What Would Jimmy Do?

I read an interesting article a few days ago about colonialism — the article was in National Geographic, and it did a nice job of discussing the subject. It defined colonialism as “control by one power over a dependent area of people.” In practice, colonialism is when one country violently invades and takes control of another country, claims the land as its own, and send people — usually called “settlers” — to live on that land. 

There were two great waves of colonialism in recorded history. The first wave began in the 15th century, during Europe’s Age of Discovery. During that time, countries such as Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal colonized lands across North and South America. 
The second wave of colonial expansion began during the 19th century, centering around the African continent. It’s been called the Scramble for Africa, with European nations such as Britain, France, Portugal and Spain, sliced up the continent like a pie. 

After reading the fairly lengthy article, it occurred to me that some of the words we use today probably originated during those colonization periods — particularly the second — and were the result of those conflicts.
 I did a bit of extensive research and came up a few terms that seem to have originated during the “colonialism battles.”

Washout — a term that came from the British rifle range during the 19th century. If a shot landed completely wide of the target, it was called a washout, because on old iron targets the space they landed on was covered with some kind of paint or “wash.” At first, washout simply meant a bad shot, but it soon was broadened to mean any kind of failure, and it’s still used that way. 

During the colonization of Africa, there were many conflicts between the British and the Boers (descendants of the early Ditch settlers.) The Boars found life unbearable alongside the British, and they began a mass migration, away from British rule. This movement was known as the Great Trek — trek being Dutch for a journey by ox wagon. Today it is used for any difficult journey. It’s interesting that it also appears in Star Trek, the motion picture and television series about space travel. 

The Boars had a lot of problems with hostile native tribes, so they organized small military units or kommandos, capable of making quick raids against native villages. During World War II, the British anglicized the term to commando and applied it to small elite units trained to engage in some specially hazardous undertakings. What may be the first commando raid (in 1941) the commandos destroyed a plant in occupied Norway that was making glycerine for the Germans. Americans also used the word as an adjective to describe military actions involving surprise and shock, as in “commando tactics.”

The Boars and the British went after each for a long time — the British suffered losses, but kept getting reinforcements from various sources. Once when the Australian came to their rescue, they expressed their exasperation and said they were fed up. That phrase continues to a synonym for “disgusted” or “having had enough.”

It was during this British conflict with the Boars that the British army adopted khaki as the proper color for active-service uniforms. The name for this greenish shade of brown comes from the Urdu word for dust or dust-colored and was adopted in English in the mid-1800s by British troops serving in India. But it wasn’t generally used until the Boar War, during which “khaki” also was a slang name for a volunteer. That usage has died out, but the color and its name remain, not only in British and American soldiers’ summer uniforms (also called khakis,) but in all kinds of nonmilitary clothing.

The South African War, or the “Boer War” was the first major conflict in what would be a century marked by wars on an international scale. The war began on October 11, 1898, following a Boer ultimatum that the British should cease building up their forces in the region. The Boers had refused to grant political rights to non-Boer settlers, most of whom were British, or to grant civil rights to Africans.
Finally, in 1910, the Unio of South Africa was formed, but for much of the remainder of the 20th century the legacy of the Boer War survived in tensions between the Boers and the British. Once in control of the government, the Boers enacted a policy called apartheid. That term has also entered our language, where it refers to any practice that separates people on the basis of race or caste.

The National Geographic article mentioned a lot of terms that seem to have originated in during the colonialism periods that have become a part of our language.
But I guess the more important message is that it’s easy to brush colonialism off as a relic of the past, burt we still live in a world shaped by the histories of those conflicts. The wealth and prosperity of some of the most powerful nations can be attributed to the theft of land, resources — and people, from former colonies. 
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I saw a question on the Internet asking why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety-one?
I’ve heard that many times before and always considered it what it is — a joke, not a serious question. 
But since it’s a slow day, I thought I’d ponder it a bit.

