I grew up in northern Sweden (Norrland), which means that I saw a lot of snow. I loved playing in the snow, building snow castles, snow tunnels, throwing snowballs, building snowmen, going sledding and going cross country skiing. I don’t remember being cold. I had warm clothes on, and I often stayed out very late playing in the snow. Now I live in Texas where snow is very rare.
Snow on the trees, Gällivare county, Swedish Lapland, Sweden Shutterstock Asset id: 2035482680 by Mats LindbergCross country skiing in Sweden Shutterstock Asset id: 1888204651 by Henrik A. Jonsson
Later in life, maybe at the age of 12-13 I also started doing downhill skiing / slalom. We had four ski resorts close to my hometown Örnköldsvik. I can add that the snow packed northern forests can be very beautiful. Northern Sweden is also a very dark place in winter, being close to or above the arctic circle. Therefore, I also watched some spectacular night skies and auroras from my snow castles. The Milky Way and even the Andromeda Galaxy were visible. One time as I was sitting in the snow, I saw a very large meteor moving across the sky. It had a tail of fire and was not moving too fast. I believe I could see the piece of rock, but I am not sure. In any case, it put up a show.
Milky way sky on dark background, and a lot of stars. Spectacular night sky in the polar winter. Asset id: 2524020369 by MR.PRAWET THADTHIAMAurora Borealis are often spectacular in the polar regions, especially during the polar night. Asset id: 2499746583 by HappyVibeArt
Unfortunately, according to my brother, this winter my hometown Örnsköldsvik did not have snow for Christmas. According to Science Daily the data from weather stations in northern Sweden indicates that the snow season has decreased by over two months in a 30-year span and according to the National Library of Medicine the cold season in northern Finland (next doors) has gotten warmer with reduced snow cover. This is quite noticeable and the reindeer are suffering as a result.
I should say that Jukkasjärvi is located north of the arctic circle and is typically very cold in winter. However, you sleep in very warm sleeping bags on top of ice blocks covered by reindeer hides. The ice hotel itself does not have any bathroom, but they have an adjacent wood building with bathrooms and showers. They also have rooms for people who don’t want to sleep in a cold ice room. We visited the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi as a family in 2004 and I took a lot of photos.
The lobby of the ice hotel. Our kids are sitting around a table of ice. A chandelier of ice is hanging above the table. The light is from fiber optics, so the ice won’t melt.Another photo of the lobby at the ice hotel. My son David is barely visible behind one of the ice pillars.One of the beautiful hallways in the Ice Hotel.My oldest son sitting at an ice table in the lobby.Entrance to the ice bar where you could food and drink and sit on ice chairs by ice tables.We started the evening with a visit to the ice restaurant and bar. Everything in the ice restaurant was made of ice, the tables, the chairs, the counter, the glasses, the plates, and the art.Close up of ice glasses on the ice counter in the ice bar.This is a photo of the ice instruments standing on the ice stage.A close up of an ice cello and an ice guitar.This is a portion of an ice organ in the ice bar.My dad Stig and his girlfriend Ulla came with us on the trip.We are going to bed in our room. I think it was my wife Claudia who took the photo.This was the hallway where our room was located.We are going on a dogsled tour. The ice theater is in the background, and you can see part of the ice hotel on the right.The kids had a lot of fun during the dogsled tourOn the left is a kåta, a movable Sami structure (indigenous arctic Scandinavian people).This is the ice theater. It was located next to the ice hotel (not in the picture).
The ice hotel had put out lots of kick sleds, referred to as “spark” for people to use as a mode of transportation on the snow and ice, or just to sit on. As my dad, Stig, was sitting on one of them, our son came up to him and told him “Stig the hotel put out these sleds for children to play with. It is not for adults to sit on.” My dad was so surprised that he just handed him the sled.
Our son David with one of the kick sleds called “spark”.They got the ice blocks for the structure and for the art from nearby Torneå river.
The next day I took photos of some other rooms
Another room with a snowy wall decoration.Some of the rooms were really beautiful.Some of the rooms had beautiful ice art.You had to pay more for a big room. You paid the price of Hilton and got the comfort of camping in winter.More ice art.
