April the giraffe has given birth at a New York zoo as more than a million people around the world watched live.
The birth was streamed live on 6abc.com and the 6abc Action News Facebook page.
The 15-year-old giraffe delivered her calf Saturday in an enclosed pen at the zoo in Harpursville, a rural upstate village about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of New York city.then, short time later, the calf stood for the first time. That, too, was streamed live and captured on video.
At least 1.2 million people watched the Animal Adventure Park"sYouTube stream for the birth.
This is April"s fourth calf, but Animal Adventure Park"s first giraffe calf. The proud papa is a 5-year-old giraffe named Oliver.
The privately owned zoo began livestreaming from April"s enclosure in February. People around the world have been tuning in daily.
April has her own website and even an apparel line.
The zoo says it will have a contest to decide on a name for the calf.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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"Star Wars: Rebels" Executive Producer Dave Filoni said today his team all felt "the time was right" for Ezra (Taylor Gray), Kanan (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and the rest of the Ghost crew to complete their run on the acclaimed Disney XD show.
The upcoming fourth season of "Rebels" will be its last and will air this coming fall with 15 episodes.
"The characters were at a point where their story, and their destinies, should finally be revealed," Filoni added in an official release today announcing the last season of the show. He added that in no way is this the end of what his team is doing in "Star Wars" animation.
At the end of last season, we saw an epic confrontation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. We also saw a familiar hero in his younger years -- Luke Skywalker. During a panel today at "Star Wars" Celebration in Orlando, Florida, the cast teased that fans will also see more familiar faces in the new and final season.
"I wish you didn"t have to wait till the fall," show voice-over star freddie prinze jr. told the fans in attendance at Celebration.
"It"s not like anything else we"ve done before on the show," Filoni added. "It"s different, a little dark."
The storyline for the animated show starts after the events of "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," when Anakin Skywalker has already turned into Darth Vader, but is before "Episode IV - A New Hope," when we met Luke, Obi-Wan and company for the first time on the big screen.
For fans of the "Star Wars" universe, there"s always tons of fun, hidden connections to past movies.
Here"s the first trailer for season 4!
ABC News and Lucasfilm are both part of parent company Disney.
Mary and I are in Georgia working with the Conservative Campaign Committee, helping to defeat the Democrats" hyper-liberal 8-million-dollar man, Jon Ossoff, who is running for the GOP congressional seat.
Our CCC team did a sign wave session on GoodFridayon a street corner near where a mega-church was hosting an Easter celebration event. Traffic was backed up big-time.
I was extremely impressed and encouraged by the large number of cars filled with families headed to the easter event. Many of them honked their horns in support, waved, gave us thumps up, and cheered us on. Clearly, they were politically well informed and probably mostly Republicans. We need a huge Republican turnout to stop Ossoff from getting 50% of the voteApril 18.
Only one jeep with about five youths drove by touting Ossoff. Then they turned their radio up obnoxiously loud, playing hip-hop music with vulgar lyrics such as M-F this and M-F that. The youths" rude, crude, and not-caring-about-anyone-else-but-themselves behavior is what you typically see in leftists. They had no respect for those carloads of Christian families surrounding them, cranking up their vulgar music in defiance. It was not surprising which candidate they chose to support: young Bernie Sanders clone Jon Ossoff.
Leftists are relentless in their efforts to dispirit everyday Americans. They try to convince us that they have successfully crushed every godly principle and value we hold dear. Seeing the seemingly endless caravan of cars heading to celebrate our risen savior was truly inspiring a breath of fresh air.
Remember Art Linkletter"s TV show, Kids Say The Darndest Things? A CCC team member said when her adult daughter was little, she was asked in church, "What is GoodFriday?" Her daughter said, "It was the day Jesus was fried." Cute.
Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated AmericanAuthor: Confessions of a Black Conservative: How the Left has shattered the dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black AmericaSinger/Songwriter and Conservative Activist
Mary and I are in Georgia working with the Conservative Campaign Committee, helping to defeat the Democrats" hyper-liberal 8-million-dollar man, Jon Ossoff, who is running for the GOP congressional seat.
Our CCC team did a sign wave session on GoodFridayon a street corner near where a mega-church was hosting an Easter celebration event. Traffic was backed up big-time.
I was extremely impressed and encouraged by the large number of cars filled with families headed to the easter event. Many of them honked their horns in support, waved, gave us thumps up, and cheered us on. Clearly, they were politically well informed and probably mostly Republicans. We need a huge Republican turnout to stop Ossoff from getting 50% of the voteApril 18.
Only one jeep with about five youths drove by touting Ossoff. Then they turned their radio up obnoxiously loud, playing hip-hop music with vulgar lyrics such as M-F this and M-F that. The youths" rude, crude, and not-caring-about-anyone-else-but-themselves behavior is what you typically see in leftists. They had no respect for those carloads of Christian families surrounding them, cranking up their vulgar music in defiance. It was not surprising which candidate they chose to support: young Bernie Sanders clone Jon Ossoff.
