This time in First Names First we have** Tina/Tiina!** Often sort for Christina, Christine, Kristina etc. But here taken as the preferred first name. So pick one of the names below, and then follow the Wikipedia link to see what if anything the person could contribute your life with. Why not give a couple of minutes of your life to this for lives lived have something worthwhile to tell us – let them! Continue reading

A good idea to do in Loviisa: walk the Myllyharju nature trail, and climb the three-storey Kukkukivi sightseeing tower (1906). This time Streets and Squares visits Loviisa, a tiny, picturesque town on the southern coast of Finland some 90 km east of Helsinki. It is a bilingual city (Finnish & Swedish), and was actually known until 1752 as Degerby. Its current name it received from the Swedish king Adolf Fredrik, who so liked the city when he was visiting there that year that he named it after his wife, Queen Lovisa Ulrika. Continue reading

This time in First Names First we concentrate on the Finnish male name Teemu. And it is a very Finnish name indeed, evidenced by all of the men you see here below being Finns. The name is derived from the Greek name Nicodemus (Νικόδημος) which comes from the words nike (victory) and demos (people), i.e. the winner of people. Teemu Selänne* hockey player/OS/SC – Helsinki, Finland (1970) pic Teemu Keskisarja* historian/author – Helsinki, Finland (1971) Continue reading

A month ago we started a new article series here in Journeys of Life - Occupations! In these articles we go through some lesser known occupations. Occupations and job titles that may leave some of us wondering what the work actually entails. So, this time around we talk about best boy. Which many of us have surely seen at the end credits of a film. But do you know what it means? Continue reading

Korean stop sign, saying “Jeongji”. But for sure, many do have the English word STOP on them too. Let us stop for a minute and have something else here in Language Day - a quick look at the Korean language for us who know absolutely nothing about it! This is a very simple introduction to Korean, and more precisely, the language spoken in South Korea. Many of us Westerners don’t even know whether the Korean characters are alphabets or logographic characters like the Chinese script, or kanji in Japanese. Continue reading

Delaney is the name in today’s First Names First! It is originally an Irish surname. As a first name it is not very common, and has been in fact been given to both men and women. Here treated as a girl’s name as this is the women’s day. 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

Jersey City seen from Ellis Island. Picture credit: Pavel Kuritsyn This time Streets & Squares goes to Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA. Jersey City is the second-most populous city of New Jersey, after Newark. It was incorporated as a city in February 1838. As always, clicking on the addresses will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. After each address there is usually also a link to Google’s street view which takes you straight to somewhere along that street. Continue reading

Today’s name in First Names First is Dean. 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! Dean Rusk* politician – Cherokee County, GA USA (1909) Dean Brooks* physician/actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) – Colony, KS USA (1916) Dean Martin* actor/singer/producer – Steubenville, OH USA (1917) Continue reading

instant baby formula has been around for centuries? And the first ones were not based on cow milk at all, but plant-based - made of corn and nuts? From the stories of Elizabeth Hanson who was captured by the Native American Abenaki in 1724, we get to know of her troubles of breastfeeding her daughter, two weeks old at the time of the kidnapping. The lack of nourishment and clothing resulted in inadequate milk production. Continue reading

Brenner Pass at today’s Austria-Italy border. Photo credit: Sönke Kraft aka Arnulf zu Linden This time in our series 1000 Years Ago Today, the exact date is unknown. But sometime in November 1021, King Henry II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor and also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, the last ruler of the Ottonian line, conducts his fourth Italian military campaign. He crosses the Brenner Pass, a mountain pass through the Alps with a 60,000-strong army, and reaches Verona in the Kingdom of Lombardia in northern Italy. Continue reading

Time for another Who Said That! Try to guess or remember who is behind the quotation below, and if you don’t know, you’ll see who at the very end of the article. Remember to scroll slowly. So, who said: You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge! Whatever it is, you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge! Be it addiction (drugs, food, sex, gambling etc), obsession, co-dependency, any other emotional issue or bad habit, you have to face yourself in order to change the way you live. Continue reading

Mother tongue. The first language we learn, and usually by our mother, and father. Sometimes we get to learn two languages at once if the parents are from different linguistic background. And sometimes the third language enters the picture early on as we enter the school and the language of the land is not that of our parents. So, whatever else we may call the mother tongue - first language, native tongue, parent tongue - it will be the language of feelings and self-expression more than any other language we may learn. Continue reading

Emily - and the versions of it in other languages - is the name in today’s First Names First! 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! Émilie du Châtelet* natural philosopher/mathematician – Paris, Kingdom of France (1706) Emilie Petersen* Swedish philanthropist – Hamburg, Germany, Holy Roman Empire (1780) Continue reading

Modern Moscow with its business center The city we go this time in Streets & Squares is Moscow, the capital of Russia, first documented in 1147. From the times of Tsardom of Russia it has evolved into a very modern city, the home of some 20 million people in the metropolitan area. Vocabulary: most мост (bridge), park парк (park), pereulok переу́лок (lane), proezd проезд (passage, thoroughfare), prospekt проспект (avenue), sad сад (garden), ulitsa улица (street). Continue reading

Emil - and the versions of it in other languages - is the name in today’s First Names First! 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! Emil Skoda* Czech engineer/ founder of Skoda Works – Pizén, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (1839) Émile Zola* author – Paris, France (1840) pic Continue reading

The Lingsberg runestone known as U 240, from the 11th century. near Vallentuna, Sweden This time in Language Day an interesting, but not a very current subject: rune stones and the rune alphabet. A fitting subject nevertheless, and certainly something that most of us don’t know a whole lot about! Most runestones date from the late Viking Age and are located in Scandinavia, notably in Sweden. But a few are scattered elsewhere, in places visited by Norsemen. Continue reading

This time in First Names First we have** Brenda!** Pick one name below, and then follow the Wikipedia link to see what if anything the person could contribute your life with. Why not give a couple of minutes of your life to this for lives lived have something worthwhile to tell us – let them! Brenda Bell* pioneer amateur radio operator – Otago, New Zealand (1891) Brenda Bruce* actress – Prestwich, Lancashire, England (1919) Continue reading

This time Streets & Squares goes to Den Haag, or The Hague as it is called in English. It is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Hague was first mentioned as Die Haghe in 1242, and in the 15th century the name des Graven hage (The Count’s Wood) came into use. The spelling “’s-Gravenhage” was officially used for the city from the 17th century onward. Today, this name is only used in certain official documents. Continue reading

One World Trade Center After a longer while, another Latin phrase. This time a very short one, but one full of promise, with its meaning “toward better things”. And suits today, as it is the 20th Anniversary Commemoration of what happened in the United States on September 11th, 2001. Ad meliora is actually part of the sentence Ad meliora (toward better things) et (and) ad maiora (toward bigger things) semper (always). Continue reading

This time in **First Names First it is about Brent! **Not a very common name, but pretty popular in Canada, seems like. 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! Brent Ashabranner* Peace Corps administrator/ children’s books writer – Shawnee, OK USA (1921) Brent Spiner* actor/ musician/singer – Houston, TX USA (1949) Continue reading