Comments on: Odds and ends again! http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:36:06 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: StevoR http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39150 StevoR Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:19:26 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39150 In Australia, we have two seasons : Cricket & Football ... ;-) Well okay technically : June-July-August = winter Sept- Oct-November = spring Dec--Jan-Feb = Summer & March-April-May = Autumn ('Fall' for you spelling challenged Northerners!) At least that's how it is in Adelaide & the Southern states, up north theyjust have Wet /Dry seasons. Thesemaybe totally illogiocal, there maybe better more reasonable ways of judging things -but that's what we got fols &trying to argue it is like telling everyone Friday is really Sunday and vice-versa .. On this one convention is likely towin until things really, really change. Personally, it would make sense to have four orbitally determined holidays common toeveryoen- equinox, (twice) perihelion (Earth nearest Sun in itsveryslightly eccentric orbit) & aperihelion (spelling?) when Earth's furthest point from the Sun ... ... But the chances of that sort of logical, scientifically derived, egalitarian system coming into use anytime soon : 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 % In Australia, we have two seasons : Cricket & Football … ;-)

Well okay technically :

June-July-August = winter
Sept- Oct-November = spring
Dec–Jan-Feb = Summer
&
March-April-May = Autumn (’Fall’ for you spelling challenged Northerners!)

At least that’s how it is in Adelaide & the Southern states, up north theyjust have Wet /Dry seasons.

Thesemaybe totally illogiocal, there maybe better more reasonable ways of judging things -but that’s what we got fols &trying to argue it is like telling everyone Friday is really Sunday and vice-versa .. On this one convention is likely towin until things really, really change.

Personally, it would make sense to have four orbitally determined holidays common toeveryoen- equinox, (twice) perihelion (Earth nearest Sun in itsveryslightly eccentric orbit) & aperihelion (spelling?) when Earth’s furthest point from the Sun …

… But the chances of that sort of logical, scientifically derived, egalitarian system coming into use anytime soon :

0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 %

]]> By: Cometkazie http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39149 Cometkazie Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:25:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39149 Your time for the solstice is off by an hour. 1806UT coverts to 1206MDT unless you get an adjustment for elevation! That's not bad. Our local TV weather guru had the day wrong and said at the winter solstice, "The nights will start getting longer." We have four seasons here in the Lower Wetlands: Football season, Mardi Gras, crawfish season, and waiting for football season. Your time for the solstice is off by an hour. 1806UT coverts to 1206MDT unless you get an adjustment for elevation!
That’s not bad. Our local TV weather guru had the day wrong and said at the winter solstice, “The nights will start getting longer.”
We have four seasons here in the Lower Wetlands: Football season, Mardi Gras, crawfish season, and waiting for football season.

]]> By: John Krehbiel http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39148 John Krehbiel Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:30:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39148 I agree, with some reservations, that the seasons' beginning and ending dates could be revised, but why ignore weather? Isn't the main difference, to most people, between summer and winter the weather? I understand, of course, that the angle if incidence of sunlight determines the weather change, but there is a lag. The hottest days of summer are in July and early August (at least where I live). What about one month before and two months after (the solstices and equinoxes, I mean)? I agree, with some reservations, that the seasons’ beginning and ending dates could be revised, but why ignore weather? Isn’t the main difference, to most people, between summer and winter the weather?

I understand, of course, that the angle if incidence of sunlight determines the weather change, but there is a lag. The hottest days of summer are in July and early August (at least where I live).

What about one month before and two months after (the solstices and equinoxes, I mean)?

]]> By: Ruth http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39147 Ruth Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:53:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39147 Either you call seasons on the weather, or what the plants and animals in your back yard are doing, in which case it's different depending on where you are and it varies from year to year, OR if you want a standard fixed set of dates and 4 seasons of equal length then BA is right. So, Happy Midsummer/Midwinter everybody! Either you call seasons on the weather, or what the plants and animals in your back yard are doing, in which case it’s different depending on where you are and it varies from year to year, OR if you want a standard fixed set of dates and 4 seasons of equal length then BA is right. So, Happy Midsummer/Midwinter everybody!

]]> By: Buzz Parsec http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39146 Buzz Parsec Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:56:23 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39146 Climaticly, the British system might make sense there, but it sure doesn't in North America, where August is the hottest month and February the coldest. Groundhog day never made the slightest sense to me. Winter never ends on Feb 2. March 2, maybe. My sister-in-law tells me that in Aussie, winter is June, July and August, and so on. This matches the climate better (or would if turned upside down for the northern hemisphere, but the months are, astronomicly speaking, arbitrary. Summer isn't quite June 21-Sept 21, but that's a lot closer than May 1-Aug 1. June 15-Sept 15 is pretty close, and only a week off from the solstice-to-equinox definition. Chocolate - Nature's perfect food! Climaticly, the British system might make sense there, but it sure doesn’t in
North America, where August is the hottest month and February the coldest.
Groundhog day never made the slightest sense to me. Winter never ends on Feb 2. March 2, maybe. My sister-in-law tells me that in Aussie, winter is June, July and August, and so on. This matches the climate better (or would if turned upside down for the northern hemisphere, but the months are, astronomicly speaking, arbitrary. Summer isn’t quite June 21-Sept 21, but that’s a lot closer than May 1-Aug 1. June 15-Sept 15 is pretty close, and only a week off from the solstice-to-equinox definition.

Chocolate – Nature’s perfect food!

]]> By: Jack Hagerty http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39145 Jack Hagerty Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:20:37 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39145 Sergeant Zim Says: "You do know, don’t you, that coffee is one of the 4 REAL food groups? Coffee (includes Mt Dew, Coke, Tea, any caffinated drink) Cookies (includes snickers, doughnuts, etc) Beer (includes wine, Smirnoff, Jell-oshots, etc) Pizza (includes burgers, hot dogs, etc.) Chocolate is not a food group, chocolate is a vitamin" No, no, no. You got it backwards. The four basic food groups are sugar, salt, fat and caffine. Really! Just ask the snack food industry. Chocolate, you'll notice, contains all four, making it the perfect food. - Jack Sergeant Zim Says: “You do know, don’t you, that coffee is one of the 4 REAL food groups?

Coffee (includes Mt Dew, Coke, Tea, any caffinated drink)
Cookies (includes snickers, doughnuts, etc)
Beer (includes wine, Smirnoff, Jell-oshots, etc)
Pizza (includes burgers, hot dogs, etc.)
Chocolate is not a food group, chocolate is a vitamin”

No, no, no. You got it backwards.

The four basic food groups are sugar, salt, fat and caffine. Really! Just ask the snack food industry. Chocolate, you’ll notice, contains all four, making it the perfect food.

- Jack

]]> By: Peter B http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/comment-page-1/#comment-39144 Peter B Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:12:45 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/06/21/odds-and-ends-again/#comment-39144 Once again, discrimination against us Southern Hemispherians - er - Hemispherics - argh! - those of us who live below the Equator! It's the WINTER solstice today! (And winter starts on 1 June.) Once again, discrimination against us Southern Hemispherians – er – Hemispherics – argh! – those of us who live below the Equator!

It’s the WINTER solstice today!

(And winter starts on 1 June.)

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