I’ve stopped making New Year Resolutions. According to Psychology Today 80-90% of New Year Resolutions fail. However, I still have goals and wishes for the new year. Instead of making promises I try to make changes at my own pace. One of them is that I’ve started using the Peloton bike that we bought for my wife. Another is trying to adapt to my new role as a grandfather. Our first grandchild Jack was born at the end of September 2024. Yet another new beginning is that I want to focus slightly more on my relatively new blog superfactful that I started in August of 2024. In 2024 I posted 25 super facts and in 2025 I posted 53. I also made 64 other kinds of posts on this blog. I am hoping to one day to have collected 200 super facts. My hope is that I will post 80 super facts in 2026. Let’s see how far I get.
New Beginnings the Peloton Bike
My wife and I bought a Peloton bike a couple of months ago. It was my wife who was the most interested in it but lately I’ve been trying it out as well. I found that this is an excellent way of getting some exercise. A Peloton bike is an internet-connected stationary exercise bike featuring a large touchscreen that streams live fitness classes led by instructors. You select your level, time and your instructor and press start.
Our Peloton bike. The large touch screen is on the right in the photo compared to the rest of the bike.
I usually pick the same class as my wife does. It is the beginners class with Emma. You follow her instructions and you increase/decrease the speed and resistance. Emma does the same thing as you do, you follow her, she is encouraging and she plays great music for you as you do the exercises. It is almost like having your personal trainer. I know these are prerecorded classes but yesterday when my speed / cadence dropped below the goal, Emma told me, “Let’s try to keep the cadence above 80”. This happened twice giving me the feeling that the class was live. It is an entertaining way of exercising that I hope I will continue doing throughout 2026. Perhaps not every day, but I want to do it often. It is a new beginning for me, a new exercise beginning.
Emma is looking out from the touch screen, telling you what to do.
New Beginnings Our First Grandchild
Our oldest son Jacob and his wife Ashley live in Baltimore, Maryland, and their son Jack is three months old. We’ve visited a few times, and we are soon going back there, and they (Jacob, Ashley and Jack) are coming to visit us in February. Being a grandfather is a new role for me that I am going to have to learn. It is a New Beginning for me. You can read more about our latest trip to Baltimore here.
Jack with his mother AshleyMy wife Claudia is feeding JackMy wife Claudia is on the left; I am in the middle and Jack is on the right.
New Beginnings for Super Facts
In August of 2024 I started a second blog, superfactful. The goal of this blog is to create a list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true and yet surprising, mind-blowing, shocking or disputed by large segments of the public. I am avoiding click bait and focusing on facts that will challenge the reader as well myself in a way that provides growth. Below are a few examples.
The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all observers regardless of their speed and the direction in which they are going. It is always c = 299,792,458 meters per second. If you try to catch up to a light beam and travel close to the speed of light the speed of the light beam will still be c = 299,792,458 meters per second compared to you. This is possible because time and space don’t behave like we expect.
In this picture Amy is traveling past Alan in a rocket. Both have a laser. Both measure the speed of both laser beams to be c = 299,792,458 meters per second.
Superfact 25: Global warming or if you call it Climate Change or Climate Disruption is happening, and it is happening very fast, and we also know that it is caused by us primarily as a result of our burning of fossil fuels. There is a long-standing scientific consensus on these two facts because the evidence is conclusive. Check the evidence below.
The so-called hockey stick curve depicting the last 1,000 years. The blue line is the first hockey stick curve ever created (by Michael Mann). He used proxy measurements such as tree rings, green-dots 30-year average, red temperature measurements. This graph is taken from this page.
Super fact 67 : Infinities come in different sizes. Some infinities are larger than others. In fact, it is possible to create an infinite number of different-sized infinities. Some infinities are countable and others are uncountable.
Infinity Asset id: 2118543950 by Sahara Prince
There are 78 super facts so far. I am hoping that my increased focus on this blog will lead to another 80 this year. It will be a New Beginning. To see a list of the 78 super facts and the next 72 I’ve planned click here.
