Posts Tagged ‘children’

Astronomy – An Introduction

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Although astronomy is the oldest science, it continues to be at the forefront of not only scientific thought, but that of the public at large too. Who has not looked up at the galaxy while walking home late at night and wondered? Having said that though, the ancient people of certainly the northern hemisphere, but probably both, knew the movements of the stars and planets better than most of us do nowadays.

They knew even then, thousands of years ago, that the majority of stars seem to appear 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 travelled ‘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 calculate or at least locate the extremities of the sunrise and went to extraordinary lengths to mark those positions 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 important to their religious beliefs or crop cycles.

In 1609, Galileo invented the first artificial device for studying the stars and planets. It was the first astronomical telescope and through it he was able to observe things millions of miles away that no one 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 construct ever bigger and ever better astronomical telescopes with 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 probes 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 United States and the old USSR, 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 only a question of financial advantage?

The world may be in a state of change and power may be shifting from its traditional seats, but it has not lessened 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 enthralling .

Fascinated by astronomy? Then please pop along to our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Astronomy – Important Dates Before Christ

Friday, August 6th, 2010

There is no uncertainty 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 exactly 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 vast celestial clock and who tried to make sense of the whole shebang. I am going to narrate 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.

Do you like to read about astronomy, why not visit our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bass Fishing Tips

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

It is very handy to get some tips on bass fishing when you are a beginner. Firstly, it it is important to know that bass are fish whose metabolism depends on the temperature of the surrounding water. Their metabolism rises or falls proportionally with the increase or decrease in water temperature. Therefore, if the water where they happen to be is cold, as it is in deeper waters, they are less active and so eat a lot less.

Furthermore, in about January one should start bass fishing in warmer and warmer waters because the bass tend to leave cold deep waters in order to spawn. Also, during the Autumn bass begin to move on towards colder and deeper waters where they would be safer during the cold season. However, fishermen should not expect them to migrate great distances quickly. Their cycles of moving from one place to the next as the seasons change can take several months.

It is also good to know when you are bass fishing that these fish are very sociable: that is, they tend to shoal together into quite large schools, which generally consist of fish of the same size. That obviously means that, if you catch some bass in one spot, you are likely to catch more in the same area so long as you do not throw the fish you’ve already caught back into the water dead as that could well panic the rest of the shoal.

In addition, bass fishing areas are fairly easy to spot. One should take into account that they are predators but not very active ones as their favorite meal is not actually one they have to struggle for. They would rather wait patiently and lazily for a victim to come by and then snap it up.

Bass fish often go for struggling or slow prey even if they are not normally on their usual diet. Their usual diet consists of crawfish, minnows, worms, insects, frogs and such like. Once a fisherman has learned these facts about bass, together with their mating customs, catching them is much easier and much more frequent.

On the other hand, these fish are prey themselves so they need cover as well. That is why bass fishing is carried out in areas where they can find safety in and around small or big rocks, weeds and other shady or sunny, well-lit areas where it is difficult for them to be spotted.

Success at bass fishing also depends on the type of bait chosen by the fisherman. You should vary the bait according to both the season ” spring, summer, autumn or winter ” and the spawning cycle of this fish species. Beginners should not forget that there are always experienced anglers ready to provide tips – just don’t be afraid to ask because the most effective bait does vary from one region to another.

If you are keen on fishing and would like to find out more, please pop along to our website called Gone Fishing Also published at Bass Fishing Tips.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Avoid Home Schooling Burnout

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

It doesn’t matter if you are studying in a traditional school or in a home schooling program, there will come a time when you will go through burnout. This is something that you must prevent so that your educational progress is not adversely affected.

Here are a couple of helpful tips that you can make use of to prevent possible home schooling burnout:

Know your abilities. From the very start, you should already know your limitations and those of your child. You must be capable of taking things slowly sometimes, especially if your child is still very young since you have to consider your child’s capacity to absorb. Most students are average learners (obviously), so you will have to give the lessons according to your child’s learning pace. Never expect your small child to read complicated selections nor your teenager to get top marks in SAT exams.

Try not to follow rigid schedules, as this can put undue pressure on your child. You should just set an interesting routine for your child to follow. Children spend most of their time doing routine activities like getting up, eating large breakfasts, reading books, practising writing, doing light chores, etc. You must ensure that they complete their routine activities before they can go outside or play with the computer. Even these routine activities change from day to day, but you must ensure that your child completes these routine activities. You can throw in occasional incentives or fun activities if they finish their routine tasks early.

You should enjoy home schooling with your child. This is one way you can develop a good relationship with your child and if you and your child can relate to each other, you will find it very easy to handle curriculum struggles and motivation problems later. Aside from motivating and guiding your child, you can also pursue some of your own interests like gardening and cooking. If your child sees you pursuing your own interests, then he or she will also be motivated to do the same.

Since your child is in a home schooling program, you should not try to copy a traditional schools environment. Try to use unusual ways when teaching your child. Home schooling is also about flexibility and creativity, and if you can achieve an easy-going but firm atmosphere, you can probably avoid burnout.

Just always try to remember that with home schooling, you don’t have to structure your teaching methods in the normal way. You can just do things in an enjoyable way especially when teaching very young children, so that they learn easily. Make sure you keep the day in the right balance to prevent burnout. Although your children might forget some of the day’s lessons, that’s all right too because somehow children develop their intelligence as well as their stature.

For sure, your children will always look back on your moments together and remember fondly how well you treated them. The old song goes: “… there’s no place like home” and for little pupils, home is the best place to learn the first lessons of life. If your teenagers are already in high school or in college, they can still do home schooling if they want to. That would also a good decision because you’d get to keep an eye on your children’s performance.

Parents always try to look after their children’s best interests, so, if after careful consideration, you still reckon that home schooling is the right option for your family, then run with it. Just follow the tips stated above in order to avoid burnout. Make time for enjoyable activities from time to time in order to avoid monotony, which could lead to burnout.

If you are practicing avoiding burnout in home schooling then please visit our web-based resource at Home Schooling This and other unique content ” articles are available with free reprint rights.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,