What if we created a sauna/spa in Sweden’s Lapland and made it look like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, but instead of crystals, it looks like a bowl of yogurt-covered pretzels?
The best current offensive player on Cal Women's Soccer, Emma Westin, and the second (but one can also argue for her to the best or 3rd) best Cal Women's Tennis player, Julia Rosenqvist, are both Swedish.
Historical Swedish Cal Olympian includes
Par Arvidsson (men's swimming, 1976 and 1980),
Begnt Baron (1980 Gold medalist in Men's 100 Back),
Leif Ericsson (men's swimming, 1976),
Pelle Homertz (1980 Silver medalist in Men's 100 Free),
Hanna Jalter (women's swimming 1996),
Thomas Lejdstrom (1980 Bronze medalist in Men's 400 Free Relay),
There were a whole bunch of giant, hot (HOT) aquatic Swedes when I was in school and they all lived almost next door to me at the Phi Kapp house (RIP).
Emanuel Swedenborg was - unsurprisingly - a Swede. He was an 18th century philosopher who underwent a theological awakening in the second half of his life, which spawn a religion. There is a pretty little church in San Francisco - the Swedenborgian Church.
There are a lot of alleged influences and people behind the design of the church, including John Muir and Bernard Maybeck, who was a professor at UC Berkeley and mentor to Julia Morgan. He designed a crap ton of some really beautiful buildings.
it is not all that close to us. there is one near EWR and another one in New Haven. so about an hour away. so we usually only stop by when returning from a trip.
Sweden is an oddly (not) religious country. they celebrate a lot of religious holidays and everyone wants to be married in a church. yet a very small pct of them actually believe in anything. they all admit it is some sentimental reason for upholding these traditions and festivals.
but SO much better than it sounds because the blueberries are huge and the long growing days make for amazing strawberries.
we had this at my cousin's wedding at some 17th century castle near Stockholm.
i was telling a friend at work about it who also said she had it and agreed. but insisted on trying to prove to her you have to have it in Sweden. then she revealed/admitted that she had it at the actual Nobel ceremony when she accompanied her grandfather to accept the prize!
Harry Markowitz, 1990 price in Economics for modern portfolio theory
the best sauna i have been to is at the Assiniboine lodge in Alberta. it is a lodge that you either hike or helicopter to. i have done both summer camping and winter ski touring there.
while the sauna is pretty normal, the views of Mt Assiniboine and the glaciers are pretty spectacular
a different cousin in Sweden (i have 5 first cousins there) had a Finnish army sauna tent for his summer place until he got around to building a permanent one.
apparently the Finnish army doesnt go anywhere, including places like Iraq, w/o their sauna tent
I followed a coworker's pretzel tutorial earlier this year, and I didn't succeed in making any classic pretzel shapes with discernible holes, but I did make plenty of pretzel knots haha. The main piece of new information was that if you put a LOT of baking soda in the water for boiling the dough, you can get that color; you don't need to use lye.
I did what I saw Auntie Annie do which is make a long string. hold both ends up about 8 inches apart, take your hands and push the ends in towards each other and then out. The middle will spin and let it twist twice. Then put the pretzel down and push the ends to make the pretzel shape. Now that I type it out, it doesn't make as much sense. But watching it done it made a lot of sense.
Tried making sourdough discard pretzels early during the pandemic. Turned out alright. Much better when fresh out of the oven and not as good after frozen and reheated. Requires a surprising amount of flour.
The Japanese government gave a local government Covid-19 relief funds. Did they a) fund safety protocols, b) finance unemployment benefits, or c) build this...
That squid statue looks too ordinary to me. I'm not sure I would travel to go see it. Now if this was more of an anthropomorphic squid that might be fighting an Ultra-man or Gundam...
