The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many.
Today, June 6 is the National Day of Sweden (or the Independence Day of Sweden). Gustav Vasa, or Gustav I, Sweden’s hero king and the father of modern Sweden, was elected king of Sweden on June 6th, 1523. This was after the Swedish War of Liberation from Denmark 1521 to 1523. Gustav rose to lead the Swedish War of Liberation following the Stockholm Bloodbath, where his father was executed. Gustav Vasa or Gustav I was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. Since I am originally Swedish (now living in Texas) June 6 is a significant date for me.
This picture is how I imagine Gustav Vasa at his coronation. BTW this is a submission for Kevin’s No Theme ThursdayThis is how I imagine Gustav Vasa’s marriage to Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg on September 24th, 1531. This picture is also from Kevin’s No Theme Thursday
Depictions of Gustav Vasa
Kevin’s pictures above were, like I said, how I imagine Gustav Vasa. The depictions below might be closer to the truth.
Painting of Gustav I Vasa. Fashion was somewhat different back in the day.Portrait of Gustav Vasa (from Wikipedia Commons).
The Kalmar Union
In 1397 a union was formed between Denmark, Norway and Sweden called the Kalmar Union (Kalmar is a city a Sweden). The Kalmar Union came to be dominated by Denmark and there were occasional rebellions. During Gustav’s childhood, parts of the Swedish nobility tried to make Sweden independent. Gustav’s father Erik Johansson Vasa was part of that nobility.
After some problematic interactions with Denmark and the Danish King Christian II, King Christian massacred 100 Swedish nobles, November 7-9, 1520, on Stortorget in Stockholm, including Gustav’s father. In 1521 Gustav led a rebellion (or a civil war) against Denmark, which ended in the deposition of King Christian II from the throne of Sweden, effectively ending the Kalmar Union. I can add that King Christian is called Christian the Tyrant in Sweden and Christian the good in Denmark.
Sweden and Denmark has had a complicated history that included a lot of hostilities and eleven wars, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the situation today. There hasn’t been a war between Sweden and Denmark in more than 180 years and Swedes and Danes get along very well. However, it is best not to bring up the past. That is probably true for marriages as well.
Denmark vs Sweden. The yellow and blue flag is the Swedish flag. Red and white is the Danish. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 1114320377 by Hasanov Jeyhun.
Gustav Vasa’s Burial Place
Gustav Vasa died on September 29, 1560, and is buried together with three of his wives (while only two are engraved) in the Cathedral of Uppsala. Uppsala is an old city north of Stockholm famous for its Viking graves/mounds. During the Viking era Uppsala was the religious center of Sweden. Later as Sweden became Christian it remained the religious center of Sweden, however, the Viking temple in old Uppsala was replaced by a Christian church. Uppsala hosts one of the most prominent Universities in the world and it also happens to be where I studied Engineering Physics.
The largest cathedral in Sweden, Uppsala Domkyrka. This is where Gustav I Vasa is buried. Gustav I is arguably Sweden’s most prominent king.Inside Uppsala Domkyrka.The tomb of Gustav I Vasa in Uppsala Domkyrka. In the background is my son and his wife.
Photos from Sweden
I am a fan of Leonberger dogs, and this is a photo of the only Swedish Leonberger I met personally. Her name was Amie. We met her at an interesting place, at the top of a north Swedish mountain called Skule Mountain (Skull Mountain).One of the interesting tourist attractions in northern Sweden is the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi . The ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi is the first/original and largest ice hotel in the world. My kids at the lobby of the ice hotel in northern Sweden.
Sweden has a king (Carl XIV), and he owns a couple of big castles. This is my kids with the guard in front of the Winter Castle in Stockholm.Drottningholm, one of the Royal Palaces in Sweden. It was built in the 1660’s and inspired by Versailles.A photo of the Vasa ship from the bottom floor. My son is standing on the right in a green and black shirt.The Swedish Royal family. The two people in the middle are Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Bernadotte. To the right of the king is the future monarch of Sweden princess Victoria and to the left of Queen Silvia is her husband. The others are their other two children and their spouses.Finally, the Swedish Flag (Wikimedia Commons). All other photos above are mine
Super fact 44 : Sulfur dioxide pollution has fallen by approximately 95 percent in the USsince the 1970s. This significant reduction is primarily due to regulations like the Clean Air Act. Global sulfur dioxide pollution has also fallen but not as much.
Sulfur dioxide is a colorless gas with the formula SO2. It has a pungent smell, which you notice after using matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activity and is produced as a by-product of burning sulfur-bearing fossil fuels and from metals refining. Sulfur dioxide is somewhat toxic to humans and by reacting with water it creates acid rain, which is a serious environmental problem.
