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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

This blog will pay for itself.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

No one could have predicted…

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

by Anne Laurie|  March 31, 20248:54 am| 107 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Religion, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

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Le fantôme de l'opéra pic.twitter.com/eCVEKLxlIK

— Paul Bronks (@SlenderSherbet) March 24, 2024


Best wishes to all who celebrate!
 

Higher prices for chocolate Easter treats hide the struggles of African farmers and climate change https://t.co/HuqCXCyBzr

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 28, 2024

And a warning for those who celebrate Monday as “Half Off the Seasonal Chocolate” Day…

… About three-quarters of the world’s cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. But dusty seasonal winds from the Sahara were severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for bean pods to grow. The season prior, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease.

With exports from the Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, down by a third in recent months, the global price of cocoa has risen sharply. Cocoa futures have already doubled this year, trading at a record high of more than $10,000 per metric ton in New York on Tuesday after rising more than 60% the previous year. Farmers who harvest cacao beans say the increases aren’t enough to cover their lower yields and higher production costs.

Yet the high Easter demand for chocolate carries a potential treat for big confectionery companies. Major global makers in Europe and the United States have more than passed on the rise in cocoa prices to consumers. Net profit margins at The Hershey Company increased to 16.7% in 2023 from 15.8% in 2022. Mondelez International, which owns the Toblerone and Cadbury brands, reported a jump to 13.8% in 2023 from 8.6% the year before…

To help increase production, authorities are promoting education on farming methods that might mitigate the effects of climate change, such as the use of irrigation systems. The president of Ghana also has promised to step in to help farmers get a better deal.

“With the current trend of the world cocoa price, cocoa farmers can be sure that I will do right by them in the next cocoa season,” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said last month…

Carried over from last night… Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!
Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday
(I am neither Christian nor transgender, but this cartoon always makes me smile.)

Absolutely no point arguing with people about Trans Visibility Day and Easter. They're lying, they know they're lying, they don't care. There's no reason to treat them as honest interlocutors. pic.twitter.com/VIfaKGI9dc

— Nathan Goldwag ???? (@GoldwagNathan) March 30, 2024

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  • Almost Retired
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    107Comments

    1. 1.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 8:56 am

      Agree with Nathan. Happy Easter.

      OT, has anyone seen Goku lately?

      Reply
    2. 2.

      prostratedragon

      March 31, 2024 at 9:01 am

      Couple of bits of Bach I just threw at the end of the Late Night thread:

      Happens to be old JSB’s New Calendar birthday. A couple of Goldberg variations, reaaranged for string quartet, the same music that one keyboardist generally plays:
      @HumboldtBlue:
      One variation
      Another variation

      Reply
    3. 3.

      OzarkHillbilly

      March 31, 2024 at 9:05 am

      I love that cartoon.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Ceci n est pas mon nym

      March 31, 2024 at 9:06 am

      Theological question: is chocolate before breakfast a sacrament or a sin?

      We weren’t going to get Easter candy, but then I remembered there’s a local chocolatier who we’d been meaning to check out for years, so I popped in there for “one or two things” and came out with a pile of really good chocolate.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      mali muso

      March 31, 2024 at 9:08 am

      Happy Eiffel Tower day from Paris where we visited the famous tower this morning! Kiddo is enjoying her trip, particularly when we find playgrounds scattered around the city and spend quality time climbing and playing. Who knew the best attractions for her would be free?  Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      MagdaInBlack

      March 31, 2024 at 9:09 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Good chocolate with your coffee is a sacrament, it would be a sin not to. ❤️

      Reply
    7. 7.

      zhena gogolia

      March 31, 2024 at 9:11 am

      Happy Easter! Christ is risen! (where’s lowtechcyclist?)

      Reply
    8. 8.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 9:15 am

      @zhena gogolia:

      Balloon Juice: Unlike in the GOP, the Christians here actually practice the tenets of their faith.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      JPL

      March 31, 2024 at 9:19 am

      Pine pollen season has descended upon us.   The time of year where every thing takes on a yellow haze.

      Happy Easter!

