One morning, I woke up early, sipping my black tea with milk and enjoying my breakfast while watching a random video that popped up on my YouTube homepage. It was about Kyoto, Japan.
Have you noticed how all the famous brands look slightly different in Kyoto? Kyoto is an ancient city, the former capital of Japan, with a rich cultural heritage. It maintained its character, as it was spared from the bombings during World War II.
I’ve really missed traveling, and I hope to travel again soon with my boys. Until then, my friends are doing the traveling for me, bringing back fascinating stories about the world. One of my closest friends (who I hope reads my blog!) recently returned from Morocco and told me about a group called the Berbers. Let’s take a look at who they are.
Starting with the etymology, the word “Berbers” comes from an Arabic word, which in turn comes from the Greek word “barbar.
The Olympic Games wrapped up a few weeks ago, but here’s a fascinating fact about our recent Olympic history: from 1912 to 1948, painters, writers, sculptors, and musicians competed for gold, silver, and bronze medals, just like athletes. I learned this intriguing piece of history from a podcast, where they also mentioned that in some categories, only silver medals might be awarded, with no gold given at all!
What are your thoughts on this?
Good afternoon,
It’s really hot today, and I’m finding it hard to think about anything other than the heat. However, I noticed a note in my text editor about Byzantium and how it got its name. Let’s find out!
The Megarians were inhabitants of ancient Greece. Like many ancient communities, they had conflicts with other locals and eventually decided they couldn’t stand seeing them anymore. “That’s enough,” they said (their words, not mine).
I live in a country where Americans are often portrayed as the villains of history. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 marked the end of World War II. I have always felt sympathy for the Japanese people and the terrible incident they endured. However, let’s consider it from another perspective.
In Europe, students learn extensively about Hitler and his sick plan to exterminate the Jews (and many other groups he despised, including the gay community).
Good morning again,
Have you ever heard the term “Sunk Cost Fallacy”? Recently, I had a conversation with my cousin about her thoughts on dropping out of university. Despite not wanting to attend the faculty that she chose, she has second thoughts because she has invested time and her parents have invested money. I explained to her that there is a term that explains her actions: “sunk cost fallacy.” In other words, when we invest time or money (or both) in something, as bad a choice as it seems in the present, it is hard to just abandon it.
Good morning everyone! This week, let’s delve into a fascinating and endearing story involving Taiwan, China, and some very famous pandas.
It’s well-known that Taiwan and China have a complicated relationship. After the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949), the defeated Chinese Nationalists, who didn’t support Mao Zedong, went to Taiwan, also known as Nationalist China or Formosa. The people who immigrated to Taiwan were supporters of Western culture. To this day, China does not recognize Taiwan as a separate country.
Good morning, everyone!
Today, I want to share some thoughts on a historical and ongoing issue: the Northern Ireland conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Did you know that the civil war in Ireland, often referred to as “The Troubles,” was a bitter conflict between Protestants and Catholics that lasted for decades? It finally came to an end in 1998 with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. However, even today, there are still segregated schools in Northern Ireland.
Life as a New Mom: Finding Time to Write Again A couple of months ago, I became mom of two adorable boys. Life has changed completely. Any parent, especially those with twins, will understand how the concept of free time becomes a whole new experience. Finding personal time for things like reading a book or watching your favorite show feels like a luxury now. Recently, I had a chat with two friends who are also moms.
Greeks are people who have experienced numerous conflicts throughout their history. In school, we are not taught about all the civil wars, making it easier to discuss conflicts in other regions like the civil war in Syria rather than addressing our own. As adults, many of us pursue higher education, read books, and eventually delve into our own history.
Like all countries, Greece has constructed collective myths to shape its national identity and foster unity.
Lately, I’ve been contemplating the fact that we don’t learn everything about our planet Earth at school, which seems rather peculiar. I mean, there is a vast universe about which we know almost nothing, and yet there is our blue planet, which we know so much about. I understand that there is still much more to be discovered, but the contrast is intriguing.
Kids love sharing stories about their vacations and their grandparents' origins.
They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but this is exactly what I did. The cover illustrates some small, snowy houses in green and white. The title of the book “Small things like these” makes you think that is about a daily story by an ordinary person - like you – which however is worth reading.
