Easter is one of those weird holidays because it is one of the few holidays that doesn’t have a set-in-stone date. It’s not on a specific date, it’s not on a specific day of a certain month. The only hard-and-fast “rules” for Easter is that it always falls on a Sunday, on one of the thirty-four days within the range of March 22-April 25 (inclusive). As for how the date of Easter is calculated, it’s a very complicated and involved method that’s so complicated and involved that even Wikipedia doesn’t detail it. Furthermore, there has been controversy behind it many many times, including many attempts to “standardize” the date that Easter is celebrated, most of them to no effect.

Well, this year, Easter fell on March 23rd, the second-earliest possible date that Easter could fall on. Wow. However, today I was shown something that actually puts this date into some interesting context. The fact of the matter is that for everyone who went through Easter this year, they have gone through the earliest Easter that they will ever go through again in their lives. Wow! Here’s the facts:

Easter was on March 23rd this year, 2008. The last time that it fell on March 23rd was in 1913, meaning that no one under the age of 95 has lived through an Easter this early before. Furthermore, none of us will again, since the next March 23rd Easter will be in the year 2228 (220 years from now!). But what about the one possible earlier date for Easter, March 22nd? Well, the last time that happened was in the year 1818, and it will not happen again until the year 2285, 277 years from now! None of the over 6 billion people alive today have ever experienced a March 22nd Easter, and they never will.

Not that any of this has any practical importance, but it is interesting to think about.

Tags: dates, Easter, event, fact, holiday, interesting, landmark

Last week, I entered an essay in the North Central San Mateo Neighborhood Association’s 25th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay & Poetry Contest. (How’s that for a long title?) The contest involved submitting an oratorical essay, which was also to be read and not exceeding 5 minutes in length. Well, Saturday afternoon was the awards ceremony during which they announced the winners, and in the 11th Grade Essay division, not only did my essay win first place, but it received a standing ovation from the audience when I finished reading it there, and I got numerous compliments and even got invited to read it again at some events that are a few months down the road.

However, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and I will once again be attending the Freedom Train and Celebration in San Francisco today. We’ll be recording PreviewCast #050 afterwards (fifty episodes–a big milestone for us). However, for today, I thought that I would share my essay here for the reading pleasure of anyone who is interested. May we all remember what Dr. King’s legacy means for us today.
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Tags: article, contest, essay, holiday, Martin Luther King

Well, most of you will probably be doing Christmas dinner or things like that with your families, but for those of you in need of something to do tonight, you can catch me live as one of the guests on System Showdown, one of the shows on the Tech Podcast Network. Their show description describes me as an Apple Enthusiast, so they may be surprised that I’m a little bit more of a curmudgeon when it comes to Apple. Either way, I’ll be talking about PreviewCast and phpBB Weekly and some other tech stuff as well. They stream live via Ustream, which you can watch via the link I provided.

The show begins tonight (December 25th) at 8:00-9:30 PM EST (5:00-6:30 PM PST). My guest appearance will be during the second half hour. A link to the podcasted edition will be provided as soon as they make it available.

Tags: appearance, Apple, guest, holiday, live, Mac, phpBB Weekly, Podcasts, PreviewCast, System Showdown, Tech Podcast Network, Ustream

Politically Correct Santa
by Harvey Ehrlich

‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck…
How to live in a world that’s politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to “Elves”,
“Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.

And labor conditions at the north pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.
And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.
Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called “Unenlightened.”

And to show you the strangeness of life’s ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.

So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she’d enough of this life,
Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.

And as for the gifts, why, he’d ne’er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.

Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.
Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.

Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that’s warlike or non-pacific.
No candy or sweets…they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.

And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.
For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football…someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.
He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you’ve got to be careful with that word today.

His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.
Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.

A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;
Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere…even you.

So here is that gift, it’s price beyond worth…
“May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth.”

Despite all of the craziness that has grown to surround the holiday, may you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

Tags: Christmas, holiday, message, peace, poem, politically correct, quote, Santa

Courtesy of the genius invention of timezones, Santa has already begun his 25-hour journey around the globe, and Norad Tracks Santa has always been the best place to track Santa as he goes on his travels. However, this year, they have a Santa Tracker add-on for Google Earth, which lets you track Santa’s sleigh as he moves city to city. It’s a really cool use for Google Earth and will probably keep me mesmerized on there for hours.

Tags: Christmas, Google, Google Earth, holiday, NORAD, Santa, track