The good news is that the Clean Air Act has driven technological advancements and the adoption of cleaner practices in industries that produce sulfur dioxide emissions. This has resulted in a drop of sulfur dioxide pollution in the US by 95% according to EPA and Statista and 94% according to Our World In Data. Statista is a pay site, so I am not going to link to it. Below is a graph from Our World In Data showing the reduction in sulfur dioxide pollution in the US.
US sulfur dioxide pollution since 1800. Data Source: Hoesly et al (2024) – Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). This graph is taken this page in Our World In Data.<<Link-5>> US Emissions peaked in 1973.
I should mention that by clicking this link you can visit the graph above Our World in Data and select different countries and regions and play around with the settings.
Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Worldwide
The worldwide emissions peaked in 1979 and fell sharply after that even though the progress (reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions) has not been as spectacular as in the US. Worldwide reductions are around 48%. Again, by visiting the Our World In Data page you can play around with the graph and the settings and view different countries and regions. This is an additional source visualizing the data.
Sulfur dioxide pollution worldwide since 1800. Data Source: Hoesly et al (2024) – Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). This graph is taken this page in Our World In Data. Worldwide Emissions peaked in 1979.Sulfur dioxide pollution worldwide since 1800 with three major polluters included. The United States is in red, China in green and India in blue. The graph for India is the one corresponding to the least overall pollution but it has no reduction. Data Source: Hoesly et al (2024) – Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). This graph is taken this page in Our World In Data.
Good News with Respect to Pollution
Sulfur dioxide emissions have gone down worldwide, which is good news. However, sulfur dioxide is not the only pollutant that we have succeeded in reducing. The graph below demonstrates that the US has also made great progress in reducing Nitrogen Oxides pollution, Carbon Monoxide, Black Carbon, and Non-methane volatile organic compounds. We have not been as successful with reducing Ammonia pollution.
However, according to Google AI sulfur dioxide, followed by Nitrogen Oxides pollution, Carbon Monoxide, and Black Carbon are the most serious pollutants. The graph below is taken from this page in Our World in Data.
US nitrogen oxide emissions, sulfur dioxide emissions, carbon monoxides, black carbon, ammonia and non-methane organic compounds pollution since 1750. Data Source: Hoesly et al (2024) – Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). This graph is taken from this page in Our World In Data.
The graphs for the world do not look as impressive. However, even in this case it looks like some progress has been made. Four graphs have peaked and are turning downwards, and one graph has flattened but unfortunately the graph for ammonia pollution is still heading upwards.
It should be noted that these pollutants are more or less local in the sense that they affect the polluting country and/or surrounding countries the most, whilst the climate change / global warming effect from carbon dioxide and other long lasting greenhouse gases tend to affect the entire planet.
Worldwide nitrogen oxides emissions, sulfur dioxide emissions, carbon monoxide emissions, black carbon, ammonia and non-methane organic compounds pollution since 1750. Data Source: Hoesly et al (2024) – Community Emissions Data System (CEDS). This graph is taken from this page in Our World In Data.
Aside from the success in reducing these pollutants there is more good news.
Natural Disasters Kill Less People Now Than 100 Years Ago. We have gotten much better at protecting lives in natural disasters and less people die in natural disasters despite the increase in frequency, severity and cost of certain natural disasters.
Do you remember the Oklahoma Brouhaha? The thirty-year war between Episcopalians and Baptists in Oklahoma. It began in 1970, and thousands of people were killed. The Baptist Republican Army committed terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Episcopalians.
The US Army was called in to establish peace, but it was seen as an occupation and only made things worse. People were dying in Oklahoma but also in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. The Governor of Texas was complaining about all the Oklahoma terrorism and wanted to close the border with Oklahoma.
Oh, you don’t remember? Were you asleep during history class? No don’t worry, it is not a super fact you didn’t know about. The Oklahoma Brouhaha never happened. I made that up.
Yesterday I started talking to my daughter about The Troubles, the war between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland that started in 1968 and lasted for more than 30 years. I don’t remember how the discussion started.
My daughter knows history well, much better than most adults I know, but she had still not heard about The Troubles. Her face looked like yours would if you thought I was serious about the Oklahoma Brouhaha. How could this have happened so recently in a peaceful, prosperous and beautiful European country known for its friendly and happy people, great pubs, cute gnomes, and fairy tales?
I can add that an acquaintance of mine survived a bombing of a hotel by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1984. He frequently talked about it. Another acquaintance of mine used to be a member of the IRA. Therefore, I have a small personal connection to it.
