Its Easter time again and no doubt it has to be one of the most controversial feasts on the Christian calendar. This festival is used by some Christians to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It must however be noted that it is not all Christians who observe the Easter festivity.

Some Christians believe that Jesus Christ was captured on Thursday and crucified on Friday. The most significant pillar of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the death. Some Christians believe the resurrection happened on Sunday and as such that day should be celebrated. There is however no fixed date in the year to do that. Easter is thus said to be a movable feast. The determination of the date for the observation of Easter is not determined with the Gregorian calendar.

The early Christians including the apostles who walked with Jesus did not observe the Easter festivities or at least there is no record to that effect. The second-century Church was divided on the day for the celebration of Easter.  While some Christians observed the day on the Sabbath which is always Saturday, others opted for the celebration on Sundays. The difference was left unsolved until the third and the fourth century.

Christians were increasingly becoming desperate to secede from their Jewish brothers. There was a problem because the Christians consulted the Jewish on so many things including dates of some festivals including Easter. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decided that Christians needed their own calendar to come up with the Easter and didn’t need to depend on their Jewish brothers.

The Gregorian and the Julian calendars are not used to determine the exact date of Easter. The lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar is used to determine the date of the Easter. On the Western modern calendar Easter Sunday fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25. However on the Gregorian calendar Easter falls between April 4 and May 8.

The differences between the dates that Easter is observed have caused a lot of concerns for the World Council of Churches. The council plans to come out with a new calendar that would remove the differences between the date the Eastern and Western countries observe the day. Some prominent Christians however believe that the differences could be trashed out when Easter Sunday is fixed on the second Sunday of April.

United Kingdom has approved a legislation that fixed Easter Sunday on the first Sunday following the second Saturday in April.

Easter is not observed by all Christians. Some Christians see the observation of Easter as ‘pagan’ worship. The observation of Easter led to the break-away of many Christian denominations. The Seventh Day Adventist church is among the many denominations that do not observe Easter.

Celebrating Easter

Its Easter time again ! Marking an end to the 40 days of fasting, prayer and penance, Easter is celebrated during the spring every year and is associated with birth and renewal cycle. It also marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ and considered one of the joyous celebrations on the Christian calendar. Here in this post we try to explain on how this holiday originated and how people celebrate it nowadays.

History of Easter

Some evidence and records have shown that celebrating Easter was not customary until the second century. It is also known as the Resurrection Day, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days of crucifixion. According to these traditions, the original celebration period lasted for about forty days [until the Day of Ascension]. It is worth mentioning here that Easter is one of the moveable feasts because it does not have a fixed date on the civil calendar, instead, it is determined by the lunar calendar. It can fall between March 22 and April 25. Some pagan-like customs are practiced when celebrating Easter. The name Easter itself comes from the name of a Germanic goddess Eostre, the goddess of fertility. However, it is just one of the many proposed origins for the word Easter. Some theories connecting Eostre with Germanic customs that involve hares and eggs were very predominating; as a result they [eggs, hares] have now become inseparable features of Easter. This theory as well as other theories has not been proven yet.

How to celebrate Easter

Many churches recognize Easter as a festive holiday and different customs are practiced according to the traditions of the celebrating group, also, different names are used to refer to Easter.A number of documented practices on Easter day are well established and some of them are still carried out by some people across the world. Other practices have disappeared such as wearing new gloves on Easter, making them a preferred gift to be received or given on the day prior to Easter. This was a popular tradition in England especially during the 16th century. Other customs that were practiced by people in some parts of England was that young males and females would steal each others belongings such as shoe buckles or hats. These items were returned that evening in exchange of small amount of money which was collected to buy food and drinks in order to celebrate.

Recent Times

Easter have gained more importance than Christmas and is celebrated by decorating eggs and indulging in chocolate, especially by children who also get new spring clothes as part of their festivity.  Families engage in coloring eggs and putting them in baskets along with some chocolate. These baskets are then given to children as gifts from the Easter Rabbit. During Easter season all kinds of confectionaries are widely sold, everything from marshmallows to edible crucifixes is merely thought of as Easter necessities.