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth address at a supremely difficult moment. It was late January; the state was emerging from a surge in Covid-19 cases; the vaccine rollout was hitting early stumbles; the populace was tense. Alone in his office, barred from the usual pomp and circumstance, Baker spoke for 20 minutes about challenges and progress, safety and statistics. Then he wrapped it up by talking about television. Or, rather, one television show, Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”
The half-hour sports comedy, whose second season is coming in July, has become both a word-of-mouth hit and a quirky metaphor for the political world. Baker binged the show with his family over three days last fall and has been evangelizing ever since. The governor of Kansas has held it up as an emblem of state pride. Both liberal and conservative writers have staked a claim to it—even though it contains exactly zero political content. Instead, it’s an underdog sports fable, starring Jason Sudeikis as an optimistic football coach from Kansas, hired to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team. Except that Ted doesn’t turn his cynical team of misfits into a set of unlikely champions. He does something more surprising: He turns them into people who are nice.
I had the same thought when I saw the guy's Twitter bio. I don't think the team was in on it, but the guy on the date and his friend probably thought they could create a moment out of it. With that said, I do think it's plausibly a real second date.
The Oakland A’s play their home games at the Coliseum on Rickey Henderson Field, and their performance Sunday surely made the diamond’s namesake proud.
The A’s defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 to avoid a weekend sweep, and along the way they showed off the new aggressive style we’ve seen from them all year. Even without stealing a bag, their hustle on the bases earned them multiple extra runs, and they added several highlight-reel running catches in the outfield.
\As you might expect, it all started and ended with Ramon Laureano. He singled in his first at-bat and then moved to third base on another single, but the Orioles fielders got a bit too casual and bobbled the ball on its way back to the infield. Laureano saw the sliver of opportunity and sprinted toward it, racing home and beating the throw for the first run of the day. He effectively scored from first on a single.
There are really only two things that you need to know about the Golden State Warriors Saturday night game against the Houston Rockets.
The first is that the Warriors trailed at halftime by six points, which felt a little inexcusable. The Rockets are bad. Really bad. The Warriors needed a win. Really needed a win.
The second is that Steph Curry went scorched earth and then some in the third quarter. He erupted for 23 points while making 5-of-7 shots from deep. He embarrassed the opposing defenders on more than one occasion, keeping the ball on a string and yo-yoing it across the court before drilling ruthless shot after insulting shot.
The San Francisco Giants are nearing an important threshold when it comes to team vaccinations. On Friday, manager Gabe Kapler said some members of the team had received their second round of vaccinations, and that the team was 13 days away from reaching a minimum of 85% vaccination rate. That means that today — assuming you’re reading this on Monday — they’re only 10 days away. Which means that on Thursday, May 13, the Giants will have reached the 85% mark.
There are no words to describe what happened in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon. I’ll try my best to summarize it all up as best I can with this recap. Most importantly, though, the Dodgers defeated the Brewers 16-4 to end their losing streak.
I know what you’re probably thinking. “Blake, if they scored 16, everyone must have driven in a run, right?” Well voice of reason, in most cases you’d be right... just not today.
AJ Pollock and Matt Beaty each had a historic day at the plate. Beaty drove in a career-high seven runs, with his teammate Pollock showing him up by driving in eight runs. The duo became the first pair of players in Dodgers history to record at least seven RBI in one game, and only the sixth pair of teammates in MLB history to pull it off.
I appreciate their commitment to procedure is strong enough to still have an autopsy for someone who was killed and partly eaten by bears. I mean I’m no expert but I think I can guess how they’re going to describe cause of death.
Cal now has 3 PWOs commit from c/o 2021, marking the 3rd over the last 4 weeks (+ WR Trond Grizzell & QB Blake DeBisschop). So'oto plays ILB & OLB. He's a bit undersized, but he's got a nose for the ball. I think he's more suited to be an ILB since the OLB room is full of freshmen. Grizzell is a tall goalline receiver type, but I suspect he'll be incubated in the gym to add onto his 185 pounds to be a TE since he's 6'4" and only runs the 40 in 4.65. He reminds me of Gavin Reinwald. DeBisschop has tons of experience scrambling for his life when his receivers can't get open. While he doesn't have a lot of good tape, he has a strong arm. I think So'oto has the best chance to see playing time via special teams.
