Perhaps even more unlikely is a photo found by a fireman sifting through rubble at the World Trade Center ground zero. I saw it on ABC News Nightline (3/7/2002). The photo was on an official document from 20 years before. The photo was of himself, when he had been certified as a fireman.

Random stuff? Perhaps so. But what are the odds? A million to one? Ten million to one? Both my dad and my uncle were alive, both were Americans, both were enlisted in the Pacific conflict. Odds can be calculated. The fireman was a New Yorker, he had documents kept in the World Trade Center (although he may not have been aware of it), he was there sifting through rubble. At least the possibility clearly existed.

Talking about odds, what are the odds that you'll get struck by lightning? I'm told that 125 people are killed by lightning strikes each year in the United States, and that another 250 are struck, but not killed! No wonder they say that the odds of getting hit by lightning are higher than the odds of buying a $million lottery ticket!

Ready to dive back into the heady stuff of Geography? Actually, lightning statistics are relevant to Meteorology, which is a division of Physical Geography!

The Earth's orbit is not exactly round. It's elliptical. And the nature of the ellipse (which simply means an elongated circle) is going to further define the perfection of our porridge. And the fact that the porridge will not remain "just right" forever!

Time for a premier drawing. To draw a cool ellipse, simply combine two semicircles around two center points located near each other. A greater elongation of the ellipse will result from a greater separation of the two center points. Notice in the drawing at left that there are two center points. One surrounded by the angelically drawn sun in the off-center and the other center point to it's left.

On the excellent drawing, "P" stands for perihelion and "A" for an aphelion. A perihelion occurs when the Earth is closest to the sun in its elliptical annual orbit and aphelion occurs when it's farthest away. "A" for "away," if you will, and "P" for a periscope. You know . . . When the submarine guy looks through his periscope in the movies everything appears to be close up!

The Earth changes seasons as it revolves around the Sun. The first day of winter (in the northern hemisphere) occurs when the Earth's axis tilts the North Pole the greatest possible away from the Sun. At December Solstice, usually on December 22. Now a perihelion comes about shortly after that, usually on January 3. So what's the big deal about all of this? Besides being deliciously interesting, I mean. Well. The big deal relates to the oceans.

My students love my Physical Geography classes because I'm so good looking, not because the material is simple. Actually, Physical Geography is rather complex, tying together many variables for each important concept. So we start with an elliptical orbit and define its points of least and greatest distance from the Sun and ask, "so what?" Then we bring in the seasons and ask a new question.

If the Earth is closest to the Sun at a perihelion, which occurs in the northern hemisphere's winter, we must acknowledge that the southern hemisphere is in summer! That's because the South Pole is tilted most directly toward the Sun at December Solstice which lengthens the days in the southern hemisphere and draws the most direct rays of the Sun. (Are we together, so far?) With longer days and more direct solar heat coming in, it's summertime in Durban, South Africa (where my buddy Norman lives) and in Melbourne, Australia (where my buddy Yaron lives) and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's warmer down under at December solstices!

The Earth, at a perihelion, is about 3% closer to the Sun than it is at an aphelion, so more of the Sun's heat energy reaches the Earth at that time of year. Just like when you wish you had a longer stick to roast that campfire marshmallow with, after a few minutes . . . so that you can move your delicate body farther from the heat source! Closer to the heat source= warmer! Farther from the heat source= cooler! Yeah, it's this higher level scientific stuff that's so cerebral!

Here's our new question: "Shouldn't the world's hottest places be in the southern hemisphere?" Maybe about 2% hotter, if all other things are equal. If I asked where you would guess the hottest temperatures have been recorded, I'll bet you'd guess in some desert somewhere, perhaps in the great Australian outback, or in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana in Africa, or perhaps the Atacama Desert of Chile (which is the world's driest desert) in South America. When I was a young man, I learned that the highest temperature ever recorded was at Death Valley, California. And it was hot, too! 134o, if I recall. But that's in the northern hemisphere! Since then, however, my encyclopedic brain has absorbed ever more information. Turns out that I was lied to back then. The world's heat record is 136o. This occurred on September 13,1922 in El Azizia. While that is not anywhere near California, it is also not in the southern hemisphere! It's in Libya, in the Sahara Desert of North Africa.

My painfully simple point in all of this is that it would have been much hotter, and considerably less bearable living, in much of the northern hemisphere if June solstices (when the North Pole tilts most toward the Sun) occurred at a perihelion. To rephrase, the northern hemisphere would be much hotter if the Earth were closest to the sun during its summertime. But it isn't! The perihelion occurs on January 3 . . . during winter (in the northern hemisphere)! The northern hemisphere is closest to the Sun when solar rays are least direct and day length is shortest. The effect of this is to reduce the sun's summer heat in the northern hemisphere because of it's increased distance from the Sun.

