Living in these days of great uncertainty, let’s have again some uplifting topic here. The article on the Welsh language can wait. Why not have a few - foreign - words about Happiness? That thing that we all strive towards, in our own unique ways. That thing that we sometimes stumble upon. That thing that we can define in so many individual ways. In some languages the word “happiness” may also mean “luck”, in the same way that the word “unhappiness” may also denote accident. Continue reading

Whether we know them as boulderers, lead climbers, rock climbers or speed climbers, they are all essentially sport climbers. They’ve been around for decades, but recently more so as sport climbing is a rapidly growing sport. Pretty fascinating to watch too, and these days a professional sport just like any other! Here is one good page on everything you need to know about sport climbing. And if you wanto to know a little bit about how do the climbers manage to take those impossible looking grips (! Continue reading

Another one in First Names First! A chronological list of persons with their first name here. Pick one, then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and see what if anything she could contribute your life with. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all something to tell us – let them! This time it is about women with the first name Lesley! Continue reading

La Alameda in Seville, Spain. Atop the two columns: Hercules, the mythological founder of Seville, and Julius Caesar, referred to as the restorer of Seville during Roman rule. In the year 1574, the fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France (Feb 23), King Henry of Poland becomes King Henry III of France (May 30), Manila is made the capital of the Spanish East Indies and of the Philippines, which the Spanish Empire would control for the next three centuries (Jun 10), a plot to assassinate John III of Sweden is discovered (Sep), Chinese and Japanese forces attack Manila (Nov 29), but lose there to the Spanish colonial forces, La Alameda in Seville is laid out as Europe’s first public garden - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Northward view from Harbour Island towards Downtown Tampa Today our series Streets & Squares takes us to Tampa in Hillsborough County on the Gulf Coast of Florida. This lovely city was originally called Tampa Town, but in 1855 the name was shortened to simply Tampa. Of course, we also know it as Tampa Bay, as it is surrounded by the bay area water. Well, let’s see who are the people behind the eponymous street signs of Tampa! Continue reading

The Pharos of Alexandria. Coloured engraving, ca. 1804-1811. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence In the year 1303, the Scottish are victorious over the English in Roslin, part of the First War of Scottish Independence (Feb 24), the Treaty of Paris ends the Anglo-French War of 1294–1303 (May 20), and Gascony is restored to England (May 29), a major earthquake near Crete badly damages the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the world (Aug 8), the Avoirdupois system of weights (pounds & ounces) and measures is introduced to England and Wales – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Summer (1572) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (at Denver Art Museum) In the year 1572, the Sea Beggars, Netherlandish Calvinist rebels, capture the port city of Brielle, leading to a wave of uprisings in Holland and Zeeland against Spanish Habsburg rule (Apr 1), the Spanish commander in the Netherlands begins the victorious Siege of Haarlem, with the resistance nonetheless taken as an heroic example by the Orangists (Dec), the Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, the last independent remnant of the Inca Empire, is conquered by Spain, Giuseppe Arcimboldo paints Summer - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Imagine if people kept on growing all their lives! Not just their hair, nails, and waistline - or intelligence. But their height! So that the older you got, the taller you would be. And all the younger folks would automatically have to, physically, look up to all their elders, whether or not they did that mentally. We would naturally have major problems to deal with as far as health, infrastructure and housing was concerned. Continue reading

Another one in First Names First! A chronological list of persons with their first name here. Pick one, then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and see what if anything he could contribute your life with. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all something to tell us – let them! This time it is about the name Leslie/Lesley! These names are used by both men and women, but here we concentrate of course on the men with that name. Continue reading

Have you ever entertained an idea of walking all the streets of your hometown? Sounds a bit crazy, yeah? But there are actually people who do just that - walk all the streets of their hometown. Hometown because it is of interest, and it takes a lot of time so you’d better live there too! Here is an article about a man, Matt Green, who walked all the streets of his hometown, New York City. Continue reading

