356’2023 (2023-12-22) – Friday

Today, I learned about:

There are so many wonderful places in this world. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting one of them. It is called Inhotim, located in the municipality of Brumadinho, 60 km south of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. I took the following header photo there on 342’2023 (2023-12-08). In a future post, I will tell you more.

Photo of one of the beautiful scenic views in Inhotim, taken by me on 342’2023 (2023-12-08).

But for now, here comes an update to modularity, subject of my post last month, 334’2023 (2023-11-30):

In the reference about the Ericsson central office AXE is said “Modular design may appear self-evident. After all, wasn’t that the key to Scania’s success as a relatively small truck manufacturer?”

So, here comes more information about Scania’s approach. Scania is a Swedish company with headquarters in Södertälje, immediately south of Stockholm. The name Scania is latin for the Swedish southernmost province, Skåne. It was there in Malmö, Sweden’s third biggest city, that Scania was founded in 1900. Today it is part of the German Volkswagen group, but it is still considered an important Swedish company.

In 1980, Scania introduced its 2-series of heavy trucks. It is a very good example of how the various modules of chassis and engines can be combined to configure the needs of a customer. It was very succesful and paved its way for future generations. More about the 2-series can be found in reference #1 below.

But, as most of you probably know, there is also another major truck manufacturer in Sweden, Volvo. Of course, Volvo is also heavily invested in modularity. An example of this can be found in their EDC (Electronic Diesel Control). Reference #2 gives all the details.

Finally, I would like to show you two different kinds of photos I took during the year 2023. The first one comes from a presentation at the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on 172’2023 (2023-06-21). I was very fortunate to integrate a group of athletes who together have won three olympic gold medals.

The golden trio, from right to left: Lars Björkström, olympic champion in yachting, tornado, in 1980; Giovane Gávio, twice olympic champion in men’s volleyball, in 1992 and 2004; and myself, no gold.

The second one was a photo that I had tried to take for a very long time, but the object always found a way to vanish before I could succeed. Then, finally, four days ago, I hit the jackpot. When a humming bird came to refresh itself with the sugary water I had waiting for him, then I was lucky enough to catch, not the humming bird, but more importantly, this fascinating picture of him. More about hummingbirds can be found in refrence #3 below.

This little bird is called beija-flor in Portuguese, a name that literally means flower kisser. It is always so fascinating to see it coming for a pit stop of sugary water on a sunny day, but it is so quick in its action that it is very difficult to catch it on film. Photo taken by me on 352’2023 (2023-12-18).

I wish all of my faithful readers and followers a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

That’s what I learned in school today!

Ref.:

1: Scania 2-series

2: Volvo EDC

3: Hummingbird

*: What did you learn in school today?

151’2022 (2022-05-31) – Monday

Today, I learned about:

What a fantastic world we live in! Last week I travelled to the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (which means General mines) on invitation from my student of Swedish, Adriana Bizzotto, together with her colleague Graziela Gabrielli. Thank you both for a very interesting week!

The trip started in the state capital, Belo Horizonte, where we had some marvellous meals. Then on Monday, we travelled south to visit Tiradentes, a town named after the Brazilian revolutionary who is known to be the person who started the upheaval against the Portugese colonizers at the end of the 18th century. The town is always crowded with visitors who want to see more of this well preserved town. On Wednesday, we continued north to Ouro Preto, a well known town in the Unesco World Heritage Program. And there were even more tourists there.

During the coming months, I will publish some interesting photos from the trip. To start with, the following photo was taken by Adriana on 147’2022 (2022-05-27) in the center of Ouro Preto and it shows the church of Saint Francis in the middle and other interesting buildings to the right.

Photo taken in Ouro Preto on 147’2022 (2022-05-27) by Adriana Bizzotto showing the Church of Saint Francis in the middle and other historical buildings to the right.

Stay connected to see the other photos, coming soon!

That’s what I learned in school today!

Ref.:

*: What did you learn in school today ?

2016-02-24 (Wednesday)

These last days, I learned up front that patience is a virtue!

And now over to something totally different:

Limerick1

Photo taken by Dina Guiltinan on 2016-02-22

mercer

Tell me, what do the photo, so gracefully taken by my  friend Dina, and the mathematical formula above have in common ?

I will give you one hint, read the formula this way:

A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more

Think well, have you heard that style of poetry before?

Now imagine that you are reading this poetry aloud while standing in the position of the photo.

That’s right, you are performing a limerick in Limerick!

A limerick is a form of poetry, especially one in five-line, predominantly anapestic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (AABBA), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The third and fourth lines are usually shorter than the other three. It was popularized by the Edward Lear in the 19th century.

In reference #1 there is a good collection of limericks, but further to them here are some new ones that I  wrote today:

New Swedish limericks

De följande två limerickarna tillägnar jag mina spelkompisar på Wordfeud. Jag är säker på att de känner igen sig:

Det bor en kvinna i Timrå
I konståkning har hon sitt skrå
Hon syr vadderade uniformer
Helt enligt alla normer
Så att åkarna ej slår sig gula och blå

Det finns en man i Haväng
Som i skogen tar sig en sväng
Bland rödvita skärmar
Och kartor i pärmar
Han orientar och samlar poäng

DSC_0911

Orientering i Borås djurpark 2015. Foto taget av Harald Persson, “mannen i Haväng”.

New Brazilian limerick

Gloria, uma raposa de Belo Horizonte
Colecionou camisas azuis de monte
Até que um dia
Ela entrou numa fria
E se jogou com as camisas da ponte

raposa

Uma amiga da Gloria

… That’s what I learned in school ! … Slut för idag, tack för idag ! … Por hoje é só !

Refs.:

1: Limerick

+: What did you learn in school today ?