Posts Tagged ‘science’

Exercises To Relieve Sciatica Ailments

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Sciatica is a painful back ailment. Symptoms include a sharp, shooting pain that begins in the lower spinal area and extends to the back of the leg. This can be caused by one of four conditions ? namely Piriformis Syndrome, spinal stenosis, isthmic spondylolisthesis or herniated disks. There’s more to Sciatica than the symptoms it brings. But rather it is caused by the four things we previously discussed. It is confirmed that Sciatica treatment works only if the main cause of the problem is identified and treated. Although it is easy to relieve symptoms by taking pain medication, the cause of the discomfort is not being addressed. Accordingly, one of the first things to do is to understand sciatic pain and how it?s caused.

Piriformis Syndrome is the first and foremost symptom pertaining to the problem of Sciatica. In this condition, the muscles of the pelvic region are pulled out of their proper place. There are many reasons why this occurs. An accident, sport or bad body posture can cause this. Then, the pulled muscle causes a imbalance of the location of a person’s hip joints. In turn, this helps the piriformis muscle to come into contact with the sciatic nerve, causing a great deal of pressure that can lead to lower back pain.

In such situations, sciatica remedies may include consultations with physical therapists who can help you to restore the positioning of your joints and muscles. The pain will be returning until the piriformis muscle is fixed.

The second reason that might be the cause of Sciatica is herniated disks. A herniated disk is a condition wherein the disk between vertebrae protrudes which then causes pressure on the sciatic nerve. This is caused by years of constant pressure on the back muscles or accidents that might have injured the back. The peculiar thing about herniated disks is that some of those who suffer from it have the tendency to feel nothing at all, hence rendering them unaware that they suffer the condition.

It usually needs a doctor to solve situations such as this. The protruding disk needs to be restored to its proper alignment to be completely rid of sciatic pain.

Thirdly, sciatic pain can also be caused by a lower back condition known as spinal stenosis. So, the result is a narrowing of the spinal canal. This is what can sometimes put the hip and spine in an awkward position and cause sciatic nerve pain. The sensation of pain is caused by the constant pressure and contact due to the awkward positioning of your lower back.

One of the main things that result in Sciatica is assumed to be a ailment called Isthmic Spondylolistheis. It is reflected by the symptoms of some segment or bone of the spinal cord moving away from its right and normal place which results into pain or a cause of discomfort to the herniated disk of the lumbar region of the spine.

There are traditional remedies for sciatica that are done at home such as drinking celery mixed with potato and carrot juice to ease the pain. There are also supplements such as vitamin B 1 and B complex taken with ginger to sooth the muscles. These methods have been effective for some people. Still, anyone who wants their Sciatica to go away permanently really should check in with their doctor.

Before you choose any sciatica pain reliefoptions, it is recommended to learn more on sciatic exercise here.

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Astronomy Fun Facts

Friday, September 10th, 2010

For many people astronomy is an interesting science stuffed with many astronomy fun facts. Everything from the size and temperature of our own star, the Sun, to the makeup of distant planets has been established. All of this information can be retold to entertain and enlighten people.

The Sun is a great font for astronomy fun facts. Our own star, which supplies us with all our heat and light is between 91 and 94.5 million miles from Earth. It’s not that nobody has measured the exact distance, but rather because the Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, an uneven, orbit, so the distance varies depending on where the Earth is situated in that orbit.

The Sun is only an average size star, yet it’s size is another terrific source of astronomy fun facts. As normal as it is, it accounts for about 98% of all the matter in our solar system. Even with the huge planet of Jupiter on our side, we’re still only a small 2% of non Sun stuff.

It would take the diameter of about 100 Earths to stretch across this average Sun. The solar winds produced by the Sun reaches out about 50 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Or put another way, those solar winds go out about 50 AU’s. An AU being the distance from the Sun to the Earth, which is quite an amazing fact, isn’t it?.

How about astronomy fun facts that don’t have anything to do with the Sun? How about the Moon? It’s the only non-Earth object upon which man has walked so far. And one man actually travelled to the Moon but never left it. Dr. Eugene Shoemaker loved the Moon but was rejected as an astronaut. After his death he was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the moon by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1999.

There are many more astronomy fun facts about the Moon. It’s where what may become the oldest footprint known to man. Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind left a footprint or shoe print in the Moon’s dust that will probably still be visible in 10 million years time.

