-left labour has made a clean sweep of state elections. I forget the name of the local tory/conservative party, but it has lost everything first at national and now at state level.
I remembered that the nameless things “gnawing at the roots of the mountains” were older than Sauron. Even the balrog would have been younger than them.
The first recorded ghost stories (about ghosts, not about the Swedish band) come from Sumeria.
Here is archaeologist Irving Finkel narrating the story- he is a brilliant and funny speaker. Martin, tell your colleagues to use him as a template!
-14°C Monday morning. No comment.
.
I should mention that the lidar image at the article about the recently discovered Mayan site probably belongs to a much younger site. A place with a temple pyramid is not likely to have remained undiscovered until now.
.
John of Patmos (the author of the Book of Revelation, not a disciple) was a sick puppy. If you are a church member, you should demand the church outright cancel him!
Here is Bart Ehrman giving his insights
This was a warm, 24 degree, partly cloudy day with little wind when I went out. I first mainly heard the voices of children who were playing football on the lawn of the complex. Then the song of cardinals and a call that BirdNET identified as a brown-headed nuthatch were audible. I was surprised that brown-headed nuthatches would occur in this area, as I thought they were a deep southern species, but BirdNET was certain. As I continued up the street the calls and song continued, mixed with bird calls I could not identify. I heard what I thought was a hawk call up the ridge, but it was brief. The cat was on his bed of mulch, this time not lying on the coiled up hose. Something passed over the sun; I looked up but did not see it. Cresting the hill I heard and saw a male English sparrow chirping and also the call of a woodpecker.
Descending the hill I there were titmice and cardinals singing mixed with the call of a nuthatch. As as I approached the wooded area towhee calls and cardinal song was heard, mixed with those of birds I could not identify. Then two different woodpeckers called and robins were giving voice. Across the practice field cardinals, robins, and a sparrow were singing. Another English sparrow was vocalizing on the baseball field fence. Returning, in the wooded area cardinal and robin song continued along with that of other species I could not identify.
Ascending the hill I mainly heard titmouse and cardinal song. A bluebird perched on the wire sang briefly and flew away. Cresting the hill I heard more titmouse song which, together with that of some cardinals, followed me back towards the complex. At the apartments kids were still playing, but fewer and this time the game was baseball. Approaching my door I mainly heard robins, of which they were two in the complex area. We escaped severe weather Friday night, though I was awakened by rain and a piece of tree branch rattling on my window.
The editorial page of Dagens Nyheter, the largest newspaper, had the following headline:
“Even a biblical dong is too much for America’s culture warriors”.
😂
The newly detected comet is expected to get quite bright in November 2024, but för a quite brief period. Enter the event into your calendars so you don’t miss it!
.
A miracle seems to be happening; the power grab by Netanyahu has triggered so strong protests that be is backing down.
But what could possibly go wrong if the government controls the courts ?
A shout-out to vegans. There are now two carefully formulated vegan diets for dogs (do not experiment on your own, dogs are obligate carnivores and usually cannot survive without meat).
(Cats of course require taurin, a protein only found in meat. ) https://phys.org/news/2023-03-thumbs-vegan-diet-dogs.html
In Skepticrat 196 TicToccam’s Taxor Edition we hear US congressmen confuse Chinese and non-chinese parts of geography, Florida reality emulates The Simpsons, we learn how the asteroid Oumeaoua changed velocity and Finland is a nice place.
I swear I wrote Razor, not Taxor before spell check got to work.
.
‘Saruman’ was the only cast member of the film that ever met J R R Tolkien. They ran into each other at a pub.
Today was mostly cloudy, fairly windy, and mild, about 19 C when I went out. I was greeted by cardinal, titmouse, and robin song. There were a couple of little kids playing with a toy car in the front yard of the complex. I continued to hear titmice and cardinals singing as I left the complex area mixed with some robin calls. A mockingbird sang in the distance to my left, he was likely the one I call Arnie. The cat was absent. I saw and heard two small birds calling in the trees to my right but could not identify them. As I crested the hill a sparrow sang to my left. A mockingbird was perched on the large holly bush near the top of the hill. This is commonplace, likely the bird was Bob or his mate.