The question actually should be, why do we say eleven and twelve instead of firsteen and secondteen? After ten, it’s the “teens” all the way up to twenty. The next number after twelve is thirteen — the third teen, then fourteen, the fourth teen, and so on. So why skip the first two and name them eleven and twelve? 
Well, our counting system is based on ten. The terms twenty, thirty, etc. are derived from compound words meaning “two tens,” three tens,” etc. I suppose there wasn’t a need for “one ten” because there was already the word “ten.”

So maybe the real question is why do we have this odd set of numbers from eleven to nineteen? Really the numbers thirteen to nineteen aren’t that odd because they mean three and ten, four and ten, and so on. They’re kind of in a reverse order to numbers like twenty three, but the principle is the same. 

But that eleven and twelve is still a puzzlement. During my extensive research, I turned to the dictionary and found that eleven comes from Old English endleofan that literally means “one left.” Twelve comes from Old English twelf, meaning “two left.”
I’m not sure how this all fits together, but maybe it goes back to people using their fingers to count. If you count something using your fingers, and get all the way up to ten and there’s one thing left over, that’s eleven — if you have two things left over — twelve. 

So I really con’t know how eleven and twelve got their names in our numbering system. Maybe people just started using them and they became part of our language/numbers — sometimes that’s just the way things happen……
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Turn over a new page on your calendar — it’s now October. Normally this is great month to view the fall colors around here, but I’m not so sure this year — we’re still in the midst of a fairly prolonged drought.

While we’re on the subject of leaves, the main reason leaves change color isn’t the chilly weather, and maybe even not so much the rain. The main reason for the color change is light — or really the lack of it. The kind of technical definition is that the green color of leaves disappears when photosynthesis (from sunlight) slows down and the chlorophyl breaks down. The leaves on trees with a lot of direct sunlight should turn red — other trees usually turn yellow, orange or brown. 

The full Moon this month is called the Hunter’s Moon and it arrives on October 28. The Hunter’s Moon is a bit like the the Harvest Moon in that it’s tied to the autumnal equinox. 

Over the years a lot of pretty significant events and milestones have taken place in the month of October….
The famous Nixon-Kennedy debate occurred in October
The Panama Canal was completed in October and the Hoover Dam started producing electricity
The Mickey Mouse Club began (on ABC)
The Ford Model T was introduced to the public
Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? Happened in October
Mensa was created and the first broadcast of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson  — both in October
Walt Disney World in Florida opened, Concord made its final commercial flight and work began on Mount Rushmore — all in October. 
So let’s see what this October can add to this list — hopefully, something good.
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I know there’s been a lot of talk about the Moon lately, like the September full Moon being the last supermoon of the year, and recently it’s importance in the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival, but I though a little more in-depth discussion would be appropriate today since this is really the last night for the Harvest Moon. This year the Harvest Moon appears full for about three days — from September 28 to 30.

One thing that sets the Harvest Moon apart from other full Moon names is that it’s not associated with a specific month. The Harvest Moon is associated with the timing of the autumnal equinox (that occurred on September 23rd this year.) The full Moon that occurs nearest to the equinox is the one that is named “Harvest Moon.” This means that the Harvest Moon can occur in either September or October — it all depends on how the lunar cycle lines up with the Gregorian calendar. The Harvest Moon does typically occur in September, but it occasionally lands in October.

So why it it called the Harvest Moon? The first full Moon nearest the equinox, for several evenings, rises soon after sunset. This results in an abundance of bright moonlight early in the evening — that traditionally was an aid to farmers and crews harvesting their summer-grown crops. So — for that reason, it’s called the Harvest Moon.

Without getting too technical, there are just a little over 12 complete Moon cycles every year — on average. The Harvest Moon is a little different than the other Moons in that:
Usually, throughout the year, the Moon rises an average of about 50 minutes later each day (night.)
But for a few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time (actually, it’s just about 25 to 30 minutes later.)
And — the Harvest Moon rises at sunset and then will rise very near sunset for several nights in a row. It almost seems like there is a full Moon multiple nights.

The idea of the Harvest Moon originated in Europe (where the average latitude is about 50 degrees north and the Harvest Moon rises only 10 to 20 minutes later each night.) 
It probably seemed like a bonus — just when the days were rapidly getting shorter and the Sun seemed to go down too soon, the Harvest Moon arrived to extend the hours that harvesting could be done.

