#365.2422 days

[w-i-m-p]

3.155692608x10^7

I can’t believe it’s been a year. It HAS BEEN a year, too. Those anthropomorphized needs of yours that I could not meet all came so easily afterwards… not that you were holding us back, but it’s as if you knew we could only focus on one thing at a time. You were always so considerate and accommodating like that, how could we have expected any less. Like you KNEW that once we had these things, we would not have the capacity to take care of you… or even the ability to just say “fuck it, whatever it takes” to keep you with us. Mama tells me that you visit sometimes. I hope you like the place. Isn’t it similar to the one we grew up in?! Where I taught you sit, stay, stand, settle, belly rub, wait, “ow”, kitchen, clean, snack, the sound of a crinkling snack bag… where we learned just how much you loved roast pork that one Sunday. So, hopefully, you don’t have to adjust too much. And hopefully you still have those fond memories and have forgotten all the bad ones (where we were completely in the wrong).

A year of reflection (and probably a fair amount of rationalization, to be fair) has helped us realize that it was the right decision and the right time for you. For us. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t miss you, think about you, talk about you, and imagine how you’d be if you were here with us and I hope you can feel that. Mama showed me that you were probably facing some sort of dementia at the end. I’m sure it wasn’t a comfortable experience and that it was VERY disorienting/confusing for you. “Why can’t I go forward anymore” “why is this tube giving me food” “where is the water”… it’s no wonder you weren’t acting like yourself, like the goodest boy we knew you were. I hope you don’t resent us for trying to keep you here with us longer. That day (and everyday afterward) was so painful and I just hope it was not painful for you.

I was just thinking, praise God that we blew the conch that day. I’m so happy you were able to enjoy some of that roast pork. It’s like I saw you again… that spark and that spunk that you were known for. My little food vacuum. It was probably the only moment I was able to smile that day and for a while afterward. I still can’t think about that day too much because I will be a mess… but that’s okay. That’s just a testament of how much you mean to me and how devastating your loss was.

It all feels like a blur. Like it’s been so long ago and, at the same time, just yesterday. I still feel the pain in my chest from the Boomer-sized hole you left. I don’t know that anything will ever be big enough to sate it. You are such a good boy. Today we will have some roast pork to honor your memory. Please don’t be sad. Today we will remember all of the great times we had. We will remember all the good you did and the immense impact you had on all of us. Today and everyday we love you, our sweet boy.

[thefirststarr]

There's some science to February's bonus day!!

Every four years, during a leap year, the imperfect match between the length of a calendar year and Earth's orbit result in a calendar adjustment known as a leap day.

The length of a year is based on how long it takes a planet to revolve around the Sun. Earth takes about 365.2422 days to make one revolution around the Sun. That's about six hours longer than the 365 days that we typically include in a calendar year. As a result, every four years we have about 24 extra hours that we add to the calendar at the end of February in the form of leap day.

Without leap day, the dates of annual events, such as equinoxes and solstices, would slowly shift to later in the year, changing the dates of each season. After only a century without leap day, summer wouldn't start until mid-July!

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA/TERRA-MODIS

[rabidotter]

Genuinely curious about this. I consider myself a cis man, but I wouldn't spend 100% of my time as a guy if I could shapeshift.

[random-gamer1942]

Howdy, Globetrotter! I have awoken from my slumber to answer your plea for asks. Now, riddle me this! if Bob has 5 apples and the diameter of the sun is 1.3927 million km, How many apples do Jim and Bob have combined?

I've been racking my brain over this question for. A bit

A 'normal' person might say "I don't know how many apples Jim has so I can't answer the question", but that's both boring (because they haven't put in any effort) and stupid (because they haven't given an actual answer). But I intend to give a proper answer

First, let's assume that Bob and Jim are both human being on the planet earth in this dimension. Based on their names, there's also a high likelyhood they live in the United States of America, so let's assume this too

The average American is estimated to eat between 15 and 19 lbs of fresh apples (so not counting apple products, in case you're wondering) per year. It fluctuates quite a bit, so let's take 17 lbs as a semi-safe average. The average apple is 0.33 lbs, so this is 51.5151... apples per year and 0.1410... apples per day

The median weight of apples bags I've found online was 3 pounds, meaning each of these contained approx. 9.0909... apples. This means that each year the average American will get about 5.6666... bags of apples

The average American goes to the grocery store 1.6 times per week, or 0.2285... times per day/once every 4.3749... days. If we look at the average calender year (365.25 days), this is an average of 83.4857... times per calender year. (The diameter of the sun is thrown into this question as a red herring, because it makes you think you should use the length of a true year, about 365.2422 days, but the statistics look at calender years so this isn't actually the case.) This mean that when they get groceries, the average American has about a 14.7327...% chance of also getting apples when they do groceries (which I just realized I will not need)

