Categories
Fine Arts Music Romania

A Most Universal Theme

I just realized – The Queen of the Night Aria probably represents the most universal of human experiences: a teenage girl has her mom down to her very last nerve. [watch on YouTube] Elena Moșuc Soprano Elena Moșuc plays the queen. How ’bout this for keeping the dream alive! Ms. Moșuc sings at the Zurich […]

Categories
Adventures of the Elders Food Japan

Ozoni / Mochi

It all began with a work assignment from board member and Senior Elder UC#3: [UC#3]Much more work to do for WLBOTT: and connections between food and culture/religion [UC#3]And the mochi thing is real: Four women die in Tokyo after choking on ‘mochi’ rice cakes | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis [UC#1-SU]Can […]

Categories
Asia Exonumia/Philately are not contagious Food The land, the people, the culture

From Mochi to the Shrinking MoMo: Food Artistry

UC#3 sent us down a delicious rabbit hole when he suggested we research the dangers of eating Ozoni soup on New Year’s Day in Japan which causes choking deaths from the gelatinous mochi ball. Many of these images were liberated from My Modern Met (more below). Konel Bread More liberation from My Modern Met: Toast […]

Categories
Adventures of the Elders Canada Work-Life Balance

Lives of the Elders: Stamps, Trains, Neil Young, Virtue & Vice, etc

UC#1 Back when I was considerably smaller than I am now, my dad set up an electric train for me and my sibs. Our house had only a partial basement – for the front half of the house it was only partially excavated leaving a space big enough for kids to play in. Dad took […]

Categories
Europe Fine Arts Scholarship/Erudition

The Burghers of Calais

While exploring Calais (Maine), and Calais (France) in a recent BLOTT, we came across the incredible sculpture The Burghers of Calais and it’s amazing backstory. The Story Behind the Famous Calais Sculpture The Burghers of Calais is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the […]

Categories
America Destinations Europe

Calais Maine

We had planned to feature two notable people from Calais, Maine (and hope to very soon), but we were detracted by the town itself and it’s sister city and namesake, Calais France. If you want to get a head start on Andrea Gibson‘s incredible poetry, check out their YouTube channel. Roger Lyndon was a mathematician […]

Categories
Animal Kingdom Asia

Big Eyes

First grade – Montgomery, Alabama, no air conditioning but lots of fans. My parents bought us a set of children’s encyclopedias, and one had a picture of a Tarsier on the front. I remember being a little bit terrified, worried I would turn into one, and a little bit “let’s get one!” Each of the […]

Categories
Asia Heros - NOT

Olga Reporting Live from Pyongyang

I was preparing a BLOTT about reliable, informative news sources that will help you get the big picture on Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. This is a pretty big task, but as I was digging into Jake Broe, he had such an incredible story that I wanted to focus on this rabbit hole. The background […]

Categories
Adventures of the Elders Canada Will there be a buffet?

Trans Canada Trail: 1 of 17 ⅝

[recent executive correspondence: UC#1=>The Texas Elders] Fellow WLBOTT’ers, While I have know about the Trans Canada Trail for many years, until recently I never knew how extensive it is. We frequently walk the part of the trail that goes around [UC#1 jurisdiction] but that is a very small part of it. Of course, the trail […]

Categories
Australia Heros Music WYNHA

Tuesday, Happiness on a Wing

So this morning I was looking for cover versions of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face (part of the WLBOTT creative process… let’s not get into it too much), and one of the top Spotify suggestions was by Wing (Wing Han Tsang / 曾咏韓 / Zēng Yǒnghán). Through many twists and turns, I learned that that Wing […]