As I mentioned yesterday, it isn’t just Western civilizations that gives special importance to the Harvest Moon. For Chinese people, this full Moon is the occasion for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
All full Moons are kind of neat, but the Harvest Moon is really special.
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As you’re probably aware, today is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month on the lunar calendar. Of course on the Gregorian calendar that we use, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month varies every year. 
This year, in 2023,that’s today. 

So what’s so special about today? Because it’s the beginning of the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. The festival is often referred to as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival. The festival gets its name because it’s held around the autumn equinox… and the full Harvest Moon. It’s a traditional festival that’s been celebrated for over 3,000 years. 

It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture — its popularity is on a par with Chinese New Year. The Chinese believe that on this day, the Moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn, and that the full Moon signals a time of completeness and abundance. So the Mid-Autumn Festival is a day of family reunions, kind of like our Thanksgiving.

The autumn festival falls during the full Moon nearest the fall equinox and it celebrates three fundamental concepts that are closely connected….
Gathering — like family and friends coming together, or the gathering to harvest crops.
Thanksgiving — to give thanks for the harvest, or for harmonious unions.
Praying — asking for conceptual or material satisfaction.
The traditions and myths surrounding the festival are formed around these concepts.

So how did the festival get started?
Chang’e is the goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology. One well-known story about her is what some people believe is the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In a very distant past, Chang’e was a beautiful woman. Ten suns had risen together into the skies and scorched the Earth, thus causing hardships for the people. Hou Yi, a legendary archer and the husband of Chang’e, shot down nine of them, leaving just one Sun, and was rewarded with two potions of the elixir of immortality. As he didn’t want to gain immortality without his beloved wife, Hou Yi waited to consume the elixir and left it with his wife, Chang’e. However, while Hou Yi went out hunting, his apprentice Fengmena broke into his house and tried to force Chang’e to give him the elixir, so Chang’e took both potions herself rather than giving them to Fengmeng. Then Chang’e flew upward past the heavens, choosing the Moon to be her immortal residence as she loved her husband and wished to live near him. When Hou Yi discovered what transpired, he felt responsible for Chang’e, so he displayed the fruits and cakes that his wife had enjoyed, then killed himself. Even today, the Moon Festival wouldn’t be complete without Mooncakes….
So if you need a good reason to celebrate, have your own Moon Festival and check out the Harvest Moon tonight — and say hello to Chang’e.
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A couple of days ago I wrote about angle numbers and recently I’ve mentioned that one of Claire’s brothers is “into,” or at least refers to, horoscopes fairly regularly. There seems to be a fair amount of interest in numerology these days with a lot of people believing that there is a mystical relationship between numbers and events in our lives.

As I mentioned when discussing angel numbers earlier, the origin of numerology can be traced back to ancient civilizations, like the Babylonians and Egyptians who used numbers to describe qualities of the world around them. 

Life path numbers are a part of a series of numbers in a numerological chart — and they are derived solely from a person’s birthdate and give insightful information about a person’s life journey. 
If you check the Internet, you’ll find more than one way to calculate your life path number. I don’t know that one is any better or more accurate than another, but here’s one way:
Add your birth month and day together and remember the result. As an example, February 20 would be 2 + 20 = 22.
Add the entire year your were born together and remember that number, too. For example, 1989 would be 1 + 9 + 8 + 9 = 27.
Add the two results together — in this case, add 22 (from the month and day) to 27 (from the year.) 22+ 27 = 49.
Add the double digits together until it yields a single digit. In this example, 49 is 4 + 9 – 13 and then 13 is 1 + 3 = 4. In this example, the person’s life path number is 4.

Different life path number mean different things. If you’re interested, you can look up the meanings behind your life path number on the internet, or I’m sure you can find that information in the library if you’re one of the few people that still visit those places. 

During my extensive research, I noticed that almost all the articles I checked, stressed that your life path number is only a part of a series of numbers from your full numerology chart and that an experienced numerologist would help you put it in its right place in the big picture — you are not just one number, but a combination of numbers that make you unique.

