The PBS science program Nova often does some good history.
Last week they premiered “Ship That Changed the World” that I found interesting, about a ship wreck discovery and excavation off the coast of a small Swedish island. It turned out that it was the “Griffin Dog,” owned by the king of Denmark, who was on it at the time.
It went down in 1495 and is well-preserved for large ships of that era (I think they said the “most”). As shows like this are usually, it is presented like a detective story, so I won’t give a lot of detail. But it is described as a “floating castle” and comparable to an aircraft carrier for that period of time. At that time, technology was also in transition.
Anyone can still view it online without being a member of PBS. Since it aired a week ago, I am not sure how long it will be freely available. The most popular programs don’t seem to be up much longer than a week.
As it is Nova, perhaps it will be available longer:
I watch almost no TV, but I often check PBS’s listings to see if there is something I might watch online. Usually it is just a one-off. But there seems to somewhat of a theme with their programming tonight. Check your local listings, but here is what I see and will likely try to watch:
Correction: There are actually two Nazi Mega-Weapons shows scheduled to air tonight. The first is “Atlantic Wall,” which airs at 9PM.
“U-Boat Base” is scheduled to air at 10PM (not 9PM).
That picture brought to mind a passage from the poem “Sea Fever” by John Masefield
“I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…”
If I were at the location pictured, I would find that little land bridge and the rock beyond an utterly irresistible temptation.
“If I were at the location pictured, I would find that little land bridge and the rock beyond an utterly irresistible temptation.”
Some years back, a couple walked out on a similar structure on Australia’s Great Ocean Road. The bridge collapsed behind them, and they had to be rescued by helicopter.
Best Vacation Story Ever. Assuming, of course, that they weren’t hiding anything from their spouses or anything…
That’s a nice piece of coastline. Could be California?
That’s Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. I’ve driven near there on many occasions but never saw that part of the coast. Have to fix that.
______
The Nazi Mega-weapons series is fascinating.
HumphreyP,
I have been a Nova watcher for many decades. They have had a lot of very good episodes. I will definitely look for “The Ship that Changed the World.”
Rufus T.,
They really do. I’ve also watched for decades. The kind of history they do is also more science-based (in a good way).
You often don’t have any choice but to watch politically-biased history, if you want to watch at all. You learn to adjust, internally critique, or discount what you see. But this aspect you only get better at with experience. And many people never do.
In an image search on Neo’s photo, I got Mendocino Headlands State Park, north of San Francisco.
HumphreyP,
I forget where I saw this, https://youtu.be/UKDzStzR7T4
but it’s a documentary on a French Architect, Jean-Pierre Houdin, who decided to quit his job and dedicate all his waking hours trying to figure out how the Great Pyramid at Giza was built.
I wasn’t too interested when I began watching; I was concerned aliens or bigfoot would soon show up. Also, I have never been that curious about pyramid construction. I always figured Egyptian Pharaohs would be more than happy to sacrifice any number of humans to meet their construction ends. Pyramids are just big, heavy blocks stacked one on the other. Given an endless supply of slaves, how hard could it be to build one?
Well, this documentary shows that there are more engineering and architectual challenges than I realized, and, also, there are several bizarre, inexplicable design elements that I had never heard of before. Including collapsed pyramids that have unusual elements. Egyptologists and Archaeologists have been writing them off as decorative, or ceremonial, but some features took a lot of effort. Seems odd Egyptians would have bothered with unnecessary frills.
Jean-Pierre Houdin puts forth a very compelling case for his design theories. It’s an interesting watch.
The Nova documentary gets into differences between ship design in the Mediterranean, including early Egypt, and caravel design from the Arab world, such as Columbus’s Nina and Pinta. And Viking longboats. What’s needed for a large ocean-going vessel?
The Griffin Dog is kind of a hybrid, and they find a very well-preserved part and get a good look at the hull near the end. But they say they still don’t understand it all. They also had gunpowder, early cannon and guns, but still use crossbows, and pikes. Politically, Denmark controlled Norway and Sweden at the time, and that was part of the story. Trade was also opening up. The timbers were not from Scandinavia. It looked to me like an impressive ship, and probably took many man hours to build. It’s downfall, why it sunk, is discussed, and is something that probably hadn’t been taken account of and addressed yet.
He seems like a decent guy, King Hans, but I doubt he was much into woke ideology.
The ship was in part to intimidate.
Thanks, Rufus T.
I will definitely watch that.
