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, 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
This is not a super fact post but another kind of fact-oriented post. It is a book review for a book that I find interesting, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. Yes, the book was written by Albert Einstein in 1916 and translated into English in 1920. It is written for laymen, average readers, and despite being more than 100 years old (well this reprint is from 1995) it does not feel outdated.
I should say that I wrote my review decades ago and Amazon has hidden about 900 of the oldest reviews including mine. So, you can no longer find it. Luckily, I still had it, but I cannot provide a link to it. The book comes in formats, hardcover (2024), paperback (1995), Kindle (2014), Audio (2009). I bought the paperback version.
Publisher : Independently published (July 29, 2024), ASIN : B0DBQVVJVQ, ISBN-13 : 979-8334454118, 109 pages, item weight : 7.8 ounces, dimensions : 6 x 0.47 x 9 inches, Translator : Robert W. Lawson, it costs $12.33 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Paperback – Publisher : Crown (June 6, 1995), ASIN : 0517884410, ISBN-13 : 978-0517884416, 208 pages, item weight : 8 ounces, dimensions : 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches, it costs $7.89 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Publisher : Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (February 23, 2014), ASIN : B004M8S53U, 126 pages, it costs $0.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Audiobook – Publisher : HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books (November 14, 2009), ASIN : B002XGLDAA, Listening Length : 2 hours and 14 minutes, it costs $12.09 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.
Amazon’s Description of Relativity by Albert Einstein
This book was originally written in German by Albert Einstein in 1916 and later translated to English by Robert W. Lawson in 1920. In Einstein’s own words, “The present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics. It is an easy-to-understand collection of the ideas of one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century including the idea he is most known for, the theory of relativity.
Redesigned inside and out to have a fresh, appealing look, this new edition of a classic Crown Trade Paperback is a collection of Einstein’s own popular writings on his work and describes the meaning of his main theories in a way virtually everyone can understand.
Below is my review for Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. First, I should mention that the book is divided into two sections, one for the Special Theory of Relativity and another for the General Theory of Relativity. In addition, there are five short appendices. The five appendices are not written for layman and require at least high school mathematics.
Relativity Explained by Einstein himself
I found it very interesting to read an explanation of the theories of relativity by the developer of those theories. However, it is important to remember that the inventors of science theories aren’t always the best ones to explain them. Isaac Newton is a prime example.
Another thing to remember is that today there are a lot of books and online graphics that use clever pedagogic techniques and visualizations to assist you in understanding these theories, and naturally this book does not contain any of that.
This book was originally written in 1916 and updated in 1920 and since then it has been reprinted/edited several times (as this book is an example of). I should say that the General Theory of Relativity had just been published so there weren’t much else out there for laymen at the time.
I’ve already read many good books on relativity, and I believe I understand special relativity pretty well, but my understanding of general relativity is partial. I did not buy this book to understand relativity. The reason I bought this book was to gain another perspective on the subject. If you just want to learn and understand relativity, I recommend Relativity Visualized by Lewis Carroll Epstein instead.
“Relativity: The Special and the General Theory” features no derivations of the formulas in relativity (except in the appendix) and no visualizations demonstrating relativistic effects and phenomena. The book is focused on the conceptual foundations of relativity and physics.
For example, what are Geometrical propositions, what does it mean to measure the length of a rod, or the time of an event, what do we mean by speed, what is simultaneity, what is the difference between what we observe and what we measure, etc? Einstein spends one and a half page explaining addition of velocities in classical-pre-relativistic kinematics (w = v + u) and what assumptions that are inherent with the approach. In that sense the book is quite philosophical, which is what I meant by “another perspective”. The book covers both the Special Theory of Relativity and the General Theory of Relativity. However, the sections on the General Theory of Relativity are quite short and very introductory.
There are some issues with the book. In appendix 1 Einstein (I presume) derives the Lorentz transforms. However, it is not, in my opinion, the best derivation from a pedagogical standpoint and it also had typos in it. As far as I can tell the formula on page 50 is wrong unless what Einstein means with the “m” is “additional relative mass” and not actual “mass” as stated.
