Early Easter?

If you thought Easter came earlier than usual this year, you’re right. The last time Easter was celebrated this early was in 1913. And, don’t start planning for the next time Easter occurs this early in the year; it’s highly unlikely any of us will be around in 2160.

So now you’re probably wondering if this is the earliest date on which Easter is observed.

As it turns out, the earliest day Easter is celebrated is the 22nd of March. None of us were around the last time that happened in 1818, and the next time is in 2285!

So now you know. This was the earliest Easter for any of us under the age of 95.

More details are available at the popular urban legend site Snopes.

Update:

I found a couple of sites with a lot more information on the topic of determining the date for Easter: here and here. The wikipedia link revealed an image of a computational aid first used in Sweden back in 1140:

We were looking through old photos last night, and I noticed that this one, of Uncle Rollin and Aunt Adelia, was taken 70 years ago in September of 1937. Looks like they were having fun; presumably the photographer jumped out of the way and wasn’t run over!

The tower in the background is interesting. It appears much too tall for a standard wind mill and I’m pretty sure the large electrical towers that dot the landscape came much later. Please leave a comment if you have any ideas.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. — Thomas Jefferson

Back when I was a kid we had nothing like modern weather radar systems to keep us informed about storms and heavy weather. As I recall, there was some trick involving tuning the TV (antenna, of course, no cable back then) to an unused channel; exactly how this was supposed to warn us of tornadoes wasn’t ever clearly understood, at least not by me at the ripe age of somewhere between 6 and 8 years old.

But today … there’s some fairly serious tornado action southwest of us, and besides the local TV news providing very good coverage, I’ve been watching along on the computer.

Here’s what the weather radar looked like a few minutes ago. We’re the pink dot a bit to the right of the current storm action (shown in red and orange) down in Great Bend. We’ll likely not see any real severe weather here tonight; no complaints about that!

::

Update: Minutes after posting comes word that the town of Greensburg has suffered extremely heavy damage; here’s a thumbnail of the tornado that caused the extensive damage. According to the National Weather Service, Greensburg suffered a direct hit from the tornado, which has been reported as being almost a mile wide! Greensburg is about 120 miles southwest of Lindsborg.

Click to see a larger version.

sigh.

You know what I’m talking about.

A challenge to my detractors: explain to me, in one simple sentence that speaks to specifics, not lofty ideals, what are our goals in Iraq, and answer specifically, how would you define victory in Iraq?

If you can’t do that, then I would appreciate not being labeled a “quitter”, “coward”, “cut and runner”, oh, and my favorite, being told “you just don’t understand”.

I’m a veteran and a patriot, and I understand all too well what is going on.

Update:

I realized I posted on this topic exactly one year ago. Included in that post was a table with some vital statistics related to the occupation of Iraq. I’ve updated the table with this year’s numbers but have not confirmed the links still work.