Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester (WWW!) was a rather eccentric woman. When her husband died, she became convinced that the house was haunted by all the people being killed by a Winchester rifle. Probably not a minor number. But she decided not to give up without a proper fight, and the process of building construction began. It lasted for 38 years, non stop. Around the clock, until the day she died. The reason for all the work was to build a maze of corridors, rooms and stairs, so that the ghosts would get lost and/or not find her. There are many examples of stairs ending in walls/open air, doors leading to nothing, rooms without windows, etc. The mansion was/is well known for its size and lack of master plan. Mrs. Winchester was a wealthy madam, so the effect of construction work on her wallet is not worth mentioning. In the end there were about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms, one completed and one under construction. The house also had 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys and three elevators. Painting the house was a work-to-eternity-machine, finally finished with all the sections, they had to repaint again. Today the house is a museum. 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California.
Paranoia Result
Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester (WWW!) was a rather eccentric woman. When her husband died, she became convinced that the house was haunted by all the people being killed by a Winchester rifle. Probably not a minor number. But she decided not to give up without a proper fight, and the process of building construction began. It lasted for 38 years, non stop. Around the clock, until the day she died. The reason for all the work was to build a maze of corridors, rooms and stairs, so that the ghosts would get lost and/or not find her. There are many examples of stairs ending in walls/open air, doors leading to nothing, rooms without windows, etc. The mansion was/is well known for its size and lack of master plan. Mrs. Winchester was a wealthy madam, so the effect of construction work on her wallet is not worth mentioning. In the end there were about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms, one completed and one under construction. The house also had 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys and three elevators. Painting the house was a work-to-eternity-machine, finally finished with all the sections, they had to repaint again. Today the house is a museum. 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California.
Imagine To The Rescue
Friday today, but since I`m working through the weekend it`s basically Wednesday. I`m planning to have fun, real project fun. That means; Imaginary Worlds Creation Deluxe. Just like when I made this drawing. It`s a plant-and-cleanse-water-production-world hanging on one of the water pipes on school ground. To the left, all the different kinds of greenery are grown. Everything from Lotus flowers to moss. To the right, the system of cleaning water for industrial purposes are produced. Bottom left is living facilities, bottom right: distribution and shipping. As already mentioned, it`s my imagination talking. Not much sense going on in that department. La Musica
Todays soundtrack: David Bowie: "Heroes" and blue grass christmas carols, here represented by Bob Couchenour:"GodRestYeMerryGentlemen". Splendid combination.
Mystery Solved
Bought a book (yes..yet another one. I`m addicted. At least it`s more healthy and enlightening than other types of drugs) the other day. The 21st issue of Volume, called "The Block". This book deals with the topic (among others); Microrayon, transformation of the Soviet City under Capitalism. A Microrayon is a little "city" of its own, featuring everything you need to survive everyday life. Your home in a block, school, kindergarden, a store etc. The idea was to localise people, and prevent the need for private or public transportation. But after the fall of communism, people changed their pattern of living, and the system broke down. People moved away from the apartments/areas they had been allocated. They bought cars to get to work. And they built temporary garages, like these. On every vacant plot. This explains where the 3 million excess cars hang out.Moscow Way
In Moscow there are many cars (currently 4 millions, and the number is rapidly increasing) and not enough land for them to occupy. This leads to creative solutions, like this one, a floating car park in the Moscow River. Today the city is equipped with one million parking lots, where the 3 millions excess cars hang out, is a mystery.
