Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year's Day

So here we are, January 1, 2010.

Where are we?

You know! Today is New Year's Day.

Whadda ya mean New Year's Day? No way!

Huh? Everybody knows that January 1 is when one year ends and another starts.

Everybody's not looking, then. This year the New Year started on December 22nd, the day when the sun spent more time in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere than it did the day before. That was the REAL New Year's Day.

Some people will count March 22, 2010 as New Year's Day because that is the day when the sun in the Northern Hemisphere will be above the horizon more than twelve hours. I like the day after winter solstice (December 22nd 2009, last year) as being the mark for the New Year. Our ancient ancestors had little more than myth to explain the heavens. Can you imagine the joy they felt when the days started getting longer after they had been getting shorter for six months or so? (The actual amount of time days get shorter each year averages 182 days, 14 hours, 54 minutes and 31.68 seconds, more or less.) One of the first important scientific accomplishment of human beings was to create good calendars.

So, just in case you wondered, this is TRULY EXTREMELY IMPORTANT because once we get the time right our confusion about so many other things is likely to diminish. Don't you agree?
LET'S GET REAL!

4 comments:

  1. So good to hear from you!

    I don't care about time. I get paid by life's joys. They come without the constraints of "time."

    They are called children, grandchildren and my mate. They, are timeless.

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  2. It's Scooter! Just wanted to let you know I'm looking forward to your future posts.

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  3. A good place for you to keep us abreast of the chore of everyday thought and poetry.

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  4. Knock knock. Who's there?

    Peter Caruso - where are you?

    ReplyDelete