Howard's Google Doodle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw64p4qKzwA





By Rene Lynch, excerpted from the LA Times
May 9, 2012, 8:32 a.m.

Howard Carter was the original tomb raider, discovering King Tutankhamun's tomb and giving birth to a Hollywood sub-genre that turned Angelina Jolie into an action hero. And today, on what would have been Carter's 138th birthday, he has a Google Doodle to show for it.

To his fans, the London-born Carter was an Egyptologist, archaeologist and adventurer who was determined to find Tutankhamun's final resting place -- and the precious objects surrounding him. Critics, however, have a different word for Carter. Plunderer might be the nicest way to put it.
In the early 1900s, Tutankhamun's tomb -- and the riches it reportedly held -- were akin to the search for the Holy Grail in the world of archaeology. Carter alone spent decades exploring the burial sites of Egypt's ancient pharaohs before finding the tomb of the boy king who had died 3,000 years earlier, in the 14th century B.C.....



There was a large scale exhibition that came from Egypt and traveled the United States nearly three decades ago. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I was fortunate to see that exhibit in 1979.  Two decades ago a statue of the goddess Selket, which guarded Tut-ankh-amun's canopic jars, was damaged on its way to an exhibit to Germany. The result was that the treasures would not leave Egypt again for over 20 years.


In 2010, a smaller very select exhibit returned to San Francisco and the USA. See the utube for people's reactions and a look see at the exhibit. To mimic a tomb was really a stroke of genius.


Elizabeth Peters (Ph.d in Egyptology) has written 19 mystery novels about Amelia Peabody and her family excavating in Egypt. The fun part is that everthing and everyone is spot on accurate except our imaginary Amelia and her family/friends. http://www.ameliapeabody.com/


James Patterson has recently written a well researched (and interesting) book of non-fiction: "The Murder of King Tut".  (Yes, that the same Patterson of "Jack and Jill" fame.)


We have a lot to thank Howard Carter for, even if he did want to haul all the treasures back to jolly old England.

Holger Danske May 5, 1945

May 5 marks the end of the Nazi occupation of Denmark (May 5 1945). My cousin Morgens is one of the last surviving members of Holger Danske. He is in his mid 80's. Here he talks to his girl friend Winni's grandson about his memories. Lest we forget!!

Holger Danske was the leading sabotage group during the occupation of Germany and the resistance. It was a group formed by Josef Sondergaard and Jens Lillelund using the legend of Holger the Viking who represented the spirit of the Danish people. While Holger Danske was begun in Copenhagen it quickly spread to every part of the Danish countryside (Thomas). Holger Danske's acts of sabotage differed from the BOPA in that they were not as savage and better organized. At times, operations were planned months in ahead in order to avoid mess-ups. The groups of the Holger Danske were divided into small units that did not know the names of other units except for code names (Denmark Live 55). They worked closely with the SOE to gather information for London and carry out operations to stop German transportation. The Holger Danske groups performed well over 1000 operations in their existence which involved mostly railway sabotage and vehicle destruction. They are known for their destruction of the Forum on August 24, 1943. The Forum was a barracks for German soldiers. The destruction of the Forum marked the turn from passive to aggressive in resistance groups. It also caused the German government to take over the Danish government on August 29, 1943 (Werstein 5-9). This resistance group was perhaps the most effective because it gained the backing of British and the allies who supplied them with weapons and food due to their democratic allegiance. The fact that Germany never really gained the strategic advantage it wanted in Denmark and Norway can be dedicated to the Holger Danske and BOPA resistance groups and their efforts to stop German advancement at all possible places and levels.

The legend is that when Denmark is threatened, the Viking Holger Danske will rise up and save it.

Public pools offer naked swimming

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/do-it-nude-public-pools-offer-naked-swimming



The average age of the 1000 Naturist Movement is reported in the article to be 60.

Westfalia Projects

Andrea cooking breakfast.

Jono asked what year Westfalia I have. It is 1982, the last year that Volkswagen made an aircooled camper. Spring is on it's way and I have 2 of the 3 major projects completed to get it ready to roll for trips during the summer. This pic is from 2008 when Cousin Andrea and I decided to tour the Redwoods in NorCAL. Neither of us had been for a long time. The below pic is from a 1982 Westfalia ad.  It sleeps 4 - 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs , with the top "popped", but 2-3 is really perfect. Copper Penny is her name.