That photo kind of reminds me of Mister Snuffleupagus.
@Rufus:
“I always figured Egyptian Pharaohs would be more than happy to sacrifice any number of humans to meet their construction ends. Pyramids are just big, heavy blocks stacked one on the other. Given an endless supply of slaves, how hard could it be to build one?”
Current consensus is that they used Corvée Labour, so wasn’t Simon Legree Grade Boston Brahmin Bondage Porn… and that the workers were treated pretty well. I’m not any kind of expert on the Ancient Near East, but Moscati’s overview (Face of the Ancient Orient) gives impression that cf. their Fertile Crescent contemporaries, the Egyptians were easy-going sybarites — with a bit of a wee Afterlife Obsession to add some spice.
Just pulling this out of my posterior without bothering to research it, but I would imagine that a ‘problem’ in Egyptian society would have been what to do with the populace while the Nile was flooded every year.. No agriculture to keep them busy — might as well put them to work acquiring religious merit for themselves and feed them for free for hauling blocks — and said blocks could be transported closer to building sites when there was more water around to float them on.
Years ago I watched a documentary where John Romer was talking about an excavated village of artisans who worked in the Valley of Kings. Many of these were literate and it was possible to put together a picture of their lives from graffiti and things scratched on pot-sherds. One got the impression that they worked hard, played hard, and spent a lot of time seducing each others’ wives and swilling beer. Of course artisans would have been better looked after than mere haulers of blocks. But rather doubt that Hollywood Epic thwack of bullwhips on humans was the dominant theme.
To Whoever Recommended Charles McCarthy’s Tears of Autumn, a Very Big Thank You.
Don’t boycott SodaStream because it’s an Israeli company.
Boycott SodaStream because it celebrates and promotes degeneracy.
Share Your Rainbow Story with SodaStream this Pride Month:
Also because you’ll end up with T2D and bits being amputated… but you won’t get a thrill out of *that* the way ‘Laverne’ did.
“By today’s standards King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle but in fact it was seldom exercised. If you compare his rule with that of today’s U.S. Government you have to wonder why we celebrate our independence..”
A parody of Ben Shapiro.
However, I have never(?) seen Ben, so I don’t know if it’s funny. Or not.
If you’re a Shapiro fan or detractor you may or may not enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjjHk324yko
^^^ I couldn’t possibly comment.
HumphreyP:
Well done! I took it four years ago on a trip to that area.
If you like language or like me took a couple of years of German many years ago this is a fun video.
Forget parodies. What I’d like to see is a Cage Match between Ben Shapiro and Ann Barnhardt.
Still waiting for the Zaphod Show, Zaphod Podcast, or a Zaphod book. Class act in triplicate.
The Can Do! Can Do! Can Do! but somehow doesn’t.
@om:
“Still waiting for the Zaphod Show, Zaphod Podcast, or a Zaphod book.”
I know my limitations.
^^^ Try to resist the temptation. You can do it.
Charles McCarry.
Tears of Autumn is a well written and engrossing story. I discovered it a couple of years ago. Really surprised I had not heard of it before.
Neo:
Thanks! That was my first image search. I used a Firefox extension, “Search by Image”, which I see in the description there is also available for Chrome and Edge.
I saw an image at a site that looked identical. I didn’t think you had taken the photo.
Currently reading McCarry’s “The Bride of the Wilderness”. It’s not one of the Paul Christopher spy novels. Rather, it’s fictionalized family history set in early 18th-century England and then western Massachusetts, which is where McCarry’s family settled and where he grew up. My father once remarked that the hill towns west of the Connecticut River–Ashfield, Cummington, Hawley, Savoy, Windsor etc.–were full of retired spooks. That was probably true back in the day with the early OSS-derived CIA, which was assumed to recruit heavily among old, low-profile New England families. My guess now would be that retired spooks stick close to D.C. Or move (back?) to Utah and other parts of the Great Basin Kingdom.
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The PBS science program Nova often does some good history.
Last week they premiered “Ship That Changed the World” that I found interesting, about a ship wreck discovery and excavation off the coast of a small Swedish island. It turned out that it was the “Griffin Dog,” owned by the king of Denmark, who was on it at the time.
It went down in 1495 and is well-preserved for large ships of that era (I think they said the “most”). As shows like this are usually, it is presented like a detective story, so I won’t give a lot of detail. But it is described as a “floating castle” and comparable to an aircraft carrier for that period of time. At that time, technology was also in transition.
