The official moment that the moon will turn full on March 21 is 2:40 p.m. ET (though in reality it’s never actually full).
The first full moon of spring is sometimes referred to as the Paschal full moon; the moon that is used to set the date of Easter in a given year. This year, if you have not already noticed, Easter is going to arrive unusually early. If you’re 50 years old or younger, the earliest Easter in your lifetime came on March 26 (in 1967, 1978 and 1989). In 1951, Easter fell on March 25; in 1940, March 24.
But in 2008, Easter will arrive on March 23. So early in fact, that Palm Sunday, which is observed on the Sunday before Easter, was celebrated this year on the day before Saint Patrick’s Day; a calendrical oddity.
The last time that Easter fell this early in the calendar was 1913. And before that, in 1856.
Which leads one to ask the question, exactly just how is the date of Easter determined?
Equinox and full moon are the keys
Traditionally, Easter is observed on the Sunday after the Paschal full moon. If the Paschal moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday.
Following these rules, we find that Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. Pope Gregory XIII decreed this in 1582 as part of the Gregorian calendar.
As we already have noted, in 2008, the Paschal full moon occurs on Friday, March 21. So according to the current ecclesiastical rules Easter is to be celebrated two days later, on Sunday, March 23.
Interestingly however, these rules also state that the vernal equinox is fixed on March 21, even though at European longitudes from the years 2008 through 2101 it actually will occur no later than March 20.

usatoday.com

Michael Patrick MacDonald
Talking with Joe Keohane
Michael Patrick MacDonald doesn’t just talk it, he’s lived it. He grew up in South Boston and watched members of his family fall under the weight of poverty and violence, an experience he recorded in his first book, All Souls.
His follow-up, Easter Rising, also revolves around MacDonald’s life in Boston, but in this book he remembers his discovery of punk rock and the punk scene. Eventually, music became a saving grace, and the book culminates in MacDonald’s trip to Ireland. After years of rejecting where he came from, the trip helped him accept and embrace his roots.
Bostonist enjoyed a long chat with MacDonald, who talks about the memoir process and his current work with Roca, a local group that is committed to finding new ways to help young people who have become caught up in a cycle of violence. As Bostonist has said before of MacDonald’s work, if you want to learn more about Boston, his books are the place to start.
How is the book tour going?
It’s been going great because the conversation’s been about some pretty pressing stuff around poverty, post-traumatic stress, and all that kind of stuff. I made a comment about that in the Globe the other day . I mentioned how I’m trying to change the conversation because one of the pitfalls of memoir is that even if you’re writing about big social justice issues, as I try to do, because it’s memoir people get caught up in your personal stuff, so sometimes the conversation will be like, “How’s your mother? Whatever happened to your dog Sarge?” [laughs] And so I’ve been trying to shape the conversation at the end of my reading to be about young people in poverty and so forth, and talk about solutions to those things. I’ve been really successful in that. I did two nights in New York, one in Boston, and now I’m in Portland, Oregon, and tonight I’m speaking at Powell’s Bookstore, which is such a great bookstore.

bostonist.com

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday March 23 2008 on p4 of the Business news & features section. It was last updated at 00:03 on March 23 2008.
‘Honestly? The past nine months have been sheer hell.’ That was one Wall Street veteran’s verdict this weekend, as weary traders fled Manhattan for the Easter break. ‘You heading for the hills?’ asked one, as his colleagues left the trading floor. ‘Nope, for the bar,’ came the reply.
It was hard to blame them, after what one called a ’seismic’ week. In just five days, they had witnessed a government-brokered buyout of Bear Stearns, America’s fifth-largest investment bank; a three-quarters of a percentage point cut in interest rates from the Federal Reserve; and a rash of warning signs that the American economy had already slipped into recession.
Even as traders trudged home a week earlier, on Friday 14 March, after absorbing the shocking news that the Fed had made an emergency loan of $30bn to Bear Stearns through rival bank JP Morgan, there was speculation that this was just a temporary fix. But few guessed the speed with which events would move.
Not for the Americans the slow, lingering collapse into nationalisation of Northern Rock. Before the Asian markets opened for trading last Sunday evening, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had rammed through an extraordinary cut-price fire sale.
Rather than take the risk that Bear Stearns’s collapse could bring the entire financial system down with it, the government brokered a deal.
A year ago, Bear’s shares were trading at $130 each; JP Morgan snapped it up for $2 a share. One blogger even quipped that the price tag was so low that the talk-show host Oprah Winfrey could make a counter-bid with her personal fortune. Investors were staggered. ‘None of us slept much on Sunday night,’ said one.

