On March 20, I had written about our early spring. Today I learned (from the same source, EarthSky News) that this is the earliest Easter until 2035. This is their explanation — Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon in a Northern Hemisphere spring. By ecclesiastical rules, which fixes the
I guess this falls under the category of Every Little Bit Helps. The odds are few people can find Bhutan on the map. A small country between China and India astride the Himalaya Mountains, it’s strictly third world with an economy of only around $2 billion. But thanks to some enlightened leadership, it’s taking a first-world
Did you know this is the earliest spring since 1896? According to the EarthSky News, the March equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north, signals the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. The March equinox can actually come on March 19, 20 or
This may come as a shock, but not everyone is satisfied with our current calendar. We presently use the Gregorian Calendar, which was first established in 1582. But everyone is familiar with its quirks, like months with either 28, 30, or 31 days. What if it there were no leap years, holidays fell on the day day
Would you wear a garment that was alive? You may get a chance. According to the March 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine (page 18), MIT Media Lab researchers have found a way to incorporate live bacteria into a synthetic fabric. They’ve chosen a bacteria that quickly changes shape in response to moisture. With such a
What is your favorite response to a sneeze? Many reflexively say “Gesundheit” without even knowing what this word means. According to An Uncommon History of Common Things (National Geographic, 2009, p 73), this is German for “healthiness” or “good health”. (It can also be used as a drinking salute.) Many other cultures have their own
This month, February 3rd to be exact, marks the anniversary of the first woman to graduate from medical school. Her name was Elizabeth Blackwell, and she was born in Bristol, England in 1821. Dr. Blackwell wrote in her book Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women (1895) that she was initially repelled by the
I’ve been traveling and haven’t posted anything lately, but Sunday was Valentine’s Day. For anyone wondering how such a holiday originated, The Writer’s Almanac posted an excellent explanation of its origins. Today is Valentine’s Day, a big day for greeting card and candy sales, which goes back more than 1,500 years to the Feast
I was surprised to hear that scientists consider our Milky Way galaxy to be a zombie. Apparently it has stopped forming new stars and so its days are numbered. But don’t worry, it will be hanging on for quite a while. Galaxies apparently “perish” – in other words, they stop turning gas into new stars –
What can be recycled? There is a company that thinks almost anything can. It’s called TerraCycle, and it offers free recycling programs that are funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers to help people collect and recycle especially difficult waste. Participants choose the programs they would like to join, collect the items to be recycled, download free shipping labels, and send the waste