“Note that, in 2005, the first day of Hanukkah and Christmas coincide, which has not happened since 1959.”

I can see it. 1959 representing the last bastion of innocence before the 60’s; the holidays now forming a final throw against the singularity we now are witnessing. A constant reminder for a society that quickly wants to forget. The year is 2005 representing a final shake-off of the Old World Order and into the new unknown of the next Vernor Vinge and Charles Stross Novels.

Christmas? We have Halloween here that's allot tougher to avoid with the little night demons trolling about the neighborhood. Overweight too from too much unlawful video gaming. The only escape is lights out and off to the bowling alley. But 'they' are still out there and more equipped then ever with the latest in gadgetry and sadistic tomfoolery. It's anyone’s guess how to compete and just imagine trick or treating robots like Honda's ASIMO running M$ software. Nano trick or treaters?

To me everyday is Halloween and Christmas with the Internet-tech. You can give, worship and do allot of things everyday. I have allot of great memories of those days but those types of ‘locked-in’ dates where when it was needed. They didn’t seem so locked in at the time though. I know it sounds conspiratorial and negative but National Holidays seem like more government control today.
Halloween was cool but it has just lost that mystique for me. And no it's not because I'm getting older. I still like celebrating the seasons though like fall; maybe change Halloween to a summer solstice event. Events are still needed?, but maybe not on such a national scale. I know allot of people refer to Christmastime as Yule tiding etc. to celebrate the season. The mega-churches don’t even take them seriously anymore handing out a DVD for Christmas day with no Mass or church service. Please, so my family can browbeat me all day while brain-watching a non-declared-war on state run T.V. We haven't even declared war since ‘The War to End All Wars 2 - WW2’ for goodness sake!

Times have changed and I definitely think for the way better. More choices.

Coffee shops:
I was really thinking about this watching the Starbucks/Mall Food craze unfold and reading Accelerando. The alternative high seems to have replaced the harder stuff like pot and alcohol. It started like in the early 90’s. Is it so cool to go to a beer bar anymore? I think that’s good because these types of highs are just allot healthier for the body and just as, or more fun. Less annoying for people around you and you can usually drive.

Merry yuletide everyone.