Every now and then, you get to hear the question: where were you when… a critical /major event in human history - happened? And you wind back and might remember too, where you were for example when United States Capitol attack took place, on January 6th, 2021. But let us look at this much further back, and in an altogether different way. Let’s see who was born on the same day that some major event in the world occurred. Continue reading

If we were to pick people born during the 20th century - not relatives, but (other) public figures - that we most follow, respect, adore, look up to etc, it would most certainly, more than anything else, reflect who we ourselves are as people. Our choices would reflect our interests in life, our values, our likings, our origin. And no one list would look the same, but they would all differ depending on the aforementioned differentials. Continue reading

If you are one of those people who enjoy making jigsaw puzzles, then here is one word for you: Jigidi. An online puzzle producing company created in Denmark in 2007. A family-owned business, run by Magnus and Mette. In the beginning it had of course just a few active users, but it has grown a lot since those days. Maybe something for you as well? Let’s hear what the creators say about this plentiful site: Continue reading

There is an online service that this site has found very helpful, but which many of you might be pretty unfamiliar with. Namely Find a Grave. With literally millions of cemetary records! Now, some of you might find it distasteful and/or uninteresting to even write/read about this, but the fact is that we all die, and the millions of people who have died before us have left a mark of some sort behind them - memories, inventions, books written, companies started, places named after them - descendants born. Continue reading

Ever wondered who is behind the product you just bought? Or behind the company, disease, phenomenon? Well, wonder no more for here you have a long list of eponymous products, concepts, hotel chains, etc that bear the name of their creator, founder or co-founder, or what not. The companies shown here are given with either their original or more popular names. You see the date of foundation - if known - in brackets. Continue reading

Anyone interested in the fantastic team sports of football (yeah we know, Americans mean something else with it), would love to watch the matches between the qualified nations in the ongoing football tournament in Qatar. Either in television or live on the scene. But this time around - as perhaps four years ago in Russia - it is a big if whether that love exceeds the disgust for everything surrounding this otherwise marvellous and exciting tournament. 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

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

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

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

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

As you walk through life, you get to hear a lot of sayings thought out and uttered by myriad of people throughout decades, centuries. Sayings like “history repeats itself”. Sayings that tell us that life goes on like it always does no matter what happens. With its compulsory variations depending on who we are, where we are, and when we are. But do you ever pause to think that every minute, and perhaps every second, all things possible are happening somewhere in the world? Continue reading

Tom Welling as Clark Kent/Kal-El The American television series Smallville, which is based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, has delighted a new generation of audience in the streaming services. And the older generations too of course! The series premiered in October, 2001, and the finale of its tenth and final season was seen in the United States in May, 2011. So, it’s been a while, but the story itself never gets old. Continue reading

Those of you who watch regularly the Saturday Night Live are very familiar with this concept: the Five-Timers Club. An exclusive club for celebrity guest hosts that have hosted the show at least five times. A fun addition to great entertainment that we get to see on Saturdays - or any other day of the week if you so please. The Five-Timers Club has been around since the December 8, 1990 episode. Continue reading

The Great Wall of China. Several of its walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC Well, here you have the very ancient births. As they are all BC (before Christ) or as some of us would prefer, BCE (before Common Era), the list differs from the usual. It starts from the most distant births, and ends with those closest to our time. This page is being updated on an ongoing basis. Continue reading

Most of us grow up thinking that a question deserves an answer. So we answer most questions - especially when we are kids - to the best of our ability, and possibly with a degree of politeness and kindness. And we expect the same favor returned to us - if we do ask. And so the conversations in our lives go on, with us posing questions, expecting ensuing answers, sharing experiences, coming up with deductions, commitments, new ideas, and so forth. Continue reading

Since years back it has been a popular pastime for some of us to check on YouTube for all sorts of survival and prepper videos. Preppers, i.e. people getting ready to live without societal support in times of disaster, are growing in numbers by the second. National and global events always trigger the escalation of prepping, but even when the times are calmer and seem more secure, and there really doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to worry about for the majority of us, prepping will always be something that people just do naturally. Continue reading

Vibeke Skofterud from Norway, women’s winner in 2012 There is a big celebration today in Mora, Sweden! For it is 100 years since the very first Vasaloppet took place in 1922. Vasaloppet is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March. The 90 km (56 mi) course starts in the village of Sälen and ends in the town of Mora in Dalarna, Sweden. It is the oldest cross-country ski race in the world, as well as the one with the highest number of participants. Continue reading

Today is Kalevala Day in Finland, celebrated each February 28th in honor of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. So here is, for anyone interested in the Finnish language and folklore, Kalevala a là Journeys of Life! The first edition of the Kalevala appeared in 1835. It was compiled and edited by Elias Lönnrot on the basis of the epic folk poems he had collected in Finland and Karelia. Not that long ago, Kalevala used to be something that Finnish kids got acquainted with in the third grade, having to learn a few lines by heart and then recite them in front of the class. Continue reading

Reader’s Digest logo. Pegasus was added in 1939 by Lila Wallace. This month marks 100 years since the first edition of the legendary Reader’s Digest, published in Greenwich Village, New York by the married couple DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace. The first 5000 issues were delivered by mail to subscribers on February 5th 1922, and, thanks to an increasing demand, you could by 1929 buy the magazine in the stands. In 1934 it doubled its pages from 64 to 128. Continue reading