L is for Love

Love is something not one of us can do without; yet, it seems there isn't enough love in a world full of wars and hatred. Well, it's time to change that. Love really does make the world go round. Here's how to say LOVE in many languages.

English: Love

Afrikaans: Liefde

Albanian: Dashuri

Arabic: حالة حبّ

Bulgarian: Любов

Catalan: Amor

Croatian: Ljubav

Czech: Láska

Danish: Kærlighed

Dutch: Liefde

Estonian: Armastus

Farsi:

عشق

Filipino: Mahal

Finnish: Rakastamme

French: Amour

Galician: Amor

German:Liebe

Greek: Αγάπη

Hausa: So

Hebrew:

Hungarian: Szerelem

Italian: Amore

Irish: Gra

Latvian: M

īlestība

Lithuanian: Meil

ė

Macedonian:

Љубовта

Malay:Cinta

Norwegian:Kjærlighet

Pashto:

Polish: Mi

אהבה مينه محبت ליבע łość

Portuguese: Amor

Romanian: Dragoste

Russian:

Любов

Serbian: Ljubav

Slovak:Láska

Spanish: Amor

Swedish:Förälskelse

Thai:

ความรัก

Turkish:A

şk

Vietnamese: Tình yêu

Urdu:

Yiddish:

Feel free to add more as not every language is listed here. :)For whatever reason-when I did this, the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean letters did not come up in my blog. So I deleted them.

K is for Kermit

Jim Henson created the most loveable froggies around. His name is Kermit the Frog. I used to glue myself to the television whenever I watched the Muppets. Fozzie, Rowlf, Miss Piggy, Kermy, Scooter,Animal, etc. quickly became my best buds.,

Here is one of my favorite Kermit clips:
Disco Frog

Boy, can that froggie boogie!

RIBBIT RIBBIT!

THE FROG THAT ATE NEW YORK! JK IT'S THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE! YAYYYYYYY!

FROGALICIOUS BABY!

One pampered pollywog!

J is for Japan

In Japan, the literacy rate is 99%.

Two major religions of Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. Christianity only comprises about 10% of the population.

Japan is made up of over 6000 islands.

The Japanese Prime Minister is not elected by the people. He is elected by the legislature.

Apparently it is considered rude to blow your nose in public. I'm not sure if that 100% true but even here it's kind of gross, but if you have got to get rid of the boogies, please use a tissue and not your finger or shirt.

In Japan, it is customary to remove your shoes before entering one's house. In side the home you either go barefoot or wear slippers. There are special slippers for when going to the bathroom as well.

Apparently the "Walk" and "Do not walk" signs make a chirping sound so blind people can cross the street. Imagine if we did that here?

Contrary to popular belief, Pokemon is not popular in Japan.

Kyoto was once the capital of Japan. Switch the letters around and you get the capital today, Tokyo.

A shogun was the hereditary military dictator of Japan. Minamoto no Yoritomo (1192-1199) was the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. A shogunate is similar to today's prefecture. Each shogunate had a a leader, a shogun.

Japan has 47 modern day prefectures.

It has a parliamentary government and a constitutional monarchy.
It's modern day Indepence Day is May 3, 1947 when the current constitution was adopted as an amendment to the Meiji Constitution. Early Indepence days included November 29, 1890 when the Meiji Constitution provided for a constutional monarchy. 600 B.C was an Independence Day as well. It is the traditional date of the founding of the nation by Emperor Jimmu.

Emperor Akihito's birthday is a national holiday.

You must be 20 years of age to vote.

Their "congress" is bicameral andis called the Kokkai and consists of the House of Caouncillors (Sangi-in, which has 242 seats) and the House of Representatives (Shugi-in which has 480 seats).

Japan has a Supreme Court as well. Their Chief Justice is appointed by the monarch after designation by the cabinet. All of the other judges on the Japanese Supreme Court are appointed by the cabinet.

The national anthem of Japan is "Kimigayo" or "The Emperor's Reign."

The tallest mountain is Mountain Fuji. It is also an active volcano.

Sumo wrestling and baseball are very popular in Japan.

There are around 1,500 earthquakes in Japan each year.

The Tale of The Genji

Karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.

The word "geisha" means "person of the arts." The first geisha were actually men.was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a noble woman who wrote the novel in 1007 AD　

http://facts-about-japan.com/
http://www.blogger.com/goog_364625333
http://www.blogger.com/goog_364625333
http://www.blogger.com/goog_364625333
http://www.blogger.com/goog_364625333
http://facts-about-japan.com/interesting.html 

I is for Idylls of the King

An idyll is a form of poetry. Idylls (or Idyls) come in two forms. Short idyls tell of a peaceful country setting. Long idyls tell of heroes of by gone eras. It is believed that the shorter pastoral idylls were first penned by Theocritus. However the most famous idyll ever is written by Alfred Lord Tennyson and titled Idylls of the King.

The full manuscript of Idylls of the King  was published in sections between 1856 and 1885. It is a cyclical work of twelve narrative poems. Idylls of the King was based on the Arthurian legend. While it is a retelling of heroes of long ago, it is thought by some that the poem reflected mid-Victorian societal issues.