Many people, in fact about 13% of those asked in 1988, still believed the Moon is made of cheese. And finally the suits worn by the Moon-walking astronauts weighed 180 pounds on Earth but only 30 pounds on the Moon, because of the reduced gravity on the Moon. Talk about an instant diet, eh?

Astronomy fun facts aren’t limited to our close astronomical neighbours. Looking at stars is like looking into the past. Some of the stars we see nowadays in the night sky are so far away that their light takes a million years to reach us. Some of the stars you see may really be images of stars a million years old that aren’t even there any more. There are more than 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe. That’s a 1 followed by 22 zeros. And all their planets. The number is really quite staggering.

There are millions of astronomy fun facts and we could go on about them forever. But unfortunately, this article can not. So, please, walk out there and learn more about astronomy for yourself.

Fascinated by astronomy? Then why not visit our website at: Astronomy Today

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Hybrid Cars And Conventional Cars

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Today, the question on everybody’s lips is, what is the difference between a hybrid car and a conventional vehicle? There must be some good reason why people are debating whether hybrid cars are worth the money and checking their wallets and savings account to see if they can afford to buy a hybrid car.

There must be a good reason why some other people wouldn’t consider spending their the money on a hybrid car because they feel their conventional car gets them to wherever they have to go just fine. Here are some of the reasons why someone might choose a conventional car over a hybrid car.

Hybrid cars are more expensive than conventional cars: because hybrid cars have a complex internal design, they do still have a pretty hefty price tag. On the other hand, conventional cars, which have become more efficient in design as the years have gone on, are quite affordable these days. Many people are selling their old conventional cars in favour of newer, more efficient versions.

In fact, they are so inefficient, in comparison with new models, that some people even give their old cars away. However, since most of the general population has never owned a hybrid, there aren’t many people selling used hybrid cars yet. Therefore, a person wanting to obtain a hybrid would probably have to obtain a new one from a car showroom.

Both a hybrid car and a conventional car make use of a similar type of battery: a hybrid car and a conventional car both use lead-acid batteries that have enough renewable stored energy to turn over a small electric motor. These batteries are what are called “gear reduced”. That means that they can turn over this electric motor at approximately 300 rpms, which generates enough torque to turn over the engine. It is this process that starts the main petrol or diesel engine.

However, even though a hybrid car uses a lead-acid battery, the battery it uses to drive the car’s electric motor is of a different construction entirely. This kind of battery is known as a ‘deep cycle battery’ and it can be compared to the batteries that are used to move electric fork-lift trucks, some milk floats or golf carts.

That’s the main difference between a hybrid car and a conventional car. One person might choose a hybrid car because it makes them feel more secure. For instance, if a person buys a hybrid car, they can feel secure that their car will be less likely to run out of gas. Another person might not choose a conventional car because the cost of gas doesn’t really bother them that much.

Furthermore, a conventional car provides security as well. With a conventional car, a person can be assured that they will always be able go to a junkyard, if they need to and find old parts for their car. On the other hand, those with a hybrid car might have to pay some pretty pricey repair receipts if something goes wrong.

However, the final decision remains up to you. There are certain risks involved with both types of cars. But those who like to try out new technology might just consider splurging out on a new hybrid car.

If you are interested in the insides of New Hybrid Vehicles, please visit our website on http://new-hybrid-vehicles.com

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What Is A Promotional Strategy?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Even if you were to invent something earth-shattering, you would not earn any money from 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 achieve 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 items that never made it and many of those did not make it, not because they were not good ideas, 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 launched your business, it is to be expected that, you have already worked out your target market and evaluated the need for your goods or services. Now you have to convert those potential customers into satisfied 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 require 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 circulate, 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 goal 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 divine the channels of communication most used by your potential customers and try to reach them through those. This is normally constrained by a budget.

Advertising involves the purchasing of time or space in the media you have chosen in order to market your business to your intended 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 Soon!’

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 author of this article, writes on many subjects, 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

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An Introduction To Astronomy

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Although astronomy is the oldest science, it is still at the forefront of not only scientific thought, but also that of the public at large. Who hasn’t looked up at the galaxy while walking home late at night and wondered? Having said that though, the ancient people of definitely the northern hemisphere, but probably both hemispheres, knew the movements of the stars and planets better than most of us do nowadays.