My friend is doing her annual compliance training. "and since the passage of the new Cures Act, where patients can readily read their physician notes, they're telling us not to use abbreviated words like SOB"
Edward
Edward! 🤬
https://twitter.com/ProjectJosiee/status/1388672650277384193
Jfc
Tupelo, MS (two towns over from Oxford MS) gets hit by a tornado.
https://twitter.com/BillWadell/status/1389058118160687112
Also - some guy made an impressive drone shot of this other tornado in another MS town. Drone did not survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQBQ9PMw1x4
Something Swedish
The best current offensive player on Cal Women's Soccer, Emma Westin, and the second (but one can also argue for her to the best or 3rd) best Cal Women's Tennis player, Julia Rosenqvist, are both Swedish.
Historical Swedish Cal Olympian includes
Par Arvidsson (men's swimming, 1976 and 1980),
Begnt Baron (1980 Gold medalist in Men's 100 Back),
Leif Ericsson (men's swimming, 1976),
Pelle Homertz (1980 Silver medalist in Men's 100 Free),
Hanna Jalter (women's swimming 1996),
Thomas Lejdstrom (1980 Bronze medalist in Men's 400 Free Relay),
Par Lindstrom (men's swimming, 1992 and 1996),
P.A. Magnusson (men's swimming 1980),
Agneta Martensson (women's swimming, Silver medalist 1980 400 Free Relay),
Stefan Persson (men's swimming, 1988),
Michael Soderlund (men's swimming 1980, 1988)
Tom Werner (men's swimming, Silver medalist 800 Free Relay)
There were a whole bunch of giant, hot (HOT) aquatic Swedes when I was in school and they all lived almost next door to me at the Phi Kapp house (RIP).
How many did you bag?
Emanuel Swedenborg was - unsurprisingly - a Swede. He was an 18th century philosopher who underwent a theological awakening in the second half of his life, which spawn a religion. There is a pretty little church in San Francisco - the Swedenborgian Church.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/swedenborgian-church
There are a lot of alleged influences and people behind the design of the church, including John Muir and Bernard Maybeck, who was a professor at UC Berkeley and mentor to Julia Morgan. He designed a crap ton of some really beautiful buildings.
I will always love that there is an Arts and Crafts artistic movement.
Our old Saab wagon.
Had a Saab 99 EMS as my first car (used).
those old ones were the best.
we have a Volvo but would have bought a Saab if they were still around
My family went through 4 of them, one of my better DBD stories was a SAAB story.
Fish, Meatballs, Ikea
the frozen meatballs and lingonberry sauce you buy at Ikea is particularly good. it makes for good standby weeknight meal at our house.
Maybe I'll get some the next time I'm there. I was there last week and they were out of the beloved cookies, but I did get a few of the Pear sodas.
it is not all that close to us. there is one near EWR and another one in New Haven. so about an hour away. so we usually only stop by when returning from a trip.
I've got a Swedish horse as a decoration on my coffee table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalecarlian_horse
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
How Swedes Celebrate Light at the Darkest Time of the Year
https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/12/11/st-lucia-festival-lights
Sweden is an oddly (not) religious country. they celebrate a lot of religious holidays and everyone wants to be married in a church. yet a very small pct of them actually believe in anything. they all admit it is some sentimental reason for upholding these traditions and festivals.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Saw both versions of the movie. Thought the Fincher one was pretty good, found the original Swedish movie a little bland.
There are extended versions of the Swedish ones that I thought were better than the shorter movie length edits, fwiw.
and they never made the last two American versions, yeah? Did the "James Bond" one flop?
Not a "flop" exactly, but it didn't make as much as expected so it wasn't enough to justify spending more money on sequels.
