Sky Mean

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

Nonetheless, it is the predictions of Nostradamus that are the most well-known and most abundant. Some biographical accounts of Nostradamus’ life assert that he was terrified of being persecuted for heresy by the Inquisition, although neither prophecy nor astrology fell under their jurisdiction. He would have been in danger only if he had used magic to support his prophesies.

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

Here then are a few 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 also 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 edition of ‘Science’ magazine. The author alleged 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 possible date for his return, which would signal the end of our Earthly period.

4,500,000,000 AD is the approximate date at which the Sun is expected to explode and in so doing, destroy the inner solar system including our Earth. Nobody knows, but unless we destroy 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 piece, 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

If you were to create a self-cleaning fabric, the world may want to beat a path to your door to buy some from you, but first of all they will have to know that the textile exists, that it is available for purchase, and they have to know where your door is. This requires advertising.

There are two classifications of advertising: institutional and product. Institutional advertising markets the name of your business in general and product advertising markets a product or range of products or services. The sort of publicity that a company needs, depends on the products or services that it provides.

Moreover, some kinds of advertising lend themselves better to institutional advertising rather than product advertising. For example, a shop sign, a sign-written van or a promotional calendar are better suited to institutional advertising, while a newspaper or magazine advert would be better for advertising the latest special offer.

There are few facts and figures available that reveal the astonishing growth of the mass consumption society as well as those dealing with the expansion of the advertising industry. For instance, prior to the Second World War, US average annual expenditure on advertising per year had been about $2 billion for decades.

In 1950, as the post-war economy began to pick up , American businesses spent $5.7 billion to advertise its goods and services. By 1960, that figure had doubled to $12 billion. By 1970, American business was spending $20.

Between 1970 and 1990, as the children Baby Boomers became adults and started earning and spending, advertising expenditure went through the roof, so that by 1986, it had reached $100 billion.

That phenomenal rate of growth could not be sustained, but by 1999, total expenditure on all forms of advertising exceeded $215 billion . The latest available figures are for 2007 and they stand at $280 billion.

In 1999, nearly 60% of all advertising dollars were spent on adverts in newspapers, magazines, on the radio and on TV. By 2007, that figure had fallen to about 54% as the Internet started to have an effect on advertising trends. These trends are expected to continue as every firm is expected to have its own website these days.

The country’s biggest advertisers are the manufacturers of cars, food, soft drinks, tobacco and beer and they filter most of their expenditure through about 13,000 advertising agencies., who normally create the ads and acquire the space or air time from the media too.

These agencies have been transformed over the last decade by mergers. The most successful advertising agencies these days are huge international concerns. WPP, the largest advertising agency in the world, billed $37 billion in 2008 and had this to say about itself:

“Our total revenue in 2008 surpassed that of all our competitors, regaining the No.1 worldwide position for the third time”.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with 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

Are you wondering what the best times to try to schedule a fly fishing trip are? Well, when we talk about a fly fishing calendar, we are not quite referring to a printed calendar that you can hang on your wall. We are talking about targeting and specifying the right times to fish and the right places at which to fish.

The main thing you have to think about when you are considering drawing up a fly fishing calendar is: when will the water be at the optimum temperature? That is, the temperature that is best for catching fish. The right time to go fishing will depend on the region that you are looking at for your fly fishing trip.

In some locations, like California, the fishing is very good all the year round. Whereas in other places, such as Washington, you will have to avoid the water in the winter as the cold temperatures will stress the fish and they will not be as plentiful.

Generally speaking, the fly fishing calendar shows that the best fly fishing is in the spring and summer months. Early autumn will also find some locations seeing good fishing as well. Almanacs can be useful to steer you towards the best fishing times and places as can constantly updating Internet web sites that are run by keen local fishermen.

Many locations will give weekly, and sometimes even daily fishing reports on their websites. They can tell you where the fish are biting and where the best places in the river are to cast your line. They generally keep these areas of their web sites up-to-date fairly regularly. So you can get excellent reports just by looking at what other anglers have to say about their fishing experiences.

