Yet another flake

I call this one Basket of Hearts.

It's fun to try and figure out how to get a particular effect... I may try something similiar with real paper... But I'll probably fold by eight istead of twelve... it won't be an accurate "snowflake" but ilt will be easier to cut, and I'm not all that anamored of snow, anyway...

Still, I hope you like it.

Yule is not over! So...

First off, I am a firm believer in celebrating Yule/Christmas for the full span of time, not just one or two days.

Psychologically, we spend far too much emotional and physical energy building up to let it die in just one day. No wonder people tense, hyper, and depressed, in turns. If we celebrated for longer, then if one of those days doesn't live up to your expectations, there's always a chance the next day will be better....

And magically, if we are going to burn the logs and/or string those electric lights all over the place to call the sun back from the brink, we might as well do enough magic to bring it back for the whole year.

Traditionally, this has meant celebrating one day for each of the coming months of the year, or the Twelve days of Christmas (which is actually 13 days, since Christmas itself wasn't counted... the "first day of Christmas" is actually December 26th, and the Twelfth Day is Epiphany, or January 6th)

"But there aren't 13 months!" I hear from the peanut gallery... Actually, there are... if you define "one month" as how long it actually takes the Moon to make one revolution around the Earth (as measured against a "fixed star") instead of what it looks like in the sky.

Our current calendar as lasting from full moon to full moon, or (roughly) 30 1/4 days each (so we fudge, a little, and have some months be 30, and some 31 days). Multiply that by 12 and you get 363 days -- pretty close to a full year, especially if you're fudging anyway, and throw in a leap year now and then (which 2004 will be).

But when you define "a month" the other way -- by how long it actually takes Moon to actually circle the Earth, or a "sidereal month," -- then it's roughly 28 days long. There are 13 sidereal months in a year, and when you multiply that out, you get 364 days -- even closer to a full year than the 12 month system we use now (before the fudging came into play).

So. If you're Neo-Pagan, and celebrating Yule, the holiday isn't over until January 3rd. If you're Christian, it's not over 'till those three king-dudes come riding over the hill on the 6th. And since I have both Neo-Pagans and Christians on my list, I intend post messages in the Holiday Spirit unto the very end!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

(watch this space)

Oh, and more Welcomes to my Friends List

Welcome to ianmcin, whom I met in #drwhochat this year, and popesnarky, whom I met in Rec.Arts.Drwho, back in '99, I think.

Glad to have you two join my madness!

Bwa-ha-ha!

Grabbed from popesnarky

filling out the form is a bit complicated, if you don't happen to know your own longitude and lattitude, but I found the results interesting...

I'm trying to get all my Livejournal friends' locations plotted on a map - please add your location starting with this form. Username: (Then get your friends to!)