Archive for November 2008
History of Christmas: Nativity Season
NATIVITY SEASON Greeting cards depict Joseph along with Mary on the back of a donkey making their way to Bethlehem in the wintery snow. The natural questions arises: could Jesus have been born during that time of the year, perhaps with snow on the ground? It is possible, as 3 to 4 days a year…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas: Advent
THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: ADVENT Here begins our series of articles on the History of Christmas. The Advent Season — Advent means the "coming" of the Christ Child — is marked by the four Sundays before Christmas and is celebrated in the church calendar as one the most festive seasons of the year. As we…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving: Friendly Indian?
HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING: FRIENDLY INDIAN? We’ve all heard the story of how the Pilgrims, landing in Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620, were ill equipped to survive the harsh winters of the New World. We’ve also heard how they met a Native American Indian of the Pawtuxet tribe named Squanto who befriended them, taught them…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving
HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING The origin of Thanksgiving Day has been attributed to a harvest feast held by the Plymouth Colony. In 1621, Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony proclaimed a day of "thanksgiving" and prayer to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first harvest in America the year after their arrival on the merchant ship Mayflower. The…
Read MoreMovie Review: James Bond – Quantum of Solace
MOVIE REVIEW: JAMES BOND – QUANTUM OF SOLACE The latest James Bond movie opened this weekend in the US, beginning on Friday. It is already #1 in Europe, having opened there a week earlier, and a huge hit in the UK, where it opened two weeks ago. The first weekend in the UK was a…
Read MoreCloud Optimized Storage: Atmos
In 1969 during the original Star Trek TV show, The Cloud Minders episode featured Stratos, a city in the clouds. Today, EMC launches Atmos, cloud optimized storage. This is not science fiction, but the realization of much work on managing very large amounts of data “in the cloud.” Having been in the hands of customers…
Read MoreHistory of Veterans Day
HISTORY OF VETERANS DAY A professor once commented, "We write things down so we can forget them." Now, of course this is wrong, except in the limited sense of writing down appointments so we don’t have to worry about missing meetings. But that’s just it, we do forget things. As individuals we forget things that…
Read MoreHow to Raise Your Visibility on the Web, Part 2
How to Raise Your Visibility on the Web, Part 2 We’ve talked about how getting your own domain name can give you immediate exposure on the Web in my previous article, for my friend who wants to use the Internet to find a job. It’s a first step, that provides the virtual equivalent of an…
Read MoreHistory of Guy Fawkes Day
GUY FAWKES DAY For our friends across the Pond November 5th is known as “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes Night”, and all over Britain people fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. Guido Fawkes was an Englishman who, in popular legend, tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament with barrels…
Read MoreHistory of Election Day
History of Election Day Why do we vote on a Tuesday in November in the US? Historically, the United States was an agrarian society where much of the calendar revolved around farming. In 1840, Congress set voting day on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. This time provided a convenient month for…
Read MoreFlorence Galleria – Michelangelo’s David
FLORENCE GALLERIA – MICHELANGELO’S DAVID To see the statue of David for the first time takes your breath away. In the tribune at the end of a long gallery lit naturally from above by a glass cupola, this statue is the most beautiful man-made thing I’ve ever seen. You know the familiar story from the Bible…
Read MoreDriving In Italy
DRIVING IN ITALY It has been said that you have to be CRAZY to drive in Italy, but I tell you that you MUST be crazy to drive in Italy — preferably homicidal. Drivers here are assertive and aggressive, believing it is more blessed to take the right of way than to give it. Indeed,…
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