Archive for the ‘History’ Category

• Queen Isabella and Pawn Shops

  Sunday, August 1st, 2010

  There’s always a larger picture for everything, and small actions in the world reflect the big pictures whether one knows it or not. The small things do add up, eventually, in ways that people can perceive, and make patterns that suggest important lessons in life. But even before they add up, there are connections that can be made to history, that make for interesting patterns in and of themselves.

  Most people may not realize there’s a connection to Queen Isabella when they are deciding to Sell Gold For Cash . It’s usually something that comes from a very practical way of looking at the world, where old jewelry loses its sentimental value, and it’s simply time to part. Giving up something of value in order to have liquid cash on hand is often an easy decision, especially when it’s apparent that the objects will have more value to someone else.

  The convenience of a pawn shop is something that’s hard to beat, and it has a long history through times and cultures that reveals it to be a very old tradition. Queen Isabella herself did say that she would be willing to pawn her crown so that Columbus could begin his voyages into the world. She had the same idea that people have today. She saw something valuable, and realized that what she had was worth less than the proposition at hand.

• Children and the Origin of Halloween

  Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

  No doubt that Halloween is a fun holiday for kids. Everyone seems to love the idea of going door-to-door in childrens costumes and collecting candy in the dark each October 31st. But some kids are going to ask questions about how this holiday came about. If you were never briefed on the holiday yourself, here are a few facts about Halloween you might offer to your children:

  First, the origins of Halloween are a mix of medieval Christianity and Samhain, which is an ancient Irish festival . The festival was meant to honor the dead and celebrated the start of winter and the beginning of the new year, according to the old Celtic Calendar. As Christianity grew throughout Europe in the 9th Century, the Catholic Church decided that November 1st would be known as All Saints Day; this was meant to celebrate those saints who didn’t yet have their own day. The mass was known as Allhallowmas, or the mass of all saintly ones. The night before was known as All Hallows Eve.

  In these early years, some people thought that the line between the living and the dead was weak during this time of year, a thin division which might allow spirits to return to the world and possess the living. It was believed that wearing the costumes of ghosts and ghouls would mean that real ghosts and ghouls would overlook you.

  Considering the complexity of Halloween’s past, you might just wish to tell your child that we dress up and collect candy because it’s fun, leaving the explanations for later.

• Historical Maps: Redesigning the World Post WWII

  Sunday, June 27th, 2010

  In history there are a number of strange and interesting maps that have been drawn. Most of them have very interesting stories. Some of these are simple maps like the globes that were made in Russia for a while. They would take a map of a city or a country or something similarly smaller than the world and would make a globe using this map. Some of these are placed over an already made globes , while other people made their own globe and placed the new map on their globe. There are a few articles out now about how to make your own if you are interested in doing this yourself.

  There is another interesting map that was found from around World War Two. It was a plan for how to split up the world after the Allies had won. In some ways it looks exactly like our world map now, and in others it is very different. On it is a title which refers to the New World Order. This doesn’t come as a big surprise as there was talk of the Allies having to lead the world in a path back to righteousness and how they would have to unite the world in order to heal the wounds that were caused. It is actually in this name that a lot of land was given and taken from people during this time. It is also in this spirit that the League of Nations was built after the first world war.

  The bottom of the maps details which of the current (for the time) countries and areas belong to whom. There are a few familiar faces in the scheme of things, such as USA has all of North America and Greenland along with a few islands, and USSR has all of Russia and extends some into Eastern Europe. There are also some new things, such as the USSA which is the United States of South America, in which it is imagined that they could all ban together and work as one. There is also “Hebrewland”, as it is labeled, which was their name for the Holy land of the Jews plus Jordan. Somehow the whole thing seems a little idealistic, as though some of these countries are going to just up and forget about other atrocities that have happened because of this one world war. It is an interesting look into the past however.

  What world maps and interesting globes have you found?

