by Kelli Finger (from Mental Floss website) Braille is a tactile system that blind people use to learn to read and write, invented in 1824 by a blind French educator named Louis Braille. He revolutionized an existing writing and reading system that allowed blind people to enjoy books and communication. I certainly don’t know …
Category Archives: Europe
Volvo’s Unselfish Act Saved Millions Of Lives
by Douglas Bell Forbes Magazine Volvo proudly proclaims that: “few people have saved as many lives as Nils Bohlin.” And they are right. Nils Bohlin is the little-known Volvo engineer who invented the V-type three-point safety belt in 1959, and saw his innovation through to universal adoption across the motor industry. His new …
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Blind People Struggling in War-Torn Ukraine
by Hanna Arhirova Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Sunlight filters through shattered windows, casting a glow upon the dusty furniture and fragments of glass strewn across the floor of the office belonging to Oleksandr Vinkovskyi, director of a Kyiv business where visually impaired people worked. Vinkovskyi is blind, and can’t see the scale of …
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A New Beatles Song? We’ll Take It!
by Kevin Burton From a beloved uncle or a dear friend who has passed away, you find a previously unknown letter. How precious is that? It’s a piece of that person that you never had, at a time when you thought there would be no more glimpses into their being. Would you not …
Blind Women Helping Detect Breast Cancer
In a bare room in a remote government-run primary health center in Vapi, a city in the south-west Indian state of Gujarat, Meenakshi Gupta holds a diagram of a woman’s breast with five Braille-marked orientation tapes pasted on it. Speaking to the woman sitting on the bed, she says: “I’ll paste these skin-friendly tapes on your …
Traditions That Shape Graduation Ceremonies
by Kevin Burton Wanted to give a shoutout to all the 2023 high school and college graduates, but without reflecting, depressingly, on how long it has been since I became a new grad myself. So I decided to talk tradition, rituals, why we do what we do at graduation ceremonies. A lot …
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The Story Behind “Sultans Of Swing”
by Kevin Burton It turns out there really was a band called Sultans Of Swing that inspired the great 1978 Dire Straits hit. “Sultans Of Swing” is one of those tunes that stops you in your tracks. It just exudes cool. We tell its story, evoking a musical proverb from “Take It …
The History And Science Behind High Heels
by Kevin Burton Gather round kids, because it’s National High Heels day and boy do I have news for you. According to multiple websites, high heels were invented for men. It seems the heels helped warriors on horseback, providing leverage for them to stay in the saddle and stand up to fire …
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A Little Good News Goes A Long Way
by Kevin Burton Have you had enough of the shouters and the doubters, the doom and the gloom? How about a little good news? The Apostle Paul encouraged people to focus on things that are true, honest, just and pure. “If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on …
The Case For George Harrison, Best Beatle
by Kevin Burton I asked a co-worker, a big Beatles fan who has played guitar since high school, for his opinion on The Big Question: Who was the most essential Beatle? I suppose I was spoiling for a McCartney/Lennon fight. That discussion goes to Paul McCartney and John Lennon and stops there, right? …
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