Descending the hill the sparrow song continued mixed with that of several cardinals and a robin or two. At the wooded area bird sounds were muted by “Welcome to the Jungle” playing on the football field’s PA. As there were teams in two different uniforms on the Notre Dame baseball field there must be a game today. Cardinal song was quite audible across the football practice field after Guns ‘n Roses stopped playing. There were a number of cars in the school parking lot and several were leaving, most likely something delayed the departure of a number of students. Returning the cardinal song, joined by that of a robin, continued on the practice field. There were chairs on the platform behind home plate, doubtless preparing for the baseball game. At the wooded area bluejay calls were distinct to my right.
Ascending the hill there was house finch song in the trees above to my right. Cresting the hill and on my way back towards the apartments I heard few distinct sounds. Just some distant cardinals, a woodpecker call, and what sounded like a woodpecker drumming. As I got to the complex, there were then a few cardinals chirping, wrens calling, and a distant mockingbird singing. Kids were still playing on the lawn of the complex. Approaching my door, I heard the song of a robin. Most of the trees damaged by the freeze have leafed back out. If it had been a little sunnier as I walked it would have been an ideal spring day.
This weekend Laurie Andersson will be in Stockholm as an exhibition opens in Moderna Museet.
If you live in the region, try to get there. She is a legend.
Young people without memories of the eighties can google “O Superman” and “Language is a Virus”.
Mass shootings, the economy is tanking, war in Ukraine and Yemen continues and the economy is tanking.
So the main news in Sweden is that football captain Janne Andersson lost his temper during am inteview.
.
DNA from graves at the East African coast is giving some insight into the Swahili-speaking culture and the influx of people from Asia, Arabia, and -eventually- the European colonial powers.
The weather is not really making up its mind what season we are in.
.
Not all SD followers are dicks but goddammit their MPs keep embarrassing themselves.
The ethnic Swedes are regarded by SD (aka the xenophobe party) as descendants of those who emtered the land after the glaciation (not true, but there is no point to confuse them with facts).
The conservatives let an MP from SD become the chairman for the constitutional sub-committee, where he has expressed disdain for judges and claimed Swedes are becoming a minority in their own country (not true), because of the i-word.
You have probably noticed I do not exactly venerate islam but SD MPs seem genuinely dumb.
In addition, SD hates wind power almost as much as muslims. It would be fun if it was not tragic.
Martin likes puns. So do the people at comedy central (Stephen Colbert et al).
Hence headlines like “Read them and Veep”, “Arrest is yet to come” “Game of drones”, or, here “It’s about crime”.
(BTW Steven Pastis -writer of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine- is also a pun enthusiast)
I have earlier mentioned how the stock market is disconnected from the economic realities of everyday life.
The Stockholm stock exchange ended March at 842, well above the value even before COVID and well above the minimum value after the Russian invasion.
This is as Sweden enters a recession. And while the inflation may have peaked, it is not really shrinking either.
Also, despite the turbulence in the world there seems to be no desire among the political parties to come together for a broader consensus.
But at least we see signs of spring, even up in Umeå.
Maybe there might even be the odd archaeological sensation in 2023.
April 1st.
Vikings on Iceland had all the ingredients to make gunpowder.
They could even get ammonia from processing the meat of Greenland sharks. Being curious, it was inevitable they would eventually stumble over the recipe for gunpowder, even before it arrived from China. A certain Fredrik Four Fingers accidentally made the discovery at his own cost.
The link below is not a joke.
40 years ago, media really were this regressive (I lived through it but the “kids” – now long grown- may find it hard to believe).
“Sweet Dreams – how Eurythmics outraged America and made MTV ”
John Massey pointed out that the hindu leader of Britain and the muslim leader of Scotland are presiding over the partition of Britain.
(I don’t know the religion of Leo Varadkar the Irish leader).
Two birds with poisonous feathers have been found recently; the rufous-naped bellbird and the regent whistler.
Both live in New Guinea, which is technically part of the Australian continent.
Finland’s election seems to lead to a change of government.
The Swedish labour unions are in the process of negotiating wages, it all mercifully seems to be undramatic. One major union closed a deal today for the next two years.
Sad news: the Japanese musician Sakamoto has died. If you recall the film “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” with David Bowie, it is Sakamoto that made the music.
There is also some news about better understanding the causes of Alzheimers disease, but I do not recall the obscure names of the molecules that trigger amyloid beta and tau.
Notice to science fiction fans.
“Provenance” by Ann Leckie takes place in the same narrative universe as her previous novels but shares no characters with the other books. Recommended.
Also, the third and final novel of the Shards of Earth trilogy by Tchaikovsky has been published.
