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Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

Happy Spring Equinox, everyone! (I say with some amusement, as a plow removes the latest storm’s worth of snow out front!)

This is a great image of the celestial equator, from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. (And just for fun, here it is as an online jigsaw puzzle🙂

And here’s a quick article and video with the essentials on the vernal equinox: March equinox 2026: Here’s all you need to know

The March equinox – aka the vernal equinox – marks the sun’s crossing above Earth’s equator, moving from south to north. Earth’s tilt on its axis is what causes this northward shift of the sun’s path across our sky at this time of year. Earth’s tilt is now bringing spring and summer to the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, the March equinox marks the beginning of autumn – and a shift toward winter – in the Southern Hemisphere.

I did spot a lovely V of Canada Geese a couple of days ago, and hopefully we’ll see more signs of spring soon!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! Here’s wishing you a little luck and a lot of fun:)

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Happy Pi Day, Everyone!

Today is March 14th, or 3.14, and as I’ve mentioned here before that means it is Pi Day!

This is a pretty perfect holiday for someone like myself who is very much a person who enjoys both science and food.

Guide to Celebrating Pi (π) Day | Exploratorium

What is pi, anyway? Divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter; the answer (whether for a pie plate or a planet) is always approximately 3.14, a number we represent with the Greek letter π. Keep calculating pi’s digits with more and more accuracy—as mathematicians have been doing for 4,000 years—and you’ll discover they go on literally forever…

Infinite, like my love for pie. I might go savory this year, actually. 

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There are a lot of holidays happening today or starting this week, including some of the big ones: Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival, Mardi Gras (and Lent), and Ramadan. 

If I used AI casually I might ask it for an image of a fiery horse eating a beignet at an iftar meal, but instead I’ll just wish you all a wonderful week!

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“Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction…” John Adams

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Oh hey, it’s Groundhog Day again!

Check out the official website for all things Punxsutawney Phil:

Punxsutawney Groundhog Club – The Home of Groundhog Day!

Just want to skip to the headline? Six more weeks of winter.

Makes me shiver just thinking about it.

The good news is that Phil, while both cute and charming, does not seem to be particularly good at his job. Maybe we get six more weeks, maybe not. 

How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil? Here’s what the data shows

Punxsutawney Phil has been making forecasts since the late 1800s, but his predictions have been a little off. How good has he been at predicting winter weather? Not so hot, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So if you’re wishing for the promise of spring, take heart. Sooner or later, it’s coming!

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The power of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres including “the speculative” lies in its ability to create new ways to talk about old and ongoing problems in our societies. We are surrounded by people who wonder what they are going to do with the moment in time they inhabit—time-travelers fixed to this one instant in a long continuum of human struggle—and we are crafting new vocabularies of comfort, courage, and creative energy for them and for ourselves.

— The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the power of building new worlds

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Welcome to a new year. Past me thought I might need a little encouragement as we step into the unknown. Here’s the letter I wrote myself in case you do too:

Dear FutureMe,

You’ve got this.

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“I still believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and true love. Don’t even try to tell me different.”

—Dolly Parton

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“It’s Christmas Eve! It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”

— Bill Murray

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