Five Things to Know Today, Dec. 8

Welcome to Thursday. Here are some things to know today.

The weather: The thermometer isn't likely to top 52 today, but it will be sunny with almost no wind, according to the National Weather Service. The low tonight probably will again be below freezing, at around 31 degrees.

Gas prices: A gallon of regular in Lilburn costs between $3.14 (at Kroger, 3050 Five Forks Trickum near Oak Road) and $3.26 (at Marathon, 505 Pleasant Hill Road at Burns Road) - or at least those were the prices reported to www.georgiagasprices.com in the past 24 hours. The average price in Georgia is $3.220 and nationwide, it's $3.286, a cent more than yesterday, according to AAA.

The longest night:. The shortest day of the year, here in the Northern Hemisphere, is the Winter Solstice, which in our time zone is on Dec. 22. But the earliest sunset comes before that, today. Why? Earthsky.org explains that it's because of the difference between clock time, which is precise, and the more irregular time it takes for the Earth to rotate a full turn. That difference means the clock time for sunset is earlier about two weeks before the solstice than on the day itself. In Lilburn, sunset falls at 5:27 p.m. today but at 5:32 on Dec. 21.

Imagine all the music: Genial pop poet John Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building by a crazed fan on this day in 1980. He was only 40. So many artists and acts from that era did survive and either kept producing or returned from long absences to enrich our musical world - think of the Stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, the Moody Blues, and many more, great and small. You have to wonder what else John Lennon would have given the world.

Beasts: The next selection for the History Book Club is out: "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson, who wrote the eminently readable "The Devil in the White City." His latest is the account of a U.S. diplomatic family's close-up perspective as Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party gain power in Germany in the 1930s. The History Book Club's next meeting is in January at the Gwinnett History Museum in Lawrenceville, but you can start reading now to get ready, and the book is available at the library.