Happy Thought for 22 Dec 2022

Have a Happy Thought: 

 We’ve reached the solstice! That’s the date where the Earth’s tilt has the greatest impact on the length of the day.

For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, that means we’re at our longest days – here’s hoping the rain holds off enough for us to enjoy these daylight hours!

And for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere – have hope! Your longest night is now behind you.

 

Speaking of Northern Hemisphere, you’ve got more land mass than we do in the south, so more people live in areas with heavy snowfall.

Which leads to wonderful cultural artifacts like…

 Snowplows.

 Or, specifically, snowplow names.

A few local governments have fully democratised naming snowplows and, even if you’re in the heat of summer right now, you’ll enjoy these names:

 

From Minnesota Department of Transportation:

  • Plowy McPlowFace
  • Plow Bunyan
  • Darth Blader
  • Ctrl Salt Delete
  • No More Mr. Ice Guy

 

 Meanwhile, Scotland not only lets you see the names of the snowplows, you can follow them around:

William Wall-Ice and Snow Connory are great, but I do adore Salty and… You’re a Blizzard, Harry! And kudos to whoever came up with Sweet Child of Brine.

screenshots from a GIS map of Scotland showing locations of snowplows and grit machines, each of which is overlaid by its name. 

  

Have a wonderful end of 2022, and beginning of 2023, and all of the holidays, gatherings, and me-time in between!

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