Someone said numerology is the bridge between who you are now and who you have the potential to be. Is that true? Actually, we don’t know. There is no concrete evidence that numerology is anything more than a way to interpret the world around us. Whether or not you believe in numerology is up to you — but if you do, and it helps, why not?
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We went to the doctor a week or so ago and the nurse had a necklace that had “4444” on a chain. It was very pretty and I asked if it had a special meaning. She said it was her angle number. I guess I’ve led a sheltered life, but I had never heard of an angle number before. 

After hearing her story about her necklace, I decided some extensive research was in order….
According to numerology, angel numbers are number sequences (usually three or four numbers) that contain repetition (like 111 or 4444) and or patterns (such as 321 or 8787.) These numbers usually appear in ordinary places, but they grab our attention and often evoke a sense of wonder. Supposedly the reason these numbers get our attention is an extension of their symbolism — it’s believed that these numbers are messages from the spiritual universe that offer insight, wisdom, and directionality. Whether they’re assigned to angels, guides, ancestors, spirits, or just a higher state of your own consciousness, angle numbers can confirm you’re on the right path, shed invaluable insight on a complicated situation, or even illuminate the powerful, mystical meaning behind recurring themes you experience throughout your life.

The significance (and power?) of repeating integers has been around hundreds of years. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was a brilliant mathematician and he believed that our reality is a physical manifestation of the energetic vibration of numbers. 

One of the ways angel numbers differ from other signs of this type is that they’re not linked to your birth information. Zodiac signs, astrology birth charts, life path number, etc. are all determined by the date, time and/or location of birth. Zodiac sign personality traits offer insight about your likes, dislikes, tastes, and preferences, but angel numbers don’t shed any light on your identity, but indicate the ways in which you’re moving through the world.

And apparently angle number are extremely fluid — you may be followed by an angel number for years, or you might experience an angel number as a singular event or occurrence. And — a long-term connection isn’t any more meaningful that a one time observation.

One thing that’s different and kind of cool about angel numbers is that they appear in ordinary places — like clocks, timestamps, alarms, receipts or maybe addresses, phone numbers, license plates. price tags, travel itineraries, etc. 

And, again supposedly, the reason angel numbers appear in the most mundane locations is because the spiritual universe is intentionally offering a gentle reminder that you’re moving through something greater than any day-to-day circumstance could ever express. The presence of an angle number can feel like a warm embrace — it’s kind of like the angle number is saying, “you’re doing amazing.”

I’ve never experienced an angel number, but now that I’m aware of them, I’m going to try to be more observant — I think it’d be pretty neat if one shows up.
Galileo said that mathematics was the language with which God wrote the universe — who knows, maybe he was right….
— 30 —

During a conversation recently, it came up that I’d been to the Great Wall of China. Someone said, “gee, that’s one of the 7 wonders of the world.” Well, that’s kind of correct and kind of not correct.

The original Seven Wonders of the World (now referred to as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) were remarkable, humanly-constructed “landmarks” from ancient civilizations and didn’t include the Great Wall of China. 

Back in, I think, about 2000 a campaign was started to decide on seven new “Wonders of the World.” Over 100 million people cast their votes to trim the list (of over 200 places) down to seven.
The “modern” list of the Seven Wonders of the World (that does list the Great Wall) consists of:
1. The Great Wall of China
2. The Taj Mahal, in India
3. Petra, Jordan (an ancient city carved into rock)
4. The Colosseum, Italy
5. Christ the Redeemer, Brazil (statue at the summit of Corcovado Mt. in Rio)
6 Chichén Itzá in Mexico (a city built by The Maya people over 1,500 years ago)
7. Machu Picchu, Peru (the ruins of a city from the Incan empire — in the Andes Mountains)

All interesting — and — wonderful, but maybe not as much as the ancient wonders….
Here the ancient wonders:
1. The great Pyramid at Giza — located in the greater metropolitan area of Cairo, Egypt. Pharaoh Kufu built it for his tomb around 2500 B.C.
This is the oldest of the seven ancient wonders and the only one still standing. Each of the pyramid’s four sides is perfectly oriented to north, south, east and west. The base covers 13 acres. The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on earth for more than 4,000 years. It was topped by the Cologne Cathedral in 1880, and later the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower.
The pyramid was originally 481 feet high, but time and weather have worn the pyramid down to about 450 feet. Today, it’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.

