— U.S. President James A. Garfield, 1874 Congressional Record, 2(6):5384, as quoted in Gene Garman, America’s Real Religion: Separation Between Religion and Government in the United States of America, Pittsburg: America’s Real Religion Pub., 1991, p. 104.
Both the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year began early this morning, the morning of the winter solstice. The word solstice is relatively old in English, dating back to the 13th century. Solstice derives from the Latin word solstitium meaning very literally the point at which the sun stands still, a combination of the words sol meaning sun and the past participial stem of sistere meaning to come to a stop, make stand still. Celebrated thoughout history as either a secular or religious day, the solstice marks the point on the ecliptic when the Northern Hemisphere is pointed most away from the sun and therefore has the shortest day.
Image of solstices and equinoxes courtesy NASA. Meme of ‘axial tilt’ authorship unknown.
Today’s post is for my B. Happy First Day of Winter, B!
![collegehumor:
10. You hate Jeff Dunham way more than he even deserves.
11. Going to the movies counts as having a “break from technology”.
12. The phrase “follow me” does not even remotely invoke thoughts of physical movement.
13. You send emotionally complex, romantically tinged messages by “Like”-ing shit on Facebook.
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That sure is wayyy too much time on the internet. lol](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvdp91dNU61qasthro1_500.jpg)
10. You hate Jeff Dunham way more than he even deserves.
11. Going to the movies counts as having a “break from technology”.
12. The phrase “follow me” does not even remotely invoke thoughts of physical movement.
13. You send emotionally complex, romantically tinged messages by “Like”-ing shit on Facebook.
That sure is wayyy too much time on the internet. lol
Have you ever thought about time? its crazy how we spend our lives stuck in the time where we are; you should go out and enjoy what is outside. Love can be spread through us utilizing the Dao energy flow type of model.
That’s what I’m thinking about when I space out. Peace, love, happyness, and beautiful—organinc—nature.
