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Time Keepers
Celestial bodies - the sun, moon, planets, and stars - have provided us a reference for measuring the passage of time throughout human existence. Ancient civilizations like: China, India, Babylon, and Greece relied upon the apparent motion of these bodies through the sky to record and determine seasons, months, and years. We know little about the details of timekeeping in prehistoric eras. However, records and artifacts usually uncover that in every culture, people were preoccupied with measuring and recording the passage of time. Stonehenge, built over 4000 years ago in England has no written records, but its alignments show its purposes apparently included the determination of seasonal or celestial events, such as lunar eclipses, solstices and so on. As time has passed so has the evolution of the calendar, a device created to track our time and seasons from the earliest recordings in Babylonia to the Gregorian calendar the history of this transformation is and interesting journey.
The earliest know calendar to keep track of the cycles of the celestial bodies was an Egyptian calendar that was based on the moon's cycles and is thought to have been created in 4236 B.C.E. Many cultures and societies have embraced the idea of tracking time and seasons as they pass for a myriad of reasons, “Seafarers needed to navigate their vessels, and farmers had to know when to plant their crops.” (Chaisson / McMillan p.30) The Chinese are credited with having invented the second oldest method of time keeping; Emperor Huangdi implemented the Chinese legend in 2637 B.C.E.
Babylonia (where modern day Iraq can be found) is attributed with having some of the earliest surviving records of astronomical observations. It is believed, ‘…Babylonian astronomical knowledge spread far and wide – to the East, to Persia, and to the Mediterranean.” (Richards p. 38) However, the knowledge that was disbursed was not treasured by all that received it, in the Mediterranean the Greeks improved upon the theories of the Babylonians. The Greek’s theories were recorded; however, when Rome over-took most of Europe the records fell into the hands of the Christian church. When Constantine was Emperor of Rome he declared Christianity to be the official religion of the empire; thus, giving the church officials the power to decide the validity of the recordin...
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...ius (1537-1612), he signed a papal bull and that was followed by, “The actual change over to the new calendar took place the following year on 4 October. After 350 years or more the reform had at last been accomplished.” (Richards p.246) Furthermore the rule for leap years (which said that years divisible with 4 should be leap years) was changed so that years, at the end of the century, should be leap years only if they were divisible with 400 (e.g. 1600, 2000, 2400 etc.)
In the Gregorian Calendar there is then 303 years with 365 days and 97 years with 366 days, which gives a mean year of 365.24250 days: 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. Related to the mean interval between vernal equinoxes this corresponds to a slippage of less than one hour in every 300 years for the foreseeable future - until circa 4000 AD.
Chaisson, Eric and Steve McMillan. Astronomy Today. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 1999.
Evenson, A.E. About the History of the Calendar. Canada: Regensteiner
Publishing, 1972.
Richards, E. G. Mapping Time, The Calendar and its History. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
In addition to creating America's first clock, Banneker had an interest in astronomy. When Banneker's friend Andrew Ellicott died, he left him books on astronomy, scientific instruments, and a telescope. Banneker began to study astronomy and made mathematical calculations of the stars and constellations. He used these calculations to correctly predict a solar eclipse that took place on April 14, 1789.
Polio: An American Story describes a struggle to find a vaccine on polio through several researchers’ lives, and over the course of many years. The second thesis is the struggle between Salk and Sabin, two bitter rivals who had their own vaccine that they believed would cure polio. The author David M. Oshinsky, is describing how difficult it was to find the cure to a horrifying disease, which lasted from the Great Depression until the 1960’s. Oshinsky then writes about how foundations formed as fundraisers, to support polio research. Lastly, the author demonstrates how researchers were forced to back track on multiple occasions, to learn more about polio.
Solis, Felipe, Kristaan Villela, and Mary Ellen Miller. The Aztec Calendar Stone. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Research Institute, 2000.
Gilman herself suffered from post-partum hysteria and was treated by a famous doctor of the era, one who prescribed his famous "rest cure", the same cure the female narrator cannot tolerate and defies in The Yellow Wallpaper. In this story the narrator remains nameless and there is good reason for it. She feels as if she has no identity or control over obtaining fulfillment and unity and satisfaction in life. Her husband is a doctor who also prescribes complete rest for her and is opposed to her doing the one thing that seems to give her a unique voice, writing. Thus, the narrator defies her...
The largest debate as to why the novel is a racist work is because of the use of the "N-word." Although there is an abundance of evidence pointing towards the theory that Mark Twain was a racist, therefore making the book itself a reflection of his ideologies, Huckleberry Finn is created as a form of social commentary, on the racism of the time period. As reflected in the essays in Satire or Evasion?, the perspectives on the views of racism in Huckleberry Finn vary widely (Arac 113) and it can be concluded that “there is no single ‘black’ position on Huckleberry Finn any more than there is a monolithic white one” (Leonard
A great astronomer, King Nezahualpilli used his position as king to find others with similar knowledge to work on the tribe’s calendar (Document 4). Document 6 shows the several studies in religion which were carried through by priests and the philosophers that wrote the books of science to educate others about their discoveries. Document 2 describes the determination and will of warriors to fight to prove their own bravery and courage.