This post is not about Leonbergers but about a phenomenon that seems to be spreading like wildfire in the blogosphere, AI generated comments. If you are a blogger that has been blogging lately, I am sure you have seen them. Well written, seemingly creative, flattering and detailed comments that give the impression that the commentor, who appears to be an extremely articulate writer, has read your post really well and understood it, and has spent a long time perfecting the comment. Unfortunately, he/she didn’t write anything and has probably not even looked at your post. He/she might have, in a very short time, generated hundreds of comments automatically for hundreds of blogs he/she has never looked at and knows nothing about.
When I started getting the AI generated comments I was really flattered at first. Someone really took the time to read my often lengthy and complicated posts and not only understood them well but loved them for all the right reasons. As the Devil in the Devil’s advocate said, “vanity is my favorite sin”. However, I eventually realized that these comments were inauthentic. I still say thank you when I get an elaborate and flattering comment that does not look genuine or seems to be too good to be true. First of all, it is difficult to know for sure whether the comment is AI-generated and secondly, they did make some effort even though it was minimum. I don’t know if that is right or wrong of me.
To generate an AI-comment you can, for example, use a website such as Postiz. You copy and paste the content of a blog post into the edit box “Original Post Content”, then select the tone, for example, “friendly”, and then you press the button. Then copy and paste the comment in the blog.
There are many other tools for generating comments, blog posts, and other content including HyperwriteAI, which also can make the content sound genuine using your writing-persona. It trains the AI to mimic your unique writing style (you provide examples) ensuring the output sounds like you.
My Murder Moose Example
I am not going to post examples without the consent of the non-authors, so I am giving my own example based on my recent post “What are your Favorite Animals Not Murder Moose Anymore“. I used Postiz, which generated the following comment for me.
Wow, that’s such a cool journey from the Murder Moose to loving dogs!
I love how you turned your childhood memories into a drawing.
And writing a book about Leonbergers is amazing!
Dogs really do bring so much joy and companionship.
Rollo sounds like a great buddy too!
Below is the drawing that Postiz is referring to:
The murder moose in my second grade story. The picture was generated by ChatGPT.
I posted an AI-generated comment above, which makes it seem like I already broken my promise not to post AI generated comments. However, the comment was not posted in anyone’s comment section but here in my post for illustration purposes. What I promise is to not post AI generated comments on anyone’s blog post without telling them it is an AI generated comment, unlike a lot of bloggers. The picture above is also AI generated but I am stating that it is.
In my opinion, leaving AI generated comments on people’s posts without telling them it is AI generated is dishonest and the same is true when someone posts an AI generated blog post without mentioning that it is AI generated.
The Death of Internet
AI generated comments, bots posting comments, bots arguing with people in the comment sections, bots arguing with other bots in the comment sections, and bots “clicking” massive amounts of reactions (like, love, angry, laughter, etc.). Not to mention the spread of deep fakes These are phenomena spreading like wildfire.
Not all AI generated comments and comments by bots are innocent flattery. Bots frequently spread false information, false narratives, division and anger. AI generated comments and bots are ruining the comment sections in various ways. Before you get into a lengthy argument with someone on internet, here is some expert help to determine whether you are arguing with a bot, or not. On my second blog I posted about the fact that “more than half of Internet Traffic is Bots”. Most of the bot traffic is malicious by the way.
Warning of a system hacked. Virus, cyber-attack, malware concept. Asset id: 1916985977 by Sashkin
This makes me wonder if the internet is dying. With that I am not referring to the Dead Internet Conspiracy Theory that claims that Internet is already dead and entirely governed by bots that are controlling us. I am referring to something more realistic, that our internet experience is ruined first by people using AI generated content (comments, posts, etc.) without telling readers, and secondly by bots. Is Internet losing its authenticity and value?
And to reiterate, I promise not to post AI-generated comments on people’s blogs.
At about 8:00AM Central Standard Time my Leonberger blog surpassed 100,000 views. At the moment of this writing, I have 55,000+ visitors, 10,600+ comments, 16,800+ likes, and 326 posts. I am very grateful for all of your visits, likes and comments. Thank you so much!
