This time in our series First Names First we have Barry ! Below is a chronological list of some of the men born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these men, and to 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

Reflections of sun in a drop. Photo credit Aakash Kumar Time for another great quote! We present here a famous or great quotation, and reveal at the end of the article who said that. This time it is all about love! So, who do you think said _Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. _ We are all like walking suns. And even though some of us prefer to hide behind clouds - or are for a reason or another forced to do so - there is light within all of us. Continue reading

The previous Language Day was published exceptionally already on February 22nd due to the article on Kalevala taking precedence on the 28th, the National Kalevala Day in Finland. But now we are back on the 29th, and this time Language Day deals with a very current topic. War. Let us take an anti-war stance here as well. First the word for war, and then the sentence here below in a few languages. Continue reading

First Names First has today as first name (more common as a last name though) Whitney which was a very popular name given to girls in the 1980s - even before the fame of Whitney Houston, but especially after that. Below is a chronological list of some of these women. Pick one name and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about them, and to see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Continue reading

Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine The city we go to this time in Streets & Squares is Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Previously also known by its Russian name Kiev, situated in the north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. A city that at the moment is the center of attention of the whole world. As always, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

This time in our series First Names First we will have Walter! Below is a chronological list of some of them. Pick one name and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these men, and to 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! Walter Raleigh* soldier/ explorer/statesman - East Budleigh, Devon, England (1552 or 1554) Continue reading

the recommendation to walk 10,000 steps daily is a truly arbitrary one? For the figure 10,000 is based on a marketing gimmick in Japan in the 1960s - and the fact that there is a kanji sign for the number 10,000 in the Japanese language. The advertisement you see here admonishes people with the slogan “Let’s walk 10,000 steps a day!” 一日一万歩あるきましょ Ichi-nichi ichi-man po arukimashou! So the device was neatly called a Manpokei - 万歩計. Continue reading

This time in “First Names First” **it is all about Ella! **Pick one of the names below, then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and see what if anything she could contribute your life with. Lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us – let them! Ella M. S. Marble* (b Smith) educator/ physician/activist – Gorham, ME USA (1850) Ella Wheeler Wilcox* author/ poet – Johnstown, WI USA (1850) Continue reading

This month we publish Language Day exceptionally before the 29th. For three reasons, really. The obvious reason being that there is no 29th this month. The second reason is that on the 28th, which was to be the exceptional publication day for this month’s Language Day, is occupied by Kalevala Day - more about that later. And the third reason is that today, February 22nd 2022, is the magical day of Twos that just cannot be ignored! Continue reading

This time in our article series Streets & Squares we will go to Rovaniemi, a city in northern Finland - a polar circle city as it is situated on the 66th degree of latitude, or more precisely about 6 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. The Sami name for the city include Ruávinj_a_rgâ, Roavvenjárga, Roavenjárga, and Ruäʹvnjargg. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

This time in First Names First we will concentrate on the name Elliot/Eliot. Take your pick, and find some inspiring stories behind the names. Give this a couple of minutes – for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Let them! Only the year of birth given here. Elliot E. Cohen* the founder and first editor of Commentary – Des Moines, IA USA (1899) Eliot Ness* Prohibition agent – Chicago, IL USA (1903) pic Continue reading

Another piece in our series Who Said That! We present a quotation, a few ideas around it, and finally the person behind it. There are so many good quotes by people throughout history that reflect the complexities of life that do not change a whole lot, no matter which era you live in. So, who do you think said the following: “Your life is bigger than any one experience!” Continue reading

Hot air balloon (kuumailmapallo in Finnish) This article is mainly for all you studying the Finnish language, or anyone interested in linguistic idiosyncharies! You might have heard that there are lots of long - very long - words in the Finnish language. That is true. And even though Finnish in no way has a monopoly on long words, their abundance in the language is something you just get used to early on. Continue reading

Betty White (1922-2021) in 1988 As you may have noticed, we tend to pick each month here in the **First Names First male and female names that both start with the same letter. So as we had Benjamin two weeks ago, it is now time for Betty! ** So, take your pick, and find some inspiring stories behind the names. Give this a couple of minutes – for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Continue reading

Once in a while we visit here in Streets & Squares some smaller city anywhere in the world. This time it will be Missoula in the mountaineous state of Montana, United States. Missoula was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post while still part of Washington Territory. By 1866, the settlement had moved upstream 5 miles east, and been renamed Missoula Mills, later shortened to Missoula. The city is divided by Clark Fork River. Continue reading

Olof Skötkonung as depicted on a coin of his from around 1030 This one did not necessarily happen exactly 1000 years ago for the exact date remains unknown. But sometime during the winter of 1021 and 1022, the King of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung, dies at the age of 41 - or 42 - in the village of Husaby in southwestern Sweden. He had ruled Sweden since 995, i.e. since his teenage years. Continue reading

Not all work is compensated. But we all deserve to get paid for our work. Sometimes the compensation is ridiculously small, and we may sell ourselves short. We can think of a million occasions when compensation has not been forthcoming at all. Or maybe we get rewarded, paid for our work retroactively through completely different people and for completely different reasons. There is a Latin saying for this what should be so obvious, yet remains so elusive: Continue reading

This time in **First Names First **it is all about **Benjamin!**Often shortened as Ben, and a popular name since the 1800th century, seems like. So take your pick, and find some inspiring stories behind the names. Give this a couple of minutes - for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Let them! Benjamin Bramer* mathematician/architect/inventor – Felsberg, Germany (1588) Benjamin Keach* Baptist preacher – Buckinghamshire, England (1640) Continue reading

Happy New Year 2022! So, it is the first of the month, and time again for another great quote! This one rings so true for all ages, no matter when we live, how educated we are and what opportunities we are given. It takes faith and courage to overcome this obstacle: _“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Continue reading

Countries have different ways of denoting floors in a building. If you’re used to one system, it may be confusing to encounter another one as you travel abroad. This article might help you with that. The European method of naming floor levels starts with zero (0). Zero is the ground floor, and the one above it the first floor (1), two flights up the second floor and so on. Here follows a simple list of floor systems in some countries. Continue reading