What Would Jimmy Do?

Happy Easter — one of those annual events that falls on a different date each year. If you’re interested as to how the date of Easter is calculated, you can check this blog’s entry of December 22, 2020 for my attempt to explain it.

Easter is a Holy Day — the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after 3 days in the tomb following his execution by Jewish officials. That’s what Easter is really all about, but there other things that have become “tradition” that are about as complicated as arriving at the date for Easter every year.

The early Christians decided they needed to come up with familiar (and relevant) ways to help get their new religion off the ground, so they used familiar symbols to get the ministry moving and help explain what they were trying to say.

Take the Easter Bunny, for instance. Just like Santa Claus has no Christian significance to Christmas, the Easter Bunny has no real connection to Easter. 

None of the Gospels ever mention the Easter Bunny, but rabbits have a long history of being a symbol of fertility and new life. Another Pagan symbol was eggs — a symbol of the preciousness of life. In the middle ages, it was forbidden to eat eggs during lent, so once Easter arrived, they painted the shells to celebrate the end of this period and that Christ rose from the dead.

The origin of the term “Easter” comes from the pre-Christianity goddess, Eostre. In the late 7th and early 8th centuries, a Monk, named Venerable Bede, wrote about his observations of how the early Christians celebrated the Resurrection (Easter.) They called their celebration Eosturmonath after the Germanic goddess Eostre. She was recognized as the bringer of springtime and flowers and after all the celebrations in her honor, the name stuck for the Christian celebration of the Resurrection. 

When we think of Easter, we usually think of chocolate, hot-cross buns and eggs — but Pretzels are also an Easter snack. Pretzels are associated with Easter because the twists resemble arms crossing in prayer. It was a tradition for Germans to eat a pretzel and a hard-boiled egg for dinner on Good Friday.

Easter, like most everything, has evolved over the years, but it’s true meaning remains the same. So if an Easter egg hunt is in your plans for today, just remember that these egg hunts are proof kids can find things when they really want to….
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I’m not really a basketball fan, although I do seem to pay a little closer attention to college teams than pro teams. But one thing I usually look forward to is “March Madness.” I admit that one reason is that when March Madness arrives that means that spring is here or right around the corner.

March Madness is the yearly college basketball tournament held by the NCAA that runs from mid-March to early April. Today, March Madness is pretty much the pinnacle of sports in the month of March. Football is in the distance in the rear view mirror and baseball hasn’t started yet — hockey season is underway, but it takes a back seat to the basketball tournament. 

Well, I got to wondering why the tournament is called “March Madness,” so my extensive research mode kicked in…. here’s what I discovered, in case you’re interested. 

March Madness actually wasn’t the first postseason college basketball tournament — the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) began in 1938. That was the most popular tournament for a few years, but what is now referred to as March Madness has long since overtaken the NIT as the top college basketball tournament.

The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was held in 1939 — a year after the first NIT tournament. The 1939 tournament featured just eight teams. Over the years, the tournament grew from an eight-team tournament to 16 teams in 1951. In 1975, it doubled to 32 teams and doubled again in 1985 to 64 teams. Currently, 68 teams make it into the tournament with eight teams participating in play-in games to make the official first-round field of 64.

Now back to the name “March Madness”— the term was first used in 1939 by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter. He referred to the original eight team tournament by that name, writing in a high school athletic magazine, “A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.” But — the term didn’t become associated with the NCAA tournament until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of the tournament. Interestingly, Musburger claims that he got the term from car dealership commercials he saw while broadcasting the Illinois state high school basketball tournament.

There have been 80 NCAA tournaments between 1939 and 2019 (there was no tournament in 2020 because of CoVID.)
Kentucky has the most NCAA tournament appearances (58) and NCAA tournament wins (129.)
UCLA has has the most NCAA men’s basketball national championships with 11
Duke’s Mike Kzyzewski has the most NCAA tournament wins by a single coach — 97.

So we’re down to the final four and in a few days we’ll know who the 2021 March Madness champion will be. All four teams deserve to be there — they all beat everyone they faced in the tournament… I wish them all luck and good shots — Charles Barkley said the only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
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Today is Good Friday — the day commemorating the Crucifixion of Christ. The question of whether to observe Jesus’ death and Resurrection created a major controversy in early Christianity. Until the 4th century, Jesus’ Last Supper, death and His Resurrection were observed in one single commemoration on the evening before Easter. Since then, those three events have been observed separately with Easter, as the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection, being considered the pivotal event. 

The Mass of the Presanctified is observed on Good Friday. Its name is derived from the fact there is no consecration of the sacred elements of bread and wine — Communion is ministered from the Reserved Sacrament (consecrated elements retained from previous celebrations.) 
There are no other Masses until Easter.