Oh and actually, given that apples stay good for 4-6 weeks in the fridge (average of 35 days), and the median bag of apples has an average of 9.0909... apples, the rate of eating apple while one has a non-zero amount of apples actually jumps up to 0.2597... apples per day

Given that Bob has 5 apples and assuming the average rate of apple consumption and buying the median size apple bag, it's been approx. 15.7500... days since he last got apples. Assuming that Bob and Jim go to the grocery store on the same days, and that Bob currently has a non-zero amount of apples, he last got apples either 2.6250, 7.0000..., 11.3750..., 15.7500..., 20.1250..., 24.5000..., 28.8750..., or 33.2500... days ago

By calculating the average amount of apples Jim would have for each of these examples (apples in the median bag - (average apples eaten per day × amount of days ago Jim last got apples)), and taking the average of all these examples, we finally find out, Jim will have an average of 4.4318... apples. This plus 5, because Bob has 5 apples, means that we get my final answer:

Approx. 9.431818182 apples

Hope this answers your question anon!

[w4yn31ngm00n]

Long sorta rant post abt the irene dimension stuff, sorry :3

i think that the irene dimension's whole "one year=one minute" concept is so cool sometimes, because its not like jess forgot about leap years or anything, she actually calculated that shit ! one second in the irene dimension = ~6.08737 days in the overworld [365.2422 days divided by the 60 seconds it takes for a year to pass], the max amount of leap years possible in the 15 years that everyone was gone wouldve been what, 4, if the year they went in was a leap year ? [meaning that it wouldve had to be before february 29th that they went in if we want it to be 4 extra leap year days. this is also omitting the whole "its not a leap year if its divisible by 100, but it is if its divisible by 400" idea that apparently exists, so lets just pretend this all definitely happened in the odd middle of a century]. thats an extra 3 days if you suppose that the year they went in wasn't a leap year, so supposedly they couldve been in the irene dimension for ~5,478.633 days total, aka EXACTLY 15 years. so if we consider the day they went into the irene dimension as being exactly 15 years in the past from the day they emerged, i think that puts us on a timeline where the day of the war between phoenix drop and scaleswind had to have been [at the earliest] march 1st of a year divisible by 4 ? idk i think its funny if it was exactly 15 years of a gap, like imagine the remaining villagers commemorating the day 15 years ago that their lord and several others disappeared, ONLY FOR HER TO SHOW UP THE EXACT SAME AS SHE WAS THEN. obviously it doesnt have to be exact, just a thought that kinda gives a base for a day of the years that the war and return were on, or at least it could eliminate january and february from the timeline.

separate thought, but not really:

how long was zoey in the irene dimension ??? like she only left once laurance and aphmau left. the time difference between when she appeared and when they left during the episode was about 43 seconds total, so considering each second in the irene dimension being around 6.08737 days long, she could've been in there for at least 261.75691 DAYS. A LITTLE MORE THAN 8 AND A HALF MONTHS. THATS SO LONG ??? LIKE DID DANTE AND THE OTHERS EVER QUESTION HOW LONG SHE WAS GONE ??? like imagine the absolute TERROR from malachi and levin once they realize that their only mother figure left has been gone for that long ?? obviously its not probably exactly that long that she was gone, but still, its a long time for those 2 to be left alone with no parental figure [besides maybe dante] to guide them through leading a dying village. if we think that the return date of aph and the others was on march 1st, the [probably] earliest possible anniversary of their disappearance and the war on phoenix drop, that means zoey probably disappeared to the irene dimension sometime in mid-late june of the year before.

also. that means that since aph said a few days before garroth's return that it had only been a few months since they got out of the irene dimension, zoey was honestly probably in there longer than the extended time that garroth was alone with zane [depending on your definition of "a few"]. damn.

ANYWAYS SORRY THAT WAS LONG BUT I THINK THE LITTLE DETAILS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE IRENE DIMENSION'S TIME DIFFERENCE IS REALLY INTERESTING also it raises a lot of questions for me abt the nether's sense of time. but thats a whole different thing to get into ==|:-3

[harmonyhealinghub]

Embracing the Extra Day: A Celebration of Leap Year Shaina Tranquilino February 29, 2024

Every four years, our calendars undergo a magical transformation as an extra day is added to the month of February. This phenomenon is known as a leap year, and it's more than just a quirk in our timekeeping system. In this blog post, we'll explore the history, science, and cultural significance of leap years, shedding light on the fascinating aspects of this quadrennial occurrence.

A Brief History of Leap Years:

The concept of leap years dates back to ancient civilizations. The Egyptians were among the first to realize that the solar year, or the time it takes for Earth to complete one orbit around the sun, is not precisely 365 days. To account for the additional 0.2422 days, they introduced a leap year in their calendar around 4,000 years ago.

