Tag Archives: 2023

New Hampshire Right Now Is Seeing The Earliest Sunsets Of Winter 2023 — Though The Solstice Is 10-Days Away.

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by Anura Guruge
on December 11, 2022

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From last year, BUT it is the SAME.
Dates just shifted by one.

Sunrise & Sunset Times for Concord, New Hampshire
for December 2022.
(From Time-and-Date).

Click to ENLARGE. Table from ‘timeanddate.com‘.

Kind of a strange concept to grapple with. The EARLIEST SUNSETS in New Hampshire happen around NOW — i.e., about 2-weeks ahead of the Winter Solstice.

That doesn’t mean we have as yet seen our SHORTEST DAY (my favorite day of the year) as yet. That still happens on December 21 — the Winter Solstice.

So, what gives.

Sunrise is still getting LATER & LATER. That is what SHORTENS the overall hours of daylight.

You can see this from the above table — with my annotations.

The shortening (or the lengthening) of days are NOT symmetrical — i.e., sunrise & sunset are not in lock steps. So, after December 14 sunsets start becoming LATER, but so do sunrises. Sunrises don’t start to get EARLIER till mid-January! So, the increase in daylight, post the solstice, is all due to sunsets happening later. Weird, but that is how it works.

Click to ENLARGE. From Wikipedia.

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Last Time Christmas Fell On A MONDAY, As It Does In 2023 (i.e., This Year), Was 6-Years Ago, In 2017.

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by Anura Guruge
on December 10, 2022

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Click to ENLARGE.
Click to ENLARGE. From an Excel spreadsheet I maintain.
Click to ENLARGE and study here. From an old post, but you can clearly see the point.

So, it wasn’t that far back — just 6-years, i.e., 2017.

A 6-year gap between Christmas falling on the same day of the week is fairly common.

The gaps, as you can see from the 2nd diagram above, can be: 5, 6 or 11.

It all depends on how LEAP YEARS intervene. You can also see that from the 2nd diagram. If there is only ONE LEAP year between the years, it is 6 days apart. More than one & actual leap years complicate matters to give us either the 5-year or 11-year gap.

IF you are into calendaring (as I am) you will immediately seize upon that ’11’. 11 is significant. It is 7+4, i.e., the number of days in a week (7) & the number of years between leap years.

Note that we will have a 11-year gap before Christmas again falls on a Sunday.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas 2023 — Most Of The Outside Lights Are Done. Just The 4 Lasers To Add.

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by Anura Guruge
on December 8, 2023

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All her work — i.e., my 17-year old daughter who lives for Christmas. For the last 5 (or maybe 6) years she has insisted on doing all the outside lights herself. At first she wanted me there, holding the ladder. No she insists on doing it ALL herself. Very proud of it — & we are very proud of her. Amazing job.

I do the lasers & just today I got a new laser for 2023. So, I think we will have 4 lasers this year. We probably have more, but that would be overkill.

Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas!

Main Christmas Tree For 2023, 8′ Fresh Cut, In Place. First Of 4!

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by Anura Guruge
on December 5, 2023

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Nice tree. Daughter, as ever, picked it. Her tree. All the trees are hers, & she is going to have 2 trees in her room this (albeit, small, artificial ones).

This tree cost $85. Same as last year. Not bad.

Got it up STRAIGHT (so far) without too much hassle. Big question is whether it will remain as such for ANOTHER month.

Merry Christmas!

“Sawyer’s Holiday Open House”, Barnstead, New Hampshire, 2023.

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by Anura Guruge
on November 24, 2023

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Going to this always delightful, ‘Holiday Open House‘, just 1.8 miles from our place, is now an entrenched & beloved, ANNUAL Thanksgiving Tradition for us. It is hosted by a real lovely family that we have come to know over the years. This was probably the 10th or 11th year that we have gone to this Open House. Check here for the pictures from 2022. We obviously didn’t go in 2021 because of COVID.

Last year, because of other commitments we couldn’t get there till the Sunday. It was nearly empty by then. This year the ‘girls’ were determined to get there as early as possible — taking into account that one of them doesn’t move that quickly early in the morning. They set 9:30 as departure time & we made it. Even then, getting there within 40 minutes of them opening, it was BUSY. But, they had fun. They, as always, bought stuff.

I just go to take pictures — & then walk back. Nice walk & today was a gorgeous, not-too-cold day.

‘The Railway Men’ (2023) Indian Miniseries On ‘Netflix’: Interesting Story Makes Up For POOR Production.