2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon — located in ancient Babylon, near present-day Baghdad in Iraq.
Babylon was very flat, so King Nebuchadnezzar built it for his wife, Amities, who was homesick for the mountains of her native land — about 600 B.C.
The gardens were like a terraced garden, built on higher and higher levels, covered with trees, flowers, fountains, and waterfalls. Some estimates say it probably covered and area about 100 by 150 feet. The whole thing was supported by columns 75 feet high. It’s thought that slaves worked around the clock to irrigate the garden with water from the nearby Euphrates River.
There is no concrete proof that the gardens were real, but if they were, time has eroded them. There is virtually nothing left of the gardens, but archaeologists are still digging in the area.

3. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus — located in the ancient city of Ephesus, near modern Selcuk in Turkey. King Croesus, the the guy from who we get the term “rich as Croesus,” was the heaviest contributor to the shrine to Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and wild nature that was built about 550 B.C.
Except for the roof, the temple was made entirely of marble. it was considered the most beautiful structure on earth, with pillars of gold, magnificent frescoes on the walls, and its most famous feature — four bronze statues of Amazons, the women warriors who were Artemis’s most faithful followers. The temple was a tourist center, where everyone was expected to leave gifts for the goddess. Outside the temple, souvenir stands sold little statutes of her. In one of her forms, Artemis was the goddess of the moon. 
A fire set by a pre-Christian publicity seeker destroyed the temple in 356 B.C. It was rebuilt, then burned down by invading Goths. Early Christians demolished what remained.
Excavations have uncovered the foundation and some columns. Some of the columns that were excavated can be seen at the British Museum in London.

4. The Statue of Zeus — located in Olympia, Greece — the site of the ancient Olympic Games. The Greeks wanted visitors to the ancient Olympics to be impressed, so what was originally a simple temple to Zeus was turned into the home of an enormous statue of Greece’s most powerful god.
The 40-foot high statue of Zeus sitting on a throne made the temple look like a playhouse. Zeus’s head was just below the ceiling, giving the impression that if he stood up, he’d go right through the roof. His body was made of ivory, and his beard, robe, and sandals were made of gold. His throne, also made of gold, was encrusted with precious stones. 
The structure was destroyed by a fire in A.D. 426 — nothing is left of the statue. The temple is one of those picturesque ruins you can visit on vacation.

5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus — located in Southwester Turkey, Queen Artemisia built it as a tribute to her husband, King Mausolus in about 353 B.C.
Except for the fact that Artemisia was King Mausolus’s sister as well as his wife, the only interesting thing about him was his death. The word for a large above-ground tomb, “mausoleum,” comes from his name.
Some of the original foundation remains visible and some statues from the tomb can be seen at the British Museum in London.

6. The Colossus of Rhodes — overlooks the harbor of Rhodes, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The people of Rhodes built it in honor of Helios, the sun god, to celebrate a military victory, around 282 B.C.
The Colossus was a colossal statue of Artemis’s brother, Helios. No-one knows exactly what it looked like, but most artists’ renditions show him naked, or at least scantily clad, which must have been quite a sight at 120 feet high from his toes to his sunburst-shaped crown. It’s interesting that Frenchman Fréderic Bartholdi used the statue for inspiration when he designed the “New Colossus” —  America’s Statue of Liberty — who wears the same pointy headdress.
An earthquake hit around 226 B.C. and the statue broke off at its weakest point — the knee. There is nothing left of the statue today.

