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 Friday, November 28, 2008

A Different Kind of Christmas Card

By Paul Hsieh @ 12:01 AM

Objectivist graphic designer John Powers has created these terrific "alternate Christmas cards":



From the website:
Isaac Newton Christmas Cards

Celebrate reason and science on December 25th, instead of the same old bearded mystic!

I like to send Christmas cards, but as an atheist, I have had to limit myself to the hundreds of bland cards that neutrally say "Happy Holidays." I decided that if it's okay for (almost) everyone else to stamp, seal, and deliver their philosophy to me every Christmas, I'll do just the same.

Sir Isaac Newton's ideas helped to rescue mankind from drudgery and propel it into the space age. I am a lover of reason, and I love it unashamedly, and I want my friends to know it too. They will this Christmas. Yours can, too.

Details

Outside: "On December 25th, a Savior was born. He revealed eternal Truth, bringing Joy to millions. He astonished the world with His command over Nature. He changed history forever."

Inside: "Happy Birthday, Sir Isaac Newton. December 25, 1642 - March 20, 1726".

Web site and greeting card designs are copyright © 2008 John Powers.
(John also did free web design for the FIRM site.)

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 Comments

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 0:07:28 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Ryan C
URL: http://ryantheegoist.blogspot.com/

Haha! Terrific! I am sending to all my best Christian friends immediately!

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 1:53:18 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: DavidR
E-mail: user(at)server.type

More importantly, *I* was born on December 25th--I want my own line, and of course I expect royalties! =)

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 7:21:36 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Klaus Nordby
E-mail: artistgeek(at)klausnordby.com
URL: http://www.klausnordby.com

Heh, very cool! Except I'd drop the silly "Sir" in front of Newton's name -- for we O-ists aren't into state-decreed honorary titles (though I might allow that Sir Isaac more deserved such a title than Sir Mick (Jagger)).

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 8:41:10 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: KPO'M
E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net

Nice. I picked up a box. Perhaps in a few weeks you should do a follow-up thread to see how it went over with the recipients (religious and otherwise).

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 10:17:01 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Paul Hsieh
E-mail: paul(at)geekpress(dot)com
URL: http://www.geekpress.com

DavidR: As soon as you identify a couple of basic integrating principles of the physical world that help explain the behaviour of all objects ranging from subatomic particles to the largest galaxies, I'm sure John will be glad to create a holiday card for you, too! ;-)

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 11:23:06 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: KPO'M
E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net

Paul, Sir Isaac was also a drunken alchemist, so perhaps that might be easier for David R to replicate! :-)

@Klaus Nordby, what about Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney?

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 13:34:06 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: John Harris
E-mail: John.Harris00 at gmail.com

Pow-Pow-Pow-Makes a Powerful Card!

(Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F )

I think I might just pick up a pack of these, send them off.

John.

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 13:44:04 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: KPO'M
E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net

While we're on the subject of "alternative" Christmas fare, does anyone use anything as a substitute for the term "Christmas" itself? "Holidays" is a bit equivocal ("holi" having obvious roots), while "X-Mas" doesn't work, as since I've pointed out to a few Catholics the "X" is derived from the symbol that looks like a P with an x at the bottom, which itself is an abbreviation of the word Christ. Is it sufficient to just keep the term Christmas and recognize its modern form for the secular celebration that it is?

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 14:07:26 mst
Comment ID: #9
Name: Mike Hardy
E-mail: (my last name) (at) math.umn.edu

I'd always thought he died in 1727. BUT: It's an "Old Style"-versus-"New Style" issue: The new year began in late March on the Old-Style calendar. From Wikipedia: (4 January 1643 " 31 March 1727 [OS: 25 December 1642 " 20 March 1726]).

Of course "New Style" was not adopted in England until the middle of the 18th century, in 1752.

Ayn Rand is often reported to have been born on February 2nd. This was in Russia, which was still using a version of the "Old Style" calendar until some years after that. So I wonder about the date.