I started this blog to promote my Leonberger book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger” (see picture below). That was a bit more than three years ago. I can add that the three-year anniversary of the release of my book is coming up in July. Click here to read more about my book.
Since the launch of my blog, my blogging has evolved and in addition to Leonbergers my blog has become a personal blog featuring book reviews, travel stories, and other topics. In other words, I am using my blog for my personal entertainment, in addition to on occasion promoting my Leonberger book.
The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Lowenhohle
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. It is the original reason for launching my blog. Click here or on the image to go to the United States Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the kindle version of the book.These are the endorsements for the book. Click here or on the image to go to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
Three Leonberger Photos
This is a photo of our Leonberger Bronco when he was three months old. It is the photo I’ve used the most throughout this blog. Click here to visit the blog which organizes and lists all of my 300+ posts.Hachi a Canadian Leonberger featured with my book. He was one year old when this photo was taken by Brenda Saito and her husband. Click here or on the photo to visit the paperback version for the book on Canadian Amazon.A Canadian Leonberger called Mak with my book. Photo by Debbie Ireland. Click here or on the photo to visit the page for the book on Chapters Indigo.
Today’s post is a highlight of Good News from my super fact blog, which I call Superfactful. I am listing eight posts, seven of which are what I call super facts. A super fact is a fact that is important, not trivia, and that is known to be true and yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many. The super facts included with this post are what you can call Good News. Surprising news, perhaps shocking news, but still good news.
Peace Is Boring News
The first and my most recent post is not a super fact but my musings on the fact that good news tends to be boring news and therefore forgotten.
West Belfast, Northern Ireland,UK; February, 1994; Girl running with plate of chips past wall where two IRA Volunteers were killed by British soldiers Shutterstock Asset id: 1951602385, Editorial credit: RORY NUGENT.com
Emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by 99 Percent
Super fact 41 : Largely thanks to the Montreal Protocol in 1987 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by more than 99%, 99.7% to be exact, according to Our World in Data. This has resulted in halting the expansion of the ozone holes and the reduction in emissions of ozone-depleting gases is saving millions of lives every year.
To visit the page for Emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by 99 Percent click here.
The phase out of six ozone depleting gases. Data source UN Environment Program (2023).
Natural Disasters Kill Less People Now Than 100 Years Ago
Super fact 35: Natural disasters kill a lot less people now compared to 100 years ago. That is despite a larger population and despite the fact that climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of many types of natural disasters.
The explanation for this is that we have become much better at warning people, preventing deaths and rescue people.
To visit the page for Natural Disasters, Kill Less People Now Than 100 Years Ago click here
This graph from the Gap Minder article shows the annual deaths from natural disasters in ten-year intervals starting with 1930. The trend is down.
EV Cars Indeed Emit Less Carbon Pollution
Super fact 29: EV Cars emit less pollution than Internal Combustion Engine, even considering manufacturing, disposal and EV Cars being charged by dirty grids.
To visit the page for EV Cars Indeed Emit Less Carbon Pollution click here
Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions comparison of average gasoline car and 300-mile range EV.
Smallpox Killed 300 million People in the Last Century Before Eradication
Superfact 24: Smallpox killed 300 million people in the 20th century. However, there have been no naturally occurring cases of smallpox since 1977, and the world was declared free of smallpox on May 8, 1980, by the 33rd World Health Assembly.
To visit the page for Smallpox Killed 300 million People in the Last Century Before Eradication click here
This world map shows when smallpox was eradicated from different countries. The source is Our World in Data , originally Fenner et al. at CDC.
We are living in relatively peaceful times
Superfact 9 : Despite all the wars going on, the world was filled with a lot more war and violence in the past. Despite the grim news reports we are living in relatively peaceful times.
To visit the page for We are living in relatively peaceful times click here
Death rate from wars since 1946. The uptick in 2022 is largely due to the Ethiopian Tigray war with 162,000–600,000 killed and the invasion of Ukraine, which US and BBC estimates at more than 200,000 deaths (but estimates from most other sources are less).
US Violent Crime Nearly Cut in Half Since 1990
Superfact 8 : Despite all the news reports about rampant crime, the US violent crime rate has fallen to half of what it was in the early 1990’s.