Year 2011 is set to be the year of tablet computers. With all the major consumer electronic giants lined up to launch their tablets this year, the consumer is surely going to be spoiled with choices. It could be safely said the iPad has some real competition now.

60 Million units !

This year, it is estimated that nearly 60 million units of tablets would be sold. That is a very sharp rise from the 20 million units that were sold last year. With such a huge market, several manufacturers are scrambling to come out with their own products that can challenge and wrestle away a significant portion of the market value.

Though there may be more than thirty different tablets from different companies coming up in 2011, the top five tablets to look out for in the year are :

Motorola Xoom

During the just ended CES 2011, Google’s Motorola Xoom was voted as the ‘Best Tablet in Show’. The device is the first tablet that would be running on the Honeycomb, which is Android 3.0. The device has a highly sensitive 10.1-inch screen with NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor built inside it.

The price of the tablet is not yet out but it is expected on the US and British market later in the year or the first quarter of next year.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Though no major changes have been made in the Galaxy tablet, the device still has what it takes to make it to the market. The tablet runs on Android 2.2 Froyo with a 7-inch LCD display. It boasts of a screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The tablet’s browser is capable of running both Adobe Flash and HTML5 scripts.

The good news is that the device now has a 4G LTE enabled version for customers who use Verizon.

Notion Ink Adam

Next in the line is NotionInk’s tablet ‘Adam’. The manufacturers of the device claim that the only reason why the Notion Ink Adam tablet is not yet on the market is because of some registration procedure issue with the CE and FCC. Once those approvals are granted, the tablets will be on the US and the UK markets.

The device runs on Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual core processor. The manufacturers assure that the device would be running on the Honeycomb as soon as the Operating System is available.

The device currently runs on Android. It has a 10-inch screen with the Pixel Qi technology. That means that the words on the device’s screen can still be read when it is taken out in the sun.

Other features of the device include; WiFi, a 3 megapixel camera and HDMI port.

BlackBerry PlayBook

Research In Motion has been struggling for sometime now to reverse its decline in the market share due to the iPhone and the iPad. RIM is set to bring its version of a tablet to the market. The device is expected to be out by the second quarter of the year.

The PlayBook runs on RIM’s own Operating System called QNX. The device has a 7-inch screen which has 1024×600 WSVGA resolution. The device has an inbuilt 1 GHz dual-core processor.

Vizio VIA

Via from Vizio has an 8-inch screen with a front facing camera. It also has a built-in Infrared blaster that allows remote to be used to control apps on the device.

As it was stated earlier, this list is not about all the tablets that are coming out the season but the list offers insight into some of the devices that should looked out for.  iPad 2 was not featured because the device was not displayed by Apple at the CES 2011.

When the party ends…

Every rose has some thorns. Partying spells fun, enjoyment and merriment, but can we say the same thing about the morning after, when the hangover strikes and you wonder why in the world do people drink at all! That’s why the best hangover remedy that has been offered since times memorial is that don’t drink at all.

Why is my head about to burst

Even though not having a alcoholic drink is the best way to avoid a hangover, yet it is easier said than done. Hangover is a combination of a lot of things – dehydration, nervous shock and malnutrition. The human body converts the excess alcohol to acetaldyhyde which is the main cause of the headache or ‘hangover’ in common term. So to find effective remedies for the hangover, it is important to address no only the dehydration but the malnutrition too.

How do i stop it

Since the time humans started consuming alcohol, the biggest question is how to cure the aftereffects aka hangover. The various time tested ways to treat the hangover are:

treating dehydration..