Eversion is the latest novel by Alastair Reynolds. Recommended
Notice for Swedish readers; this evening the Monday science program is about the digit zero.
.
Finland mimics Sweden; a conservative party in government supported by a populist party. What could go wrong?
Martin will have his birthday soon.
I shall be sending him his favourite reading: stuff about the Royal family, self-help books based on astrology and fun Cristian literature, like Pilgrim’s Journey.
This was a cloudy, cool day, after a few periods of rain. It was about 15 C when I went out a little after 2:00. There is little chance for more rain today, though the week ahead is anticipated to be warmer and damp. I first heard mainly the usual two robins in the complex area, mixed with what sounded like wrens and titmice. Leaving the complex the familiar sound of the robin who lives up the hill was quite obvious. As I headed up the street the song followed me, mixed with other calls that were less distinct. The cat was away from his porch, I think he has some hideout behind the house. As I approached the crest of the hill another familiar robin was singing in a tree above to my right. To my left I heard an indistinct mockingbird song, whether Arnie or Bob I was uncertain.
As I began to descend the hill a song sparrow’s voice rang out to my left. As I approached the wooded area towhee calls and loud calls I guessed were wrens mixed with warblers were prominent. A mockingbird, Carl or his mate, tried to chase a robin out of a front yard. These two species seem to complete for lawn space and the mockingbird’s pugnacious nature sometimes leads to such disputes.
In the wooded area the warbling calls were quite loud, with a few sparrow songs mixed in. A brown thrasher and a couple of robins were on the lawn next to the community center courts. As I left the wooded area a song sparrow was singing across the practice field. An English sparrow was chirping by the baseball diamond, for a moment the two small brown birds provided a sort of stereo effect. The Notre Dame parking lot was full; I assume the students are applying themselves as they end their day.
Returning, the song sparrow continued his singing, joined by some warblers. At the wooded area the bird sounds were reduced, but one call was distinct enough that I tried to identify it with BirdNET. The app was only able to guess it was a hooded warbler, which is at least possible as April is peak warbler migration season. As I ascended the hill the warbling calls continued, briefly joined by what sounded like the usual house finches in the trees above. For the rest of the way several cardinals were the predominant vocal species supplemented by the same robin singing as before. As I approached the complex robin song picked up a bit while only one cardinal was singing in the complex area. As I approached my door another warbling call stood out, but I was uncertain of its identity. We are probably past any really cold weather for the year, in fact the next couple of days are predicted to be fairly hot.
Aardvarchaeology - by Dr. Martin Rundkvist 
I realised John Lennon has been dead longer than he was alive. I am old.
.
Six persons in Umeå are being tried for being a narco gang.
It is reassuring living in a town that no big criminal networks have been able to gain a permanent foothold.
LikeLike
I should write a long rant about the principal in Florida that was fired for showing students Michelangelo’s statue of David, a statue considered “pornographic” by one parent.
But I am too tired right now.
Next step: Florida re-enacts the film “Oops, Apocalypse” and declares unemployment is caused by pixies.
LikeLike
People under the age of 18 in Utah will need peemission from a parent to use social media such as Instagram, TikTok or Facebook.
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Congratulations to people in the Stockholm region, who now officially has springtime. 😊
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The ‘Stonehenge calendar’ shown to be a modern construct.
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-stonehenge-calendar-shown-modern.html
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För stressed-out grad students, mindfulness makes a bit difference
https://phys.org/news/2023-stressed-out-grad-students-mundfulness-big.html
I believe it would be better to adress the stress directly at the source!
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Forgot the month.
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-stressed-out-grad-students-mindfulness-big.html
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NB!
How “misogyny infuencers” cater to young men’s anxieties
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-misogyny-cater-young-men-anxieties.html
Personally I don’t get how anyone can be dim-witted enough to listen to that Tate feller, but never mind. Women as the new jews?
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Here is something a lot of people can have use for!
“Digital restoration of historical documents”
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-digital-historical-documents.html
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Victorian era engineering, for the benefit of 19-century afictionados.
When early steam powered ships with rotating paddles turned out to be obviously unwieldy, it was attempted to use a helical “Archimedes screw” at the rear to propel ships.
At one occasion a screw broke, and the truncated screw turned out to propel the ship faster.
Thus, we got the modern-looking propeller, but in naval context it is still called a “screw”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks John for an update of Australian politics. The centre-left labour has made a clean sweep of state elections. I forget the name of the local tory/conservative party, but it has lost everything first at national and now at state level.
