TODAY - MAY 14

 

NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS

ON: MAY 14

New 2021 edition

TODAY’s LENGTH:

This day is here in Belgium 7 hours and 30 minutes longer than December 21. Its length is 15 hours and 27 minutes – from 05.55 to 21.23.

See more – also in English – about where you are:  www.dagenslaengde.dk

TODAY’s NAME:

Today is called CHRISTIAN’s DAY.  The name itself comes from the word Christian, of course. But the reason why this day carries the name is not known. It is not a name of a saint. And it only entered the almanac in 1738.

 

In Belgium the day is called SAINT MATHIAS – after the apostle, who was chosen instead of Judas.  He died in 80 AD.

 

TODAY’s EVENT:

Louis XIV became king of France only 4 ½ years old.  He was king for 72 years. He is also called the “King of the Sun / Roi du Soleil”.

 

TODAY’s QUESTION:

Gordian knot – where does that expression come from? And what does it mean?

This expression comes from Apollon’s Oracle in Delphi – the centre of the world in ancient Greece.  The Oracle had predicted that the person who could undo a knot on the harness on a pole of a wagon in the temple of Zeus in Gordion would become the ruler of the world.

 

Then came Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) and solved the problem by cutting the knot with his sword. And he actually became the ruler of the known world at the time.

 

Today, the expression to untie the Gordian knot means that you solve a problem, which seems unsolvable.

 

QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:

Flamenco – where does that word come from? And what does it mean?

47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:

EUROPE AT WORK     www.europe-at-work.be

 

TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :

1.  Yesterday’s quote:

The hottest spot in Hell is reserved for those people, who during a moral crisis keep their neutrality.

            This was said by the Italian author Dante Alighieri in the Middle Ages.

            See photo of Dante below.

2.  Today’s quote:

A cynic is a person, who considers other people equally mean as he is himself.

Who among today’s persons has said that?

3.  Famous people born on this day:

1316:  Charles 4.  ( died 1378 )

1686:  Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit  ( died 1736 )

1805:  J.P.E. Hartmann  ( died 1900 )

1897:  Sidney Bechet  ( died 1959 )

 

4.  Famous people died on this day:

1847:  Fanny Mendelsohn  ( 42 years )

1912:  Frederik VIII  ( 69 years )

1912:  August Strindberg  ( 63 years )

1957:  Thit Jensen  ( 83 years )

1959:  Sidney Bechet ( 62 years )

1998:  Frank Sinatra  ( 83 years )

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

niels4europe@gmail.com  

www.simplesite.com/kimbrer   +  EUROPE-AT-WORK  www.europe-at-work.be 



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