Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Ironically the Intelligent Design movement has helped to spread the idea of viewing the human body as a technological product. Bioconservatives who promote Intelligent Design and oppose Transhumanism, work at cross-purposes." -- Mark Plus, 2006-12-15

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's kinda cool how the Gregorian and Julian calendars are lined up: no sooner does Catholic and Protestant Christmas end, than Orthodox^[*] Christmas begins. What with the twelve days, Epiphany/Theophany, and Christmas Eve, twice each, that's a straight three and a half weeks of Christmas!

(Which, uh, gives me more time to come up with gift ideas and argue that they're "technically not late" ...)

Note that I'm not counting Advent as part of Christmas. If you do, then add on the extra days accordingly. And no, I don't really have an excuse for celebrating Christmas in both calendars -- Mom is Orthodox and Dad was Methodist, but most Greek Orthodox churches are "new calendar"^[*], and I just peeked at a web page showing government holidays in Cyprus and they're using the new calendar (I still get to celebrate Easter twice, and that's the more important holiday anyhow) -- but I'm just rather amused by the concept of "nearly a month straight of Christmas", and felt like sharing that amusement. And there are a couple of Russian Orthodox congregations around here (which do celebrate Christmas according to the old calendar), that I can use for cover. :-)

Note also that this alignment works until the end of this Century, after which the two calendars will be one day farther apart. But if you count Christmas Eve as "part of Christmas", you can still call it an uninterrupted not-quite-a-month of Christmas. I'll most likely be dead by then (not that I'd be unhappy about living to 136 years old), so I won't be taking sides in any arguments about that then.

And some of you thought you were sick of Christmas carols before ... Heh.

[*] Some Orthodox churches use the Gregorian calendar for fixed holidays while still using the Julian calendar for calculating the dates of Easter/Lent/etc.; other Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar for all holidays. So there are three Christian calendars to keep track of if you want to know who's celebrating what when: straight Julian (old-calendar Orthodox), straight Gregorian (Catholic and Protestant), and Gregorian-except-for-Easter-and-holidays-related-to-it (new-calendar Orthodox). Hmm. I'd assumed that other faiths have one calendar each, but now I'm wondering whether any other religions have a calendar situation like this.

[**] I'm going to get lazy and just write "Orthodox" from here on in this table to refer to specifically old-calendar Orthodox. I'll trust y'all to have read the first footnote already.

So I was looking at this flat-screen monitor that I don't have the right power cord for (it takes the Mickey-Mouse-shaped connector that I know I've seen before but can't remember where, instead of the shape most computers use), wondering what the odds were of it working once I found or made a power cable for it, and decided to open it up and see just what it was that was rattling inside because I thought that might turn out to be a clue...

I haven't Googled the part number; all I really know about it are the two obvious facts: it's not where it's supposed to be, and it's an inductor. Then again, any other details are probably moot -- either I can put it back where it goes, or I can't. I'm guessing that the chipped-off bit isn't going to be significant. (If it's just epoxy, I'm safe -- does epoxy have a sort of grainy look where it breaks? If it's ferrous, which I can't get a sure enough feel of with my fingernail to identify by touch (and I can't tell whether a magnet is being attracted to the black substance or to the metal of the coil, or perhaps a core if there is one), then the chip might alter the magnetic field a little, but I dunno, it's an awfully small piece.)

But it makes a kind of pretty photo, in a geeky way.

I shot this with the digicam cellio gave me. (It has a 'close up' setting but not this close up.) If I'm going to shoot more macro with it, I foresee more rubber bands in that camera's future. I must say. I'm rather pleased to be able to get shots like this with it.

By the way, does anyone have spare power cables of the Mickey-Mouse-shaped variety? (If not, well I have an X-Acto knife, electrical tape, and a few of the wrong shape of cables.)