Easter

The word “Easter” comes from an ancient pagan goddess worshipped by Anglo Saxons named Eostre. According to legend, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became our Easter Bunny. Eggs were a symbol of fertility in part because they used to be so scarce during the winter. There are records of people giving each other decorated eggs at Easter as far back as the 11th century.

The Writer’s Almanac (2007)

Why Is Easter Today?

Since 325CE in Western churches Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the March equinox (or a week later if that full moon is on a Sunday).

The equinox was March 20th. The full moon was Friday-Saturday April 3rd-4th (depending on the time zone).

Happy Easter!

Next year Easter Sunday is March 27th.

The earliest Easter can be is March 22nd (next occasion, 2285); the latest is April 25th (next in 2038).

Easter Wine Recommendation

I think Peeps cry out for a tartly acidic, simple white, so I’ll be celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior this Holy Sunday with Chateau Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers ($14). Its simple crispness and subdued flavors of grapefruit and the French countryside are the perfect counterpoint to the entirely artificial experience of eating Peeps. The key is to take a bite of the Peep — preferably the head, which has the best balance of spray-on falvor elements and interior mush — and then sip the wine through the rapidly disintegrating cloud of artificially colored, emulsified sugar. It’s the perfect Easter combination.

From a discussion (2011) of Easter wine writing at Louisville Juice.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Lorraine Motel

. . . was assassinated while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on this date in 1968. He was 39 years old.

The evening before King concluded his speech with:

Lorraine Motel Balcony

And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

William Henry Harrison

… died on this date in 1841 after serving 31 days as president. He was the first president to die in office. He was 68. Cause of death may have been pneumonia or typhoid, in either case made worse by his medical care.

Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin, was president 1889-1893.

McKinley Morganfield

… was born 102 years ago today. We know him as Muddy Waters.

And how important was Muddy Waters to early Rock?

You’ve heard of The Rolling Stones, and “Like a Rolling Stone,” and Rolling Stone magazine. All named for Waters’ early hit, “Rollin’ Stone.”

Muddy Waters transformed the soul of the rural South into the sound of the city, electrifying the blues at a pivotal point in the early postwar period. His recorded legacy, particularly the wealth of sides he cut in the Fifties, is one of the great musical treasures of this century. Aside from Robert Johnson, no single figure is more important in the history and development of the blues than Waters. The real question as regards his lasting impact on popular music isn’t “Who did he influence?” but – as Goldmine magazine asked in 2001 – “Who didn’t he influence?”

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

150 Years Ago Today

On April 4, President Lincoln, who had been “vacationing” at City Point, Virginia, near the front since March 24, toured Richmond (much of it on foot) with his 12-year-old son Tad (it was Tad’s birthday). At the capitol, Lincoln sat in Jefferson Davis’ chair.

Always Remember: Half of the American Population Is Below Average

First posted here eight years ago today.

You can fool some of the people all of the time

In 1938, wallet manufacturer the E. H. Ferree company in Lockport, New York decided to promote its product by showing how a Social Security card would fit into its wallets. A sample card, used for display purposes, was inserted in each wallet. Company Vice President and Treasurer Douglas Patterson thought it would be a clever idea to use the actual SSN of his secretary, Mrs. Hilda Schrader Whitcher. The wallet was sold by Woolworth stores and other department stores all over the country. Even though the card was only half the size of a real card, was printed all in red, and had the word “specimen” written across the face, many purchasers of the wallet adopted the SSN as their own. In the peak year of 1943, 5,755 people were using Hilda’s number. SSA acted to eliminate the problem by voiding the number and publicizing that it was incorrect to use it. (Mrs. Whitcher was given a new number.) However, the number continued to be used for many years. In all, over 40,000 people reported this as their SSN. As late as 1977, 12 people were found to still be using the SSN “issued by Woolworth.”

Interesting Facts About Social Security Numbers at Money, Matter, and More Musings

The 40,000 are the same sort of people that some politicians would have manage their own social security investments.

Last Year’s Photos

Click either image for much larger (and prettier) versions. Photos taken with iPhone 5s, Sunday, March 23, 2014.

Looking upriver from about a mile north of Alameda. It's called the Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico, but Rio Grande seems better to fit the usually placid river as it flows through Albuquerque. iPhone 5s photo.
Looking upriver from about a mile north of Alameda. It’s called the Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico, but Rio Grande seems better to fit the usually placid river as it flows through Albuquerque.
Not sure what the x-shaped vegetation is in our "we must preserve our natural Bosque" but they haven't bloomed at all yet.
Not sure what the x-shaped vegetation is in our “we must preserve the natural Bosque” but they haven’t bloomed at all yet.

‘We never exceeded 175 mph’

First posted here seven years ago.

A particular favorite article of mine from the years I subscribed to Sports Illustrated was Brock Yates’s 1972 “From Sea to Speeding Sea.” “The Cannonball was an out law auto race—unsanctioned and definitely unwise—but off they went, roaring their way toward L.A.” Yates drove the winning Ferrari with racer Dan Gurney from NYC to LA in 35 hours and 54 minutes.

A couple of excerpts:

Determined to find a car to race in the Cannonball, the three men had looked in the Times classifieds in search of a “driveaway” deal—an arrangement where one drives another’s car to a destination for nominal expenses. This is a common tactic used to transport personal cars by people who don’t like to drive long distances. The Long Island gentleman wanted his new Cadillac Coupe deVille driven to California. Opert & Co. obliged, nodding hazily at his firm orders that his prized machine not be driven after nine o’clock at night, not before eight o’clock in the morning and not run faster than 75 miles an hour. Naturally, all the regulations would be violated before the car left Manhattan.

. . . . .

A yellow 4-4-2 Oldsmobile Cutlass appeared in the rearview mirror. It was running fast, coming up on me at an impressive rate. Two guys were on board and I sensed that they were looking for a race. They drew even and we ran along for a way nose to nose. I looked over to catch eager grins on their faces. I smiled back and slipped the Ferrari from fifth to fourth gear. We were running a steady 100 mph when the Olds leaped ahead. I let him have a car-length lead before opening the Ferrari’s tap. The big car burst forward, its pipes whooping that lovely siren song, and rocketed past the startled pair in the Oldsmobile. I glanced over at them to see their faces covered with amazement. Like most of the populace, they had no comprehension of an automobile that would accelerate from 100 mph that quickly. The Ferrari yowled up to 150 mph without effort, leaving the Olds as a minuscule speck of yellow in the mirror.

I slowed again and turned up the volume on the stereo. Buck Owens and his Buckaroos were sonorously singing I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail. I laughed all the way to Las Cruces.

Speaking of Books

Family Life by Akhil Sharma won the Folio Prize for fiction last night. According to a New York Times report, Family Life, a “semiautobiographical second novel, tracks the Mishra family, who migrate to Queens from Delhi in the 1970s, but whose life slowly unravels when one son suffers a freakish accident.”

George Saunders’s short-story collection Tenth of December won last year.