Tag Archives: astronomy

Calendars And How To Appreciate Them

Posted on by
Reply

The calendar is such a commonplace, everyday item, but how much do you really know about the operation of it. Why is it like that?

A DAY: The Earth rotates at a reasonably fixed pace about the imaginary line running between the North and South Poles named the Earth’s Axis. The time it takes to spin once is called a ‘rotation’ and this takes just under twenty-four hours. Nevertheless, because the Earth is constantly traveling around the Sun, the exact time from noon one day to noon the next is 3 minutes 56 seconds longer and this makes a day almost exactly twenty-four hours in length.

The real time from noon to noon varies depending where the Earth is on its celestial course around the Sun, but if you average the days in a year out, it comes to exactly twenty-four hours.

A YEAR: All nine planets in our solar system travel around the Sun in almost perfectly circular routes called orbits. Each trip around the Sun is called a revolution and all the planets revolve around the Sun in the same direction. The direction the Earth takes can be verified by noting its location against the background stars.

Since you cannot see the Sun and the stars at the same time, it is obligatory to note the location of the Sun in the morning and the see which stars appear there in the night. You will see that the Sun appears to pass through the twelve constellations of the zodiac during a year.

Earth’s trip around the Sun, which seems like the Sun travelling through the zodiac takes about 365.25 days. This varies from year to year, so astronomers add or delete a second in some years to make their time accurate with the Earth’s motion.

THE SEASONS: The seasons indicate the variation in the pattern of daylight over the span of a year. Because the Earth is tilted off centre, different parts of it receive different quantities of sunlight on different stages of its path around the Sun, a path that we call a year. So, between about the 21st September and late March, the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, which produces Autumn and Winter, giving less than twelve hours of daylight per day.

From April to the 20th September, the Northern Hemisphere enjoys more than twelve hours of daylight a day, creating Spring and Summer. The exact opposite occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Equinoxes occur at the points in the year when there is exactly twelve hours of sunlight and darkness in the day. So, the vernal or Spring equinox is on or around the 21st March and the autumnal equinox is on or around the 21st September. Summer officially begins on the day with the greatest amount of daylight, the 21st June or summer solstice.

The winter solstice occurs on the shortest day, the 21st December. ‘Solstice’ is a combination of two words meaning ‘sun standing still’ and the days are so called because they are the days when the apparent movement of the Sun reaches its limits and reverses course again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching Franklin planner pages. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

Apocalyptic Dates In The Future

Posted on by
Reply

Predicting the end of the world has almost certainly been going on since man began thinking, whenever that was. It is warned about in Revelations in the Bible, so that must be about 2,000 years ago.

However, it is the predictions of Nostradamus that are the most well-known and most copious. Some biographical accounts of Nostradamus’ life assert that he was afraid of being victimized for heresy by the Inquisition, although neither prophecy nor astrology fell under their jurisdiction. He would have been in danger only if he had practiced magic to back up his predictions.

In fact, his contact with the Church as a prophet and a healer were always excellent. His brief imprisonment at Marignane in late 1561 came about purely because he had published his 1562 Almanac without the previous consent of a bishop, contravening a recent royal decree.

Here then are a couple of the prophesies of the ending of the world and the annihilation of mankind.

December 21st, 22nd or 23rd 2012 are all possible dates for the ending of the world according to the ancient Mayan Calendar.

2012 has been determined by some to be the first potential date for the passing by of Planet X (Wormwood) and the demise of the world, as mentioned in Revelations, although this is fervently debated by Biblical experts and astronomers alike.

2012 is also the year given by Nostradamus as the possible demise. He gave three possible years for the apocalypse: 1994 and 1998 so this is his last opportunity to be correct.

2010 is the year so says the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn.

In 1143 St Malachy prophesied that there would be only another 112 more Popes. The current Pope Benedict is the 111th. He further predicted that the final Pope would be known as Peter of Rome, so we will have to wait and see for this one.

2017 is the year specified to the Sword of God Brotherhood by the Angel Gabriel.

November 13th 2026 is the date according to a 1960 copy of ‘Science’ magazine. The writer said that this would be the day that the planet’s human population would ‘reach infinity’.

2033 is held by many to be the 2000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ and a potential date for his return, which would signal the demise of our Earthly times.

4,500,000,000 AD is the approximate date at which the Sun is due to explode and in so doing, destroy the inner solar system including our World. Nobody knows, but unless we wipe out ourselves first, this latter date is probably the most accurate and scientific date for the destruction of the planet.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with custom wall calendars If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

Developing A Promotional Strategy

Posted on by
Reply

Even if you were to invent something earth-shattering, you would not earn any money out of it if you left the invention on your desk. The only way you can turn a profit from it is by selling it and in order to accomplish this, you have to inform people that it exists, that it is for sale and where they may get it from. In other words, you have to advertise it.

The US Patents Office has issued thousands patents for products that never made it and many of those did not make it, not because they were not good concepts, but because their inventors did not know what to do with them. A business is more or less the same as a new invention. It has to be marketed, unless it is located in the middle of the only street in town.

Having already started your business, it is to be hoped that, you have already worked out your target market and evaluated the demand for your goods or services. Now you have to convert those potential customers into contented customers and this is where your promotional strategy comes in.

