Unless info relating to origins of things. I have an absurd interest with these things. Why? No idea, but have a read anyway. Click the picture above when you finish reading.

H xxx

The names of the days are in some cases derived from Teutonic deities or, such as in Romance languages, from Roman deities. The early Romans, around the first century, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun’s day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week (and saturday became the seventh day).

Sunday
The name comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning “sun’s day”: the name of a pagan Roman holiday. It is also called Dominica (Latin), the Day of God. The Romance languages, languages derived from the ancient Latin language (such as French, Spanish, and Italian), retain the root.

French: dimanche; Italian: domenica; Spanish: domingo
German: Sonntag; Dutch: zondag. [both: ‘sun-day’]

Monday
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, “the moon’s day”. This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon.

French: lundi; Italian: lunedi. Spanish: lunes. [from Luna, “Moon”]
German: Montag; Dutch: maandag. [both: ‘moon-day’]

Tuesday
This day was named after the Norse god Tyr. The Romans named this day after their war-god Mars: dies Martis.

French: mardi; Italian: martedi; Spanish: martes.
The Germans call Dienstag (meaning “Assembly Day”), in The Netherlands it is known as dinsdag, in Danmark as tirsdag and in Sweden tisdag.

Wednesday
The day named to honor Wodan (Odin).
The Romans called it dies Mercurii, after their god Mercury.

French: mercredi; Italian: mercoledi; Spanish: miércoles.
German: Mittwoch; Dutch: woensdag.

Thursday
The day named after the Norse god Thor. In the Norse languages this day is called Torsdag.
The Romans named this day dies Jovis (“Jove’s Day”), after Jove or Jupiter, their most important god.

French: jeudi; Italian: giovedi; Spanish: jueves.
German: Donnerstag; Dutch: donderdag.

Friday
The day in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg.
In Old High German this day was called frigedag.
To the Romans this day was sacred to the goddess Venus, and was known as dies veneris.

French: vendredi; Italian: venerdi; Spanish: viernes.
German: Freitag ; Dutch: vrijdag.

Saturday
This day was called dies Saturni, “Saturn’s Day”, by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn. In Anglo-Saxon: sater daeg.

French: samedi; Italian: sabato; Spanish: sábádo.
German: Samstag; Dutch: zaterdag.
Swedish: Lördag; and in Danish and Norse: Lørdag (“washing day”). I found this here -> http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_days.html

Origin of the names of the months

Only a few names of the month were derived from Roman deities. Most simply came from the numbers of the months or — in two cases — in honor of Roman emperors.

January
Named after the Roman god of beginnings and endings Janus (the month Januarius).

February
The name comes either from the old-Italian god Februus or else from februa, signifying the festivals of purification celebrated in Rome during this month.

March
This is the first month of the Roman year. It is named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

April
Called Aprilis, from aperire, “to open”. Possible because it is the month in which the buds begin to open.

May
The third month of the Roman calendar. The name probably comes from Maiesta, the Roman goddess of honor and reverence.

June
The fourth month was named in honor of Juno. However, the name might also come from iuniores (young men; juniors) as opposed to maiores (grown men; majors) for May, the two months being dedicated to young and old men.

July
It was the month in which Julius Caesar was born, and named Julius in his honor in 44 BCE, the year of his assassination. Also called Quintilis (fifth month).

August
Originally this month was called Sextilis (from sextus, “six”), but the name was later changed in honor of the first of the Roman emperors, Augustus (because several fortunate events of his life occurred during this month).

September
The name comes from septem, “seven”.

October
The name comes from octo, “eight”

November
The name comes from novem, “nine”.

December
The name comes from decem, “ten”.

This came from here -> http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_months.html

The Origin of the Alphabet

The original alphabet was developed by a Semitic people living in or near Egypt.* They based it on the idea developed by the Egyptians, but used their own specific symbols. It was quickly adopted by their neighbors and relatives to the east and north, the Canaanites, the Hebrews, and the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians spread their alphabet to other people of the Near East and Asia Minor, as well as to the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Etruscans, and as far west as present day Spain. The letters and names on the left are the ones used by the Phoenicians. The letters on the right are possible earlier versions. If you don’t recognize the letters, keep in mind that they have since been reversed (since the Phoenicians wrote from right to left) and often turned on their sides!

