Solstice » Day http://www.solsticedev.com Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:42:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Valentine’s Day: Dump It or Keep It? http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/valentines-day-dump-it-or-keep-it/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/valentines-day-dump-it-or-keep-it/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:15:13 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/valentines-day-dump-it-or-keep-it Continue reading →]]> Originally Aired: Wednesday, February 11, 2008 (Reloaded)

As Ive gotten older (even though I age very slowly, at least thats what I tell myself lol) Ive come to the realization that holidays that specifically portray gift giving seem to be meaningless. (Aside from your birthday ofcourse) Above them all I find that Valentines Day is the worst of them all Quick brief history lesson if you are unaware

The origins of Valentines Day are a bit skewed. Several early christian martyrs were name Valentine. Of the many Valentines in history Feb 14th is linked to two: Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni thats really the ONLY piece of concrete fact we know From there on its a bunch of BS legends of conflicting stories about Rome/Terni either A. writting a love letter to a young girl of which he signed Your Valentine or B. continuing to perform marriages of single soldiers when the belief at the time was that single men made better soldiers. Then theres the thought that Christians chose to commerate their death and/or christianize the pagan Lupercalia festival All in all its a bunch of crap!

My take on history? Some very smart business person(s) decided that well play on peoples basic natural emotion (LOVE) and find a way to make moneyhmmm, what should we do? Make it a holiday!!!!!! Everyone loves holidays, even if you arent necessarily off work its on your calendar and if they got enough people to buy into it (obviously they did) commercial businesses would flourish (and boy did they!)

Ill make this quick and painless, let me introduce you to my little list Its called

SHIRAZS LIST AS TO WHY VALENTINES DAY IS THE MOST MEANINGLESS HOLIDAY (witty arent I? lol)

It has NO real origin. Just because someone said I should do something doesnt make it valid. Proove something to me.
Its a commercial scam! I spend enough money on other things (birthdays, random gifts, etc.) than to now have to worry about purchasing something that has to be tied in red wrapping paper.
Love should be about. LOVE If youre only showing me that you love me on February 14th (by purchasing the same things 99.9% of other men are buying) then guess what, that not the type of love I really want. How about making your OWN special day during the year. A day that you and your partner went out for the first time, first kiss, first sex (oops I mean love session lol), you know the meaningful things. Or maybe its the day that he asked you.. Do you want to be my girlfriend Isnt that more meaningful than a random (extremely random) day in the shortest month of the year!??
Im sorry. Rant over. Am I being irrational people? If youre into Valentines Day, help me to understand why. If you agree with me, yep, still drop me a line as well.

The One & Only,

~Shiraz

Duration : 0:8:30


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/valentines-day-dump-it-or-keep-it/feed/ 0 Midsummer – the longest day of year – twilight in Finland http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/midsummer-the-longest-day-of-year-twilight-in-finland/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/midsummer-the-longest-day-of-year-twilight-in-finland/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:06:28 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/midsummer-the-longest-day-of-year-twilight-in-finland midnight car trip on VT14 Punkaharju music: Ancient Tribe
artist: Ray Kelley Band

Duration : 0:2:24


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/midsummer-the-longest-day-of-year-twilight-in-finland/feed/ 1 First Day of Winter is December 1st or The Dark Days of Winter http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/first-day-of-winter-is-december-1st-or-the-dark-days-of-winter/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/first-day-of-winter-is-december-1st-or-the-dark-days-of-winter/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 08:03:09 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/first-day-of-winter-is-december-1st-or-the-dark-days-of-winter Continue reading →]]> Anybody who is weatherwise knows that the first day of Winter falls on December first. However, for those of you who are otherwise the first day of the winter season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest south (on December 21st or 22nd). This day is known as the Winter Solstice.

A common misconception is that the earth is further from the sun in winter than in summer. Actually, the Earth is closest to the sun in December which is winter in the Northern hemisphere.

The day of the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. The length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. In the United States, there are only about 9½ hours of daylight on this day.

