The warship Vasa

While in Stockholm we visited the museum containing the 17th century ship Vasa. The Vasa was a ship built in 1626-1628 in Stockholm and on it’s maiden voyage sank in Stockholm Harbor, and after the valuable cannons were recovered in the 1700’s, was forgotten until it was raised in 1961. After years of restoration and repair it ended up in the museum in 1988. This is the top tourist attraction in Sweden the ship is the source of Swedish ship recovery mania.
The Wikipedia page here has the full interesting story but for those of you that don’t care the short story is as follows.
The King of Sweden had Sweden at war with Poland and some other guys. Sweden was the big kahuna in the early 1600’s around northern Europe. This was some secular conflict between Catholics and Protestants (similar to the Sunni Shia thing in the mid east). The King guy wanted a big boat with 2 gun decks and big guns since most the battles were on the Baltic Sea. So he got his Dutch shipbuilder to agree to his dimensions (which apparently was the way things were done, no science or data) and the shipbuilder started building a big ol’ boat. He got sick and turned it over to his #2 guy before going on and being ill and eventually dying sometime before the ship launched. The new guy kind of felt there might be something wrong with the design but couldn’t do anything about it so they completed the boat. Some quality control type guy came along and had 30 guys run from one side of the ship to the other to show the head navy guy that it was unstable but the head navy guy said “ship it” because the King had been sending letters saying “get me the damn boat” . So it set sail and a strong breeze hit it (not a light wind) and it rolled over and water entered through it’s gun openings and it sank about 1400 yards from dock. As someone that has worked in quality quite a few years I have seen many ship sinkings caused by the same issues. Poor design, unbending time scales, and know it all management types that think their position and ego over rule the law of physics. They had a big investigation and found no one at fault (probably because the King was at fault as much as anyone with his demands and top down management system) and the dead shipbuilding guy went down in history as being not so good.
The museum itself was quite dark and made picture taking quite difficult (unlike the wiki guys that obviously had a closed museum and lights). This is a 1/10 scale model that has been painted as they think the Vasa was painted (if you are a King you have to show off)

This picture from the back is about the only picture that is any good (for those that are wondering this was shot with ISO 6400, it was really dark there and space too big for flash.)

So anyway it was a good museum, a lot of explanation and things to see. Just wish they had more light.
On our way back from the museum we passed this gate to part of the huge city park.

This was just before the bridge on this street leading back to the city.

Stockholm is on about the same latitude as Anchorage Alaska so for about half the year it is grey and dark. Sunset was between 3 and 4 in the afternoon while we were there. We walked along the water to the far distance of the picture to our hotel which was right next to this poorly named clothing store.

We went in; should have been called Crap Studios.

And the winner of the Nobel Prize for plastic stuff is…

Someone else.
We were in Sweden to attend the Electrolux supplier awards meeting. Sepstar Eti had been nominated in the category of innovation – food preparation for a working with Electrolux to design and manufacture a couple of water drawers for their top of the line ovens so people can cook with steam. Just to get ready we visited the Nobel museum that noon with Lynn our sales manager.

It had a big prize thing on the floor.

After the museum we had lunch where Lynn had the only Swedish meatballs we have run across this trip.

We then headed out to the big event where Mary and I posed in the reception area of the big Electrolux headquarters.

Electrolux is a big appliance company like Whirlpool. They bought the Fridgidare line a few years back and are currently trying to buy GE Appliance. They have 2500 suppliers and 39 were invited to this event  each nominated in one 13 categories so there were 3 companies in each category. Our category was won by a company that supplies glass cook tops for stove tops with complicated touch screens and stuff but we did get a nice consolation prize.

Live from Stockholm…the one in Sweden

So here we are in Stockholm and the first night here we needed food so since we got in late in the day and both were out of time sync by 6 hours we decided to take sup in the hotel restaurant which was an Italian place and as a special event they were doing a special truffle menu. Now my only experience with truffles has been as a luxury in the Civilization games, and then Cesar usually gets them if he is in the game.  So here is the menu.

I read somewhere that like 90% of internet traffic is food pictures and since I have never taken a picture of food here is a picture of the tartar of veal thing.

It should be noted that each course had a different wine with it designed by the wine guy to bring out the earthy essence of the truffles, or something like that. This is the risotto stuff with the truffle things laying right on top.

The main course was next and after the beginning glass of champagne, and 2 courses each with it’s own glass of wine and then the glass with the main course I forgot to take a picture until I had eaten most of it. Anyway here’s a picture.

