FEAST OR FAMINE

    The 2024 Paris Fire Brigade is out on the streets of Paris – by donation.  The 2024 edition of the calendar celebrates the 2024 Paralympic and Olympic Games. The athletes present in this calendar (in alphabetical order) are: Hakim Arezki (football), Axel Bourlon (para weightlifting), Pauline Deroulede (armchair tennis), Yohan Peter (wheelchair fencing), Alex Portal (para swimming), and Gael Riviere (football).   Participating in the development of the 2024 calendar are the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, the BSPP communications office and the Nativity and Boulogne barracks, the Billancourt stadium, the Bailly-Romainvilliers sports complex, the National Center for Training as well as all the actors who contributed to the realization of this calendar.   The history of the Paris Fire Brigade ( Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris ) begins in 1699 with the introduction of water pumps. The Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris is known as BSPP or the Sappe...

  The “Lunar New Year” on 1 February 2022,  moving into spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. The tiger is a symbol of strength, braveness, and the banishment of all evils. It is celebrated in Asia with children wearing hats or shoes with a tiger image for good luck.  Previous Tiger Years were 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950, 1938, 1926, 1914, and, 1902.  I’m celebrating by wearing a tiger’s eye gemstone bracelet and with my tiger night light – which reminds me of British poet William Blake’s 1794 poem, The Tyger, that begins:. Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Artist: Eugene Delacroix, A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother (1830), The Louvre, Paris MARTINA NICOLLS MartinaNicollsWebsite   Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website Flower Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES ...

The history of the Paris Fire Brigade (Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris) begins in 1699 with the introduction of water pumps. The Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris is known as BSPP or the Sappers.   Sappers stems from “sapeurs” meaning brigade – a sub-division of the French military that dug trenches to allow forces to advance towards the enemy.    The firefighters in Paris became a more important organization after the 1810 fire at the ball in the Austrian Embassy to celebrate Napoleon Bonaparte’s marriage to Marie-Louise. After this catastrophe, Napoleon reorganized the public service and created the first military unit of firefighters in September 1811, an innovative idea at the time. This military unit was under the authority of the Police Prefect.    The current Paris Fire Brigade has six regiments: 1) the 1 st  Fire and Rescue Regiment, 2) the 2 nd  Fire and Rescue Regiment, 3) the 3 rd  Fire and Rescue Regiment, 4) Dedicated Support ...

Yesterday, 2 February 2020, was a palindrome day, when the date reads the same left to right and right to left – 02/02/2020. The previous palindrome day was 20 February 2002 – 20/02/2002 – but not in countries that write the month before the day. The previous palindrome date, written worldwide the same way, was 11 November 1111 – 11/11/1111. The next palindrome day that is written the same way across the world is next year on 12 December 2121 – 12/12/2121 – followed by 3 March 3030 – 03/03/3030.  MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

If you are waiting for 2016 to end you’ll have to wait a second longer because international time experts are delaying the onset of 2017. The extra second added to 2016 is to compensate for a slowdown in the Earth’s rotation. So as you count down to midnight on 31 December, count down from 11. Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, England, said: "Leap seconds are needed to prevent civil time drifting away from Earth time. Although the drift is small - taking around 1,000 years to accumulate a one-hour time difference - if not corrected it would eventually result in clocks showing midday before sunrise." The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service in Paris decides when leap seconds are needed, and they are always announced about six months in advance. That is because the extra second can be a nightmare for communication networks, financial systems, and other applications that rely on...

Homer Simpson turned 60 yesterday, on 12 May 2016. Homer Jay Simpson, the star of the television show, The Simpsons, is a safety worker at the Springfield nuclear power plant. In episode 16, Homer’s drivers’ licence showed that he was born on 12 May 1956. Created by Matt Groening, and voiced by Dan Castellaneta, Homer Simpson first appeared on television in 1987 during The Tracey Ullman Show. By 1989 he, and his family – wife Marge, and children Bart, Lisa, and Maggie – had their own television series. The Simpsons is now the longest-running sitcom and primetime scripted series in American history. Homer’s hereditary gene, his exposure to radioactive waste, and the vast number of head injuries, have caused his low intelligence quota (IQ). Fortunately, and probably due to Marge’s exceptional intelligence, their daughter Lisa is brilliant. Bart, though, does not like school, and Maggie is still sucking her dummy. Nevertheless, Homer and his family were presented with...