Today is the winter solstice

...in earth's northern hemisphere and also in the southern hemisphere although it is probably called something else there. Maybe kylie in Sydney will enlighten us.

It is the day with the least amount of daylight all year (the "shortest day") in the northern hemisphere and the day with the most amount of sunlight all year (the "longest day") in the southern hemisphere. It is also the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere and the first day of summer in the southern hemisphere.

Just for the record, sunrise in Canton, Georgia, today occurred at 7:40AM and sunset occurred at 5:32PM, a daylight period of 9 hours, 52 minutes. Because earth's axis is tilted approximately 23 and a half degrees off vertical, sunrise and sunset times vary according to one's latitude on the planet. Since Atlanta is at 33.75 North latitude and Sydney is at 33.87 South latitude, one would expect Sydney's daylght hours to complement Atlanta's daylight hours, adding up to 24 hours, and one would be right. I checked. The sun rose at 5:41AM today in Sydney and it set at 8:06PM, a daylight period of 14 hours, 25 minutes. That Atlanta's daylight and Sydney's daylight on solstice day added together does not equal exactly 24 hours--it equals 24 hours, 17 minutes--can be attributed to minor differences in the two cities' distances above and below the equator. On winter solstice day, everybody north of the Arctic circle experienced 24 hours of darkness, and everybody south of the Antarctic Circle experienced 24 hours of daylight. On summer solstice day in June, the very opposite is true.

These fascinating/boring facts (pick one) have been brought to you by your intrepid correspondent, rhymeswithplague, and there's a lot more where that came from.

PS - I do apologize for ignoring Beethoven's birthday this year.

From the archives: Yes, Virginia, there is a St. Nicholas

...and today, December 6, happens to be the day when people in many places around the world honor him. He looked nothing like the mental image you probably have of his direct descendant, Santa Claus. We have a poem called “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (written in 1823 by either Clement Clark Moore or someone else) and twentieth-century artist Haddon Sundblom’s depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in 1931 to thank for that. (I would include Sundblom’s picture of your mental image here, Virginia, except that the aforementioned Coca-Cola Company owns the copyright.)

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, the real St. Nicholas was born around 270 A.D. and died on this date in the year 343 in what is now the country of Turkey. He is the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, merchants, archers, children, the falsely accused, pawnbrokers, thieves, and students in Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, the Republic of Macedonia, Slovakia, Serbia, and Montenegro. He is also the patron saint of several cities, among which are Barranquilla in Colombia, Bari in Italy, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Beit Jala in the West Bank of Palestine. In 1809, the New York Historical Society convened and named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York, so Saint Nicholas could also be considered the patron saint of New York.

Start spreadin’ the news.

To see Wikipedia’s very interesting articles about Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus, click here and here.


[Editor's Note. This post was originally published on December 6, 2007. —RWP]