This is very important to a great majority of the Earth's people! Because Earth population is greatest north of the tropics in the northern hemisphere, where summer heat is greatest. Most people occupy this part of the world because it has the greatest land mass.
Take a quick look at the world maps above
.
The first thing we see is that the world is mostly water . . . about 71% of the Earth's surface, to get technical. 97% of the Earth's surface water is in the oceans. But the oceans are not evenly distributed, in terms of northern and southern hemispheres. There is far more land mass in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. Because of the marvelous ability of water to store heat energy from the Sun, it moderates the temperature of the Earth's land masses. That means that it both reduces summer heat and increases winter warmth. Because there's so much water in the southern hemisphere it's land areas are moderated the most and, therefore, they are not nearly as hot as they would be at a perihelion when the greatest solar heat energy is bathing the globe with its warmest affections!

The world's greatest land masses are less moderated by the oceans of the world because of their size (oceanic influence is distant from the interior of Asia and North America). How convenient for the world's greatest interior land masses, then, that summer's raging heat is moderated because the Earth is at an aphelion . . . It's at a greater distance from the sun in summer.

And, don't miss this, the northern hemisphere's land masses are closer to the sun at a perihelion. When it's coldest (winter), the closer Sun helps warm the great northern land masses!

Winter cold and summer heat in Europe and Central Asia and North America would be much more extreme if this situation were reversed.

What are the odds that the Earth orbit's "P" and it's "A" are so perfectly placed for maximum Earth comfort? Just one in two, on this matter, I suppose. But this one matter really did influence Goldilocks to find just the right porridge! And Geography is really just a wonderful fairy tale!

There's likely to be a sharp reader, one who has studied some Astronomy, who is tiring of all these trivia. This student will scoff that the perihelion/aphelion only affects Earth temperature by something less than 2% on average. Well . . . good going; right you are!
This is a minor factor and yes, on average, the effect is only about 2%. But that 2% is magnified in the regions of the Earth where the greatest concentrations of people are located, in South and East Asia. And, although a small matter, it varies according to the best comfort of the greatest part of the habitable world.

My sharp reader won't give up so easily, however! No way! I have very good hearing in neither ear, yet I can hear the retort: "Come on, like, this isn't even real, man! I can't believe you're making a point of this! The fact is that the perihelion and the aphelion will reverse their effect on summer and winter every 13,000 years!"

Oh, my, how could I have forgotten? I'm so embarrassed. "Ah, hmm," I clear my throat in an effort to be professorial. "Yes, dear person, you have spoken well. It is accepted theory that the world's axis does wobble over time. This is one of three parts of the Milankovich effect. Right now, perihelion and aphelion are very well situated to support maximum comfort for the greatest part of the northern hemisphere. So, what are the implications?"

My student, being ever up to a challenge, responds. "OK, so you know a big word. OK, man, like, woop-de-doo!"

"Thank you for the kudos!" I say, ignoring his misspelled final phrase.

Last I heard, it is the Milankovich theory that best explains the vast evidence of heating and cooling periods through geologic time. The ice ages are interspersed with warmer periods. Milankovich simply observed that the Earth's tilt on its axis and the orientation of that tilt and the shape of its orbit around the Sun are all in flux.

(1) The tilt is 23½o. But this is subject to change.

(2) The tilt is oriented toward the sun (relative to the northern hemisphere) in summer, which occurs at the same time that the Earth is at an aphelion . . . when it is farthest from the Sun. But this is subject to change.

(3) The orbit is slightly elliptical. But this is subject to change.

When all three of these variables coincide to our comfort, the porridge is just right! When these three variables coincide to long-term polar cooling, an ice age comes about.

And so it is that our blue paradise appears to be in flux, ever changing in terms of relationship to its giant heat source, the Sun. But for the past 9000 years or so, since the last ice age is believed to have receded, the combinations of the three theorized Milankovich variables that effect the Earth-Sun relationship have served to provide us mortals with maximum comfort.

It is in this period of the physical Earth that we have written records of contact with God. And God, in the Bible, has foretold that . . . Time's, they will be achangin'!

Because it is this very religiousness which random evolution runs from I will spend little time on it. The intent of writing this is to communicate the fact (fact) that physical science reveals a virtual inevitability of intelligent design. It also may be telling us that Biblical prophecy ought not to be scoffed. Such, however, will be left for those guys in the rocking chairs on top of the mountain to debate (see Introduction).

Is global warming going on? That's another ‘Obvious!' If the last ice age ended 9000 years ago, then . . . what? It doesn't mean that the Earth is cooling! Duh! Could it warm further? Well, if the wobble of the Earth's tilt on its axis progresses (called precession of the axis) as theorized, then the northern hemisphere will be getting hotter summers and colder winters. There are other variables here, as well. The elliptical orbit of the Earth also changes with regularity, according to Milankovich. And the degree of tilt (23½o) will also change. If all variables have combined to make life ideal over the last few thousands of years, we'll be leaving ‘Ideal' behind as changes continue their precession!

A final religiosity, if you will. These changes are very gradual. If Milankovich had it right, and Earth conditions will be deteriorating for its human occupants in the future, and God is behind all of this, then He is indeed slow to anger. His longsuffering toward us is great.

Don't forget that science is a babe in arms . . . How many more variables are there that we have yet to discover? Could Earth conditions deteriorate at an accelerated rate because of unknown variables?

Could eating quiche really retard manhood?

Chapter 3