How much does daylight time increase after Dec. 21? after Jan. 7?
Some Saultites complain we live in the dark ages -- no high speed Internet in outlying areas north and east of the city. Is that really such a bad thing? The other day my computer crashed...really crashed. It was gone, caputz, totally shot, useless. When I turned it on, it sounded like some odd groaning sound from a tired old camel...then silence.
A whole new world emerged for me that day...the real one. I was gifted with free time (minus the "honey do" list which, after years...nay decades... in front of a computer had blossomed to rather startling proportions), and the best darned excuse there is for not sitting on my backside staring at a bunch of flashing pixels originating from an electron gun in a black box not two feet from my bloodshot strained eyes.
It's probably unlikely that the Semitic peoples who invented the alphabet envisioned the ergonomic horrors this alphabet would inflict some 4,000 years later. Then again, they probably didn't imagine the strange ritualistic behaviours likely to be engaged some 4,000 years down the chariot trail either...like a bunch of lazy people staring at glass boxes to have electrons fired at their heads.
Despite what some Saultites consider really dark ages, the Semitic peoples still managed to develop a written language, which is more than I can say for my time in front of a computer --high speed Internet or not.
But if you want literal Dark Ages, you need only consider the winter solstice.
December 21 was the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year. Now don't everyone groan and complain like a tired old camel about the unnecessary reminder. We should celebrate, because we can be assured things are only going to get brighter, warmer and progressively less frustrating as our utility bills arrive over the next six months.
It's like the bottom of a recession. Once you know you're there, it can only get better. Well, that's the theory anyway.
One would think, following December 21st, that the rolling out of bed stumbling around in the dark, groping for a light switch at eight in the morning would be as much a fading memory as are the dark days before the alphabet...or Internet.
If the days are getting longer, why does it still feel so "dark" in the morning, a month after December 21?
That's because, like an alphabet, there are two ends to each day.
Despite December 21 being the shortest day of the year, the sunrise continues to arrive later following December 21 for another 17 days... until January 7. The sunset also arrives later. It's not until January 7 when the sunrise reaches 8:21 in the morning, a full 2 minutes later than on December 21, that the mornings again begin to see sunrise arrive earlier. By then, sunset is a full 14 minutes later than on December 21, making the daylight hours longer by an additional 12 minutes, despite the progressively annoying stumbling around in the dark we just endured for the past 17 days.
Following December 21, as the sunrise slowly arrives later over those 17 days, we add, at best, a mere minute of daylight to each day at sunset. By January 7, though, we're adding a full two minutes each day to the daylight hours --one at sunrise and one at sunset. Following January 7, the days are getting longer twice as fast as they were between December 21 and January 7. By January 7 each year, it's like we're finally emerging from the Dark Ages, despite the achronistic technology north and east of town.
So...to those suffering through the extended dark ages of dial up Internet, I can only say this: there's no better time to make a dent in your honey do lists.