We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Santa also has turtles Tomorrow night, chez moi, Michael Jennings is giving a talk. It’s the last Friday of the month, and a talk chez moi is the rule. He’ll be offering a comparative study of Christmas around the world. Christmas is most fun in non-Christian countries he said today, because although they like it – it’s a big party/holiday after all, and who doesn’t like a big party/holiday? – they don’t always get it. Are you going to mention the Father Christmas who got crucified in a Japanese shop window? – I asked. I was saving that he said.
Not as weird as that, but a bit weird, is this picture of Santa Claus under water at the Beijing Aquarium, stroking a giant turtle. Why? Does Santa not have enough on his plate delivering toys to children everywhere? Aren’t reindeers enough of a headache without him getting involved also with underwater creatures?
Meanwhile, here is information penned in 1997 but presumably not that out of date about Christmas in Japan. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Christmas Cakes are the two big things, apparently.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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If you’d read my Christmas message and followed the Saint Nicholas links, you’d know that St. Nick’s the patron of sailors and voyagers. An aquatic exhibition of Santa Claus is not the most bizarre morph he’s undergone.
Near Amalfi there is an underwater nativity scene built in a cave (the Grotta Smeralda). Apparently they have a procession every year – not sure if it’s at Christmas, maybe the water is too cold then – involving scuba divers. How weird is that?
Merry XMAS to all.
To the bloggers and blog readers at this site:
I know I’m late with this, but:
Merry Christmas!
…and have a Happy New Year as well.
I am currently in Malta. The Maltese, being a strongly Catholic country, with also a strong English influence, celebrate Christmas with a real mix of English motifs (mince pies, etc) and Mediterranean gusto. Fascinating.