Leftists are relentless in their efforts to dispirit everyday Americans. They try to convince us that they have successfully crushed every godly principle and value we hold dear. Seeing the seemingly endless caravan of cars heading to celebrate our risen savior was truly inspiring a breath of fresh air.
Remember Art Linkletter"s TV show, Kids Say The Darndest Things? A CCC team member said when her adult daughter was little, she was asked in church, "What is GoodFriday?" Her daughter said, "It was the day Jesus was fried." Cute.
Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated AmericanAuthor: Confessions of a Black Conservative: How the Left has shattered the dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black AmericaSinger/Songwriter and Conservative Activist
MIDTOWN A chaotic scene unfolded atPenn Station after Amtrak police used a Taser on someone Friday evening, according to officials and reports.
People may have mistaken the sound for a shooting and ran into the station in a panic, WCBS reported. There were no shots fired, an NYPD spokesman tweeted.
The MTA tweeted that Amtrak police used a Taser while arresting two people for "disobeying orders" at the station.
the station was already crowded after a NJ Transit train got stuck in a tunnel under the Hudson River Friday afternoon.
There was no immediate information on injuries.
Some passersby took to Twitter to show what the station looked like after the incident:
Good Friday - Celebration of the Passion of the Lord 2017
Actor James Burke-Dunsmore carries the crucifix whilst playing Jesus during The Wintershalls The Passion of Jesus in front of crowds on Good Friday at Trafalgar Square on March 25, 2016 in London, England. (Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
Today is Good Friday, where Christians the world over commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at Calvary. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, or Black Friday and comes the Friday before Easter. The date of Easter is always the first Sunday after the full moon following a spring equinox. This year, Easter is on Sunday, april 16.
good friday comes after maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday. Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples where he washed their feet.
Both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are held on our around the week-long Jewish festival of Passover.
In three out of the four canonical gospels, (Matthew, Mark and Luke), it is written that Jesus Last Supper occurred on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, according to Mark 14:12. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is also known as Passover.
Passover is a week-long Jewish festival that commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites by G*d from slavery in ancient Egypt. The story of the Exodus is described in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Book of Exodus. In the Book of Exodus, Moses leads the Israelites across the Red Sea and through the deserts to Mount Sinai, where G*d promises them the land of Canaan as thanks for their faithfulness.
There are many similarities between the stories of Moses and Jesus.
Learn more about the history and origins of Good Friday here!
1. It Has Pagan Origins
Arthur Uther Pendragon, a druid, waits for the sun to rise as he celebrates the Spring Equinox at Stonehenge on March 20 2009 near Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Prior to Christianity, many ancient religions had myths and legends about the death and rebirth of gods and goddesses. Celebrations of these gods usually occurred in the springtime.
Hilaria was the ancient Roman religious festival celebrated on the March equinox to honor Cybele, the mother goddess, and her son/lover, Attis. Attis committed suicide by castrating himself right before his wedding to someone else. Cybele wanted to honor Attis life by ensuring that his corpse would never rot or decay. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Attis was fundamentally a vegetation G*d, and in his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth, which die in winter only to rise again in the spring.
Hilaria would later become associated with April Fools and is where we derive the word hilarious from.
Ancient gods and goddesses that took the forms of humans only to die and resurrect in the spring season include Baal, Melqart, Adonis, Tammuz, Dionysus, Ishtar, Persephone, and Bari.
The similarities dont stop there. Other gods or messiah-like saviors were crucified on a cross or tree before ascending into heaven. According to Kersey Graves, author of The Worlds Sixteen Crucified Saviors, these early Christs include familiar names like Krishna, Prometheus, and Quezalcoatl of Mexico.
The theory that Jesus was just a new name for an old story is called the Christ myth theory.
2. Its Unclear When Good Friday First Began to be Observed
Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici examines a burial niche inside the Talpiot tomb in Jerusalem, Israel in this undated handout photo from Vision TV. Jacobovicis documentary, The Lost Tomb Of Jesus, produced by Oscar-winner James Cameron, includes the controversial claim that 10 ossuaries discovered in the cave in 1980 may have held the bones of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene, and possibly a son. (Photo by Associated Producers LTD via Getty Images)
It is unclear when the first Good Friday was held but the earliest allusion to the custom of Holy Week, which starts on Palm Sunday and ends with Easter, comes from the Apostolic Constitutions in the latter half of the 3rd century and 4th century from Syria.
The author(s) of the Apostolic Constitutions is unknown, but the work claims to have been written by the Twelve Apostles. However, just like the gospels, it was common in ancient times to remain anonymous and attribute work to historical figures, writes Religion Online.
