Stories By Van

Y2K bug, also called Year 2000 bug or Millennium Bug, a problem in the coding of computerized systems that was projected to create havoc in computers and computer networks around the world at the beginning of the year 2000 (in metric measurements K stands for thousand). After more than a year of international alarm, feverish preparations, and programming corrections, few major failures occurred in the transition from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000. Until the 1990s, many computer programs (especially those written in the early days of computers) were designed to abbreviate four-digit years as two digits in order to save memory space. These computers could recognize “98” as “1998” but would be unable to recognize “00” as “2000,” perhaps interpreting it to mean 1900. Many feared that when the clocks struck midnight on January 1, 2000, many affected computers would be using an incorrect date and thus fail to operate properly unless the computers’ software was repaired or r...

The meaning of most holidays is clear: Valentine’s Day celebrates romance; July First, independence; Thanksgiving, productivity; Christmas, good will toward men. The meaning of New Year’s Day–the world’s most celebrated holiday–is not so clear. On this day, many people remember last year’s achievements and failures and look forward to the promise of a new year, of a new beginning. But this celebration and reflection is the result of more than an accident of the calendar. New Year’s has a deeper significance. What is it? On New Year’s Day, when the singing, fireworks and champagne toasts are over, many of us become more serious about life. We take stock and plan new courses of action to better our lives. This is best seen in one of the most popular customs and the key to the meaning of New Year’s: making resolutions. On average each North American makes 1.8 New Year’s resolutions. From New York to Paris to Sydney, interesting similarities arise as shown in two very common ...

If you are wondering where the Baby New Year origin begins, you are not alone. Most people think of a little baby wearing only a diaper, sash and top hat upon his head smiling while bringing in the New Year. Modern times have brought more to the meaning of Baby New Year than a cute little baby. Ancient Greek Baby New Year The Baby New Year origins began in 600 B.C. with the Greeks, though the early Egyptians can also be given credit for using a baby as a symbol of a new year. The baby represents rebirth. The Greeks believed that their god of Wine, Dionysus, was reborn on New Year's as the spirit of fertility. They would parade around with a baby in a basket to represent the rebirth of Dionysus. Early Christian Baby New Year Even though Christians felt this was a pagan tradition and denounced using a baby to bring in the New Year, the popularity of the symbol won, though differently than was intended. The end of the year is commemorated with a different baby as the bi...

Around the first of the year, most of us begin turning our attention to ways we can improve our lives. While resolutions often center on developing new habits that will get us into better physical shape, reducing stress and getting into better mental and emotional shape can provide huge rewards. Eating right and getting exercise generally top most people’s lists of goals for the new year. But this year, it might be wise to incorporate new habits that will reduce stress and increase happiness and overall life satisfaction. Here are some important steps you can take to be a happier, healthier and more relaxed you in the coming year: Get Enough Sleep Being sleep deprived can be both a cause and an effect of being stressed. While stress can keep people up at night, operating on too few hours of sleep can make people less productive, more emotional, and more reactive to stressful events in their lives. This year, you can gain significant benefits by striving for better qua...

There is a wide variety of diverse ideologies that makes up the existentialist school of thought. These views may vary, but each is concerned with the individual and their freedom within the world and society. In the realm of philosophy, existentialism is one of those labels that came after the fact in order to describe a wide variety of a set of similar ideals. Many of the ideas in the so-called existentialist strain are difficult for some people to deal with and will put your mind to the test. Some wallow in the pure dread of an uncaring world and others laugh in the face of suspected meaningless. But that's the fun of it anyhow. So, if you make it through all of these books without developing a crippling hollowness inside your soul or blackened void (you decide), well then head on over to this diverse metaphysical book list for some lighter reading... and develop that philosophical palette even more! Or not because well… who cares anyways? But ye I also say! Ascend to...

The Cognitive Dissonance Experiment is based on the theory of cognitive dissonance proposed by Leon Festinger in the year 1957: People hold many different cognitions about their world, e.g. about their environment and their personalities. In an event wherein some of these cognitions clash, an unsettled state of tension occurs and this is called cognitive dissonance. Within the same theory, Festinger suggests that every person has innate drives to keep all his cognitions in a harmonious state and avoid a state of tension or dissonance. If a person encounters a state of dissonance, the discomfort brought by the conflict of cognition leads to an alteration in one of the involved cognitions to reduce the conflict and bring a harmonious state once again. The Classic Experiment of Leon Festinger Deception is the cornerstone of the experiment conceived by Leon Festinger in the year 1959. He hoped to exhibit cognitive dissonance in an experiment which was cleverly disguised ...