      Reply
    10. 10.

      zhena gogolia

      March 31, 2024 at 9:19 am

      @Baud: I think we try.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      SiubhanDuinne

      March 31, 2024 at 9:25 am

      @zhena gogolia:

      We can, indeed, be very trying!

      Christos Anesti!

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 9:25 am

      @zhena gogolia: All anyone can do is try.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 9:25 am

      @SiubhanDuinne: Heh

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Spanky

      March 31, 2024 at 9:31 am

      @zhena gogolia: Sunrise service, I ‘spect. Great morning for it down here

      ETA, yeah, I know we’re almost 3 hours past sunrise.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      bbleh

      March 31, 2024 at 9:32 am

      @Baud: alas far too many of them are Christianists — all form and no substance.  When I’m not feeling cranky (well, more so), I sympathize with those who want the human contact, the camaraderie, and go along with some of the more offensive stuff like the “prosperity gospel” and inordinate attention to very particular parts of, eg, Leviticus or some of the Pauline Letters, and even with those who are less well-intentioned and do so for the validation of their own biases, because that after all is a common human failing.  But oh boy, not a good audience for them when they get on their moral high-horses, just sayin.’

      Anyhoo, happy Easter and ITV Day!  And also chocolate bunnies.

      Reply
    16. 16.

      Bex

      March 31, 2024 at 9:32 am

      @SiubhanDuinne: Alithos Anesti!

      Reply
    17. 17.

      dmsilev

      March 31, 2024 at 9:35 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

      Theological question: is chocolate before breakfast a sacrament or a sin?

      Doesn’t chocolate count as breakfast?

      Now I’m craving a pain au chocolate. Thanks.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      RevRick

      March 31, 2024 at 9:37 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s neither. It’s an essential food group.

      In Judaism, it’s a sin to pray for something and then not act in accordance. Your purchase of the chocolates is a form of prayer, so to not eat them would be the sin.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      RevRick

      March 31, 2024 at 9:38 am

      @zhena gogolia: He is risen indeed!

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Ceci n est pas mon nym

      March 31, 2024 at 9:49 am

      @RevRick: I like the way you think. I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      rikyrah

      March 31, 2024 at 9:53 am

      Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

      Happy Easter 🐰🐣🌷

      Reply
    22. 22.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 31, 2024 at 9:55 am

      @zhena gogolia:

      Happy Easter! Christ is risen! (where’s lowtechcyclist?)

      The Lord is risen indeed! (I’m right here!)

      Reply
    23. 23.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 31, 2024 at 9:57 am

      @Baud: ​
       

      Unlike in the GOP, the Christians here actually practice the tenets of their faith.

      With enough practice, maybe we’ll get it right one of these days! ;-)

      Reply
    24. 24.

      WaterGirl

      March 31, 2024 at 9:58 am

      @Baud: Yoda would like to have a word with you.

      Reply
    25. 25.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 9:59 am

      Carried over from last night… Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

      Sunday Morning Open Thread: Easter Sunday

      (I am neither Christian nor transgender, but this cartoon always makes me smile.)

      Great cartoon.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Dorothy A. Winsor

      March 31, 2024 at 10:01 am

      @mali muso: So glad the trip is going well!

      Reply
    27. 27.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 10:02 am

      @rikyrah:

      Good morning.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:02 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: What if your morning coffee is hot chocolate? Mmmmmm

      Reply
    29. 29.

      Layer8Problem

      March 31, 2024 at 10:02 am

      Visiting the grandkids and Partner’s family are enrolled members of the Ashkenazi tribe so no solid chocolate bunnies for me, but I did get some fine crepe-ish pancakes with homemade jam and powdered sugar. And the almost-nine-year-olds and us older folks watched the first episode of Wednesday, of which the kids decided they approve.  We’re off to the National Portrait Gallery later to stare at some national portraits.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      OzarkHillbilly

      March 31, 2024 at 10:03 am

      @lowtechcyclist: With enough practice, you might even get into Carnegie Hall. Of course, you’ll have to pay.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 31, 2024 at 10:04 am

      @Spanky:

      Sunrise service, I ‘spect. Great morning for it down here

      Fooled you, we’re in Florida for Easter. It’s a beautiful morning down here too, but I didn’t get myself to a sunrise service, since I really don’t know much about the churches here  (Other than there are a lot of evangelical churches, which I’d rather avoid.)

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Geminid

      March 31, 2024 at 10:08 am

      “Key has risen.” Or at least, a crane has started lifting pieces of the Francis Scott Key bridge onto salvage barges. This is according to DC all-news radio station WTOP.

      The report included a clip of Maryland Governor Wes Moore saying that the work would proceed carefully because salvage experts must assess the stability of the remaining bridge sections after pieces are craned away. Also, they also still need to recover the remains of six missing bridge workers.

      The initial plan includes clearing a channel sufficient to let barge cranes snd salvage barges through in order to work the wreckage from the harbor side.

      The Coast Guard is managing the operation and according to Navy Times,* two Navy commands are assisting. The Navy Sea Systems Command is lining up salvage barges and tugboats to carry away wreckage. And the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving will “oversee mobilization of 12 assorted tugs, survey ships, crew and dive boats that will arrive in coming days.”

      The report also noted that the 1000-ton capacity “Chesapeake 1000” barge crane, the largest on the East Coast, and several lesser cranes were on the scene.

      * “Navy to aid Francis Scott Key collapse recovery,” Navy Times March 29, 2024.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Baud

      March 31, 2024 at 10:08 am

      @WaterGirl: True. Jesus never lifted a X-wing fighter out of a swamp.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:08 am

      Chocolate bunnies are hollow, just like Rethuglicans’ oaths and promises.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:09 am

      @lowtechcyclist:

      The Lord is risen indeed! (I’m right here!) 

      Well, if you’re going to be blasphemous*, why not on Easter morning? 😂

      *Pendants, pedants, pundits, don’t start.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:12 am

      @Layer8Problem:

      We’re off to the National Portrait Gallery later to stare at some national portraits. 

      Beware: The portraits will win a staring contest.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      OzarkHillbilly

      March 31, 2024 at 10:15 am

      @TBone: I remember one Easter my mother made the mistake of getting hollow bunnies. She never did that again.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Layer8Problem

      March 31, 2024 at 10:16 am

      @mrmoshpotato:  I can deal with the staring, but if the eyes start following me around I’m clearing out.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:17 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: 😆

      Reply
    40. 40.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 31, 2024 at 10:20 am

      @Geminid: ​
       

      Also, they also still need to recover the remains of six missing bridge workers.

      So they don’t think there were any other fatalities? Nobody driving on the bridge when it collapsed? That would be a miracle, even at 1:30am.

      Reply
    41. 41.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:20 am

      @Layer8Problem: Doesn’t the Mona Lisa have that effect in person?  (Never seen it myself.)

      Reply
    42. 42.

      comrade scotts agenda of rage

      March 31, 2024 at 10:20 am

      @Geminid:

      As I suspected, opening up the harbor will be accomplished quickly.  Having a massive military that has stuff to do just this kind of thing helps.  It’s also outstanding training.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      MomSense

      March 31, 2024 at 10:20 am

      Free market conservatives blaming Biden for chocolate prices in 3-2-1.

      Reply
    44. 44.

      Fair Economist

      March 31, 2024 at 10:21 am

      @mali muso: Paris is a fine place to spend Easter! Have a great time.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      MomSense

      March 31, 2024 at 10:23 am

      @mrmoshpotato:

      I wouldn’t say it follows you around, more that it is very compelling.  It’s a small painting and yet it draws you to it even though it is in a room full of magnificent paintings.  I went there skeptical and the need up a believer. It’s not that the eyes follow you but your eyes keep turning to it.

      Reply
    46. 46.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:23 am

      @MomSense:

      Free market conservatives blaming Biden for chocolate prices in 3-2-1. 

      Wait.  That hasn’t already happened? 🤯

      Reply
    47. 47.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:24 am

      Awakened by zombie Roomba running itself at 4am for no good reason and Hubby thought we were having a home invasion when it unceremoniously busted through the bedroom door.  Comforted myself watching Wynton Marsalis on Mr. Rogers and Henrietta thought everyone forgot her birthday.  It STILL didn’t dawn on me that today is Hubby’s birthday DOH!!!

