Tag Archives: 2024

Last Time Jewish ‘Passover’ Started On ‘April 22’ Was 2016. Prior To That 1959.

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by Anura Guruge
on April 13, 2024

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Click to ENLARGE. Base image from ‘Wikimedia Commons‘.

Passover, in our times, can fall between March 26 and April 25.

So, April 22 is towards the end of that scale, but not at the very end.

Others years, in recent times, Passover has been in late April.

So, last time it fell on April 22 wasn’t that long ago, viz., 2016. Just 8 years ago. Prior to that 1959. That was a 57-year gap. The longest gap in the last 200 years.

Please don’t ask me to explain how the date for Passover is calculated. I have NO clue. I have a hard enough time trying to work out how Easter is calculated.

A Happy Very Joyful ‘Sinhala’ ‘New Year’ (‘Aluth Avurudu’) 2024 To You — Saturday, April 13.

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by Anura Guruge
on April 12, 2024

Caught me off-guard, on the hop. IT, very much an astrological holiday (based on the astronomical ‘sighting’ of the new moon, is early this year. Most years it falls on April 14. In my mind ‘April 14’ is New Year. ‘April 13’ (which was the birthday of my maternal grandmother (who brought me up) was the OLD NEW YEAR. This year Old New Year is TODAY. Ooops. Yes, I have been busy (& yes, it is another book). So, I lost sight of it.

Well, not a total loss. I still managed to catch the New Year.

So, Happy New Year.

Those are my ADOPTIVE parents — lighting oil lamps (something we did for New Year). I don’t think these pictures are from New Year. My father is wearing a suit. Though he wore one OFTEN, he wouldn’t be wearing one for New Year. We usually spent ALL of Old New Year and the start of the New Year at home. When at home my father always dressed informally.

Well, Happy New Year.

The last of the THREE New Years I mark & celebrate each year.

‘Fidelity Investments’ Gets Their March Interest Payments Wrong On April Fools’ Day!

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by Anura Guruge
on April 2, 2024

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April 01, 2024 and they post a ‘Dividend Received’ BUT it is NEGATIVE!

Repeat. Says ‘Dividend Received‘ BUT it is MINUS (i.e., negative). So it isn’t Received — it is a DEBIT!

Plus it is on April 1 — April Fools’ Day.

Having been a Fidelity customer for nearly 40 years I kind of figured it out, BUT I thought I would get them to explain and clarify.

It wasn’t a quick explanation as I had expected. I was on hold for nearly 20 minutes.

It ALL had to do with March MONTH END happening on ‘Good Friday’, i.e., March 29, a HOLIDAY. That messed them up. FUNNY.

They OVERPAID because of that.

So, they had to go back and recoup. FUNNY.

All because month end fell on a holiday. In 2024?

Funny.

How many of YOU noticed.

A Happy April 1, 2024 To YOU (Easter Monday).

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by Anura Guruge
on April 1, 2024

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As far as I am concerned, each & every day should be HAPPY.

SMILE.

Happy Easter 2024.

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by Anura Guruge
on March 30, 2024

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May you be blessed to find a lot of eggs!

SMILE.

First Crocuses Of 2024 In OUR Yard.

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by Anura Guruge
on March 30, 2024

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First crocuses of 2023 (in our yard) — April 7, 2023.

I am AMAZED. As you can see from one picture we still have snow on the ground — adjacent to these flowering crocuses.

I was NOT expecting to see any flowers. I wanted to see if any SHOOTS had come up, under the snow.

THEN I SAW THE FLOWERS. I was floored, BUT happy.

But, we are expecting ANOTHER MAJOR SNOWSTORM on Wednesday!

This crocus bed is usually the FIRST to bloom each year. It faces East and as such gets a lot of sun. The bed does well as long as I don’t shovel a ton of snow on top of it from the the driveway. As we know we didn’t have that much snow this winter. That sure was a factor. Over a WEEK EARLY!

Pope Francis’ Opts Just To Wash The Feet Of Women — Breaking With Tradition. Ahh! No Comment.

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by Anura Guruge
on March 29, 2024

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Click to ENLARGE. Click for ‘CNN‘ original.
Click to ENLARGE. Click for ‘The Daily Beast‘ original.

No DIRECT comments. I don’t want to offend anyone.

Just a few oblique observations in passing.

To paraphrase youthful Leo X it has to be GOOD to be Pope.

Just substitute ‘Joe Biden‘ or even ‘Emmanuel Macron’ for where it says ‘Pope Francis’.

Hhhmmm.

Got me thinking. Feet washing and kissing is still a RATHER STRANGE practice despite its antiquity. Maybe it needs to be rethought.

Hhhmmm.

Click to ENLARGE. Click for ‘BBC‘ original.

They Says ‘Pope Francis’ Looks HEALTHY Ahead Of Easter 2024. I Will Let YOU Decide.

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by Anura Guruge
on March 28, 2024

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Click to ENLARGE. Click for ‘Reuters’ original.

No comments. I am NOT an expert on old people or what is considered healthy looking.

Just wanted to make sure that YOU saw and you got to decide.

I will CONFESS that I anticipate a 2024 conclave — and don’t forget we still have 8 long months left.

Last Time Easter Was On March 31, As It Is This Year (i.e., 2024), Was In 2013 (Just 11-Years Ago).

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by Anura Guruge
on March 23, 2024

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Next time it will be on March 31 will be in 2086,
62-years from NOW.

Easter on March 31 is NOT that uncommon. We have seen them per the fairly standard 11-year cycle going back to 1991.

Easter, your quintessential ‘movable feast’ can fall between March 22 (since it HAS to be after the ECCLESIASTICAL Spring Equinox which is always March 21) and April 25 (i.e., essentially the end of the 28-day lunar month).

11 years gaps are common because we have 7-days in a week & leap years occur every 4 years.

With Easter, given the HIGHLY convoluted algorithm used, you can also get 62-year gaps. That is what we will now have with March 31 — 62-year gap to 2086.

Very occasionally we could have the 11 year gap ADDED to the 62 to give us a 73-year gap. That is what we saw last year with Easter.

Easter is next Sunday.

Easter is always on a Sunday.

Don’t confuse Easter with Good Friday which is never on a Sunday.

2024 Spring Equinox In New Hampshire Will Be TODAY, i.e., Tuesday, March 19, 11:06 PM Tonight (Eastern).

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by Anura Guruge
on March 19, 2024

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The Spring Equinox can happen on March 19, 20 or 21.

So, March 19 seems a tad only. But, notice it is happening LATE AT NIGHT. Already March 20 in Greenwich, England. It was also on March 19 in 2020. So, not that rare. But, for us in New Hampshire, it falls most often on March 20.

Last year it was ULTRA SNOWY. This year NO SNOW — ice out (earliest on record) already declared.

Click to ENLARGE.
Click to ENLARGE. A useful diagram that I created many years ago.

Sunrise & Sunset Times for Concord, New Hampshire around the
2024 Spring Equinox on March 19.
(From Time-and-Date).

Click to ENLARGE. From ‘timeanddate.com’.

Note that daylight is NOT exactly 12 hours!
If anything we get closer to 12 hours 3 days earlier.
There is a reason for that. It is our latitude above the equator.
If we were closer to the equator it would have been closer to 12 hours.
See this explanation in Time-and-Date.

Click to ENLARGE. To remind you what it is all about. From ‘Wikipedia’.

As has been my custom for years let me also please share at least ONE alluring ‘Allegory of Spring‘.

From Wikipedia.

Enjoy YOUR Spring Equinox 2023.

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