Streets & Squares - one of our regular article series here in Journeys of Life - is published every 20th of a month. So far it has been 44 times! We’ve written - from our own particular perspective - about cities around the globe, and more will follow. Every 20th of a month! Now, we will be adding - to the already existing articles and all the following ones - something that might interest some of you: namely the flag, the coat of arms or the logo of the city in question. Continue reading

Language Day celebrates L I F E - in these somewhat dismal times - big time! By rendering the word for it here in a few languages, and showing some titles of movies and videos (music in bold) where the word “Life” takes center stage. And, whenever possible, in the original language, and possibly even with the lyrics translated! The film links lead you mainly to Wikipedia, and the musical links to YouTube. Continue reading

The Pagoda of Cishou Temple In the year 1576, Hungarian Transylvanian Prince Stephen Báthory is crowned king of Poland (May 1), English navigator Martin Frobisher sights Greenland (Jul 11), Mughal Empire annexes Bengal (Jul 12), Spanish soldiers sack Antwerp, nearly destroying it (Nov 4), James Burbage opens London’s first permanent public playhouse, The Theatre (Dec), the city of Laihia in Finland is founded, the Pagoda of Cishou Temple in Beijing is completed - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

This time in our series First Names First it is all about Chloe! Here below is a chronological list of some of the women born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these women, and see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived all have something to tell us – let them! Continue reading

Serena Williams, one of the greatest - if not the greatest - female tennis players in history, recently announced that she would be ending her career this year. There are always new and interesting players coming in the arena of this great sport, always someone to cheer and follow. But Serena will be greatly missed. in honor of her, and all the other sporting women out there, here is a another Journey of Life list for you! Continue reading

Cathedral Santa Vergine Maria Assunta in Palermo Streets & Squares visits this time Palermo, the Sicilian city with an extremely colorful history. The capital of Kingdom of Sicily (1130-1816), the capital and then a city in Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816-1861), then a part of the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) and now the Italian Republic. Some vocabulary: giardino (garden), via (streets) GIARDINO GARIBALDI - Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) Italian general and nationalist who helped bring about the Kingdom of Italy. Continue reading

A version of the Yellow badge. The 1274 edict in England required Jews to wear a yellow badge shaped like the Ten Commandments. In the year 1274, nine-year-old Dante Alighieri first sees the 8-year-old Beatrice, his lifelong muse, in Florence (May 1), Pope Gregory X convenes the Second Council of Lyon where a settlement between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church is agreed over several key issues (May 7), prince Edward returns from the Ninth Crusade, to be crowned king EdWard I of England (Aug 2), and one of his first acts is to require all Jews to wear yellow badges (Aug 22), Kublai Khan attempts to invade Japan (Nov 4), but much of the fleet is dashed on the rocks and destroyed by a great typhoon that the Japanese call kamikaze (Nov 19) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1528, Gustav I of Sweden is crowned king of Sweden (Jan 12), the French fleet crushes the Spanish squadron trying to run the blockade of Naples (Apr 28), Genoese admiral Andrea Doria defeats his former allies, the French, and establishes the independence of Genoa (Sep 12), Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew become the first known Europeans to set foot on the shores of today’s Texas (Nov 6), Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo attempts an invasion of the Yucatán, but is driven out by the Maya peoples, Montenegro gains autonomy under Ottoman power - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Another one in First Names First! A chronological list of persons with their first name here. Pick one, then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all something to tell us – let them! This time it is all about Colin! Colin Campbell* co-founder of the Swedish East India Company – Edinburgh, Scotland (1686) Continue reading

The Andrews Sisters. Maxene (top left), LaVerne (top right), and Patty (center) in October 1943 We have previously published an article here titled Oh Brother, which is about sets of brothers who rose to fame as actors, directors, musicians, politicians, what have you. Now, on the International Sisters Day - celebrated on every first Sunday of August - is time for a like-minded article about sisters! Here first is a quick look, for your convenience, at the names (especially useful when the list gets longer - as it will): Continue reading