How to Train Your Red Dragon

I've been there twice! What happened is this: Back in the 1970s it was noticed that the town was basically dying-- it had no industries, the businesses were closing, the mines nearby were long closed and all the young people were moving away as soon as they could. Richard Booth, owner of the half-ruined castle there, came up with a plan to get the town in the public eye and keep it alive: bookstores. So for the next couple of years they bought the stock of libraries and booksellers that were closing, bought books by lot from auctions, whatever they could do. And on April 1st in 1977 Hay-on-Wye declared itself to be an independent country-- they sent an ambassador to Amsterdam, made announcements in tons of newspapers and on TV, etc. Richard Booth gave out knighthoods (I think he was declared king) and had somebody patrolling the Wye river in a rowboat with an empty rifle as the Navy. Were they serious? No, but it DID draw a lot of attention; so did all the bookstores that they opened that day. It worked, too, as now buses run from London to Hay-On-Wye and there's a yearly book festival; and to this day you can get your passport stamped there. Fantastic place; it has a very nice campground on the edge of the village and some GREAT pubs too. My Welsh ancestors would be so proud of this place. Worth going there!

@Ysabet Well I guess I should BOOK a trip to go there. Sounds like a NOVEL idea to reboot the town like that.

Quick tip for the heat: If you don't have an air conditioner, improvise one! Take a couple of 2 liter bottles and fill them with water. Then freeze them. While they freeze, take a large box (about the size of a trash can) and line it with a trash bag. Tilt the box on to it's side. Then put the frozen bottles into the trash bag and put a fan near the entrance. And there! You have an improvised air conditioner!

@canary1212 The only issue with that is the heat that was in the water is now moved to the inside of the house. All a fridge/freezer does is pump heat from one place (inside them) to another (outside them).

@canary1212 I wonder if that is more thermodynamically efficient than a conventional A/C unit.

Either way, upvote for ingenuity!

@txag70 Not really. It's almost a zero-sum game since the fridge unit is on the inside as well.

IMHO an Evaporation cooler is far more efficient since when water goes from liquid to gas it ties up a lot of energy. Putting your fan behind an ovenpan filled with water probably the easiest solution and it's pretty effective (more advanced versions can lower the temperature by about 10 degrees Celsius). Really effective unless it's really humid.

@fiendishrabbit Good to know. I suppose in any case I am still going to be stuck with sky-high electric bills until either I get the hell out of here or November rolls around...

@canary1212 Another tip. If there is even the slightest of breeze, place a wet towel in front of an open window after sunset or on the shadowy side of the building.

@canary1212 I wouldn't recommend that. Freezing the waters takes energy. Your fridge blasts out that energy to the back of the room, more so than the ice block coming from it can cool the room down again. The fan also consumes energy, some of which it will emit again in the form of heat (engines typically get warm on heavy duty).

The point of air condition is taking warmth/energy form inside the house and putting it outside (plus some for the engine running). But the way you described, the added energy from the engine remains inside the house, so it is going to be warmer in the end. Same as trying to cool your kitchen by leaving the refrigerator door open. That does not work.

Better to hang wet towels in an air current, as AinoKyllikki suggested.

@Myrica Ah, okay. I didn't realize that. Thank you!

I predict that in the next humon comic Sweden will be running around on fire with Poland trying to put him out.

@fiendishrabbit It's not only Poles, French and Italy amongst others have chipped in hard too. We're sincerely gratefull for the help of everyone involved.

@TheButteryBread Also, Scandinavians are not socialists, only social democrats, which is not the same.

@HHWinston @TheButteryBread

While mostly true, I think that's a bit too much detail to be expected from Americans in general and Fox News in particular.

The political right always tries to smear any form of Socialism with association to Soviet-style Communism - but the simple fact is of course that there are many different versions of Socialism - just as there are of any major ideology.

Some people call themselves socialist, other social democrats, some democratic socialists and some even marxist or communist - but the name they choose to describe themselves doesn't explain everything about their political views.

Just as the broad ideological camp of "conservatives" contains a wide array of people holding very different views, supporting very differing policies.

Broadly speaking, the only common thread is that they all - in some form - trace their ideological roots back to the writings of Karl Marx. And as such, they can all broadly be said to belong to the socialist ideology.

So I don't think it's a problem calling all these people "socialist" - they usually don't have a problem with it themselves either.
Just as long as you remember that they all don't share the same views on everything.

@Nisse_Hult Well, yeah, but even so, I think we have to be careful with that at a certain point, nowadays the political spectrum changes according to what each one says, and that can be confusing. In addition, you must just look at the economic systems to know who is socialist, and who isn't, even if they are called like that. But of course, if they want to call themselves socialists, it doesn't matter. They are social democrats, but well...
In addition, there is already a clear distinction between Social democracy and socialism, and is the Socialism of the 21st century:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_of_the_21st_century

@TheButteryBread Yes it was a group effort but the Yanks part was relatively small (but it should still be remembered and appreciated of course). It was mostly thanks to the sacrifices of Russian commies that fascism was defeated.

