[bliadhna mhath ùr] с наступающим новым годом

A guid New Year to ane an` a` and mony may ye see!

Why do we go all Scots when we come close to Hogma – er- New Year? Never mind. I have my little tipple ready. My single malt went long ago and all I have is a drop of Chivas [it is the fSU, after all].

So, to ane an` a`:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, We'll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne."

Frohes Fest und guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr
Ευτυχισμένο το Νέο Ετος
bonne année
聖誕節同新年快樂
クリスマスと新年おめでとうございます
חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה
اجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و حلول السنة الجديدة

Anyone I’ve forgotten? Oh yes. Happy New Year!

[thought for the day] new year's eve

We know exactly where there've been terrorist attacks around the world. Why haven't there been any in China, do you think?

[underwear] more than meets the eye

After my last piece on undies, it was about time to follow it up.

Loincloths were originally outerwear, first worn by cave dwellers, then Egyptians and Romans. In 1352 BC Egypt, the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun was buried with 145 loincloths. Surely that was an ample supply for the afterlife.

They were each a long piece of linen shaped like an isosceles triangle with strings meant to be tied around the hips. The length of cloth hanging down in back was brought forward between the legs and tucked over the tied strings in the front, from the outside in.

Around the 13th Century, pull on underpants were invented and underwear became an important garment. Not only did underwear help shape the wearer’s figure, it also kept their clean clothes from touching skin. In Europe the underwear evolution went into full swing – men started wearing corsets, cod pieces, stockings, long johns, undershirts and drawers.

Women’s underwear included garters, lace corsets, knickers, petticoats and stocking suspenders. The brassiere didn’t appear until the early 1900s, then flattener bras of the 1920s, layered petticoats of the 1950s, cleavage enhancing bras of the 1990s

As the 20th century began, most Americans wore union suits or “all-in-ones”—undergarments that combined pants and a top. In the 1930s, they traded their union suits for separates and easy elastic waists replaced button, snap, and tie closures. Boxers and briefs swept a nation, and the word "underpants" entered dictionaries.

"Day of the Week" underpants were a craze in the 1950s. Each pair of underpants in the set of seven was labeled with a different day of the week.

Now there are reversible undies. According to Man Lore, reversible underpants are good for at least four wears: front ways, the right way; back-to-front, the right way; front ways inside-out; and back-to-front inside-out. Just in case women turn up their noses at this, Bonds have come out with reversible undies - just for women.

As the boys move away from boxers but don’t wish to cut off their prime with “le slip”, the solution is the traditional white Y fronts, as worn by their fathers.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

[china] the scope of the threat [part 2]

Part 1 ended with the words of General Gao Rui, former Vice President of the Academy of Military Science (AMS), writing that the Warring States era is "extremely distant from modern times, but still shines with the glory of truth" and "the splendid military legacy created through the bloody struggles of our ancient ancestors and today has a radiance even more resplendent."

Such talk would be quite worrying to western ears because we’ve heard similar rhetoric before, usually prior to world expansion of some kind.

That the Chinese take such things seriously is reflected in the comments of the director of research at the General Staff Department of the People's Liberation Army, which published six volumes of studies on ancient statecraft in 1996 that contained specific advice on how to comprehend the current and future security environment.

An essential aspect in this assessment is to determine the rank order of the power held by the various warring states. Although today's Chinese concept of Comprehensive National Power (CNP) was invented in the early 1980s, it originally stemmed from traditional military philosophy.

According to ancient strategists such as Wu Chunqiu, calculating CNP can aid a nation not just for war but also to "coordinate a political and diplomatic offensive, to psychologically disintegrate enemy forces and subdue them." Assessing one's own CNP can also aid a country in promoting development and growth.

Sun Zi long ago warned that victory depended on calculations and estimates of enemy strength and weaknesses made in advance. Two of ancient China's greatest advisers on statecraft, Lord Shang and Li Si, also warned of the need to calculate the future. States which rise too fast suffer attack, dismemberment, and even complete extinction.

As every literate Chinese knows, a brilliant strategist always forms a coalition that stands for several decades against the predatory hegemony of the time.

The solution, therefore, is in alliances.

More here …

[china] the scope of the threat

According to Deng Xiaoping, in order to eventually overcome, China should adopt the ancient maxim of "hiding brightness and nourishing obscurity," and Beijing adds, "to bide our time and build up our capabilities" and again - "to yield on small issues with the long term in mind."

The Warring States era in Chinese history was the age in which the classics of Chinese statecraft were produced and Colonel Liu Chungzi of the National Defense University Strategy Department states that "in the 1990s, the world entered a multipolar era very similar to the time of Sun Zi."

To dismiss China’s fixation with its destiny in terms of its ancient warlike past would be an incalculable mistake for the west but one which it’s quite likely to make in its arrogance. And arrogance with the Chinese never washes. They have their own in good measure.

I once “under-headed” a college half full of Chinese boys and the most poignant memory was that they had their own hierarchy, their own summary justice system, their own quiet insolence and arrogance which never confronted the British pattern and order but neither did it embrace it.

An older member of staff advised me one evening, over a game of snooker, to run with the Chinese and let them feel you were onside, however much it galled. “Don’t ever pull rank,” he warned or strange things would start to go wrong.

I mentioned this to another colleague who was apoplectic at their insolence – this was the Britain of the late 80s after all and he was a member of the greatest empire the world had ever seen and supporter of the greatest team – Man U.

Continued here …

[blogfocus saturday] simple, homespun prose for the festive season

As the title suggests, in this more mellow 'tween Christmas and New Year period, these are some of the softer contributions from our bloggers, sometimes understandably so but sometimes quite a surprise indeed.

1 To get the ball rolling, let’s fly to Canada to have some tea with our margaritas:

I just love this tea pot from hubby. He said he trolled the antiques mall and there it was! It`s my favorite of all my teapots. Says Chelsea Gibson England on the bottom. Not sure if that`s a company or a person. It`s definitely been well loved and will be again. I like it so much that I keep it right on the table along with my traditional Christmas rose. Isobel especially admires that! This makes a nice pot of tea too :). He also gave me a new flat screen monitor. Wow....what a difference it makes. Now everything is in true colour rather than sometimes too dark to see. I think I did good this year!

2 Jack Kemp reflects on the religious or PC compulsion to wear this bit of clothing or to not wear this other one:

It seems there are two major schools of thought about unusual people with odd hats. One is that we should all learn about other cultures and be tolerant of them. The other is that we now in America have the Guaranteed Right not to be made uncomfortable by anything that doesn't suit our fancy, be it a person with an unusual hat or a with only one leg or who is obese or doesn't wear designer jeans - or is obese AND wears designer jeans.

3 Talking lifestyle [the making more leisurely of], this man is disillusioned and bored by it all:

A recent stunt [reported here at the BBC] was an effort to drum up publicity. The big idea: make Mondays part of the weekend. What a crazy, mad cap idea. I would love to meet the comic genius that came up with that one. Surely there were a million better ideas. In fact, why did they choose an idea that has already been adopted by most socialist governments in the EU?

Eleven more homespun pieces here plus the famous mystery blogger …

[fireworks] pretty displays or kaboom kaboom

Around the world, fireworks displays will be set off to mark the New Year but in Britain, of course, Guy Fawkes is the biggie. This, in my opinion, is a better festival because until recently, one could buy personal kaboom thingies and I used to love setting them off – great strings of the things.

To be honest, I never set them off in letter boxes:

Employees of postal service Íslandspóstur are busy locking all outdoor mailboxes in Reykjavík and nearby towns to prevent people stuffing live fireworks into them on New Year’s Eve to get an extra explosion, damaging the mailboxes in the process. Morgunbladid reports. This New Year’s Eve the mailboxes in the capital area will be locked so that only one letter at a time can be put into them. Bigger letters have to be taken to the postal office. The mailboxes will not be unlocked until mid-January.

... and never stuck them up ... well ... read this. And yet we had mammoth fun. However, not everyone is so rapt in the tradition:

I would personally favour a system them allows the sale of fireworks only to people with a certificate issued by the local authority stating they are running a legitimate professionally organised display. This would cut out 95% of illegal sales almost immediately.

But there are some supporters of the old ways. John Wilkes said...

I'm not sure about this. There are plenty of people who are miles from a licensed, professional display and would probably prefer to have a family display at home. One of my best childhood memories is my dad doing a fireworks display for us in the back garden - it was great fun.

Another recent worry is that the British fireworks industry has been steadily losing out to Chinese incursion and to some, that’s a pity. Personally, it seems to me like market economics.

[saddam] may the viciousness stop

Romans

17: Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18: If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20: Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

I don't know what to think. I need to sit down for a moment or two.

[george bush] misunderstood and maligned [2]

If you missed Part 1 of the tribute to George W. Bush, it’s here. Now, here is the second batch of ten, with 30 still to come. The idea is to vote for the three best from these ten, with a view to eventually finding an overall winning excerpt:

11] "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." - Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

12] "First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." - Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003

13] "As you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say." - Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2003

14] "The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." - Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2003

15] "Whether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be called themselves." - Washington, Oct. 8, 2003

16] "We've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them, and I want to know who the leakers are." - Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003

17] "We had a good Cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world." - Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2003 [Perhaps not so much funny as worrying in that last line]

18] "Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace." - Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003

19] "My answer is bring them on." - On Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003

20] "I'm the master of low expectations." - Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

[metaphor] raiders of the lost reason

Marion: What’s happening, Indi? All these flames and ghosts and things?
Indi: Er … I think G-d is just zapping the Nazis for stealing the Ark.
Marion: Couldn’t He do it, you know, a bit more quietly?
Indi: And let the denialists ascribe it to hallucination?
Marion: I’m happy in my humanistic denial. It’s up to each and every one of us stubbornly not to look at the evidence. That way we stay happy, you see.
Indi: Sort of like the ostrich, eh?
Marion: You know, Indi, I’ve been thinking and I’ve come up with a doozy of an idea. What if G-d is just a metaphor?
Indi: What if He just happens to exist?
Marion: Oh no, I wouldn’t like that.
Indi: Well let’s see the Great Metaphor get us out of this one.
Marion: Indi, man can do anything. He needs Nobody and Nuffink else. Can’t you get us out of this?
Indi: Er … not at this exact moment, Marion.