Janus Array

and a Monty reminder too... please post or send your nominations, category suggestions, etc. The Mountainair Monties are our "best of the year" list and recap...

Think back on the years events, activities, happenings... movers and shakers (such as they would be for here)... Ojo Peak Fire, Jubilee, Movie Night, ShareFest, Art, Etc, Fall Concert Series, Arts Tour, Sunflower... memorable comings and goings, new endeavors, communitarian and individual efforts to make Mountainair a better place...

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Janus, Roman deity of transitions, gates, doors (ianua), beginnings and endings. presents two faces, one looking forward and the other back. Not inappropriate for Mountainair either - looking at change (development, population)but remembering the past and respecting traditions.

Thus a "Janus Array" includes looking back at 2007 (remembering, reviewing, recapping - high points, most memorable, symbolic and premonitory) and forward to 2008 (predictions, resolutions)

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2007

• International Herald Tribune's Year in Photos A selection of the most memorable images from 2007. a striking mix of the fresh and the familiar.
• Let's Toast 10 Good Things about 2007
• Year in Review at Yahoo UK
• 2007 Darwin Awards posthumously awarded to those who enhance the gene pool by removing themselves from it.
• Santa under arrest pending allegations of stalking, terrorism (those threats of coal). The Weakly World News has learned that Santa Claus, rather than taking his traditional vacation to Jamaica to relax post Chrismas trip, has instead had to take a trip to the FBI.
• 2007 Reuter's Year in Review (a global perspective)

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Sydney, Australia - 1st to ring in 2008

2008

• Zaragoza has been selected to host the 2008 International Exhibit (from 14th June to 14th September 2008) under the Theme "Water and Sustainable Development".
• Bienvenido 2008 (article and pictures, New Year's celebrations around the world, from el Pais, Madrid - Spain's foremost and most widely read "newspaper of record")
• Scientific American Magazine, December 16, 2007. A Solar Grand Plan - By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions.
• In the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake: Internet Access Is Only Prerequisite For More and More College Classes. Joining the open access trend, Yale offers open video access to courses. Also: Berkeley lectures on YouTube, MIT Open Courseware, Creative Commons and more. Although degrees are getting more expensive, more and more knowledge is out there for the learning. An autodidact's paradise...
• Next Year's News; Predictions for 2008 from BorowitzReport.com (excerpt - "January: After paying five billion dollars for The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch will reduce the size of the paper by removing the facts.")
• 2008 Web Predictions
• Newsvine Predictions for 2008 What is Newsvine? Updated continuously by citizens like you, Newsvine is an instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment.
• A massive data meltdown predicted for 2008
• 2008 Predictions for Home Buyers and Sellers

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New Year's Day - History, Traditions, and Customs

The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. The tradition of making of New Year's resolutions dates back to the early Babylonians, The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment. The day celebrated as New Year's Day in modern America was not always January 1. January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years. The Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring), a logical time to start a new year. January 1, on the other hand, is purely arbitrary and has no astronomical or agricultural significance.. The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar, continually tampered with, became out of synchronization with the sun. To set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year.

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4000 years later, making New Year Resolutions remains a common tradition at the end of the year. There are also the other traditional standbys of catching up holiday letters (Janus looking back) and making predictions (looking forward). Did any of those? I invite you to share resolutions and predictions with Mountainair Arts readers...