@TheButteryBread Just reminding Finland is not Scandinavian. But also who Captured Berlin, Soviets! IPhone is a shit Phone, throw it of to School Wall, it will Break. Throw Nokia to the School Wall, it will crack the wall.
Fox News is a Big Barrel full of Shit ready to be loaded at your mouth if you even think of believing it, Propaganda some would even say.

@Mixu Oh yes, it is propaganda for sure.

@Mixu
They even had the gall to call it "fair and balanced" for a long time. Blatant lies. I feel sorry for the people who are too stupid and/or brainwashed to see through those lies.
Seriously, with all the crap going on in the US today, they really shouldn't begin comparing. We might just do the same against them.

@TheButteryBread Sweden remained neutral during WWII. They didn't need anyone to liberate them from a bunch of Nazi's. But Fox is all about 'alternative facts'... In fact, the Soviets put in a bigger effort to wipe out the Nazi's. They suffered most losses, too. And they were worse than just socialists, they were communists. So I'm not sure why kicking Nazi butt is an exclusive privilege for an American economic and social system.

Sorry to tell you, but no Scandinavian ever put a foot on the moon...

And even more sorry to tell you, but Finland hasn't been part of Sweden anymore for quite a long time now.

@ImportViking
We suffered the most losses because as an imbecile Stalin killed many of his military leaders because he was paranoid.

@Keremline Nevertheless, you made the sacrifice.

@ImportViking for your second opinion...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christer_Fuglesang

@TheButteryBread Because sending someone in space is totally the same as standing on the moon!

@TheButteryBread
As far as I know there have been 12 people on moon none of them put there by scandinavians. Or anyone other than americans.

@TheButteryBread cool story bro

@TheButteryBread Fun facts:
- The first phone to be referred to as a "smartphone" was an Ericsson. The first iPhone couldn't copy and paste text across aplications, something even my non-smart Ericsson could do.
- The US were in talks with the german government about an alliance. When they couldn't agree on the terms, the US began talks with the allies instead.
- The period of time generally thought of by the republicans as the golden age of America was an age with relatively small wage gaps and strong unions.
- There is really nothing the US does that Scandinavia can't do better. The US just does more. (The one exception being superhero movies. Scandinavia isn't good at those.)

*Sits down while more then 60 forest fires rage around me and its hotter then Spain* This is normal Scandinavian weather right? *Insert melting* hElP iTs mOre ThEn 30 dEgReSS cElsiUS

@BadgeOfBall I know your pain (except the forest fires). We just hit 38°C yesterday. With no wind and over 60% humidity. Even your tap water is no longer really cold!

I love hot weather, but this is just... *looks around in Europe* Is this hell?!

@IcePhoenix Yes, it is probably hell. Maybe we are getting punished for our Colonial sins? I did not Think drowning in your own sweat was a good torture tactic until now. The more you know

I see a lot of people (predominantly from the southern US) that thinks our current heat in northern Europe is nothing to complain about.

As others have already pointed out, there is a lot these people are missing:

1. We're not at all used to this heat - either in our own lives or historically
2. As a consequence our homes are built to keep heat in - because our usual climate problem is the cold
3. Which also means AC is virtually unknown in regular homes

Our societies and we as peoples are built and accustomed to handle -30 degrees centigrade (-22 Fahrenheit) in the winter - but we're not well equipped to handle temperatures above +30 degrees centigrade (+86 Fahrenheit) weeks on end, as we've been having.

Also, there hardly hasn't come any rain at all for months, so the outdoors is like a tinderbox. We currently have 19 ongoing forest fires in Sweden alone - and we've accepted help from multiple other nations in fighting them (shoutout to all our friends in Europe who have answered our call!).

So far, Sweden's lost 30,000 hectares of forest to fires - or over 74,000 acres (or about 56,000 american football fields) for those more familiar with that measurment.

And it's not like Sweden is the only country where fires are raging, as you all probably know.

@Nisse_Hult I live in Denmark, and while we don't have raging fires here I can't help but feel sorry for you guys.

Now I do have a friend living in Sweden, but she lives in Stockholm luckily hasn't had any problems with the fires.

@Fluffkin Actually we've had some field-fires on farmland. And then there's the recent - possibly still ongoing - fire in Lille Vildmose :S But yeah, we probably don't experience anything on the level that Sweden and Greece is experiencing

@ACVE @Fluffkin

Well Sweden is a lot bigger then Denmark obviously - and we have a lot more forest where a fire can spread for miles and miles without any natural obstacle to stop it.
When it's a dry as it is now, the fire can easily jump rivers - sending burning embers with the wind to the other side.

I live in Stockholm as well and there have been several fires around here as well.

It's just that they are more easily contained as there aren't vast forests without roads around Stockholm.
Here, firefighters can quickly gain access to any side of a fire and fight it as soon as it starts - and a fire can hardly start before someone notices it, since it's such a densely populated area.

There are also a lot more fire-fighting resources available in a major city like Stockholm, so whenever a fire starts they can deploy massive resources to it within minutes - while up in the north a fire can sometimes burn for hours before anyone ever notices it, and when they do it takes several hours more to get anyone deployed to fight it.

