Re: Tautology alert (Re: "Evolution" making English irregular verbs regular)

In article <1193835356.082983.82000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Oct 31, 1:23 am, Odysseus <odysseus1479...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <1193784467.223941.304...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hawaii isn't close enough to the equator to have year-round 12-hour
days and nights, is it?

For that to be exactly true you have to be right on the Equator
(treating the Sun as a stationary point, and ignoring the atmosphere);
it's a matter of degrees, so to speak. All the larger Hawaiian* islands
are just within the tropics: the maximum difference in length between
night and day is comparatively slight there but still appreciable,
although the changes from day to day are barely perceptible, even in
spring or fall. At 20.6? N latitude, close to the northern tip of the
big island, the widest split is 13h15 to 10h45. Towards the
north(west)ern end of the archipelago it would be about 13h30 to 10h30.

Counting just the state? or are you going all the way to Midway?

My handiest atlas doesn't show the state's boundaries. I wasn't thinking
to go quite as far as Midway, though, where the division would be
something like 13h48 to 10h12. The 13h30/10h30 line is at about 24.2°
latitude, just outside the tropics.

* Should that be <Hawai'ian>, or does nobody bother with the apostrophe
any more?

Properly speaking (or writing), it isn't an apostrophe, but a single-
open-quote [...]

Thanks for the correction. In that case, I don't think I've ever seen it
written properly!

--
Odysseus
.

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