Nobel dessert - ice cream and berries.
but SO much better than it sounds because the blueberries are huge and the long growing days make for amazing strawberries.
we had this at my cousin's wedding at some 17th century castle near Stockholm.
i was telling a friend at work about it who also said she had it and agreed. but insisted on trying to prove to her you have to have it in Sweden. then she revealed/admitted that she had it at the actual Nobel ceremony when she accompanied her grandfather to accept the prize!
Harry Markowitz, 1990 price in Economics for modern portfolio theory
Sauna
the best sauna i have been to is at the Assiniboine lodge in Alberta. it is a lodge that you either hike or helicopter to. i have done both summer camping and winter ski touring there.
while the sauna is pretty normal, the views of Mt Assiniboine and the glaciers are pretty spectacular
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pjscUiBZi8NMUEB89
a different cousin in Sweden (i have 5 first cousins there) had a Finnish army sauna tent for his summer place until he got around to building a permanent one.
apparently the Finnish army doesnt go anywhere, including places like Iraq, w/o their sauna tent
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fbKTNC62RmMebEjg6
https://medium.com/estoniansaunas/heres-why-the-history-of-the-sauna-is-deeper-than-you-might-think-d8e5127a8232
Pretzel
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8f/2a/5c/8f2a5c4a77fff5e24a51196b1e90be15.jpg
I followed a coworker's pretzel tutorial earlier this year, and I didn't succeed in making any classic pretzel shapes with discernible holes, but I did make plenty of pretzel knots haha. The main piece of new information was that if you put a LOT of baking soda in the water for boiling the dough, you can get that color; you don't need to use lye.
I've done both baking soda and lye, vastly prefer lye.
but pretzels are pretzels and pretzels are great
that being said, i'm pretty sure the pretzel dough specifically was why I had to replace a gear in my stand mixer
worth it tho: https://i.imgur.com/IM1mYkp.jpg
I did what I saw Auntie Annie do which is make a long string. hold both ends up about 8 inches apart, take your hands and push the ends in towards each other and then out. The middle will spin and let it twist twice. Then put the pretzel down and push the ends to make the pretzel shape. Now that I type it out, it doesn't make as much sense. But watching it done it made a lot of sense.
some things do benefit from video:
How to Make an Auntie Anne's Pretzel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mo3aBQIo0Q
Ahh...yes thank you.
Tried making sourdough discard pretzels early during the pandemic. Turned out alright. Much better when fresh out of the oven and not as good after frozen and reheated. Requires a surprising amount of flour.
Elsewhere in college
2021 NFL Draft picks by college team, conference: SEC sets new record, finishes on top for 15th straight year
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2021-nfl-draft-picks-by-college-team-conference-sec-sets-new-record-finishes-on-top-for-15th-straight-year/
Today in Covid
The Japanese government gave a local government Covid-19 relief funds. Did they a) fund safety protocols, b) finance unemployment benefits, or c) build this...
https://kotaku.com/japanese-town-got-covid-19-money-so-they-built-a-giant-1846809468
That squid statue looks too ordinary to me. I'm not sure I would travel to go see it. Now if this was more of an anthropomorphic squid that might be fighting an Ultra-man or Gundam...
If it was bolted to CruznBears boat with an animatronic tentacle grasping a replica sailor, I'm totally road-tripping to see that .
Here's another cool Japanese squid thing:
https://www.lulu-berlu.com/nautilus-with-giante-squid-9-20000-leagues-under-the-sea-sega-a13796-en.html
Economic development thru tourism attraction. I like the squid statue.
That's something John Oliver would've done on Last Week Tonight...
Yesterday he had a cicada vaccine mascot.
jfc. I hope they at least used a local artist to make it.
