Monthly Archives: March 2024

Events

Easter Sunday

Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem).

Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

In Eastern Christianity, the same events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with “Holy” or “Holy and Great”, and Easter itself might be called “Great and Holy Pascha”.

In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday.

In Eastern Christianity, the Paschal season ends with Pentecost as well, but the leave-taking of the Great Feast of Pascha is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension.

 

Television

Bad Batch 12

39 “Extraction”

The Bad Batch, Rex and his few surviving troopers make their way through the ruined base, pursued by Wolffe’s men and the clone assassin, the latter in defiance of Wolffe’s orders.

The fugitives launch a shuttle, but the assassin shoots the vessel down, forcing a crash landing and a rough trek to an extraction by Echo.

At the extraction point, Wolffe intercepts them, but upon being confronted by his old friend Rex and the truth behind the Empire’s treatment of clones, he lets the survivors escape.

40 “Bad Territory”

Phee, who has been asked by the Batch to make inquiries about the Empire’s M-count project, reports that bounty hunters have been hired to search for subjects featuring that trait.

Believing that Fennec Shand may know the answer, Hunter and Wrecker decide to seek her out, leaving Omega and Crosshair on Pabu.

41 “The Harbinger”

The Batch encounters Shand’s contact, Asajj Ventress, who informs them that the M-count signifies a person’s innate connection to the Force.

Something you would think everyone in the universe knows, this refers to Midi-chlorians.

“Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear them speaking to you.”
―Qui-Gon Jinn, to Anakin Skywalker

Technology

Uncharted

In this podcast by Hannah Fry (of Rutherford & Fry)

she tells the story behind a graph.

It’s 1973 and the UK is in crisis: runaway inflation, industrial strike action and political turmoil. Unnoticed at the time – in hospitals and front rooms around the country – something odd is happening with the country’s newborn.

In 1998, the climate scientist Michael Mann published a simple graph shaped like an ice hockey stick: a long straight line which curves suddenly upward at the end. It was based on decades of intrepid work by scientists around the world.

It’s a hot summer’s day in 1998. Two couples stand side by side in a small courtyard. Brought together by chance, they may never have met if not for one thing.

 

Events

Pallas 2

On this day in 1802, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.

It is believed to have a mineral composition similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. It is the third-largest asteroid in the Solar System by both volume and mass, and is a likely remnant protoplanet. Its estimated volume is equivalent to a sphere 507 to 515 kilometers.

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers
(11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840)

This German astronomer found a convenient method of calculating the orbit of comets. He discovered the second and the fourth asteroids Pallas and Vesta.

 

Books

Fey Victory

Victory
(The Fey #5)
by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

As the final battle of blood against blood looms, both sides face terrible choices. The clash of magic threatens to consume all in its wake, while the fate of Fey and Islander alike rests in one place: The Place of Power. As the brutal battle rages to its thrilling conclusion, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s masterful storytelling demonstrates that victory demands the ultimate sacrifice.

 

Movies

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller film written, directed, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan.

It follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film chronicles Oppenheimer’s studies, his direction of the Los Alamos Laboratory, and his fall from grace after his 1954 security hearing.

Cillian Murphy stars as Oppenheimer, alongside Robert Downey Jr. as the United States Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss. The ensemble supporting cast includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Kenneth Branagh.

Television

Star Trek Prodigy 14-16

 

14 “Crossroads”

The crew decide to reach Starfleet with a different ship and hide the Protostar near a busy transportation hub. A man named Okona overhears their need and offers travel, but is arrested for smuggling. Admiral Janeway seeks Frex at the same hub, and realizes that the crew of the Protostar are there. The young crew race back to the Protostar and are pursued by Janeway. They find that Okona has stowed away with them. The Dauntless pursues the Protostar at warp speed. Murf hatches from his cocoon in a more humanoid body. Admiral Janeway fires on the Protostar, disabling its warp drive, and the young crew retreat to the Romulan Neutral Zone.

15 “Masquerade”

The Protostar stops for repairs at a starport, where geneticist Dr. Jago informs Dal that he is a human augmented with 26 other species. She gives Dal an implant to unlock his dormant abilities. Romulans enter the Neutral Zone to steal the Protostar, but need the captain to gain control of the ship. They pursue the crew, causing Okona to flee. Dal subdues the Romulans with his new abilities, but begins to lose control. Murf helps repel the last attackers and they escape on the Protostar. Zero removes Dal’s implant and he returns to normal. On the Dauntless, Ensign Asencia reveals to the Diviner that she is the Vindicator, a member of his species.

16 “Preludes”

As the crew of the Protostar repair the proto-drive, each of them recounts how they got to Tars Lamora. Rok used to play a “monster” in staged fights, but one day she decided to fight back and defeat the “hero”; she was sold off soon after. Zero was part of a Medusan exploration crew when they were captured by hunters. Jankom was awakened early from cryogenic sleep on a Tellarite ship and repaired critical damage to the vessel, before leaving in an escape pod so enough oxygen would remain for the rest of the crew; he was captured soon after. On the Dauntless, the Vindicator and her own Drednok help the Diviner remember his past.

Events

Scottish Settler

On this day in 1848, the immigrant ship “John Wickliffe” arrived in Dunedin. The vessel and its 97 passengers sailed from Gravesend, England, on 24 November 1847.

Television

Halo 17

17 “Halo”
An overeager biologist inadvertently releases spores from the canister recovered by Halsey and Miranda, which quickly transform the base’s personnel into zombie-like creatures.

Soren and Kwan rescue Laera, Kessler and, reluctantly, Ackerson after he saves Laera and Kessler, but Laera stays behind after becoming infected.