Fantastic Fram
During my daily session of heavy procrastination, I did a little researching on the topic: Fram. I must say, I`m a fan. I just never realized it before. While reading about the ship, you obviously read about Mr. Nansen as well. What a man! Many slightly crazy people would come up with the idea to freeze a ship into the Arctic ice, but not many slightly crazy people would do it. Mr. Nansen did, he collected a team, build a boat and set off on a voyage that turned out to last for three years. Stuck in solid massive cold ice. The purpose of the journey was to prove that the Arctic was not land, but a huge piece of thick ice, that moved with currents in the ocean. The documented route shows a trip of unexpected turns, lets just say, it`s not a straight line. About two years into the expedition, Mr. Nansen got tired of the monotonous life on board. He decided to go for a walk, a walk to the north pole. 600 km away. He and the fortunate Mr. Johansen, 27 dogs and 3 sleighs went off. They soon realized that the Arctic summer was too short. The decision to continue or turn back, ended with an unanimous vote in turn backs favour. But the 180 degrees action was carried out late, and the two gentlemen had only one option. To "hibernate" in a selfmade shelter, somewhere on the endless blanket of white. They spent the entire winter together in a 3,4 x 2 m. "room", surviving on walrus blubber, polar bear meat and whale oil. Jolly times. When spring and light returned, the two of them continued the walk towards south, it turned out to be an adventurous journey. One time the selfmade kayaks drifted off shore during a short rest on an ice flake, Mr. Nansen took off his watch, performed a graceful dive and swam to the rescue in the far from warm water. Another event, was an attack by a polar bear. The fortunate Mr. Johansen ended up in the embracement of this rather violent animal, and Mr. Nansen didn`t have his rifle close. (Amateur). But in the end they both survived and made it back to Norway, with the helping hands of a British, Mr. Jackson.
Mr. Nansen was not only an outdoor man, he also showed great commitment in politics and victims of war after WW1, he got the World Peace Prize in 1922, and the list of other first-class honours is long.
Park Car
This is how it`s done. Four easy steps to make a perfect P in any cityscape across the world. 1. Find an unoccupied parking lot, slow down. 2 a) Stop parallel to the car in "front" of the lot, b) gear: reverse, c) begin the backing, d) when you as a person are on the same line as the rear wheel of the car in "front", turn the steering wheel. A lot. In this case: clockwise, e) when the front of your car have reached the back of the other car, turn the steering wheel in the other direction. 3. Stop the car before hitting the one behind you. We don`t want scratches. 4. To finalise the procedure and straighten the car, turn the wheel a little (clockwise) and close up on the car in front. Done! Congratulations!
Los Mundos
Breaking news: If you zoom really far out in GoogleMaps, the world multiplies, and you`ll find yourself in the situation where you can choose which one to zoom in on. You can also use the little hand to scroll horisontally, and new worlds appear. The Endless World Buffét. Oh my. LjåbuStan
This is the holiday hangout place of my childhood. Also known as "Ljåbu". It`s a collection of three professional cabins (old photos) and approximately 2,5 made by non-professionals aka. my siblings and me. Not that they don`t have certain architectural qualities, they`re just not made for living. Especially during winter season. The cabin to the left is the main building, as you can see it`s huge, almost 50 sq.m., the other one is the guesthouse, "Buret" (the Cage). Not so big, only 16 sq.m. but you`re more than welcome. None of them have installed water, in the summer that`s not such a big deal. Winter is more hardcore, then you (my Dad) actually have to walk to the creek, smash a hole in the ice, use a "liter measure" to fill a 25 l. can. You (Dad) carry the can back to the cabin. On skis. Down hill. Rule nr. 1: Don`t fall. This water is precious, and only for drinking. The remaining necessity for a 18th century household like Ljåbu, is covered by melted snow. Melting snow takes a while. Getting water from the creek takes a while. So all in all, winter holidays are all about water. Can`t live without it. (If you for some reason want to wash your hair, the effort and energy of collecting and melting enough snow - water, adds up to 5 hours-ish. Bonus info).
I posted this to say: What a view. Jotunheimen for you.
CloudScape
This could be Antarctica, but since I`ve never been there, it`s not. It`s just clouds seen from Flight 998 to London. The good thing when travelling on rainy days, is that you get scenery like this at 30 000 feet. I like how the ultra thin cloud in the back there, cast a shadow and sort of frames the cloudscape...OK, enough photo analysis for today. Not my cup of tea.