The Idylls are:
The Coming of Arthur
Gareth and Lynette
The Marriage of Geraint
Geraint and Enid
Balin and Balan
Merlin and Vivien
Lancelot and Elaine
The Holy Grail
Pelleas and Ettare
The Last Tournament
Guinevere
The Passing of Arthur

Tennyson based his Idylls of the Kings  on Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur  and the Mabinogion.

Excerpt from Idyll:The Coming of Arthur

The Coming of Arthur




Leodogran, the King of Cameliard,
Had one fair daughter, and none other child;
And she was the fairest of all flesh on earth,
Guinevere, and in her his one delight.

For many a petty king ere Arthur came
Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war
Each upon other, wasted all the land;
And still from time to time the heathen host
Swarmed overseas, and harried what was left.
And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,
Wherein the beast was ever more and more,
But man was less and less, till Arthur came.
For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,
And after him King Uther fought and died,
But either failed to make the kingdom one.
And after these King Arthur for a space,
And through the puissance of his Table Round,
Drew all their petty princedoms under him.
Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned.

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste,
Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein,
And none or few to scare or chase the beast;
So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear
Came night and day, and rooted in the fields,
And wallowed in the gardens of the King.
And ever and anon the wolf would steal
The children and devour, but now and then,
Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat
To human sucklings; and the children, housed
In her foul den, there at their meat would growl,
And mock their foster mother on four feet,
Till, straightened, they grew up to wolf-like men,
Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran
Groaned for the Roman legions here again,
And Csar's eagle: then his brother king,
Urien, assailed him: last a heathen horde,
Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood,
And on the spike that split the mother's heart
Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amazed,
He knew not whither he should turn for aid.

But--for he heard of Arthur newly crowned,
Though not without an uproar made by those
Who cried, `He is not Uther's son'--the King
Sent to him, saying, `Arise, and help us thou!
For here between the man and beast we die.'

And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms,
But heard the call, and came: and Guinevere
Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass;
But since he neither wore on helm or shield
The golden symbol of his kinglihood,
But rode a simple knight among his knights,
And many of these in richer arms than he,
She saw him not, or marked not, if she saw,
One among many, though his face was bare.
But Arthur, looking downward as he past,
Felt the light of her eyes into his life
Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitched
His tents beside the forest. Then he drave
The heathen; after, slew the beast, and felled
The forest, letting in the sun, and made
Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight
And so returned.

For while he lingered there,
A doubt that ever smouldered in the hearts
Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm
Flashed forth and into war: for most of these,
Colleaguing with a score of petty kings,
Made head against him, crying, `Who is he
That he should rule us? who hath proven him
King Uther's son? for lo! we look at him,
And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice,
Are like to those of Uther whom we knew.
This is the son of Gorlos, not the King;
This is the son of Anton, not the King.'

You can read the entire text here:
http://www.fullbooks.com/Idylls-of-the-King.html

And  summaries and analyses of the poem you can find here:
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/idylls/iotkov.html


Also check out these links:


http://poetry-online.org/poetry-terms.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idylls_of_the_King

H is for HAHAs

With all that is going on in the world I am hoping to make some of you laugh--or let out a chuckle--or smile....

The following is from funny-sign.com

 Here are links to some of my more humorous articles on associatedcontent.com. All of my articles are copyrighted to and by me. If you'd like to reprint any of these send me a message. Other than that HAPPY HAHAS!

Famous Toilets http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6120060/famous_toilets.html?cat=60

Job Applications http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6035776/job_applications.html?cat=60

Recipe For Watching Football on Thanksgiving http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6023508/recipe_for_watching_football_on_thanksgiving.html?cat=60

Updated Dizzy Definitions http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5900778/updated_dizzy_definitions.html?cat=2

Dating Site Blunders http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2656945/dating_site_blunders.html?cat=60

I will leave that here for now. There are more listed on the site. Thank you again for your support!

G is for Gothic Horror

G is for Gothic Horror
This is a poem I wrote. Story behind the poem: I was taking a course in Herman Melville in grad school. We had a paper due and my professor said in regards to that "Oh! The gothic horror that is a blank page!" I wrote this poem then and there. Enjoy.

gothic horror

the gothic horror that is a blank page
that ghostly disturbance that sits on my desk
that keeps me up at night
i think of nothing else
but what to write

the white is blinding
the lines are blurring
but sometime later

i begin to see things in the whiteness
snow storms
yetis coming out of the invernal forest
to reclaim the earth
squall lines pouring down
on a wooden ship
tipping it to and fro
until it becomes a flying dutchman
white smoke rising from
the smoldering ruins of
the gothic horror that
was a blank page.
c2011 Lady Samantha

F is for Freedom Quotes

I decided to do quotes about Freedom for the letter F. I find that quotes are little glimpses of the past. It is always interesting to see what others have to say about other subjects.

Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus. (We are slaves of the law so that we may be free.)
~ Cicero

Liberae sunt nostrae cogitationes. (Our thoughts are free.)
~Cicero

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.
~John Adams

Freedom is not worth  having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
~Mahatma Gandhi

Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains.
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Only the educated are free.
~Epicetus

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.
~Epicetus

The basis of a democratic state is liberty.
~Aristotle

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
~John Milton
　
History teaches us that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
~Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall