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I just wanted to greet everyone here at MLHH and wish you a Merry Christmas as well as hoping you guys have a great time with your family and friends.
Here in Argentina we are literally thawing due to the high temperatures we've been going through for the last 10 days ( and I mean temperatures of 102 Fahrenheit degrees average). So I send some warm greetings to you in the cold winter .
Not sure how you guys celebrate in the USA or the UK, but here we have dinner at about 10 pm... then we have some sweet dishes and desserts, have the typical Christmas toast, then open up the gifts and people usually party all night long and go to sleep in the early morning (like 5 - 6am ).
So there's a hot long night ahead tonight!.
Again, Merry Xmas to you all :)
Hi Dave,
I wanted to thank you for the warm holiday wishes! I had a rough day at dialysis today, but saw your message and had to reply. We are going to my Mother-in-law's house tommorrow to have Christmas dinner and exchange some gifts. It is just three of us so will be a low key affair.
I can understand the high temperatures-we just stopped having those a few months ago! It sounds like you have a lot planned and I hope you have fun! The only thing I need to say is please protect your hair:) Don't want any stories of you getting your hair caught in the ceiling fan and spinning around in the air!:) You know how those parties can get! Seriously though, I wish you and your family a joyous and safe holiday season my friend!
Ted
Thanks for your nice reply , Ted . Fortunately I hacen't experienced any problems with my hair and the fan.
Regarding the high temperatures, they have been a problem for the last couple of days. Many parts of the city are out of power, so there is a lot of people with no electricity nor air conditioner. Can you imagine? Old people, sick people, children and most of the people live in buildings. Imagine old people living on the 12th floor of a building with no electricity, etc.
I am glad that you replied and that you are having dinner with your family as well.
Stay well !
Hi Dave,
Happy to hear no problems with the fan:) I can only hope the electricity problem is resolved soon! No, I cannot imagine living in those conditions-especially being sick! I will keep these people in my thoughts and prayers. And you be well also!
Ted
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39 degrees C? That is hot. Have a Merry sweltering Christmas, David.
Scott
Yes Scott, and that is nothing compared to other parts of the country where the temperatures are raising up to 44 C . Its hell !
Merry Xmas to you too :D
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The problem is that in Dec / Jan the earth is closest to the sun. 147.5 million kilometers. For summer in the northern hemisphere the sun is 156.2 million kilometers away.
156.2 / 147.5 = 1.05898 Square this and you get 1.12145 Solar intensity works on an inverse square / square of distance. (Half the distance is 4 times as great, twice the distance is 1/4 as great.) Solar intensity where you live is 12.1 percent more in summer than where I live.
I am reasonably sure it gets rather cold during winter where you live with the sun being at its greatest distance. (June July) Your yearly average temperature range should be greater than in the northern hemisphere, at the same latitude.
In the southern hemisphere you are closest to the sun in summer and farthest in winter.
In the northern hemisphere we are closest to the sun in winter and farthest in summer.
Scott
In other words, actually in lots less of them:
The seasonal changes in the southern hemisphere swing more widely than in the north.
Oh, Scott, MLHH Keeper of All Things Metric, why the "million kilometers"? Isn't that more simply just a gigameter?
Bill
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I was just trying to explain why the temperatures vary more widely in the southern hemisphere.
In astronomy, regarding planetary orbits, kilometers or astronomical units are most often used. One AU = 149,597,892 kilometers. For interstellar distances, light years or parsecs are most often used. One light year is 9.46052^12 kilometers A parsec I can best describe as two lines converging at 1 second of arc from a starting point of one astronomical apart. The convergence point is one parsec which is 3.08568^13 kilometers.
Scott
Yeah, I know that, but I thought that stuff may go over some guys' heads, so I simplified it. Some guys may better understand your explanation if they first know where it is going. That will spoil a joke, but it helps for a scientific explanation.
I've never understood why after coming up with the metric system, scientists keep coming up with other measures of distance. The metric system was designed to handle all distances, no matter how short or long.
I want to suggest a new measure to compete with the meter. I grew up around racetracks. They had these pretty poles with stripes around them. When the horses passed the last pole before the finish line, they wouldn't be running fur long. I want my new unit to be that distance. I want it to be called the furlong.