• Remember New York

  Thursday, February 25th, 2010

  The list places to see and learn about in New York seems to be endless. For hundreds of years people have come to live or visit this amazing metropolis because of the intensity of human life the city has going on all the time. This is were all the latest in many things come from. Human passion and creativity are on super high in New York. Some of the best hotels in New York City are here located in some of the most historical buildings in the world. They are surrounded by generations of skyscrapers that make the skyline of this city so famous.

  On September 11 2001, the skyline had a dramatic change and now people come from all over the world to see what happened on that terrifyingly tragic day. There are hundreds of kinds of tours of the city and the water around it but one of the most important and popular tours is that of ground zero. They have had over eight years of stories being told and photos collected to put in a collection at the Ground Zero Museum Workshop. Many people watched for hours and days the footage of airplanes flying into the World Trade Center buildings with complete shock and heartbreak. Most of the world felt the sadness and came together as one during this time. There were many people lost in this devastation and many of them were working for foreign companies from all over the world so it was not just an attack on America it was an attack on the world.

  The Ground Zero Museum Workshop has some genuine support from all sorts of people including some of the family of the fallen. There are so many pictures taken by talented photograghers like Gary Suson,  who hid behind his camera to capture the story that was felt so painfully in his own heart. There were a lot of brave people putting themselves in hard situations to make sure that the people who died that day would be remembered and honored.

• Rebuilding Rockville, One Step at a Time

  Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

  The Watts Branch Creek in Rockville, Maryland, is being restored through the help of volunteers and the Community Stream Walk.  Three of the water ways that lead into this branch are the Watts Branch, the Rock Creek and Cabin John Creek.  The city of has been restoring the land and the buildings and the history, through the community programs, and through help from various companies such as Next Day Blinds.  Rockville history runs long and it runs deep, and throughout the years the city has seen its ups and downs.  But this city always bounces back.

  Through private residents taking it upon themselves to rehab and reconstruct older living quarters to the museums and the historic sites that are constantly being rebuilt, repainted, and rejuvenated.  The main commercial center of down town suffered tremendously during the 1960′s and on through to the 1990′s, however the charm and the beauty of this part of the United States brings out a caring and a sense of responsibility.  To bring back a bit of the history, through the architecture, the monuments, the door mountings and the window coverings, as those which are found at Next Day Blinds.  Rockville was not a town I ever thought that I would end living in, but circumstances and times, create opportunities that are hard to imagine.

  By moving to this city, I have found a great sense of appreciation for the stories and the lives of the Americans who passed before my time, and I’m am greatly that circumstances brought me here.  Now though, it is time for me to rehab my own building, and to get on with the new life that has been presented, all the while holding on to a bit of the past as well.  For in Rockville, one really can not exist without the other.

• Health and the Finnish Origins of the Hot Tub

  Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

  Spa people are some of the most interesting people in the world.  It’s almost like a culture all on its own, of people who are united in some special way because they have decided to make space in their lives for relaxing.  It’s a very healthy way to relax, too, and your body will certainly thank you.  It might feel, at times, that you’ve discovered a new invention in your hot tub, and think how this kind of rejuvenation was not possible until modern times.  Although our hot tubs are state of the art, using the most advanced technologies to make a product that is technically remarkable, and aesthetically pleasing, the idea itself is very, very old.

  Looking at something as appealing as hot springs, for example, we get the sense that this need to be in hot water to relieve stress is as old as people are.  There is evidence to support this notion, and there is an enormously fascinating history to the hot tub.  You probably know about the famous Roman baths, which came from ideas the Greeks had about bathing and health, as well as the strong social component to the bathing rituals.  They have also been extremely popular in places like Finland, where the tradition of the sauna goes back to at least the 16th century.

