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Daily Calendar for Sunday, April 13, 2025

Palm Sunday

This Christian observance falls on the Sunday before Easter and is the sixth and last Sunday of Lent, which began on Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Holy Week, Palm Sunday marks the day when Christ rode into Jerusalem a week before his death and resurrection and was greeted by its people, who strewed cloaks and tree branches along his path to honor him as their king. This event is known as the Triumphal Entry.

Nowadays, Palm Sunday service often includes the blessing of palm leaves (or substitute branches from yews, willows, or other plants) before a procession into or in the church, after which hymns are sung and readings that focus on Christ’s final week are given. In many Christian denominations, palm fronds are burned at the end of the service; the ashes are saved for use on the next Ash Wednesday.

Palm Sunday is also called Passion, Branch, Yew, Willow, Blossom, or Fig Sunday, as well as Flower Day and several other names.

Thomas Jefferson's Birthday

Born in 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia, Jefferson was the third president of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He began his political career in 1769 in the Virginia legislature. Forty years later, he retired as president of the United States. He died on July 4, 1826, at Monticello, his home in Virginia. He once wrote, “All my wishes end where I hope my days will end—at Monticello.”

Thomas Jefferson was a dedicated farmer, and his interest in agriculture is evident in much of his writings. His plantation Monticello included vegetable gardens, flower gardens, orchards, vineyards, grain fields, and ornamental landscapes. Jefferson worked on improving plant varieties as well as agricultural tools, such as the plow.

To celebrate his birthday, pay a visit to the country home he designed. To fully grasp his political philosophy, called Jeffersonianism, read his collected works, including “The Fundamentals of Government.” It was none other than Abraham Lincoln who said, “The principles of Jefferson are the axioms of a free society.”

Question of the Day

Does the North Star ever change? In other words, will Polaris always be the North Star?
Yes, the North Star does change, and Polaris will not always be it. Like a top, Earth’s axis precesses; that is, it slides along the surface of an imaginary cone. The precessional motion is very slow; one complete cycle of the axis about the cone requires about 26,000 years. In the course of 26,000 years, the north celestial pole will move on the celestial sphere along a circle of approximately a 23-1/2 degree radius, centered on the pole of the ecliptic (where the perpendicular to Earth’s orbit intersects the celestial sphere). In the 20th century, the north celestial pole is very near Polaris, but in about 12,000 years, the celestial pole will be fairly close to the bright star Vega.

Advice of the Day

In time take time, when time does last, for time is no time when time is past.

Home Hint of the Day

The easiest and fastest way to get rid of stumps is to get a company that deals in tree work to chip the stumps out with a machine. You can then use the chips as mulch on flower beds.

Word of the Day

Lunar eclipse
The full Moon enters the shadow of Earth, which cuts off all or part of the Moon’s light. Total: The Moon passes completely through the umbra (central dark part) of Earth’s shadow. Partial: Only part of the Moon passes through the umbra. Penumbral: The Moon passes through only the penumbra (area of partial darkness surrounding the umbra).

Puzzle of the Day

When is 2 and 2 not equal to 4?
When it is 22.

Born

  • Thomas Jefferson (3rd U.S. president) –
  • Butch Cassidy (American Wild West outlaw) –
  • Samuel Beckett (author, playwright, & Nobel Prize winner) –
  • Caroline Rhea (comedian & actress) –
  • Rick Schroder (actor) –

Died

  • Archie "Grey Owl" Belaney (conservationist) –
  • Annie Jump Cannon (astronomer) –
  • Wallace Stegner (writer) –
  • Mark "the Bird" Fidrych (baseball pitcher) –
  • Jonathan Frid (actor) –

Events

  • Pres. FDR dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. –
  • First navigational satellite Transit-1B launched –
  • The Beatles recorded their hit song “Help!” –
  • An explosion occurred aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft on its way to the moon. Short of oxygen and flying a crippled ship, the crew aborted the moon landing and headed back to earth under emergency conditions –
  • A dwarf mouse named Yoda celebrated his fourth birthday, making him the oldest of his kind and far beyond 100 in human years. Yoda owes his longevity to genetic modifications that affected his pituitary and thyroid glands and reduced insulin production - and which left him a third smaller than an average mouse and very sensitive to cold –
  • Barry Bonds, the San Francisco slugger, hit his 661st career home run, passing Willie Mays (also his Godfather) to take sole possession of third place on baseball’s career list –

Weather

  • Zero degrees F at Hanover, New Hampshire –
  • Dozen tornadoes in eastern Iowa –
  • Tornado tore through Iowa City, Iowa –
  • 8.9 inches of snow fell on Great Falls, Montana, setting a new record for this date –
  • A tornado struck the states of Bihar and West Bengal in eastern India –