Echo One
This is an edition from N.A.S.A.`s Echo satellites. They were the first passive communications satellite experiment, carried out in the 1960`s. The way they work is simple, signals from the Earth bounce off this structure from one point to another. Just like playing one-man-Tennis against a wall. The "ball" was 30,5 m. in diameter and made of 0.127 mm thick metalized Mylar polyester film (whatever that is). The simple concept actually worked, redirecting telephone, radio and TV signals. Both transcontinental and intercontinental.
"As its shiny surface was also reflective in the range of visible light, Echo 1 was visible to the unaided eye over most of the Earth. Brighter than most stars, it was probably seen by more people than any other man-made object in space"....Wikipedia poetry.
Ka Ra O Ke
For no particular reason, karaoke came up during lunchtime conversation. And first of all, let me just state that, karaoke is totally different from home entertainment "games" like Singstar. It`s so different really, you can`t even compare it. Not that I ever tested Singstar. Details. Karaoke is not a game, it`s hardcore business/workout. And all you need is: A ticket to Japan, yen, a karaoke establishment, a room in the suitable size for you (and your company, many people do karaoke alone), two microphones, a tired TV screen, bad sound system, some beer and a phone connected to reception desk to order more beer (room service deluxe). With these ingredients present, it can`t go wrong.
As an extra bonus to the experience, most Karaoke places decorate with eyes closed. I guess. This often creates psychedelic interior design with astonishing solutions regarding furnishing, patterns and color combinations. Basically one of those moments where the phrase "words can`t describe it" actually describes it.
Iced Typhoon
In the mid 90s, a topic of bizarre interest in La Casa AursandIversen was nuclear stuff. My sister wrote a comprehensive school assignment on Russian Typhoon Submarines, while I decided to concentrate on the pleasant sequence of events concerning the Tsjernobyl disaster in Ukraine. What my brother set his mind to in the mid 90s, was probably football. 1 healthy kid, out of 3 is not so bad. Typhoons is the largest class of submarines ever to be built, with the displacement of 33.800 tons divided on 175 m. It`s even room for decent living facilities for the crew, something I find natural since they stay constantly submerged for months and months. They were deployed in Russia in the 80s, running on nuclear energy and carrying ballistic missiles. Typhoons were produced to attack North America, to do that they needed to come up close from behind. Logic way to go, was under the arctic ice. As an extra submarine feature, these ones are capable of breaking through moderate ice thicknesses, launch one of their dead friendly missiles and dive into safety again. Max depth is 400 m. Which is seriously a lot. A lot. Not only do they dive deep, they also run fast: Submerged, 50 km/hour. Surface, 41 km/hour.
Last but not unimpressive, the Typoons are the most quiet of all submarines and probably ships as well, in the world. This means that, during submerged "huntings" with other submarines, the Typhoon can "hide" right next to you, without being noticed. `Cause that`s what they do down there, they listen for enemies. And before you know it, the Russian hugeness has eaten you alive. The End.
G To The Hetto
These identical twins, are carrying a device from the long gone 80s each. Also known as ghettoblasters. A development from "no-bad-boy-would-be-seen-with-the-not-so-powerful-or-cool" tape recorder. The ghettoblaster is capable of playing radio and recorded music at relatively high volume, in stereo. They are designed for transportation and the effect may be enjoyed outside as well as inside. For extreme portability; use batteries. If in proximity of power outlet, cord is recommended. "Bills rise higher every day//We receive much lower pay//I'd rather stay young, go out and play//It's like that, and that's the way it is//Huh!"
Run-D.M.C, that is.
Milk All Way S
This "looking-good-picture" is the Milky Way seen from Earth. It`s the result of 22 months of work and more than 3000 photos shot from different locations on the planet. The only star not being represented in this family photo, is of course the one we`re on. The Milky Way is 100.000 light years wide, and contains of 300 billion stars. If you want to go from one "end" to another it will take you 4 billion years, if you travel approximately at the speed of 28.000 km/hour. Bon voyage!
|_ |) |\| |\/| /\ |>
To the left: Map of the underground system in London, as something close to what it really looks like down there. Telling you about distances and directions, very different from the guy to the right: Giving you false impressions and makes you come up with great ideas like; I guess we can walk. It`s only one stop.
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