If you like Icelandic sagas (and I do), this is pretty cool.

Chapter 18: Concerning Leia and the Sons of Dítú
A woman was named Leia; she was the daughter of Beilorgana, king of the Aldiran Regions in Ireland. Relations were cool between Beilorgana and Falfadinn, for Falfadinn, King of Norway, claimed to be King of Ireland as well, and he raided widely in the Aldiran Regions.
There were many chieftains in many lands who greatly disliked King Falfadinn, but did not like Jabbi, King of the Danes, either. Many went to new lands, to the Faroes or to Iceland or to the Hebrides or to the Orkneys or to the Shetlands. But the army of Falfadinn was great, and he had many large warships, and he raided the lands of those who would not acknowledge his absolute authority. He had many good men killed, and others he enslaved. He was a very unpopular king. And because King Falfadinn wanted to intimidate all who stood against him, he ordered to be built the greatest ship which men had ever seen upon the seas, and that ship held such a store of men and weapons that they could pillage an entire large city. And a name was given to that ship, and it was called Daudastjarna (Death-Star).

--from Tattúínárdǿla saga: Star Wars as an Icelandic saga, and other fun with Old Norse 

You know, every time I think I'm burned out on Star Wars, something like this happens, and it's very much up my alley.

Oh hey, so ancient Rome and China had some contact

Which you maybe already knew (I did, but only in a vague sort of way, and the fact that Ptolemy's Geographia mentions China and Japan). But I haven't actually read the source text for the Chinese side, the Weilüe (魏略), until today, thanks to io9:

The kingdom of Da Qin (Rome)¹ is also called Lijian.² It is west of Anxi (Parthia) and Tiaozhi (Characene and Susiana), and west of the Great Sea.³

* * *

The ruler of this country is not permanent. When disasters result from unusual phenomena, they unceremoniously replace him, installing a virtuous man as king, and release the old king, who does not dare show resentment.¹⁸The common people are tall and virtuous like the Chinese, but wear hu (‘Western’) clothes. They say they originally came from China, but left it.¹⁹

They have always wanted to communicate with China but, Anxi (Parthia), jealous of their profits, would not allow them to pass (through to China).²⁰ 

--John Hill's translation

There's a lot more to be found at the site (and the notes are awesome), but one thing I found interesting is that they called Rome Da Qin (or Ta-Ch'in)--meaning essentially that Rome, being the other large empire at the other end of the known world, was The Other China.

The Universe Wants Me to Listen to Foghat

I'm having one of those weird days of serendipity, and it's all about Foghat.

• Two different stations were playing Foghat this morning as I drove to work; 
• There was a reference to them on the lastest episode of the podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour that I listened to at work today; 
• I just now started watching MST3K episode Pod People, which also tosses off a reference to Foghat. 

This is more Foghat in one day than in my entire life. I don't even own any of their records.

Yep, this has nothing to do with the Celts or Philly or anything else. It's just kinda weird.

Cernunnos: Looking Every Which Way

Ceisiwr Serith has adapted his article "Cernunnos: Looking a Different Way" (from the Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium) into a documentary, Cernunnos: Looking Every Which Way. This is the full-length version; he also has divided it up into eight parts, if that's more convenient for you. Check it out:

On My 34th Birthday, I Am Given a Bow and Arrow Set

Because I am a very mature, adult woman, my husband naturally gave me a bow and arrow for my birthday today. How he did it was fun.

Since I had the day off, and he didn't, he gave me my gifts last night: a new mess kit (very much needed), a pair of earrings, and a lego set (a very cool wizard and his pet dragon). So I wasn't expecting any other gifts tonight.

When we got home from dinner (sushi) tonight (about an hour ago), I went upstairs to change into something more comfortable--which, eh, is a sweatshirt, not what that phrase implies. Came back downstairs to watch last night's Daily Show, and Den says to me, "So, did you get everything you wanted for your birthday?"

"Yeah, I had a good one."

"Good." Looks behind me, to the bookcase. "What's that? What's behind you?"

So I whip around, and see, half-hidden behind the bookcase, a long package. "Huh--looks like Birthday Santa left an extra package!"

"Oh. My. God."

Because this should sound a little familiar, at least for Americans:

Yep--he Christmas Story'ed me. I couldn't be happier.