The Roman calendar later adopted a similar leap year system, but it wasn't until the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, that a more accurate leap year calculation was implemented. The Julian calendar introduced the rule that every fourth year would be a leap year, adding an extra day to the end of February.

The Gregorian Calendar and Leap Years:

While the Julian calendar improved the accuracy of timekeeping, it still miscalculated the solar year by a small margin. By the 16th century, the discrepancy had added up, leading to a misalignment of the calendar with the astronomical seasons. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, refining the leap year rule to exclude years divisible by 100 unless they are also divisible by 400.

The Gregorian calendar is the one most of the world uses today, ensuring a more accurate synchronization of our calendars with the Earth's orbit.

The Science Behind Leap Years:

Leap years serve as a correction mechanism, preventing our calendars from drifting out of sync with the astronomical year. Earth's orbit around the sun takes approximately 365.2422 days, which is why an extra day is added every four years. This correction helps maintain the alignment of our seasons with the calendar months.

Leap Year Fun Facts:

Leap Day Birthdays: Individuals born on February 29, known as "leap day," celebrate their birthdays only once every four years. These leap year babies often choose either February 28 or March 1 as their birthday on non-leap years.

International Leap Year Day: Some cultures celebrate February 29 as a special day for unusual traditions, proposals, and events. It's an opportunity to embrace the rarity of the leap year and indulge in festivities that only occur once every four years.

Leap Year in Popular Culture: Leap years have found their way into literature, film, and music. From Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" to the movie "Leap Year," this cyclical event has inspired creative expressions across various art forms.

Leap Year Traditions:

Proposal Day: In some cultures, it is a tradition for women to propose to their partners on Leap Day. This custom is said to date back to a 5th-century Irish nun named St. Brigid, who complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait too long for a proposal.

Festivals and Events: Leap Day has become an occasion for unique festivals and events worldwide. Communities organize parades, parties, and gatherings to celebrate this extra day.

Leap years are more than just a calendar adjustment; they symbolize our ongoing efforts to understand and harmonize with the natural rhythms of the universe. As we revel in the extra day this February, let's take a moment to appreciate the intricate dance between Earth and the sun, and the ingenious ways humans have devised to keep our calendars in tune with the cosmos. Whether you're born on Leap Day, partake in unique traditions, or simply savour the novelty of an extra 24 hours, leap years offer us a chance to pause, reflect, and celebrate the beauty of time itself.

[cosmicpuzzle]

Vimshottari Dasha - Year Length!

If you are following Vedic Sidereal calculations and using Dashas to read your chart, kindly use Nakshatra year to calculate your Dashas. As Dashas are based on Moon's nakshatra progression, it is wrong to use tropical solar year length (365.2422) days for calculating them.

1 Nakshatra year is 359.0167 days. Most astrologers use the wrong year length until recently some articles and videos have come out emphasizing the need to use nakshatra year.

If you are using solar year, your Dashas would start 6 months later when you are 30 years old and 1 year later when you are 60 which will throw off many events.

Events were always happening sooner than the Dashas suggested because of using 6 extra days for each year until I made the switch when everything aligned and made perfect sense.

Jagannath Hora has an option to define the year length. So you can use it to calculate your Dashas. If you need your revised Dashas, DM here although a small fee would be applicable.

If you do try by yourself, let me know in comments if your events aligned better in the nakshatra year or solar year.

[autistic-autumn]

Happy Hibernal Solstice! (or Aestival Solstice to my fellow southern hemisphere dwellers)

Going to take this occasion to give a bit of an infodump on the calendar system and why the months are the way they are. It seems to be a common complaint at the Gregorian Calendar that all the months are irregular lengths and some seasons are longer than others.

Well, good news! There’s a good reason for the month in the calendar to be the way they are.

But before I can explain that I’ll need to explain exactly how a year is defined under the Gregorian calendar system. Our year is defined by the time it takes to go from the march equinox to the following march equinox, roughly 365.2422 days, known as a mean tropical solar year. Our calendar uses 365 days plus leap days to approximate this at 365.2425 days. The calendar is designed so that all the equinoxes and solstices line up on roughly the 21st of their respective month.

It’s worth noting that the use of a tropical year isn’t the same as a full 360 degree rotation around the sun, known as a sidereal solar year, because the equinoxes happen to move slightly each year. The difference is only about 20 minutes but it does mean over about 25,700 years the equinoxes do a full rotation around the earth's orbit.

This of course would mean nothing if the earth's orbit was perfectly circular, all the points where there equinoxes could be would be identical. However, the universe is not kind enough to make everything nice and even; the earth's orbit is in fact slightly elliptical. This of course means that at some times in the year the earth is closer to the earth than at others. The points where the earth is closest and furthest away are known as the  perihelion and aphelion respectively.

