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Shortest Day

Hope all the tiny people celebrating it have a wonderful day. 


Comments

  • I liked the image on Have I Got News For You showing Prime Ministers scaled by length of time in office. Liz Truss disappeared.

  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,806
    It's the most important day of the year, the reason why 'Christmas' is when it is. From today, the days start getting longer. Winter may be coming, but it's also ending. Praise be to the onset of spring and the renewal of life. 
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,348
    Yuletide celebrates the end of winter and the sap starting to rise again  B)
  • Alwaysneil
    Alwaysneil Posts: 13,806
    Yuletide celebrates the end of winter and the sap starting to rise again  B)
    Yeah and I'm going off to burn a big log and toast to the end of winter and the start of the annual renewal 😀😀😀.
  • Longest day for vampires...  :D  
  • golfaddick
    golfaddick Posts: 33,627
    Its not the shortest day. All days have the same length - 24 hours. It is/was the day with the least amount of sunlight / daylight.  
  • Huskaris
    Huskaris Posts: 9,848
    edited December 2023
    Its not the shortest day. All days have the same length - 24 hours. It is/was the day with the least amount of sunlight / daylight.  
    Really? I thought today ended at 4pm?!


  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,348
    Its not the shortest day. All days have the same length - 24 hours. It is/was the day with the least amount of sunlight / daylight.  
    may I be the first to shout PEDANT (just jesting, of course your retort is correct lol)
  • The live stream from Stone Henge at sunrise was excellent.
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  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 10,966
    Its not the shortest day. All days have the same length - 24 hours. It is/was the day with the least amount of sunlight / daylight.  
    I'd argue that the day the clocks change in the autumn has 25 hours, so there!


  • I celebrated it with a swim in my Charlton hat 🤗
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,853
    Can anyone give me a quick explanation of how the ancients knew which was the shortest / longest day ? How did they measure so accurately? 
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,623
    edited December 2023
    MrOneLung said:
    Can anyone give me a quick explanation of how the ancients knew which was the shortest / longest day ? How did they measure so accurately? 
    🛸👽
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,035
    MrOneLung said:
    Can anyone give me a quick explanation of how the ancients knew which was the shortest / longest day ? How did they measure so accurately? 
    Observation. Our pre-Christian ancestors used similar calendars to ours and, given the dependency on understanding the seasons for the purposes of planting/harvesting crops, were very aware of the key moments in the calendar. Thus the winter solstice is the moment when the winter season starts its journey back towards spring. 

    Christianity adopted these festivals and just changed the meaning to suit the new theology. 
  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 10,966
    Chizz said:
    Hope all the tiny people celebrating it have a wonderful day. 


    Who do you reckon would win that fight?
  • Hal1x
    Hal1x Posts: 4,265
    IdleHans said:
    Chizz said:
    Hope all the tiny people celebrating it have a wonderful day. 


    Who do you reckon would win that fight?
    OddJob in the middle.

  • I celebrated it with a swim in my Charlton hat 🤗
    Blimey - it must be deeper than it looks!
  • Just flapping about in a giant puddle 🤣🤣🤣
  • Stig
    Stig Posts: 29,023
    Its not the shortest day. All days have the same length - 24 hours. It is/was the day with the least amount of sunlight / daylight.  
    Well, if you want to get really picky, every day is a little longer than the last. As the Earth's rotation is slowing down, we gain about 2.3 milliseconds a century. Very real change even though it's not enough to reset your watch for.

    BTW, solstice is just a moment rather than a day. It's the point where the sun gets to its lowest point (over the Tropic of Capricorn). It gets its name from the fact that if you tracked its movements against the rest of the stars is would appear to stop and then change direction. Of course, this is a a tad difficult to observe in real life because, if you can see the sun then the light from the other stars are obscured by the power of the sunlight. Explain all that away, flat earthers.
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  • swordfish
    swordfish Posts: 4,234

    I celebrated it with a swim in my Charlton hat 🤗
    Blimey - it must be deeper than it looks!
    It's the slope that would have done for me!
  • IdleHans said:
    Chizz said:
    Hope all the tiny people celebrating it have a wonderful day. 


    Who do you reckon would win that fight?

    Putin. He's bought all the other flight tickets.