A promotional strategy is nothing more than a for reaching your intended market, which is of course the people most likely to need your services or products. At its simplest, your promotional strategy might consist of just hanging a sign over your door and relying on word of mouth from satisfied customers to spread, so doing your advertising for you.

In some cases, this is indeed all the advertising a business needs, but the circumstances are not that common really. It works, if you are operating in a very small town or if your product or service is unique or very specialized or if you enjoy a long-standing good reputation. However, normally, customers require more details to go on before they will be drawn to your business.

Therefore, the objective of your promotional strategy should be to reach the greatest quantity of potential customers through the most economical use of your resources, which may include money, personnel and facilities. This means that you have to discover the channels of communication most used by your potential customers and try to connect with them through those. This is normally constrained by a budget.

Advertising involves the purchasing of time or space in the media you have selected in order to publicize your business to your target market. You then have to decide which form of advertising you are going to use: institutional or product advertising. Institutional advertising markets the firm’s name as in: ‘Larry’s Boot Shop – The Best In Town’, whereas product advertising is more specific and might read: ‘Nike Walking Boots – 30% off at Larry’s. Offer Finishes Friday!’

Both forms of advertising can be successful and lend themselves better to some media than to others. Institutional advertising is better carried out on shop signs, sign-written vans or windows or promotional calendars, that is, static, long-term, business name advertising and product advertising is better done by newspaper, magazine, radio and TV, where one-off special offers can be promoted.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with researching promotional wall calendars. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

Christian Holy Days

Posted on by
Reply

Christmas – is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Although the precise date of his birth is unknown, December 25th was probably selected because it coincided with a pagan mid-winter festival. The ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas” mark the days between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6th), which was the day of the wise men’s visit.

Easter – is the most important day in the Christian calendar, because it celebrates Christ’s Resurrection, which gave / gives Christians the hope of salvation and eternal life. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (Spring) equinox, which is on 21st March.

Shrove Tuesday – (Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday) was originally a day of penance, but is now marked by merrymaking. It is the day before the commencement of Lent.

Ash Wednesday – is derived from the marking of a cross on the forehead of believers with the ashes from the burnt palms used on Palm Sunday.

Lent – 40 days of atonement and fasting

Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Easter, remembers the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, where palms were strewn on the road before him.

Maundy (Holy) Thursday – the day of the Last supper.

Good Friday – is the day of Christ’s crucifixion.

Holy Saturday – is the day before the Resurrection.

The Annunciation – March 25th is celebrated by Catholics as the day that Archangel Gabriel told Mary about her imminent pregnancy.

Trinity Sunday – is celebrated by some denominations in honour of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. It was confirmed part of the holy calendar in 1334 by Pope John XII.

Corpus Christi – Catholics celebrates the presence of the body of Christ on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

All Saints Day – this mainly Catholic remembrance is on November 1 and honours all Christian saints.

Advent – a religious season that starts on the Sunday nearest to November 30 and lasts until Christmas Day. It celebrates the birth of Jesus and anticipates his Second Coming. It was once a period of fasting, but now no longer.

Holy Days Of Obligation – are feast days in the Catholic calendar marked by attendance at mass and the avoidance of unnecessary work. There are six in the USA: Solemnity of Mary – January 1: Christ’s circumcision, ie his first shedding of blood Ascension – 40 days after Easter Assumption – August 15: Mary is accepted into Heaven All Saints’ Day – November 1 Mary’s Immaculate Conception – December 8 Christmas Day – December 25.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Franklin Covey planner refillss If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

The Chinese Calendar

Posted on by
Reply

Prior to their implementation of the Western solar calendar system, the Chinese almost exclusively followed their own lunar calendar for determining the times of planting and harvesting and festival days. Although people in China today use the Western calendar for almost all business, governmental and practical matters of daily life, the old system still serves as the basis for working out many seasonal holidays. This coexistence of two calendar systems has long been accepted by the people of China.

However, this does not only apply to China, it also occurs in most other Eastern countries, like Thailand, and most Arabic countries.

A lunar month is calculated by measuring the period of time required for the moon to complete its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full 11 days shorter than its solar counterpart. This difference is corrected every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months.

The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions characterized by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all of which bear a close relationship to the yearly cycle of agricultural work.

The Chinese calendar – very much like the Hebrew calendar- is a mixture of the solar and lunar calendars in that it attempts to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar.

For example, an average year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year will be like, one needs to make a number of astronomical calculations.

First of all, you have to determine the dates of the new moons. In these cases, a new Moon is the completely black Moon (that is to say, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun), not the first visible crescent, as is used by the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is then the first day of a new month.

The reason why the majority of countries which had their own calendars had to dump them in favour of the Western, Julian calendar that we use today, is business. First the British and then the Americans ran international business and they used the Julian calendar.Anyone who sought to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often varies from local custom in Third World countries.

The government desires to deal on the International markets, but the ordinary family in the country can not. So, the government adopted the Julian calendar but the people only pay lip service to it. I live in Thailand and people here do not even use the 24 hour day divided into two halves. Their day has four sections of six hours each and the first part starts at 6AM, not midnight. Therefore, they have four 4 o’clocks a day, for example but no 7 o’clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for example in Muslim countries.

Interested in astronomy, then please visit our website at: Astronomy Today