“Suns and planets without an eye that sees them, and an understanding that knows them, may indeed be spoken of in words, but for the idea, these words are absolutely meaningless” (The World As Idea, Volume 1, London, 1909, p 38).

I like the thought, but I’ve always been more of an a priori man myself. I admire a beautiful theory for its own sake.

I’ll travel to Venice for the first time on 2 January. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about an upcoming trip. Venice has been on my bucket list for years.

“It was done. Almost every member of the House of Representatives had voted ‘Yes’ to changing the Marriage Act,” Tony Wright of the Sydney Morning Herald writes. “From that moment forth, the nation’s laws would no longer restrict marriage to that between a man and a woman. It would, simply, be for two people.”

The name Palestine was established, too, but it seems to have been a Hellenistic invention. In 150 BCE, Polemon of Athens wrote about “Syria-Palestine”. After the Roman attack on Judaea in 70 CE, the Europeans forced most of the Jews to flee their homeland, renamed Judaea and Samaria to erase their strong link to the former kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and began calling the whole province Palestine. Today, Europe along with most of the world does its best to uphold the idea that Jews have no legitimate claim to Judaea and Samaria. In April 2016, the UN passed a resolution that only recognises Arabic names for all areas, including what’s left of the Jewish temples in Jerusalem. Despite the fact that Judaea existed more than 600 years before Islam, it’s now persevered as true that only Muslims have a justified right to Jerusalem and the so-called West Bank. I’m not saying that Palestinians have no right to call the land theirs, but every honest person must acknowledge that Jewish people have that same right. To force this one-sided, anti-Israel agenda is simply an abuse of history. It’s fake historiography.

Asteroid Oumuamua could be artificial, Metro reports.

הנרות הללו אנו מדליקין על הנסים ועל הנפלאות ועל התשועות ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם, בזמן הזה על ידי כהניך הקדושים. וכל שמונת ימי חנוכה הנרות הללו קודש הם, ואין לנו רשות להשתמש בהם אלא להאיר אותם בלבד כדי להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול על נסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך.

Jörg Schindler has written an article in Der Spiegel about Brexit xenophobes making life hard for Europeans in Britain. It’s a sad read.

“We are human beings before being gay, heterosexual, or bisexual,” Stefano Gabbana says.

The problem is that before this label, gay people were simply invisible. It’s not until everyone recognises that a group of people exist that human rights include the individuals within them. Before that, people are just singularities free for those with power to abuse.

Frightening news from the Boston Globe:

A sharp uptick in new HIV cases among injecting drug users, who often share needles, has raised worries among health officials. They fear Massachusetts could experience an outbreak like the 2015 calamity in rural Scott County, Indiana, where one person introduced the virus into a network of drug users, and within four months more than 180 had become infected.

“Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and German automation company Siemens have announced a partnership to undertake a project that would convert a plane to utilise electric propulsion,” Kyree Leary of Futurism reports. “The trio has dubbed the project ‘E-Fan X’, which involves gradually replacing the BAe 146 airliner’s gas turbines with two-megawatt electric motors.”

On 27 December, it’s time for my annual New Year visit to Amsterdam. I have a mixed relationship with the city. It was my home for five years, and when I now go back, I experience a sort of déjà vu. I love the city, but it also represent a past I’ve left behind. I don’t know how van Gogh felt about Amsterdam, but the sight of the city from the central station is something every past visitor recognises.

A 2004 article by ABC News explains the holiday:

The holiday was thought up by an outspoken black liberation activist from California named Ron Karenga, head of a group called the Us Organization. In 1966, he decided black Americans should have their own version of a Christmas celebration. He made national news when he argued that it was ridiculous for young black children to seek out a jolly, fat white Santa Claus in the local mall and tell him what they wanted him to bring them on Christmas Eve. He said white Christians perpetuated the notion of “whiteness” being associated with Christmas celebrations—a white baby Jesus, white angels singing on high and Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” the best-selling record of all time.

Kwanzaa adopts the central symbol of Hanukkah, the lighting of candles. Instead of a Jewish menorah, Karenga came up with a candelabra called a “kinara” (another Swahili word). Each night of Kwanzaa, black people are supposed to light a red, green or black candle to observe one of the celebration’s “Seven Guiding Principles” for respecting their African heritage. Each candle stands for one of the following: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

“The Life/Form Circumcision Trainer Kits include surgical scissors, scalpels, a plastic dummy with prosthetic foreskin replacements and an instruction manual, and were available for purchase on Amazon,” Sofia Petkar of the Sun writes.

How anyone could ever think this was a good idea is beyond me. One thing that bothers me, though, is that “secular groups” (I assume this means atheist activists) say the product could put children at risk of being operated on by amateur surgeons. If they are this concerned—and they should be—they ought to stop demanding an outright ban and join us who argue for legal and safe practices conducted by professionals. Turning Jews and Muslims into criminals will only enhance the demand for amateur surgeons.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
”Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

I don’t know why, but a translation of this poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) has become a New Year tradition in Sweden. It’s read aloud by one of the nation’s most prominent actors on television in the minutes leading up to midnight on New Year’s Eve. As usual, I will miss this televised tradition as I’m heading for Amsterdam tomorrow—my very own tradition. I have decided to leave my computer behind to allow me some time offline. So, today, five days in advance, I bid my farewell to 2017. Blogging will resume in 2018.