This of course means that if the earth is closer to the sun during a certain period then the time it’ll take to get between equinox and solstice during that period will be shorter than if it was further from the sun. Basically this means to keep the solstices and equinoxes on the same day of their respective months the time between each needs to change.

This is why the time between the December solstice and march equinox is the shortest season of the year. February needs to be shorter because the winter season is genuinely shorter on the earth's orbit. Consequently the time between the June solstice and September equinox needs to be the longest time in the year, hence why June, July and August are all 31 days.

Here is a quick screenshot I took from Wikipedia and then drew on to try to help explain it visually.

Of course the difference is still fairly small, ~89 days compared to ~93 days, but it’s enough that the days in the months need to be reorganized so that our calendar can match up with the equinoxes. This however isn’t permanent for the fact that the equinoxes happen to rotate along the earth's orbit, meaning the closest point to the sun will slowly change date. This means that at some point in the future the months may need to have days shuffled around to accommodate the fact that the earth's orbit has gotten out of sync without the calendar.

Anyways, there’s a neat bit of information about the solstice and how it related to the calendar system that you might not have known. 

[cking398]

Proof 2B Distance C of Nat, Beth to G Py of G to Neuilly-sur-Seine, FR, American Hospital.

Taken from Google Earth, Distance: Church of Nativity, Bethlehem to Great Pyramid of Giza to the American Hospital in Paris 3652.49 km, Christ angle within the Great Pyramid points to Bethlehem, 26.3 degrees. I was born at a 90-degree angle to the Christ angle in Neuilly-sur-seine (which means born of the river) a suburb of Paris. What does that distance look like to you? : 365.2422  is the exact number of days in the year. Note the pyramid contains the speed of light in meters per second not only in its location but at the base of the structure, see my film around the 40 min mark (taken from ‘the Revelations of the Pyramids' documentary).  If you take the base of the pyramid, draw a circle touching the corners and one on the inside touching the edges of the square and subtract the circumference of the larger circle from the smaller one you get the speed of light in meters per second squared.. Note: Daftlogic.com, another google site, which I can no longer access for some strange (apparently google no longer provides this service) reason calculates it slightly differently, this is the number I included in the film: 3653.7 km (at the time in 2015 I checked this number over 10 times it was always the same), which led me to subtract 1.2 km arriving at the location of the Church of St Odile (A rare French name shared by Odile, the lady I am with in the film).  The Church of St Odile has the highest steeple in Paris and is only 1.2 KM from the American Hospital where I was born in Paris on 29-11-1973. The historical St. Odile was given sight by a priest after being born blind (note: look up, her story is fascinating). The Lord told this priest to touch her head when she was 7 years old (note: keep the number 7 in mind) and when he did, the little girl regained her sight. Some other sources claim she regained her sight when a priest touched her head at her baptism some years later. The Odile I know, who I was in love with, is a professionally trained photographer, SIGHT that is what she is professionally trained to use to make her living. She has the best eye of anyone I know.

[cking330]

Chapter 13 Section B Proof linking Jesus H Christ to Chris H King

Proof 1B Perimeter

Using Google Earth I again I made the measurement from the Apex of the building for the Church of the nativity to the apex of the Great Pyramid (a distance of 434.02km) then on to the American Hospital in Paris, this time I placed the cursor more in the center of the complex, it is very large Hospital and I do not know the precise location of my birth arriving at 3652.56 km (note distance Giza-Hospital was 3218.56). Then ‘I squared’ the shape and got exactly 7000 km. Another incredible coincidence? I doubt it. Note again my mother who delivered me on the 29-11-1973 at 12.30 am died 7  months before before the arrival of the Christmas star on what would have been her 77 birthday. Why is 7 significant? 7 days in the week, 7 days to create the world, 7 deadly sins, 7 years old was St Odile: born blind but then could see, 7 months before 21-12-2020 my Mother died. (note: when calculating this distance in 2015 using daftlogic.com the perimeter of this shape came out at 7000.7 km, still very close to 7000km) Proof 2B Distance C of Nat, Beth to G Py of G to Neuilly-sur-Seine, FR, American Hospital.