West Belfast, Northern Ireland,UK; February, 1994; Girl running with plate of chips past wall where two IRA Volunteers were killed by British soldiers Shutterstock Asset id: 1951602385, Editorial credit: RORY NUGENT.com
I on the other hand was flabbergasted that she did not know about The Troubles. But it makes sense. Half my life I was watching the news every day about the war between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland (on Swedish TV), but once peace was achieved, and Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley shook hands, I didn’t hear a peep about it ever again. How could someone in their 20s know about it?
Peace is Boring News
Peace is boring News. Peace is not even news. No news is good news. The same goes for other topics, such as the environment. Environmental disasters and environmental threats are news, and it should be, but an environmental problem that has been solved is no longer news and will be forgotten. One example of that is the super fact post I made yesterday “By 2018 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases had fallen by 99.7 percent”. What else have we forgotten about?
The phase out of six ozone depleting gases. Data source UN Environment Program (2023).
I guess my point is first of all, we forget, and secondly, that it is important to remember that bad news gets attention because it is interesting. Therefore, it is important to remember that there’s a lot of good out there that we forget about.
Below is a youTube video showing Irish comedian David Tynan O’Mahony (born in Dublin), stage name Dave Allen, making fun of Reverend Ian Paisley. Reverend Ian Paisley was a hell and brimstone preacher who agitated against Catholics (it was hate speech), not just in Northern Ireland, but against all Catholics.
For example, he called the pope the anti-Christ. I should add that Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams the leader of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (Sinn Féin) eventually shook hands in 2007 and came to an agreement. The tone was much different then, but that was long after this YouTube video was made.
The video below is not inflammatory, just very funny. I should mention that as Dave Allen is imitating Ian Paisley it sounds like he is saying “naatching of teeth”. That is “gnashing of teeth” in a north Irish accent. The ending is priceless with perfect comedic timing and effect. The video is 2 minutes and 42 seconds long.
I have one more video if you are interested. It is the Cranberries singing “Zombie” a famous song about the war in Northern Ireland. My daughter knew this song. She just didn’t realize that the song was about the war in Northern Ireland.
The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Super facts are important and true facts that are nevertheless highly surprising to many or disputed or misunderstood by many. In a sense this is a myth busting blog regarding important information. However, I also make posts that are not super facts but feature other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.
Relativity Visualized by Lewis Carroll Epstein
Lewis Carroll Epstein <<Link-1>> is a physicist, teacher and author who has written a number of physics books for layman. He is somewhat famous for coming up with ingenious ways of using diagrams, pictures and puzzles to explain complex matters without using mathematics. His approach is unorthodox but, in my opinion, quite successful. You still have to invest time in reading this 200-page long book and solving most of the puzzles to understand what is going on. The book features some math, notably regarding the derivation of the formula for energy-mass equivalency E = mc2. However, it is in a special section for “teachers only”.
It is an old book and the only version currently available on Amazon is the paperback version. The publisher of the paperback is Insight Press; First Edition (January 1, 1985), ASIN : 093521805X, ISBN-13 : 978-0935218053, 206 pages, item weight : 12.8 ounces, dimensions : 6.25 x 0.75 x 9 inches. It costs $48.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of the paperback version of Relativity Visualized by Lewis Carroll Epstein. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.
Amazon’s Description of the Relativity Visualized By Lewis Carroll Epstein
Perfect for those interested in physics but who are not physicists or mathematicians, this book makes relativity so simple that a child can understand it. By replacing equations with diagrams, the book allows non-specialist readers to fully understand the concepts in relativity without the slow, painful progress so often associated with a complicated scientific subject. It allows readers not only to know how relativity works, but also to intuitively understand it.
Note, I wrote this review in 2016, so it is relatively old, pun intended. In my original Amazon review I used very large paragraphs. I have changed that by breaking up the paragraphs a bit but without changing the content in any way.
Relatively Intuitive
In my opinion the theories of relativity are among the most interesting intellectual achievements in human history. They revolutionized physics and changed the way we think about physics, space, time, mass, energy, electromagnetism and essentially everything in nature. Despite that fact, the theories of relativity are deterministic and possible to visualize, and unlike Quantum Physics they are not statistical in nature and they don’t have a big issue with interpretation.
I’ve been interested in this topic ever since I came across it as a high school student. Therefore, I did not learn a lot about relativity from this book. I was more interested in the approach to explaining it, and I think his approach is a very good one.