Why this day is called “good” has alway puzzled me. About the best explanation I’ve heard is from Randy Alcorn — “What is good about Good Friday? Why isn’t it called Bad Friday? Because out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressible good. And the good trumps the bad, because though the bad was temporary, the good is eternal.”
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I know what today is, but this no April Fool’s joke — fifteen (15) years ago today, we moved into our house in Shepherdstown, WV. We had been “homeless” since November of 2015 — a lot longer than we had planned. We were “assured” that our house would be ready in December (2015.) Based on that information, we agreed to move our of our house in Vienna before Thanksgiving. Our plan was to stay with Kelly and Chris in their new house in Leesburg for 2 or 3 or maybe 4 weeks. 

Well of course our house wasn’t anywhere near being ready by December, or January, or February, or March, or — to be honest — April. But on April 1st, we did move in. Almost a year later, the house was probably “ready to move in.” Needless to say, we had a few problems with the builder.
But we survived it all, and we’re happy here in Shepherdstown.
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Most April Fool’s experts agree that April Fool’s Day originated in 16th-century France, when Pope Gregory Xiii mandated that the new year begin on January 1 instead of the end of March. Those who failed to follow the new calendar were dubbed “April fish.” Those experts that don’t agree with that explanation think that it originated from ancient spring festivals that included mischief making.

But for whatever reason, today has evolved into a day to play pranks on people. Over the years even major companies and corporations have gotten in on the fun and, in fact, pulled some of the best pranks including….

In 1980, pranksters at the BBC announced that Big Ben, London’e historic clock tower, would undergo a face-lift and become digital to keep up with the times. 
In 1965, a Copenhagen, Denmark newspaper reported that parliament had passed a law that all dogs be painted white to improve road safety because they could then be seen clearly at night.
In 1994, PC Magazine ran a column about a bill making its way through Congress that would prohibit the use of the Internet while intoxicated.
In 2009, BMW ran an ad promoting its new “magnetic tow technology.” The invention enabled driver to turn of their engine and get a “free ride” by locking onto the car ahead via a magnetic beam.
In 2015, Cottonelle tweeted that it was introducing left-handed toilet paper for all those southpaws out there.
In Norway in 1986, after reading that the government was planning to distribute 10,000 liters of wine confiscated from smugglers, hundreds of citizens turned up caring empty bottles and buckets.

So while corporate America is typically ruled by information and strategy and is all business, today is the one day of the year that their business turns to funny business. This year, Volkswagen has already announced that they’re rebranding their electric vehicles as “Voltswagen” — can’t wait to see if someone will come up with a better one this year….
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“It is with some sadness that we had to announce the demise of the Williamson/Stracensky Family Web Site.” Fourteen years ago today, if you happened to be at this place on the Internet, you read those words. For a number of years I put in a fair amount of time and effort to maintain and keep up-to-date a web site dedicated to the Williamson/Stracensky families. I thought at the time, and still do, that a centralized location to keep up with all the family events and activities was a good idea. 

But I was wrong — the site never got very much use. We surveyed the family as to whether we should keep it — or not. Four (4) family members responded that would be sorry to see it go.

So — on March 31, 2007 if you looked for the Family Web Site, you got a page, headlined “The Family Web Site is Dead — Long Live the Blogs.” If you read further, you learned that the Williamson/Stracensky Family Web Site had been taken down and replaced by blogs — one by Claire and one by me. 

Initially, my plan was to blog about family…. but that thought quickly went away and I decided the family wasn’t interested in the web site, and there was no reason they would be particularly interested in my blog. My blog turned out to be about nothing — it consists of my thoughts whenever I sit down to update it. Just whatever happens to be on my mind or pops into my head. 

Over the years, I’ve often addressed significant family events or activities and I’ve more often blogged about nothing in particular.

Claire maintained her blog for a while, but it is currently inactive. I continue to ramble on about nothing every day or so. Fourteen years seems like a long time, but the years pass fast. While today may not be a monumental occasion, it’s a special day here in the world of “What Would Jimmy Do?”
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Today is World Backup Day. You faithful readers know that for the last couple of years, I’ve blogged about this day because — well, it’s important. But— I still think it’s misleading. When I first heard about it I was very excited because it seemed like the kind of day I’d be in to celebrating. Of course, I discovered that the day didn’t have anything to do with going backwards… it’s a day when you’re supposed to backup all your computer files. I will continue to support the day, but my opinion is that World Backup Day should be about — backing up.