Are people really turning off their tech and staying far from the internet this holiday season? The reality is that the internet and its enablers know no holiday. But with scandals and studies and public distrust of Silicon Valley’s particular brand of digital nicotine growing, there are increasingly bold calls to embrace this holiday season unplugged, without phones or tablets or screens of any kind. Turned off. Tuned in. Singing carols with no one filming, just like the heavens intended. For most people unplugging is a daunting goal. How do you shut out the shining light of civilization that comforts you when you are lonely, soothes your worries (while simultaneously exacerbating them), snuffs out tedium with a single swipe, and also works as your phone, map and lifeline to the outside world? How can you embrace the unplugged holidays without going full-on The Shining from boredom? While the lifestyle bloggers may present an imagine of a slender woman in lotus pose a...

Since Christmas is tomorrow I thought I'd take another classic holiday movie that we all know and love and find a crazy theory to ... not ruin it, but give everyone a different perspective the next time you watch it. So, I wanted to try and find something for Charlie Brown like I did on Halloween, but then I stumbled onto a theory about It's A Wonderful Life , arguably a more classic Christmas movie. One of the biggest classics, some might say. Let's get into it: First of all let's look at the wishing scene. Mary and George each break some glass in the old Granville house - George speaks his wish, to explore and build etc, aloud and Mary refuses to tell George what her wish was. This theory (which I found on Reddit from user truncatedChronologis) is that the old Granville house is in fact a sort of Monkey's Paw - ironic wish granting. George's wish is disqualified because he speaks it aloud- classic wish rules- where Mary keeps hers a secret. Bu...

Since it's close to Christmas, I thought I'd try and tie the usual days with more Christmas-themed topics. So, that's what I'm doing today with a little character analysis of Tiny Tim from one of my favorite stories: A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens. Tiny Tim serves a symbolic role. He puts a face to the thousands of faceless poor children Dickens saw in London every day. Many of Dickens's works are about poor children, but A Christmas Carol  is the most powerful and the most sentimental. Dickens loved sentiment, but so did his readers. You can walk by a poor urchin on the street every day, but would you walk by Tiny Tim? Dickens hoped his readers wouldn't. By creating a character that was clearly a victim of his fate, and in no way responsible for it, he hoped his readers would realize what it was like to be poor, and start caring. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame! (Stave 3, p.32) Notice t...

It is that magical time of the year again, when countless children wait for Santa Claus to drop down the chimney and leave the annual stash of gifts and goodies under the Christmas tree. Meanwhile, others may revel in the idea of his less friendly counterpart, Krampus. All across the world, there are many strange folkloric creatures that embody the spirit of the season - for good and for ill. With Christmas once again upon us, we decided to take a look at the legends and folklore behind five age-old Christmas beings, and the traditions that accompany them. Perchta Perchta springs from the Celtic traditions of the German Alps, a guardian of animals and traditions who emerges during the Twelve Days of Christmas. While she can appear as either a beautiful young woman or an elderly one, Perchta can always be identified by her odd foot. Even when she's in her human form, her foot remains that of a goose or a swan, and is said to reveal her true nature. The earliest tales ab...

Too much to do. Not enough time to do it. Too many people with demands. Obligations. Commitments. What’s going on? Why is there never enough time in the day to do what you need to do, and want to do? The average workweek seems to have gotten longer, a very small percentage of people take the vacation time they are owed and deserved, and those who do take vacation probably spend a lot of it checking in with their workplace. It seems America has become a society of finding out who can rush the fastest and farthest, and stave off a heart attack the longest in the process! People drive fast, walk faster, all with purpose in the destination. The journey to get there is relegated to the back of one’s mind. So what if the scenery was spectacular on the walk to work; you have to beat that red light to cross the walkway and can’t pay much mind to it anyway! When driving, you might try to beat the light even though the pedestrian is still in the crosswalk, and when walking, you might marc...

We all have dark impulses. None of us wants them. Yet attempts to suppress them can turn them into agents of harm. Be forewarned: Forces at work in our culture's value system may be making us more vulnerable to forbidden thoughts--and less able to cope with them. Have you ever thought of cheating on your spouse? What about slapping an obnoxious colleague? Or ramming some jerk on the freeway? Have you ever had thoughts about taboo or wild sex? Or divorce? Or leaving home? What about harming someone close? Or even harming yourself? Then there are the tamer varieties: Do you not fantasize about food, for example, when you are on a diet? Who has not gloated over someone else's misfortune or coveted a neighbor's house, car, or flashy lifestyle when we want to picture ourselves as perfectly content? Few of us would dispute the notion that humans spend a great deal of time thinking thoughts we'd rather not have. Most of us will never act out our forbidden impulses. Ye...