Volunteers provide oxygen as India’s COVID-19 cases near 20 million
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indias-covid-19-cases-near-20-million-peak-seen-nearing-2021-05-03/
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
EPA proposes 85% cut in US-based hydrofluorocarbon consumption by 2036.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2021-05/documents/hfc_allocation_rule_nprm_fact_sheet_final_v1508.pdf
I was just reading about this
Interesting take on the moment.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth address at a supremely difficult moment. It was late January; the state was emerging from a surge in Covid-19 cases; the vaccine rollout was hitting early stumbles; the populace was tense. Alone in his office, barred from the usual pomp and circumstance, Baker spoke for 20 minutes about challenges and progress, safety and statistics. Then he wrapped it up by talking about television. Or, rather, one television show, Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”
The half-hour sports comedy, whose second season is coming in July, has become both a word-of-mouth hit and a quirky metaphor for the political world. Baker binged the show with his family over three days last fall and has been evangelizing ever since. The governor of Kansas has held it up as an emblem of state pride. Both liberal and conservative writers have staked a claim to it—even though it contains exactly zero political content. Instead, it’s an underdog sports fable, starring Jason Sudeikis as an optimistic football coach from Kansas, hired to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team. Except that Ted doesn’t turn his cynical team of misfits into a set of unlikely champions. He does something more surprising: He turns them into people who are nice.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/02/ted-lasso-charlie-baker-485105
Giuliani’s Legal Trouble Is Trump’s Too
To save himself, the president’s former lawyer might have to spill damning secrets.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/02/giuliani-trump-legal-trouble-485186
For some reason I’m thinking about the scene in “Skyfall” with the story about the rats in the barrel.
PRO
Diamondbacks oblige a guy's Twitter request to check up on how his roommate's date is going
https://twitter.com/BuckArmy/status/1388665704493113345
My friends are convinced this was totally staged, given that the guy and his roommate are both sports streamers
I had the same thought when I saw the guy's Twitter bio. I don't think the team was in on it, but the guy on the date and his friend probably thought they could create a moment out of it. With that said, I do think it's plausibly a real second date.
A's Luzardo breaks pinkie playing video games. While dumb, this doesn't make the top 25 for dumbest MLB injuries.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31379380/oakland-athletics-jesus-luzardo-suffers-broken-hand-playing-video-game
Game #29: Ramon Laureano leads hustling A’s to 7-5 victory
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2021/5/2/22416648/oakland-as-game-29-baltimore-orioles-score-result
The Oakland A’s play their home games at the Coliseum on Rickey Henderson Field, and their performance Sunday surely made the diamond’s namesake proud.
The A’s defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 to avoid a weekend sweep, and along the way they showed off the new aggressive style we’ve seen from them all year. Even without stealing a bag, their hustle on the bases earned them multiple extra runs, and they added several highlight-reel running catches in the outfield.
\As you might expect, it all started and ended with Ramon Laureano. He singled in his first at-bat and then moved to third base on another single, but the Orioles fielders got a bit too casual and bobbled the ball on its way back to the infield. Laureano saw the sliver of opportunity and sprinted toward it, racing home and beating the throw for the first run of the day. He effectively scored from first on a single.
Laser Laureano has done it again.
Steph Curry’s ballistic 3rd quarter leads Warriors past Rockets
https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2021/5/1/22415195/warriors-rockets-final-score-stephen-curry
There are really only two things that you need to know about the Golden State Warriors Saturday night game against the Houston Rockets.
The first is that the Warriors trailed at halftime by six points, which felt a little inexcusable. The Rockets are bad. Really bad. The Warriors needed a win. Really needed a win.
The second is that Steph Curry went scorched earth and then some in the third quarter. He erupted for 23 points while making 5-of-7 shots from deep. He embarrassed the opposing defenders on more than one occasion, keeping the ball on a string and yo-yoing it across the court before drilling ruthless shot after insulting shot.
Giants beat the Pads 7-1 but no McCovey Chronicles recap.
but:
Monday BP: Giants 10 days away from 85% vaccine threshold
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/5/3/22415322/san-francisco-giants-85-percent-vaccination-coronavirus
The San Francisco Giants are nearing an important threshold when it comes to team vaccinations. On Friday, manager Gabe Kapler said some members of the team had received their second round of vaccinations, and that the team was 13 days away from reaching a minimum of 85% vaccination rate. That means that today — assuming you’re reading this on Monday — they’re only 10 days away. Which means that on Thursday, May 13, the Giants will have reached the 85% mark.
