1. | Jul 10, 2014

Hi, Mickey I found you through the ieeirvtnw you did with Daphne Grant-Grey. Your website is fun to read. This piece drew my attention with the title "Brain Work" and then your sentence "it is Ukrainian New Year's Day" stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. I need to be picky and accurate: January 14th is NOT Ukrainian New Year's day. In 1582 Pope Gregory issued a decree, basically dropping 13 days from the calendar in use since Julius Caesar's time (aka Julian calendar) and created a new calendar, since adopted by most of the western world now known as the Gregorian calendar. The Russian Orthodox and other Orthodox Christian churches refused to follow Pope Gregory's example, insisted on remaining with the Julian calendar which calculated Easter using siderial time, vs Pope Gregory and friends who calculated it using solar time This is a simplified explanation of a complicated subject I am not qualified to go much deeper. Anyhow, as a Russian Orthodox Christian, I am familiar with the 13 day difference in the two calendars. When I was young, my friends and I, looking for an excuse for a party, would get together to celebrate the "Old" New Year. Folks in Ukraine and living abroad probably do the same thing, for fun. In short, it is not an exclusively Ukrainian tradition. You have a beautiful blog, otherwise. Best wishes, Elena

2. | Mar 15, 2014

Hi, Mickey I found you through the ieivrntew you did with Daphne Grant-Grey. Your website is fun to read. This piece drew my attention with the title "Brain Work" and then your sentence "it is Ukrainian New Year's Day" stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. I need to be picky and accurate: January 14th is NOT Ukrainian New Year's day. In 1582 Pope Gregory issued a decree, basically dropping 13 days from the calendar in use since Julius Caesar's time (aka Julian calendar) and created a new calendar, since adopted by most of the western world now known as the Gregorian calendar. The Russian Orthodox and other Orthodox Christian churches refused to follow Pope Gregory's example, insisted on remaining with the Julian calendar which calculated Easter using siderial time, vs Pope Gregory and friends who calculated it using solar time This is a simplified explanation of a complicated subject I am not qualified to go much deeper. Anyhow, as a Russian Orthodox Christian, I am familiar with the 13 day difference in the two calendars. When I was young, my friends and I, looking for an excuse for a party, would get together to celebrate the "Old" New Year. Folks in Ukraine and living abroad probably do the same thing, for fun. In short, it is not an exclusively Ukrainian tradition. You have a beautiful blog, otherwise. Best wishes, Elena

3. | Jan 31, 2014

Hi there I am so thrilled I found your wlbeog, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Google for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a incredible post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the minute but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.

4. | Jan 30, 2014

Ya napisal eto tomu s kem pessvieipalrya v temu a ne tebe! pro tagut ya znay AlhamduLillah..veryat v Allaha slovom dushoy i deyaniyami , a to kazhdiy v Azerbayjane dumaet chto on Musulmanin