New Year Post

 So, we're now in 2025. Let's hope this year is better than the last few, and that the world continues to change in good ways. 

Since we're in the New Year, I'm going to share one of my New Year Resolutions and I hope you'll be here to see me doing it, or you might be able to look back to see it. This year, 2025, I want to make at least 225 times. That's a bit less than 2/3 of the year, and about 4 times a week. That's my planned minimum. Hopefully you'll be able to see me do it. 

Interestingly, I didn't plan it, but I did 52 posts in 2024. That's one a week, but I only had it for 3 months, so about 4 a week, like I plan to continue with. I just found it amusing that I hit an important calendar number without noticing. 

But, for some interestingness. 

I wasn't sure what to write for this post, so it's going to be a bit all over the place. 

We just started a new calendar year, so here's some random calendar information. 

Ancient Babylonians studied the sky a lot, and they created their calendar based on the ways the stars went around the sky, coming up with a 360 day year. Before you object that it isn't 365.2422 like we know it is now, they were doing it by what they noticed and things might have been a little bit different then. One story I heard also says that this is where we get 360 degrees in a circle, because they watched the stars going in a circle around them and decided they were moving by one degree a day. 

Also, our calendar is the Julian Calendar, and when it was being created, there was a lot of shuffling because a few Roman Caesars wanted months named after them, and they had to get it agreed on by different people, so things got shuffled. 

For what I was considering for posts today, things that get reborn. 

My first thought of what to tell you about for things that get reborn is actually the Immortal Jellyfish, but I'll save that for tomorrow because it's a fun critter that deserves it, and there are plenty of sources to work on. 

My second thought was Phoenixes. Since I've got a lot of mythology in my head already, I'm skipping sources here too. 

Phoenixes are mythical fire-birds that die and get reborn. There is a lot of mythology of them and around them and variations on them. That's one of the most interesting and annoying things about mythology, everyone has a different version, and as time goes on, people tend to combine things that maybe weren't supposed to be combined. The oldest possible phoenix story comes from Egypt, if I remember correctly, and it was because of Ra/Horus, a sun-eagle. Otherwise, the Greeks had a story about fire-birds that did things. The healing tears aren't required for the fire-bird, so there are some that ignore that part. An interesting  thing is that phoenixes are said to have a thing for cinnamon, which might be a mix of things since old spice traders used to say that there was a dangerous bird guarding cinnamon trees to justify making cinnamon expensive, or it could be because cinnamon was seen as a healing herb and phoenixes supposedly have healing powers. They're also generally guardians of balance because they symbolize life in their rebirths and death because they do tend to die. The stories there differ, some having them build giant nests of branches to burn and get reborn in, while others don't specify or say that they just turn back into a baby if they're attacked/die. 

In some myths, Phoenixes are also matched with Dragons as opposites or partners in some form. Some suggest that it's the ultimate good and evil, but there's also the thing about them both being creatures of fire, which might be why they are combined. 

Part of the thing with balance is also a tendency towards justice, and different myths say they might attack bad people or heal victims, but others have them as guarding things and waiting for 'pure hearted' people to come for things. 

You probably know about Fawkes from Harry Potter, or any of a thousand other books/movies/anime that have phoenixes there in some form, and those forms of phoenix are just as valid as those from the ancient stories because they cherry-picked (there's that term again) the parts they liked, just like Bards and Elders and Priests did over the centuries, keeping what worked for them and ignoring what didn't. 

Before I sign off on this article, I do feel the need to point out and request, again in some ways, that you understand the concept of Cherry-Picking and how it affects every part of life, and how it changes things. It's impossible not to cherry-pick even if you are consciously trying to avoid it, but that's because you're cherry-picking what it is that you remember or think about, even from things that are already cherry-picked about what to present to you. I'm not going to say it's something you need to avoid, just something to be aware of. Because, once you know, you can start understanding just how much you don't. 

And with that almost paranoid or conspiracy-theory-sounding line, Happy New Year everyone, and I hope to see you later.