Anyone can still view it online without being a member of PBS. Since it aired a week ago, I am not sure how long it will be freely available. The most popular programs don’t seem to be up much longer than a week.
As it is Nova, perhaps it will be available longer:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/ship-that-changed-the-world/
I watch almost no TV, but I often check PBS’s listings to see if there is something I might watch online. Usually it is just a one-off. But there seems to somewhat of a theme with their programming tonight. Check your local listings, but here is what I see and will likely try to watch:
7PM. Wild Shetland: Scotland’s Viking Frontier. A wildlife show, but from the 30-second preview, it is in part on the Vikings who settled there:
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/mar/22/wild-shetland-scotlands-viking-frontier/
8PM. Nova: Great Escape at Dunkirk (aired 2018), can watch online right now:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/great-escape-at-dunkirk/
9PM. Nazi Mega-Weapons: U-Boat Base (aired 2013):
https://www.njtvonline.org/programs/nazi-mega-weapons/nazi-mega-weapons-u-boat-base/
Correction: There are actually two Nazi Mega-Weapons shows scheduled to air tonight. The first is “Atlantic Wall,” which airs at 9PM.
“U-Boat Base” is scheduled to air at 10PM (not 9PM).
That picture brought to mind a passage from the poem “Sea Fever” by John Masefield
“I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…”
If I were at the location pictured, I would find that little land bridge and the rock beyond an utterly irresistible temptation.
“If I were at the location pictured, I would find that little land bridge and the rock beyond an utterly irresistible temptation.”
Some years back, a couple walked out on a similar structure on Australia’s Great Ocean Road. The bridge collapsed behind them, and they had to be rescued by helicopter.
Best Vacation Story Ever. Assuming, of course, that they weren’t hiding anything from their spouses or anything…
That’s a nice piece of coastline. Could be California?
Philip, I think you can see the worn foot paths.
I was web searching for “natural bridge” photos and found this,
http://www.mobileranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/natbrlowtide_edited-500×334.jpg
That’s Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. I’ve driven near there on many occasions but never saw that part of the coast. Have to fix that.
______
The Nazi Mega-weapons series is fascinating.
HumphreyP,
I have been a Nova watcher for many decades. They have had a lot of very good episodes. I will definitely look for “The Ship that Changed the World.”
Rufus T.,
They really do. I’ve also watched for decades. The kind of history they do is also more science-based (in a good way).
You often don’t have any choice but to watch politically-biased history, if you want to watch at all. You learn to adjust, internally critique, or discount what you see. But this aspect you only get better at with experience. And many people never do.
In an image search on Neo’s photo, I got Mendocino Headlands State Park, north of San Francisco.
HumphreyP,
I forget where I saw this, https://youtu.be/UKDzStzR7T4
but it’s a documentary on a French Architect, Jean-Pierre Houdin, who decided to quit his job and dedicate all his waking hours trying to figure out how the Great Pyramid at Giza was built.
I wasn’t too interested when I began watching; I was concerned aliens or bigfoot would soon show up. Also, I have never been that curious about pyramid construction. I always figured Egyptian Pharaohs would be more than happy to sacrifice any number of humans to meet their construction ends. Pyramids are just big, heavy blocks stacked one on the other. Given an endless supply of slaves, how hard could it be to build one?
Well, this documentary shows that there are more engineering and architectual challenges than I realized, and, also, there are several bizarre, inexplicable design elements that I had never heard of before. Including collapsed pyramids that have unusual elements. Egyptologists and Archaeologists have been writing them off as decorative, or ceremonial, but some features took a lot of effort. Seems odd Egyptians would have bothered with unnecessary frills.
Jean-Pierre Houdin puts forth a very compelling case for his design theories. It’s an interesting watch.
The Nova documentary gets into differences between ship design in the Mediterranean, including early Egypt, and caravel design from the Arab world, such as Columbus’s Nina and Pinta. And Viking longboats. What’s needed for a large ocean-going vessel?
The Griffin Dog is kind of a hybrid, and they find a very well-preserved part and get a good look at the hull near the end. But they say they still don’t understand it all. They also had gunpowder, early cannon and guns, but still use crossbows, and pikes. Politically, Denmark controlled Norway and Sweden at the time, and that was part of the story. Trade was also opening up. The timbers were not from Scandinavia. It looked to me like an impressive ship, and probably took many man hours to build. It’s downfall, why it sunk, is discussed, and is something that probably hadn’t been taken account of and addressed yet.