LikeLike
Addendum- the state of Tasmania still has a liberal premier, the mainland states are all ruled by labour.
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Durins bane- the balrog of Moria explained.
I remembered that the nameless things “gnawing at the roots of the mountains” were older than Sauron. Even the balrog would have been younger than them.
LikeLike
The first recorded ghost stories (about ghosts, not about the Swedish band) come from Sumeria.
Here is archaeologist Irving Finkel narrating the story- he is a brilliant and funny speaker. Martin, tell your colleagues to use him as a template!
LikeLike
-14°C Monday morning. No comment.
.
I should mention that the lidar image at the article about the recently discovered Mayan site probably belongs to a much younger site. A place with a temple pyramid is not likely to have remained undiscovered until now.
.
John of Patmos (the author of the Book of Revelation, not a disciple) was a sick puppy. If you are a church member, you should demand the church outright cancel him!
Here is Bart Ehrman giving his insights
LikeLike
This was a warm, 24 degree, partly cloudy day with little wind when I went out. I first mainly heard the voices of children who were playing football on the lawn of the complex. Then the song of cardinals and a call that BirdNET identified as a brown-headed nuthatch were audible. I was surprised that brown-headed nuthatches would occur in this area, as I thought they were a deep southern species, but BirdNET was certain. As I continued up the street the calls and song continued, mixed with bird calls I could not identify. I heard what I thought was a hawk call up the ridge, but it was brief. The cat was on his bed of mulch, this time not lying on the coiled up hose. Something passed over the sun; I looked up but did not see it. Cresting the hill I heard and saw a male English sparrow chirping and also the call of a woodpecker.
Descending the hill I there were titmice and cardinals singing mixed with the call of a nuthatch. As as I approached the wooded area towhee calls and cardinal song was heard, mixed with those of birds I could not identify. Then two different woodpeckers called and robins were giving voice. Across the practice field cardinals, robins, and a sparrow were singing. Another English sparrow was vocalizing on the baseball field fence. Returning, in the wooded area cardinal and robin song continued along with that of other species I could not identify.
Ascending the hill I mainly heard titmouse and cardinal song. A bluebird perched on the wire sang briefly and flew away. Cresting the hill I heard more titmouse song which, together with that of some cardinals, followed me back towards the complex. At the apartments kids were still playing, but fewer and this time the game was baseball. Approaching my door I mainly heard robins, of which they were two in the complex area. We escaped severe weather Friday night, though I was awakened by rain and a piece of tree branch rattling on my window.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The editorial page of Dagens Nyheter, the largest newspaper, had the following headline:
“Even a biblical dong is too much for America’s culture warriors”.
😂
LikeLike
The newly detected comet is expected to get quite bright in November 2024, but för a quite brief period. Enter the event into your calendars so you don’t miss it!
.
A miracle seems to be happening; the power grab by Netanyahu has triggered so strong protests that be is backing down.
But what could possibly go wrong if the government controls the courts ?
LikeLike
A shout-out to vegans. There are now two carefully formulated vegan diets for dogs (do not experiment on your own, dogs are obligate carnivores and usually cannot survive without meat).
(Cats of course require taurin, a protein only found in meat. )
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-thumbs-vegan-diet-dogs.html
LikeLike
A missing “s”
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-thumbs-vegan-diets-dogs.html
LikeLike
In Skepticrat 196 TicToccam’s Taxor Edition we hear US congressmen confuse Chinese and non-chinese parts of geography, Florida reality emulates The Simpsons, we learn how the asteroid Oumeaoua changed velocity and Finland is a nice place.
LikeLike
I swear I wrote Razor, not Taxor before spell check got to work.
.
‘Saruman’ was the only cast member of the film that ever met J R R Tolkien. They ran into each other at a pub.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Read at Youtube.
“You cannot write off Boris until he is buried under a crossroads with a stake through hus heart.”
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Tolkien untangled- the 100th video, with some bonus facts.
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Making a better balrog! Working with sketches.
Much better than in the film. Ctulhu is hard to get right, because Lovecraft supplied too many details.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This has nothing whatsoever to do with anything.
I am just linking to this song to cheer up Martin and others who are stuck in unwelcome snow.