Bill
That is so different than what happens here!
Christmas Eve tends to become very quiet and subdued around dinnertime. After that, people may be out to attend Christmas concerts or religious services. The latest of those are around midnight, and then everyone comes home and goes to bed. The house must be very quiet and everyone must be asleep, otherwise Santa Claus won't come! Soon after daybreak the household comes to life! Presents are opened. Few are out on the roads until 9 a.m. or later, so the city is very quiet. It's the one day of the year you can hear voices of people talking a block away.
Most restaurants are closed on Christmas Day except the Chinese ones. It's a joke that if you go out for Christmas dinner, you will be eating Chinese food. Another part of that joke is that is what Jewish people all do - go out for Chinese food on Christmas.
Christmas dinner fixed at home often includes dungeness crab as well as the old standbys of turkey or ham. Crab is very much in season this time of year. Crab is also a favorite in San Francisco at Thanksgiving.
Bill
Hey Bill
In fact, it is VERY different. I like the fact that you guys find the spiritual or religious part of this celebration.
Here in Argentina is all about food, gifts, getting drunk, party all night, sex, etc hahaha.
Most of the people here open up their gifts by midnight after the toast and then party all night long , buddy.
Sometimes, you wake up in the morning and go to the supermarket like at 9 am and you can still see people drinking alcohol in the streets , people who never went to bed since the night before.
Also, I've heard that you guys dont use fireworks . I mean, I know that the government is allowed to use fireworks in certain celebrations, but I read somewhere that people are not allowed to buy fireworks and use them themselves. Is that right?
Here EVERYONE uses fireworks. That sucks because many accidents occur and many people end up in the emergency room of a hospital after midnight.
Fireworks regulations here are local, so people buy what they want in places they can get them. This means you see fireworks everywhere. The two most popular holidays for fireworks are the Fourth of July and Chinese New Year. Fireworks are often used for celebrations such as sports victories at a stadium. You also see them as part of shows. Disneyland has them nightly.
The Fourth of July is our biggest day for fireworks without question. Here in San Francisco, Julys are often very foggy. I've gone to fireworks displays to watch explosions to reveal fuzzy puffs of blue fog, pink fog, green fog, etc. To remedy this situation, one of the local radio stations for many years had a celebration called KFOG KaBoom. It was nothing but a normal fireworks display, a very large one actually, but it was held earlier in the year so there wasn't much chance of fog.
But I can't imagine shooting off fireworks for Christmas. To Americans, Christmas is too reverent and peaceful a time.
Bill
Wow,sounds like living in Argentina this time of year is like a big Frat party!LOL.I prefer the quiet aspect of the Christmas holiday and the only local fireworks I hear is midnight New Years Day.Easy to get fireworks here if you just cross the border into Pennsylvania where they have Costco sized warehouses with industrial shelving filled with everything imaginable.Funny how PA residents aren't allowed to purchase there but out of state ones can.lol.Oh well be safe my friend and if you play with any fireworks don't blow yourself up ;) Cheers
Mârk
Thanks for the WARM greetings! I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year... My family IS one of those that went out to eat Chinese every Christmas, but this year we found someplace else that was open.
Sorry you won't see snow, but belive me, it is VERY overrated!
Onward and Downward... The Spaf Man
That sounds like a good option to me. I love chinese food !!
Merry Xmas to you too buddy,
Feliz navidad desde Alta California
Merry Christmas from Upper California!
I love CA !!
Merry Xmas to you too
Merry Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas, cool Yule, Happy Holidays, Kickin Kwanzaa, Smashing Saturnalia, Killer Krampus, Happy Chanukah, Sweet Solstice, and for the rest of us; Festivus.
Also, Christmas in Argentina sounds like my kind of party. Food, gifts, and hot weather.
Christmas (and New Year) is all about food, gifts, hot weather, getting drunk , partying all night, sex, etc.
Going out during christmas or new years eve can be dangerous because there are too many drunk or high people on the streets driving, etc. People are super cool and friendly though.
