KNOWING ABOUT THIS..

  AUGUST 29: WHY DO WE SAY…. 1. In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.' 2. Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only... Ladies Forbidden'... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language. 3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs -Alexander the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar   4. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'   5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a h

  AUGUST 26:   S K A G E N     Skagen – the top of Denmark, the landscape of light. Why is there significantly more sunshine there than in most other parts of Denmark? Because the town and the whole area is surrounded by water on three sides and therefore is like an island. There is too little land to warm up the air, so it can move upwards, be cooled down and give rain. The same phenomenon exists in Veddinge Bakker and on the Baltic island Bornholm.       2.   History :  The Skagen Peninsula was 4-500 years ago covered by grass, and the   area was               producing horses, which were sold for use in wars in foreign countries. There wasn’t             mush fishing at that time. There were lots of trees. But when the population started cutting             the forests (for ships, firewood and for making more areas with grass) a catastrophy started.             The sand took over very quickly. In 1795 the old red church in Skagen had t

AUGUST 19: It is exciting times in American politics now and the coming months.   I have been asked what are in my view the most reliable media sources to follow US politics.   There are lots of them. I have selected a handful here: POLITICS ONLINE: https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/politics-online/      ( research based ) NEW YORK TIMES: https://www.nytimes.com/section/politics EURONEWS: https://www.euronews.com/tag/us-politics DEUTSCHE WELLE   ( in English ): https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/americas/s-12757   Illustration:   Mount Rushmore in South Dakota with former US presidents:

AUGUST 18: As you have seen the developments in BELARUS seem to move very fast now.   The strikes and the demonstrations are getting bigger and bigger, also among the core supporters of president Lukashenko.   Yesterday the studios in the state-owned TV and radio stations were empty, because the staff was on strike.   Tomorrow EU will have a special European Council ( Summit ) by video link between the 27 heads of state and government + the EU institutions about Belarus. There is no doubt that more EU sanctions will be among the results.   And Lukashenko himself said yesterday that “ there will be no new elections except if you kill me!”   You get the impression that the situation is developing more and more in direction of what happened around Christmas 1989 in Romania, when dictator Ceaucescu was removed and executed. It will also be interesting to see, how Putin and Russia will react. Lukashenko has already asked Putin for help. But they are no longer the best of friends. Putin

  AUGUST 17: Are you aware that this year’s month of AUGUST is something very special?   Why?   Because it has 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays and 5 Mondays.   This only happens every 823 years. So, next time is in year 2843. This means, that unless you expect to live for a VERY long time, then you’d better enjoy this special situation this month 😊 The Chinese call the special event BAG FULL OF MONEY.   Their tradition tells them that you have to send this information to others at the latest 4 days after you received it. Then something exciting will happen with money…       Now, I have sent it on. You never know… Here is a photo of the guy who gave this month its name, the Roman emperor Augustus ( 63 BC – 14 AD ):

AUGUST 11: Turkey’s president Recep Erdogan seems to be on a provocative journey once again. Recently he made an old Greek church and UNESCO site in Istanbul into a mosque – though the whole world was protesting. And now he is started drilling in areas of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, which according to international law do not belong to Turkey.   It is probably part of an old well-known strategy: If you have problems at home (which he has), then make problems abroad ( to attract attention to that ) .   And it is also part of his long term strategy to “make Turkey big as it was during the Ottoman Empire. Another aspect of that is that he has built a presidential palace in Ankara, THE WHITE PALACE, which is bigger than The White House, the Kremlin and Versailles. See photo. Now, the provocative drilling in waters belonging to Greece and Cyprus have fortunately immediately given strong reactions from major powers – and allies of Turkey, Greece and Cyprus – in the world: THE