Taken from Google Earth, Distance: Church of Nativity, Bethlehem to Great Pyramid of Giza to the American Hospital in Paris 3652.49 km, Christ angle within the Great Pyramid points to Bethlehem, 26.3 degrees. I was born at a 90-degree angle to the Christ angle in Neuilly-sur-seine (which means born of the river) a suburb of Paris. What does that distance look like to you? : 365.2422  is the exact number of days in the year. Note the pyramid contains the speed of light in meters per second not only in its location but at the base of the structure, see my film around the 40 min mark (taken from ‘the Revelations of the Pyramids' documentary).  If you take the base of the pyramid, draw a circle touching the corners and one on the inside touching the edges of the square and subtract the circumference of the larger circle from the smaller one you get the speed of light in meters per second squared.. Note: Daftlogic.com, another google site, which I can no longer access for some strange (apparently google no longer provides this service) reason calculates it slightly differently, this is the number I included in the film: 3653.7 km (at the time in 2015 I checked this number over 10 times it was always the same), which led me to subtract 1.2 km arriving at the location of the Church of St Odile (A rare French name shared by Odile, the lady I am with in the film).  The Church of St Odile has the highest steeple in Paris and is only 1.2 KM from the American Hospital where I was born in Paris on 29-11-1973. The historical St. Odile was given sight by a priest after being born blind (note: look up, her story is fascinating). The Lord told this priest to touch her head when she was 7 years old (note: keep the number 7 in mind) and when he did, the little girl regained her sight. Some other sources claim she regained her sight when a priest touched her head at her baptism some years later. The Odile I know, who I was in love with, is a professionally trained photographer, SIGHT that is what she is professionally trained to use to make her living. She has the best eye of anyone I know.

[techtow]

 Leap Day 2024 Explained.

Embracing the Extra: Leap Day Explained

Introduction:

Leap Day, that elusive extra day that appears on our calendars every four years, is more than just a quirky anomaly. Let's dive into the brief yet fascinating story behind Leap Day, why it exists, and how people around the world make the most of this additional 24 hours.

What is Leap Day?

Leap Day, occurring every February 29th, is added to our calendars to synchronize the calendar year with the astronomical year. While a standard year has 365 days, it actually takes the Earth approximately 365.2422 days to complete its orbit around the sun. Without Leap Day, our calendars would gradually fall out of sync with the natural seasons.

Leap Year Explained:

Leap Years, those divisible by four, ensure that our calendars stay in harmony with the Earth's orbit. However, to keep things precise, years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. This intricate system maintains the delicate balance between our human-made calendars and the cosmic dance of celestial bodies.

Leap Day Traditions:

Leap Day is not only about astronomical alignments; it has also inspired various traditions and folklore. In some cultures, it's considered a day when women can propose to men, flipping traditional gender roles. Others see it as a day for unusual activities or charitable acts. Regardless of the traditions, Leap Day adds a touch of novelty to our regular calendar routine.

Making the Most of 24 Extra Hours:

With only one extra day every four years, people often find creative ways to make Leap Day memorable. From organizing special events to celebrating birthdays that occur once in four years, Leap Day becomes a unique occasion for individuals to embrace the extraordinary.

Conclusion:

Leap Day, that intermittent gift of time, adds a fascinating dimension to our calendars. As we savor this extra day, let's appreciate the intricate dance between our man-made systems and the celestial wonders that shape our understanding of time. Whether you're celebrating a birthday, contemplating a proposal, or simply relishing the novelty, Leap Day offers a brief but meaningful pause in the regular rhythm of our lives.

[24-facts-news]

What’s In A Leap Year? Eternal Youth, Wedding Bells And Tech Bugs

Paris:

An extra day every four years, what’s not to love? The calendar quirk of February 29 keeps us in sync with the seasons but it has also spawned a host of rituals and superstitions, not to mention computer glitches, which AFP unpacks here:

Why one day more?

Leap years have been with us since the 16th century, an invention of the Gregorian calendar, introduced to deal with a troublesome fraction in the solar year.

Bearing in mind it takes around 365.2422 days each year for the Earth to revolve around the sun, the extra snippet (around six hours a year) adds up over time.

Leap days regulate things — without them we would fall out of sync with the seasons, causing havoc for farmers and their crops as well as school holidays.Most leap years fall every four years, but as the extra snippet is not exactly six hours, they exclude years exactly divisible by 100.

However, years such as 1600, 2000 or 2400 are leap years as they are exactly divisible by 400.

Forever young

For leap day babies, or leaplings, being born on 29 February may mean four times fewer birthdays, but it is also, as some like to claim, the key to eternal youth.

At least, that’s what much-loved French screen star Michele Morgan liked to say during her lifetime, which lasted till the ripe old age of 96.

Among other famed or notorious leaplings are Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, US rap star Ja Rule and serial killer Aileen Wuornos, incarnated by Charlize Theron in her Oscar-winning performance for “Monster”.

With the chance of babies being born on a leap day at one in around 1,500, there are an estimated five million leaplings in the world today.

Marry me!

In Ireland, February 29 is known as Bachelor’s Day or Ladies Privilege, when, tradition has it, women can propose to men rather than waiting to be wooed.

While some claim only a “Yes” answer is allowed, others say the man can decline, but must buy his admirer a gift.

The tradition received the Hollywood treatment in 2010 with “Leap Day” starring Amy Adams who follows her beau to Dublin in a bid to ensnare him into marriage by popping the question on the day.

