Calendars and Wars

Calendars:

16 Feb 2026 was Chinese New Year. Almost all the world's calendars are lunar, like the Chinese, where New Year can be anywhere from 21 Jan until 20 Feb. 

Note that the old, pre-Roman British calendar must have been lunar, since the word 'month' is very close to the word 'moon', meaning the old British calendar must have been lunar. 

In the Romance languages (I have no idea how 'Roman' became 'Romance' after the fall of the Roman Empire), there is no relation between the world for 'month' and the word for 'moon'.

Unlike the West, where there are big fireworks displays starting at midnight, 1 Jan, the Chinese have fireworks all year long, but sporadic, for weddings and other, similar events. But, starting two weeks before Chinese New Year, there are fireworks from noon until midnight every day. New Year's Day, lots of fireworks all day long, with most (but not all) ending at midnight, then restarting the day after New Year's Day at about 8 am. The Chinese New Year Holiday is about a week long, with lots of fireworks before and after the actual New Year's Day.

Wars 

Last week, I heard that the US military knew that Iran could destroy massive amounts of US matériel, ships and planes, with the loss of many American lives, and the US generals and admirals knew this, and would not be so foolish that they would attack Iran.

This week, I see that the same people who thought war with Iran was out of the question now think it will start very soon: the US think they have located all the Iranian missiles (or at least almost all the Iranian missiles), so the strike will destroy almost all of the missile launchers, and the few missiles that will reach Israel will be well within the capability of the Iron Dome to prevent their doing any damage.

I understand Trump has now sent not just one, not just two, but three Carrier Strike Forces, so the US now have enough firepower to easily overcome all Iranian defences and stop all Iranian offences. Probably false, but wars usually happen when both sides are sure they can win (rarely, when one side knows they are sure to lose, but want to go down fighting).

In any case, if the war does start in the next week or two, we'll find out if the US have the capability to overcome all Iranian defences and offensive attacks, or if Iran will succeed in destroying the US Armada, the US bases in West Asia, and stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.