Diamond Rings and More

Posts Tagged ‘astronomy’

There are tens of thousands of hobbies, aren’t there? Some seem pointless, others offer a opportunity for self-improvement and others offer the chance to make some money, but what is the most amazing hobby of them all?

It is so amazing that the overwhelming majority of individuals on the planet have taken part in it and do on a ordinary basis. It fascinates millions of individuals every day.

Or should I say each night, because I am referring to amateur astronomy or, more in essence, star gazing. Each sighted person in the world throughout the history of mankind, has looked up at the planets and the stars in the night sky and wondered something. People ask themselves different questions, but everybody has pondered something while gazing at the stars.

Astronomy is a excellent hobby that surely everyone is interested in. It is there to do, free of charge nearly all nights of the week if the sky is clear. If you would like to see more, you can get a pair of binoculars and if you want to study objects even further away, you can buy a telescope.

Neither of these optical aids is highly expensive at the entry level, but the difference they will make to your level of enjoyment of the hobby is, well, amazing.

Books on astronomy are not expensive and they will point the greenhorn in the right direction for seeing all types of amazing sights: constellations, planets, meteor storms, visiting comets etc..

There is also a wealth of free information on line. Join Jodrell Bank (the British Observatory) on Twitter to be kept informed about what is happening in the night sky in the near future in your region.

This is another fascinating aspect of this hobby, visiting observatories, where you get the chance to observe the universe from as close as we can get and still be on terra firma. If you have never looked at the night sky through a huge telescope (or even any telescope), you have a huge pleasure in store for yourself.

Children love astronomy and I have heard numerous well-known astronomers say that their love of astronomy started whilst a relative pointed to the night sky and explained something to them. This led to taking out library books on astronomy and asking for a telescope for Christmas. Twenty years later they are on television explaining some astronomical fact to the nation.

That is amazing. Not many chess players or stamp collectors or football fans can say the same. And there is still such a lot to learn about the solar system. Everyone has a chance to try to explain something. Even though most of the ’simple stuff’ has already been found, it has not all been explained to the satisfaction of all astronomers.

If you are not too interested in astronomy yourself or do not have the time, why not give the opportunity to some child you know? Instead of the usual Christmas or birthday presents, give a book on astronomy, binoculars or a telescope, you could be encouraging the next Patrick Moore, but at least you will be introducing someone to the most amazing hobby on the planet or even in the universe.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the kids building set. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Smart Toys for Kids.

In the West, we tend to think that there is only one calendar, but there are dozens of them around the world. And what is more, there were probably hundreds of them previously. All defunct now either because ours is more accurate or because theirs did not fit in with our commercial way of life.

But that does not mean to say that people do not still use those old-fashioned, redundant calendars. Oh, no! Governments have given up their old, traditional national calendars, but in general, country folk still refer to them, even if they can no longer get hold of a printed version. I cannot go into all the calendars here, but I will mention half-a-dozen of them.

Lunar Calendar – There is some indication that early man used chips on bone to track or indicate the movement of time 25,000 years ago, probably calibrated by the Moon’s phases. A calendar can be developed based on the lunar cycles; it creates a year of twelve months (the word ‘month’ is from the word ‘moon’), but only 354 days, that is, eleven short of the time it takes the Earth to orbit around the Sun. The Chinese still use a variety of the lunar calendar but they resolve this issue by adding extra moths every now and then to bring ‘time’ back into alignment with the Sun.

Solar Calendar – The ancient Egyptians were the first people to use a Solar Calendar, although it could justifiably be called a stellar calendar. The new year began for them when Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky, rose in the same place as the Sun. This more often than not coincided with the flooding of the Nile. This calendar was of 365 days; twelve months of thirty days and five holy days. Therefore, it was only one quarter of a day off the true year. However, that meant that slowly but surely, the new year did not concur with the flood. Scientists have worked out that this calendar was adopted in either 4241 BC or 2773 BC.

Julian Calendar – In 46 BC , Julius Caesar realized that various provinces of the empire were using different calendars, so he instructed the dating system to be unified. Sosigenes came up with a calendar of 365 days with an extra day every four years. Therefore, in 46 BC, the longest year on record, Caesar added days to the year to bring it back into alignment with the seasons. 46 BC was 445 days long! The vastness of the Roman Empire ensured that this calendar was the defacto calendar of the Western world.

Julian Day Count – In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII instituted a new calendar, but the year after that Joseph Justus Scaliger developed a system of counting days, not years. It starts with 1 on January 1st 4713 BC. On this date the Julian and the lunar calendars and the Roman tax dating system all coincided; something that will next happen in 3267. January 1st 2001 was Julian day 2,451,913

Gregorian Calendar – from at least 730 AD, it was spotted that the year from vernal equinox to vernal equinox was short of the 365.25 days in a year. This had the consequence that the date of Easter was moving back. So he dropped 10 days from 1582 by jumping from October 4th to October 15th and proclaiming that century years would only be leap years if they were divisible by 400. Consequently, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was. This is the calendar we still use today.

Owen Jones, the author 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

It is a global custom to give gifts for such occasions as birthdays and wedding days, but after that is where the countries start to differ. Britons and people tracing their history back there give gifts on Christmas Day as well.

However, many other Europeans give gifts at Christmas on Saint Nicholas’ Day or December 6th. Non-Christian countries usually give gifts at New Year.

No matter what you do in your country, giving a present requires thought. The stores are usually full of junk at these present-giving times of the year, but there is also a lot of good stuff about, at a price. The alternatives are twofold basically.

