WE MADE EVERYONE! Spring is here!
That ought to take the edge off the fact that it’s Monday.
The vernal equinox will take place today at 5:24 p.m. This is when when the sun crosses the celestial equator in a northerly direction, marking the prime meridian of right ascension.
In layperson’s terms, that means that daytime and nighttime are generally of equal length on this day. (Because nothing is ever as simple as it seems when it comes to science, day and night are not EXACTLY equal due to a phenomenon known as atmospheric refraction.
That’s the way light appears to bend or deviate from a straight line as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole on this, click here.
There are a lot of cultural celebratory traditions associated with the spring/vernal equinox.
For example, Shunbun no Hi (Vernal Equinox Day), is a national holiday in Japan, during which people are supposed to commune with nature and appreciate all living things. Easter is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The timing of Passover is also tied to the vernal equinox.
Perhaps one of the most prominent and well known (in some circles, anyway) holidays that occurs ON the spring equinox itself is Nowruz – the first day of the year in the Persian calendar.
Nowruz, which translates into “new day”, is a religious holiday in Zoroastrianism, It is also observed with secular celebrations across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Most notable Nowruz traditions involve the consumption of seven specific and symbolic foods known as haft sin, all of which start with the Arabic or Persian letter sin.
It’s traditional to set up a table or mantle that displays all seven of the haft sin, (sometimes this is located right on the floor), and items included may vary from one family to the next, but always the staple seven items mentioned above, which are as follows:
Seer (garlic), Seeb (apple), Sabzeh (sprouted grains), Serkeh (vinegar), Senjed (dried fruit, specifically oleaster), Somagh (sumac), Samnoo (soaked, stewed wheat berries ground up into flour and stewed with water).
We could, actually, if we wanted to, engage in a debate over whether spring is actually already here. Meteorologists and climatologists consider March 1 the beginning of the season.
Remember that the astronomical seasons are based on the Earth’s position relative to the sun. By contrast, “meteorological” or “climatological” seasons are divided into three-month periods based on the expected temperatures that correspond with each.
Summer – June, July, and August in the Northern hemisphere – is the hottest time of the year, while winter – December, January, and February – is the coldest. The shoulder seasons, so to speak, or the transitional periods between summer and winter are fall and spring, respectively.
Mother Nature is cooperating to make today decidedly spring-like from a weather perspective. It will be mainly sunny and breezy with temperatures in the low 50s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over his role in the abduction of Ukrainian children, saying it was “justified”.
“I think it’s justified,” the president said, “but the question is, it’s not recognized internationally by us, either. But I think it makes a very strong point.” Biden later told reporters that Putin had “clearly committed war crimes.”
Biden plans to designate Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada as a national monument next week. At nearly half-a-million acres, it would mark the largest area Biden has placed under national conservation since taking office.
Biden spoke yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express “concern” over his government’s planned overhaul of the country’s judicial system that has sparked widespread protests across Israel and to encourage compromise.
During their conversation, Biden underscored “that fundamental changes should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support,” the White House said in a statement.
The cast of hit show “Ted Lasso” is expected to visit the White House today to discuss efforts to address mental health needs with the president and first lady Jill Biden.
The president yesterday tweeted a photo of a yellow poster bearing the word “BELIEVE” above a door leading to the Oval Office. The sign is reminiscent of one affixed above Lasso’s office door in the AFC Richmond locker room on the show.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett has been in touch with senior officials in Biden’s administration in recent days as the regional banking crisis unfolds.
UBS has agreed to buy Credit Suisse, its beleaguered rival, the Swiss government said on Sunday, in a hastily arranged deal meant to shore up the global financial sector after a week of turmoil.
New York Community Bank will buy a major portion of Signature Bank, a large lender for tristate businesses, in a $2.7 billion deal after the latter failed a week ago.
Manhattan prosecutors investigating a payout to Stormy Daniels may be poised to make Donald Trump the first former president ever to be criminally indicted.
Trump is bracing for his most legally perilous week since he left the White House, as he huddled this weekend to strategize his legal and political responses.
With a Manhattan grand jury indictment likely but its timing unclear, Trump sought to rally supporters to his side, declaring that he would be arrested tomorrow and calling for protests.
Democrats warned that Trump’s social-media exhortations risked new violence akin to the Capitol riot. Some potential Republican presidential candidates said that any prosecution of Trump could rally conservative voters to his side in advance of 2024.
The NYPD and US Secret Service are huddling to prep for Trump’s possible indictment in Manhattan after the former president said he expected to be arrested this week and told supporters to protest.
The grand jury considering the hush-money case against Trump might hear the testimony of lawyer Robert J. Costello, a critic of the ex-president’s fixer.
Trump accused the Biden administration of working hand in hand with Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who empaneled a grand jury investigation in January that now appears to be nearing criminal charges.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranked Republican in Congress, rushed to Trump’s defense after he announced early Saturday that he is expecting to face criminal charges in Manhattan next week.
Trump’s political operation is trying to use the news of his expected indictment by a Manhattan grand jury to turn the strident base of the Republican Party against his expected rival for the 2024 presidential nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said yesterday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time in the past year.
“This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully, I am fully vaccinated and boosted and only experiencing minor symptoms,” Durbin said on Twitter.
The lab leak theory of Covid-19’s origin was once dismissed by many as a conspiracy theory. But the idea is gaining traction, even as evidence builds that the virus emerged from a market.
Staff members of Sarasota Memorial Hospital are bewildered by critics who continue to wage a campaign against federal guidelines on Covid treatment.
Health experts say too many New Yorkers are still getting seriously ill and dying of COVID, and for better or worse, the state’s health care infrastructure is fundamentally changed.