To visit the page for US Violent Crime Nearly Cut in Half Since 1990 click here
The four graphs show that both violent crime and property crime have declined since 1990. Visit the post to see the Pew Research article it is taken from.
Poverty and child mortality has been sharply reduced worldwide
Superfact 7 : Extreme poverty as well as child mortality has been sharply reduced the world over. The countries that are the worst-off today are still better off than the countries that were doing the best at the beginning of the 19th century. Over the last 50 years extreme poverty and child mortality has continued to decline sharply.
To visit the page for Poverty and child mortality has been sharply reduced worldwide click here
This graph from Our World In Data shows a steep decline in extreme poverty over time. Click on the picture to visit the original article.
If you have not subscribed to my super fact blog you are certainly welcome to.
I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Laura, from Black Moon Lilith Thank you for the nomination, Laura! It was a nice birthday gift.
Sunshine Blogger Award
Check out her blog for lots of great posts which feature poetry, short stories, very cool pictures, and other interesting things!
Without further ado, here are the rules which I’ve copied from Lauras’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 Lauras’s eleven questions. I have not yet learned how to create the kind of pictures that Laura creates. That’s for another time.
Question 1 : What’s your favorite brand of coffee? If you don’t drink coffee, what do you like to drink? (Tea, etc)
I drink Green Mountain Nantucked the most, but I really like Gevalia the best.
Question 2 : What’s the most creative lie you’ve ever told?
I never lie. Well, that’s my most creative lie.
Question 3 : What’s the last dream you had (that you feel comfortable sharing)? If you’re in the “don’t dream” camp, what would you like to dream about?
I dream about traveling a lot. My last very memorable dream was about traveling on a big boat. On the boat I met several people from my youth in Sweden. Then I needed to go to the bathroom, but I could not find it. Every boat should have well-advertised good bathrooms but the boat in my dream didn’t.
Question 4 : What was the most favorite job you’ve held in your lifetime?
I think that was when I was a robotics research assistant at Sandia National Laboratory the summer of 1993. I was new to the United States, I had just received a green card, and I was working at a well-regarded national laboratory located inside a major US Airforce base. Everything was secret. The lab next to us received a Soviet satellite carrying a small nuclear power reactor that summer. The US did not know how to build a mini nuclear reactor at the time so reverse engineering this reactor was a big deal. I would like to point out that I was not part of that. I only heard about it. Another fun job was when I designed the portion of the electronics for a Swedish fighter jet called JAS Gripen.
Mechanized industry robot and robotic arms for assembly in factory production. Shutterstock Asset id: 2459375613 by Summit Art Creations.
Question 5 : What motivated you to start blogging?
I wanted to start a blog to advertise my upcoming dog book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. I asked my friend Alex Diaz-Granados for advice, and he helped me get started on WordPress.com. Later on, I continued blogging mostly because it became a hobby and I started a second blog superfactful, which has nothing to do with my book. The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many.
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click here or on the image to go to the United States Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.
Question 6 : What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my wife and kids, my whole family, my dog(s) current and past, and what they gave me. I am grateful that I am alive and that I can experience our beautiful nature, the night sky, and everything there is to know and understand.
Question 7 : What’s something nice you did for yourself recently?
We went on a great ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. I skied the Imperial Bowl, which is served by the highest ski lift in the western hemisphere. The Imperial Bowl is big and wide and mostly empty and there was a lot of powder snow. We had a very good time together as a family.
Question 8 : If you could partake in any new endeavor, experience, or hobby, regardless of time constraints or money, what would it be?
I would like to get a degree in Astro Physics as a retirement project, but not for a future career. That would be a huge time commitment and probably expensive and maybe weird too, considering my goal is not a career in the field. However, I like to know things about how the world works and I like to know things about the Universe.
Question 9 : What do you like to do to keep your brain active?
When I was still working as a software engineer / robotics engineer I kept my brain active because of my work. Since I took my early retirement, I need to keep my brain busy in other ways. I read a lot of books, I wrote a book, I blog, I am learning French, I am a volunteer for an organization called Citizens Climate Lobby, which focuses a lot on specific legislation that I need to study, I brew beer, and well OK drinking beer may not be keeping my brain active but it is a hobby as well.