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Trivia Man

      March 31, 2024 at 10:24 am

      @mali muso: ive been to the tower a couple times, never went up. Hope to do it someday, ideally by stairs

      Reply
    49. 49.

      comrade scotts agenda of rage

      March 31, 2024 at 10:24 am

      @mrmoshpotato:

       
      https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.878288/full

      Reply
    50. 50.

      Layer8Problem

      March 31, 2024 at 10:24 am

      @mrmoshpotato:  Couldn’t tell ya.  It’s a teeny little rectangle on a wall obstructed by nine miles of tourists.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      MomSense

      March 31, 2024 at 10:25 am

      @SiubhanDuinne:

      Not until May!!!

      ETA Anyone else wonder if people realize this holiday starts with a story of unjust capital punishment?

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Geminid

      March 31, 2024 at 10:25 am

      @lowtechcyclist: Authorities have seemed certain about that number for some days now. I guess that could change. It sounds like the police stopped the through traffic in time, but the missing workers could not make it off the bridge in time.

      Reply
    53. 53.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:26 am

      @MomSense:

      It’s a small painting and yet it draws you to it even though it is in a room full of magnificent paintings. 

      “Closer.  Closer.  Closer.  Woah, too close!  Back up.  Personal space and all.”

      Reply
    54. 54.

      Miss Bianca

      March 31, 2024 at 10:27 am

      @lowtechcyclist: I believe, from what I’ve read, that the authorities were able to halt traffic coming onto the bridge before it came down. The poor transit workers weren’t so fortunate, but quick action did prevent even more fatalities.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:28 am

      @TBone:

      Awakened by zombie Roomba running itself at 4am for no good reason and Hubby thought we were having a home invasion when it unceremoniously busted through the bedroom door. 

      The Roomba has risen!

      Also, not its fault you didn’t have a ceremony planned.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      RevRick

      March 31, 2024 at 10:30 am

      Easter is both unpossible and inexplicable if we ask the question how. However, its reality is undeniable when you look at the effect it had.
      In a world where foreigners/other races, slaves, and women were considered as contemptible others, the early Church stood all those assumptions on their heads. The clearest evidence is found in Galatians 3:28, where Paul alludes to a baptismal creed/hymn, which sings “There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free, there is no male and female.” He uses it to bolster his argument that the presence of a church composed of Jews and Gentiles is a powerful witness to the transforming power of God in Christ.
      In contrast to the imperial ideology of rigid social hierarchy, the early church elevated women to positions of authority and power. Paul himself at the close of Romans (16:1-2), mentions Phoebe, whom he describes as a bishop of the church in Corinth as well as his patron (boss), who financed and oversaw his ministry.

      Clearly, something happened on that morning we celebrate today.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:30 am

      @Layer8Problem: Are those metric miles or imperial miles?

      Reply
    58. 58.

      Central Planning

      March 31, 2024 at 10:31 am

      @lowtechcyclist: they were able to stop traffic before the collision.

      Reply
    59. 59.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:32 am

      @mrmoshpotato: 🤣 I was so discombobulated about all the hubub and The Last Picture Show was playing on the bedroom TV and Hubby was in a panic and all I could think to say was “Happy Easter, I guess!”

      Reply
    60. 60.

      Layer8Problem

      March 31, 2024 at 10:36 am

      @mrmoshpotato:  Can’t say anymore, just finished a huge Russian novel and all I think in now is versts.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      Geminid

      March 31, 2024 at 10:37 am

      @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yes, and it helps that Norfolk Naval Station is about 150 miles down the Bay.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:37 am

      @TBone: Well, I hope you’re more combobulated at this hour.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:38 am

      Today I relish in offending my extra religious friend or two by sending them a meme of the painting of Jesus kneeling with His hands clasped and He is making fart noises with them.  He would be proud of me for reminding these people to lighten up!  After all, if I don’t sin, He died for nothing.

      🎶

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j7sodwiQJ6c

      Reply
    64. 64.

      Trivia Man

      March 31, 2024 at 10:38 am

      As a child I couldn’t wrap my head around the time line. Dead fir three days then resurrected? But friday evening to late Saturday night/ early Sunday morning is not even 36 hours. Thats not 3 days!!

