There is no uncertainty that astronomy is the oldest science and there is also no hesitation 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 narrate below, eight of the most important dates or years in the history of astronomy before Christ walked on the Earth. Never 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 please visit our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

Something as simple as new seat cushions on your patio furniture can change the whole look of your outdoor patio furniture. This is not only cheap to do but to save money and change the look of your outdoor furniture on your patio. This can change the whole appearance of your outdoor seating area, and save you money at the same time. You can choose many different patterns for your cushion designs, and they are easy to make, if you can sew even a little you can make cushions for your patio furniture. If you can sew a pillow you can sew a seat cushion for the patio furniture.

Choose the right type of fabric

Choose the right fabric that is going to be durable for outside elements. The cushions will be exposed to harsh elements outside so choosing the right one is important. Silk, nylon is not good options for outdoor usage, as the sun and rain will destroy and deteriorate the fabric quickly. Awning fabric is made especially to last longer outside and is idea for cushions. Acrylic fabric is another great choice; it will be easy to clean and is durable. Once you choose your durable fabric, then you will want to treat it with Scotchgard so that it resist water and sun damage. Scotchgard which will need to be reapplied yearly for best results and protection.

Measure the Size for the Cushions

Measure your furniture for the size of the cushions before buying anything. You will need to know exactly how much material and foam cushions you will need before you head to the store.

Determine how thick of foam cushion you will want. Mostly 2 inches is enough, you can then protect your foam cushion, (you can have these cut to size if you don’t want to cut them yourself), Place plastic around the cushion before covering them with fabric. Cheap garbage bags will work for this purpose. This just protects the foam from being outside and from getting wet, and damp.

After you have the foam cushions you can then determine how much fabric material that you will need for the cushions. To sew these it’s just easy stitches along the sides. To close the covering you can make Velcro closures on the back of the cushions that you sew on and will make it easy for it to be removed to be washed. Or you can add a zipper.

Assembling the Cushion Cover:

After you have everything together you will be able to sew the cushions. Place the foam cushion on the back of the fabric and trace around it, leaving extra for seam allowance on the sides. For a basic seat cover you should have a top, bottom and 4 side pieces that will make up your cushion. Sew together using the wrong side of the fabric, the top and side pieces, and then once that is complete you will sew on the bottom part of the cushion, leaving an opening so that it will cover the foam cushion. Where you have your opening, you will want to sew in either a zipper so that you can close it after it’s on, or the easiest way would be to sew on Velcro closures.

If you have ever made a cover for your pillows, this is just as easy. While you will have to use more durable fabrics, most sewing machines can easily sew through these fabrics with different needles.

For less money you can change the look of your patio, for much less than buying new patio cushions you can make your own in just a matter of hours. Make them to change the look of your patio settings, and will protect your furniture, and make it a more comfortable setting for you and your guests.

Transform your Backyard Patio into a special place for your family and friends. This can be achieved with outdoor furniture cushions which will change the whole appearance of your patio space.

Prior to 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 system still serves as the basis for working out many seasonal holidays. This coexistence of two calendar systems 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 required for the moon to complete 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 disparity is corrected 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 annual 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 example, an average 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 number of astronomical calculations.

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

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

Read our new website on astronomy entitled Astronomy Today

If you have never went fishing for sharks before, then you will need to know some basic information before you get out there. Sharks are very aggressive and can also be very dangerous, so I will go over what you need to know about shark fishing.

If it is your main goal to actually catch a shark, the best time to do it is in May if you are in Florida. The temperature is not too hot and it will attract more of the predators you seek. If you decide to fish for sharks in the middle of the summer, you should be aware of water temperatures and try to find the coolest spot possible.

When you plan on going shark fishing, you need to be prepared. Many people would advise keeping a checklist beforehand in order to help you with preparation, some things that you should include when packing for your trip are chum and proper gear. Your rods and reels should be able to handle a two pound hundred fish or greater.

There are many types of bait that you can use, you could use live bait, which is preferred, cutting the tail off will increase the scent of the bait also. Chum will also greatly increase you chances of hooking up with a shark, bloody the waters and they will come.

It is important to know what type of shark you are wanting to fish. Different sharks swim at different levels and temperatures. In order to set a shark trap, you will have to tie your farthest bait off the bow rail with a flat line clip. Make sure that the line is out of the way and stay in the highest rocket holder on the particular side of the boat from which you are fishing.

