The Alcyone star system is composed of a yellow star and two white dwarfs orbiting two blue giants. The two white stars lost their battle with gravity thousands of years ago and shed much of their mass into gaseous clouds surrounding them. Full of heavy metals and the remains of shattered planets, those nebulas are better refueling stations than even the giants. And the star system’s manufacturing centers send miners there too. It is a very rich star system.
When I was young, Christmas was a Family gathering. Note the capital F. It was a time for the entire extended Family to consider our plans for the next business year. We owned many businesses and there was much to plan. There was the Opera too, and the Grand Ball, where extended cousins tested prospective marriages for a new generation of Family businesses. There was nothing religious about it. It was all business. My God, how things change.
I’ve always enjoyed the Holiday Season. Family and friends getting together for Christmas and New Years parties. The Jews do their Hanukkah thing with their crazy candles of course, but they don’t turn down the fancy parties. Dancing’s fun after all, and so’s eating good food, drinking good drink, and lovely girls named Mary. The parties, and the times, are for everyone to have fun, and I’ve always worked hard at having fun. Especially with the Marys.
Christmas is an interesting holiday. For two millennia, people have protested against celebrating it. Whether it be the highly religious Christians who say it is too secular, or the atheists who say it is too religious, there have always been those who protested against it. But celebrate it we do, even as the centuries go by. And so I wish you a Merry Christmas.
From the births of the human races to the present, religion and a faith in God have been an inherent part of our natures. They’ve given us morals to live by, codes of conduct, and commands to eat healthily. Some have helped us. Some have hurt us. The bad ones teach us to hate others, but the good ones improve the human condition, helping us to want to live up to a better standard. Teaching us to love. What more can we do for our fellow man?