      Then I realized the difference between “after 3 days” and “on the third day.” Maybe the Mormons just had a different default phrasing.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      hueyplong

      March 31, 2024 at 10:38 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s chocolate for breakfast.

      The breakfast of champions.

      Reply
    66. 66.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:40 am

      Is it wrong to be rooting for the Blue Devils today?  Also, too, go Boilermakers!

      Reply
    67. 67.

      Trivia Man

      March 31, 2024 at 10:40 am

      @Layer8Problem: im listening to Karamazov right now and i meant to look that up – how far is a verst?
      All i know is ‘Second verst, same as the first’

      Reply
    68. 68.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:40 am

      @mrmoshpotato: nope!  But I will be soon, I hope. I’m making pickle soup with leeks today.  Need to be able to concentrate on not chopping a finger off!

      Reply
    69. 69.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:41 am

      @TBone:

      After all, if I don’t sin, He died for nothing. 

      LOL!  Saving that one.

      Reply
    70. 70.

      Ohio Mom

      March 31, 2024 at 10:43 am

      @RevRick: There is midrash (a kind of traditional story that expands upon Jewish scripture) that tells us that when we arrive in the hereafter, one set of the questions God will ask us concerns all the earthly pleasures we didn’t partake of when they were right in front of us.

      God created those pleasures for us, it is an insult to refuse them.

      I am sure uneaten chocolate falls into this category.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:43 am

      @mrmoshpotato: I’m having a nice wake and bake in Hizzonor.  Gonna watch Flip Wilson doing Geraldine to get my mind right!

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Ceci n est pas mon nym

      March 31, 2024 at 10:43 am

      @mali muso: Did I hear that Notre Dame has reopened?

      I had a couple of days in Paris after a conference waiting for my wife to join me. Attended a gospel concert of all things. I don’t think anyone spoke English, they were all from francophone Africa or the Carribean, but they sounded pretty good singing in English. The posters promised “The authentic sound of the African-American church” in French.

      Didn’t see the Eiffel Tower, there were no time slots (July, peak season). But I’ve been up to the top before.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      mrmoshpotato

      March 31, 2024 at 10:43 am

      @TBone: That’s a very good thing to concentrate on.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      prostratedragon

      March 31, 2024 at 10:49 am

      “It Is Accomplished,” Peter Gabriel

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Layer8Problem

      March 31, 2024 at 10:50 am

      @Trivia Man: ​If I remember correctly, sorta like a kilometer.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      mali muso

      March 31, 2024 at 10:50 am

      @Dorothy A. Winsor:

      @Fair Economist:

      thanks! We are having a fun time. It’s my first time in Paris having to take a kid’s interests and pace into account, so I’m learning to slow down a lot more than when I’ve visited on my own. More breaks, lots of free time in parks, and keep the timed/scheduled activities to about 1 each day. 🤣

      @Trivia Man: today was my first time to the very top. I climbed the stairs to the first floor back in the late 90s and remember having sore legs the next day. You can still climb up to the second (middle) floor but the top requires a ticket for the elevator. It was a fun experience, probably doing it once is enough.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      mali muso

      March 31, 2024 at 10:52 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I believe they are still finishing the reconstruction. We drove past yesterday and parts of it are covered in scaffolding. There is a “virtual experience” (maybe using VR goggles?) that you can do on sight.

      Reply
    78. 78.

      Almost Retired

      March 31, 2024 at 10:57 am

      We would occasionally find a hidden Easter egg for several years after our kids outgrew the hunt.  This says something about the quality and creativity of our egg-hiding skills.  It probably says even more about our housekeeping.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      TBone

      March 31, 2024 at 10:58 am

      @Almost Retired: don’t they really stink up the place after sitting out so long? 😉

      Reply
    80. 80.

      schrodingers_cat

      March 31, 2024 at 11:00 am

      Happy Easter.

      Caste hierarchy on full display.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      Almost Retired

      March 31, 2024 at 11:05 am

      @TBone:  Every time we would find one we’d google something like “hollow chocolate rabbit expiration date.”