LikeLike
Today was mostly cloudy, fairly windy, and mild, about 19 C when I went out. I was greeted by cardinal, titmouse, and robin song. There were a couple of little kids playing with a toy car in the front yard of the complex. I continued to hear titmice and cardinals singing as I left the complex area mixed with some robin calls. A mockingbird sang in the distance to my left, he was likely the one I call Arnie. The cat was absent. I saw and heard two small birds calling in the trees to my right but could not identify them. As I crested the hill a sparrow sang to my left. A mockingbird was perched on the large holly bush near the top of the hill. This is commonplace, likely the bird was Bob or his mate.
Descending the hill the sparrow song continued mixed with that of several cardinals and a robin or two. At the wooded area bird sounds were muted by “Welcome to the Jungle” playing on the football field’s PA. As there were teams in two different uniforms on the Notre Dame baseball field there must be a game today. Cardinal song was quite audible across the football practice field after Guns ‘n Roses stopped playing. There were a number of cars in the school parking lot and several were leaving, most likely something delayed the departure of a number of students. Returning the cardinal song, joined by that of a robin, continued on the practice field. There were chairs on the platform behind home plate, doubtless preparing for the baseball game. At the wooded area bluejay calls were distinct to my right.
Ascending the hill there was house finch song in the trees above to my right. Cresting the hill and on my way back towards the apartments I heard few distinct sounds. Just some distant cardinals, a woodpecker call, and what sounded like a woodpecker drumming. As I got to the complex, there were then a few cardinals chirping, wrens calling, and a distant mockingbird singing. Kids were still playing on the lawn of the complex. Approaching my door, I heard the song of a robin. Most of the trees damaged by the freeze have leafed back out. If it had been a little sunnier as I walked it would have been an ideal spring day.
LikeLike
This weekend Laurie Andersson will be in Stockholm as an exhibition opens in Moderna Museet.
If you live in the region, try to get there. She is a legend.
Young people without memories of the eighties can google “O Superman” and “Language is a Virus”.
LikeLike
Mass shootings, the economy is tanking, war in Ukraine and Yemen continues and the economy is tanking.
So the main news in Sweden is that football captain Janne Andersson lost his temper during am inteview.
.
DNA from graves at the East African coast is giving some insight into the Swahili-speaking culture and the influx of people from Asia, Arabia, and -eventually- the European colonial powers.
LikeLike
I wrote “the economy is tanking” twice. But as it is *really* tanking, repetition is apt!
För some reason, the party that spoke loudest about high fuel costs has become very silent after the election victory.
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Stephen Colbert’s “Long Story Shorts”;
Tolkien Reading Day.
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Keith Reid from Procul Harum 1946-2023. 😞
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Apple Podcasts feature “The Lesser Dead” which has quite good reviews.
LikeLike
The weather is not really making up its mind what season we are in.
.
Not all SD followers are dicks but goddammit their MPs keep embarrassing themselves.
The ethnic Swedes are regarded by SD (aka the xenophobe party) as descendants of those who emtered the land after the glaciation (not true, but there is no point to confuse them with facts).
The conservatives let an MP from SD become the chairman for the constitutional sub-committee, where he has expressed disdain for judges and claimed Swedes are becoming a minority in their own country (not true), because of the i-word.
You have probably noticed I do not exactly venerate islam but SD MPs seem genuinely dumb.
In addition, SD hates wind power almost as much as muslims. It would be fun if it was not tragic.
LikeLike
Let’s see what Gwyneth Paltrow is doing at her pseudoscience site… OH GOD, NOOO!
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Update: Finland is now member of NATO.
LikeLike
Martin likes puns. So do the people at comedy central (Stephen Colbert et al).
Hence headlines like “Read them and Veep”, “Arrest is yet to come” “Game of drones”, or, here “It’s about crime”.
(BTW Steven Pastis -writer of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine- is also a pun enthusiast)
LikeLike
According to the journal “Science” the theropod dinosaurs had lips.
I kissed a Rex, I liked it!
LikeLike
I have earlier mentioned how the stock market is disconnected from the economic realities of everyday life.
The Stockholm stock exchange ended March at 842, well above the value even before COVID and well above the minimum value after the Russian invasion.
This is as Sweden enters a recession. And while the inflation may have peaked, it is not really shrinking either.
Also, despite the turbulence in the world there seems to be no desire among the political parties to come together for a broader consensus.
But at least we see signs of spring, even up in Umeå.
Maybe there might even be the odd archaeological sensation in 2023.
LikeLike
April 1st.
Vikings on Iceland had all the ingredients to make gunpowder.