@Nisse_Hult I hope everyone stays safe and cool. Here in the Southern State of Arkansas (USA) It reaches around as low as 74 and as high as 111. And it swings between that often So we are so use to it, it seems weird that everyone else isnt. Much love from the south.

@Last1Alive Hey, I've been round the Ark-La-Tex area quite a lot as well...

I apologize for you having to live there.

@Last1Alive

74 F would be considered good summer weather in Sweden - we're not always assured to get many days of that high a temperature a year.

And we've never ever had 111 F in Sweden - the record is 100.

On the other hand we regularly have -22 F in the winter, and the record is -62 F.

So as I said - our societies and we as people up here in the north is built and accustomed to combat the cold - not the warmth.

Give us a deep midwinter cold and several feet of snow for months and we'll just soldier on - but hit us with a few weeks of temperatures like these and we melt away.

Thank you and rest assured I'd be thinking of you if I ever see the news that a cold snap has hit Arkansas.

This is extreme of course - it's snow clearing in the mountains in the north to cut paths for the meltwater. But it's still Sweden - in May:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MFNN1HOVVo

@Nisse_Hult
I sympathize, especially the "not equipped to deal with 30+ C" part. My ancestors were from cold parts of Europe and to the extent it's genetic I seem to have inherited that temperature sensitivity. Yet I live in Texas, where it's currently 34C at 22:00. At least AC is pretty much universal here.

Stay safe with the fires. If the smoke is bad in your area, particulate pollution masks (the kind you see people wearing in China during pollution spikes) are a good idea if you have to be outside for any length of time.

@Nisse_Hult We should not forget wildlife and farms either. Animals and plants adapt to a certain sort of climate, and suffer in the heat. Many farms will go bust without government intervention, because they will get a smaller harvest or lose it completely, because cultivars are chosen based on climate as well. Since every farmer on the planet is facing similar problems, the price of food will rise. That will have serious global consequences.

@Nisse_Hult that explains a lot

@Nisse_Hult Fire rages in Sweden even when it's cold, though not in the forests.

@Keremline

If you're referring to the fact that fires obviously can happen anytime anywhere (which is why fire departments exits everywhere to stop them), that's of course true - but it's equally true all over the world.

If you're trying to make some "smart" comment based on what you've been fed through right-wing and/or Kremlin-based propaganda, no.

Sweden is doing just fine compared to most countries in the world - including Russia.

@Nisse_Hult
Oooo all arsons and problematic crime of certain demographics in Swedin is just right wing kremlin propaganda You my man are funny

@Keremline

And you're sad.

A little boy, raised on Kremlin-propaganda who thinks he can tell a grown man old enough to be his father in another country that what the little boy has heard in his autocratic rulers propaganda is true, while what the grown man has lived his whole life is not.

Your shitty leader is lying to you - becuase that's what your shitty leaders have always done.
It's the only way Russian leaders can ever stay in power - tell you how terrible every other country is, so you don't rise up in another revolution and kill them all.

And you're falling for it, because they tell you you must belive Russia is great and wonderful and perfect - or you're not a "good Russian".

Stop being so stupid - for your own sake as well as your countrys.

There are brave Russians risking their life every day, trying to make your country a better place - but you waste your time trying to convince me of propaganda lies about my own country?

That's just sad.

I doubt anyone will read this but... my husband said if we ever run away to live in Wales I may move us into this town.

..... I will read ALL the books to the children.

@Moriastar In order to achieve that bevore they grow too old you will need audio books. Lots of audio books. Day and night. Otherwise you will be mute soon :-)

Wales should also be happy because one of their own won the Tour de France yesterday! ;)

The legend says that, during the 5th century, the walls of a castle in Wales were always destroyed during the night. Merlin discovered that two dragons, a red one and a white one, were fighting under the castle. The two eventually came out (out of the ground, not of the closet) and caused great damage, before the red dragon eventually won, thus becoming the emblem of Wales.

Humon you silly person, you mentioned the heat, NOW the bloody yanks are going to go "yeah but here where the heat is regular and usual and we had life times to get used to it it's not that bad"

@LuxVertas Either that or "It's much worse here, dude!""

@Sigart yeah but at least they have the Luxury of Air conditioning!

@LuxVertas This Yank is sympathizing; we've had our first heat wave of the summer, but thankfully it wasn't as long-lasting. Temps were about equal, as was the humidity, and Maine is NOT used to this crap anymore than Northern Europe is. Here's hoping you get a break soon without the extreme storms that tend to break these things.

@katfairy Another sympathizing yank right here. I'm in Washington state, and we've already gotten heat advisories, not to mention we haven't had a real winter with snow that lasts more than a day in years. Really hoping it cools down for everyone soon! =[

@katfairy Well we had a good bit of rain last night/this morning... so we got down to normal-ish numbers

@LuxVertas

Yeah you pretty much called this...

But in my defense, Texas heat really is fucking terrible

@txag70 I hear Laughter from Arizona...

@LuxVertas Touche, good sir.

@LuxVertas yeah but here where the heat is regular and usual and we had life times to get used to it it's not that bad