Sunday, May 17, 2020

A.D. (or AD) - How Christianity Underlies our Calendars

AD (or A.D.) is an abbreviation for the Latin expression Anno Domini, which translates to the Year of Our Lord, and equivalent to C.E. (the Common Era). Anno Domini refers to the years which followed the supposed birth year of the philosopher and founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ. For the purposes of proper grammar, the format is properly with the A.D. before the number of the year, so A.D. 2018 means The Year of Our Lord 2018, although it is sometimes placed  before the year as well, paralleling the use of B.C. The choice of starting a calendar with the birth year of Christ was first suggested by a few Christian bishops including Clemens of Alexandria in C.E. 190 and Bishop Eusebius at Antioch, C.E. 314–325. These men labored to discover what year Christ would have been born by using available chronologies, astronomical calculations, and astrological speculation. Dionysius and Dating Christ In 525 C.E., the Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus used the earlier computations, plus additional stories from religious elders, to form a timeline for Christs life. Dionysius is the one credited with the selection of the AD 1 birth date that we use today—although it turns out he was off by some four years. That wasnt really his purpose, but Dionysius called the years that occurred after Christs supposed birth The years of our Lord Jesus Christ or Anno Domini. Dionysiuss real purpose was trying to pin down the day of the year on which it would be proper for Christians to celebrate Easter. (see the article by Teres for a detailed description of Dionysius efforts). Nearly a thousand years later, the struggle to figure out when to celebrate Easter led to the reformation of the original Roman calendar called the Julian Calendar into the one most of the west uses today--the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian Reform The Gregorian reform was established in October of 1582  when Pope Gregory XIII published his papal bull Inter Gravissimas. That bull noted that the existing Julian calendar in place since 46 B.C.E. had drifted 12 days off-course. The reason the Julian calendar had drifted so far is detailed in the article on B.C.: but briefly, calculating the exact number of days in a solar year was nearly impossible prior to modern technology, and Julius Caesars astrologists got it wrong by about 11 minutes a year. Eleven minutes isnt too bad for 46 B.C.E., but it was a twelve-day lag after 1,600 years. However, in reality, the main reasons for the Gregorian change to the Julian calendar were political and religious ones. Arguably, the highest holy day in the Christian calendar is Easter, the date of the ascension, when the Christ was said to have been  resurrected from the dead.  The Christian church felt that it had to have a separate celebration day for Easter  than the one originally used by the founding church fathers, at the start of the Jewish Passover.   The Political Heart of Reform The founders of the early Christian church were, of course, Jewish, and they celebrated Christs ascension on the 14th day of Nisan, the date of Passover in the Hebrew calendar, albeit adding a special significance to the traditional sacrifice to the Paschal lamb. But as Christianity gained non-Jewish adherents, some of the communities agitated for separating out Easter from Passover. In 325 C.E., the Council of Christian bishops at Nicea set the annual date of Easter to fluctuate, to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or next after the first day of spring (vernal equinox). That was intentionally complex  because to avoid ever falling on the Jewish Sabbath, Easters date had to be based on the human week (Sunday), the lunar cycle (full moon) and the solar cycle (vernal equinox). The lunar cycle used by the Nicean council was the Metonic cycle, established in the 5th century B.C.E., that showed that new moons appear on the same calendar dates every 19 years. By the sixth century, the ecclesiastical calendar of the Roman church followed that Nicean rule, and indeed, it is still the way the church determines Easter each year. But that meant that the Julian calendar, which had no reference to lunar motions, had to be revised. Reform and Resistance To correct the Julian calendars date slippage, Gregorys astronomers said they had to deduct 11 days out of the year. People were told they were to go to sleep on the day they called September 4th and when they woke up the next day, they should call it September 15th. People did object, of course, but this was only one of numerous controversies slowing acceptance of the Gregorian reform. Competing astronomers argued over the details; almanac publishers took years to adapt—the first was in Dublin 1587. In Dublin, people debated what to do about contracts and leases (do I have to pay for the full month of September?). Many people rejected the papal bull out of hand—Henry VIIIs revolutionary  English reformation had taken place only fifty years earlier. See Prescott for an amusing paper on the problems this momentous change caused everyday people. The Gregorian calendar was better at counting time than the Julian, but most of Europe held off accepting the Gregorian reforms until 1752. For better or worse, the Gregorian calendar with its embedded Christian timeline and mythology is (essentially) what is used in the western world today. Other Common Calendar Designations Islamic: A.H. or AH, meaning Anno Hegirae or in the year of the HijraHebrew: AM or A.M., meaning Year After CreationWestern: BCE or B.C.E., meaning Before the Common EraWestern: CE or C.E., meaning the Common EraChristian-Based Western: BC or B.C., meaning Before ChristScientific: AA or A.A., meaning the Atomic AgeScientific: RCYBP, meaning Radiocarbon Years Before the PresentScientific: BP or B.P., meaning Before the PresentScientific: cal BP, meaning Calibrated Years Before the Present or Calendar Years Before the Present Sources Macey SL. 1990. The Concept of Time in Ancient Rome. International Social Science Review 65(2):72-79.Peters JD. 2009. Calendar, clock, tower. MIT6 Stone and Papyrus: Storage and Transmission. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Prescott AL. 2006. Refusing Translation: The Gregorian Calendar and Early Modern English Writers. The Yearbook of English Studies 36(1):1-11.Taylor T. 2008. Prehistory vs. Archaeology: Terms of Engagement. Journal of World Prehistory 21:1–18.Teres G. 1984. Time computations and Dionysius Exiguus. Journal for the History of Astronomy 15(3):177-188.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

There Are Several Instances Where It Appears As If History

There are several instances where it appears as if history repeats itself- the Salem Witch Trials, Red Scare, Holocaust, Japanese Internment Camps, and many more. Could Trump’s Travel Ban be a new addition to this list? The Salem Witch Trials is known as a dark and embarrassing time in our history, yet the same events seem to re-occur in history. Mass hysteria continues to influence our society to make destructive decisions. As a result of history repeating itself, a person can conclude America may be repeating the Salem Witch Trials through Trump’s Travel Ban due to the overwhelming similarities of mass hysteria leading to scapegoating. The Salem Witch Trials took place during the Puritan time in Salem, Massachusetts. This incident is†¦show more content†¦The Nationality Act states, â€Å"Whenever the President finds that entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate† (How opponents may challenge Trump). It’s no secret that President Trump is planning on issuing a ‘Travel Ban’, or as an individual may have heard it, ‘Muslim Ban’, legally. This bans the refugees from certain countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia - from entering the United States for four months. Mr. Trump claims to ban these countries to protect the United States from terror attacks. All of the countries listed above have a muslim majority, but have no direct ties to terrorist attacks in the United States. 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The US Australian Alliance Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the US Australian Alliance. Answer: The alliance with the USA has been the most important plank in Australian foreign policy sincethe Second World War. Is this enduring alliance based on shared interests or tradition. The Second World War brought about various changes in the Australian government which led to the development of a mutual relationship with the US. The Australian foreign policy has been dominated by the American since the end of II World war. It has been discovered that Australia has wholly relied on the Great Britain which is the mother country for foreign policy. However, as the Australia benefits from security provision from the US, the US benefits from gaining economic advantages from Australia. After the Japanese threats and incursion which initiated a need to seek for foreign policies, from the Great Britain to the USA, the Great Britain declined to offer a defence to the Australian people during the threatening times. This necessitated the country to look for alternative ways of attaining the national and regional security for the government and the people. The USA, being the world's most influential, powerful and advanced nation came to the aid of Australia in pursuit to provide security and this caused a significant alliance. As it was thought that Australia was unable to protect itself independently, the country signed the ANZUS Treaty in order to strengthen the relationship with the US in pursuit of national security. The ANZUS was meant to be a mutual support agreement that each country would come to the aid of others in case of a civil war or attack by terrorists. The treaty was to provide the Australia with the access to the Americas highest military and political boards for long-term security provision against the Japanese threats. For the US, the alliance was meant to pawn the spread of socialism in the Pacific region and Asia since it already had a peace deal with Japan. The Australian facilities and its people were a major target in the post-9/11 environment since the country had a close alliance with the US. The transport systems were the most vulnerable areas of attacks due to the physique movement of passengers and dependence on aviation (De Prato Simon, 2015). Recommendations were made which focused on improving the aviation security by initiating enhanced security training and a system to recover the lost security in aviation. Australia and the US have various shared interests in the stability and security of the Indian Ocean which is the area of intersection although at times they may approach it differently. The presence of the US militia in the region is regarded