They knew even then, thousands of years ago, that most stars appear to rise in the Eastern skies at night and travel on circular paths. They also noticed that some ’stars’ were ‘wanderers’ (we call them planets) and that sometimes they went ‘against the flow’.

They also named groups of stars that we now call constellations or even galaxies and knew that those visible in the winter were different from those visible in the summer.and that others were visible all year round. The average common man of 5,000 – 10,000 years ago almost certainly knew more about the movement of the celestial bodies than the average common man of today does. (I mean men and women here, of course).

They learned how to work out or at least locate the extremities of the sunrise and went to extraordinary lengths to mark those points with huge stone structures, such as Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, probably to facilitate the location of certain positions of the sun or other planets or stars, which may have been vital to their religious beliefs or crop cycles.

In 1609, Galileo invented the first artificial device for looking at the stars and planets. It was the first astronomical telescope and through it he was able to see things millions of miles away that no person had ever seen before. Because of the deductions he drew from his observations, he clashed with the Roman Catholic Church and was often in serious danger for his life, so radical were his discoveries.

But mankind was not to be intimidated, and since then we have gone on to build ever bigger and ever better astronomical telescopes through which we can even detect radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, infrared waves and gamma waves from outer space. Forty years ago, we even travelled to our Moon. and we have sent rockets to eight of the nine planets in our Solar System, as well as to several comets and asteroids.

Where will we go next? That decision was always up to the government of the USA and the old Soviet Union, but now there are other players in the field. What will China or India want to explore with their possibly slightly different outlook on life? Or will it be just a question of financial benefit?

The world may be in a state of flux and power may be shifting from its traditional seats, but it has not diminished interest in questions that scientists think can only be answered in space. These are exciting times in the science of astronomy, but then man has always found astronomy exciting.

If you are fascinated by astronomy, then why not visit our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

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Promoting To The Masses

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

If you were to invent 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 be aware that the fabric exists, that it is available for purchase, and they have to be aware of 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 instance, 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 recover , American businesses spent $5.7 billion to advertise its goods and services. By 1960, that amount had doubled to $12 billion. By 1970, American business was spending $20.

Between 1970 and 1990, as the children Baby Boomers became adults and began 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 maintained, but by 1999, total expenditure on all forms of advertising topped $215 billion . The last 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 nation’s largest 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 usually make 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 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

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How To Make A Fly Fishing Calendar

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Are you wondering what the best times to try to schedule a fly fishing expedition 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 focusing on and specifying the right times to fish and the right places at which to fish.

The main thing you have to look at when you are thinking about 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 places, such as 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 freezing 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 periods. Early fall will also find some places 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 dedicated local fishermen.

Many locations will give weekly, and sometimes even daily fishing intelligence on their websites. They can tell you where the fish are biting and where the best locations in the river are to cast your line. They generally keep these fields of their web sites up-to-date pretty frequently. So you can get quality 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 lethargic and will navigate to locations where the water is cooler.

The fly fishing calendar employed most often by experienced anglers has been compiled over a long period of time. They expend a considerable quantity 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 affection 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

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Hybrid Cars VS Plug-In Hybrid Cars

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Hybrid cars are on everyone’s lips these days. Twenty, forty, or fifty dollars for a tank of fuel? Who in their right mind really wants to pay that sort of money? But, frustrated, the fuel consumer sighs, but pays up. However, hybrid vehicles are being applauded for the little amount of fuel they need to operate, and they are being driven off the forecourts of car dealerships each and everyday in ever increasing numbers.

But what about a plug-in hybrid? Most consumers have heard that these cars are fantastic as well. Then, someone might be asking him or herself, what exactly a plug-in hybrid is? How do they work, and what the difference between a plug-in hybrid and a regular hybrid is?

Plug-in hybrids are able to run solely on batteries, but they use petrol also. These sorts of hybrid cars have some of the characteristics of hybrid vehicles. They are also are very similar to electric vehicles.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles need to be charged externally by plugging them into an electrical power source. The combustion engine of plug-in hybrid vehicles is engaged only as a back up. These cars can run only on batteries if so desired, but it is to be expected that these kinds of hybrid cars are recharged daily.

Hybrid cars can go just as many miles as a conventional car. Designed to go the extra mile where gas-mileage is concerned, hybrids can be driven on the highway, in cities, or wherever else anybody wants to go.

