Names
by Ted L Glines

They call me lots of Names
so many arcane Names
and then they make the claim
that there's just One of me
so - what's with all these Names?
tee tee-tee tee-teeeee

from Agasaya to Zroya
they call me God of War
and at their spiteful bidding
I destroy the nations
verily and forsooth
with axe and sword and gun
by fang and claw and tooth
tee tee-tee tee-teeeee

from Achtland to Zoria
they call me God of Love
and at their woeful bidding
I make them pregnant
verily and forsooth
(god never wears a condum)
ah, the foolishness of youth
tee tee-tee tee-teeeee

they always bow and praise me
when they pray
for some very special boon,
and then they curse and blame me
when I'm finished,
perhaps they preyed too soon
tee tee-tee tee-teeeee

every cult has a Name
some have quite a few
but I'm growing rather old
and quite forgetful too
and if you give me one more Name
I'm gonna jump all over you
tee tee-tee tee-teeeee

New Year History
compiled by Ted L Glines

Going back only several hundred years ago, you would have been ringing in the New Year on March 1st. Zip on back to about 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia for what the historians say was the first New Year celebration and you'll find the vernal equinox (around March 20th) to be the year's beginning. The Greeks had the winter solstice (around December 21st) as their New Year date, and the Persians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians celebrated New Year on the fall equinox (around September 23rd).
The early Roman calendar only had ten months, March through December, and they celebrated New Year on March 1st. The month of January was added to the calendar in about 700 B.C., when Roman King Numa Pontilius added both January and February. However, it was not until 153 B.C. that Romans first celebrated New Year on January 1st, as the beginning of their civil year (newly elected Roman consuls began their one-year tenure on that date). Many Romans continued to celebrate March 1st as their New Year Day.

With the new solar-based Julian calendar, in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar decreed that New Year would occur on January 1st, and this was made official within the Roman world.

In 567 A.D., the Council of Tours abolished January 1st as the beginning of the new year, because the celebrations accompanying this holiday were considered to be unchristianlike and pagan. Throughout medieval Christian Europe, New Year Day was celebrated on December 25th, or March 1st, or March 25th, corresponding to Church holy days.

It was not until the Gregorian calendar reform in A.D. 1582 that January 1st was restored as New Year's Day. Most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar right away, but many Protestant countries (like England and her American colonies) did not adopt the reformed calendar until A.D. 1752, continuing to celebrate their New Year in March.

Now that we've learned more about New Year than we ever wanted to know ..

Happy New Year
to You and Yours!

My Mouse is Dead
by Ted L Glines

My mouse is dead
awwww
poor wittle thing
gone to that great
mouse-trap in the sky

my mouse
was more mouse
than other mice
a true visionary
for he was
an optical mouse
not like other
blind mice

he must have seen
his end coming
as he fell and crashed
on the evil glass desk top

!!!!!!!splat!!!!!!!

scrambling all his ones and zeros
his left-click
shall click no more

poor demised mouse
gone but not forgotten
......................