The Irish government in 2004 celebrated the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family by gifting 100 euros to every child born on 29 February.

Freebies

Rare days on the calendar are also a chance for businesses to try to drum up trade.

In northeastern US, the Legal Sea Foods restaurant chain is offering discounts on the region’s beloved dish, lobsters, on February 29.

Pizza chain Papa John’s in 2008 used leap day to launch its Perfect Pan Pizza with the tag line: “One Giant Leap for Pankind.”

Leap years also generate special deals in hotels and on flights.

As US flyer Virgin America put it with one of its promotions: “Why leap when you can fly?”

System can’t compute

The existence of an extra day around twice a decade has also created its fair share of online mayhem, never more so than in 2000.

The prediction from doomsayers that January 1 would see a total information shutdown never c

ame to pass, but on February 29 an alarming succession of system errors took place across the globe.

Read More News-

[xtruss]

Snowcapped mountains serve as a backdrop to verdant landscapes at Gran Paradiso National Park in Valle d'Aosta, Italy. When does each new season start? Some measure seasonal shifts by Earth’s position relative to the sun, while others use annual temperature cycles. Photograph By Stefano Unterthiner

Every Season Actually Begins Twice—Here’s Why

Seasons can be defined in two different ways: Astronomical and Meteorological. We explain what they mean, and how to tell them apart.

— By Amy McKeever | May 31, 2023

Every three months, a new season begins—twice.

Spring creeps in like a lion on March 1, and then again a few weeks later with the equinox. Likewise, some people welcome the arrival of summer on June 1, while others celebrate it a few weeks later with the solstice. So who is right about when the seasons begin and end?

It depends on why you’re asking. Seasons are defined in two ways: Astronomical seasons, which are based on Earth’s position as it rotates around the sun, and Meteorological seasons, which are based on annual temperature cycles. Both divide the year into spring, summer, fall, and winter—yet with slightly different start and end dates for each. Here’s what they mean and how to tell them apart.

What are Astronomical Seasons?

People have always looked to the skies to determine the season. Ancient Rome was the first to officially mark those seasons with the introduction of the Julian calendar. Back then, the seasons began on different days than the modern era because of discrepancies with the Gregorian calendar used primarily today. Now, the start of each astronomical season is marked by either an equinox or a solstice.

Equinoxes are when Earth’s day is split almost in half. They occur every six months in the spring and fall, when Earth’s orbit and its axial tilt combine so that the sun sits directly above the Equator. On an equinox, roughly half the planet is light while the other half is dark. As the new season progresses, the sun’s position continues to change—and, depending which hemisphere you live in, the days will get progressively lighter or darker until the arrival of the solstice.

Solstices mark the brightest and darkest days of the year. They are also driven by Earth’s tilt and mark the beginning of astronomical summer and winter. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it is brighter and feels like summer—while, at the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, plunging it into a dark winter.

But this method of measuring the seasons presents some challenges. The solar year is approximately 365.2422 Earth days long, making it impossible for any calendar to perfectly sync with Earth’s rotation around the sun. As a result, astronomical seasons start on slightly different days and times each year—making it difficult to keep the climate statistics that are used in agriculture, commerce, and more. That’s why weather forecasters and climatologists turned to meteorological seasons instead.

What are Meteorological Seasons?

Since at least the 18th century, scientists have sought better methods of predicting growing seasons and other weather phenomena. Over time, that gave rise to the concept of meteorological seasons, which are more closely aligned with both annual temperatures and the civil calendar.

Meteorological seasons are far simpler than astronomical seasons. They divide the calendar year into four seasons that each last exactly three months and are based on the annual temperature cycle. Winter takes place during the coldest three months of the year, summer in the hottest three months, and spring and fall mark the remaining transition months.

In the Northern Hemisphere, that means the start date for each season is March 1 (spring), June 1 (summer), September 1 (fall), and December 1 (winter). In the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are reversed; spring begins in September, summer in December, fall in March, and winter in June.

The consistency of meteorological seasons allows meteorologists to make the complex statistical calculations necessary to make predictions and compare seasons to one another. “Dealing with whole-month chunks of data rather than fractions of months was more economical and made more sense,” climatologist Derek Arndt told the Washington Post in 2014. “We organize our lives more around months than astronomical seasons, so our information follows suit.”

So when is the first day of every season? It isn’t the first of the month or the position of the sun—it’s both.

[gascoignephotography]

AV Script and video link

Weather with Me is a body of photographic work exploring the changing weather patterns in any location I encounter at 10am and 2.30pm daily from Sunday 14th of May 2023 onwards. This study encourages a consideration of environmental impact and climate change more locally and personally.

 Using a hand-built camera and a cyanotype process that utilises natural sunlight to expose the photographs, it creates authentic variations of exposure and image render. This work generates a testimony of time-specific experiences of weather patterns to illustrate the physical and material impact of changeable light conditions, atmosphere and pollution interference accumulated durationally and presented as an authentic visual calendar. 