You can either make something which will be one of a kind, I imagine that this includes personalizing a shop-bought gift or you can think outside of the box, which many people find quite difficult. Personally, I find it hard, but it does get easier the more often you try it and the better you know the person you are going to give the gift to.

Here then are a few ideas which you may decide to take on board ‘as is’, or they may inspire you on to better ideas. As I write, Christmas is coming up and then it is Saint Valentine’s day before you know it. We certainly get plenty of opportunity to practice buying presents in the West!

A Plot Of Your Own: I come from Wales in the UK (is there any other?) and up the way from me a local plot of green-belt land was in trouble. Experts said that it should be planted with trees, but the authorities did not have the money, so they advertised six feet square plots of land for sale with a sapling of your selection on it.

You also got a title deed, instructions and a photo. In addition, the tree would be taken care of for five years until it was established. I know that this is not the only place that did this and it was probably not the first either, but it makes a good gift for a teenager who is wondering what he or she can do to help the environment.

The Key To Success: some children and their parents will be grateful for this one. Search the second-hand shops for an older or even an unusual money box. Fill the money box up to a certain level with various coins that bring that level up to the value that you want to give, but leave plenty of room for the child to put money in too. Who do you give the key to? That depends on how well you know the child.

Starting A Collection: this is a brave, but good one. If you know the child well or are prepared to take on a commitment (such as a godparent should), you could select a set of collectables, like plates, glasses or coins and buy two or three pieces to start the collection off. You can add to it every year. Others will be thankful to you too because they will jump on the band wagon.

In The Bag: if your friend is an invalid or just is temporarily in hospital, it is beneficial to provide a wicker basket or a nice bag full of useful items. Choose the items to suit your friend, but everyone might like a writing pad, a pen, a comb or brush, wet wipes or tissues, a small book of verse, a miniature radio with ear plugs, a mirror, straws, a bottle opener, only you know, but you get the idea, I’m sure.

Stamp It: you can buy a large packet of literally thousands of foreign stamps for very little. Buy a stamp album and hinges and you could start a lifelong obsession. It also gives you gift ideas for years to come too.

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

Before 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 method still serves as the basis for working out numerous recurring holidays. This coexistence of two calendar schemes 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 determined by measuring the period of time needed for the moon to finish its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full eleven days shorter than its solar counterpart. This difference is made up 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 combination 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 instance, an ordinary 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 couple of astronomical calculations.

First of all, you have to determine the dates for 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 Gregorian calendar. Anyone who wanted to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often varies from local custom in Third World countries.

The government wants to deal on the International markets, but the normal family in the country can not. So, the government took up the Gregorian 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 instance but no 7 o’clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for example in Muslim countries.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, 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

Hereunder is a directory of minor holidays and occasions in the United States. Some of them are virtually unknown, and others are quite obscure.

April Fools’ Day – (April 1): the day for practical jokes (only before noon in the UK). Its origins are obscure, but it bears a similarity to an ancient Roman f?te for the goddess of nature.

Arbor Day – (last Friday in April): devoted to trees and their preservation. It is held on December 22 everywhere else in the world.

Armed Forces Day – (third Sunday in May): a day to honour the US armed forces.

Citizenship Day – (September 17): replaced Constitution Day in 1952 by presidential proclamation.

Daylight-Saving Time: was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but became the Uniform Time Act in 1966. It is not observed in Hawaii, the Eastern Time Zone of Indiana, most of Arizona (except on the Navajo Reservation), American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

Election Day – (Tuesday after the first Monday in November): presidential elections are held in years divisible by four and elections for all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate in years evenly divisible by two.

Fathers’ Day – (third Sunday in June): was first celebrated in West Virginia in 1908, but this distinctively American holiday was not made official until 1972.

Flag Day – (June 14): was first celebrated in 1877, which was the centenary of the adoption of the modern design. Truman passed the Flag Day Bill in 1949.

Groundhog Day – (February 2): on this day the groundhog looks out of his burrow. If he sees his own shadow there will be six weeks of Winter to follow, otherwise Spring is just around the corner.

Halloween – (October 31): All Hallow’s Eve is the day before the feast of All Saints. It started as a pagan custom honouring the dead and a celebration of Autumn. ‘Trick or Treat’ is purely American with no historical basis.

Kwanzaa – is a secular observance by African-Americans to commemorate their African heritage. It begins on Dec.26th when a candle in a candelabrum is lit every day for seven days. It was first practiced by Maulana Karenga in 1966.

Mothers’ Day – (second Sunday in May): was thought of by Anne M. Jarvis of Philadelphia as a way for children to pay homage to their mothers. It received presidential proclamation in 1914.

National Maritime Day – (May 22): was initiated in 1935 to commemorate the SS Savannah’s first successful transatlantic voyage by a steamship in 1819. It is also a day of remembrance of merchant mariners who died in defense of their country.

National Teachers’ Day – (Tuesday of the first full week in May): is when students are meant to honour the teaching profession.

St. Patrick’s Day – (March 17): has been borrowed from Ireland where it is their national saint’s day.

St. Valentine’s Day – (February 14): was originally to honour two saints martyred by Emperor Claudius (214 – 270), but has been devoted to lovers since the Middle Ages.

Susan B. Anthony Day – (February 15): Anthony (1820 – 1906) worked for women’s rights and suffrage.

United Nations’ Day – (October 24): commemorates the endorsement of the UN Charter in 1945 by the then five permanent members of the Security Council.

Owen Jones, the author 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