Welcome to our Netroots for the Troops, Inc. Holiday Fundraiser: Twelve Days of
Christmas Blog! Today is the seventh day of Christmas, and entitled Seven Swans Swimming.
Why Seven, you may ask. Well, to start with Seven is the natural number following six and preceding eight and those in the know will know what they know! As for me, being nosy curious, I will tell you what the number Seven means to me. First, it's my favorite number, and secondly, someone more important than me had decided to make the whole universe in six quick days but rest on the Seventh. Why? It's a mystery, a bit of slacking if you ask me, like the rainbow's Seven shades instead of eight, according to lore!
Netroots for the Troops is a DK tradition. We raise funds each year to create and send care packages to our troops. There's something magical about receiving a care package. Your donation will help us create and ship packages full of useful and fun things to our soldiers overseas. Boxes will be packaged next summer at Netroots Nation. More on how to donate below.
We all know that Seven is a special number in western culture. Of course, you will have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, though for my taste, I would have lost that silly Colossus of Rhodes and would instead have included that chicken & ginger recipe that dates from over 7,000 years ago from China. You just can't beat a good chicken dish! Also from China, on the Seventh day of July, women worship the Weaving Fairy, who happened to be the Seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor. If you told me that the Weaving Fairy had manufactured Seven silk scarves each Seven miles long, I would think for Seven seconds and nod Seven times in awe.
In the Book of Revelation the number Seven is used throughout. There are Seven churches, Seven spirits, Seven stars, Seven seals, Seven trumpets, Seven vials, Seven personages, Seven dooms, and even Seven new things! I kid you not, I read it Seven times! Some say the number Seven symbolizes spiritual perfection. I can dig that: I have Seven pooties, and Seven fish in the pond, my favorite films are Seven Samurai and The Seventh Seal, and as a kid I loved Snow White and her Seven little fellows. Sean Connery was famous for being 007 and being the good boy that he is, did Seven James Bond.
September was the Seventh month in the ancient Roman calendar, as its name indicates, then some cranky old guy changed it to July, to mess things up, same as in the French Revolutionary calendar, where some sparky Jacobin got it completely wrong and started the year in (Sept)ember. There are Seven coherent sets of units defined to measure Seven basic physical properties: meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela. If you can find the Eighth, like the missing Sibelius symphony, send me an email pronto.
Consulting my horoscope today, I'm glad to report that my outlook has Seven words: analytical, intellectual, focused, inventive, meditative, spiritual and enigmatic. Not quite the Seven deadly sins but I'll cope! And for those who like their history spiked with otherwordly creatures there is Inanna, the Queen of Heaven (the major love, fertility, and war goddess of the Sumerians) who descended into Hell, was forced to pass through Seven gates, at each of which she was required to remove one of her (Seven) garments, until she stood before her sister Erishkigal the Queen of the Underworld, naked and defenseless. She was then struck dead by Seven plagues. Later, upon her return from Hell, she passed though the same Seven gates, at each of which she did a reverse striptease.
If you have Seven bucks to spare (or any number in a multiple of Seven) please donate and I will thank you Seven times.
And lastly, for you Las Vegas-bound folks, Seven is the sum of any two opposite sides on a standard six-sided die. When rolling two standard six-sided dice, remember that Seven has a 6 in 36 (or 1/6) probability of being rolled (1–6, 6–1, 2–5, 5–2, 3–4, or 4–3), the greatest of any number. There you go! NFTT will take 10% of your winnings!
Did you enjoy the diary? Now it's your turn to have some fun! Be sure to
recommend the diary and make lots and lots of comments! The team with
the highest number of comments and recommends at the end of the
fundraiser will earn special recognition! Then, make a pledge and donation!
Here's how:
- Visit our website
- At the top left corner of your screen, select "Find A Team/Participant"
- Under the blank box, click "Show All Teams"
- Click on the Team Name for Today's Team
- At the top left corner of your screen, select "Make A Donation"
It's that simple! Now please donate!