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 14:07:27 mst
Comment ID: #10
Name: Mike Hardy
E-mail: (my last name) (at) math.umn.edu

I'd always thought he died in 1727. BUT: It's an "Old Style"-versus-"New Style" issue: The new year began in late March on the Old-Style calendar. From Wikipedia: (4 January 1643 " 31 March 1727 [OS: 25 December 1642 " 20 March 1726]).

Of course "New Style" was not adopted in England until the middle of the 18th century, in 1752.

Ayn Rand is often reported to have been born on February 2nd. This was in Russia, which was still using a version of the "Old Style" calendar until some years after that. So I wonder about the date.

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 14:07:27 mst
Comment ID: #11
Name: Mike Hardy
E-mail: (my last name) (at) math.umn.edu

I'd always thought he died in 1727. BUT: It's an "Old Style"-versus-"New Style" issue: The new year began in late March on the Old-Style calendar. From Wikipedia: (4 January 1643 " 31 March 1727 [OS: 25 December 1642 " 20 March 1726]).

Of course "New Style" was not adopted in England until the middle of the 18th century, in 1752.

Ayn Rand is often reported to have been born on February 2nd. This was in Russia, which was still using a version of the "Old Style" calendar until some years after that. So I wonder about the date.

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 14:07:27 mst
Comment ID: #12
Name: Mike Hardy
E-mail: (my last name) (at) math.umn.edu

I'd always thought he died in 1727. BUT: It's an "Old Style"-versus-"New Style" issue: The new year began in late March on the Old-Style calendar. From Wikipedia: (4 January 1643 " 31 March 1727 [OS: 25 December 1642 " 20 March 1726]).

Of course "New Style" was not adopted in England until the middle of the 18th century, in 1752.

Ayn Rand is often reported to have been born on February 2nd. This was in Russia, which was still using a version of the "Old Style" calendar until some years after that. So I wonder about the date.

Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 3:56:55 mst
Comment ID: #13
Name: Stephen Boydstun
E-mail: boydstun(at)rcn.com

I posted on another site on 8/5/06 the following:

“The PRINCIPIA is splendid. If there were a Son of God, it would be Isaac Newton. PRINCIPIA is thoroughly accessible if one has had high school geometry and if one has the following guide to Newton's masterpiece:

THE KEY TO NEWTON'S DYNAMICS
J. Bruce Brackenridge
1995, University of California Press”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My quip that is the second sentence above was a takeoff from one I had read some years earlier by Frank Manuel in A PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT OF ISAAC NEWTON. It came after mentioning Newton’s religious view that Jesus of Nazareth was not the son of God. Manuel said something like “One son was enough.”

Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 21:23:15 mst
Comment ID: #14
Name: John Powers
E-mail: myfullname at mac dot com
URL: http://powersmedia.org/cards/index.html

Klaus: I'm totally indifferent to titles of nobility, but wrote in the "Sir" out of habit more than anything else. I agree, Newton certainly deserves it more than cokehead rock stars.

Stephen: I have been looking for just such a book. I wanted to enjoy the Principia without the archaic scientific language getting in the way.

I will absolutely post a follow-up. I send Christmas cards mainly as a really passive way to keep in touch with my client list. I doubt they are expecting anything other than snowmen and Santa Claus!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 13:28:42 mst
Comment ID: #15
Name: George Tiemeier
E-mail: nobody(at)nobody.com

What about these ones?

Humphrey Bogart
Cab Calloway
Conrad Hilton
Rod Serling
Jimmy Buffett
Sissy Spacek
Dido
Rickey Henderson

All are Christmas babies.

Actually, it seems that Newton's birthday was 4 January. Remember that people were using the Julian calendar at the time.

Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 9:30:09 mst
Comment ID: #16
Name: David Landy
E-mail: davidalandy(at)gmail.com

I recommend that John create an E-card version of his card. This may be very lucrative for him!

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