Postcard from Bishkek

Tomorrow, June 15th, is another one of those Professional Holidays: the Day of the Fire Service of Kyrgyzstan, (Kyrgyzstandyn ortkokarshy kyzmatkerlerinin kүnү) . The “holiday” was established by government decree in October 1994 and the date was chosen because it was on that day back in 1926 that the first professional Fire Brigade Service was established in […]

On May 29th, 1948, the United Nations officially authorized a team of observers to be deployed to the Middle East to observe and maintain the ceasefire arising from the Arab-Israeli war – sparked by the creation of the modern state of Israel. (As a result – May 29thh is designated as the International Day of […]

Happy New Year!!!    ??? . Again???   What’s going on … ?

Being a former Maths teacher, today has a special significance for me … March 14th – or 3.14 – is designated a Pi Day because the first few digits of that transcendental number are 3.14. The earliest known commemoration  of the day was in San Fransisco 1988. Although it is an unofficial day, the designation is […]

Today, March 12th, is the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, another of those international observances. The day has quite an interesting history in that when it was first proposed by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International and was first marked as the International Online Free Expression Day in 2008.    The idea behind the day was to […]

Today’s postcard is dedicated to the fact that it’s International Mother Language Day. Yes, it’s another one of those special, United Nations designated days.  It’s been celebrated on 21st February every year since 2000 in order to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism; multilingual education, and to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions […]

Love it or hate it … “Wikipedia has drastically affected how we access and share information on the internet” … so says Justin Franco in his brief History of Wikipedia (in two and a half minutes”) on youtube. Wikipedia was launched on 15th January , 2001, although it was based on a concept and technology of […]

I wonder how many people have finished writing their Thank You letters for their Christmas and New Year’s gifts.  This chore, suffered by children over the centuries, was always one of the downsides to the holiday season … Well, it’s not too late!  Today’s a good dayfor saying Danke, Dyakuyu, Gracias, Grazie, Merci, Rahkmat, Spasibo, […]

Today is the Day of Kyrgyz Literature. Because the nomadic Kyrgyz had no written language until the twentieth century and relied on oral tradition, most of the information about them come from external sources such as the Chinese Chronicles. That is not to say that there was no literature. The stories of the nomadic Kyrgyz […]

These days I often wonder how we survived without the conveniences of modern day life such as mobile phones and the internet – especially Wikipedia … Back in 1950′s we acquired something that changed out lives in much the same way – the television set.  Like a Russian icon, it was put into a corner […]