The challenges ahead (Biden's America)

[N.E. Brigand]

I noticed in footage leading up to the crash that there had been a few cars and trucks crossing a couple minutes before it happened but there seemed to be no traffic on the bridge at the moment of impact. I'm seeing reports that the ship lost engine power but was able to able to radio that to local authorities in time for them to stop traffic, thus saving lives.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp is inevitable!

[N.E. Brigand]

President Biden says he's directing the federal government to move as quickly as possible to get the Baltimore bridge rebuilt.

[N.E. Brigand]

I noticed in footage leading up to the crash that there had been a few cars and trucks crossing a couple minutes before it happened but there seemed to be no traffic on the bridge at the moment of impact. I'm seeing reports that the ship lost engine power but was able to able to radio that to local authorities in time for them to stop traffic, thus saving lives.

There were reportedly eight members of a construction crew on the bridge. Two were quickly rescued; the other six are missing.

The Maryland Transportation Authority said that the construction crew was working on repairing potholes. Jesus Campos, an employee of contractor Brawner Builders, had worked the overnight shift of the bridge work before switching to another. He said the missing men are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and live in Dundalk and Highlandtown. They are in their 30s and 40s, he said, with spouses and children.

All of them came to the city for a better life, he said — not necessarily for themselves, but for the loved ones they left behind in their home countries.

“They are all hard-working, humble men,” he said.

All 22 crew members aboard the Singaporean ship Dali that struck the bridge are reported to be unharmed. The U.S. Coast Guard last inspected the spip six months ago.

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump has made no public remarks about the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing, and his only social media post about it, ironically, was to share Sean Hannity's claim that President Biden hasn't said enough about it. It's been three days. What gives? There's so much one of the two leading candidates for president might have said. He could have offered condolences to the families of the six men on the road construction crew who died. He could have praised the quick actions of law enforcement that stopped traffic and saved other lives. He could have uttered words of support for the people of Baltimore and particularly those who work in Baltimore's busy port and may be laid off because shipping is halted there until the debris is cleared. He could have shared his thoughts on the President's pledge that the federal government will pay to replace the bridge or on U.S. infrastructure generally. This is the kind of story that's an easy opportunity for a politician to get his name in the news simply by acting like a normal, empathetic human being.

[Sunsilver]

Yeah, well, he's NOT a normal, empathetic human being.

Instead he's hawking Bible to get money for his campaign. And ironically, they have the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence in them. Trump wants to make some changes to a couple of those documents.

[Frelga]

Reportedly, the first thing Dali's pilot did as soon as the power cut out on the ship the first time was to call the bridge on his cell and warn them that the ship may hit the bridge. It took 2 minutes to relay the order to shut down the traffic, and 90 seconds later the disaster occurred.

Whatever else happened on that ship that led to the collision, that phone call must have saved many lives. If the pilot waited to see in case they got power back, which they briefly did, it would have been too late.

Unfortunately, its possible that the warning was not passed to the construction crews working on the bridge.

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump and other Republicans are attacking President Biden for (1) having designated today, March 31, which this year is Easter, as Transgender Day of Visibility; and (2) having forbidden explicitly religious designs on the Easter eggs to be used at tomorrow's White House celebration. However:

(1) Since Transgender Day of Visibility was created by activists in 2009, it's always been on March 31. That day won't coincide with Easter again until 2086.

(2) As First Lady Jill Biden's assistant notes, the non-discrimination language regarding White House Easter eggs has been the same for 45 years.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

1. Since the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder, why does Easter not coincide with Passover?

2. Among the administration's that used the non-discrimination language was the Trump administration.

[Frelga]

1. It probably wasn't. Note the dipping of bread, which is not eaten at Passover. However, most years Easter falls on a. Sunday during the Passover week. But, Easter always falls around the equinox, while Passover is always in the month of Nissan. This year is a leap year by Jewish calendar, meaning there is an extra month (Adar II) between Easter and Passover.

2. Yeah, but facts are irrelevant.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

1. It probably wasn't. Note the dipping of bread, which is not eaten at Passover. However, most years Easter falls on a. Sunday during the Passover week. But, Easter always falls around the equinox, while Passover is always in the month of Nissan. This year is a leap year by Jewish calendar, meaning there is an extra month (Adar II) between Easter and Passover.