Ofcourse, drinking lots of water and other fluids like juices is the first and the most important cure for the hangover and surely goes a long way to address the dehydration in the body. Caffeine and lemon juice are some of the best hangover cures, which have stood the test of time.

treating nervous shock…

Rest and sleep would take care of the nervous shock that your body has been through, because now your nerves are entering a hypersensitive state, as the effects of alcohol are wearing off. Some people believe that the best way to get rid of the hangover is to just sleep it off.

treating the malnutrition…

With all the alcohol consumed in a short span of time, the body works overtime to digest and breakdown the alcoholic content and hence the feeling of the “exhaustion”. And since the body was involved in digesting all the alcohol, so it is a good idea to get some calories in the body. Load up on the bacon, eggs and the sausages and get an energy boost. Bouillon with its high percentage of salt and potassium addresses the problem of depleted salts in your body, and is said to be a good hangover cure. Lots of fruits and vegetables are also said to do the trick, and the chief amongst them are passion fruit, prickly pear, tomatoes, grapefruit and bananas.

Italian food with a nice drizzle of olive oil and bursting with cheese is also recommended by the experts in bidding goodbye to the hangover. The combination of cheese and tomatoes is said to do the magic too!

What if nothing works?

However in case none of the above solutions offer any respite, because of the high percentage of alcohol in your blood stream, then just head to the medicine cabinet. Pop in some painkillers, B-complex and tablets containing Willow Bark extracts. Do remember that you ought to exercise moderation while taking medicines, as they can irritate the stomach lining. Taking a couple of aspirins with Alka Seltzer is also a a good hangover remedy.

Even though it might sound ironical, yet people swear by chasing the hangover with a chaser. The chaser is nothing but a small drink, like Beer, Bloody Mary or very cold vodka with pickle, which is the Russian favorite!

Image courtsey: Flickr/Toms Baugis

A Dream?

Call it a dream phone and you will not be far from right. At least because it is not a phone yet, it is just a concept. Real or not, the Seabird concept provides rich features that companies like Apple, Nokia, Motorola and the rest will surely be hunkering for!.

Concepts…

Earlier Mozilla asked for concepts from its forum users as part of its Mozilla Lab Concept Series and Billy May, a product designer, produced a concept for “Open Web Concept Phone“. Based on the community feedback, Billy May came up with the design that has the potential to change how mobile phones are developed and used worldwide.

Though Mozilla said they do not intend to develop the concept to a product, the possibility of seeing the product on the market anytime soon can’t be ruled out because of the rich experience that it can offer its users. Many are already calling Seabird as a ‘iPhone Killer’.

Mozilla released a video showing the features the Seabird offers. The video which is 2 mins 37secs long show Billy’s view of how Open Web Phone should look like.

The video opens with the physical introduction of the Seabird phone. The phone which is very sleek has an ultra slim lower part.

What has it got?

The phone has an 8.0 Megapixels camera at the back of the slightly bigger top with dual Pico projectors on the right side of the phone. The phone which is presented in silver-white color has a dongle embedded Bluetooth at the middle part of the phone towards the left side of the phone.

On the upper left side of the phone is a 45 Lumens light at 960 X 600. Just below the Lumens light is a 3.5mm audio jack. The phone is charged wirelessly and it has a mini-USB port at the base of the phone. One of the great features of the phone is the cover of the Bluetooth/Infra Red dongle which also serves as a wireless earpiece. It sure is usability at its best! Perhaps one of the best features of the phone is that it can be charged wirelessly and has such parts in it, that they can be used in multiple ways.

The dongle has a 1:1 connection with the phone’s camera. The dongle has haptic clicking which can be used to control the way videos and pictures are viewed on the phone. It allows for features like zooming and changing pictures.

With smartphone constantly pushing towards desktop computers, the need to provide input convenience for users remained a challenge to phone manufacturer. The Seabird concept provides an exceptional way to solve that problem.

The video showed the phone being docked on its jack stand. The dual Pico projector displayed a desktop-like image on a medium with the 45 Lumens light and that also displayed a keyboard near the base of the dock. Incredibly, the image on the base of the dock was sensitive to touch thus solving the problem of input convenience.

Though this is just a concept and not the actual product, it provides a fresh look into the future of how an ideal smartphone can be.