The protagonist of the book is a man from Ireland. He lives in a small town with his family of five daughters and his wife.
Odense is the third largest city in Denmark and Hans Christian Andersen’s Hometown. In Naypydaw, the capital of Myanmar, there is a huge boulevard that almost noone uses it. Suidlanders is a south African group whose main belief is that a race war will hapen in the future and they prepare themselves for white genocide. There is an atomic lake in the Semey area of Kazakhstan due to nuclear explosion in 1965.
Here are 10 intesting geography facts about animals, people, flags, or whatever that I didn’t know and I like.
At bahamas you can swim alongside pigs at Big Major Cay. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1949. “Lluvia de peces” is a phenomenon that occurs in Yoro, Honduras, in which fish fall from the sky. Nepal is the only country that has not a rectangle flag. Cumbre Vieja, the active volcano of La Palma in the Canary Islands, erupted on 19 September 2021.
I bought the book “A man called Ove” from a big super market. It was an easy buy because I have already read “Anxious people” and I liked the story, the unfolding of the characters and the nice rhythm the dialogs had between the protagonists.
“A man called Ove” is about an old, grumpy man and his life. There are many flashbacks in the book that cause you nostalgia and leave you with a bitter-sweet taste.
Είμαι σίγουρη πώς δεν χωράει, ήμουν σίγουρη απ' τη στιγμή που αποφάσισα να αγοράσω το βιβλίο. Ο τίτλος όμως catchy σε κάνει να σκέφτεσαι, μήπως όντως χωράει; Το βιβλίο είναι ένας διάλογος μεταξύ ενός αρχαιολόγου (εγώ τον λέω Αρθούρο) και έναν… δεν έχουμε ιδέα τι ήταν ο άλλος άνθρωπος, στις 280 σελίδες του βιβλίου δεν φαίνεται να απασχολεί τον αρχαιολόγο. Ο Αρθρούρος και ο Μπάμπης, που δεν συστήθηκαν ποτέ, κλείστηκαν σε ένα ασανσέρ και ο Αρθούρος αποφάσισε να του μάθει 2-3 πράγματα για τον αρχαίο κόσμο.
I recently discovered a channel on youtube that contains conversations between a student and his professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Dr Hans-Georg Moeller.
I will cite some notes and quotes (as I heard them by Dr Hans-Georg Moeller, removing the interjections and the repeating words) from the video regarding morality and religion, so as to facilitate the process of the things you will hear.
Notes:
About philosopher Wittgenstein: “there are two different ways in which we use the terms good or right either we use them in a relative sense or in a trivial sense”, “it’s good or right relative to a certain perspective to a certain activity, “what he means with relative, that it is relative to a specific criterion”.
The term executive function refers to some important, mental skills that allow us to set and achieve goals. The main areas of executive function are: working memory, attention shifting and inhibitory control that we all use as we plan things or solve problems.
I found two tests that measure executive function in young children: dimensional change card sort and the marshmallow test. In the first task kids switch from sorting cards one way (e.
Hello guys, it’s been a while. This article is not so much of an article, is more like a game that I am thinking since the first lockdown.
I am always so confused about what happens first in history. We learn so many historical facts in school, but we don’t learn how to put them in order. Is it important though to put history in order? I think that it is.
“Μικρή φιλοσοφία του έρωτα”
Γιατί μικρή φιλοσοφία του έρωτα και όχι μικρή φιλοσοφία του πάθους ή της αγάπης; Ανάλογα με τη θέση στην οποία βρίσκεσαι, νοηματοδοτείς και ορίζεις τον έρωτα διαφορετικά, σε σημείο που είναι λάθος να χρησιμοποιησώ την λέξη “έρωτας” για να προσδώσω κάποιο συγκεκριμένο νόημα (θα έλεγε ο Allain de Botton). Στα αγγλικά το βιβλίο λέγεται “essays in love” γεγονός που με κάνει να αναρωτιέμαι τι θα γράψω στην αγγλική έκδοση του review (και δευτερευόντως γιατί ο ελληνικός τίτλος είναι βαρυσήμαντος;) Επίσης, το βιβλίο μου άρεσε: αστείο, σοβαρό με ωραία χρήση της γλώσσας.