I’ve found that an explanation for relativity that lacks rigor and quantitative reasoning creates misconceptions. The reader may end up thinking he understands it when he doesn’t. I’ve also found that books that focus on deriving complex equations were not only unattainable to the layman but sometimes left the mathematically inclined student with a poor understanding of relativity as well.
Lewis Carroll Epstein’s book “Relativity Visualized” seems to succeed in making relativity accessible to both the layman and those who are mathematically inclined. He explains the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity using graphs, visual constructs, and logical puzzles that the reader solves for himself. In a sense he allows the reader to develop the theories of relativity on his own. He avoids equations and formulas, but the reader will still discover more exactly what is going on.
One thing that really impressed me with this book is its special focus on the difference between what you see/experience and what you measure. As an example, take two lights that flash at the same time (in your reference frame). They could appear to flash at different times if the distance between them is large. So, you will see them flash at different times. However, if you time the light flashes and take the distance into account you can measure that they flashed at the same time (non-relativistic situation).
In relativity the differences you measure between frames do not only arise from the distance the light travels or from Doppler Effects but also from the relativity of time and space as well, and Epstein explains the details without confusing the reader. He focuses a lot on simultaneity/non-simultaneity right from the very beginning, and in my opinion understanding relativistic non-simultaneity is crucial to understanding what is going on.
The book also discusses the General Theory of Relativity. The General Theory of Relativity is often seen as completely off limits to the layman. It is typically explained using complex tensor calculus, differential geometry, and topology, or alternatively in a non-technical vague way that leaves the reader clueless. General Relativity was born out of an enigma. Special relativity had shown that energy and mass are the same things, so light has mass. A light beam traveling through a gravitational field must thus bend.
However, that means that the side of the light closer to the mass will travel a shorter distance. From known properties of light (always a transverse/orthogonal wave) this means that the side of the light beam closer to the mass moves slower than the outer rim which would violate the constancy of the speed of light in vacuum.
To solve this enigma Einstein had to introduce a time warp in gravitational fields. Later he discovered that this time warp would cause objects to fall towards the masses that caused the time warp and the practical effect of this turned out to be essentially identical to Newton’s theory of gravity and thus the mysterious force of gravity could be removed. Einstein also discovered that there is a warp effect on space which is negligible unless the speed of the objects is large (like magnetism for electric forces). The book helps you visualize all of this without using complex math.
Lewis Carroll Epstein’s book contains unique pedagogic approaches, novel geometric representations of relativity, as well as engaging questions and answers. For this reason, the book is fiercely protected by copyright law. On the negative side, his writing style is somewhat rigid and old fashioned, the drawings and the graphics are sometimes of low quality, and the book might be quite a bit of work for the layman reader, so it requires that you are really interested. However, overall, this is a very rigorous, detailed, correct, and yet entertaining book that I highly recommend.
Good Myths
I also would like to mention another tool that Lewis Carroll Epstein use in his book, and that is the concept of a Good Myth. A Good Myth is a description that isn’t technical and maybe not exact but that isn’t wrong either. In a loose way it captures the truth of what is going on.
An example of one of these myths is that everything, including all of us, is always traveling through time and space at exactly the speed of light in vacuum. In other words, we are all traveling at the speed of c = 299,792,458 meters per second. If we are sitting still, then we are traveling through time at the speed of light. If we are traveling through space at the speed of light then we are not traveling through time at all, like photons, for which time does not exist.
If we are traveling through space at a high speed, then if we add, in a vector way (Pythagoras theorem), our speed in space to our speed in time, they together will add up to the speed of light in vacuum. But that means that we are traveling through time at a speed that is less than the speed of light. So, our clocks will run slower.
Back cover of the paperback version of Relativity Visualized by Lewis Carroll Epstein.
Other Posts on Relativity
Below is a list of other posts I made on Relativity
The Speed of Light In Vacuum Is a Universal Constant : to see post click here
Two events may be simultaneous for some but not for others : to see post click here
Time Dilation Goes Both Ways : to see post click here
The Pole-Barn Paradox and Solution : to see post click here
Book-Review : The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm : to see post click here
Do you feel that you are traveling through time at the speed of light?
I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award a second time, this time by Pooja, from Lifesfinewhine. Thank you for the nomination, Pooja! It was a nice surprise.
The Sunshine Blogger Award
Check out her blog for lots of great posts featuring blogging advice and expertise, beautiful poetry, short stories, thought provoking quotes and much more!
Without further ado, here are the rules which I’ve copied from Pooja’s blog:
Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.
Thank the person who nominated you.
Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
Answer your nominators’ questions.
Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
Ask your nominees 11 questions.
Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.
