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Tag Archive | 2018
April 15, 2019  

Easter Friday & Passover 2019 Are AGAIN On The SAME DAY — This Time April 19.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

This happens more often than most people realize or appreciate, i.e., Good Friday and Passover falling on the SAME DAY.

It happened last year, i.e., 2018, and it was also the case in 2015 & 2011.

Having it happen in consecutive years is rare. So, rejoice and take note.

It will happen again in 3-years, i.e., 2022.

But note, we are talking about Friday — Good Friday — rather than Easter, which is on the Sunday.

Given that the two holidays are related it should not come as a great surprise that they do fall, close together.

For those that haven’t thought about it the Crucifixion happened just after Passover. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for Passover. The last supper is believed to have a Passover connection.

Hence the connection. In early Christianity Easter was celebrated at the same time as the Passover. So that they fall together, per a now very convoluted and artificial formula used by the Western Church, is to be expected.

Easter Sunday, per the ‘latest’ formula, can fall between March 22 (the day after the nominal ‘March 21’ Spring Equinox) and April 25.

Last year Easter was quite early. This year it is quite late.

However, Easter Sunday can NEVER COINCIDE with the Passover! The formula used to calculate Easter has this built-in.

So, it is always GOOD FRIDAY that can coincide with Passover — and never Easter per se.

Just thought you might find this interesting.

Related Posts:
Check Categories ‘holidays‘ & ‘religion‘.
Search on ‘Easter‘.

by Anura Guruge

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April 13, 2019  

Happy Sinhala New Year, ‘Aluth Avurudu’, 2019 To You All.

by Anura Guruge

Happy Sinhala New Year 2019.

The 3rd New Year of the Year for I.
But you can never have too many.

Enjoy. Rejoice.

From last year. Enjoy.

For MANY Related Posts:
Search  ‘Sinhala New Year’.
Check Category ‘Sri Lanka’.

by Anura Guruge

April 7, 2019  

Lake Winnipesaukee [NH] Ice-Out: Longest [i.e., Latest] Occurrences.

by Anura Guruge

↑↑↑↑

1964 was a LEAP YEAR and I take that into account.
I count days from January 1, taking into account leap years.
So, April 29 in a non-leap year is the SAME as April 28 in a Leap Year.

So, of course, we have had ice-outs as late as May 12 — albeit not of late. 

2018 [i.e., last year], on April 26, was pretty late. Don’t think it will be as late this year. But, I suspect we are still at least a good week away.

Related posts:
Search ‘Winni‘ & ‘ice‘.

by Anura Guruge

March 14, 2019  

Roman (Vatican) Curia, With Names, At-A-Glance, by Br. César J. Tobón — March 2019.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

First in Italian, second in Spanish
(but should NOT be too hard to follow).

March 2019

October 2018 for COMPARISON.

Copyright of this beautiful document belongs to Br. César J. Tobón.

This is an update to the October 2018 chart. Beautifully rendered. Lots of valuable information.

This is an update to the October 2017 chart. As always meticulously done.

We also have the October 2016 version, if you want to track the changes by year.

Also please check the wonderful Consistory images by Br. César J. Tobón.

Click on icon to download the March 2019 images as a small (clean) PDFs.

Related posts:
>> Search ‘Tobón’ >>>>

by Anura Guruge

February 22, 2019  

‘Hotstar US’ Is NOT To Be Trusted. $50 Amazon Gift Card Offer Is FAKE.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

Click to access this Forum.

Click to access post.

Hotstar US has NO intentions whatsoever of honoring the $50 Amazon Gift Card Offer!

That they have a dedicated option (press 2) on their Voice Response System just for those calling about the Amazon Gift Card offer is a dead giveaway.

So, this is how their scam works.

They will claim that you subscribed using a PROMO CODE that did NOT include the Gift Card! As far as they are concerned matter closed.

So, you are screwed.

Very dishonest, disreputable company.

They are helping propagate the stereotype (à la Simpsons Appu) that Indians are dishonest. That is why I go out of my way to point out to folks that I am NOT Indian (that all 3 million of the Hindu gods (most of whom are also duplicitous in their own cute ways)).

From what I can see Hotstar US has NO US presence. I was going to file a claim with the ‘Better Business Bureau’. But, you can’t. They are NOT in the US. This was probably another reason that they opted for this scam. It is a STRAIGHT online scam.

Simply put they are nothing but thieving bastards. Stay away from them. Don’t let them scam YOU.

Related posts:
Search ‘cricket’ & ‘Sling’.

by Anura Guruge

February 22, 2019  

Trump Lied To You That 2018 Tax Return Was Going To Be Simpler, Easier & Postcard-Sized.

by Anura Guruge

Click images to ENLARGE.

All forms from IRS.gov.

OK, it is true that SOME of the forms are the size of EXTRA-LARGE postcards BUT all they have done is split the forms into MULTIPLE ‘postcard’ size Schedules.

It is stupid.

The basic ‘front page’ 1040 is split into two just to give the appearance that is SMALLER and akin to an EXTRA-LARGE postcard. But, it takes TWO of these EXTRA-LARGE postcards to do the very basics.

And then we have 6 NEW Schedules, viz. 1 to 6, in ADDITION to all the old & beloved Schedules A, B, C, D etc.

Sacré bloody bleu.

These new Schedules just complicate matters.

Trust me it is not simpler or faster.

I know my way around the 1040. SMILE. I have been doing taxes, on my own, for nearly a decade. I don’t use software. I do it by hand using ‘Free File Fillable Forms’ from the IRS or just PDF versions of the forms (also from the IRS).

In the last couple of days I did two fairly involved returns — both involving Obamacare, ‘Premium Tax Credit’ Form 8962. I worked it all out and got it done. But, it was really no easier than years before. Just more involved and fiddly.

So, Trump lied to us about this. But, what is new.

Related posts:
Search ‘Trump’.

by Anura Guruge

February 20, 2019  

IRS ‘Free File Fillable Forms’ 2019 Has Issues With Form 8962, ‘Premium Tax Credit’.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and study.

Second year running that the usually estimable ‘free file fillable forms‘ has had problems with dreaded ‘Obamacare‘ Form 8962. I guess it is one of the last forms they get around to tackling.

This year’s problem is crazy. Basically line 8a is dead. It doesn’t do the math and it won’t allow you to enter the value manually! I guess they had planned to make the two fields on that line 8a & 8b automatic — i.e., they would do the math. Simple enough.

8a = line 3 * line 7.

Guess they screwed up putting in the code to do that. So, it remains unpopulated.

And herein lies a fundamental problem with FFFF. If there is a way to OVERRIDE their ‘no entry’ block — I don’t know what it is.

They really should provide an OVERRIDE so that you can always modify or populate a field. Without that you are screwed.

So, I was screwed again. Also means I can’t use the FFFF electronic filing because I can’t complete all the Forms.

Luckily all 1040 Forms on IRS.GOV, this year, are fully editable online! Pretty neat. So, basically the same as FFFF.

So, I did Form 8962 and Schedule 2 online.

I, as I did last year, just mailed it in. Hate doing it, but it was the easiest for I.

Related Posts:
Search ‘Free File Fillable Forms’.

by Anura Guruge

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