The other night we got some freezing temperatures here in Arkansas.  And I heard someone saying it’s about time it started feeling like winter.  It is December, after all.  But did you know it’s technically not winter yet?  It doesn’t start under December 22 at 12:08 AM CST.

So this means that many states in the northern U.S. are getting several feet of snow in fall / autumn.  Go figure…

So why is it December 22?  Well, I could confuse you with some scientific research about solstices and equinoxes and diurnal movements and such, but that’s not really necessary, is it?  Our winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, which is when winter “starts”.  But wouldn’t it make more sense if that was in the middle of winter?

I know, some people will say you can’t change the times of winter because that’s the way it is and it’s documented all across textbooks and stuff.  Well, astronomers removed Pluto from planet status really easily, didn’t they?  Besides, schools like for textbooks to be updated so they can rip students off by not buying back their previous textbook (which was new) and charging $60 or more for a new one that has a few words different.  Although, having gone through that myself a few times, I don’t want to promote that.

Rambling aside, perhaps I should become a world-renown scientist and make some common-sense changes to how things are defined in the scientific world.  I’ve got a lot of ideas…