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The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. It has two eyes and four pairs of arms and, like other cephalopods, it is bilaterally symmetric. It has a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. It has no internal or external skeleton (although some species have a vestigial remnant of a shell inside their mantles), allowing it to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviorally diverse of all invertebrates.
Wikipedia.
Octopuses (or Octupii, Octopodes), are amazing creatures of the deep. They are quite intelligent and adaptive, kind of like the month of October. Oh, and
Welcome to the Reader Rant Roundtable for October 2016
October, of course, is the eighth month of the year, hence the name. "What," you say, "why do I put '10' in the date block, then?" - Calendars change, like the colors of an Octopus... If you were a Roman, of course, it would seem natural, and boring. October simply meant "the eighth month". It is a "transitional" month, marking the end of the growing season, and the start of the harvest period. It was also the end of "fighting season" (would that it were still so), as it began to be cold, and foraging animals was no longer an option. So, naturally, the Romans thought it was a good time to kill them: October Horse (Equus October), on the "Ides of October",was an annual celebration where a chariot race was conducted and the winning horse was killed - such an honor! (I'd certainly throw THAT one!) Romans were weird. In the "Olden days" it was the month that ended with Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year.
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Traditionally, it is celebrated from the very beginning of one Celtic day to its end, or in the modern calendar, from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, this places it about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Similar festivals are held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall), and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany).
Wikipedia. Of course, today, that is "Halloween" - but the concept hasn't changed all that much.
The Celts, or "Gaels" were the iron age occupants of nearly all of Europe (about the time the Egyptians were building their pyramids and until Rome arose in Italy). Their artwork was distinctive: and their existence was ubiquitous. They were the Gauls the Romans fought, the Gaels (Picts) of the Isles, The Bretons of Brittany, the Illyrians and Dalmatians of the Balkans, and the Galatians of the Bible, among many others. Their language remains in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Corwall, Manx, and Brittany as "native tongues."
And, I can't depart Oktober without mentioning Oktoberfest, the world's largest Volksfest (beer festival and travelling funfair).
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Held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, it is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid or late September to the first weekend in October, with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event every year. Locally, it is often called the Wiesn, after the colloquial name for the fairgrounds (Theresienwiese). The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations that are modelled after the original Munich event.
Any excuse to drink... Tchuss!
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
[Posted by Doug Thompson in the September Rant and reposted here so it is not missed]
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I have been sorely absent for a long time now. My apologies. I am still having some problems from the rehab that will soon be going on now for four years from the accident on Nov. 9, 2012.
I thank everyone here for being part of Capitol Hill Blue and Reader Rant.
Blue today celebrates 22 years on the World Wide Web. I started the site wit a single weekend column on October 1, 1994, with free web space from PSINet, my Internet provider at the time. By year's end, with the help of friends, we expanded Blue to daily updating with its own server and we are today the oldest political news site on the 'Net.
It could not survive with the help of those who provide moderation of ReaderRant or provide assistance on the news side of Blue. I sometimes don't know if I own Blue or it owns me.
We're 22 years young and still around. Thank you for being here.
Doug
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
Doug, the fact that Blue and the Rant are the oldest political forum on the innertubes makes me wish that the creators of "Halt and Catch Fire" would somehow immortalize the place with a nod in the show.
If you're not familiar with it, HACF is all about the heady, chaotic days of the early computer revolution and the first stirrings of the nascent world wide web. Seeing the members of Mutiny stretch their legs and watching the early hardware and software pioneers geek their way into history puts me in mind of all the original content creators, and Lord knows, a few decades hence all of them will either be forgotten or people will be frantically trying to dig up whatever ephemera remains in some cache of crusty discs.
[Posted by Doug Thompson in the September Rant and reposted here so it is not missed]
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I have been sorely absent for a long time now. My apologies. I am still having some problems from the rehab that will soon be going on now for four years from the accident on Nov. 9, 2012.
I thank everyone here for being part of Capitol Hill Blue and Reader Rant.
Blue today celebrates 22 years on the World Wide Web. I started the site wit a single weekend column on October 1, 1994, with free web space from PSINet, my Internet provider at the time. By year's end, with the help of friends, we expanded Blue to daily updating with its own server and we are today the oldest political news site on the 'Net.
It could not survive with the help of those who provide moderation of ReaderRant or provide assistance on the news side of Blue. I sometimes don't know if I own Blue or it owns me.
We're 22 years young and still around. Thank you for being here.
Doug
Thanks for reposting this Phil, I did miss it.
Wishing your much success in your continued recovery Doug.
Today I am a hopeful person. CHB is still publishing; Clinton's lead is growing over the discarded grapefruit; the Mariners are only one game back with two games to play, and one of the teams ahead of them lost today; the weather has broken; the week after next I'll be at Disney World...
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
An inquiring mind wants to know... is RR an echo chamber?
I have heard that it was once a conservative site. It is obviously a liberal site now; why is that? It's certainly not from banning opposing voices, as the last person banned was an obnoxious uber-Liberal. The one still shown in the penalty box was an incomprehensibly wacko insult machine - I don't think I ever grokked her political leanings. I don't recall anyone else being silenced in my now eight years here, though most of the conservatives have left.
I have been banned by numerous right-wing blogs (maybe 8?), though never for breaking the rules - they just can't stand being talked back to by anyone with supportable facts. Those are certainly echo chambers.
So I'll rephrase the question: Why is RR dominated by progressives/liberals?
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. R. Buckminster Fuller
Rational debate. It used to be possible to talk to a conservative that way. Maybe we can still do that, but we have to get away from name calling and thought shaming...
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
The problem, IMO, is that conservatives have devolved into a factless lot. There was MA and Issy (not the same ideology but usually opposition to the usual crowd here) and katydid does valiantly put forth her ideas, albeit less frequently than we might like. Back in the day there were more folks with conservative views but not sure where they all wound up. Anyway, I don't think echo chamber really fits here because we seem to find enough stuff to bicker amongst ourselves. Just as with any human grouping. We probably just all pretty much agree on Trump being one of the worst things the conservative movement has wrought (as do many conservatives).
"The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them." Lenny Bruce
"The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month." Dostoevsky
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![[Linked Image from spiritualspectra.files.wordpress.com]](https://spiritualspectra.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/samhain.jpg)
![[Linked Image from upload.wikimedia.org]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Lindisfarne_StJohn_Knot2_3.svg/2000px-Lindisfarne_StJohn_Knot2_3.svg.png)
and their existence was ubiquitous. They were the Gauls the Romans fought, the Gaels (Picts) of the Isles, The Bretons of Brittany, the Illyrians and Dalmatians of the Balkans, and the Galatians of the Bible, among many others. Their language remains in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Corwall, Manx, and Brittany as "native tongues."
Just as with any human grouping.