	‘aleph, the ox, began as the image of an ox’s head. It represents a glottal stop before a vowel. The Greeks, needing vowel symbols, used it for alpha (A). The Romans used it as A.
	Beth, the house, may have derived from a more rectangular Egyptian alphabetic glyph of a reed shelter (but which stood for the sound h). The Greeks called it beta (B), and it was passed on to the Romans as B.
	Gimel, the camel, may have originally been the image of a boomerang-like throwing stick. The Greeks called it gamma (Γ). The Etruscans — who had no g sound — used it for the k sound, and passed it on to the Romans as C. They in turn added a short bar to it to make it do double duty as G.
	Daleth, the door, may have originally been a fish! The Greeks turned it into delta (Δ), and passed it on to the Romans as D.
	He may have meant window, but originally represented a man, facing us with raised arms, calling out or praying. The Greeks used it for the vowel epsilon (E, “simple E”). The Romans used it as E.
	Waw, the hook, may originally have represented a mace. The Greeks used one version of waw which looked like our F, which they called digamma, for the number 6. This was used by the Etruscans for v, and they passed it on to the Romans as F. The Greeks had a second version — upsilon (Υ)– which they moved to to the back of their alphabet. The Romans used a version of upsilon for V, which later would be written U as well, then adopted the Greek form as Y. In 7th century England, the W — “double-u” — was created.
	Zayin may have meant sword or some other kind of weapon. The Greeks used it for zeta (Z). The Romans only adopted it later as Z, and put it at the end of their alphabet.
	H.eth, the fence, was a “deep throat” (pharyngeal) consonant. The Greeks used it for the vowel eta (H), but the Romans used it for H.
	Teth may have originally represented a spindle. The Greeks used it for theta (Θ), but the Romans, who did not have the th sound, dropped it.
	Yodh, the hand, began as a representation of the entire arm. The Greeks used a highly simplified version of it for iota (Ι). The Romans used it as I, and later added a variation for J.
	Kaph, the hollow or palm of the hand, was adopted by the Greeks for kappa (K) and passed it on to the Romans as K.
	Lamedh began as a picture of an ox stick or goad. The Greeks used it for lambda (Λ). The Romans turned it into L.
	Mem, the water, became the Greek mu (M). The Romans kept it as M.
	Nun, the fish, was originally a snake or eel. The Greeks used it for nu (N), and the Romans for N.
	Samekh, which also meant fish, is of uncertain origin. It may have originally represented a tent peg or some kind of support. It bears a strong resemblance to the Egyptian djed pillar seen in many sacred carvings. The Greeks used it for xi (Ξ) and a simplified variation of it for chi (X). The Romans kept only the variation as X.
	‘ayin, the eye, was another “deep throat” consonant. The Greeks used it for omicron (O, “little O”). They developed a variation of it for omega (Ω, “big O”), and put it at the end of their alphabet. The Romans kept the original for O.
	Pe, the mouth, may have originally been a symbol for a corner. The Greeks used it for pi (Π). The Romans closed up one side and turned it into P.
	Sade, a sound between s and sh, is of uncertain origin. It may have originally been a symbol for a plant, but later looks more like a fish hook. The Greeks did not use it, although an odd variation does show up as sampi (Ϡ), a symbol for 900. The Etruscans used it in the shape of an M for their sh sound, but the Romans had no need for it.
	Qoph, the monkey, may have originally represented a knot. It was used for a sound similar to k but further back in the mouth. The Greeks only used it for the number 90 (Ϙ), but the Etruscans and Romans kept it for Q.
	Resh, the head, was used by the Greeks for rho (P). The Romans added a line to differentiate it from their P and made it R.
	Shin, the tooth, may have originally represented a bow. Although it was first pronounced sh, the Greeks used it sideways for sigma (Σ). The Romans rounded it to make S.
	Taw, the mark, was used by the Greeks for tau (T). The Romans used it for T.

