The goal of this blog is to create a list of super facts. Important facts that are true with very high certainty and yet surprising, misunderstood, or disputed by many. This blog aims to be challenging, educational, and fun, without it being clickbait. I determine veracity using evidence, data from reputable sources and longstanding scientific consensus. Prepare to be challenged (I am). Intentionally seek the truth not confirmation of your belief.
Today is the second time I participate in Linda Hill’s streams of consciousness. To read about the rules and participate click here, or here. To read my previous entry (prompt was pre) click here. Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday April 4 is “hide”. Use it way you’d like. The first rule is: there should be minimal planning and no editing except typos. First thing that came to my mind was reindeer hide. Notice that this is not a super fact post, but just a general informational / factual post. In addition, to writing about my experiences with reindeer hides I also downloaded a few pictures from Wikipedia.
2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley!
Reindeer Hide Memories
I grew up northern Sweden where there are a lot of reindeer and reindeer hides. When we drove around on the north Swedish countryside, we often saw reindeer at the side of the road. Sometimes there were flocks of reindeer blocking the road. Unlike many other animals reindeer tends to be a little bit stupid about traffic and quite often they walked right in front of the cars. The risk for collision was quite high.
Distribution of Rangifer tarandus (Caribou/Reindeer) Red – Reindeer (orange: introduced populations) Green – Caribou. TBjornstad 11:46, 31 October 2006 (UTC), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image is from this Wikipedia page.
A related interesting fact is that the in northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and parts of Russia there is an Aboriginal people referred to as Sami. They are / were traditionally a nomadic people who followed and herded the reindeer. Reindeer hide is a very important item for the Samis, and used for clothing, footwear, tents, drums and musical instruments, rugs and bedding. Reindeer hide is also an important cultural item for us “regular” north Swedes. When I was a kid, we used reindeer hide for bedding, decoration, wall ornaments, and for cover when sitting outside on the snow or the ice.
My kids here in Texas also have some experience with reindeer hides. When they were little, we visited the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden. The ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi is the original and largest ice hotel in the world. The beds in the ice hotel are made of ice and covered by reindeer hide to make it warm and soft. We also took a dog sled tour, and the sled was covered by reindeer hide for comfort. Below are some photos of us on a dogsled with reindeer hide and photos of ice beds with reindeer hide, including our room. I got these photos from my personal and very old family website.
We are going on a dogsled tour. The ice theater is in the background, and you can see part of the ice hotel on the right. Notice the reindeer hide on the sled.On the left is a kåta, a movable Sami structure (indigenous arctic Scandinavian people). Kåtas were traditionally made with reindeer hide.My dad Stig and his girlfriend Ulla came with us on the trip. Notice the reindeer hide on the ice bed.We are going to bed in our room. I think it was my wife Claudia who took the photo. Notice the reindeer hide on the ice bed.Another room with a snowy wall decoration. Notice the reindeer hide on the ice bed.Some of the rooms were really beautiful. Notice the reindeer hide on the bed.Some of the rooms had beautiful ice art. Notice the reindeer hide on the bed.You had to pay more for a big room. You paid the price of Hilton and got the comfort of camping in winter. Notice the reindeer hide on the bed.More ice art. Notice the reindeer hide on the bed.
Super fact 69 : Polar nights happen in the regions north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. Together the two polar regions cover an area double as large as the United States, and it includes a population of millions of people. During a polar night the sun does not rise for days, or months, up to six months. The polar nights are special, not just for the daytime darkness, but for the spectacular aurora borealis, the starlit skies, the extremely clear air, and the fact that people often lose track of time during polar nights.
It should be noted that even though the sun never rises during the polar night it may not be totally dark during the entire polar night. Part of the time you may get some light in the middle of the day, what is called polar twilight (nautical twilight or astronomical twilight). Nautical twilight tends to be bluish as shown in the photo below.
