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The Merrie Monarch

King Kalākaua

King Kalākaua, the last king to reign over Hawaii, was much more than the partying happy-go-lucky man that his title as the Merrie Monarch suggests. On top of ending an economic depression by entering into trade deals with Ulysses S. Grant, he single-handedly revived native Hawaiian pride and culture that had been repressed by European and American missionaries and brought Hawaii onto the international stage with strong relationships he built during two world tours.

A Snapshot of South Korea

People around the world are getting ready to tune into the scene in South Korea, since it will host the XXIII Olympic Winter Games from February 9th to 25th in Pyeongchang County.

Many South Koreans believed that the Winter Games presented an ideal way to promote the country’s mountains and scenic vistas; but, one month before the games, ticket sales were still sluggish as tensions with North Korea continue to dominate headlines.

Longevity

As we age, we yearn to remain healthy and retain our quality of life. Many believe that age is just a number and that people are only as old as they feel.

Age doesn’t hinder some from pursuing an education, exploring an interest, or even engaging in an extreme sport. Former President George H. W. Bush went skydiving in celebration of his ninetieth birthday.

Exploring the History of Fashion

Design drives many areas of our lives—the homes we live in, the furnishings we select, the cars we drive, and the clothes we wear. The choices we make reveal quite a bit about who we are. They provide outlets for self-expression and define our personal style.

While architecture, film editing, and graphic design enjoy a more prominent ranking in the hierarchy of design, fashion design is often perceived as more frivolous.

Snow

Temperatures recently dipped to record-breaking levels as winter weather ushered quite a chill to many regions of the American Northeast, Britain, and parts of Western Europe.

Many people in America’s Northeast have already marveled at the first snowfall of the season, which casted a blanket of white on cityscapes, rural pastures, and even stretches of sand dotted with palm trees. For the first time in three decades, snow fell in the northern part of Florida—the Sunshine State.

Tropical Vacations

During the trying winter months with their elongated nights and bitter temperatures, some daydream of translucent seas, sun-kissed shoulders, and lush scenery. For those who make their homes in such awe-inspiring locales, there exists a spirit and a thirst for inspiration only travel and exploration can quench. So, whether it’s wind-surfing in the Philippines, or reading through Marjorie Reaka’s The Ecology of Coral Reefs, World Library has a wealth of tropical material.

Gospel Music

Many favorite classic and modern songs retain the experience inherent in gospel music. The rapturous call and response, the inspiring rhythms, even the style and mode of dress are all indebted to the joyous music emanating from church doors.

Silver Screen, Silent Film

The early days of moving pictures drew talent from stage actors who brought their silent, larger-than-life performances to the silver screen. Their exaggerated expressions hardly looked natural when expanded to several feet square. As stated by character Norma Desmond in the movie Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!”

Following are eight of the most memorable faces of the silent film era.

Child Prodigies

Amazing contributions to music, literature, and academics do not rest solely upon the shoulders of wise and learned men. History remembers those brilliant and talented young people who displayed astounding abilities before adulthood. Following are four of whom you might not have heard:

Street Food

Eating on the run came long before the current American fascination with mobile catering. For millennia, vendors in densely populated cities hawked their ready-to-eat food and beverages from portable carts and booths temporarily parked in public places—like streets—with easy public access.

Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica

With the most stable geometric form being the triangle, it is no surprise that the most impressive structures of the ancients take the form of pyramids. Egypt and Mesoamerica house the most well known of these massive, ancient structures.

The Olympics

The Olympic Games as we know them started in 1896, in Athens. Two hundred eighty (280) athletes from 13 nations competed in a 43 events. Mimicking the ancient Olympic games held in Greece as long ago as the 76 B.C., no women competed. It simply wasn’t permitted. The ancient Olympics also prohibited married women from attending.

The ancient Greeks based the games on warfare. Free men demonstrated the abilities and skills that would serve them well on the battlefield: running, jumping, javelin, fencing, archery, wrestling, boxing, and more. The ancient competition featured chariot races with some famous competitors such as Roman Emperor Nero in 67 A.D., who entered a 4-horse race with 10 horses and didn’t finish. The influence of politics and its attendant corruption declared Nero the winner of that race anyway.

Card Games

Since the advent of civilization, humans have devised countless ways to amuse themselves. From telling stories around campfires to organized sports, these diversions from everyday life entertain, confer glory upon the winners, and utilize skill sets that may come in handy in other endeavors.

A Poet’s Opium Tryst

The Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge used it heavily. The poet maudits Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud went through bouts with it as well. Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning said in a 1843 letter to her brother: "I ... long to live by myself for three months in a forest of chestnuts and cedars, in an hourly succession of poetical paragraphs and morphine draughts."

War Reporting

How much transparency should there be between the frontlines of war and the public that pays the taxes to fund that war?

A. A. Milne

English author Alan Alexander Milne, born January 18, 1882, led a highly productive literary life. He jump started his career with famed British humor rag Punch in 1906, and in the next 20 years produced over 20 works of fiction, poetry, plays, and nonfiction. In the midst of this storm of writing, Milne served in both World Wars.

The Advertising Campaign to Make Women Smoke

Propaganda used to be special. It used to only exist in wartime for the purposes of boosting morale and contributions to wartime efforts. It used to be sacred.

The Art of Letter Writing

In the era of quickness and disposability, a personal touch goes a long way. And if you mean to send a personal touch a long distance, what can be more meaningful than a handwritten letter?

History of Pharmacy

When we’re sick, most of us rely on medicine to heal us; but, before modern medications were available, humanity relied on the power of nature—plants, animals, and other microorganisms to return us to health. Over one-quarter of natural medicines have been discovered in rainforests.

Florence Nightingale

Due to many changes in recent years in health care, nursing, and technology, nursing curriculums have changed. Although the history of nursing was included in most nursing programs of the past, Daily Nurse cites that there’s little opportunity to include this important topic in today’s studies. Many of today’s programs only provide a brief overview of the history of nursing.

The Merrie Monarch

King Kalākaua

A Snapshot of South Korea

Blue Zones

Longevity

Exploring the History of Fashion

Winter Wonders

Snow

Tropical Vacations

The Unyielding Spirit

Gospel Music

Silver Screen, Silent Film

Child Prodigies

Eating on the Go

Street Food

Temples and Tombs

Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica

Games of the Gods

The Olympics

Leaders of the Pack

Card Games

A Poet’s Opium Tryst

American Censorship in the World Wars

War Reporting

The Birth of Edward the Swan-Bear

A. A. Milne

Propaganda in Peacetime

The Advertising Campaign to Make Women Smoke

Epistolary

The Art of Letter Writing

History of Pharmacy

History of Nursing

Florence Nightingale