guardian.co.uk

Easter Sunday is the holiest day in the Christian calendar, representing the triumph of hope over despair, of life over death.
As it happens, two recent and unrelated events have called public attention to hope, hope being one of the three theological virtues — faith and love the other two.
First, U. S. Senator Barack Obama has made hope a central theme (along with “change”) of his campaign for the presidential nomination.
Second, Pope Benedict XVI made hope the subject of his most recent encyclical (Spe Salvi), released just before Christmas.
I think it is safe to predict that the Pope’s encyclical will be pondered long after Barack Obama’s campaign.
The Pope begins by reminding readers that the greatest Christian evangelist, St. Paul, told the Romans “you are saved by hope” (Romans 8:24). Hope is a gift from God, says the Pope, a trustworthy gift, a gift that enables men and women to survive in arduous, uncertain times.
Hope is a key word in Scripture — in fact, in scripture it is often used interchangeably with faith. So to have hope, or to have faith, is to have received a divine gift. St. Paul told the church at Ephesus that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope,” or, as Pope Benedict expresses it “in a dark world facing a dark future.” But the light of Christ illuminates the darkness and assures that they have a future. Oh, true, much of that future remains hidden; “it is not that [Christians] know the details of what awaits them,” the Pope writes, “but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness.”
To come to know God, says Pope Benedict, is to encounter hope. The earliest Christians — for the most part poor people, uneducated and oppressed — had nothing to hope for, apart from the resurrection of Jesus. What they had was the assurance, often received directly from the apostles who had been there and seen it, that the tomb that once contained the body of Jesus was empty. That was Christian hope, and armed with that hope this ragtag brigade turned the world upside down with a crazy allegiance to another King, an upside-down King, this Jesus, the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

network.nationalpost.com

This is a rush transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” March 20, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Watch “The O’Reilly Factor” weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the “Radio Factor!”
BILL O’REILLY, HOST: The “Top Story” tonight. How would political wizard Karl Rove handle Obama’s counterattack? Mr. Rove joins us now from Florida.
OK. You are in charge of this campaign. And is he doing the right thing by going to the safe, friendly venues first? Is that a smart move? What else would you do?
KARL ROVE, FORMER BUSH ADVISOR: First of all, he chose a strategy that I would not have recommended. Which was to take this incident with Reverend Wright and made it a question of race. I think is best option was to at the beginning say, do you know what? I made a mistake. He said these vile things about our country and racially divisive comments and I should have spoken up at the time. And I did not and I regret it and I’ll never let it happen again.
O’REILLY: Wouldn’t he not have had to explain why he did not speak up because it happened over such a long period of time? Would that not have opened the door to his judgment and courage?
ROVE: Well, it could’ve. But look. Senator McCain, you recall Senator McCain in 2000 that he refused to speak out on the confederate flag being flown in South Carolina. And, after the election, he said he regretted not having spoken out. And the media give him a lot of credit for having done so. I think their response this time around would have been the same. Hurray. He is not perfect a perfect individual, he admitted a mistake and he admitted it and moved on.

foxnews.com

Pathway Full Gospel Church, U.S. 11, north of Marion; Easter services with Mike Baccus from Wilson, N.C., 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; sunrise service 7 a.m. Sunday in barn at 5238 Guitner Road; Pastor Christy Stouffer, 375-2346.
SundayAir Hill Brethren In Christ Church, 7041 Cumberland Highway; 7 a.m. Sunday, Easter sunrise service, in the church sanctuary; program, “He is not Here! The Promise from the Tomb;” Mary Magdalene, Peter and John will share their experiences of the tomb they found empty; breakfast will be served following the service; 267-3373.
Cedar Street Mennonite Church, 430 Cedar St.; 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Easter sunrise service; worship leader: The Rev. Paul Yeun, director of pastoral services at Chambersburg Hospital; music by the Believers’ Fellowship Choir; preacher: the Rev. Allie Harper, pastor of John Wesley AME Zion Church; holy communion served, the Rev. William Higgins will participate, service coordinated by the Rev. Manny Diaz; the Rev. Dr. Lois Waters at 264-6108 or the Rev. Dr. William Harter at 264-5715.
First United Methodist Church, 225 S. Second St.; Sunday, Easter Sunday: 8 a.m., traditional worship; 9:30 a.m., Sunday School; 9:30 a.m., contemporary service; 10:45 a.m., worship service; and 10:45 a.m., third hour Sunday school; 263-8491.
First United Methodist Church of Mercersburg, 11 N. Fayette St., Mercersburg; Sunday: 6:30 a.m., sunrise service, Mercersburg Academy chapel; 8:30
a.m., traditional worship with an Easter Cantata, “Jesus Lives Forever,” presented by the Chancel choir; 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 10:55 a.m., contemporary worship; 328-2224.
Marion First United Methodist Church, 94 Colorado St., Marion; Sunday, church parking lot of Marion First UMC, sunrise service followed by light breakfast in social hall; 9:30 to 11 a.m.combined service, holy communion and music by Marion FUMC choir directed by Owen Myers; 375-4278.
Marion Mennonite Church, 4365 Molly Pitcher Highway; Sunday, 7:30 a.m., early Easter service; 8 a.m., light breakfast in the fellowship center; 9 a.m., Sunday school for all ages; 10:15 a.m., worship, nursery care available; 375-4309.

