Factoid of the day

actually, we're in the monsoon season, so it's not that hot.

But this time of year is called the "Dog Days of Summer".


see more dog and puppy pictures

ah, but why is it called that? Because dogs hate the heat? Because dogs might get rabies?

No: Father Z says it's because it's the time of the dog star:Sirius. And he adds lots of quotes from Greek and Latin literature.

from Wikipedia:

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather

.

and the ancient Egyptians used the rise at dawn of the dog star to predict the time of the annual floods of the Nile River.