Note the truffle jus. We finished up with another wine and desert. The whole truffle thing was not bad but it don’t belong in desert.

So we finished up everything and waited for our coffee and then went up to bed. I should note that there were not any meatballs on the menu but we did see a Volvo.

 

November 3, 2015 and another Presidential Proclamation

This morning the President made another big announcement. I am now eligible for full Social Security benefits and thus the government considers me eligible to be fully retired, I guess. Those of us born between 1943 and 1954 can call 66 the official year. Those born after 1959 must wait to 67 and in between gradually increase so suck it after 54 ‘ers. Of course my Congressman, Congressman Fred “just call me Fred” Upton couldn’t just leave that to happen without a fight. Congressman Fred said he was introducing a bill that would deny SS to you unless you could prove that during the 1950’s you wore hats. Now that made about as much sense as anything else him and his GOP guys have done over my lifetime (well except for that Eisenhower guy and the interstate highway) but don’t worry I’ve got it covered.
From the most early age I decked myself out in stylish hats.

You may say “it looks cold out a hat made sense, even if it is an old man hat with ear flaps” but here you can see another stylish number in the summer heat.

Of course the famous picture of me that should have been on the cover of Life magazine featured a hat along with fence posts ready to impale my young body.

Sunday go to meetin’? Requires a hat.

What third birthday party wouldn’t be complete without a Sherlock Holmes hat.

And yes it was a dark world back then.
Being outside hell driving requires a hat also.

I thought for a moment that the arrival of a sister might have put and end to the hats…

But nope, hats for all.

In fact the hell driving required many styles of hats including this, before it’s time, flat brim baby.

During the 50’s hats were required when watching TV.

During the summers in August we would spend a week at the lake in northern Indiana for a week where Grandma Marchant and I wold color, wearing a hat.

Another birthday, another hat.

Winter always brought out the hats, of course, although you will note that dad seemed to not need a hat or for that matter a winter coat.

There were a series of illnesses that all kid had to go through in the 50’s, chicken pox measles, and mumps. Here I am confined to bed with the mumps, and of course, a hat.

As I reached the later years of the 50’s the hat became more theme oriented depending on what park program was in play. Here is some Indian hats.

Here is a King Aurthur hat (that sword is still in the footlocker in the furnace room and maybe the Indian hat also, I’ll have to look)

As the 50’s began to fade uniform hats became the norm.

The Naas Foods baseball hat got worn everyday even without the uniform as did all little league hats in town. I think it was city law that they be worn all the time. Notice the stylish crease in the top.

There were some hats that I just don’t know the origin of such as this hat in what must have been a photo shoot for the cover of the Canadian NRA magazine.

The 50’s ended and so did hats, except for baseball caps but Congressman Fred only was going after the 50’s so I’m clear but I do get some extra credit such as this mid 60’s summer band uniform that was the cutting edge of stylish band  stuff. As noted, mom found this on an old roll of film in an old camera years later.

That was pretty much the last hat on record except for the stupid beanie they made freshmen wear at Purdue back in those days.

And finally the green visor although not a hat is the last proof that I can pass on to Congressman Fred that I meet the requirements for being 66. This prior to a trip in the VW camper down Route 66 to Phoenix along in 74 as noted.

So having never really been a hat person, although I would wear one to the Purdue football games the last few years it is only fitting I leave with this as a ying yang hat thing. The ying being me older than these pictures and the yang a hat from 50 years ago the, Portland Panther High School baseball hat that has been used as a paint hat sometime in the past.

Apparently your head gets fatter with age also.

 

The square in Wroclaw

The last trip to China I spent a week and half in Poland. The first week there, before a Mary arrived I would go to the Whirlpool factory and do important stuff and be done by noon leaving a half day and not much to do other than hang out in the old town square. Just a big European square with mostly food places around the edges.The square has the required statue guys.

It’s got the benches, rent a bicycles, and the 24 hour a day 7 days a week sell you flower place.

It has a fountain thing that requires all the German tourist groups to pose in front of it.

When sitting outside at the Starbucks being metropolitan you have a view of the church , that by some law every square has to have.

During the week and especially on the weekend there are street performers to keep you entertained. There were funny guys, a girl and a guy singing duo, when Mary was there once there was a regional rock band, but I was lucky enough to be there for the horse headed piano player.

It don’t get much better than that.