Today I Learned

[sbrothy]

With Finland, I think it's more related to their cultural past. In their national epic, the Kalevala, there is a lot of mention of words/names having power. Wizards were able to do great feats just by knowing and using the right words. Names also tended to reflect something about the person more so than in other cultures. For example, many people today have the surname "Miller" because some ancestor had that as their profession and it was then just handed down from generation to generation after that. In Finland, this wasn't always the case. Not only could surnames change from generation to generation, but they could change within a person's lifetime. This occurred in my paternal line. My grandfather was born with a surname that reflected the name of their homestead. Prior to immigrating to the US, they sold the homestead, and upon doing so changed their surname to one that reflected a region, since they no longer owned that land. Likewise, waiting to name the child was so you could get some sense of what they were like, so you could choose a name that would suit them.

Sounds like this could be said of any nationality. As to wizards and names this is also pretty common. “As above so below.”

Not to detract from Finnish magic though.

 

[fresh_42]

With Finland, I think it's more related to their cultural past. In their national epic, the Kalevala, there is a lot of mention of words/names having power. Wizards were able to do great feats just by knowing and using the right words. Names also tended to reflect something about the person more so than in other cultures.

I think, those wizzards were a paraphrase for child mortality.

 

[jack action]

It must take near the whole bottle to make the dish below look appetizing

but this is what life could be

View attachment 365153

Ah, Canada! This is where I call home (litteraly, all of this within 2 km of my home!):

Summer:

Winter:

Food:

Nice climate, nice food, and we speak the language of love!

 

[BWV]

Ah, Canada! This is where I call home (litteraly, all of this within 2 km of my home!):



Nice climate, nice food, and we speak the language of love!

Aside from the food, I love Canada, and while cold, at least the days are longer in Quebec than in Norway. but could not live anywhere without good Mexican food

But why is it the French in Louisiana developed this great cuisine and all they ever did in Canada is fries in gravy?

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski -- that's possibly the most powerful position in the House -- served 15 months in prison for abusing the congressional post office. He legally got stamps in bulk for free but then sold them instead of using them to mail letters. Rep. Joe Kolter was also convicted.

When John Kiriakou was 18 he was an intern/pageboy for Joe Kotler. Kolter had had knee surgery and John would push him about in his wheelchair. John saw Kolter, Rostenkowski, and Kolter's chief of staff playing poker. They were so intent they skipped an important House vote. He said that not only were all of them convicted of the stamp abuse, but John Kiriakou was later questioned by the FBI as to whether he knew some of the resulting cash was used to deal cocaine.