D-Day occurred 80 years ago today on June 6, 1944, when nearly 160,000 Allied forces landed in Nazi-occupied France as part of the largest naval, air and land invasion ever executed. Of the naming of D-Day, U.S. Gen. Eisenhower said: “Any operation has a ‘departed date;’ therefore the shortened term ‘D-Day’ is used.” Normandy was […]

Given the seeming enjoyment of my post of riddles last August, I devised a sequel for today’s FFF. Some readers (e.g. Glen) suggested the riddles were too challenging, so this time I try to balance difficulty and simplicity. Have fun on Friday! What tastes better than it smells? Where is the only place where today […]

Coming across the term a “covey of quails” in a novel prompted me to research collective nouns that enrich our vocabulary. Some I know: murder of crows, bevy of beauties, pride of lions. Many I do not: ostentation of peacocks, damning of jurors, shrewdness of apes. I decided to devise a quiz — for fun […]

Solving brain teasers can help to boost brain power, keep our memories strong, and entertain us. This post offers a baker’s dozen riddles for today’s mental exercise. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and […]

About an indulgence: July 7th is World Chocolate Day. Chocolate comes from the seed of the cacao tree; the cacao bean was cultivated thousands of years ago in Mexico, Central and South America. Hot chocolate was the first treat, with leaders of the Aztec civilization reputedly drinking dozens of cups a day. Mesoamericans also used […]

A “neologism” is defined as the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words. Neologisms reflect the ability of language to evolve over time. Once a word is fully accepted into everyday use, however, we no longer consider it a neologism. Technology and social media have introduced or redefined words that […]

December is special for many reasons. In this month we observe different festivals, for example, Bodi Day (Buddhist), Yule (Pagan), Hanukkah (Jewish), Christmas (Christian) and Kwanzaa (African-American). We count down to year-end and then celebrate New Year’s Eve. In the northern hemisphere the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year, occurs on […]

My brother Tim (loyal reader, commenter too) requested additional posts of facts. Today’s gives a dozen highlights of Canadian immigration. Canada has welcomed over 19.5 million immigrants since 1867, the year of Confederation. The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is in Halifax, a location chosen because Pier 21 received almost one million new […]

The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in, and to give reason, rhyme, and meaning to life.” – Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) The word ‘Architecture’ comes from the Greek ‘Arkhitekton’ meaning ‘chief builder’. Architects design homes, hospitals, office buildings, museums, […]

The Great Depression (1929-39) does not lend itself to ‘fun’ facts, but recalling it can help us cope during the pandemic. In The Four Winds (2021), Kristin Hannah writes a stirring story of an American family struggling to survive in the southern Great Plains during the Dirty Thirties — the decade-long Depression. Like us today, […]