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by Anura Guruge
on November 23, 2023

Click to ENLARGE. For ‘IMDb.com’ listing.

I, of course, remember the ‘Union Carbide’ ‘Bhopal’ disaster. How could you not. I, however, was NOT that familiar with all the details and machinations. Had NO IDEA, whatsoever, about this RAILWAY angle. As such I kind of ‘enjoyed’ watching this 4-part miniseries. Definitely worth watching to get SOME of the facts.

Alas it was poorly made. NOT up to Indian Bollywood standards. I am surprised.

Let me just HIGHLIGHT these points:
>> the computer animation/graphics of the TRAINS is APPALLING. Childish. Really, really, really bad. It is so bad that it is like a caricature. LOW BUDGET. That really spoilt my enjoyment. I love trains. I want them to be shown ACCURATELY.

>> Also not sure whether the depiction of trains is HISTORICALLY accurate. At the end they splice in some real movie footage from 1984. Those show STEAM trains. In the Series all they show are badly rendered diesels.

>> Makes out like everything revolved around the railways. That was NOT realistic.

>> Left a TON of unanswered questions.

So, I felt that it only scratched the surface, BUT I learnt a LOT about one angle that I had no idea about.

Just remember that the production is POOR. Shame.

‘Pope Francis’, Who Will Turn 87 In 25-Days, Will Continue To Be 3rd OLDEST In Recorded History.

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by Anura Guruge
on November 22, 2023

Click to ENLARGE. From one of my ‘magic’ papal excels.

The 2 keywords of note here are ‘recorded history‘. When it comes to papal birthdays, papal history only goes back to 1400. The birthdates of popes prior to 1400 are either unavailable or unreliable. Hence, any meaningful age-related claims as to popes have to be ‘as of 1400’.

Francis became the 3rd OLDEST pope as of 1400
on December 30, 2023.

So, he has been 3rd oldest close to a year. He still has 11-months to go before he becomes the 2nd KNOWN OLDEST. That is quite the thing. Kind of WILD.

We have had 64 popes since 1400, & of those 64 Francis is the 3rd oldest.

Francis’ predecessor, who resigned in 2013, i.e., Benedict XVI, will remain in #5; John Paul II who was the previous will be at #8.

So, the last 3 popes will, respectively, hold the #3, #5 & #8 spots (as of 1400) — from among 64 popes.

IF Benedict XVI had not resigned, he, at 95, would have been the OLDEST pope as of 1400. That is a sobering thought.

Just two years ago Francis was at #7. He has been going up in the rankings fast.

Last Time Thanksgiving (U.S.) Fell On November 23 As In 2023 Was …

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by Anura Guruge
on November 18, 2023

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Was in 2017.

Just 6 years ago. So, not that long. A 6 or 5 year gap between U.S. Thanksgiving falling on the same day is the norm. (The 11-year gaps are due to Leap Years.)

U.S. Thanksgiving (the ONLY ‘Thanksgiving’ of import & meaning as far as I am concerned, the others being but shameless efforts at imitation), as of 1941, is ALWAYS on a Thursday — the 4th Thursday of November. As such, it can occur between November 22 to November 28.

This year, i.e., 2023, it occurs close to the start of that range, i.e., November 23.

Kind of neat that in 2023 Thanksgiving is on the 23rd.

‘Andrew Hosmer’, Illustrious Mayor Of ‘Laconia’ [NH] — Felicitation Night, ‘Weirs Beach’, Nov. 1, 2023.

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by Anura Guruge
on November 2, 2023

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As some of you know I kept away from politics after I got ‘Obama‘ re-elected in 2012.

Two main reasons, nobody else inspired I & I was preoccupied with my books. I thought about campaigning for ‘Hillary’ BUT my heart was not in it. And I can’t do anything unless my heart is in it.

In 2012, WE [i.e., my then 12-year old 2nd daughter & I] campaigned for Andrew, for NH Senate, as part of the overall Democratic push. Andrew won. We were glad.

Well, as Andrew pointed out last night, he hadn’t seen much of me since then. True.

Well, I am BACK. I am going to get involved. THIS was why I finally became CITIZEN after 38-years of THINKING about it. SMILE.

I DID NOT take any pictures of the crowd for PRIVACY reasons.

The View From My Office Desk As I Proof My Latest Book.

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by Anura Guruge
on October 21, 2023

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Yes, our 2023 fall foliage is peaking. Today’s rain will knock down quite a few leaves.

This was my view, this afternoon, from my desk, in my office, as I was proofing my latest book. Proofing is very stressful for I. So, this was a nice break.