7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria — located on the ancient island of Pharos, in Alexandria harbor in Egypt — built in about 270 B.C.
This was a wonder that actually served a purpose. Designed to guide ships into the harbor, it was completed during the reign of King Ptolemy II. It wasn’t just any puny little lighthouse. It was covered in marble and close to 400 feet high — the height of a 40-story skyscraper. The lighthouse was famous enough to be pictured on Roman coins minted in Alexandria in the second century A.D. During the day, an enormous mirror reflected the sun — at night, a fire at the top did the job. It was apparently also a tourist attraction — food was sold on the first floor, and there was a balcony above for climbers who wanted the scenic view. After 1,500 years as a working lighthouse, it became the last of the 7 Wonder of the World to disappear — destroyed by another earthquake, this one in the 14th century A.D.
Deep-sea divers may have found the ruins in 1996… there are plans to turn it into a tourist attraction again, although most of the best stuff will be underwater.

So there have been, and are, many wonders in the world built by man, and many more thanks to the work of Mother Nature, but I think someone had it right, when they said that the world’s seven wonders taht stand the test of time are — truth, love, joy, faith, peace, virtue, and wisdom.
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Yom Kippur for Hebrew Year 5784 begins tonight (Sunday, 24 September 2023) at sundown and ends at nightfall on Monday, 25 September 2023.

Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) is the day of repentance, the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. Described as a Shabbat shabbaton (Shabbat of solemn rest) in the Torah, Yom Kippur is the culmination of a period of time during the month of Elul in which Jews are required to take stock of their lives, to ask forgiveness from friends and family, and to take steps toward self-improvement for the year to come.

Yom Kippur is observed for a 25-hour period, beginning at sundown, by refraining from work that is prohibited on Shabbat, plus five additional prohibitions — eating or drinking, bathing, anointing the body with oil, wearing leather shoes and sexual relations.
Traditionally, Jews believe that after judging a person for their deeds over the past year, God decides who will be sealed in the Book of Life (to live for another year) and who will die. Others simply use the day as a time to reflect on what they want to do differently this year, and some people wear white on Yom Kippur to symbolize the purity of the day.
To all our Jewish friends, G’mar Hatima Tova — may you be sealed in the Book of Life.
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Yesterday it was summer — today it’s fall. The fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrived this morning at 2:50 A.M. EDT. The autumnal, or fall, equinox is an astronomical event that marks the start of autumn — or “fall.”

During an equinox, the Sun crosses what is called the “celestial equator” — an imaginary extension of the Earth’s equator line into space.The equinox happens at the exact time when the Sun’s center passes through this line.
From this point on days become shorter than nights because the Sun continues to rise later and nightfall arrives earlier — this ends with the winter solstice, when the days start to grow longer again.
The word “equinox” comes from the Latin aequus, meaning “equal,” and nox, meaning “night.” At the time of the equinox, day and night are roughly equal in length.

The full Moon that occurs nearest the autumnal equinox is always called the “Harvest Moon.” Why? Around the fall equinox, the full Moon rises around sunset for several nights in a row, traditionally  providing farmers with just enough extra light to finish their harvest before the killing frosts of fall set in. 
(Bonus information: The Harvest Moon is one of only two Moon names that are astronomical terms and aren’t tied to one specific month. The full Moon nearest to the fall equinox is called the Harvest Moon and can be either the September or October full Moon. The other astronomical Moon name is the Hunter’s Moon — the next full Moon after the Harvest Moon. It can occur in either October or November.)

So — is today really the first day of fall? Based on the astronomical definition of seasons — yes. Astronomical seasons are based on the Sun’s position in the sky. But according to the meteorological definition of seasons that’s based on temperature cycles and the Gregorian calendar, the first day of fall is usually considered to be September 1.

Equinoxes have been important to cultures since ancient times. Seems that people have always tracked the transitions of the Earth’s journey around the sun.
In Mexico, the Mayans built a giant pyramid called Chichen Itza and on the equinoxes, it looks as if a snake made of light slithers down the pyramid’s steps.
In Peru, at Machu Picchu, an ancient stone monument called Intihuatana, that means “Hitching Post of the Sun,” serves as a solar clock to mark the dates of the equinoxes and solstices.
And Stonehenge, in England, was built with the equinoxes and solstices in mind.
I’m always sad to see summer leave, but fall is a pretty good time of the year…..
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