Usually, fish like warmer water, although, there are other species like salmon and steelhead that thrive in colder water. However, in general, warm water will attract more fish. Nevertheless, if the water is too warm, the fish will be sluggish and will swim to locations where the water is cooler.

The fly fishing calendar employed most often by experienced fishermen has been compiled over a long period of time. They expend a considerable amount of effort to estimate where and when the best fishing will take place. Then they share it with others. That is one of the best things about fly fishing – the comradeship and the sharing that can come about because of a mutual love for the sport of fly fishing.

You can create your own fly fishing calendar with a little time and effort. Just do your homework and keep plenty of notes. When you see a trend, you will know that it is time to go fishing! Then you should be sure to help your fellow anglers by passing on the information via a local club or the Internet, if you are talented at it, because others will be trying to figure out what you already know. You know that most fly fishermen would do the same for you, do you not?

Owen Jones, the author of this article, 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

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 significant day in the Christian calendar, because it celebrates Christ’s Resurrection, which gave / gives Christians the hope of salvation and eternal life. Easter always occurs 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 initially 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 penance and fasting

Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Easter, celebrates the arrival of Jesus at Jerusalem, where palms were laid 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 impending 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 remembers the presence of the body of Christ on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

All Saints Day – this mainly Catholic celebration 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 article, 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

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 before. All non-operational 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, defunct calendars. Oh, no! Governments have given up their old, traditional national calendars, but in general, country folk still use to them, even if they can no longer obtain a printed version. I cannot go into all the calendars here, but I will mention five or six of them.

Lunar Calendar – There is some evidence that early man used chips on bone to track or denote the movement of time 25,000 years ago, probably measured by the Moon’s phases. A calendar can be created based on the lunar cycles; it produces 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 revolve 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 make use of a Solar Calendar, although it could justifiably be called a cosmological 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 festive days. Therefore, it was only one quarter of a day off the true year. However, that meant that gradually, the new year did not coincide with the flood. Scientists have worked out that this calendar was taken up in either 4241 BC or 2773 BC.

Julian Calendar – In 46 BC , Julius Caesar came to understand that a number of 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 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

Thousands of years ago, ancient Greek astronomers calculated that the track of the Earth’s axis is constantly, even if in a very slow way, shifting in a uniform pattern. The variation is very similar to the manner a spinning top slowly leans one way and then another as it slows down. It is a wobble that happens as its axis alters direction.

This odd movement of the planet is due to several factors, the most important of which is something called ‘precession’. Precession stems from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is in fact about twenty-seven miles longer around the Equator that it is around the Poles. The Earth then is oblate, or fat around the middle like middle-aged spread, but it is due to the spinning not to its age.

If you picture the Earth with its Poles off centre. Then rotate that image and you will find that any point, except the very centre of the axis, will travel in a circle. But very, very gradually. So slowly that it takes 26,000 years to go full circle and get back to where it started from.

This point then, any point you want, is very gradually shifting its position in relation to the stars because the axis is rotating too. The result of this is that, what we call the North Star (formally called Polaris, which is actually one degree off true North) will not be above our North Pole one day. In fact, by about 15,000 AD, Vega will be almost above the North Pole, although it will be about four degrees off true North. But even this will not last, and by 28,000 AD, Polaris will be back above where it is nowadays.

One of the effects of the precession is that seasons change. They modify the dates that they take place, so that Summer could come earlier or later. The amazing thing about our calendar is that it is corrected for that (with the leap year). If it were not, the vernal or Spring equinox would move over 13,000 years from March 21st to September 21st., which is the date of the autumnal equinox, precisely half a year later.

It is for this reason that the precession of the Earth is generally referred to as the “Precession of the Equinoxes”. Although the precession of the equinoxes is very gradual, it can be readily seen. The correct year of 325.25 days is the length of time from one vernal equinox to the next vernal equinox, however, it takes 20 minutes and 24 seconds longer for the Sun to appear in precisely the same position in relation to the stars behind it over the same period. It is for this reason that accurate star maps have to be stamped with the exact time and date to which they refer.

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