The first Christian Roman emperor Constantine is charged with setting the modern Easter date in June of 325 A.D. at the ancient city of Nicaea (modern Iznik, Turkey), writes the Oxford University Press. The problem was, the only thing everyone knew about the date of Jesus crucifixion was that it happened around the Jewish celebration of Passover. They write:
Since the date of Passover, then as now, is celebrated in accordance with the Jewish calendar, the correlation with the Julian calendar used by Christians and most other inhabitants of the Roman Empire was always inexact. Some Christians believed that the best way to solve the problem was to celebrate Easter on the first day of Passover according to the Jewish calendar, another group held that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the opening of Passover, while yet another group felt that the timing of the Christian festival should not be determined by the timing of Passover and should instead be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox.
Easter is always the first Sunday after the full moon following a spring equinox, or vernal equinox.
This year Passover begins at sundown on Monday, April 10, and runs through Tuesday, April 18.
Jewish holidays begin at sundown because, according to the Bible, days begin at sundown. This is based on the story of creation from Genesis, where at the end of each day it reads, And there was evening, and there was morning after every day. Because the Torah defines a day as beginning with the evening, so do the Jewish people.
The observation of a new day beginning with the moon is also reflected in the Hebrew calendar, which is a lunar calendar. This is also the reason why the dates of Jewish holidays change every year. The lunar calendar reflects the cycles of the moon, and when it is compared to or tried to fit into a 12-cycle solar calendar (that most of the Western world uses), there are slightly more than twelve lunations (or moon phases) in a solar year.
3. Good Has Multiple Origins for Good Friday
Actor James Burke-Dunsmore stands on a crucifix whilst playing Jesus. (Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
Just like the date of the original Good Friday, the etymology behind Good Friday is also contested.
Your Dictionary states that the Good of Good Friday comes from good, pious, holy (obsolete). However, others claim that is a corruption of G*d.
In other Germanic languages like German, Good Friday is translated to Mourning Friday or Silent Friday.
4. Jesus Was Crucified
(Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
There are two facts about Jesus that arent up for debate by historians: Jesus was baptized and crucified.
For the crucifixion, there are historical references that arent in the Bible. The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Jesus, his sentencing to death by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in one page of his final work, Annals (written ca. A.D. 116). The text reads:
[Roman Emperor] Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.
Pliny the Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia et Pontus (now in Turkey), also wrote about Christians and referenced their leader. Around 112 A.D., Pliny wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan asking advice on how to deal with Christians. According to Be Thinking, Pliny wrote:
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a G*d, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.
Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus also wrote about Jesus and early Christians, whom he still referred to as Jews in 41 to 54 A.D.
5. There Are at Least 2.2 Billion Christians
Iraqi Christians light candles inside a shrine in the grounds of Mazar Mar Eillia (Mar Elia) Catholic Church, that has now become home to hundreds of Iraqi Christians who were forced to flee their homes as the Islamic State advanced earlier this year, on December 12, 2014 in Erbil, Iraq. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
For at least 2.2 billion people, today is a day of solemn remembrance for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. According to NPR in 2010, Christianity is the largest observed religion in the world with 31 percent of people adhering to it.
For this large population, today will be remembered in a variety of ways. Catholics will fast, Protestants will light the Tenebrae, and nearly all denominations will observe the Stations of the Cross.
Holy Week culminates with the observation of the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday.
Good Friday 2017: Bible Verses, Passages, & Readings
On this day Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Find inspirational Bible quotes here for study on this holy time before Easter.
Click here to read moreGood Friday 2017: All the Memes You Need to See
Happy Good Friday! Today is the day that Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus at Cavalry. Here are some the funniest memes and GIFs about this holiday.
the egg-stravaganza runs from 11am to 4 pm in the Meadow across from the Amphitheater in Buffalo Springs Lake. Ages 11 and under get in for free before 4 pm while ages 12 64 pay $10, and 65+ pay $5.
The specified times for egg hunts are:
Special Needs Children (Adult help allowed) 1 pm18 months 2 years old (Adult help allowed) 1:30 pm2 3 years old (Adult help allowed) 2 pm4 5 years old (No adult help for ages 4 and up) 2:30 pm6-8 years old 3 pm9-11 years old 3 pm
The Easter Bunny will also be making an appearance from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
This family event will also provide craft and food vendors, a petting zoo, face painting and more. Buffalo Lake is located at9999 High Meadow Road Lubbock, Texas.
MARSHAWN LYNCH AGREES TO TERMS WITH THE OAKLAND RAIDERS! BEASTMODE OUT OF RETIREMENT!
Reports are swirling about marshawn lynch agreeing to terms with the Raiders. First he had agreed to terms and then he hadnt, then reports said the two sides were not close, then Lynch himself chimed in essentially telling everyone to pump the brakes. More specifically he said When s**t get REAL Ill let you kno!
Through it all, a deal is still expected to be reached. The talk sounds like its more a questions of when. But with the week about to turn into the weekend, its possible we may not see anything official until Monday.
With that in mind, and as we head into Easter weekend, our own Goro Burroughs has hatched a new compilation. And fitting for the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead, this compilation is set to the theme of Dark Knight Rises.
Enjoy Beast Mode Rises.
May you find all the colored eggs, and eat all the chocolate bunnies you can handle.