At latitude 40 degrees north (40 degrees N…that’s cool), the earliest sunset of the year occurs around December 8, and latest sunrise occurs around January 5. The day with the least amount of daylight (the first day of winter), occurs around December 21. Why are all these dates not the same? For a detailed explanation, see The Dark Days of Winter at the U.S. Naval Observatory web site.

Duration : 0:1:6


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/first-day-of-winter-is-december-1st-or-the-dark-days-of-winter/feed/ 0 Day Night Terminator http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/day-night-terminator/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/day-night-terminator/#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:13:13 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/day-night-terminator Continue reading →]]> The line that separates day and night is called the terminator. It is also referred to as the “grey line” and the “twilight zone.” It is a fuzzy line due to our atmosphere bending sunlight. In fact, the atmosphere bends sunlight by half a degree, which is about 37 miles (60 km). It is commonly thought that while half of the Earth is covered in darkness, the other half is covered in sunlight. This is actually not true because of the bending of the sunlight results in the land covered by sunlight having greater area than the land covered by darkness.

The shape of the terminator curve changes with the seasons. This difference is especially noticeable when the terminator curve from an equinox is compared to the terminator curve from a solstice. This dataset spans the entire year of 2007. In 2007, the spring equinox was March 21, the fall equinox was September 23, the summer solstice was June 21, and the winter solstice was December 22. During the equinox, the sun can be observed directly over the equator. This means that day and night are approximately the same length. The equinox is also thought of as the start of spring and fall. Because at equinox there is no tilt of the Earth with respect to the sun, the terminator line is parallel to the axis of the Earth and to lines of longitude. The solstice occurs when the Earth’s axis tilts most toward or away from the sun, causing the sun to be further north or south of the equator than any other time. The shortest day of the year is winter solstice and the longest day is summer solstice. When the Earth is tilted away from the sun, the sun appears south of the equator and when the Earth is titled toward the sun, the sun appears north of the equator. During solstice, the terminator line is at its greatest angle with respect to the axis of the Earth, which is approximately 23.5 degrees.

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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/day-night-terminator/feed/ 2 Katoomba NSW – Winter Magic Festival 2008 HD High Definition http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/katoomba-nsw-winter-magic-festival-2008-hd-high-definition/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/katoomba-nsw-winter-magic-festival-2008-hd-high-definition/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:37:34 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/katoomba-nsw-winter-magic-festival-2008-hd-high-definition Continue reading →]]> Every year on the weekend closest to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year Katoomba in the Blue Mountains celebrates The Winter Magic Festival a time for song and dance!Now in Wide Screen HD High Definition.

Duration : 0:6:10


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/katoomba-nsw-winter-magic-festival-2008-hd-high-definition/feed/ 4 The Shortest Day http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/the-shortest-day/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/the-shortest-day/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:10:15 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/the-shortest-day the shortest day in Scotland compressed into 45 seconds

Duration : 0:0:41


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/the-shortest-day/feed/ 0 Winter solstice 2009 Time-lapse “the shortest day in the year for the Northern Hemisphere.” http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/winter-solstice-2009-time-lapse-the-shortest-day-in-the-year-for-the-northern-hemisphere/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/winter-solstice-2009-time-lapse-the-shortest-day-in-the-year-for-the-northern-hemisphere/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:50:30 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/winter-solstice-2009-time-lapse-the-shortest-day-in-the-year-for-the-northern-hemisphere Winter solstice 2009 Time-lapse “the shortest day in the year for the Northern Hemisphere.”
web cam capture by Sean Collins

Duration : 0:1:33


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]]> http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-year/winter-solstice-2009-time-lapse-the-shortest-day-in-the-year-for-the-northern-hemisphere/feed/ 2 Winter Solstice 2009: Shortest Day of the Year http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/winter-solstice-2009-shortest-day-of-the-year/ http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/winter-solstice-2009-shortest-day-of-the-year/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:50:26 +0000 admin http://www.solsticedev.com/shortest-day-of-the-year/winter-solstice-2009-shortest-day-of-the-year Winter Solstice 2009: Shortest Day of the Year around the Shevington countryside

Duration : 0:4:21


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