Restoring the pipe organ of the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, turned out to be quite a time travel. Öttingen, Bavaria, Germany. January 8, 1930. August Sieber is an organ builder for G. F. Steinmeyer. A huge pipe organ is almost ready to be shipped by railroad to Norway, where it will be the pride of […]
Reggae’s not for runners
12/08/2013 by Leave a Comment
Do you walk or run listening to music? Then don’t pick reggae or jazz – at least not if you want to walk or run faster. Instead, try speeding up to music you don’t really like. This may seem like an odd piece of advice, but a survey done by Belgian researchers, published in the scientific […]
Free & flexible learning a few clicks away
12/07/2013 by Leave a Comment
“A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” This is the ambitious goal of the free online Khan Academy, and since it was founded in 2008, the academy has delivered over 280 million online lessons to learners all over the world. When Salman Khan started tutoring his younger cousins in math, it was long distance. He […]
Please Mister Postman
25/06/2013 by Leave a Comment
Nice Matin reports that in one of the heights of Nice, the inhabitants of a particular street have a somewhat peculiar problem. They haven’t seen the postman – or their mail – for almost three months. The reason for this disappearance is two dogs, blocking the road in a rather threatening manner every time the […]
Les brocanteurs – it’s in the blood
13/06/2013 by Leave a Comment
Brocanteur /bʁɔ.kɑ̃.tœʁ/: A person buying and selling antiques and gewgaws, history and nostalgia. A travelling brocanteur sells his or her stuff at local outdoor markets called brocantes. Very popular in France. Villefranche-sur-Mer, the French Riviera, a Sunday morning: Jacqueline Morbelli has finished unloading her car next to her regular three square metres at the brocante […]
Tea with Rapunzel
06/06/2013 by Leave a Comment
Her name is Fabiana. She is seven years old. She has a life threatening disease. She had a dream, and it just came true.
Better Life Index
28/05/2013 by 2 Comments
Today, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) launched its Better Life Index for 2013, ranking 36 countries based on focus areas considered essential for well-being. Luxembourg is number 14. “Our Better Life Index goes beyond the cold, hard numbers of GDP to really get an understanding about what matters for people and about […]
Refund for bitchy wives?
23/05/2013 by Leave a Comment
A chronically bitchy wife is no reason to get income tax deduction, even though many a frustrated man may think of no better reason. In a tiny village in Northern Norway, a man demanded a thousand euros deduction for “a chronically bitchy wife” in his income tax return, and made a reference to the tax […]
The lift-my-spirits playlist
17/05/2013 by Leave a Comment
Most of us have experienced how music can turn our mood around in a matter of seconds. Usually we’re talking bad mood and happy music, but equally, most of us will also remember how we as heartbroken teenagers – or thirty-somethings – would dive into sentimental ballads so we could feel even sorrier for ourselves […]
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