But yes, there is nothing religious here. Nobody goes to church or anything. Only those who are super religious. Regular people just stay home,then party all night, or go to a club, bar, etc.
During Christmas and New Year's eve nightclubs open after midnight (at about 2 am) and they remained open until 7 or 8 am.
If you want to keep on partying, you can go to an after party , in general those places open from 6 am to 4 or 5 pm - yes, in the afternoon-. .
So many people go to the club at 2 am, stay there until 8am , then head to the after party until 1 or 3 pm.
Bars in general are open even before midnight so that people can celebrate there. Many people dont like to stay home, they like to go out , have dinner, celebrate in restaurants, bars, etc.
In my opinion is the wildest time of the year and everything goes .
We have New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, and Drinko de Mayo for that!
Bill
Yeah, definitely sounds like a great time to me. Bill is right, we have other holidays for that here, but I wouldn't mind adding Christmas to the mix!
Totally fascinating, David, I loved reading about what your Christmas is like down in Argentina!
I think Bill described it best, what an average Christmas is like here in the USA -- although of course it can vary a little bit from region to region, as well as from one family to another.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas, regardless of the hot temperatures... and as they say in Hawaii (the warmest state in the USA this time of year): Mele Kalikimaka!
- Ken
Thanks Ken.
You are more than invited to come over whenever you want to have some Argentinean christmas haha .
Merry Xmas buddy
Merry Christmas David, and to all the users of this great board also :) I had a quiet Christmas Eve at home but had fun making music vids with my Christmas tree that I posted on my FB page.LOL.Today I drive south to spend Christmas with relatives for dinner and a gift exchange.It got cold again here after several days of unusually warm weather which basically killed all the snow we had last week so no white Christmas here.No biggie but I am counting the days on the calender to springtime my friend ;) Cheers
Mârk
Hey Mark.
Im glad to hear you spent a nice christmas.
I am also counting the days for the fall. This hot weather is killing us. And we just started it ! haha
Stay well buddy
Dave, do come to San Francisco sometime. It is almost never hot here. The two hottest months for the U.S., July and August, it rarely tops 70 degrees (21C) here. Ken and I would be glad to show you around.
Our winters aren't very cold, either. Above is the temperature chart for my neighborhood for the past week. You could say we are having July weather right now! (And we don't have to buy a plane ticket to South America for the experience.)
Bill
I dont think the problem is the temperature, but the humidity we have here. Buenos Aires is too fcking humid.
I have been to places where it was too hot but it was a dry weather, and it was tolerable . But you know, humidity makes things worse.
I will go to SF one day though. I love travelling and its one of the cities that I have on my "to do list".
I have been to L.A during February and could not believe its weather. . its perfect. I am not sure if that's how it is all year long. But I loved it.
I'm totally jealous! The weather here in the UK has been crap lately - chilly, windy and rainy. Though 102 degrees Fahrenheit is a bit too hot - anything much over 20 degrees Celsius (that's 68 degrees Fahrenheit to those countries still using ancient measurements!) and I start melting.
Christmas in the UK is celebrated pretty much like it is in Canada (my home country) and the USA - though with less pizzazz. I miss the pizzazz!
Hope your Christmas is amazing!
Damon
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I can resist up to 34 degrees Celsius without melting . Something higher than that is already annoying. Specially here where the weather is too humid.
So I am jealous that you have that windy, cold weather up there !
Happy Xmas to you too !!
Wow Dave! That is some tradition you've got! A lot of people have their own family traditions but for me we go to my grandparents home for lunch , and haVe a big family reunion of sorts. And then got to my in laws for dinner. We had a warm week earlier this week which melted all our snow... But it was only 12 degrees on Christmas so definitely a far cry from your temps'
Oh, so no snow this year? ( I was expecting some snow pics haha)
I like big family reunions like the ones you mentioned! Did you receive any gifts btw ?
For New Year's eve I am going to some friends' apartment , we will have dinner there, and then after midnight we will head to the nightclub.
I will try not to drink too much alcohol since hot weather and alcohol are not a good mix haha.
Happy Holidays!
Nope, no snow this Christmas :(. I did get fun gifts from friends and family, most notably and iPad mini with retina displays that I am typing on right now!