5 Ṭeveth 5769: Gregorian New Year/Kwanzaa

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: “Stop Female Genital Cutting”.

I am finding myself wondering what the Gregorian/Catholic New Year actually celebrates, if anything.  The only explanation I have ever heard is that it celebrates the circumcision of Jesus of Nazareth.  (If Jesus really had been born on December 25, then his circumcision, having to be on the eighth day, would have to be on January 1.)  If anyone has a better explanation, please let me know.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “New Years Day (1979)”
  
• “15 Evolutionary Gems”
  
• “California sues Bush administration to protect endangered species”
  
• “Communicating Medical News -- Pitfalls of Health Care Journalism”
  
• “Study finds sharks have wimpy bites”
  
• “The Environmental Problem of Phone Books--Is There a Solution?”
  

Today’s weird thing is Turn Your Name Into a Face. This site allows you to take any name and transmute it into a face that will almost inevitably look nothing in particularly like the person whose name was input. E.g., this is what this site produced in response to my name, “Aaron Solomon Adelman”:

Go figure. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron