some day

i spent the morning in court today participating in a trial on a traffic violation incurred last summer. the details of it aren't at all important, nor is the outcome; what's interesting is being involved in the process and having the opportunity to "play the game". the argument surrounding the summons ended up being a matter of semantics. it was the legal definitions and interpretations thereof that were being refuted. the trial seemed short, lasting only an hour and a half, but was actually quite long relatively speaking, considering the nature of the issue. it was akin to an academic debate, in the end. the magistrate passed judgement based on the arguments and presentations of both sides, notably under subjective interpretation of the debate's primary question. i'd go so far as to say that it was genuinely fun.

but back to the matter at hand, that of word and definition. we don't usually think of what actually defines a "day" here on earth. ask five people and you may well get five different responses. scientifically speaking, for any celestial body in our solar system a day is defined as the period of time required for the body to rotate a full revolution around its primary axis of rotation. likewise, a year is defined as the amount of time that it takes a body in our solar system to complete one entire orbital cycle around the sun.

simple enough.

what's interesting, then, is that on venus, for example, a day is longer than a year. a venutian day lasts for about 243 earth days worth of time. the venutian year lasts 223 earth days.

entirely inconsequential to you, i know. but it's certainly interesting how much thought can be borne of a few simple words, even the ones that seem more simple than most.

jh..