as a significant stabilizing factor. Australia is also involved in the security provision whereby the US has encouraged it to contribute much to the security of the region. Australia has recognized its need to engage in the security provision and it has benefited a lot from the US strategic predominance in the region. While Australias biggest aim of the relationship is to attain national security and assurance of military assistance in times of war, the US focuses on gaining the economic advantage due to its powerful dominance of weapons (Pelletier, 2013). The US and Australia have often agreed on issues based on the post-cold war era. Australia agrees with the US assessment of risks and threats and also supports the America's policy responses. In establishing the Australian economy, the US has played a role in running a trade deficit with the country. Although America has done much in sustaining the export-led development of Australia, through voracious consumer-led demand, Australia has not benefited much in these developments (Koinova, 2014). Australia exports to America are products of insensitive areas and this subjects them to trade restrictions and barriers. In the pursuit to eliminate these trade barriers, the Australian government has made efforts to achieve a free trade agreement with the US as a foreign policy which comes with some positive impacts. The Australian government has majored in conveying binding, long-term agreements which will prevent the US from using the enormous powers to pursue biased bilateral deals favoring its interests. The US has pursued tacitly relating trade and security issues as a way to reward Australia due to their commitments in the war against terrorists in America. However, the effo rts seem to bear fewer fruits. The role of Australia in the war on terror in supporting the America against the Iraq, further threatened the long-standing export markets (Yu, 2016). The security relationship between the two countries has been healthy over the years with America being militarily dominant. The ANZUS ensues military ties between the two countries. Although Australias defense organizers have moved to a more resourceful defense attitude, the relationship with the US still remains significant as it provides access to defense technology and intelligence which Australia cannot reach on its own. As the country strives to own the expensive weapons which can fight large-scale conservative wars, it is seemingly important that in case of an attack, America will still have to chip in. Nonetheless, the relevance of the high-cost weapons systems such as the Joint Strike Fighter program is still in doubt as the program will place the country in an unconfirmed system which looks misplaced in the embryonic non-traditional security environment. It is casual that the US is focused to take advantage of its exploitative spot as the supplier of the advanced military te chnology to secure its commercial benefits (Al-Ekabi et al, 2015). This is because the US plans to tie the strategic and economic issues in a way which will conciliate the decision of the Australia to be independent in the provision of security. The US fears its capacity to obtain commercial benefits being challenged by this move since the defense spending will have reduced. The alliance was based on the shared interest that every country may support each other in times of war. As seen in the II world war, the US got much involved in the fight to help Australia and similarly, during the US war with the Iraq, Australia spared no efforts to help the country gain peace. Since the Second World War, the US- Australian relationship has gained an increasingly protruding position in the development of the security and economic policies in Australia. However, the relationship subjects Australia to the Americas global political priorities and policies which may necessarily not be the interests of the Australia. References Al-Ekabi, C., Baranes, B., Hulsroj, P., Lahcen, A. (Eds.). (2015).Yearbook on Space Policy 2014: The Governance of Space. Springer. Press. De Prato, G., Simon, J. P. (2015). Is data really the new oil of the 21st century or just another snake oil? Looking at uses and users (private/public). Press. Koinova, M. (2014). Diasporas and contextualized transnationalism. InPost-Yugoslavia(pp. 133-161). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Press. Lubin, F. J. L. (2014). Some Examples of Restructuring (II). InThe Executive Guide to Corporate Restructuring(pp. 115-138). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Press. McNamara, P., Harvey, A., Andrewartha, L. (2017). Passports out of poverty: Raising access to higher education for care leavers in Australia.Children and Youth Services Review. Press. O la Unin Europea, R., Prez, J. G. (2017). Nota del Coordinador del Nmero 9. Press. Pelletier, B. J. J. (2013).Internationalization of SME and entry mode choice in Brazil: the case study of Ameco, a French SME(Doctoral dissertation). Press. Sinnett, D., Calvert, T., Burgess, S ., Smith, N. (2017). Global green infrastructure: How is green infrastructure research transl ated into practice outside the UK? Press. Tiwari, A. K., Dash, A. K., Narayanan, B. G. (2017). Foreign tourist arrivals in India from major source countries: an empirical analysis.Current Issues in Tourism, 1-20. Press. Yu, P. K. (2016). The Investment-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.Am. UL Rev.,66, 829. Press.