As soon as you have waited and finally caught your first shark, you better be prepared. Sharks will have different temperaments and act according to their agitation. Some sharks have been known to slightly drag the bait before they swallow, while other sharks will run at the boat, run in the opposing direction from the boat, or come right up to the boat.

Landing a shark requires help, and your helper should have experience. One option would be to gaff the shark, and be careful when shark is on the boat as they will stay alive for a good amount of time when out of the water. If the shark is too large and you want to keep it you will have to drag it in the water back to base with a wire or rope.

You should only keep a shark if you plan on eating it. Shark finning has depleted many and they are in danger of becoming extinct. Please help keep these predators alive by releasing the shark if you are not planning to eat it or hang it on your wall.

Jerry Collinsburg has had experience fishing in florida for over 15 years. For further information on how to hook up with sharks you can read his entry on his website. Shark Fishing Florida

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 gazed up at the stars while walking home late at night and wondered about something larger? 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 the majority of us do today.

They understood then, thousands of years ago, that the majority of 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 calculate or at least find 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 important 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 objects 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 intimidated, and since then we have gone on to build ever bigger and ever better 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 USA and the old USSR, but now there are other contestants 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 in the West, but it has not lessened interest in questions that scientists think can only be answered in space. These are exciting times for the science of astronomy, but then man has always found astronomy enthralling .

Fascinated by astronomy, why not pop along to our website at: http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

Not every epoxy garage floor coating is the same and with garage flooring, like many other things in life, you don’t always get what you think. When learning about something new, such as garage floors, it’s not hard to skip some features which may be important to you, especially if you didn’t even know they existed. For example, let’s examine a lesser known epoxy garage floor paint specification. Let’s take a look at the idea of an epoxy garage floor coating’s percentage of solids.

Percentage Of Solids? What Does That Mean?

Obviously every epoxy garage floor coating starts out in a less than solid form. Otherwise it would be impossible to apply to your concrete garage floor. The percentage of solids indicates just how much of that chemical mixture will end up as a solid material. To get a good grasp of this, consider epoxy adhesives. If you glob a bit of epoxy adhesive on to something, the entire amount dries as solid. With an epoxy garage floor coating, however, this may not necessarily be the case.

But Where Is The Percentage Of Solids Listed?

Like most companies, the manufacturers of epoxy garage floor coatings tend to leave out any specifications that their product does not excel in. This makes it harder for the consumer to know if he is getting the appropriate product. In general, those epoxy garage floor coatings that are not 100% solid won’t tell you in so many words. Instead, they will be referred to as water, or acrylic based. Of course, any epoxy garage floor paint that is 100% solids will generally advertise it quite proudly.

Does Everyone Actually Need 100% Solids Garage Floor Coatings?

You really, most likely, do not. Most people use some sort of garage floor covering on their paint to keep it nice looking, so they’ll never even notice that they’re using one of the many garage floor finishes that are water based. However, there’s just not that much of a difference in price between 100% solid, and the watered down epoxies. Some water or acrylic based paints even cost more than epoxy garage floor coatings that are 100% solid. This is one of those industry secrets that probably wouldn’t be considered socially acceptable if the general public even knew.

Why Every Epoxy Garage Floor Coating Is Not 100% Solid

I’m assuming that the main reason has to do with their profit margins. Most successful companies get there by maintaining a good reputation while making a product that costs as little as possible, and selling it for far more than it took to make it. So, in this case, they water the product down just enough to save money, but not enough to sacrifice their reputation. Should we all boycott acrylic and water based paints? You have to make a personal choice on this one. Do you buy based off of reputation, or the promise of a better product? I guess you just have to, when shopping for epoxy garage floor coatings, decide which type of consumer you’d rather be.

Check out Sweet Garage Flooring for more information to help you choose your garage floor.

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Every major brand of garage floor tile is one of two types: interlocking, or peel and stick (self adhesive). This confuses some people since resellers and manufacturers of garage floor tiles aren’t always clear on the differences. We’ll take a quick look at the peel and stick type tile for garage floors, so that you can decide if it will be right for you.

Is Installing Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile Difficult?

Although they are simple to install, peel and stick garage floor tiles are not necessarily easy to apply. All you have to do, though, is peel the backings off of them, and stick them on to the concrete garage floor. However, before you even begin, you’ll want to clean your floor. The adhesive on the tiles will stick to any dirt or dust, making them not nearly as effective. With the exception of epoxy garage floor coating, none of the other flooring solutions require the floor to be as clean. Although the install can be time consuming, you can always stop and start again later, just so long as you re-clean any concrete before you get back to it. Always, when it comes to both installing and cleaning, be sure you read any instructions that came with your particular tiles.