This is a live and ongoing piece of work. 

I took inspiration from Ed Carr who is an independent artist, printmaker, and research from North York Moors in the UK. He has also used an experimental style of photography as well as innovating animation techniques. Carr experiments using a wide variety of photography from 35mm stills, to cyanotypes, pinholes, lumen prints and more.  His work “A Guide to British Trees” is a stop motion video which incorporates a wide variety of experimental photography.  In an interview with Lomography Magazine, he states that his inspiration reverts to how “trees often standing proud at the center of an ecosystem, they are an easy way for humans to connect with the environment around us”.  Similarly, in my body of work, he enables nature to speak for itself, giving it the voice that it’s never got to witness before. While Mother Nature has some accountability of the blame for climate change to take, humans have the voice that can make the change, and it’s the change from our negative impact that we need to speak up about and inevitably make a difference in our climate crisis. 

Within my current practice, I am capturing the constant change in weather patterns that we, as a country, are experiencing. When researching the theory behind my practice, I looked at past weather patterns for the last 10 years. In my findings, I discovered that over time, our weather was getting higher in temperature during the summer solstice while we were reaching record breaking colder temperatures during the winter solstice.  To keep an ethical approach to the topic, I am experimenting with cyanotype paper while photographing through a homemade camera.  To create a great depth of detail within my image, I have made a cardboard camera obscura and I’ve been taking it around with me, documenting the weather I experience wherever I go, allowing it to process for a total of 4 hours per image.   Through the testing stages of my project, I discovered that the weather impacts the detail I achieve in each image drastically, if it’s sunny outside I can get a much more in-depth image compared to if its cloudy. For me to keep it as authentic as possible, the only time that the cyanotype paper reaches UV sunrays is once it’s inside the box where the sun reaches through the lens cut out of the end of the box. There is no postproduction within this practice as I felt it would affect the results in a way that didn’t support my practice theories and wouldn’t show authentically how much our weather is changing before of our eyes. 

When we look back at the history of calendars, we can find that the earliest calendars date back to the Bronze Age with civilisations in the near east region, such as the Babylonians and Persians. These were among the first to record time by using natural cycles including days, lunar cycles (years) and solar cycles (years).  The actual documented length of a day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds. A month is 29.53 days and a year is 365.2422 days making it extremely difficult to devise an exact calendar that is easy to follow. It was actually the Egyptians who are credited to be the first to make all their months an even 30 days moving away from early attempts of trying to synchronise with lunar cycles and focusing on aligning with the solar year. It was also the Egyptians who introduced the concept of a leap year every four years. 

The Romans developed this model and it was Julius Caesar, who oversaw the formation of the Julian Calendar and is acclaimed for putting in place the foundations of the calendar we use today.  Caesar commissioned an astronomer to improve things – the result being that each month now had either 30 or 31 days except February, which contained 28 days and 29 in every fourth year.  However, under the Julian Calendar January wasn’t the first month of the year – instead it started in March and ended in February.  The days of the week were named by the Romans with the Latin words for the Sun, the Moon, and the five known planets. These names have survived in European languages such as French, Italian and Spanish but in English some of the names for days of the week also reflect our Anglo-Saxon influence.  For example, Latin for Thursday is dies Jovis, named after Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky, and in Spanish the day is still called jueves.  But in Anglo-Saxon, it is Thursdaeg – after Thor, the god of Thunder, and thus we have Thursday. Many more of the Roman terms for months of the year still survive in English today, such as March after Mars, the Roman god of war; May after Maia, the Roman earth goddess of growing plants; and June after Juno, the Roman queen of the gods. Julius Caesar gave his name to July while his successor Augustus followed suit.  In the ancient Roman calendar September to December were listed as the 7th to 10th months of the year – and thus their names: septem is Latin for seven, octo is Latin for eight, novem is Latin for nine and decem the Latin term for ten. But it wasn’t until 1582 that the calendar much of the world uses today was devised. It was called the Gregorian Calendar after Pope Gregory XIII who wanted to get the calendar back in sync with seasonal events like the spring equinox and winter solstice by removing some days and working out leap years more accurately. However, this was a time of religious upheaval and although many of the southern European Catholic countries adopted the new system almost straightaway, some Protestant countries resisted for many years. Germany didn’t change over until 1610 while the UK and the US held out until 1752. Greece and Islamist Turkey didn’t fall in line until the 1920s.

