The Blonde Stereotype

I have always wondered about the origin of blonde jokes. All women I know, despite of their hair color, are pretty smart! So, with a little help from Wikipedia, here it is: The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has… Read More

The History of Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, a  word meaning “bitter water”.… Read More

Valentine’s Day: The Language of Love

Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day,is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines“).The day first became associated with… Read More

What is your country’s stereotype?

The most Googled products in every country in one crazy map. In popular culture, certain countries are stereotypically associated with certain products — beer in Germany, carpets in Turkey, electronics in Japan. But those things aren’t what people are really searching for. Earlier this month, the cost-estimating website Fixr.com put together a map of the world with… Read More

Adulthood does change your perpective on life

I am at the beginning of my 50’s, that’s half a century, and I know that I am aging. I also notice that along the way, my habits have changed, for better or worse. I believe in aging with dignity, and above all, with a sense of humour: “as long as you can laugh at… Read More

Queen Elizabeth II revokes independence of the United States of America

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In light of your failure to financially manage yourselves and inability to effectively govern yourselves responsibly, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her… Read More

Leonardo Da Vinci’s wacky piano is heard for the first time after 500 years

A bizarre instrument combining a piano and cello has finally been played to an audience more than 500 years after it was dreamt up Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance genius who painted the Mona Lisa, invented the ‘‘viola organista’’ – which looks like a baby grand piano – but never built it,… Read More