On the other hand, plug-in hybrids are designed to be driven commuter-type distances, meaning about twenty to sixty miles between destinations. This way, the plug-in hybrid does not have to use its back up combustion engine, but plug-in hybrids can go further using fuel too.

Hybrids help to minimize pollution, but they still pollute the air. Compared with plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars still have a long way to go as far as pollution is concerned. Since plug-in hybrid cars can run solely on their battery power, they don’t have to emit waste gases at all.

Plug-in hybrids actually do fight against greenhouse gas emissions and plug-in hybrids use virtually no oil imported or not. Studies have shown that electric hybrids emit at least 67% less greenhouse gases compared to petrol cars. Since the product used to power plug-in hybrids is renewable, the difference in greenhouse gas emissions may be even greater than the study determined.

There you have it – the main differences between plug-in hybrids and regular hybrid cars. It could make a big difference, but you would be surprised at how little it actually matters at the moment, but that’s only because plug-in hybrids are not being sold to consumers yet! But this article should make you excited about the wonderful plug-in hybrid car, which will be featuring soon on a dealership near you.

And it’s going to be a great debut too, since people already like the current hybrid car models, but they haven’t seen anything yet until they see the new plug-in hybrid cars. However, for now, maybe we should just be satisfied with what we already have, because who knows? Before plug-in hybrid cars are brought out onto the forecourts, something even better might be introduced onto the market.

If you are interested in the insides of New Hybrid Vehicles, just visit our website at http://new-hybrid-vehicles.com

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Astronomy – Important Dates BC

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

There is no doubt that astronomy is the oldest science and there is also no doubt that astronomy was being studied by everyone, not only the wise men, thousands and thousands of years ago.

We do not know precisely why they did it, but we can surmise that early man noticed a correlation between the weather and the stars, which were themselves not fully understood, of course.

Early man, probably even as far back as Neanderthal man, noticed the relationship between the weather and herd movements and crop growth, or at least fruit and nuts on local trees, if they did not have planted crops.

This means that people could see a connection between the stars and food availability. This relationship was probably ritualized into some sort of religion like early Wicca. Therefore, the stars became a very important part of the lives of every single person and it is likely that astrology and astronomy were widely intermixed by the average person.

However, there were also people who did not only use the stars as some enormous celestial clock and who tried to make sense of the whole shebang. I am going to relate below, eight of the most significant dates or years in the history of astronomy before Christ walked on the Earth. In no way forget that they had nothing but an abacus to do there calculations and no telescopes, which came about two thousand years later.

585 BC: Thales of Miletus (c. 625- c. 547), a Greek, predicted a solar eclipse in Asia Minor purely on the basis of his observations and calculations. It was not a lucky guess!

c. 400 BC: the astronomer Oenopedes (5th. century). also a Greek, announces that the Earth is tilted on its axis with respect to the Sun.

352 BC: the Chinese report what they called a ‘guest star’, a supernova, which was the earliest reported sighting.

340 BC: The astronomer, Kidinnu (b. Babylon c. 379 BC) discovers the precession of the Equinoxes, ie the apparent change in the position of the stars caused by the Earth’s wobbling on its axis.

c. 300 BC: a ‘committee’ of Chinese astronomers compile star maps of the visible universe.

c. 240 BC: Chinese astronomers observe and make notes about Halley’s Comet. Also Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 276 – c.194 BC), a Greek, correctly calculate the Earth’s dimensions.

165 BC: Chinese astronomers notice sunspots for the first time.

c. 130 BC: the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (b. 147 BC), a Greek, correctly calculates the distance to the Earth’s Moon and also rediscovers the precession of the Equinoxes.

You will see from the dates above that clearly not everyone let nature and the stars govern their lives, as the common farmer or hunter did. Some men actually put pen to paper, but before pen and paper even existed, and tried to work out ‘why these manifestations took place?’.

These individuals must have been remarkable men to have worked these measurements out by calculation, observation by the naked eye and rationalization alone.

Interested in astronomy, then why not pop along to our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

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Calendars – Why They Can Be Out

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

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 imagine 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 move in a circle. But very, very slowly. 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 choose, is very gradually changing its position in relation to the stars because the axis is gyrating too. The result of this is that, what we call the North Star (formally known as Polaris, which is in fact 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 over 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, exactly 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 slow, 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 exactly 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

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