Most people, at least in the United States, have heard of Betsy Ross, the woman credited with making the first American flag, but who was Araminta Ross? Araminta Ross was a person of immense stature in a small body. Only about 5 feet tall (1.53 m), enslaved and illiterate, she dedicated her long life to […]
Olena Zelenska, a former architecture student who is a screenwriter by profession, is credited with initiating Ukraine’s accession to the G7 international initiative on gender equality – the Biarritz Partnership – in December 2019 during a speech at the third Ukrainian Women’s Congress (a permanent public platform that defines the gender policy agenda for the […]
Today, March 8th, we commemorate women heroes. There are too many to list, of course, but The Good Times will highlight a few inspirational women who have made a real difference or who have even altered the course of history. Over the next several weeks, we will draw special attention to the accomplishments of such […]
Dressed in a flannel skirt with trousers underneath, on July 22, 1871, British mountaineer Lucy Walker (1836-1916) reached the top of the Matterhorn (4,478 m/14,692 ft). She was the first woman to do so. Before that exploit, in 1870, Walker made the first female ascent of the Aiguille Verte (4,122 m/13,524 ft) in the Mont […]
Once upon a time, a Frenchman named Joseph Ferdinand Cheval had a vision. And he had the passion to see his vision through. A postman by profession, from 1879 to 1912, after work, often in the dark working by candlelight, he toiled 93,000 hours over 10,000 days to build a palace. He was no architect […]
Here’s another upbeat story from the World Economic Forum about a man who is making a difference. His simple technique in Burkina Faso boosts the planting of trees and contributes to the Great Green Wall. This movement is fighting desertification in the Sahel region and halting the expansion of the Sahara Desert by the planting […]
On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident occurred on Japan’s north-eastern Pacific coast, becoming the second worst nuclear accident in history. According to Britannica.com, officials reported that tsunami waves from the Japan earthquake disabled the plant’s cooling systems, resulting in fuel rods in three reactors partially melting down, releasing radiation. By April, […]
Everyone who is interested in the environment – and many who are not – know who Dr. Jane Goodall is. Well into her 9th decade of life (she turns 87 this year) and best known for her in-depth and personal studies of chimpanzees, she is as involved in her activism for a sustainable planet as […]
Baptiste Dubanchet is a Frenchman who is determined to put an end to food waste. He rode his bike 3,000 km (about 1,865 miles) from Paris to Warsaw in 2014 without buying any food, eating only what he was given along the way. He stopped at supermakets, bakeries and restaurants for leftovers destined to be […]
The actress Hedy Lamarr was known for her beauty and film career, but she was also an inventor. The Official Website of Hedy Lamarr describes her accomplishment as follows: Hedy patented an idea that later became the crutch of both secure military communications and mobile phone technology. In 1942, Hedy and the composer and pianist George […]
