It's the wrong time of year for Street View to come to the Ether City
Google Street View is in Winnipeg this week, and some of us are absolutely appalled by this idea - but not for the reasons you may think. Winnipeg has several beautiful seasons ...but early spring isn't one of them. We're having a flood, the streets are f - i - l - t - h - y and the city lies exhausted from a long winter. It's the wrong time of year for Google Street View to come for a visit...
posted by sporb on Apr 9, 2009 - 48 comments

Looking for a reason to celebrate today, or just a reason to skip out on your obligations? You could look through Religious seasonal days of celebration and holy days , check if today is covered by Holiday for Every Day yet, or keep things simple and rely on a Calendar of the Saints like the Catholic feast days or Greek Saints Days from the Orthodox Ministry Access Calendar. If you like to be more traditional, you could go with the Medievalist's On-line Calendar of Saints, which only lists people recognized as saints in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Or, if you feel lucky, check for special Google logos (designed by Dennis Hwang). For instance, today is the first day of Spring, and the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
posted by filthy light thief on Mar 20, 2009 - 6 comments

(SLYTP-filter) What choreography goes best with Igor Stravinsky's "Dance of the Young Girls" from his Rite of Spring? [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein on Sep 4, 2008 - 43 comments

They are members of the olive family, among the earliest flowering plants imported to the United States. Planted near the front doors of flat, bare early Colonial house facades, they helped to create "dooryard gardens," which softened and brought beauty to a rough-hewn early America. Jefferson planted them; at Monticello, some of those bushes still bloom.. They gave Pan his pipes. They are employed as evocative symbols in American literature, song, and poetry, where they symbolize the sensuousness of love in its earliest stages. Festivals celebrate their blooming, and NOAA tracks the earliest leaves and flowers for evidence of climate change. The inability to smell it may be an early indication of Alzheimer's disease. No wonder people like to steal them.
posted by Miko on May 23, 2008 - 31 comments

"The sweet aroma of sap permeating the air, still harkens the arrival of Spring"^* in New England, Canada and other U.S. states. The Eastern Woodland Indians discovered that maple sap cooked over an open fire produces a sweet sugar [video], resulting in maple syrup. Many associate the syrup with Quebec (which produces most of the world's supply) and Vermont where about "one of every four trees...is a maple."^* Vermont even has a "maple cop." He enforces "Vermont's maple regulations for the state Agency of Agriculture, which strictly regulates how Vermont's most famous export is made, marketed and sold."^* [more inside]
posted by ericb on Apr 6, 2008 - 36 comments

The art of spin. No, not that spin silly. This one. Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. Don't worry--it's really simple. All you've got to do is follow these instructions, practice, practice, practice, and then you'll be as good as these guys someday. But try not to act like a dick. [more inside]
posted by hadjiboy on Mar 26, 2008 - 11 comments

Birds start singing in the spring because of a biological response to longer days.
posted by chuckdarwin on Mar 20, 2008 - 26 comments

Celebrate the most underappreciated holiday of the year! February 1st is St. Brigid's Day or Imbolc or Candlemas. St. Brigid of Ireland, the woman who some make a good case that she should be the Patron Saint of Ireland before Patrick. Others say she was the pre-Christian fertility or fire goddess of the Celts and that the Catholic Church co-opted her day as they did with many pagan pre-Christian holidays. Whether one celebrates Candlemas as a Catholic holy day or as a one of the Pagan cross-quarter days, it is also the Festival of Lights. Regardless, I have loved February 1st and 2nd since college as Groundhog Day is the most whimsical holiday of the year, thankfully it does not have a 2 month retail buying season building up to it. Tomorrow, I shall take a photo to Puxsutawney Phil to St. Brigid's Well in Kildare to celebrate properly.
posted by msjen on Feb 1, 2006 - 11 comments

Don't you just love Spring in a cold climate? (Courtesy of The Onion and Dack.com)
posted by leafy on Apr 19, 2001 - 10 comments

Springing into redesign
Orbiting has been redesigned for Spring, and I've seen a couple of others. Have y'all seen any other good ones (besides Derek's, which is fantastic)?
posted by Melanie on Apr 2, 2000 - 11 comments