We do not usually cook in the van and prefer to use a propane campstove on the picnic table and the fire pit & grill in the campsite. Pineapple on a camping trip? I don't think so. Too many black bears in Calif.

We found a private campgroup with a lake with a great view farther north in NorCAL.

I am having coffee at the picnic table early in the morning and we had some visitors. They were almost close enough to touch. I got my camera from the van and sat back down. It was like this one was saying: OK, just 1 or 2 pictures and then we need to move on. They hung around for awhile and then went to check out our neighbors. I doubt these guys have ever lived through a hunting season or ever will unless they wander off the private property (which is larger than some state parks).  Definitely one of our more memorable moments.

The Westy is solely for recreation and helping people move, etc. My daily driver is a 2005 black Toyota Scion xB which gets 34 miles per gallon.

Fastelavn 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8B0J7D2kJ0&feature=related

A week ago yesterday was Fastelavn in Denmark. Americans can relate to Halloween in the Fall? Fastelavn however is an old pagan festival that goes back to 700-800 AD. There are celebrations in schools, villages and town centers. And it is alot more than just candy.  Ssh. Don't tell Hershey about it.

I just got through watching a delightful vimeo of children in viggestue (nursery school -ages 2+) being introduced to Fastelavn for the first time. By the time those children are the age in this video they all have it down pat and they know all the songs. Yes, there are Fastelavn songs. And they know how to do a peaceful parade. (Well, except maybe 1 or 2 boys.)

Kelli Norgaard had a hotly tested post last year on wondering why she broke up fights at her school in Texas every day and had not seen one during her years at her gymnasium in Herning. I think the answer is in this little video.

And there are some major differences in the educational systems in Denmark.
1. No competitive sport teams in the schools and competition is really down played. Cooperation is the taught value "with no one left out". 
2. In many locales, students have the same teacher every year from 1st class (first grade) until they are 16 and ready for gymnasium or vocational school.

Dr. Richard Jenkins, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sheffiled, published in 2011 (Museum Tusculanum Press), a long researched book called "Being Danish". He has quite a few sections on how the educational system teaches "Being Danish" and he does a pretty good job of bringing in all the pro and con opinions.  This is not a light read. Pretty sure it is used as a sociology textbook somewhere. 

Size does not matter

The moment I saw this in an email, I flashed on this memory. So funny.

Flash back to a Saturday Morning 1980's.

Sharing a house with  another co-worker/friend single mom.  2 boys have 1 room. 2 girls have 1 room.  Each Mom has a room.

Did I mention that I am only 5 feet tall and my co-worker/friend was almost 6 feet and did grape harvesting on a tractor  before she developed the first welfare computing system for California?

She wakes me up from a sound sleep yelling. "They are out there tearing Eleanor's roof off!  I have been trying to tell them for half an hour that they have the wrong house and no one will listen to me". ( We have a leak and an order for a new roof . Our neighbor just had a great roof put on one year ago.)

I don't bother with robes, so all 5 feet of me walked out to the front lawn and sure enough there are several roofing trucks tearing off Eleanor's roof from the company that is to do our roof.

I get the attention of the man in charge. I do not even bother with correcting him. I simple ask him:
"Where are you supposed to be?" He says 1492.

I say: Ok. Follow my finger. I go over to our brass numbers on the house and say " Read with me. 1-4-9-2.

He says: "But......... we patched this house last month."
I say: "Is that why our roof still leaks?"

To bad we did not have iPhones back then. I would have loved to have snapped a pic when the full situation finally went from his brain to his face!

Total elaspse time: Couple of minutes and 5 feet.

Queen of Hearts

This weekend marks 40 years of  Queen  Margrethe II as monarch of Denmark.  Top pic is of a trip to Greenland. And on the left  is cheering her "troops" at the summer Olympics in Greece with daughter in law Princess Mary.  Below is the official announcement of the 40th Jubilee.

