Now on ScienceBlogs: And so, driven on ceaselessly toward new shores
Martin Rundkvist's blog. Archaeology, skepticism, Sweden. And books and music and stuff.
Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
September 30, 2008
Category: Gaming
I'm reading Steven L. Kent's engrossing 2001 book The Ultimate History of Video Games, and of course it reminds me of a lot of games I played as a kid. My first real video games were played on the...
Posted by Martin R at 9:09 AM • 11 Comments •
September 29, 2008
Category: Books
My erudite friend Florence Vilén (historian of religion, haiku poet, aficionado of gems and classical music) has published her first novel in Swedish. Tungelblodet ("Blood of the Moon") is high fantasy set in a northern archipelago where wind-witches help fishermen...
Posted by Martin R at 1:36 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Humour
I was contacted on Yahoo Messenger today by a chatbot named Alexandra Buford. She greeted me in a foreign language, so I thought it polite to reply likewise.Alexandra: yhneb martinrund Martin: yhneb Alexandra: Hi martinrund. it's Alexandra. Martin: yhneb Alexandra:...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 10 Comments •
September 28, 2008
Category: Poetry
For decades, Stockholm has been the turf of photocopy artist Renate Bauer. She paints too, but her main mode of expression is hand-written prose-poetic screeds covering every square centimeter of the paper. These she photocopies and fixes with sticky...
Posted by Martin R at 4:00 AM • 5 Comments •
September 27, 2008
Category: Archaeology
I've painted myself into a reasonably well-funded gentleman-scholar corner.
Posted by Martin R at 3:54 AM • 23 Comments •
September 26, 2008
Category: NOIBN
There is a discussion going on at Wikipedia regarding certain facets of the on-line encyclopedia's controversial notability policy. At heart, it's about where the line should be drawn between notable subjects (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and non-notable ones (Shitty Arnie, my...
Posted by Martin R at 12:09 PM • 5 Comments •
September 25, 2008
Category: Archaeology
Cartridges are large chunks of brass, which would make them obtrusive even if they were just spheres.
Posted by Martin R at 12:40 PM • 16 Comments •
September 24, 2008
Category: Archaeology
The dig closes eight days earlier than planned.
Posted by Martin R at 3:23 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Blogging
The fiftieth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Yann Klimentidis' Weblog. Archaeology and anthropology, and all about Belqas, a town in the north-western corner of the Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Belqas comprises in its jurisdictions the well known resort...
Posted by Martin R at 2:08 PM • 0 Comments •
September 22, 2008
Category: Blogging
Everybody with an interest in anthropology and archaeology -- it's time to contribute good new blog entries to next week's Four Stone Hearth blog carnival. You needn't have written them yourself: if you've found something worth reading recently, submit it...
Posted by Martin R at 12:51 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
"Inside the tinned food we found so much lead, that it hung like icicles inside the cans".
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
September 21, 2008
Category: Music
Sättuna excavation team member Peter Forrester is a big fan of Finnish folk metallers Finntroll. The other day he played me a funny untitled bonus track from the group's 2007 album Ur jordens djup ("Out of the depths of...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: Humour
I take a childish pleasure from the fact that Shanghai International Airport is named Poo Dong -- snigger, snigger. Now, reading about tea, I find my scatological spot tickled further by the Poobong Tea Company in Calcutta. Poo bong. Stick...
Posted by Martin R at 4:39 AM • 3 Comments •
September 20, 2008
Category: Gaming
My son just played me a song he can't get out of his head, "Still Alive". It's the closing-credits music of the 2007 computer game Portal, sung by a heavily vocoded Ellen McLain. As it turns out, the song...
Posted by Martin R at 7:13 AM • 6 Comments •
September 19, 2008
Category: Archaeology
Like winning a year's supply of something you have absolutely no use for and cannot sell.
Posted by Martin R at 4:08 PM • 22 Comments •
September 17, 2008
Category: Archaeology
We finished machining away the ploughsoil today, and I reckon we've uncovered about 800 square meters. I have a permit for 1200 sqm, but I stopped here. The landowner doesn't want us to expand in the most interesting direction...
Posted by Martin R at 4:42 PM • 4 Comments •
September 16, 2008
Category: Archaeology
We may be dealing with traces of late-pre-Roman activity.
Posted by Martin R at 3:59 PM • 1 Comments •
September 15, 2008
Category: Archaeology
Every little bit has fallen into place as planned.
Posted by Martin R at 2:54 PM • 11 Comments •
September 14, 2008
Category: Gaming
With kudos to Mattias who sent me the link, here are Stephen Lynch & Mark Teich performing a fine song about being a 14-y-o D&D-playing young man. To those of our readers who currently fit that description, let me...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
September 13, 2008
Category: Homeownership
For the past ten years, I've lived with my family in rented apartments in a 1970s housing estate that covers the erstwhile infields of the poor tenant farm of Fisksätra. Yesterday, my wife and I signed a contract to...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
September 12, 2008
Category: Archaeology
A new on-line archaeology and environmental-history journal published in Maine.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
September 11, 2008
Category: Archaeology
The forty-ninth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Hot Cup of Joe. Archaeology and anthropology, and all intended to recreate the lost 1921 short drama film The Great Day!CastArthur Bourchier - Sir John Borstwick Mary Palfrey -...
Posted by Martin R at 2:33 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Humour
"When the fence is symbolic, the structural elements are often symbolic 'doorframes' made of wire."
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 11 Comments •
September 10, 2008
Category: Archaeology
The problem was that most sherds with characteristic decoration have no food crust.
Posted by Martin R at 3:48 PM • 4 Comments •
September 9, 2008
Category: Biology
It is an adjective ending in an S, just like erectus, afarensis and neanderthalensis.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 26 Comments •
September 8, 2008
Category: Archaeology
The copper mine of Falun was once a major part of Sweden's economic backbone.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 12 Comments •
September 6, 2008
Category: Archaeology
Us boy archaeologists like to measure large phallic objects.
Posted by Martin R at 1:05 AM • 13 Comments •
September 5, 2008
Category: Language
Swedish has many subtleties to keep furriners from learning the language of glory and heroes.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 33 Comments •
September 4, 2008
Category: Environment
For historical reasons having nothing to do with engineering or rationality, Swedish nuclear power plants dump a lot of warm cooling water into the sea. In a revealing blog entry, Paddy K offers an estimate of just how much energy...
Posted by Martin R at 9:02 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
In their day they were the largest issue yet in the history of Sweden.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
September 3, 2008
Category: Children
A memory. A lot of Swedish middle-class kids get sent to confirmation camp when they're 14. It's basically a crash course in Christianity and ends with first communion. My brother went through his course and then refused the wafer &...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
September 2, 2008
Category: Music
Lately I've been listening to the following albums:Apples in Stereo -- New Magnetic Wonder (2007) Delays -- Faded Seaside Glamour (2004) Funkadelic -- Funkadelic (1970) MGMT -- Oracular Spectacular (2007) Motorpsycho -- Let Them Eat Cake (2000) Sleep -- Jerusalem...
Posted by Martin R at 11:42 AM • 5 Comments •
September 1, 2008
Category: Blogging
Just back home from a lovely evening in the company of friends. Good food, good drink and good conversation with (left to right) Tor, Felicia, Kai, Åsa, Pat, Anders and Lars & Thinker who left before I thought of...
Posted by Martin R at 4:28 PM • 17 Comments •
Highly Allochthonous 11.05.2009
Eruptions 11.05.2009
Not Exactly Rocket Science 11.05.2009
Corpus Callosum 11.05.2009
Starts With a Bang 11.04.2009