Buying Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile

There are quite a few places where you can find this particular garage floor covering, but peel and stick tiles can sometimes be a rarity at hardware stores and the like. They’re out there, but sometimes they’re difficult to find, and even if you do, selection is often quite limited. Probably because of this, prices are spastic, and there doesn’t seem to be a set garage size that is deemed “normal”. You can easily find sets that cover 40 square feet of garage all the way up to 66 square feet, and prices are anywhere from just over $100 to well over $300. The most important thing, of course, is to make sure that the kit you purchase will have at least enough garage floor tile for covering your garage.

Is Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile As Durable As Other Coverings?

Tile is probably the strongest of garage floor coverings. As they actually adhere to concrete, peel and stick tiles are even more rigid than many other coverings. Unlike some other options, they can’t move, so they’re not as susceptible to damage by rubbing against the concrete, like garage floor mats. When shopping, though, remember that a lot of the strength of garage floor tiles depend on their makeup, so be sure to think about what you’re planning to do with your garage when choosing.

Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile Is Not For Everyone

Peel and stick tiles are immobile. I only bring this up because snap together tiles, as well as a garage floor mat, can be moved around when needed. Because of this, if you are only intending on covering a portion of your floor, I would definitely suggest going the route of something that you can move. The final price will likely be less, and you may as well get all of the features that you can. Also, when you’re ready to cover your entire garage floor, you’ll already have a mat to protect your nice new garage flooring!

Check out Sweet Garage Floor for even more great garage floor information.

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Isn’t a garage floor stain a bad thing, you ask? Doesn’t that mean that someone needs to start cleaning? Usually, yes, that’s true, but staining garage flooring is not always a bad thing. Many people understand the concept of staining wood, so just apply that same idea to garage floors. Yes, it’s true, you can add a colored stain to pretty much any masonry, concrete garage floor included. Wondering why anyone would want to? Then keep reading.

Is It Possible For Garage Floor Stain To Protect Concrete?

It’s very simple: garage floor stain does not protect your concrete. Now, that being said, there are some products that label themselves as stain that say they include some sort of protection. For the most part, those products are a combination of two chemicals in one package: garage floor stain, and some sort of sealant. This is a very good thing for the buyer because even after you have applied stain to your flooring, you will definitely want to use a sealant, so buying it in one package with directions to match just makes sense. However, keep in mind, you don’t have to stain your concrete to get the sealant. Clear garage floor sealing products are also available separately.

Epoxy Is Hard To Apply…Is Garage Floor Stain?

It’s not hard at all. Actually, aside from using a garage floor mat, staining has got to be the easiest of any of the garage floor finishes to use. As with every garage floor coating, the concrete will need to be spotless before starting to have everything come out correctly. Besides that, applying stain really is a lot more like normal painting than, well, garage floor paint! The main step is just applying with a paint roller, after which you wait for it to dry.

Is It Expensive To Use Garage Floor Stain?

No, stain is by far the cheapest of the garage floor coatings, until you factor in the cost of the sealant. Even then, it will usually compare to epoxy garage floor paint if you install it yourself, and will be considerably cheaper if you compare the two products being installed by a third party. This is due to the fact that, besides cleaning, applying a garage floor stain is a one coat job, as opposed to the multiple coats and mixing involved in an epoxy garage floor coating.

Why Should I Even Consider Garage Floor Stain?

Whether we’re talking about your garage or the floor of your home, there’s only one good reason to stain concrete: the looks. There are a lot of people out there that really don’t need protection for their concrete, not including the elements, but everyone likes something different, which defines garage floor stain. Just make absolutely sure, though, before you buy and apply, that stain will do what you need in your garage floor coating.

Visit Sweet Garage Floor for more information about every kind of garage floor out there.

So, you have decided on your garage floor covering. Now it’s time to decide what pattern you need to use, as if choosing the garage flooring wasn’t difficult enough. Bet you wouldn’t have ever thought this could be so complicated. We’ll focus on mainly garage floor mats since, with garage floor tiles, most of the options have more to do with their installation and what they’re made of. Let us first take a look at ribbed garage floor covering. This info will be fairly generic, for the most part, although I’m sure some odd manufacturers exist that do their own thing.

