Say Hello to Spring 🌳
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Season 2: Episode 88 Description
In today's episode: 🌳 On March 20th, the Spring Equinox arrived, and with it, brighter days in the northern hemisphere. 🌞 Did you hear that Daylight Savings Time could become permanent? ✔️ Fun Fact Check: This structure of giant stones was built to celebrate the Spring Equinox AND track time. In the news: An update on Ukraine, cheerleaders to the rescue, and Happy Holi! And, test your Spring Equinox knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
Circadian Rhythms and Circadian Clock | NIOSH | CDC
12ft | Permanent daylight saving time? History says America won't like change
First Day of Spring 2022: Celebrate the Spring Equinox | The Old Farmer's Almanac
Why the Ancients Remembered the Equinox | Canyon Journeys (canyon-journeys.com)
Stonehenge was a solar calendar, according to research - BBC News
Millions of Ukrainian refugees are fleeing: Where are they going? (usatoday.com)
War in Ukraine: Backlash in Russia against anti-war musicians - BBC News
What Is Holi? What to Know About India's Festival of Colors | Time
Chichén Itzá serpent returns for spring equinox (yucatanmagazine.com)
Links
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:01
Is it Spring yet? And what's the deal with daylight savings time? I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, March 22nd. And this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:14
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:23
Did you hear daylight savings time could become permanent? On March 16th, the US Senate unanimously voted to make daylight savings time year-round. The good news is no more changing clocks in the spring and fall. Plus, we'll have more evening sunshine in the winter. Yay. The bad news. Get ready for some dark winter mornings. In the winter, the sun won't rise until after 8 am. Even as late as 9:30 am in some places. This is an outrage. That means your winter bus ride or walk to school could possibly be hours before the sun gets up. Overall, there's a lot of support for doing away with changing the clocks twice a year. Health experts have pointed out the changes disrupt our circadian rhythms, our body's natural clocks. There's even an increase in car accidents when we spring forward and lose an hour of sleep. But those same experts say standard time should be year-round, not daylight savings. This isn't the first time that Congress has made Daylight Savings Time permanent. Back in the 1970s, Richard Nixon signed it into law, and most Americans were happy about it. At first. After just a few months, people complained and pushed back so Congress reinstated four months of standard time during the winter. Seriously? This time around the Senate can spend much time debating the bill before passing it. Now it heads over to the House of Representatives for their vote. Let's hope they spend a little more time on it. I'm thinking at least an hour. What do you think we want to know? Visit thetennews.com/contacts to tell us what you think about permanent daylight savings time. I don't know where you're listening from, but up here in these parts after a long cold dark winter comes the Spring. On March 20th, the Spring Equinox arrives, and with it is hope for brighter days, literally brighter. The sun stays up in the sky longer as we get closer to the summer solstice. Nice. But what is the Spring Equinox, also called the Vernal Equinox. Help. It's when day and night are essentially equal. The sun is up and down for the same amount of time, everywhere on Earth. Usually, the sun is up a little longer in either the northern or the southern hemisphere. Only on the Spring and Fall Equinox are the days and nights the same length all over the world. And equinoxes are the only two times in a year that the sunrise is exactly east and sets exactly West for all of us on Earth. Awesome. How did ancient humans figure this day out? They didn't have clocks to mark how long day and night were and they couldn't call someone in the southern hemisphere to check if the sun was rising and setting at the same time. Well, people did mark time throughout the year to understand important things like when to plant and when to harvest. So they were paying close attention to the sun, moon and stars. And on the equinox ancient humans could look up and see the sun traveling across the exact middle of the sky. That was unusual in ancient humans knew the day was special. Many cultures all across the world felt the equinox was an important day and built special structures to celebrate it, like the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Hey, Tessa, do you have a tidbit about one of these structures?
Tessa Flannery 4:22
I do. It's another special structure that was built to celebrate the spring equinox and track time. What's all the hubbub Stonehenge is a collection of enormous stones that were placed in a circle by humans in England over 4,000 years ago. For a long time, people weren't sure what Stonehenge was built for. And new research shows it was definitely a calendar. That may seem kind of boring, an old calendar made of rocks, but it actually is a big discovery. Stonehenge measures a year and three Under 65.25 days, the same way we do now. Pretty cool.