The shortlist…

Finally ! The list of authors in race for the Man Booker prize is down to 6 authors from the 13 authors who were initially shortlisted to win the Man Booker prize.

The shortlisted authors include two time winner, Peter Carey, but he is not expected to win for the third time, that is according to bookmakers. Peter made the shortlist with his book, Parrot and Olivier in America. Bookmakers predict that Peter is 5/1 to win the title and that makes him an outsider with Tom McCarthy highly tipped to carry the prize away.

Bookmakers, Tom McCarthy is 2/1 to win the top prize when it is announced on October 12 this year.

The awards which began in 1969 had 138 shortlisted titles this year. The list was trimmed to 13 and eventually the final 6 with the eventual winner expected to be announced on Tuesday October 12.

The prize…

The winner of the top prize will receive 50,000 pounds and each of the final six authors will receive 2,500 pounds and a designer bound edition of their shortlisted book.

The full list have Emma Donoghue with his book “Room”, Damon Galgut with “In A Strange Room”, Howard Jacobson with the “Finkler Question” and Andrea Levy with the book title “The Long Song” completing the list.

If the betting pattern is anything to go by, then Tom McCarthy will have no problem picking the coveted prize. More pundits have staked their money on McCarthy’s © to win the ultimate prize.

But Emma Donoghue and Damon Galgut also have favorable chance of winning the prize. Emma and Damon are both 3/1 to win the award, according to William Hill. But counting Peter Carey out of the race might not be the best thing to do. The fact that he made it to the top six list speaks volumes and winning it before makes it all familiar for him.

However, not many are convinced that the shortlist is correct. Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles Bookshop expressed shock that some great writers like David Mitchell and Christos Tsiolkas did not make the final list of six.

The jury responded and said that it was the hardest decision they have made in the history of the competition was bringing the list down to the final 6. They admitted that there were great books and that did not make the selection any easier.

Last year’s winner of the award, Hilary Mantel with the novel Wolf Hall has sold over half a million copies of his book since he was named the winner.

History

dBune: September 6th is the “Labor day” this year. The United States federal holiday is observed on the first Monday in September every year and it has remained so since it became a law in 1894. However, the first Labor Day was observed much before on September 5, 1882 in New York city.

Going to the past, it was not all simple and easy to get the day to be recognized as a federal holiday. Several workers were killed by the United States military and the Marshalls before President Grover Cleveland and the United States congress signed the holiday into law in a mere six day period.

The parade..

Traditionally, the day is observed with a parade, in which the significance of the American workers are highlighted to the people.

During this year’s parade, flag waving Americans will enjoy the day with their usual barbecues and parties. This is done every year to honor the millions of workers who continue to make the American economy great. Greater parades will be organized at places like Brooklyn, Manhattan and Detroit.

Traditionally, the day is characterized by three parts: the Labor Day parade, the celebrations and the family festivities that are held later.

This year..

This year’s celebration is expected to have its usual political demonstrations and rallies to highlight the problems the American workers currently have. The number one problem that politicians will have to answer the workers this year is the lack of the work itself. The percentage of Americans currently working keeps shrinking and it will be a major issue during this year’s rally.

But it is not all bad. There are bound to be celebrations too at several places. The fireworks are expected to light up the sky and remind the workers that though their problems may be many; there are still some brighter reasons why they should continue to help the American economy.

The festive mood during the Labor Day out-shadows the rallies and the politics of the day. Families get to spend the day together having parties and visiting landmark places in America.

Barbecues..

Barbecues and picnics provide the perfect aroma to the day. Though adults and parents take part in the march, the children get to have their chance to have some fun after the march and that is very important to them because it is their last holiday before school reopens.

Tips on how to make barbecues are available on the internet for free.  There are several ways to make great barbecues and certainly outdoor grilling has come a long way so the challenge will only be how to get a great gourmet kitchen on wheels. They come in handy during the holiday and other holidays.

With Labor day marking a beginning of a new season of NFL and college football seasons, and a hope for a positive recovery in the economy and the employment scenario, Happy Labor’s day.