Eleven Questions for Me
Below are my answers to Pooja’s eleven questions.
Question 1 : What’s your favorite animal?
Dogs, especially Leonberger dogs. I love dogs that are big or small. We’ve had a Labrador, a German Shepherd, a Leonberger, a Japanese Shin, a Pug and a mini-Australian Shepherd. I did not grow up with dogs. I learned to love them as an adult. Dogs are intelligent, they can understand hundreds of words, they are emotional, they are great communicators, they are loyal and loving. Dogs are the only animals capable of loving you more than they love themselves. Our Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, was a very large dog. He was brave, confident, strong, and a great family dog.
Our Leonberger Bronco at the age of three months. He would grow to be 140lbs, and 167lbs when he was a bit overweight.
Bronco rescued hamsters and he saved our Pug’s life by stepping in between her and an attacking dog. He likely saved our Labrador’s life too by sniffing out an oncoming insulin shock. He chased off a trespasser and peeping Tom who was harassing my wife and other women in the neighborhood thereby saving the women in the neighborhood when police couldn’t. He was very funny and an amazing swimmer as well as a skilled counter surfer. I wrote a book about Bronco that you can find here.
The front cover of The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. Click on the picture to visit the Amazon page the book.
Question 2 : What TV show or movie do you wish you could watch for the first time again?
I think that might be Ex Machina. This was a movie about Artificial Intelligence embedded in a female robot. She displayed human feelings in many ways, but she was imprisoned, and she wanted to get out. She was a disaster in the making. The movie was very thought-provoking, scary on many levels, as well as full of social commentary. Because it featured several surprises it is the kind of movie that is difficult to watch too many times.
Question 3 : What’s one thing you love unironically?
My wife, my children, my dog, well, that’s many things.
Question 4 : What is your favorite dish to cook?
I don’t have a favorite dish to cook but I love to grill or barbecue chicken, meat, sausage, and drink a beer while I am doing it.
Question 5 : Share the one joke that always makes you laugh no matter how many times you hear it?
There are some jokes that have a thought-provoking aspect to them and those I can laugh at even if I’ve heard them before. An example, “How will Descartes feel when he finds out that people who don’t think exist too?”.
I also love dog jokes, even the silly simple ones. An example featuring our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd is shown below.
Question 6 : What was your favorite cartoon growing up?
I read a lot of French Belgian Bande Dessinée (in Swedish) when I was a kid. My favorite was Tintin and maybe Asterix. That goes for both the comic books as well as the animated movies.
Question 7 : You get to bring three items to a desert island. What are they?
A knife. A gun needs ammunition and cannot be used for a lot of practical things. However, you can use a knife for a very long time. In addition, you can turn it into a spear and use it as a tool and use it to prepare a fire.
A hard bottle, or another sort of vessel, for carrying water or digging.
A reverse osmosis filter for removing salt from sea water.
Question 8 : What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I’ve only sang Karaoke a few times and I don’t remember what songs I picked, so I don’t have a go-to karaoke song. However, if I ever do Karaoke again, I think I will sing “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica.
Question 9 : Are you more of a “stay in and binge-watch” person or “go out and explore” person?
I love nature and I love the outside world. However, Dallas, where I live, does not offer a lot of opportunities for that so I might stay inside and watch TV. When I am in the countryside, or where there is a forest, mountains, or beeches, or in a beautiful city like Paris, Stockholm, or Copenhagen, I go out and explore.
Question 10 : What’s your useless superpower?
My most useless superpower is pointing out to people when they are getting their facts wrong. You would think they would appreciate the learning opportunity, but no, they often get annoyed.
Question 11 : What’s the weirdest compliment you’ve ever received?
My dog gives me an implicit compliment when he sits outside the bathroom door and waits for me. He shows that he wants to be with me, but it is a little weird.
Rollo’s fur sticking out underneath the bathroom door. He is waiting for me to come back out.
Here are my questions for my nominees:
Question 1 : What’s your favorite book?
Question 2 : What’s your ultimate comfort food?
Question 3 : What’s your favorite season and why?
Question 4 : Do you recharge better alone or with others?
Question 5 : What’s one adventure or trip that changed you?
Question 6 : What’s something you used to believe that you’ve changed your mind about?
Question 7 : What’s something you’ve learned about yourself in the past year?
Question 8 : What’s the weirdest or most random fact you know?
Question 9 : What’s a risk you’re glad you took?
Question 10 : What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Question 11 : What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
Eleven New Victims
Below are my nominees. Naturally, whether you participate or not is entirely up to you. I do not have any expectations, and I fully understand if you are not up to it.
Super Facts 