After doing some more research, I would say that this is question that is hotly disputed. It appears that 3 of the 4 gospels included in the New Testament strongly support the idea that it was a Seder, but other gospels not included in the New Testament support the opposite.

2. Yeah, but facts are irrelevant.

Unless we make them be so. (And no, I don't know how to do that.)

[RoseMorninStar]

Without fact-checking, I seem to recall that the date set for Easter/Resurrection was set in response to Celtic worship to convert Druids (?) and convince them that their worship of the return of the Sun was worship of the return of the 'Son'. It's hard to convert people if you take away their holidays and rituals. So much easier if you misappropriate them as your own.

[N.E. Brigand]

1. Since the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder, why does Easter not coincide with Passover?

I was taught in a ninth grade Western Civ. class in the mid-1980s, by a teacher who, I believe, was making deliberately provocative claims in an effort to shake up students' reflexive Christian perspectives (I was pretty rare then in having been raised an atheist; I'm not sure there were any Jews in our town and there were only a very few Hindus and Muslims) -- for instance, he cited evolutionary theory to explain family structures -- that Easter was timed to facilitate pilgrimages to Israel: (1) it was in spring because of the connection to Passover, (2) it was preferable to travel in desert lands by evening when it was cooler; and (3) traveling at night was safer by moonlight. And thus Easter is (approximately) the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring Equinox. However, I don't remember what source Mr. Wilberschied was citing, and I have never come across that specific argument about pilgrimages since then.

The part about the date being the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox is basically correct but painfully simplified. The reason that Easter and Passover don't always coincide is basically a King's Reckoning - Steward's Reckoning - Shire Reckoning issue. Math at the link!

Last year Passover was three days before Easter. Two years ago it was one day before Easter. This year it is 24 days after Easter.

There are days on which Easter can occur that Easter has not occurred in my lifetime. For example, Easter was last on March 25 in 1951. But it will finally happen again in 2035. Similiarly Easter has not occurred on April 25 since 1943, but that will happen again in 2038.

I should add that I'm referring to Easter in western churches. Orthodox Easter this year doesn't come until May 5, because those churches still use the Julian calendar. But next year both will be the same day (one week after Passover).

[Frelga]

Passover lasts for 8 days, so last year the Seder was on April 5, and Easter on April 9, the Sunday of the Passover week. AFAIK they only diverge during the Jewish leap years.

Jewish calendar is lunar/solar while the Gregorian calendar is solar only. Unlike the Islamic calendar, which is lunar only, so months travel slowly around the seasons, Jewish months always begin on the new moon but there is a complex calculation of adding an extra month over a 19 year cycle so that holidays come at the same season.

Sorry, V, you started the osgiliation.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm good with it.

[N.E. Brigand]

Jewish calendar is lunar/solar while the Gregorian calendar is solar only. Unlike the Islamic calendar, which is lunar only, so months travel slowly around the seasons, Jewish months always begin on the new moon but there is a complex calculation of adding an extra month over a 19 year cycle so that holidays come at the same season.

While the Gregorian calendar is solar only, Easter actually is determined using a lunisolar calendar that has some similarities to the Jewish calendar.

[Jude]

More osgiliation:

Fun fact: the word "Easter" actually comes from a variant of "Istar", alternatively an Assyrian goddess of fertility and war (now that's an interesting career change - do goddesses have mid-life crises?) or a wizard sent to Middle-earth to help against the war against Sauron.

The composer Vincent d'Indy wrote a tone poem called "Istar", probably named after the Assyrian goddess, since he died a couple of decades before The Lord of the Rings was published.

The tone poem is notable for having the longest-known orchestral unison passage. You can hear it for yourself:



Even if you think you don't know what an orchestral unison is, you'll know it when you hear it.

[River]

1. Since the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder, why does Easter not coincide with Passover?

Eastern Orthodox churches tend to keep their Easter in lock step with Passover. Something I pay attention to because my in-laws celebrate on that calendar. Kinda wish the western churches did that same. Easter doesn't feel very Easter-y without flowers blooming.

[Sunsilver]

For those of you wondering just how the non-Orthodox churches, both Protestant and Catholic, determine the date, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox.

Because the date changes nearly every year, it's known as a 'moveable feast'!

[N.E. Brigand]

I think this is a useful chart:



As you can see, even adjusting for inflation, . wages in 2023 were up 3% from 2019.