【2001 Archives】

001 Archives"dog days of summer," those late July and August days that make us yearn for fall, have come and gone once again. But what does "dog days" even mean, anyway? Well, we are glad you asked!

Unfortunately, the answer has nothing to do with golden retrievers lying poolside, wearing sunglasses and sipping dog-friendly mojitos to stay cool. This is a tragedy -- golden retrievers are so cute -- but the answer is still pretty neat.

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, while you can find online and also on your oldest relative's oak bookshelf, the "dog days of summer" refer to the period between July 3 and August 11 when the "Dog Star," Sirius, rises just before the sun. This is called heliacal rising.

Contrary to popular belief, the dog days of summer have nothing to do with weather or temperature. They just usually happen to fall on the hottest days of the year -- even though plenty of our hottest days occur after August 11, causing many to misidentify the dog days as the final weeks of summer. Friends, that's just not true!

In fact, right now, the dog days are already over. It is that blessed time of year when Florence and the Machine is correct.

And if it's still really fucking hot, you can soothe yourself with thoughts of poolside puppies until autumn finally arrives. Just don't blame it on Sirius!

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})