New Orleans - La Nouvelle-Orléans in French - is the city this time around in our monthly series Streets & Squares. It is one of the three U.S. cities that we present here this year. New Orleans is located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before becoming part of the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Continue reading

Another piece in our series First Names First! This time about Kurt. Pick one of the names that you see below. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Give a couple of minutes to this for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. PS. The year of birth given in brackets. Continue reading

the term baker’s dozen has a pretty ancient origin? What we mean with it is any group of 13 (of baked products), i.e. a dozen plus one. But how did it come to be? It is thought to come from the former practice among bakers and other tradespeople in medieval England of giving 13 items to the dozen as a safeguard against penalties for short weights and measures. Thing is, you might even get a beating if your pieces of bread were too small. Continue reading

This time in First Names First Ruth. Another biblical name like the one we had two weeks ago, Seth. Pick one of the names below, then follow the Wikipedia link to read about the 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! Ruth Gordon* actress /screenwriter/playwright – Quincy, MA USA (1896) Continue reading

Time for a smaller city again. Namely Ystad in the county of Scania (Skåne in Swedish) in the southernmost part of Sweden. Some of the main industries of the town are trade, handicraft and tourism. Ystad is also the setting of the Swedish crime drama Wallander where the city layout becomes quite familiar. As always, clicking at the address will lead you to Google Maps, and clicking at the name to the person’s Wikipedia page. 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 Seth. A familiar name from the Bible, as the third son of Adam and Eve, and brother of Cain and Abel. Continue reading

A road sign in the two official languages in Wales This time - a month late, sorry about that, but hopefully worth the wait - we concentrate in Language Day on the Welsh language. Well yn hwyrach na byth (see below!). A Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Historically, it has also been known in English as British, Cambrian, and Cymric. It might also be of interest to know about the Welsh people. Continue reading

This time in First Names First Carly, the female variant of the male name Carl. It is also a pet form of given names such as Carla and Caroline, which each will have their separate articles. So here we concentrate solely on Carly. 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. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Continue reading

Exchange Shopping Center on Cranbrook Road The city of Ilford in Essex, England will be the center of attention in this month’s Streets and Squares that provide some interesting background information on street signs around the world. It is a fun way to learn about the history and culture of the cities you visit or even live in! Ilford is situated in East London, in the London Borough of Redbridge. Continue reading

This time in First Names First the North German male name Carl, very popular throughout ages. Variants of it include the Spanish Carlos, Italian Carlo, French Carle, Swedish and German Karl, Finnish Kaarlo, among others. But here we concentrate only at Carl and Karl. Carl Gyllenhielm* soldier/politician – Sweden (1574) Carl Gustaf Wrangel* military commander/statesman – Uppsala, Sweden (1613) Carl Piper* nobleman/statesman – Stockholm, Sweden (1647) Carl Bonde* royal counselor/ambassador – Stockholm, Sweden (1648) Continue reading

Last time here in First Names First we had Oliver, so today it is time for its female counterpart Olivia! It is derived from Latin oliva meaning peace. 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. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all something to tell us – let them! Continue reading

Cardiff Castle from late 11th century Streets & Squares proudly presents Cardiff - the capital and also the largest city of Wales. It is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. English and Welsh are the official languages of Wales which can clearly be seen when traveling there. And what is also clearly evident is how different the two languages are. Welsh is the most vibrant of the Celtic languages in terms of active speakers. Continue reading

Time for another First Names First! Oliver is the name of today, and two weeks from now the female variant of it, Olivia. Why not pick one of the names below, 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! Continue reading

Time for another quote! Things that people have uttered in a moment of elation, insight, inspiration, wisdom, despair – or any other emotion. Try to guess or remember first who said that, and if you don’t know, you’ll see who it was at the very end of this article. These pieces are there to lift your spirits, brighten your day, increase your tolerance of fellow human beings – or just give you a temporary relief from whatever you were doing a moment ago – or what is going around you. Continue reading

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

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

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

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

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

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