Newgrange is an ancient structure in Ireland so constructed that the sun, at the exact time of the winter solstice, shines directly down a long corridor and illuminates the inner chamber. More about Newgrange here and here.
Grim has an Arthurian passage about the Solstice.
Don Sensing has thoughts astronomical, historical, and theological about the Star of Bethlehem.
A wonderful 3-D representation of the Iglesia San Luis De Los Franceses. Just click on the linkthen you can look around inside the cathedral. Use arrow keys or mouse to move left/right, up/down, and shift to zoom in, ctrl to zoom out.
Vienna Boys Choir, from Maggie’s Farm
Lappland in pictures, from Neptunus Lex
Snowflakes and snow crystals, from Cal Tech. Lots of great photos
A Romanian Christmas carol, from The Assistant Village Idiot
In the bleak midwinter, from The Anchoress
Rick Darby has some thoughts on the season. More here.
A Christmas reading from Thomas Pynchon.
The first radio broadcast of voice and music took place on Christmas Eve, 1906. Or maybe not. But on the other hand…
An air traffic control version of The Night Before Christmas.
Ice sculptures from the St Paul winter carnival
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, sung by Enya
Jeff Sypeck on a winter garden
Thanks David!
The snowflake galleries are amazing and beautiful. I’ve never seen photos of snowflakes from the side before either. I remember making paper snowflakes from folded and scissor cut paper as a child. I loved that. Every one was a new and amazing creation. We used to hang them up around the house. Do kids still do that, I wonder?
A beautiful piece of time-lapse filmmaking…
Anchorage By Winter
https://vimeo.com/45105667
Anchorage link wasn’t working first time I tried it but is now…definitely worth seeing.
Love the Lappland Slidewhere.
Hardy and self-reliant people.
But technical correction: No polar bears in Finland.
Re the solstice-detecting building at Newgrange, Sheila O’Malley has actually been there.
David, thanks. Following the link to the Star of Bethlehem and on to bethlehemstar.com is highly rewarding. The historical and scientific sleuthing to uncover the truth concerning the “Star” is fascinating. Rick Larson is an acquaintance of mine and I have seen his live presentation of his research on this subject as outlined on the bethlehemstar.com site.
His live multimedia presentation is astounding. I assume the offered DVD is a recording of such a live event. Rick is an attorney here in the College Station, Texas area specializing in the practice and teaching of business law which somehow seems to have provided him the appropriate research, scientific and explanatory tools to have unlocked the mystery where so many others fell short. His careful use of Scripture for clues was instructive of the historical usefulness of the Bible.
Well worth the trip to both sites for some inspiring grounding on a number of levels.
Mike