Happy Summer Solstice Day!

[NotMyBest2Day]

I know it's stupid, but I just felt like making a thread about it.

Today (June 21) is the Summer Solstice (for the Northern Hemisphere). The sun will be at it's highest in the sky (closest to zenith (straight overhead)), and the daylight is the longest day of the year..granted it's only the longest by like 30 seconds, but yeah.

That means the days get shorter from here on out until Winter Solstice (December 21).

[/stupid useless information]

[therealwesty]

An excellent Pagan holiday. We should all gather at our nearest stone temple, drink a bunck of beer, sacrifice some animals and have sex with the towns virgins. It'll be great.

[speedy11309]

1)drink a bunck of beer, 2)sacrifice some animals and 3)have sex with the towns virgins. It'll be great.

1) completely agree. ive already started...its 10am, is that bad?
2) im all for killing animals. can i hit a cow in the face with a sledgehammer? ive always wanted to do that.
3) there are none left. i got to them all.

[Joe]

An excellent Pagan holiday. We should all gather at our nearest stone temple, drink a bunck of beer, sacrifice some animals and have sex with the towns virgins. It'll be great.


LMAO .... thats just great ... made my day :p

[chris000001]

I know it's stupid, but I just felt like making a thread about it.

Today (June 21) is the Summer Solstice (for the Northern Hemisphere). The sun will be at it's highest in the sky (closest to zenith (straight overhead)), and the daylight is the longest day of the year..granted it's only the longest by like 30 seconds, but yeah.

That means the days get shorter from here on out until Winter Solstice (December 21).

[/stupid useless information]

LOL... i have those dates in my calendar on my laptop from my AST1002 class

and to westy...sounds like a plan!!!! :dev:

[NotMyBest2Day]

ROFL...awesome Westy. That one was totally unexpected.

[AKHandyman]

Well, here's my take on the whole subjuect ... Twenty-three and a half degrees!!!

Thank goodness the temperature is nowhere near that, but thank God that Earth's axis has just that much tilt to it.

Thanks to that angle of tilt, our northern town is in the midst of enjoying 22 hours and 50 minutes of sunshine. The sun is up until tomorrow, in fact. It rose at 2:57 a.m. today and won't dip below the horizon again until 12:47 a.m. Thursday.

The summer solstice is upon us and it's time to play.

As Robert Service wrote, "there are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun," and taking liberties with the poet's intended context we should say, "well, of course, and why not?"

Anyone who lives in Fairbanks or places north for any amount of time soon learns that there will be plenty of time for sleep in the winter. So we might be painting our house or jogging or playing golf or baseball at midnight.

And why not?

On this day the weather is good, usually, in mid-June with highs in that perfect 70-degree range and lows just down to shirt-sleeve comfortable 50s. Flashlights and headlamps are stowed for months to come, now is the time to get out and get things done.

And why not?

At lower latitudes in summer people still have to worry about burning daylight. They rise at dawn and work till dark. But we can take our time and visit friends and enjoy company and take things at a little more leisurely pace here in the north. There is a festival downtown and all kinds of sales and special hours going on at the local stores.

There's always time to work on a little project in the yard, or maybe take the dog for a walk, go fishing or hike a trail while the sun is still above the horizon.

And why not?

The sun is up. Might as well enjoy it while we can. There will be plenty of time for sleep in the winter.

And, after today, we start losing daylight and winter is on the way.

[NotMyBest2Day]

I was outside during solar noon (which isn't actually at noon, btw) and it looked almost straight overhead for me. I'm at 33°N, so by the numbers, it was 9.5° away from zenith for me.

Google Earth says Tok, Ak is right about 63°20'N, so that puts solar noon for you at about 39.83° up from the horizon (50.16° from zenith). Not too shabby.

[AKHandyman]

See, it wasn't a stupid thread ... kind of neat, actually ... ;)

[Zefram]

My place saw the same amount of sunlight all year long :D

[omga14]

Well, here's my take on the whole subjuect ... Twenty-three and a half degrees!!!

Thank goodness the temperature is nowhere near that, but thank God that Earth's axis has just that much tilt to it.
seems like me and the earth have more in common than i thought.....maybe that was to much for you guys right now huh:teeth:

[therealwesty]

ROFL...awesome Westy. That one was totally unexpected.

hehe I've always been pretty interested in the ancient British history, partly because there isn't much real history. The lack of any written records leave a lot of stuff open to speculation. The end result is a wonderful mix of myth and legend that people try to validate with archeological findings.

Before the Romans came the faith of choice was Paganism, so I know a fair bit about it from reading and studying this period of British life.

This summer I'll be visiting UK to have a look at Stone Henge, the various castle and some other ancient Pagan sites of worship for my vacation, I am very much looking forward to it.