They could even get ammonia from processing the meat of Greenland sharks. Being curious, it was inevitable they would eventually stumble over the recipe for gunpowder, even before it arrived from China. A certain Fredrik Four Fingers accidentally made the discovery at his own cost.
LikeLike
The link below is not a joke.
40 years ago, media really were this regressive (I lived through it but the “kids” – now long grown- may find it hard to believe).
“Sweet Dreams – how Eurythmics outraged America and made MTV ”
LikeLike
John Massey pointed out that the hindu leader of Britain and the muslim leader of Scotland are presiding over the partition of Britain.
(I don’t know the religion of Leo Varadkar the Irish leader).
LikeLike
Two birds with poisonous feathers have been found recently; the rufous-naped bellbird and the regent whistler.
Both live in New Guinea, which is technically part of the Australian continent.
LikeLike
Finland’s election seems to lead to a change of government.
The Swedish labour unions are in the process of negotiating wages, it all mercifully seems to be undramatic. One major union closed a deal today for the next two years.
Sad news: the Japanese musician Sakamoto has died. If you recall the film “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” with David Bowie, it is Sakamoto that made the music.
There is also some news about better understanding the causes of Alzheimers disease, but I do not recall the obscure names of the molecules that trigger amyloid beta and tau.
LikeLike
Notice to science fiction fans.
“Provenance” by Ann Leckie takes place in the same narrative universe as her previous novels but shares no characters with the other books. Recommended.
Also, the third and final novel of the Shards of Earth trilogy by Tchaikovsky has been published.
Eversion is the latest novel by Alastair Reynolds. Recommended
LikeLike
Brandon’s cult movie reviews: The Dungeonmaster
(Nope. Not dungeons and dragons. Just a silly 1986 film)
or
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20.23 Sunday evening a huge meteorite was observed entering the atmosphere over central Sweden. The newspapers have a photo taken from Norrköping.
The world is in safe hands. Today, Russia took over the chairmanship for the UN Security Council.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Notice for Swedish readers; this evening the Monday science program is about the digit zero.
.
Finland mimics Sweden; a conservative party in government supported by a populist party. What could go wrong?
Martin will have his birthday soon.
I shall be sending him his favourite reading: stuff about the Royal family, self-help books based on astrology and fun Cristian literature, like Pilgrim’s Journey.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was a cloudy, cool day, after a few periods of rain. It was about 15 C when I went out a little after 2:00. There is little chance for more rain today, though the week ahead is anticipated to be warmer and damp. I first heard mainly the usual two robins in the complex area, mixed with what sounded like wrens and titmice. Leaving the complex the familiar sound of the robin who lives up the hill was quite obvious. As I headed up the street the song followed me, mixed with other calls that were less distinct. The cat was away from his porch, I think he has some hideout behind the house. As I approached the crest of the hill another familiar robin was singing in a tree above to my right. To my left I heard an indistinct mockingbird song, whether Arnie or Bob I was uncertain.
As I began to descend the hill a song sparrow’s voice rang out to my left. As I approached the wooded area towhee calls and loud calls I guessed were wrens mixed with warblers were prominent. A mockingbird, Carl or his mate, tried to chase a robin out of a front yard. These two species seem to complete for lawn space and the mockingbird’s pugnacious nature sometimes leads to such disputes.
In the wooded area the warbling calls were quite loud, with a few sparrow songs mixed in. A brown thrasher and a couple of robins were on the lawn next to the community center courts. As I left the wooded area a song sparrow was singing across the practice field. An English sparrow was chirping by the baseball diamond, for a moment the two small brown birds provided a sort of stereo effect. The Notre Dame parking lot was full; I assume the students are applying themselves as they end their day.
Returning, the song sparrow continued his singing, joined by some warblers. At the wooded area the bird sounds were reduced, but one call was distinct enough that I tried to identify it with BirdNET. The app was only able to guess it was a hooded warbler, which is at least possible as April is peak warbler migration season. As I ascended the hill the warbling calls continued, briefly joined by what sounded like the usual house finches in the trees above. For the rest of the way several cardinals were the predominant vocal species supplemented by the same robin singing as before. As I approached the complex robin song picked up a bit while only one cardinal was singing in the complex area. As I approached my door another warbling call stood out, but I was uncertain of its identity. We are probably past any really cold weather for the year, in fact the next couple of days are predicted to be fairly hot.
LikeLike
Congratulations to:
1. Martin, who is 51.
2. Finland, who formally joins NATO today.
3. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who will star in “Maiana”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tack snälla Birger!
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