Bethany Van Delft 5:11
And now, here to give us the news rundown is our head writer Ryan Willard.
Ryan Willard 5:22
Thank you, Bethany. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues and according to the United Nations, over 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes to other parts of Ukraine, and among the 10 million, over 3 million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country. The Russian government continued their misinformation campaign and directed the Russian media group to ban several Ukrainian and Russian musicians who oppose the war. On to cheerleaders came to the rescue during a March Madness basketball game. In the first round men's game between Indiana University and St. Mary's College, the basketball got stuck in the camera mount on the backboard. When players and the referee couldn't get the ball unstuck, the cheerleaders use their athletic skills, one lifted and mounted the other as high as she could go and she retrieved the ball and kept the game going. And yet again, cheerleaders have proven to be stronger and more athletic than I will ever be. Happy Holi on Friday, March 18, the world celebration of Holi began. Holi is known as India's most joyous and colorful festival. It signifies the end of winter and the beginning of spring and symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. In India on the day of Holi, The streets are filled with people and turn red, green, and yellow as celebrants toss colored powder in the air and throw water balloons filled with colored water. Feel like our Ten news editor Pete Musto would like to celebrate with me right now.
Pete Musto 6:48
Wait, what? Ryan? Ryan? Ryan put those water balloons down.
Ryan Willard 6:55
Oh, Pete, look at all the colors.
Pete Musto 6:58
They're glorious. Ryan. Happy Holi.
Ryan Willard 7:02
And, back to you Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 7:08
Okay, it's time for...
Sound Bit 7:10
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 7:13
Trivia on the Ten. In the Mayan temple in the city of Chichen Itza. What magical animal illusion appears on the temple during the equinox? Is it a) a lion mooring? b) a jaguar leaping or, c) a serpent slithering? Did you guess it? The answer is C. The architects who designed the Temple of Glucagon, aka the temple of the serpent in the ancient Mexican city of Chichen Itza, designed it so that on Spring and Fall Equinox, a snake appears to slither down the side of the temples. Many of the ancient structures built by the Mayans use the sun in amazing ways. For example, on the equinox, the sun rises directly in the middle of an arch at the temple of the seven dolls. Cool beans, man. That's all we've got for today. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups.
Tessa Flannery 8:22
Hey, Rebecca. Welcome to the 10 news.
Rebecca 8:25
Thanks, Tessa. I've always wanted to visit the Ten News newsroom.
Tessa Flannery 8:29
We're glad to have you. Ten'ers, Rebecca is the host and executive producer of Girl Tales, a kid's podcast feminist stories for a new generation. We want to hear all about the big Girl Tales event coming up.
Rebecca 8:41
Oh, I am so excited. Trailblazer weekend is a girl power-packed virtual event for kids.
Tessa Flannery 8:48
Will there be activities?
Rebecca 8:51
You bet. Plus trailblazing women, authors, scientists, firefighters, and olympians will be there live to tell us how they have changed the world around them. It's on Saturday, March 26th, and Sunday, March 27th. From 10 am to 4:30 pm Eastern time on each day, but you can drop in whenever works for you. And the whole weekend is Pay What You Wish. Tessa, where are you going to get tickets? Wow, she's fast. I should have probably told her that she can just get tickets at girl Tails podcast.com/events tenors I hope to see you Saturday, March 26th, and Sunday, March 27th from 10 am to 4:30 pm. Eastern Time. Grownups you can check out the schedule submit kids’ questions and grab tickets at girltalespodcast.com/events.
Bethany Van Delft 10:03
Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is loving the evening sunshine and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delf. And thanks for listening to the Ten News. Fun fact about your host here. I have been to Chichen Itza and oh my goodness, it is stunning. There's this incredible ball court where they played this ancient ballgame and if you're standing all the way at one end of the court and you clap your hands really loud, the sound will go right back. And it sounds like the call of an eagle. Mind blown.