Question 10 : What do you like to do to keep your body active?
I jog and I like to swim in my in-law’s pool. My wife and I used to go bicycling a lot. We have not done that for a while, but I think we’ll soon pick that back up again.
Question 11 : What is your favorite thing about spending time out in nature?
I love a lot of things about nature. I cannot pick one specific thing. I love the forest. The quiet, the solitude, the tranquility, the berries, the birds singing, the beautiful trees and the vegetation, the smell, the hills, the scenery, and seeing some animals too. I just don’t like to encounter a bear.
Forest in the mist. Shutterstock Asset id: 2525988579 by Flystock
Here are my questions for my nominees:
Question 1 : What’s your favorite movie(s)?
Question 2 : What is something you’ve done or experienced that is unusual?
Question 3 : What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?
Canis Lupus Familiaris, the dog, is a close relative of the grey wolf. Dogs and wolves share a high percentage of DNA and are in fact the same species. They can mate and produce offspring referred to as wolf dogs. However, keeping wolves or wolf dogs as pets is not recommended. Our late Leonberger dog Bronco was in fact accused of being a wolf by a little boy and he was accused of being a bear by a neighbor. The boy was very close to being right.
Leonbergers are big dogs, and little boys may think they are wolves, but Leonbergers are very friendly.Mini Australian Shepherds like our dog Rollo may look like wolves but are rarely mistaken for wolves. A quacking duck can be very scary to little mini–Australian Shepherds.
Are Big Dogs Wolves ?
The short stories below are from my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger”. A Leonberger is a large type of dog, a so-called giant breed, closely related to Saint Bernards, and allegedly also Great Pyrenees dogs Newfoundland dogs. Bronco weighed 140 pounds when he was not overweight.
Bronco was a big dog. Once when I was walking Bronco around the neighborhood, a neighbor who always let his black Labs run loose saw us. He shouted to his wife, “Honey, get the dogs inside! Someone is walking a bear out here.” I guess letting your large dogs run loose isn’t a problem until someone walks a dog much bigger than yours.
On a number of occasions, we’ve met people who said to us that Bronco is the biggest dog they’ve ever seen. However, there are bigger dogs. We’ve met bigger English bullmastiffs and bigger Great Danes.
One day I took Bronco into PetSmart, and after I did my shopping, he and I were standing in the checkout line. Bronco was very quiet and well-behaved, but a boy ahead of us in line became quite alarmed when he saw us. He shouted, “Look! A wolf, a wolf, a wolf!” He pointed his finger at Bronco. His mom tried to calm the boy, but he would not stop shouting. He didn’t seem to be afraid of Bronco, but he was really concerned that there was a big wolf in the pet store. I tried to explain to the boy that Bronco was not a wolf. He was just a big dog.
Since our neighbor called Bronco a bear, I am including a second image from Kevin’s post that I think illustrates what our neighbor saw as I walked passed his house. Well, I had only one Leonberger/Bear and I don’t have antlers or a beard, and our neighborhood does not have that many trees. Other than that, it is spot on.
Finally, a beautiful Nordic Lullaby sung by Jonna Jinton. Jonna Jinton is a Swedish singer who lives nearby Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden, which is the town where I am originally from (now I live in Dallas, Texas). So, if you watch the video, the nature you see is from my old neighborhood.
The Lullaby is about a wolf who is hungry and cold, but he can’t have the singer’s baby for dinner. But she could offer a pig tail. What some may find remarkable about the Lullaby is that the mother being threatened by the wolf shows the wolf empathy. The existence of the stomach creates conflict between us creatures. To see the English translation turn on subtitles.
Some of you know that I have a second blog. The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many. I’ve created a list of super facts, which I keep updating as I add new super facts. So far, I’ve been posting and updating this list on every super fact post. As the number of super facts increases, this becomes a lot of work and in addition it is not good for SEO to repeat a large number of the same links over and over.