publicopiniononline.com

Government offices and services, as well as many local businesses, will either shut down or have reduced hours during the four-day Easter weekend.
Windsor city hall and Ontario government offices will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, March 24. Windsor Public Library’s branches will be closed Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and Monday, reopening Tuesday.
The city’s community centres and pools are closed both Friday and Sunday, but they will be open on Saturday and Monday. Arenas will only be open for previously scheduled rentals.
Residental garbage and recycling won’t be collected on Friday and Monday. Pickup will be delayed by one day. The public dropoff depot, located at the corner of Central Avenue and E.C. Row Expressway, will be closed Friday but will be open on Monday.
City buses will operate on the Sunday/holiday schedule on both Friday and Sunday. The tunnel bus will operate on its regular schedule throughout the holiday weekend.
Beer Store and LCBO outlets will be closed Friday and Sunday. Devonshire Mall and several grocery stores will also be closed on both Friday and Sunday. A & P, located at University Mall, and Sobeys, on Tecumseh Road East, will have extended Saturday hours.

canada.com

simoniker writes “Obviously whimsical but slightly mind-blowing — an Eastern European coder has published video and the Excel tables to get full 3D wireframe running in Microsoft Excel. He even has solid polygonal graphics running. This isn’t an Easter Egg by the Excel creators. Rather, he’s using formulas to output the graphics, using two different methods, and showing all the variables on-screen in real time as the 3D is created.”
Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to use the classic discussion system instead. If you login, you can remember this preference.
Some of you guys are kind of missing the point here. What he hasn’t done is writing a cheezy little vba app that does wireframe graphics, he’s used the non-imperative logic in the actual spreadsheet to demonstrate that whats normally a linear ‘pipeline’ can be done perfectly well non-imperatively.
Functional coding guys would ‘get’ the wow factor of it all, I guess.
You people that ask why on posts like this need to turn in your geek card. Geeks do this kind of stuff because we can. We like a challenge. We like to explore technology to its fullest to find out just how much it can do — despite the fact that there aren’t any practical applications for whatever we come up with. It’s all about exploration and learning (and a little bit about showing off what we can do).
I’m shouting into the storm here, I know, but this is NOT true. Both of my female housemates and several of my female friends ONLY date/shag geeks. This whole “geeks can’t get laid” is entirely “geeks (don’t want/are too scared to try) to get laid.”
As to WHY these girls like geeks, it’s generally a combination of the following:
a) They have a mother complex that makes them want to care for and nurture the most socially inept/awkward partner they can find.

slashdot.org

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pjstar.com

Before I get into discussing A Frugal Easter , please note this is an abbreviated version. The full version is on our web site, www.FrugalYankee.com . It is more in-depth and has more tips.
Now that that business is done, let's start with sharing a few factoids. Later, you can impress your in-laws with your knowledge of arcane Easter trivia. You know, when the conversation at the Easter table is veering into potentially explosive area, you can deftly divert everyone's attention with these pearls of useless information.
For example, Easter is a moveable feast. This means it falls on different days in different years. It is determined to be the first Sunday after the full moon after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. This year Easter is quite early falling on March 23rd. The earliest it can be is March 22.
The word Easter comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic name for the dawn goddess Eostre or Ostara. Eostre changed a bird into a rabbit, thus it joined the fertility of the egg with an allegedly fertile animal as an Easter symbol.
GETTING READY FOR EASTER
A Frugal Yankee knows preparation is the key for any endeavor. Easter is no exception. Here are some quick tips.
• Buy your Easter candy after Halloween and Valentine's Day. You'll save a bundle.
• Look for wicker baskets all year long especially at yard sales. 
• Color your Easter eggs with markers, add sprinkles or glue stick pictures on them. 
Get creative and have fun. Get everyone involved. Easter is a great time for joint family fun!
CREATING YOUR BASKET 
Make your own Easter basket and make unique to your family. Here are a few thoughts.
Find nifty wicker baskets and then repaint them, add glitter or give them a personal touch.
(Remember, reuse that plastic grass each year.)

gather.com