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A Base for Calendar Exploration thru Time - "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one, except...." Except what? And when? It's about time someone came up with a site devoted to calendars! You will learn some fascinating information here, including the origins of the seven-day week, calendar structures and changes, and much more. By the way, what began above ends like this: "...excepting February alone: which hath but twenty-eight, in fine, till leap year gives it twenty-nine." Click on "An introduction to calendars" and learn all about the "Thirty Days" rhyme.
American Memory from the Library of Congress - You have memories of your own life. Your parents have memories of their lives, and your grandparents have memories of theirs. Wouldn't it be great to find a place to archive all those memories, so they wouldn't be lost when someone died? You could call it the American Memory Project! Look no further. Browse through 25,000 turn-of-the-century postcards; maybe some are from your hometown. Go to the Collection Finder and look in the Photos and Prints Division under Detroit Publishing Company (show this to your parents--they will love it). Check old movies of New York City made by Edison himself in 1903. Look into the eyes of the immigrants coming to America--so much hope is expressed there. The historical periods covered are from the Civil War to World War II. Each collection is annotated, and broad topics are listed. This is an excellent source for students looking for nonprint sources to accompany an American history report. Don't forget to remember American Memory.
Biological Timing Online Science Experiment - Did you ever hear of a biological clock? That's what helps you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. At this site there's a fascinating article called The Mystery of Sleepy Adolescents. Do you have trouble waking up for school? You're not alone. These kids decided to investigate the whole problem. This is their Web page about biological clocks, circadian rhythms, and how plants and animals tell time.
Calendar Zone - Are you looking for a new calendar, or maybe an old one? This page has calendars that will calculate moon phases, holidays, and many other types of date-watching delights. You'll also find Islamic, Hebrew, Chinese, and other cultural or religious calendars. There is downloadable software, links to pages of interest (lots on the year 2000), including one on Calendar Reform (click on "reform"). Did you know that some people think we should have 13 months in the year? Others propose 12 equal months, with "blank days" that don't belong to any month at all and are celebrated as world holidays. One result of this plan is that you wouldn't need a new calendar every year, because the dates would always fall on the same days of the week. Calendar manufacturers are probably not happy with the idea.
Calendars: Counting the Days - Before people had calendars on their walls, they looked up in the sky to check the passage of time. The position of the sun, phase of the moon, and visible constellations told them all they needed to know. However, time marched on, and now we have all sorts of ways to figure out what time it is. This very interesting site from World Book encyclopedia teaches you about ancient as well as modern calendar systems. There is even a section on future calendars!
Chinese New Year - This is a really interesting site that describes the Chinese calendar system. The Chinese calendar has 24 solar terms closely related to the changes of nature--a very useful tool for farmers, providing knowledge on the proper time for planting and harvesting.
EDUNet's Timemachine - What happened 50 years ago in India? What about 25 years ago in Australia? Or can you guess what happened 5,000 years ago in the Mediterranean? You can learn so much traveling back and forth on the time line at this site that all your friends and family members will think you are a genius! You probably are if you take our advice and give this site a try.
Events for ... - Ho hum, today is just another day, right? It seems there are so few special days--like Christmas, your birthday, or the Fourth of July. Actually, every single day has been important in history, or there is some momentous event taking place somewhere, or someone great was born. To see why today is important, take a look here. Maybe you can use the information here as a good excuse for a party!
February 29 Leap Day - Were you born on the leap year day, February 29? Your birthday only comes around every four years! When it isn't a leap year, do you celebrate your birthday on February 28 or March 1? Find other people facing the same dilemma. There are also fascinating resources from the Royal Greenwich Observatory about leap years and calendars in general.
Greenwich Meridian 2000 - In 1884, the International Meridian Conference decided to designate the Prime Meridian, longitude zero, at a spot in Greenwich, England. Since world time is designated as so many hours plus or minus Greenwich Mean Time, you could say that Greenwich is just next door to where Time runs out and the location where Time begins again. Learn more about the Prime Meridian, the millennium, and the story of time.
Popular Mechanics Time Machine - is the magazine for anyone interested in machines. They have built an Internet time machine to help you see how machines have improved over the last 70 or so years. See high-flying French balloons from the early 1900s and crazy car designs from 1960. It's a walk through history, and you won't even have to leave the chair in front of your computer! Your time machine comes with a lot of shiny buttons, and there's even an owner's manual. Let's see, what happens if we press this button right here?
Sunrise/Sunset Computation - Sometimes you have to get up awfully early to watch the sun rise. Exactly when the sun or moon rises or sets depends on where you live and the time of year. You can take the mystery out of when old Sol (that's another name for the sun) takes off in the morning by using this page from the U.S. Naval Observatory. All you have to do is plug in a date and a place, and through the magic of computers, the time of sun (and moon) rise and set is provided. For fun, enter your birthday and birthplace or pick an interesting date, like December 31, 1999. You'll also find out when the solstices and equinoxes are through the year 2005.
The World Clock - Hey, what time is it, anyway? Are you curious about the clocks in Cagen? Or maybe you want to make inquiries in Istanbul. This page gives you the current time in over 100 locations on the globe! If you keep watching it, the page will automatically update every minute.
This Day in History - From the Archives of the History Channel - The date is May 4. The year is 1979. Do you know what was happening in world history? Margaret Thatcher was being elected prime minister of England. This Day in History will let you time-travel anywhere you want. In 1626 on this day, Governor Peter Minuit made a great deal on his purchase of a 20,000-acre island--what is now Manhattan, New York City. The price was $24 worth of cloth and brass buttons. Just punch in any date and year, and see what bit of history you can learn.
Time Service Dept. - The U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., is the official timekeeper for the United States. This site is tied into the official clock--clocks, actually. U. S. Naval Observatory timekeeping is based on several unusual clocks: cesium beam and hydrogen maser atomic clocks. You can find out more about these at this site. They also use a network of radio telescopes to make sure they are always right on time. Why is that so important? Well, if a rocket engine burns a second too long, the rocket may end up miles from where it should be. Or if one computer sends a message but the other computer isn't "on" to receive it yet, that's a problem. These clocks are correct to the nanosecond level, which is a billionth of a second! At this site, you can also calculate the sunrise, sunset, twilight, moon rise, moon set, and moon phase percentages and times for a U.S. location.
Today in History - Want to know who shares your birthday or what famous events throughout history happened the day you were born? Just visit this site and type in the month and year you want. For example, famous people born on February 8 include author Jules Verne, actor James Dean, and actress Audrey Meadows, who played Alice in The Honeymooners . Find out when and where these folks were born, too; Meadows, for example, was born in China. You can also find out who died on this day (Mary, Queen of Scots) and what important historical events took place. On February 8, the Boy Scouts organization was incorporated (1910), radio first came to the White House (1922), and Walt Disney Studios was formed (1926). Know anyone with a brand-new baby? Give the proud parents a printout of their baby's birth date!
Today's Calendar and Clock Page - Today is Friday, August 13, 1999. EDT is 5:28 P.M. This is the 225th day of the year. Year of the Earth Rabbit. Month of the Water Monkey. Day of the Fire Cock. Hour of the Earth Cock. Year 224 of American independence. 48th year of H.M. Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. 3rd year of the 694th Olympiad ...and much more! Did anything interesting happen today in history, movies, or literary history? What's the current population of the world? What's the total national debt? Know about the moon phase? How about tidal charts? How much time until the next space shuttle launch? It's all collected for you here.
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