When our kids were young, we visited the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden. We went in March, during the American spring break, which was not during the polar night, so we did not experience it then. The polar night in Jukkasjärvi will begin December 5, 2025, or December 10, 2025, depending on how you count, and end at the beginning of January. However, the Ice Hotel was a fun way to experience a polar region. When I did my Swedish army service I spent the winter in the forest around that area, and even further north, and I experienced the Polar Night firsthand,
The lobby of the ice hotel. Our kids are sitting around a table of ice. A chandelier of ice is hanging above the table. The light is from fiber optics, so the ice won’t melt.
During my army service we stayed in tents in the forest far away from villages and cities and we often did not use any lights. The result was that it was incredibly dark most of the time. It was so dark that I could not see my own hand if I held it right in front of my face. The upside was that the sky was filled with thousands of stars on a clear night. It is estimated that you can see between 2,500 to 5,000, even 10,000, stars in the sky with the naked eye if you have good vision and it is completely dark. You could also see the Milky Way Galaxy very clearly and easily, as well as the Andromeda Galaxy, meteors, comets, satellites, not to mention the most spectacular aurora borealis that you can see anywhere on earth. That certainly beats the 14 stars and 3 planets that you can see with the naked eye on a clear night here in Dallas, Texas, where I live now.
Milky way sky on dark background, and a lot of stars. Asset id: 2524020369 by MR.PRAWET THADTHIAM
On one occasion I was standing guard outside the camp. We were pretending that we were at war with the Soviet Union. It was minus 40 degrees, and they forgot about me. I stood there alone in the darkness and the extreme cold for more than three hours. This was considered dangerous. The rule was no more than one hour out in the cold at a time. Once they discovered that I had been there for more than three hours they came to get me, and they apologized profusely. They were happy that I was not hurt. However, I did not mind, because my night sky view was spectacular. The night sky was so spectacular, it was to die for.
If it is cloudy and you are far from any civilization it may be pitch black in the afternoon. Even if it is not cloudy but the moon is not out it will be pitch black later in the afternoon. In addition, the air is very clear during the polar night, because the cold sunless Arctic air often contains almost no moisture and the visibility stretches for 100 miles. If you want to remain unseen in this situation it is very important to understand that even the tiniest light will be very visible, far away. Our platoon did an experiment. Someone lit a cigarette about one mile away and we could very easily see the bright cigarette even through the forest. The lesson was, No Cigarettes, and No lights!
Aurora Borealis are often spectacular in the polar regions, especially during the polar night. Asset id: 2499746583 by HappyVibeArt
I consider this a super fact because the polar night is a surprising phenomenon to those who do not know much about the arctic and my claims above are true and important since the polar regions are large and under threat from climate change / global warming. The polar regions and thereby the polar night also cover an area that is not small, and four million people live there.
The Arctic Circle, at roughly 66.5° north, is a commonly-accepted boundary of the Arctic waters and lands. CIA World Fact Book, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Midnight Sun
I can add that in the summer (northern hemisphere) you have the opposite phenomenon with the midnight sun. Just like the polar night can cause people to lose track of time so can the midnight sun. When we visited northern Sweden with our niece Jessica for my brother’s wedding, we had what is called midnight sun. Jessica was nine years old at the time. A couple of hours after we had gone to sleep Jessica woke me up “wake up Thomas, it is time to go out and play”. I protested, no it is not, it is one a clock at night and we are going to sleep. Jessica protested, she said, “No the sun is up, it is morning it is time to play”.
So, I said “Jessica, let me explain something to you. This is northern Sweden in June and here the sun is up in the middle of the night, and we are not going outside to play in the middle of the night.” After that my wife went out to play with Jessica, but I refused to go out and play at one o clock at night.
Ice Hotel Photos
Finally, I just wanted to include a few of my photos from the Ice Hotel, just for fun.
Our son David with one of the kick sleds called “spark”.This is a photo of the ice instruments standing on the ice stage.We are going on a dogsled tour. The ice theater is in the background, and you can see part of the ice hotel on the right.You can see ten dogs and the sled with us on top of it. On the left is a kåta, a movable Sami structure (indigenous arctic Scandinavian people). It is like a Tipi.
Super Facts 