Therefore, I’ve created a new page featuring the super fact list as well as a new menu item “super facts” that opens this page. Below every super fact post I am adding the text “To see the Super Facts Click the Super-Facts menu above”. I am curious whether this menu and the page are easy to find. Please visit the superfactful blog and see if you can find the “super facts” menu item and the page. I have pasted the current content of the page below.
Smashing our old beliefs with new surprising facts, super facts. Expand your mind and teach me some unexpected truths. Click on the image to visit the super facts blog. Shutterstock ID: 1685660680 by MattL_Images.
(1) We Know That the Earth is Billions of Years Old – click to visit
Above this post there are Menus “About Me”, “Home”, “History”, “All Posts”, “The Book”, “Contact”. Today I updated the content of the menu called “All Posts”. This page lists all my blog posts that I’ve ever done. I added headers to the nine categories as well as a banner style image to every category. Below I am illustrating the first category “The Adventures of Bronco and his Dog Friends”. Please check out the new page – click here. What do you think?
Amazon lowered the price of the paperback version of my book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle” from $19.95 to $17.95 some time ago and I cannot set it back to $19.95. I am guessing that it is because of Amazon’s lowest price policy and that another bookstore somewhere is selling it for $17.95. So, I am thinking, why not roll with it and have a holiday promotion. I also just lowered the price of the Kindle version from $4.95 to $2.99. The prices in all other countries, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, etc., are likewise lowered by the same amount.
I would like to add that the reason I tried to set the price back to $19.95 is not because I want more money. I am donating all royalties to the Leonberger Health Foundation International, which is a great organization that supports health related breed-specific research. However, the research frequently improves the health of other dog breeds as well. You can read more about the Leonberger Health Foundation International below.
This is the front cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the paperback version of the book.This is the back cover of the book “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com location for the kindle version of the book.These are the endorsements for the book. Click on the image to go to the Barnes and Noble location for the book.
In this book you’ll read about some of Bronco’s amazing feats: the night he scared away a prowler; the day he performed a hamster search and rescue; the time he stumped the Geek Squad; and the late night he snuck into the kitchen and ate a two-pound bag of dog treats, a box of pastries, a loaf of bread, a grilled chicken, and a Key lime pie, all in one sitting. You’ll also read about his unflappable calm during a north Texas tornado and his stoicism as he endured health challenges in his later years.
In addition to entertaining stories, these pages contain a wealth of practical guidance, including:
a history of the Leonberger breed;
advice for the care of very large dogs;
breed-specific health and genetic information;
training and feeding tips;
suggestions for finding a breeder;
the official breed standard; and
an extensive resource guide.
Below is a list of places where you can get my book.
The Leonberger Health Foundation International is an organization that supports science and research impacting Leonberger health, longevity and breed preservation. Examples of research they’ve supported include research on Addison’s Disease, Inherited Leonberger Polyneuropathy (LPN), LEMP research, the Rabies Challenge Fund, Osteosarcoma, Hemangiosarcoma, genetic causes of male (dog) infertility, Cryptorchidism, study of cruciate ligament repair, Glaucoma, cardiac diseases, thyroid disease, neurological disorders, longevity & aging, population diversity, juvenile renal dysplasia, anal furunculosis, the EGFR Immunotherapy Project, and Leonberger inherited Arrythmia. As mentioned above, a lot of the progress applies to other dog breeds as well.
LHFI’s global biobank contains DNA samples from more than nine thousand Leonbergers. Among the organization’s notable achievements are the eradication of Addison’s disease among Leonbergers and the raising of more than $650,000 for research into conditions that affect canine health. Another success is the fact that since 2011, no Leonbergers with two copies of the LPN1 gene mutation (which causes Leonberger polyneuropathy) have been recorded in LHFI’s biobank. LHFI does other things as well. LHFI grants an award called the Grey Muzzle Award to Leonbergers who reach the impressive age of 12 years. Leonbergers and other giant breeds tend to live short lives, something LHFI is trying to solve and they have made progress. One of the recipients of the Grey Muzzle Award was our Leonberger Bronco.
The Grey Muzzle Award from the Leonberger Health Foundation International.
Below is an 8-minute video explaining the ongoing research on sudden cardiac death in young Leonbergers.
