Really Random

I didn't get much done today, but hey, it's the shortest day of the year. Whaddaya expect?
At high noon today the sun was over the Tropic of Capricorn, the southernmost point in its travel. Tomorrow it starts its return to the northern hemisphere. (Of course the sun doesn't travel at all, but we know what we mean.) At the North Pole the sun never rose (there it is again), so they skipped the day altogether.
OK, I know you remember all of this from 6th grade science class, but to illustrate the dramatic difference in daylight, depending on your latitude, consider this: Here in Phoenix we had 10 hours of daylight. In Grand Rapids, from whence we moved, they had 9 hours.
Note that I didn't say sunshine. It's Grand Rapids, folks. The sun next appears in April.

If you thought you had a bad day...
The Boston Herald and the Boston Globe, that city's two big papers, both endorsed John McCain for the Republican ticket. Not so good for the former governor of Massachusetts, a certain Mitt Romney.

On this day in 1913 the first crossword puzzle appeared in a now-defunct NY newspaper. The "inventor", Arthur Wynne, called it a Word Cross, but the paper inadvertently reversed the title and the name stuck.

Also on this day, in 1937, the feature length animated movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered in L.A. Walt Disney's wife told him, "Nobody is ever going to pay a dime to see a dwarf picture", and when the critics heard what Walt was working on they called it "Disney's Folly." Oops. It was the highest grossing film in 1938 and is one of only two animated films on the list of the 100 most influential films.

Sermon illustrations in both of those. Now I just have to find the sermons they go with.

At noon today there were 6,500 planes over U.S. air space. Most of them were carrying luggage to the wrong destination.

I was listening to my mp3 player while I worked on the house next door today. A very wide variety of music. But I thought about a question I'll pose to you.
What would you rate as your top 5 most beautiful pieces of music?
Note that adjective "beautiful." Classic Motown is great stuff, but nobody would classify it as beautiful. And I think I mean music regardless of its arrangement, music that is inherently beautiful.
I haven't finished my list, but I'm pretty sure I have to put Panis Angelicus on there. And Nessun Dorma, if not included, has to be really close.
Your nominations? Any genre you want. So far mine are classical, but yours don't have to be.

I worked on my sermon this morning. Made up a CD for before & after music, and did some work researching legal issues. It's not that far off. As the date approaches there's lots to do. Especially prayer. Yeah, lots of that!