Barton's Blog

A couple weeks ago was one of my favorite days of the year up here in the northern hemisphere, December 21 aka the-shortest-day-of-the-year .  Its one my favorites because from here on out, at least until the other solstice, the days get longer and longer.  Im big into sunlight, not necessarily basking in it, although there are worse things you could do on a summer afternoon, but being able to look out my windows at home, work or in the car and see it.  Basically, I'll have to confess, like the late great John Denver once proclaimed, sunshine on my shoulder, makes me happy (even if it is coming through a window like it is now).

As a result, in past years at this time I have found myself obsessed with weather.com and regularly checking on the widening of the gap between sunrise and sunset.  This year Im a bit distracted, what with the new kids and the upcoming move, but I did manage to log in on the 22nd and check out the amount of daylight at few spots around the world.  I've even thrown in a token Southern Hemisphere locale for reference.   

Here is what I found the day after the solstice (from darkest to lightest). 

Not sure if there is any big a-ha here other than, given the choice, right now I would prefer to be in Capetown rather than Barrow Alaska.  Taking a less dramatic comparison, it is interesting to see that when we move from San Jose to Austin we will be getting almost 45 more minutes of light. 

I hope check back in on these cities in a few months and see how things have changed.

Pau for now...