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Why are these the “dog days of summer”? · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Article Podcast from Denison Forum.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, July 23rd, 2026.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's Daily article authored by Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, Why Are These The Dog Days Of Summer?
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Where I live, Wednesday afternoon felt like 117 degrees outside.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today will be much better.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The afternoon high will only feel like 106 degrees.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're not alone.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Parts of Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri are as hot as we are in Texas.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the dog days of summer when it's so hot outside that dogs hide in the shade.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: At least that's what I assumed the phrase meant.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It turns out it refers to Sirius, the dog star, which is part of the constellation Canis Major,
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Serious is the brightest star in the night sky, and literally means scorching.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When people in ancient Greece and Rome watched it rise with the sun after the summer solstice, they thought the sweltering days were caused by our planet's proximity to the star.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: They therefore referred to the period of July 3 to August 11 as Dyes, Conecola-hrees, or dog star days.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever the origin of the phrase, it seems as though the days it describes are
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: were right.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: If Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer and Labor Day is the unofficial end, we are now in the longest possible unofficial summer.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: May 25 was the earliest possible Memorial Day, while September 7th is the latest possible Labor Day.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I were God, our seasons would be much shorter than they are.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: When Independence Day comes and goes, it would be time for Labor Day.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: When Halloween is done, Thanksgiving and Christmas would be at hand.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: When Valentine's Day is over, Mother's Day would be the next week, and so on.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I could do this by speeding up or shortening our planet's rotation around the sun.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I could also eliminate our planet's 23.5 degree tilt, which would eliminate the seasons.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I sped us up, however, we would climb to a higher, colder orbit and could leave the solar system entirely.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: If I eliminated our tilt, the cold regions of our planet would become so cold as to be uninhabitable, while the warmer regions would become too hot.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Areas that receive rain would be covered in forests, or experience continuous soil erosion, those that do not would become desert wastelands.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an example of what philosophers call the anthropic principle.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The belief that the universe is structured in a way that permits the emergence of life, examples abound,
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Protons are 1,836 times larger than electrons.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: If they were a little smaller or larger, atoms could not form the molecules necessary for us to exist.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike every other substance known to man, water's solid form, ice, is less dense than its liquid form.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Ice floats as a result, which keeps our planet from freezing.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The amount of light reflected off our planet is precisely correct
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our magnetic field is precisely correct to keep us from being devastated by cosmic radiation or severe electromagnetic storms.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: If our sun were redder or bluer, photosynthesis would be impeded.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For stalling the natural biochemical process, crucial to life on Earth.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: None of these facts are in dispute.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The question has to do with how things got to be the way they are.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Many consider our planetary existence to be the result of cosmic chance and coincidence.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As one scientist stated, earth has got very lucky.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It's in this really nice little slot in the solar system.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: The first verse in the first book of the Bible disagrees.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason this is the first sentence in God's word.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am reading Mark Buchanan's marvelous World War II novel, what is left of the night.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: In it, he has the French existentialist writer Albert Kamu, say that he is trying to make sense of the senseless, find meaning in the meaningless.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: But if our existence is without meaning as Kamu alleges, how can his allegation be meaningful?
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: How we see the world does not change the world, but it can change our experience of it.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: To illustrate in the most mundane way I can imagine, I walked past an ant mound in our front yard yesterday morning.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: When I returned with Ant Poison, however, I couldn't find it.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I walked back and forth, back and forth, to no avail.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: In that moment, if I agreed with Kamu that the universe has no meaning, perhaps I would have abandoned my quest as meaningless.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I thought Zeus and the gods intervened, perhaps I would have prayed to them for guidance.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I thought ants had agency to know I was coming with Ant Poison and moved their
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  [SPEAKER_00]: If I thought I was hallucinating earlier, or now I would have given up.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As it was, I assumed I was mistaken in thinking the mound was on the side of the sidewalk where I was looking.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When I looked on the other side, I found it.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: If we genuinely believe that God existed before existence and that He created all that exists today, four results logically follow.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We trust in Him unconditionally in the knowledge that our faith is centered on a reality
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We look for the Creator in His creation and worship Him with a lifestyle of praise.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We see ourselves as created rather than Creator and serve our Maker with grateful obedience.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We pray for His help in the knowledge that the One who made the world can work in it for His glory and our good.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we say we believe Genesis 1, 1 but do not do what I've listed, we are in practice what
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the Daily Article Podcast.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For links, scripture references, or to find out more about Denison Forum, visit us at DenisonForm.org, or click the link in today's show notes.