The book features an addition written in 1920 where he is discussing an ad hoc modification to his theory that he had previously made but it turned out to be unnecessary (related to cosmology). The language is also very old fashioned. On the other hand, this kind of stuff makes you feel as if you travel back in time to when the theories of relativity were being churned out.
I don’t recommend the book for learning the theories of relativity but overall I liked the book. It focuses very much on basic concepts and near philosophical aspects of time, space and relativity. The book presents a valuable perspective if you already understand what the theories of relativity are about.
Back cover of Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardback version of the book.
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.
This is not a super fact but just interesting information about ERCOT. ERCOT or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is the organization that manages the state’s electricity grid, ensuring reliability and it operates the competitive wholesale electricity market for 90% of Texas’s electric load. There are a few things that are important to remember about ERCOT.
The ERCOT grid is located solely within the state of Texas and is not interconnected to the rest of the United States. In addition to Texans being independent, this is a way of avoiding federal regulation. ERCOT is regulated by the Texas Public Utility Commission while the rest of the country is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
ERCOT is an ISO (independent system operator), meaning it’s a non-profit organization that manages the electricity grid independently of any single utility company.
When companies sell their energy (to ERCOT) it works like a continuous auction. The one with the lowest price is picked first and allowed to contribute with whatever they are able to and also, of course, considering what the grid-powerlines can carry safely.
The power grid carries the power and if not sufficient it can be a major bottle neck. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Renewables are successful in Texas
One thing that surprises many people is that renewable energy, for example, wind and solar, is quite successful in Texas. Fossil fuels is important in Texas, and there are many powerful oil and gas billionaires in Texas who fight the expansion of renewables. Texas politicians work hard to create laws that punish renewables with discriminatory permitting requirements.
For example, a recent bill in the Texas Senate SB819 adds a lot of requirements on renewables and battery storage that does not apply to fossil fuel-based energy sources. An example is the requirement in SB819 that wind turbines must be at least half a mile away from the property line of any neighboring property whilst, for example, oil rigs can be built up to the property line. There are a lot more regulations in SB819 that are discriminatory, contrary to free market principes, and even violations of private property rights.
Despite all the obstacles set up against renewable energy in Texas renewable energy is on the march in Texas. The reason is that ERCOT is ultimately a price competitive free market-based system and renewables are cheap. Solar and wind are the cheapest even considering subsidies and the cost of construction, land rent, disposal, and other costs not directly caused by electricity generation are taken into consideration disposal. Click here for details. The graph below shows the evolution of different energy sources in Texas. The graph is taken from this link provided by Dr. Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at UT Austin.
The ERCOT fuel mix from 2006 to 2024. Notice the expansion of wind power and notice that solar has gone from nothing to 10% of the average fuel mix in five years. The graph is taken from this link.
You can read more about the evolution of renewable energy in Texas by clicking here.
Watching the ERCOT Fuel Mix in Real Time
Finally, what I think is the most interesting portion of this post, the real-time ERCOT Fuel Mix. It includes a couple of energy sources not mentioned earlier in this post, hydro and power storage.
Hydro is very small in Texas and power storage is a new item that is not a true energy source but a feature that can be called upon when energy is suddenly needed somewhere. It is still not widely used but it reached 10% of the mix at one point in 2024. It is likely an energy source that will keep growing as it is instant and scalable. It is the most dispatchable energy source of all. I can add that there is a lot of misinformation spread about renewable energy, especially about wind power. To read more about that click here.
Last evening and today I took several screen shots of the real time ERCOT fuel mix (see below). A couple of things to note are that solar does not contribute at night and wind contributes more at night. It was a very cloudy and rainy day today so solar contributed less than normal during daytime, but not a lot less. It is not much less than the typical sunny day of 20%. It is true that wind and solar are intermittent, but it does not matter a whole lot because wind contributes more at night when solar does not contribute and battery storage, the most dispatchable energy source of all, is growing in importance.
Click here to watch the real-time ERCOT Fuel Mix minute by minute anytime you like. (highly recommended).
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Super Facts 