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Jeffro

      March 31, 2024 at 11:06 am

      Note: I am attending services today up at my mom’s church in NoVA and…they have QR codes in the back of the pews(!)

      for both “more info” and “to donate”(!!)

      and the choir just finished sound check (!!!)

      Reply
    83. 83.

      Soprano2

      March 31, 2024 at 11:08 am

      @OzarkHillbilly: Not if you perform there, although the trip cost me plenty (worth every penny).

      Hubby is still in the hospital. Yesterday the doctor discovered that he actually has a yeast infection, so she changed the antibiotic he’s getting. She said he’ll be in the hospital until tests show that he’s cleared the infection, because the meds are given by IV. Is it terrible that I’m relieved a little? I feel like I need a couple more days to get things in order. I miss him, but it’s also a relief that he’s being cared for. The nurses will be glad when he’s gone, because he either won’t or can’t remember to use the call button when he needs to use the bathroom, so every time he gets out of bed the alarm goes off and they come running. They’re afraid he’ll fall down. It might be that he knows they come quickly when he does it!

      If the greenhouse is open I’m going to get some strawberries and plant them in our raised bed. The soil should be good, nothing but weeds has grown in there since 2019.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      Princess

      March 31, 2024 at 11:09 am

      If anyone comes at you about Biden and Easter and transvisibility, you can remind them of the many trans and gender-nonconforming saints recognized by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Many are saints known by women’s names who took on male names and male dress and lived their whole lives as men.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      Soprano2

      March 31, 2024 at 11:12 am

      @MomSense: When I was there in 1980 it was behind a glass in a room by itself and you couldn’t get close to it.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      Raven

      March 31, 2024 at 11:14 am

      We just pulled into Asheville, incredible day!

      Reply
    87. 87.

      Glidwrith

      March 31, 2024 at 11:14 am

      @mali muso: We made it to the first floor of the Tower and that was as far as I could deal with. Between the swaying and being able to see the ground THROUGH the stairs…..

      The only way I got back down was to firmly grip the rails and stare straight ahead.

      Reply
    88. 88.

      Soprano2

      March 31, 2024 at 11:16 am

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve only been to the second level because I was there in January and the top was closed. The best thing about Europe in January – no lines!

      Reply
    89. 89.

      sab

      March 31, 2024 at 11:19 am

      @Almost Retired: Yikes! When we had multiple dogs we used to have an egg hunt in the yard, with peeled eggs. It was a blast.

      Simon, the husky/boxer usually got most of them. The lab and shepherd mixes just weren’t as into it as he was.

      Ponyo the Staffie cannot be trusted to look for the eggs even on Easter Sunday.

      Simon used to keep looking for eggs all summer. It was kind of sad. He never gave up.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      Fair Economist

      March 31, 2024 at 11:23 am

      @Soprano2:

      Is it terrible that I’m relieved a little?

      No. Anybody involved in difficult eldercare knows the push-pull between wanting to take care of them and needing relief.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      Glidwrith

      March 31, 2024 at 11:27 am

      @Princess: Even better, Christ was female (no male involved at conception) and was therefore cross-dressing or even argue if he had the equipment, then obviously he was transubstantiated (pun intended) into having it.

      Reply
    92. 92.

      sab

      March 31, 2024 at 11:31 am

      One of my goofiest childhood beliefs was that it is always sunny on Easter Sunday. It was, in Florida. Then we moved to Ohio. What a shock to my belief system. Today didn’t disappoint. Very cloudy. Possible rain.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      stinger

      March 31, 2024 at 11:41 am

      @Baud: Try or try not. There is no do.

      Reply
    94. 94.

      sab

      March 31, 2024 at 11:53 am

      @Soprano2:  I have been thinking about you and your husband a lot lately.

      I just moved my dad into a safer nursing home  this week. He is much happier. They have dogs!  and a cat. It is an amazing place.

      My brain isn’t what it used to be and my husband is devoted to me. And we aren’t rich like my dad is. The future is scary.

      Reply
    95. 95.

      Loquacious Scribble

      March 31, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      Sooooooo, life is being made difficult for chocolate farmers in Africa? You mean the ones that use child and/or slave labor?