I do not have a picture of it, but Queen Margrethe also made a personal trip to the Danish troops in Afgahanistan recently.  She is 70. This is not a position you resign from. She took the throne upon the death of her father King Frederik  the IX in 1972. Her grandfather, King Christian X held the Danish spirit together through the trauma of the Nazi occupation by riding alone on his horse through Copenhagen. I have an old postcard showing him on his horse during the Nazi occupation and it bring tears to my eyes. The emotion is very similar to gathering today with other folks to sing "We Shall Overcome" in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The stand for human justice sees no color, religion or politics. I find it interesting that this year, her 40th Jubilee is also MLK Jr.'s birthday.

Many thanks to Cousin AMK in Copenhagen who sent me this link from CNN International: It is a recent interview with Dronning Margrethe II on her 40 year reign.  (Dronning means Queen in Danish.)

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=wo_mid#/video/world/2012/01/12/foster-denmark-queen-jubilee-reign.cnn

Cousin AMK also sends some little family stories:
"Bits about King Christian: When my mother was a small child, my granmother once lifted her up as high as the horse, so she could hand him a bouquet of flowers. I also remember my granfather telling me, that when he was working as a young chimney sweep he also swept the chimneys at Amalienborg Castle. One day he and his collegees met King Christian as he was leaving for his ride - they were standing still greeting him as he nodded and kindly said "good morning to you gentlemen".




My granmother had different fun stories about Prince Frederik before he became king, since she had a good friend, who was working at the palace. I think he liked girls very much ;-).

Well, enough flattery of the kings for one day :-). 

KICKSTARTER 2012

http://www.kickstarter.com/year/2011

Thanks to to my lovely cousin Carnen O, I can keep abreast of what is happening I am so excited with what people are doing on their own without the corporate world.

The MOTHER if all DOOHICKEYS

If you like music, you will appreciate this.

Read this first, then open the attachment, and watch. Make sure you have your sound on.

This is almost unbelievable. See how all of the balls wind up in catcher cones.

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa . Amazingly, 97% of the machine's components came from John Deere (tractor) Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft , Iowa .. Yes, farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours (6.26 years) of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see, it was WELL worth the effort.


It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University of Iowa and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

What do I do with this present?

There are many stories in this picture. Christmas 1966. Larkspur, CA. My Dad Russell, my new daughter Nicole, my cousin Heide and our little AKC Chihuahua Jose.


My Dad was a magnet for children. I never saw him do anything special, but they just zeroed in on him. We lost my mother to cancer 8 weeks earlier so we are at Uncle Carl and Aunt Dottie's house for Christmas. My son Keith was the same child magnet. At Aunt Hazel's family gathering after her funeral we noticed that Keith (21 then) and everyone under 10 had disappeared. They were all in a bedroom on the floor around Keith who was telling them a story.


I love the way Russell is so comfortable and holding Nicole so securely even though she is 8 weeks old in this picture. 


Talking to Heide on 12/25/2011, I commented that I had never seen my father in anything except trousers and a nice shirt.  He never owned a pair of jeans even though he was a building contractor. (Okay, chinos for days of pouring concrete!) The subject came up when I noticed that all 17 of us at Christmas dinner were dressed up.


Jose is a whole story in himself. Russell brought him home one day just as I started college. He had just finished a job for a friend who raised AKC Chihuahuas. He was a gift and  fit in my father's pocket.  And he ended up going everywhere with us.  I even took him to college classes with me one day in my pocket.  He slept with his head on the other pillow in my double bed and tugged the blanket up so it fit around his neck just like I did. Then he smiled and went to sleep. We had ice cream almost every night and when you said the word, he went running to stand in front of the icebox smiling. He got a little also.


I have been looking at a lot of old Christmas photos this season and this one was so nostalgic.


Russell and Mary were pretty wise parents. I remember one Christmas they gave me an unusual problem. They gave me a gift when I was 8 or 9 that was not on my Santa list. They gave me a doll. It was not any doll. It was one of those fancy Betsy Wetsy dolls with diapers, bottles, clothes and a crib. I had never asked for a doll. I did not want a doll. I did not like dolls. They are not real. I prefered to take care of my Cousin Bruce. How do I not hurt their feelings? I ended up pretending to play with it for about a month whenever anyone was looking. Then I found a nice place for it to sleep forever on a shelf. Problem solved.  My folks were pretty smart and I thankfully never got another doll. Still cannot figure out what to do with them.


I took a test as an adult to see if I was left or right brained. I am neither. I am right in the middle. Wonder if that has anything to do with it.