Clarke, Leonard W.‘Greek Astronomy and Its Debt to the Babylonians' The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 1, No. (Cambridge University Press. 1962)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so much more than just a teen’s novel. Through Twain’s harsh language reflective of the times and location and the use of characters Twain showed how much the thinking of the majority of people in the Deep South fought progression. Mark Twain use of Miss Watson, pap, the duke and the king and others to show just how many thoughts and traditions where opposed to seeing “blacks” as equals. Through Jim, Twain showed that “blacks” are people / equals. And, in Huck, Twain showed how a logical person could progress, despite the views and morals of the Deep South, to see “blacks” equals. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn succeeded in exposing the Deep South for what it really was; highly prejudice and extremely reluctant to change.
The Maya elite developed a complicated calendar system. There are two main cycles in their calendar; one was made up of 260 days and the other 365. Each day is named from both the 260 and 365-day calendars. Because of this each full day name could only repeat every 18,980 days or once every 52 years.
Racism, a major issue in society for hundreds of years, even after the abolition of slavery, still affects millions of people. African Americans today still sensitivities towards racism, and the reading of Huckleberry Finn demonstrates the pertinence of racism today similarly to two hundred years ago. When reading novels containing nineteenth century racism, African American readers are exposed to the torments their ancestors were put through, and the novel can have a positive or negative effect in that the reader may enjoy the learning of their history but may also feel humiliated in relation to their classmates of other races. In the literary novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the apparent racism in the book affects
When most people think of the Mayans, they think end of the world prediction in 2012. Everyone knows the movie 2012 which portrayed the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar. What many do not know is that the Mayans developed three separate calendars; the Long Count, the Tzolk’in, and the Haab, which were represented by glyphs or pictures that were used in their daily lives in many different ways. The Mayans kept time in a very different way than we do today. The Mayans may not have invented the calendar, but they certainly developed it further, and still use their version today.
Due to archeological evidence we know that the African people were the first people in the world to use counting to keep track of their things, or time. Around 35,000 BC, in South Africa the earliest known tally stick was made, and was left in Lebombo Cave. 29 notches were cut into the stick. We don't know exactly what they were counting. Some people think they were counting the days from one moon phase to the next, but it could have been something else. Just as well. Now, what we do see is that by 35,000 BC people in South Africa had the idea of keeping records by making marks. “The Lebombo bone is a baboon fibula with a set of 29 notches carved in it. Archeologists believe these marks are evidence of a primitive calendar, measuring either the lunar or the menstrual calendar. This artifact is incredibly important for unders...
Famed novelist Ernest Hemingway believed that “[a]ll modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn…the best book we’ve had.” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic American tale with all the essentials of a story that feeds our imagination. On the surface, the novel appears to be a very unpretentious tale of adventure, and self-discovery that has earned a place on every high school required reading list. However, if the story is closely examined, it takes on darker undertones of a racist culture replete with derogatory language and glimpses into the ugliness and turmoil that followed in the years immediately after the Civil War, and that still exist today. Controversial and racist are two words commonly used to describe Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is considered to be the quintessential American novel, yet it remains in the middle of a debate over whether or not it should be taught in schools.
In Book 3 of the epic, God exclaims that “[Adam] had of Me / All he could have” (2.97-98) and that Adam was “Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall” (3.99). In these lines, God argues that Adam bears sole responsibility for his fall and that God can in no way be blamed for the events to unfold. Shortly following this declaration, God emphasizes that no one “can justly accuse / Their Maker or their making” (3.112-113). These two lines reiterate that God as the creator bears no responsibility for the fall of mankind and introduce the idea that the making of both Adam and Eve also failed to influence their decision. Although God vehemently defends his position against his culpability, and even sends Raphael to Adam and Eve to emphasize this, this argument blatantly ignores factors that directly resulted in the fall of
In the story The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman uses personal experience with a vivid fictional ending to accomplish her goal of informing her readers of feminist and social issues. Characters within the story are the narrator, who becomes known as Jane at the end; John, the narrator’s husband and physician; Jennie, John’s sister who becomes the typical housewife in that time to allow the narrator to rest; and Mary, who takes care of the baby. The narrator and John rent an estate in the country, which could also be looked upon as “a haunted house” (2) in the narrator’s eyes. Ever since the birth of their child, the narrator has developed a temporary nervous depression. John, being a high standing physician, feels the “rest cure” is exactly what she needs to help with her newfound depression, which restricts her emotions and does not allow expression, ultimately making it worse. However, with her husbands esteemed profession she blindly accepts what John recommends.