Could cash incentives without mandates to communities actually spur more development? Three localities in the Town of Hempstead, in Nassau County on Long Island, offer a test case playing out at the same time as the state showdown over housing.
Demonstrators gathered on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall to demand that the final state budget increase funding for CUNY and reject Hochul’s proposed 3% tuition hikes for in-state SUNY and CUNY students.
Hochul issued a proclamation yesterday, declaring March 18-19 and 25-26 as Maple Weekends in New York State.
The sounds of bagpipes and heel clicks rang through the streets of Buffalo this past weekend, as Western New Yorkers looked on at the parade that featured Hochul, high school marching bands, and even Bills Elvis.
A tax on digital media like movies and audiobooks could be added to your paid subscriptions as a way to support public transit across the state, at least that’s what members of New York’s Assembly majority are proposing.
Sen. James Skoufis has introduced legislation to restore the New York State coat of arms and state flag to its original design. The flag was modified by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who added the line that he often himself used which means “out of many, one.”
A fiery crash on the Hutchinson River Parkway took the lives of five young people in the early hours of yesterday morning, according to the Westchester County Police Department.
NYCLU is suing the NYPD and its police commissioner to get its hands on public records that would shed light on Mayor Eric Adams’ directive to involuntarily transport people suspected of having mental illness to hospitals for psychiatric evaluations.
Adams reaffirmed his strong support for embattled FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh before marching with her in the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, amid tensions between her and her top chiefs that have led several officials to resign their titles.
Adams told New Yorkers to “get over it” if they’re vexed by his recent push to make religion a centerpiece of the city’s identity, doubling down on a message that has rubbed some local civic leaders the wrong way.
Seeking to neutralize the narrative that Republicans are strong on crime, Adams countered that the GOP has not always been supportive of increased funding for law enforcement and urged Democrats to begin fortifying their messaging on the matter.
Adams stepped into “supportive dad mode” for his son Jordan Coleman’s album release party at Manhattan hotspot Sei Less Friday night.
Adams wants retail shop owners and workers to head to Albany to lobby lawmakers about changing the state’s bail laws and cracking down on repeat offenders.
The New York City Sanitation Department is poised to take control over the city’s efforts to enforce rules against illegal street vendors — part of an effort by Adams to get a better hold on the issue.
Adams, New York City elected officials and worker’s unions gathered in Times Square Saturday to rally for the city to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
“When you bring the convention here, you are going to send a message across America and across the globe, we have the dream here,” Adams said.
A masked protester was arrested during clashing demonstrations outside a Manhattan drag story hour hosted by state Attorney General Letitia James yesterday, cops said.
The event at The Center, an LGBTQA community facility on West 13th Street in Greenwich Village, had already drawn fire from critics who griped about using tax dollars to have drag performers read stories to children at various Big Apple locations.
The City Council is considering a new legislative package aimed at overhauling the long-term abuse of sidewalk scaffolding in the Big Apple.
Councilman Chris Marte said that his aide, Steven Wong, is resigning after allegedly berating a female journalist with misogynistic slurs.
Queens state Assemblyman Clyde Vanel says he has some divine intervention to thank for the miraculous emergency landing he made on a Long Island beach Friday in his small plane.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ripped the MTA’s congestion pricing plan, warning New York City, as it recovers from the pandemic, shouldn’t want to give people “some other excuse to not be in Manhattan.”
The NYPD is now arresting more people for major crimes than at any time since Rudy Giuliani was mayor – a shocking statistic that can likely be attributed to the city’s increased crime rate.
An FDNY EMT who earned $400,000 sitting at home for four years amid a feud with the department after joining a class-action lawsuit aimed at ending discrimination in the city’s firefighting ranks now hopes to retire.
Labor tensions at the New York Times are intensifying, with the publisher expressing concerns about the union’s tactics in the negotiations and Times staffers taking to Slack to vent frustrations with management.
A coalition of elected officials and “community partners” will introduce a new campaign with the mark (as such things are called in advertising and marketing) We ♥ NYC.
If you need proof that climate change has altered the wildlife of the city, look no further than the black vultures soaring above Midtown Manhattan.
Three hundred goldfish in a hospital basement, a suckermouth at the airport: When fish are in crisis, a Bronx beautician and a partner in Pennsylvania ride to the rescue.
A group that trains guide dogs for the blind is looking for New Yorkers to serve as temporary “puppy raisers” amid a post-pandemic shortage of volunteers.
Democrat William Murphy, a St. John’s University law professor, is seeking to replace serial lying and scandal-scarred Long Island Rep. George Santos in Congress — saying he’s “just had enough.”
The feds should snuff out a popular e-cig brand, China-based Elf Bar, that appears to be targeting kids, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Schumer noted Elf Bar is wrapped in colorful packaging to attract youthful customers. And it hooks them with kid-friendly flavors like rainbow candy, peach mango, cotton candy and vanilla ice cream.
Sleepy Staten Island leads the state in its inability to get proper shuteye. A staggering 44% of adults in Richmond County reported insufficient sleep, according to a new report by Charlotte’s Web, a CBD company.
No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, the shortest team in men’s college basketball, took down top-seeded Purdue and its 7-foot-4 big man Zach Edey, delivering a shocking N.C.A.A. tournament upset that epitomized the lore of the March Madness underdog.
It was quiet at the Fairleigh Dickinson University campus in New Jersey the day after its basketball team pulled off a stunning upset in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament. But it’s often quiet there.
Actor Bill Murray, known as one of the most devoted of celebrity sports fans, was among the tens of thousands visiting Albany this past weekend for the opening rounds of games in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at MVP Arena.
If a chicken wing isn’t made from the chicken’s wing, is it still a chicken wing? Aimen Halim sued Buffalo Wild Wings earlier this month, accusing the restaurant of falsely advertising its boneless wings.
