Tony, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
The "ceramic little block" is the ballast resistor. It drops the voltage down to six volts (approximately) across the points, to increase point life. During starting, it is bypassed, which gives a hotter spark.
Your wiring is just a bit different from most, but it obviously works fine. The key is to get the alternator wired to something that is hot when the key is in the ON position, but not hot when the key is in the OFF position.
The DA plug is a little device that allows you to use an alternator on these older systems and get rid of the regulator. It provides 12v to the "exciter", to "get the alternator started". Alternators have to have some voltage in order to get magnitized so they can generate electricity.