      Yeah, I am going to have to admit to mixed feelings on this one.

      Reply
    96. 96.

      Trivia Man

      March 31, 2024 at 12:31 pm

      @mali muso: awesome! Can you walk down? I try to hit the stairs at every hotel i stay, at least once. My record is about 45 floors (down only) in chicago. An interesting experience, 8/10 would do again

      Reply
    97. 97.

      Trivia Man

      March 31, 2024 at 12:35 pm

      @Almost Retired: My favorite annual tradition was the Easter Beer Hunt.

      we had a regular friday poker  game at the same house for 10 years. Every good friday id hide my empty PBR cans (always a 12 pack for me at those games). I think my record  was he found one In august once.

      Reply
    98. 98.

      There go two miscreants

      March 31, 2024 at 12:36 pm

      @Ohio Mom:

      God created those pleasures for us, it is an insult to refuse them.

      I am sure uneaten chocolate falls into this category.

      On the other hand, there is the pleasure of still fitting into my jeans!

      Reply
    99. 99.

      Soprano2

      March 31, 2024 at 12:45 pm

      @sab: I saw that, I’m glad you were able to improve your dad’s situation. It sounds like a great place, my husband would love having a dog and a cat if he were in a place like that.

      I’ve learned that none of us know the future, so I think you have to live as best as you can. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      planetjanet

      March 31, 2024 at 1:03 pm

      @Baud: The best explanation I have for why I am a Democrat is Matthew 25.  As Christ said, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
      “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'”

      That is the core of my values.

      Reply
    101. 101.

      Chris T.

      March 31, 2024 at 1:17 pm

      @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

      Theological question: is chocolate before breakfast a sacrament or a sin?

      Theobromine gives the answer! Theobromine, food of the gods (Wikipedia link).

      Reply
    102. 102.

      Chris T.

      March 31, 2024 at 1:22 pm

      @TBone:

      Chocolate bunnies are hollow, just like Rethuglicans’ oaths and promises.

      Dove Chocolates makes (or made—I have not seen any this year) solid ones, and they’re pretty good chocolate too, unlike a lot of the cheap hollow ones. (Though bad chocolate is probably still better than no chocolate.)

      Reply
    103. 103.

      Sister Golden Bear

      March 31, 2024 at 1:59 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: The first thing the pilot did when the power failed — literally before attending to the emergency — was to use his cellphone to call the pilot HQ office (radios were out), which in turn called the police, who immediately shutdown traffic to the bridge.

      If the pilot had waited until after doing anything else — e.g. trying figure out why they lost  power — far more people would’ve died.

      Reply
    104. 104.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 31, 2024 at 2:49 pm

      @Sister Golden Bear:

      The reason I asked is that in the videos that show the bridge’s collapse, it sure looked like there were cars in motion on the bridge in the last seconds before the collapse.

      Reply
    105. 105.

      Timill

      March 31, 2024 at 3:02 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: If you look at this video of the collapse you can see that the last moving traffic clears the span at the 5:00 mark before the collapse at about 5:37.

      Reply
    106. 106.

      jonas

      April 1, 2024 at 4:55 am

      To the point about X’s falling value, I presume they mean 73% off what Musk paid, not what the company at the time was really worth (probably $15-20 billion if you were being realistic). Right now, Musk’s Tesla wealth is being used to guarantee the solvency of X and service its debts, so the “value” of X probably doesn’t matter a whole lot to its creditors (as opposed to equity stakeholders like Fidelity). I guess they figure that because X is Musk’s greatest vanity project to date, he’s unlikely to just walk away from it and leave them with a worthless social media platform, but people who chase vanity projects like this also tend to be mercurial assholes who will, yes, walk away from it and leave the “little people” like Fidelity and JP Morgan holding the bag once they get bored with it and something else shiny comes along.

      Reply
    107. 107.

      jonas

      April 1, 2024 at 4:57 am

      @lowtechcyclist: I think those were construction vehicles parked on the bridge (or perhaps trying to evacuate it). The freeway traffic had been stopped a few minutes before the collision (thank heavens).

      Reply

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