I suppose it’s appropriate, or an omen or something, that the day before April Fools is World Backup Day… this “day” originally started as World Backup Month and was originated by a hard drive company by the name of Maxtor. Maxtor was later acquired by Seagate Technology.

Before computers became the center of our world, backup seemed to mean to undo one’s actions or to reconsider one’s thoughts, but today when “backup” is used, most people immediately associate it with a computer. 

I think our data is backed up regularly, so I don’t need a special day to do it…. but as I said, for those that don’t this is an important day. So — since I won’t be doing a special data backup today, maybe I’ll do something else related to back or backwards, like maybe thinking of words that can be spelled the same backwards, such as level, madam, radar, noon, rotator, mom or racecar.

Celebrate the day any way you want, but don’t forget to backup the stuff on your computer….
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Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and the sixth Sunday and final day of Lent. The day marks the occasion when Jesus rode on a donkey and entered Jerusalem. It is called Palm Sunday because people in Jerusalem cut palm branches and waved them in the air and laid them out on the ground before Jesus rode into the city.

In biblical times, it was common for kings and important people to arrive by a procession riding on a donkey. The donkey symbolized peace, so those who chose to ride them showed that they came with peaceful intentions.

Palm Sunday is one of the most important days in the Christian calendar after Christmas and Easter. Catholic churches bless palm branches with holy water and them distribute them to congregants.

Palm Sunday rituals vary by geography. When we were living in the Philippines, on Palm Sunday a statue of Christ riding a donkey (the Humenta,) or often the presiding priest on horseback, is brought to the local church in a morning procession. Congregants line the route, waving ornately woven palm branches, called palaspás, and spreading aprons (tapis) made for this ritual in imitation of the excited Jerusalemites. At the entrance to the church, children dressed as angels scatter flowers as they sing traditional tunes. The first Mass of the day then follows.

Once blessed, the palaspás are brought home and placed on altars, doorways and windows. The Church teaches that this is a sign of welcoming Christ into the home, but many believe that the blessed palaspás are apotropaic, deterring evil spirits, lightening and fires. Another “folk” custom is to feed pieces of blessed palaspás to roosters used in cockfighting. This practice was strongly discouraged by the Archbishop of Manila. In the provinces in the Philippines, the flowers strewn by the angels during the procession are added to the rice seeds being planted, in the belief that these will ensure a bountiful harvest. 

So no matter how you celebrate Palm Sunday, it is an occasion for reflection on the final week of Jesus’ life — a time to prepare our heart for the agony of His Passion and the joy of His Resurrection.
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This month’s full moon will appear tomorrow night — with an odd name. March’s full moon is called the full Worm Moon.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the name Worm Moon was given to the March Moon because of the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in the spring. Another explanation for the name comes from  Captain Johnathan Carver, an 18th-century explorer, who wrote that the Worm Moon refers to a different sort of “worm” — beetle larvae — that begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts this time of year.

There are a number of names for the March Moon that refer to the transition from winter to spring. Some reference the appearance/reappearance of certain animals, such as the Goose Moon, Eagle Moon and Crow Comes Back Moon. Some refer to signs of the season, like the Sugar Moon, Wind Strong Moon, and the Sore Eyes Moon. Apparently that name comes from the blinding rays of sunlight that reflect off the melting snow of late winter.

The March full Moon plays a role in religion, too. If the March Moon is the last full Moon of the winter season, meaning it occurs before the spring equinox, it is known as the Lenten Moon. This year, because it is the first full Moon occurring after the spring equinox, it will be the Paschal Full Moon. This means that it’s date determines the date of Easter — this year on April 4.

So get out and enjoy the full Moon tomorrow night — and think about what Buddha said, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
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Happy Vernal Equinox — the first day of astrological spring. It’s also supposedly a magical day. According to some people today is the day you can stand a raw egg on its end. And a lot of those same people believe that during the equinox brooms will stand by themselves — straight up. 

Now that broom thing sounds pretty cool… too bad, it’s not true. Both faithful readers know this because keeping up with this blog makes you a well-informed person. But if you’re not one of the faithful and are interested, I invite you to look to the right and find the archive list. Check the entries for  March 20, 2017 and April 4, 2017. You will note that the entry on March 20 detailed my scientific experiment (complete with pictures) to prove that a broom could “stand alone.” You can read my excitement in my writing. However, following the best scientific methods, I tried the experiment again on April 4 — a non equinox day. The broom will still “stand alone.” 

So — following the science, like I always do, I can tell you that “the broom stands alone” is a hoax — maybe one of the greatest conspiracies ever conceived. 
But no matter, today is still the Vernal Equinox and our grass is beginning to get green….
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