  It’s probably much earlier than the 16th century, but that’s when the written records start for saunas.  They have been an integral part of the Finnish household for centuries, and they have highly evolved rituals for their communal saunas.  They have been places for cooking, living, and even giving birth.  There are some fascinating theories about how this might be one of the reasons for the Finns’ reputation for strength and stamina, and they claim that it’s absolutely related.  There are many other places in Europe, too, where saunas are particularly central to the culture, and it’s a tradition that continues here in the U.S., with the popularity for the hot tub.  Enjoy!

• The History of Hospitality

  Monday, September 28th, 2009

  It’s certainly one of the oldest habits the human race has, to help someone else, and hospitality could have originated with this impulse.  But it’s difficult to say exactly what hospitality really means for everyone.  For some, it’s simply taking care of others, for others, it implies service, and for still others, it’s rather like charm, and adding a charming touch to any moment is a sign of hospitality.  For the hotel industry, however, it’s a landmark, and it is one of the ways that guests look at their accommodations.  If a place has a sense for hospitality, or whether it’s simply a building with rooms, can be the beginning of the distinctions that make one hotel better than another.  What, exactly, then, do these buildings  have to do to get the ranking of one to five star hotels?

  It’s a complicated question, actually, and there’s a lot of debate about which system is the most accurate for all the countries in the world.  Generally speaking, however, the rankings are based on excellence in hospitality, and to reach the five-star ranking, there are other amenities that have to be present, such as 24-hour dining and airport pickup.  You can reasonably expect to be treated to absolutely sensational elegance in a five-star hotel, and the hospitality offered can be of a quantifiable type, such as that which is sometimes studied by students at Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research.  This is the top-ranked school in the U.S. for hotel management, and offers a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD degree.  The program is a combination of in-class as well as hands-on learning, so that both theory and practice can come together.

  The other kind of hospitality offered is the kind one would imagine in the early colonial cities in the U.S., such as Charleston, SC, in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In these early days, before the advent of the hotel, guests passing through town might stay in the dependencies, or carriage homes, and here the care was, of course, very personalized and individual.  It was one of the steps toward a recognizable hospitality as the industry understands it.  However, intuitively hospitality is easy to recognize, and is related to that idea of being a stranger passing through town, and finding themselves in good hands, among people who care.

• Airport Hotels and Romanticism

  Friday, September 25th, 2009

  It’s a dream that everyone has as a child to go from one city to another, traveling the world and having adventures.  Meeting people and seeing exotic places, with languages, cultures, and cuisines that are peculiar to each place is part of the mystique of the explorer.  Frequent travelers often lose the romantic part of this idea, and get caught up in the tedium of itineraries and scheduling conflicts.  There are ways of reinventing the romantic ideals once again, and it all starts at the airport hotel.  Making style and luxury a top priority is a first and very important step, and our hotels are carefully selected for their excellence in attention to details.  Detail shows that it’s possible to make every moment elegant, and that the time between flights can be spent in a little bit of gracious luxury, with a splendid taste of the place.

  After just a short rest in our splendidly furnished rooms, you’ll feel a certain rejuvenation of the  senses that might just remind you of the ideals of your adolescent, when traveling the world had all the mystique of the great poets, like George Gordon, Lord Byron.  Byron had the life that most teenagers dream about, and was a sort precursor to the modern rock star.  He even died young, in his mid-thirties, from a cold he got while traveling in Greece.  His life was an extraordinary series of episodes that all involve traveling from one place to another.

  Sometimes quickly, too, to escape debts or angry lovers, or to fight in revolutions.  His life is speckled with the great stuff of the most romantic adventures, with duels and ships, and too many lovers to count, and episodes of great excess.  Lord Byron, of course, also wrote some of the most regarded works of literature in the English language.  His gift of the tongue was apparently equal to his gifts in love, and one of his epic poems, Don Juan, set the stereotype that we still see in literature and films today.  There’s something very alluring about the Romantics, and especially when traveling.  The poetic space where great ideals and a rich inner life are the guides is an attractive one, and it’s a nice daydream to have when it’s also possibly still true.