He seems like a decent guy, King Hans, but I doubt he was much into woke ideology.
The ship was in part to intimidate.
Thanks, Rufus T.
I will definitely watch that.
That photo kind of reminds me of Mister Snuffleupagus.
@Rufus:
“I always figured Egyptian Pharaohs would be more than happy to sacrifice any number of humans to meet their construction ends. Pyramids are just big, heavy blocks stacked one on the other. Given an endless supply of slaves, how hard could it be to build one?”
Current consensus is that they used Corvée Labour, so wasn’t Simon Legree Grade Boston Brahmin Bondage Porn… and that the workers were treated pretty well. I’m not any kind of expert on the Ancient Near East, but Moscati’s overview (Face of the Ancient Orient) gives impression that cf. their Fertile Crescent contemporaries, the Egyptians were easy-going sybarites — with a bit of a wee Afterlife Obsession to add some spice.
Just pulling this out of my posterior without bothering to research it, but I would imagine that a ‘problem’ in Egyptian society would have been what to do with the populace while the Nile was flooded every year.. No agriculture to keep them busy — might as well put them to work acquiring religious merit for themselves and feed them for free for hauling blocks — and said blocks could be transported closer to building sites when there was more water around to float them on.
Years ago I watched a documentary where John Romer was talking about an excavated village of artisans who worked in the Valley of Kings. Many of these were literate and it was possible to put together a picture of their lives from graffiti and things scratched on pot-sherds. One got the impression that they worked hard, played hard, and spent a lot of time seducing each others’ wives and swilling beer. Of course artisans would have been better looked after than mere haulers of blocks. But rather doubt that Hollywood Epic thwack of bullwhips on humans was the dominant theme.
To Whoever Recommended Charles McCarthy’s Tears of Autumn, a Very Big Thank You.
Don’t boycott SodaStream because it’s an Israeli company.
Boycott SodaStream because it celebrates and promotes degeneracy.
Share Your Rainbow Story with SodaStream this Pride Month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okPwcLiG-i4
Also because you’ll end up with T2D and bits being amputated… but you won’t get a thrill out of *that* the way ‘Laverne’ did.
“By today’s standards King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle but in fact it was seldom exercised. If you compare his rule with that of today’s U.S. Government you have to wonder why we celebrate our independence..”
— Joseph Sobran (Hat tip the Big Bad ZMan)
Gab of the Day:
https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/076/349/839/original/983c542f4bf1acd1.png
Trust me, you’ll like this one.
A parody of Ben Shapiro.
However, I have never(?) seen Ben, so I don’t know if it’s funny. Or not.
If you’re a Shapiro fan or detractor you may or may not enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjjHk324yko
^^^ I couldn’t possibly comment.
HumphreyP:
Well done! I took it four years ago on a trip to that area.
If you like language or like me took a couple of years of German many years ago this is a fun video.
‘Ich bin ein Berliner’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnv0NJLOkfQ
“A parody of Ben Shapiro.”
Actually I *could* possibly comment.
Forget parodies. What I’d like to see is a Cage Match between Ben Shapiro and Ann Barnhardt.
Still waiting for the Zaphod Show, Zaphod Podcast, or a Zaphod book. Class act in triplicate.
The Can Do! Can Do! Can Do! but somehow doesn’t.
@om:
“Still waiting for the Zaphod Show, Zaphod Podcast, or a Zaphod book.”
I know my limitations.
^^^ Try to resist the temptation. You can do it.
Charles McCarry.
Tears of Autumn is a well written and engrossing story. I discovered it a couple of years ago. Really surprised I had not heard of it before.
Neo:
Thanks! That was my first image search. I used a Firefox extension, “Search by Image”, which I see in the description there is also available for Chrome and Edge.
I saw an image at a site that looked identical. I didn’t think you had taken the photo.
Currently reading McCarry’s “The Bride of the Wilderness”. It’s not one of the Paul Christopher spy novels. Rather, it’s fictionalized family history set in early 18th-century England and then western Massachusetts, which is where McCarry’s family settled and where he grew up. My father once remarked that the hill towns west of the Connecticut River–Ashfield, Cummington, Hawley, Savoy, Windsor etc.–were full of retired spooks. That was probably true back in the day with the early OSS-derived CIA, which was assumed to recruit heavily among old, low-profile New England families. My guess now would be that retired spooks stick close to D.C. Or move (back?) to Utah and other parts of the Great Basin Kingdom.