2005: Year in Review Blog

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Tuesday December 27, 2005 22:43

by redjade

2006 on the way

redjade's 2006 prediction: Impeachment (but not necessarily removal, resignation, nor pre-mature withdrawal)

Jason Pitzl-Waters' WildHung Blog ( http://www.wildhunt.org )
quotes Bill Wangemann pointing out the pagan history of our New-Year festivities:

"There are many traditions related to the New Year. One of the common symbols of the holiday is a newborn baby, which represents a new beginning or a rebirth of the New Year. The tradition of a baby to signifying the celebration actually dates back to Greece in about 600 B.C. The celebration of a New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4,000 years ago. In those distant times, New Year's began with the first new moon after the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). To people in those long ago days, it made perfect sense to celebrate a New Year and a new beginning on the first day of spring. It is the Romans that we have to thank for New Year's Day being celebrated on Jan. 1; or more correctly, Julius Caesar. In 46 B.C. he rearranged the calendar, which by that time, was way off sync with the sun so that New Year's Day fell on Jan. 1. To do this, he had to extend the previous year for 455 days. The early Christian Church banned the celebration of ushering in a new year as a pagan custom. Jan. 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by western nations for only about 400 years."

more at
http://www.wildhunt.org/2005/12/christmas-war-is-over-if-you-want-it.html

. . . . .

• Hebrew Year 5766
Rosh HaShanah was Oct 4, 2005
http://www.science.co.il/Jewish-Holidays.asp

• Q: When is the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2006?
A: January 29, 2006 is the first day of the new year.
- 2006 is the Year of the Dog.
http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html

• Islamic Year 1426 H.
Hijrah New Year (10 February 2005)
http://islam.about.com/cs/calendar/a/hijrah_calendar_3.htm

• 'The Coptic calendar has 13 months ... The Coptic calendar, the oldest in history, originated three millennia before Christ .... The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic Calendar known as the Year of the Martyrs "ANO MARTYRUM, A.M." Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month named Tut, the first month of the Coptic year, which usually coincides with the 11th day of September.'
http://www.copticchurch.net/easter.html

• All the other Christian Liturgical years....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_calendar

• Metric Time:
very confusing... http://www.indwes.edu/Faculty/bcupp/things/metrictm.htm

save preference

Comments (6 of 6)

"Fantastically stimulating...It's like the crack cocaine of the thinking world....

by iosaf

Wed Jan 04, 2006 14:21

.... Once you start, you can't stop thinking about that question." is how BBC radio 4 describes this year's "edge annual question" which for 2006 is :-
"what is your dangerous idea?".
(the 2005 question was What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?")

117 contributors responded making a document of 72,500 words.

http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_print.html

The next "sunday papers" "mozart edition" will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the lord of light, and also act as a review of 2005's sunday paper articles and preview of 2006's regime changes in €urope, Ireland and south America. It will also present the Austrian EU presidency. If you read this comment you're either a very very clever cognitive scientist or were hoping for a dinky new blog link, are bored, or a celtic sentimenalist. Happy Sun and Earth moving through space and thus steadily warming days to you in any case.

Blessèd be!

and the Celtic New Year is...

by Vercingetorix the Forgotten

Wed Jan 04, 2006 13:47

for what its worth...Samhain (November 1st). Pagan ritual which later became All Souls' Day, but better known by oct 31st Hallowe'en. This is when the otherworld and this world become interchangeable, and people had to put various objects around their house to make sure that the good people which Sasanachs call "fairies" wouldn't kidnap a human child and exchange it for one of their own. This was the Celtic explanation for many types of disability, particularly those known today as 'special needs'. Anyone with a blemish could not be a King.

First day of Spring (Feb 1st) is Im Bolg (Im Bolc), named after the Belgians (Belgae); or Lá Féille Bríde (St. Brigid's Day) named after the patron Saint of fertility, birth, health, Defence of Leinster and weaving among other things. Brigid may have given her name to Britain (Brigantes), and her name lives on in derrivative (Burke, de Burgh - Uí Bhairrche - barony of Bargy Co. Wexford). Worship of the triad goddess Brigid was an all-women affair, akin to the vestal virgin ceremonies of Roman religion. The two main sites for this (Kildare town and Lady's Island (Wexford again) were appropriated by Christianity, as was the feast day. Flahertys of Galway also mixed up in the pagan worship somewhere along the way (Fotharta of Kildare).