The Greek letter phi (Φ) was already common among the Anatolians in what is now Turkey. Psi (Ψ) appears to have been invented by the Greeks themselves, perhaps based on Poseidon’s trident. For comparison, here is the complete Greek alphabet:

* Until recently, it was believed that these people lived in the Sinai desert and began using their alphabet in the 1700’s bc. In 1998, archeologist John Darnell discovered rock carvings in southern Egypt’s “Valley of Horrors” that push back the origin of the alphabet to the 1900’s bc or even earlier. Details suggest that the inventors were Semitic people working in Egypt, who thereafter passed the idea on to their relatives further east.

The alphabet stuff came from here -> http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/alphabet.html

Today’s numbers, also called Hindu-Arabic numbers, are a combination of just 10 symbols or digits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0. These digits were introduced in Europe within the XII century by Leonardo Pisano (aka Fibonacci), an Italian mathematician. L. Pisano was educated in North Africa, where he learned and later carried to Italy the now popular Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Hindu numeral system is a pure place-value system, that is why you need a zero. Only the Hindus, within the context of Indo-European civilisations, have consistently used a zero. The Arabs, however, played an essential part in the dissemination of this numeral system.

Numerals, a time travel from India to Europe
The discovery of zero and the place-value system were inventions unique to the Indian civilization. As the Brahmi notation of the first 9 whole numbers…

However, the first Western use of the digits, without the zero, was reported in the Vth century by Beothius, a Roman writer. Beothius explains, in one of his geometry books, how to operate the abacus using marked small cones instead of pebbles. Those cones, upon each of which was drawn the symbol of one of the nine Hindu-Arabic digits, were called apices. Thus, the early representations of digits in Europe were called “apices”. Each apex received also an individual name:Igin for 1, Andras for 2, Ormis for 3, Arbas for 4, Quimas (or Quisnas) for 5 , Caltis (or Calctis) for 6, Zenis (or Tenis) for 7,Temenisa for 8, and Celentis (or Scelentis) for 9. The etymology of these names remains unclear, though some of them were clearly Arab numbers. The Hindu-Arabic-like figures reported by Beothius were reproduced almost everywhere with the greatest fantasy! (see below)

Before adopting the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, people used theRoman figures instead, which actually are a legacy of the Etruscan period. The Roman numeration is based on a biquinary (5) system.

To write numbers the Romans used an additive system: V + I + I =VII (7) or C + X + X + I (121), and also a substractive system: IX (Ibefore X = 9), XCIV (X before C = 90 and I before V = 4, 90 + 4 = 94). Latin numerals were used for reckoning until late XVI century!

Other original
systems of numeration

Other original systems of numeration were being used in the past. The “Notae Elegantissimae” shown below allow to write numbers from 1 to 9999. They are useful as a mnemotechnic aid, e.g. the symbol K in the example may mean 1414 (the first 4 figures of the square root of 2).

Chinese and Japanese
contributions

The Ba-Gua trigrams (pron. pah-kwah, 八卦) and the Genji-Kôpatterns (源氏香), antique Chinese and Japanese symbols, are strangely enough related to mathematics and electronics. If all the entire lines of the trigrams (^___) are replaced with the digit 1 and the broken lines (^{_ _}) with the digit 0, each Ba-Gua trigram will then represent a binary number from 0 to 7. You can also notice that each number is laid in front of its complementary: 0<>7, 1<>6, 2<>5, etc.

The “Genji-Kô” (源氏香) symbols used for the chapters of the Tale of Genji (early Japanese novel) indicate the possible groupings and subgroupings of 5 elements. For instance, if you write down “a”, “b”, “c”, “d” and “e” beneath the five small red sticks of each Genji-Kô pattern, you will obtain 52 distinct ways to connect 5 variables in Boolean algebra. The linked sticks form a “conjunction” (AND, ∨), and the isolated sticks or groups of sticks form a “disjunction” (OR, ∧). The pattern at the top left represents:
[(“a” and “d”) or (“b” and “e”) or “c”]