#AtoZChallenge2015: Altruism #WritersWednesday

What is altruism? From the English Wikipedia entry: "Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core aspect of various religious traditions and secular worldviews, though the concept of "others" toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism or selflessness is the opposite of…

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/atozchallenge2015-altruism-writerswednesday/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Boisterous

From Merriam-Webster dictionary: 1 obsolete a: coarse b: durable, strong c: massive 2 a: noisily turbulent : rowdy b: marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits 3: stormy, tumultuous Synonyms (from: Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group) adj noisy and mischievous…

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/atozchallenge2015-boisterous/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Cistercians

From the English Wikipedia: "A Cistercian is a member of the Cistercian Order (/sɪˈstɜrʃⁱən/,[1] abbreviated as OCist or SOCist (Latin: (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis), a Catholic and also Anglican religious order of monks and nuns. They are variously called the Bernardines, after the highly influential St.

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/atozchallenge2015-cistercians/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Devolution

There are two meanings of the word devolution: one is a constitutional, or political, the other biological. Throughout the history of communities, regions, nationalities, the first meaning has loomed large about political thought: "Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, …

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/atozchallenge2015-devolution/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Exceptionalism

We are all different: human, and national, diversities, cultural, linguistic, historical, are part of our being the species we are. Yet, from time to time, this observation is tainted with delusion: that of superiority, or special destiny... "Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is "exceptional" (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not need to conform to…

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/atozchallenge2015-exceptionalism/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Family

One of the pleasures of the A to Z is, for me, to dive again in Raymond Williams' Keywords, a source of inspiration and learning. The simplest words reveal their history, the meanings given to them in the past, by people like us, our older neighbours, perhaps our ancestors. On Family Williams wrote: "Family has an especially significant social history.

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/atozchallenge2015-family/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

As a lover of navigation history I was delighted when I fist visited Greenwich, in East London, once the home of the Royal Navy College, and, of course the locus of the meridian that sets the time for the whole world! Greenwich is close to our home, we often visit its beautiful park and old streets. If you happen to visit London, don't miss Greenwich!

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/atozchallenge2015-greenwich-mean-time-gmt/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Hegemony

For students of world history, and of world-historical thought, hegemony is one of the Sesame keys: from ancient Greece, to the Italian city-states of the early Renaissance, to the Netherlands of the 17th century, to imperial Great Britain, to todays' United States of America, the presence of "great powers", and among them that of a "hegemon", one country or nation state for a while dominating the others, has been the backdrop of western…

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/atozchallenge2015-hegemony/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Images

They are all around us: our language is no longer merely phonetic - ahhh the 80's! - it is that of the selfies and snapshots, taken at the speed of news tickers. For this is truly the Society of the Spectacle, and we, dear readers, are the subjects as well as the makers... Our hedonistic, self-centred, preoccupations have now displaced the "real" world from our minds.

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/atozchallenge2015-images/

#AtoZChallenge2015: Jousting

Feeling in a medieval mood? Well, read on, damsels and jouveanceaux! "Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen each wielding a lance with a blunted tip, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim is to strike the opponent with the jousting sticks while riding towards him at high speed, if possible breaking the lance on the opponent's shield or…

https://honoratus20018.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/atozchallenge2015-jousting/