Google Docs: The Piraeus Lion
I just had to try this Google service - Google Documents.
Vintage street art: The Piraeus Lion
The Piraeus Lion "...was originally located in Piraeus, the ancient harbour of Athens (Greece). It was looted by Venetian naval commander Francesco Morosini in 1687 as plunder taken in the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire..." / "The lion was a famous landmark in Piraeus, having stood there since the first or second century AD."
"The statue, which is made of white marble and stands some 3 m (9 ft) high, is particularly noteworthy for having been defaced some time in the second half of the 11th century by Scandinavians who carved two lengthy runic inscriptions into the shoulders and flanks of the lion. The runes are carved in the shape of an elaborate lindworm dragon-headed scroll, in much the same style as on rune stones in Scandinavia. The carvers of the runes were almost certainly Varangians(*), Scandinavian mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Emperor who had been sent to Greece to put down a revolt by the local people."
"The inscriptions were not recognised as runes until the Swedish diplomat Johan David Åkerblad identified them at the end of the 18th century." / "The inscriptions are heavily eroded due to weathering and air pollution..." / "This has required translators to reconstruct some of the runes, filling in the blanks to determine what words they represented."
"Erik Brate's interpetation from 1914 is considered to be the most successful one.":
"They cut him down in the midst of his forces. But in the harbor the men cut runes by the sea in memory of Horsi, a good warrior. The Swedes set this on the lion. He went his way with good counsel, gold he won in his travels. - The warriors cut runes, hewed them in an ornamental scroll. Æskell (Áskell) [and others] and ÞorlæifR (Þorleifr) had them well cut, they who lived in Roslagen. [N. N.] son of [N. N.] cut these runes. UlfR (Úlfr) and [N. N.] colored them in memory of Horsi. He won gold in his travels."
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* "The Varangians or Varyags (Old Norse: Væringjar...)" / "...were Vikings, Norsemen, mostly Swedes, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries."
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Quotes from Wikipedia. Images from Wikipedia (the drawn version and the runes copied on paper), Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, (The copy of the sculpture set indoors), mararie's Flickr photostream (The original in Venice)
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Transportation: Yesterday's Airports of Today
"This is a 1935 model for an underground air terminal. After landing, aircraft would go underground to various levels for passengers, maintenance, and cargo loading. Connections to ground transportation are at the lowest level."
Quote and image from The Smithsonian website - America by Air.
Via BibliOdyssey
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Travel ephemera: Art of the Luggage Label
"Welcome to my image stream and information resource devoted to the art of luggage labels and related travel ephemera. Luggage labels are fascinating bits of hotel history from the golden age of travel, roughly the 1900's to 1960's. During this time these labels were used by hotels as advertising and eagerly applied to steamer trunks, suitcases and all sorts of luggage by hotel staff, mainly bellhops."
Tom Schifanella's collection on Flickr - Art of the Luggage Label.
Via Grow-a-brain
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Martin Klasch loves travel ephemera
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Problem: We're sorry, this video is no longer available
The last week or so I have had major problems watching clips on YouTube. Probably more than 90% of the clips have either just stuck in loading mode or the error message "We're sorry, this video is no longer available" reared its ugly face.
After searching the Internet for solutions, uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe Flash Player a number of times, I finally found someone in a forum who described exactly the same problem that I had. Luckily, I could also find the explanation; the culprits name is Google Web Accelerator.
Hey, wasn't it supposed to accelerate things?! Isn't it so that Google owns YouTube? Should they really make programs that sabotage YouTube watching?!! Is that wise?
Anyway, after uninstalling that program everything worked fine and I actually think general web surfing works faster without it. I could be imagining this but I'm not so sure.
Please check the comments for other possible solutions!
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Another YouTube problem and possible solutions: YouTube Freezing after just a couple of seconds
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By the way, do you use any personalized start page? I have had iGoogle for a long time but never used it. I never liked it. Don't ask why. Today I tried NetVibes and so far it seems really good and it looks a bit better than iGoogle too. So I guess I'll give it a try.
PS. I'm not a Google hater. They make lots of good stuff too.
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Illustration: Caricatures
Two times Dylan.
Caricatures
by Noma Bar (left) and Pablo Lobato (right).
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Vintage food: Sweden House Smorgasbord
Pickled herring anyone? View more images from Sweden House Smorgasbord and more at Senses working overtime's Flickr photostream. Great stuff!
Does anyone know where that is/was?
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Music: "Smoke on the water" Japanese style
Ephemera: Are you a Tiki fan?
If you are - like the eminent MrBaliHai of Eye of the Goof - a Tiki* fan, you will surely love Arkiva Tropika which is loaded with great Tiki ephemera like beautiful menus, place mats, postcards and match covers from different Tiki restaurants, bars, hotels and clubs...
Aloha!
* "Tiki culture in the United States began in 1934 with the opening of Don the Beachcomber, a Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant in Hollywood. The proprietor was Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, a young man from Louisiana who had sailed throughout the South Pacific; later he legally changed his name to Donn Beach..." (continue reading the Wikipedia article)
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Album Covers: Vinyl acquisitions
Take a look at The In Crowd's recent vinyl acquisitions at I'm Learning To Share!.
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Vintage photos: Cushman's day at the circus
"Charles Weever Cushman, amateur photographer and Indiana University alumnus, bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969, during which time he extensively documented the United States as well as other countries.
Indiana University's Digital Library Program and the Indiana University Archives invite you to explore what Cushman saw. Here you can view his photographs as well as read contextual information about Cushman's life and work."
Robotics: Big Dog
Uploaded by olinerd
You might have seen this before - I did. But I came across it once more today and it blew me away even more this time. See how this monster of a robot - It kind of reminds me of two thin-legged guys with large backpacks stuck to each others heads - makes its way across snowy hills, ice, rocky ground and it even jumps over stuff...
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Travel: Through the Panama canal
Go on a time-lapse journey through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean onboard a cruise ship.
Uploaded by radiofreebc
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