The Advantages Of Every Garage Floor Covering

Before we get to the particulars about the ribbed flavors, though, let’s examine those advantages that you can get from just about all garage floor protectors. They’ll keep stains off a concrete garage floor, for one. They’ll also prevent cracking by helping retain heat. For those that have damaged garage floors already, they’ll help hide stains and cracks. And, to the majority of folks, a covering of any kind, be it garage floor tile or just a mat, looks nicer than plain concrete.

How To Ribbed Garage Floor Coverings Handle Spilled Chemicals?

Since garage floor coverings with the ribbed pattern have ridges that only go one way, spills always follow that path. Because of this, the ribbed design works particularly well when working on your vehicle. The mat can be laid either horizontally, to contain the spill, or vertically, to direct the spill in a particular direction. Be wary of directing dangerous chemicals like oil or coolant into the ground. Not only is this very illegal, but it’s also high irresponsible.

Ribbed Garage Floor Coverings And Cleaning

As pretty much any garage floor mat resists liquids and staining, cleaning is generally a breeze. All you have to do is spray the garage floor covering with your water hose. Always be mindful of contaminating the ground, though. Check the local laws, as well as regulations in regards to this, and consider nearby lakes or rivers, and even groundwater. Pouring anti-freeze into soil that’s only nine feet above well water is not a good idea.

The General Cost Of The Ribbed Pattern And Garage Floor Coverings

When it comes to price, this design is generally quite reasonable. Lots of companies that manufacture garage floor coverings set the prices of their ribbed design at only slightly higher than the cheapest option. Because of this, you could consider ribbed mats a great value. They will do everything one might desire or need from their garage floor protector while being quite inexpensive. The only real reason to pay more would be for looks. I bet that any car guy would feel that ribbed garage floor coverings are just fine.

Check out Sweet Garage Flooring for more information to help you choose or yourgarage floor coverings.

You wanted to be sure your concrete garage floor would have protection, so you put down epoxy garage floor paint. It’s looking great, and just looking at it makes you happy. You never thought garage flooring would make such a difference. Then, something horrible happens (queue the horror movie shrieking). Your epoxy garage floor coating takes a hit! Luckily for you, it’s not all that hard to fix a crack or chip when it comes to epoxy garage floors.

Preparing An Epoxy Garage Floor Coating To Be Repaired

The first thing you need to do is clean the area that needs to be prepared. You’ll want to get rid of dirt, but there will also likely be some sort of grease or oil, even if you don’t work on your car in your garage. Cars are funny like that, even brand new ones. If nothing else, tires track some pretty nasty stuff on to your garage floor coating. Luckily, since epoxy paint is designed to resist damage from chemicals, it’s also pretty good at taking a thorough cleaning. Although there are cleaners that are specifically designed for epoxy, dish soap works just as well, and is much easier on your hands. Don’t just clean the damage, either. Be sure to clean a wide area around the damaged spot as well.

Removing The Offending Section

If you were to simply fill in the scar, scratch, crack, or whatever it is we’re repairing, it would be fairly obvious. Epoxy, like all paints, sort of change color over time, even if it’s not readily apparent, and simply “touching it up” would leave you with discoloration. With cars, you can fix this by using a scratch remover or clay bar and mixing the new paint with the old. However, epoxy paint’s resistance to damage sort of works against you in this case as it will also resist repairing scratches in this way. To address this, you’ll want to cut a square around the affected area, so that the area with the new paint is large enough that it won’t be so obvious. You can do this using a box cutter or a hobby knife of some sort. Go for about two inches around the scar, but bigger if you’re repairing an extremely obvious area, like the center of your garage floor. Once you’ve made the cut, use a blow dryer to heat the area so until the epoxy softens, then scrape it away with a paint scraper.

Oxygen Is Important

Okay, now that there is a bare area, you can start to repair your epoxy garage floor coating. Make sure to use any directions that came with the epoxy kit, but use common sense as well, acknowledging that you are working on a much smaller area than what those directions were written for. Feather the edges of the old and new paint so that the colors blend at least a little bit. Make sure, too, that you have good ventilation in your garage whenever you are working with epoxy garage floor coating. Epoxy fumes are not good for human lungs.

Keeping It From Happening Again

Stuff happens, but it’s not nearly as annoying if it happens to a garage floor mat. You can bet that if it happened once, it’s going to happen again. Every garage floor covering will protect your paint, and a small mat to place where you work is not terribly expensive. Next time a tool decides to bail, you will be really glad to see it bounce instead of crash. Epoxy garage floor coatings are very nice to look at, and can take a lot, but like car paint, sometimes they need a little extra protection.

Check out Sweet Garage Floor for even more great garage floor information.

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