Monday, Dec. 21st will be the “shortest day of the year” as the annual Winter Solstice happens at precisely 9:47am PST, marking the beginning of Winter for us Earthly Northern Hemispherians.

At 9:47am, the Sun will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is about 23.5 degrees south of the equator. As the earth rotates around the Sun on its tilted axis, the Northern Hemisphere “leans away” from sunlight, making for “shorter days” and colder temperatures.

Winter Solstice is often referred to as “the shortest day of the year,” but that’s wrong – it still contains 24 hours, ya silly goose. It just has the least amount of sunlight. So stop calling it the “shortest,” will ya? You’re giving the Earth a “short day complex.” Next thing ya know, it’ll be driving a big truck.

Some fun Winter Solstice facts:

• While most Winter Solstices occur on Dec. 21st, there have been years when the solstices have occurred on Dec. 20th and/or Dec. 23rd, but this is fairly rare. The last Dec. 23rd solstice occurred in 1903 and will not occur again until the year 2303. A Dec. 20 solstice has occurred very rarely, with the next one occurring in the year 2080. So mark your Outlook Calendars now.
• Winter solstice’s varying dates are mainly due to the calendar system with 365 days in a year with 366 in a leap year.
• Solstice is a Latin word which means “sun stands still,” referring to the appearance that the Sun’s noontime elevation change stops its progress, either northerly or southerly.
• Solstices occur twice a year – Dec. 21st and June 21st, because our planet is tilted by an average of 23.5 degrees as it orbits the sun – the same phenomenon that drives the seasons.

So…Happy Winter Solstice to one and all! And remember, the days will all be getting longer from now until June 21st!

by Ralph Nichols

When the United States eventually returns to space after the shuttle program is retired next year, “we can go back to the moon and on to other planets,” Apollo 8 astronaut William A. Anders said at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila recently.

Anders, a retired major general in the US Air Force Reserve, was keynote speaker at a private luncheon hosted by the museum and the Seattle Symphony honoring the Apollo missions. It was held on the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 12 – the second mission to land men on the moon.

Astronaut William A. Anders was one of the first three persons to have left Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Photo credit: NASA, 1967

In remarks given between symphonic works at the concert, Anders, the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 8 mission – the first manned lunar orbit mission, recalled that President Kennedy, determined “to demonstrate that America was not second rate … and would not lose the missile gap,” would land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

“And that was done,” added Anders, whose reflection on the Apollo 8 mission, “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth,” has become a famous quote.

Even more famous are his pictures, the first taken of the earth from the moon, including “Earthrise,” which he took on Christmas Eve, 1968:

William A. Anders' "Earthrise" is the first photo taken of the Earth from the Moon.

“The space program today,” he said at the Museum of Flight, “has had some spectacular flights … and spectacular successes with the space shuttle. But the shuttle will be grounded next year.”

Now NASA is working on new space vehicles, and with the vision of companies like Boeing and leaders like Bill Allen, the long-time CEO of the aerospace giant, the United States “will go back into space.”

We didn’t feel it, and we’re sure you probably didn’t either, but a small earthquake registering 1.8 on the Richter Scale struck near the Normandy Park area Wednesday morning at 6:15am.

While we don’t know what the fault was (or whose fault it was), earthquakes happen often ’round here so it’s nothing to freak out about.

Here are the details from the US Geological Service’s website:

• Magnitude 1.8
• Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 06:15:13 AM
• Epicenter Location 47.414°N, 122.380°W Depth 17.6 km (10.9 miles) set by location program; 4 km (2 miles) SW (227°) from Normandy Park, WA * 5 km (3 miles) WNW (296°) from Des Moines, WA * 7 km (4 miles) E (92°) from Vashon, WA * 15 km (9 miles) W (272°) from East Hill-Meridian, WA * 20 km (12 miles) NNE (17°) from Tacoma, WA * 24 km (15 miles) S (188°) from Seattle, WA
• Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 4.2 km (2.6 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST= 20, Nph= 20, Dmin=5 km, Rmss=0.71 sec, Gp=101°, M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=0 Source
• Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network Event ID uw04081315

You can also read more about this minor geological incident here.

Music starts ’round 8:30pm, and what better way to mock the alleged “real” Weather Advisory then to go out and have a great time in a great wine/coffee bar, all whilst damning those teeny little flakes and specks of hail falling from the foreboding, darkened skies of doom.

That’s right – let’s all show the Steve Pools, Handy Wapplers and Doppler Radars of the world that we control our lives, not some alleged “Weather Advisory.”

Just remain in control, or better yet – walk thru the sleet and snow like a rugged Postal Worker (oh heck, just assign a Designated Driver).

So get out and have fun, after of course doing good for our planet on Earth Day (or at least the working person’s weekend version of it), then quaffing some spirits and grooving to the sounds of some talented humans.

For more info, call the 909 at (206) 243-7909.