Word of the Year for 2006: Splog

Wed Jan 04, 2006 01:52

if 2005's word was Podcast, the 2006 will be SPLOG

Definition: Splog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splog

read....
Wholesale Blog Plagiarism …
http://gigaom.com/2005/12/25/wholesale-blog-plagiarism-alert/

Juan Cole: Ten Amazing Predictions for 2006

Sun Jan 01, 2006 19:53

Ten Amazing Predictions for 2006
http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/ten-amazing-predictions-for-2006-1.html

'The Shanghai Cooperation Organization composed of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as members and India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan as observers, will follow up on its success in getting US troops out of Uzbekistan....'

As Usual Juan Cole thinks outside the box, click the link above to read through his other predictions

'refugee' #2 word for Merriam-Webster

Tue Dec 27, 2005 22:48

• roundup of 2005 lists
http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2005.cfm

Roger Ebert's Top Films of 2005
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051218/COMMENTARY/512180302

• Most outrageous statements of 2005
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512230006

• Best Tech Moments of 2005
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,69900-0.html

• Music: Top Ten 2005
http://indiesurfer.blogspot.com/2005/12/top-ten-2005.html
- listed #5 is Decemberists
http://indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69863

• Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2005
1. integrity
2. refugee
3. contempt
4. filibuster
5. insipid
6. tsunami
7. pandemic
8. conclave
9. levee
10. inept
http://www.m-w.com/info/05words.htm

• Top List of Hot Political Buzzwords for 2005
http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page12.html

• The Top Politically (in)Correct Words for 2005
http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html

• 'Podcast' Is the Word of the Year
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051205/nym208.html

• Top 10 tricks causing spyware epidemic
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/?p=729&tag=nl.e540
{ maybe in 2006 people could get a mac, or linux?)

• List of 552 of the World's Richest People 2005
http://www.drive-software.com/articles.php?id=8&title=Worlds%20Richest%20People%202005

• Ten most searched terms on Google in 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4551936.stm
1: Janet Jackson
2: Hurricane Katrina
3: Tsunami
4: Xbox 360
5: Brad Pitt
6: Michael Jackson
7: American Idol
8: Britney Spears
9: Angelina Jolie
10: Harry Potter

{ only 2 out of the 10 discussed on Indymedia.ie, yet Indymedia.ie continues to grow }

Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005 (and more)

Tue Dec 27, 2005 22:46

• Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005
by Juan Cole
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/top-ten-myths-about-iraq-in-2005-iraq.html
1. The guerrilla war is being waged only in four provinces.
2. Iraqi Sunnis voting in the December 15 election is a sign that they are being drawn into the political process and might give up the armed insurgency
3. The guerrillas are winning the war against US forces
4. Iraqis are grateful for the US presence and want US forces there to help them build their country.
5. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, born in Iran in 1930, is close to the Iranian regime in Tehran
6. There is a silent majority of middle class, secular-minded Iraqis who reject religious fundamentalism.
7. The new Iraqi constitution is a victory for Western, liberal values in the Middle East
8. Iraq is already in a civil war, so it does not matter if the US simply withdraws precipitately, since the situation is as bad as it can get
9. The US can buy off the Iraqis now supporting guerrilla action against US troops.
10. The Bush administration wanted free elections in Iraq.

. . . .

• The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2005
'12 significant parts of the constitution that are being implemented despite the French and Dutch results—including the establishment of the European Defense Agency, a European Space Programme, and an EU diplomatic corps.
[....]
Private security firms in Iraq are hiring an increasing number of ex-guerrillas and soldiers from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Chile.
[....]
terrorist camps are reopening in Pakistan received only scant attention in 2005. In July, the Herald, a Pakistani magazine, reported that previously abandoned terrorist training camps were open for business in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.
[....]
The total oil output of non-OPEC producers, according to ExxonMobil’s projection, will peak around 2010

more at
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3315

----

• Norman Solomon' P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2005
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec05/Solomon1220.htm

2005: Things I Want To Forget
by Arianna Huffington
Part One
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/2005-things-i-want-to-fo_b_12701.html
Part Two
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/2005-things-i-want-to-fo_b_12707.html

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Comments (6 of 6)