Posts from — April 2022

It’s Hexennacht, but there is no Blocksberg available for dancing down here and it is so soggy that bonfires are out of the question.

Of course the Church grabbed this holiday too and called it Walpurgisnacht in honor of one of their Anglo-Saxon saints, rather than good German witches [Hexen]. The Celts celebrate Beltaine at this time of the year. It is considered the beginning of summer in much of Europe.

Archæoastronomy

Today is World Penguin Day. Krill is the appropriate gift – well for a penguin…

Disney is not now, nor has it ever been a “private government”. It had a special taxing district to construct and maintain the infrastructure at the land it owned in Orange and Osceola counties in central Florida. Disney paid property taxes to the two counties and raised $105 Million to support the infrastructure plus another $60 Million to cover the $1.0 to 1.7 Billion in bonds needed to build the infrastructure. Disney has it own fire department, but not a police department because it isn’t a government.

What cancelling the Reedy Creek tax district has done is reduced about $ 165 Million in taxes Disney has been paying and transfers the liability for the bonds to the two counties. The reason for Reedy Creek was the reality that the two counties couldn’t afford to build the infrastructure or obtain the funding necessary. It’s not as if Disney was building an NFL stadium which would have been totally taxpayer funded. 😈

Dementis screwed Florida taxpayers. Orange and Osceola counties never got a chance to testify before the legislature sold them into bankruptcy. Their only hope is that Disney fights the law and wins.

Note: I live in a special tax district which combines my tiny town with two other areas on the Panhandle to finance a fire department. We lease police services from the Sheriff, because our own police officer would be too expensive.

It is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, which is similar to the American Veterans Day, in that it began as a remembrance of World War I, and has become more generalized over the years.

“Anzac Day commemorates the involvement of Australian and New Zealand troops in a World War I campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.”

The Gallipoli Campaign began as a Winston Churchill [then First Lord of the Admiralty] plan that spun out of control and got a lot of people killed on both sides with nothing much changing, but then, that was quite common in World War I.

Peter Weir made a movie, Gallipoli, which, if nothing else, proves that Sergeant Alvin York, and T.E. Lawrence weren’t the only people who fought in World War I.

[Note: The date is April 25 which is April 24 in the US because of the time zone difference.]

“The date as decided by UNESCO as it was also the death and birth anniversary of William Shakespeare, a world famous author. The date also coincided with the death anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes, who was a noted Spanish author. Some other well known authors whose birth or death anniversary falls on this day are Maurice Druon, Josep Pla and Halldor Laxness.”

Saint George is the patron saint of England, Georgia [the country], Bulgaria, Portugal, Catalonia, and the city of Moscow. Orthodox countries tend to celebrate George on November 23^rd.

PETA condemns George for his senseless slaughter of dragons. The YWCA condemns the condemnation and wants to know when PETA is going to volunteer to be DragonChow™

She’s the only planet we have, if we blow it, we can’t pack up and move.

There’s no Plan[et] B.

Wikipedia has an Earth Day entry, with links to other sites.

Lieutenant HRH Princess Elizabeth

It’s Queen Elizabeth’s 96^th birthday, but any celebration will be extremely limited by the Queen’s health. The official celebration of the Queen’s Birthday takes place in the summer when the weather is better for outdoor events.

This is what happens when you have small children – you dye your kitchen.

Yes, the festival of Easter, goddess of the Spring, is celebrated this time of year with the traditional symbols of fertility, the egg and the rabbit, by the people who settled around the Baltic Sea – the Teutons, Slavs, Finns, Prussians, Letts, et al. It is a festival of plenty after the hardships of winter, with the promise of new growth.

Of course, later groups took the celebration and turned it to other purposes, but I doubt Easter minds.

[An oldie from Easters past]

Property was 15 yesterday.

Tax Day was yesterday but here’s the theme music for the day on YouTube.

I’ve been “property managing” getting an apartment ready for a new tenant.

My bad – because Tax Day fell on Good Friday, the deadline was extended until today, the 18th.

Sundown today marks the beginning of Pesach [Passover]. The story is found in the Book of Exodus. Rather more relevant now during a pandemic and war.

This is a time of Matzah [unleavened bread], Marror [bitter herbs], wine and the retelling of the story of founding of Israel.

You can, of course, just pop in a DVD of The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille’s version.

At its core this is a story of immigration and anyone claiming to be a Christian or Jew should pay attention – it’s on the FINAL EXAM.

The BBC’s Spaghetti Harvest is still the top of the list for pranks.