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Date varies. February 21-23, 2012
Today Mongolians celebrate Tsagaan Sar, or “White Month.” It roughly mirrors the Chinese Lunar New Year (but don’t say this out loud in Mongolia) and heralds the coming of spring. The beginning of spring is definitely something to look forward to in Mongolia where temperatures hover well below 0°F in the winter months. A couple weeks ago the temperature was under -30º F. This year’s Tsagaan Sar is a particularly …Read more 
February 13 Overlooking Dresden When I first visited Dresden in the mid-1990′s, to my eyes it looked like the city had just stepped out of World War II, even though, in retrospect, it must have undergone a great deal of renovation by that time. Dresden miraculously survived the first five years of World War II intact, having dodged the Allied bombings that destroyed much of Berlin, Hamburg, and other German cities. Many Germans felt that the …Read more 
[published Feb. 12, 2009] Susannah Wedgwood and Nancy Hanks had little in common. They grew up on separate continents. Susannah was the first of seven children in a well-to-do English family and married a wealthy doctor named Robert Darwin. Nancy was the bastard daughter of Lucy Hanks and an unknown father, born in a cabin in rural West Virginia. She married a struggling Kentucky drifter by the name of Thomas Lincoln. What Susannah and Nancy did have in common was …Read more 
February 11 It’s hard to say what’s the oldest country in the world is, but the winner might be Japan twice over. First, with an average lifespan of over 80 years Japan has one of, if not the, world’s oldest population. 25% of the population is over 60 (as opposed to 17% in the U.S.). So, along with Andorra, Japan is one of the top two “oldest” countries in the world in that respect. In terms of …Read more 
February 10 Shipwreck of St. Paul, the Vatican Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale A tale of a fateful trip That started from Judean port Aboard a Roman Ship. The weather started getting rough, The Roman ship was tossed. Because of the sermons of the fearless Paul Not a single life was lost. They splashed about for 14 days, No sight of sun nor star. Until they crashed …Read more 
February 9 February 9th is Showtime for Apollo, the sun god of the ancient Greeks, whose chariot rode across the heavens each day. February 9 wasn’t the only feast for Apollo. The Spartans celebrated Apollo in August (Carneia). The Athenians celebrated his birthday in May (Thargelia) and held a harvest festival in his honor in October (Pyanepsia). But according to Roman records, at some point the Festival of Apollo was celebrated on the Vth (5th) day before …Read more 
On this day in 1878 Harper’s Weekly published the following cartoon protesting the renewal of the Federal income tax. The tax had been levied during the Civil War, and abolished in 1872.
Proponents of re-establishing the tax assured the public that only the rich would be taxed. Harper’s editor George Curtis corrected them: only the honest would be taxed, and the rich would find a way to get around it. 
February 8
When all the nations stand before the judgment seat and are asked to explain how they used their basic talents…the small Slovenian nation will dare without fear to present a thin book with title Prešeren’s Poems alongside the others. – Josip Stritar Don’t mess with the Slovenes when it comes to their national poet, France Prešeren. He gets, not one, but two days in his honor on the …Read more |
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