Matt Beaty and AJ Pollock have historic day at plate as Dodgers snap losing streak
https://www.truebluela.com/2021/5/2/22416290/matt-beaty-aj-pollock-mlb-news-los-angeles-dodgers-record
There are no words to describe what happened in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon. I’ll try my best to summarize it all up as best I can with this recap. Most importantly, though, the Dodgers defeated the Brewers 16-4 to end their losing streak.
I know what you’re probably thinking. “Blake, if they scored 16, everyone must have driven in a run, right?” Well voice of reason, in most cases you’d be right... just not today.
AJ Pollock and Matt Beaty each had a historic day at the plate. Beaty drove in a career-high seven runs, with his teammate Pollock showing him up by driving in eight runs. The duo became the first pair of players in Dodgers history to record at least seven RBI in one game, and only the sixth pair of teammates in MLB history to pull it off.
Dustin May to get TJ surgery on the 11th. The Dodgers may get a 2-for-1 after Graterol's MRI results.
This sucks because it looked like May turned the corner after adding a 4 seamer. He was throwing so much better this year. Lots of injuries this year.
Was there any indication of a prior issue? It seems like all was fine then BOOM.
No. Supposedly he took care of his arm religiously. I think it was all fine and then BOOM.
Graterol on the other hand was the one the Red Sox didn't want in the 3-way trade with Minnesota for Betts.
CAL
Go Bears!!!
Bad Bears. Very bad. ☹
https://tinyurl.com/6ur5rnch
I appreciate their commitment to procedure is strong enough to still have an autopsy for someone who was killed and partly eaten by bears. I mean I’m no expert but I think I can guess how they’re going to describe cause of death.
Maybe they were poisoned first.
What, like the bears slipped the woman a mickey? That would be a plot twist
Wh... uh... how... [AlonzoMourningShakingHeadandThenAcceptingIt.gif]
https://www.backpacker.com/survival/bears/pro-tip-bear-spray-goes-on-the-bear-not-on-you/
oh NO
Cal Football: LB McKyle So'oto Commits to Bears as a Walk-On
So'oto becomes the third player to commit to Cal as a preferred walk-on for 2021 season. He is a nephew of Junior Seau
Cal now has 3 PWOs commit from c/o 2021, marking the 3rd over the last 4 weeks (+ WR Trond Grizzell & QB Blake DeBisschop). So'oto plays ILB & OLB. He's a bit undersized, but he's got a nose for the ball. I think he's more suited to be an ILB since the OLB room is full of freshmen. Grizzell is a tall goalline receiver type, but I suspect he'll be incubated in the gym to add onto his 185 pounds to be a TE since he's 6'4" and only runs the 40 in 4.65. He reminds me of Gavin Reinwald. DeBisschop has tons of experience scrambling for his life when his receivers can't get open. While he doesn't have a lot of good tape, he has a strong arm. I think So'oto has the best chance to see playing time via special teams.
My other internet community tells me that Bill and Melinda Gates are divorcing
Yup....Bill posted it on twitter earlier today. 27 years, 3 kids. Seems amicable. They will still partner on Foundation stuff.
@well Jeff Bezos is available...@
Thanks to Atoms for replying to this so it showed up on my news feed. https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/1389337379161452547?s=20
1) the content of the tweet
2) the composer of the tweet
pqtm
i am available too!!!
Has he stopped seeing Lauren Sanchez?
My friend is doing her annual compliance training. "and since the passage of the new Cures Act, where patients can readily read their physician notes, they're telling us not to use abbreviated words like SOB"
Shortness of Breath?
I guess they have to write out "follow up" now too.
Haha. And yes, shortness of breath.
F/U SOB