Grammar Captive

Today is the day of the longest night.

Have you ever asked why we do not say, “Tonight is the night of the shortest day”? It is, in the end, an important question, for we are creatures of the day. Our eyes are essentially worthless in complete darkness, and the sun is our primary source of Vitamin D.

Still, in those areas of the world where it is extremely warm, the sun can become oppressive. With other sources of energy; however, we can fill the night with light, our eyes become useful, and our minds awake. And, we enjoy the walking under the light of the moon, and the stars when the moon is no longer present.

And, if you live in the north, burn a candle on this longest night of the year. Bundle up and look into the stars, if only you can escape the bright lights of the city. For, nature is much larger that we inquisitive humans, and knowing our place in the entire scheme of things is important to our survival.

I wish everyone a meaningful winter solstice.

Roddy

It is that time of year again. It began mid-afternoon today at about 2:00 PM (PDT UTC -7). From today forward for the next three months our nights will become longer and our days ever shorter. Darkness will overtake the northern hemisphere and light will engulf our neighbors south of the equator.

The universe does not seem to care what we, humans, do, so we must look out for ourselves, and we do not always seem very able. Still, there has been a glimmer of hope with the recent passing of Charlie Kirk, the American nation is closing ranks. The restoration of the American republic appears closer than ever before.

Roddy A. Stegemann, Seattle, Washington

On this day those of us in the western United States who can still see the stars at night will be in for a treat. For, while we are looking into space with the sun on the other side of the world, the moon will intervene, and the night will be darker than ever. In effect, a black moon is a new moon when the moon eclipses the sun.

Roddy

Technical difficulties have caused me to delay this year’s holiday greeting. Apple Computer is a world of its own. It goes its own way, and if you use it to do anything out-of-the-box, it puts up stiff resistance. If you want to be creative in the Apple world, you have to create in the Apple way. It is not a terribly free environment, and as of late, neither is it very safe. In any case, I have finally broken through the impasse and am once again able to access my internal servers. So, here is wishing you a belated, but nevertheless, happy Summer Solstice.

Roddy

It is the time of year when our earth’s astronomical clock reaches a midpoint between the longest day and the longest night, and daytime and nighttime become equal in duration. In the northern hemisphere we move away from the longest night toward the longest day; in the southern hemisphere we move away from the longest day toward the longest night. In the north it is the beginning of our astronomical spring; in the south it is the beginning of our astronomical fall or autumn.

It is a time of the year to celebrate balance. rotation, and all that is coming and going.

In liberty,

Roddy A. Stegemann, First Hill, Seattle 98104
Author of Mount Cambitas – The Story of Real Money, “A Call for the Restoration of Monetary Order” (Parts I and II), the Substack series “Let’s End the Money Racket” at aveverum.substack.com.

The shortest day of the year is more than eight hours shorter than the longest — more than a third of the year’s longest day.

Every year on this day I begin the eleven day march to the year’s end. A candle is lit for one hour at sunset each day until December 31st. Christmas occurs on the 5th night of the procession. I spend the time to reflect on the past year and contemplate what must be done in the year ahead. You are welcome to join me.

Roddy

Galileo Galilee (1564-1642) was, but three months old, when Jean Calvin (1509-1564) passed away in May of 1564. Martin Luther (1483-1546) had preceded Galileo Galilee by more than a century. In effect, Galilee was a late-comer to the Christian Reformation, but it was he who made it clear that the earth and other planetary bodies, known to all of human-kind at the time, rotated around the sun, and that the earth was not the center of the universe, as many of us, humans, once believed.

The rotation of the earth around the sun does not form a concentric circle; it forms, rather, the pattern of a near circular ellipse. It is not this elliptical pattern that causes the four seasons that we who live distant from the equator experience every year. The cause is the tilt of the earth in relationship to the sun at each point of the earth’s orbit around the sun. Every year this relationship reaches four astronomical extremes: two of these occur in the spring and fall, and two in the summer and winter. Indeed, twice a year equality becomes an extreme, and the amount of sunlight and its absence, that we humans located on the earth’s surface experience, are the same.

With these thoughts I wish you a Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Roddy A. Stegemann
First Hill, Seattle 98104
Author of Mount Cambitas – The Story of Real Money

Today is, of course, the day of every year — but in particular this year — when the most amount of daylight is experienced by those of us resident north of the equator. Those to the south of same experience the greatest amount of darkness. In the north it is also the day when the sun sets and rises at its northern most points.

If you live in the north and are looking for a new place to live, you may want to insure that the side of your residence that you wish to be your coolest in summer faces south. For this same side will be the warmest in winter.

Now biologists and physicists do not always agree. For the biologist summer began nearly a month ago. For the physicists who studies astronomy summer begins today.

In either case, I wish you a Happy Summer!

Roddy

And still, another spring has come!

According to the calendar, though, it appears to have arrived earlier than past years. This is because our preference for counting time in terms of days and nights — and in some corners of the world even moons — puts us ever so slightly at odds with the rest of the universe and our own tiny cosmos whose center is the sun. Accordingly, once every four years we add a day — namely, February 29th — to the calendar that does not exist during the other years and call the modified year, Leap Year. No matter the name, whose origin I have some trouble explaining, it is important that we all agree and are able to adjust, what suits us best, to rest of the universe.

So, Happy Spring!

In liberty,

Roddy A. Stegemann

Yesterday marked the day when ever-longer nights reversed course and became ever-longer days. I celebrated. And, I will continue to celebrate for one hour at sunset every evening until the eve of January 1st when the star of Sirius appears above the horizon in the center of the sky marking the beginning of the solar New Year. There are about sixty minutes between civil sunset when the color of the evening sky turns to darkness and the astro sunset when only the direct light of the stars and the indirect light of the moon and planets fill the night with light. This year the moon will be full on December 26th, the day after Christmas.

Unlike the lunar New Years of the Chinese and Islamic traditions that begin at different times of the year and appear arbitrary beyond the separate historical traditions that define them, the solar New Year is the same for everyone, for it is determined by the position of a star very distant from our own solar system. Although the solar New Year also has a historical tradition, in the physical scheme of our galaxy it is anything, but arbitrary.

If there is a moral to these remarks, then it must be that there are certain truths to our existence that go beyond our separate cultures and unique, but different views of the world. That each preserve the truth of his own culture and person, and that no person or group of persons dictate to all of humanity what only Nature or Nature’s God is worthy.

Be healthy, be safe, and above all, be free. It takes courage, wisdom, and perseverence.

I wish everyone a thoughtful Countdown.

Seattle, 22 December 2023
Roddy A. Stegemann