When researching into repeat photography, I discovered Christian Åslund’s photographic work from when he compared the glaciers in Svalbard from archives he discovered at the Norwegian Polar Institute. The archival images date back to the early 1900s, over 100 years since Åslund recaptured the same images in 2003.  In 2017, National Geographic interviewed Åslund on his most remarkable assignment he’d done for Greenpeace, an independent global campaigning network founded in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe.  Åslund stated how they didn’t know exactly where the images from the 1900s were shot from, they had to track down the true locations and follow in the footsteps of the original photographers. The image on the screen demonstrates the drastic difference between the two landscapes, considering that they are the same image taken 103 years apart, these two look like opposite locations. The decline of glaciers in the right-hand side of the image compared to the left side emphasises the impact that greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is having on our colder climates, due to the rising warm temperatures globally. 

“Knowledge of climate change wasn’t as common, our attitudes towards climate change were different. Now more or less everyone knows it’s a fact” (Christian Åslund, 2017, National Geographic)

While this quotation from Åslund’s interview may be somewhat correct, in other ways it’s far from the truth. Climate change is a more common factor now of today’s society, however, rich countries such as USA and China have a large historical footprint due to becoming rich over centuries of fossil fuel burning and industrial production. Without any drastic change or action being implemented by major contributors to climate change, the rest of the world would have no feasible way of having a positive influence on the climate crisis.  

For my installation I have created my very own calendar dating from the 14th May to 10th June. I brought a 8ft by 4t board in order to frame my work completely and allow a more easier way of pinning my work up in a calendar style. Each image is hung up by two pins at the top of the calendar, this then means the work is reenacting a calendar by having the ability to be torn off from the board. The dates are printed on clear vinyl and measured perfectly to it in a uniform style creating the professional look of a calendar. In my printing stage, I found the clear vinyl to show the text better than the white vinyl yet didn’t enhance the boards texture like the white vinyl would’ve. Having it clear means it looks a part of the board as it blends seamlessly in to the rest of the work. I experimented with including data analysis of each image which would include the weather condition from that day, the time I started the photograph process, the temperature it was when I started and the location in which I took the image for. I used flash cards to see if it would look like markings on from a calendar however, I didn’t like the overall outcome as it began to make the work look tacky and almost rushed. While the work is incomplete to show that it’s a live and ongoing project, I didn’t want it to seem like the rest of it was completed half-heartedly. Therefore, I made the curatorial decision to get rid of the flashcards making the overall outcome a stronger finished product. 

Lastly, I researched into titles for the project and found Weather with Me to be the most influential for the project.  Having the personal aspect of ‘Me’ within the title highlighted the fact that the weather is with me wherever I go, almost explaining the project in simple sentence. It is also a play on words for the song Weather with You by the Australian band, Crowded House which is popular amongst the general public. 

[influencermagazineuk]

The Mysterious Missing Days of October 1582: Why Ten Days Never Existed

October 1582 In October 1582, ten days were skipped in the Western world. This strange occurrence happened due to a major shift in the way time was measured, from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. The reason for this change was to align the calendar with the actual length of a year, which is approximately 365.2422 days. The Julian calendar, which had been in use since 45 BCE, calculated a year as exactly 365.25 days, causing a significant error to accumulate over time. Pope Gregory XIII announced the change to the calendar in 1572, but it took several years for it to be adopted across Catholic countries. It was finally implemented in October 1582, with ten days skipped in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and their colonies. The change was met with confusion and resistance by some, as they believed that the ten days had been stolen from them. The shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar wasn't just about skipping ten days. It also required changes in the calculation of leap years. In the Julian calendar, a leap year occurred every four years, while the Gregorian calendar adjusted this rule to exclude years divisible by 100 but not by 400. This change ensured that the average length of a year in the Gregorian calendar was closer to the actual length of a year. The ten skipped days in October 1582 had far-reaching consequences, including confusion in historical dating. Documents and records that predated the calendar change had to be adjusted to reflect the new date, resulting in some confusion and discrepancies in historical records. For example, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World on October 12, 1492, according to the Julian calendar. However, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted, the date of his arrival was adjusted to October 21, 1492, to account for the ten-day difference. The change to the Gregorian calendar was not immediately adopted by all countries. Protestant countries, including England, rejected the change and continued to use the Julian calendar for several more decades. As a result, different countries had different dates for a period of time, leading to further confusion. Today, the Gregorian calendar is the standard calendar used by most of the world, with only a few exceptions. Its accuracy in measuring time has ensured that it has remained in use for over four centuries. While the ten days skipped in October 1582 may seem like a strange event, it was an important step towards aligning our understanding of time with the reality of the universe. In conclusion, the ten days skipped in October 1582 were not the result of a supernatural event or a conspiracy. They were simply a necessary adjustment to the calendar to ensure that it remained accurate over time. The shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar was a major undertaking, with long-lasting effects on the way we measure time. It's a reminder that even our most basic assumptions about the world, such as the length of a year, can change over time as our understanding of the universe evolves. Read the full article