Sunday, July 15, 2007

Now You Know.......

How was time recorded before Christ?
Were the years and days shorter?

Many calendars have been used throughout history, both before and after Christ. The earliest calendars were based on the movements of the moon; most lunar calendars had months about 29 days long, with occasional leap months to keep them in step with the seasons. Egyptians were probably the first to adopt a calendar based on the sun; they came up with a 365-day year, divided into 12 months. The Babylonians divided days into 24 hours, hours into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds. The ancient Romans had a 10-month calendar for a time, with several weeks in winter apparently ignored, according to the World Book. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar ordered it reformed, and the Julian calendar was widely used for 1,500 years. But it wasn't perfect, and the Gregorian calendar, the one used now in the West, came into use starting in 1582.

What city is directly in the middle of the United States?
The geographic center of the lower 48 states is usually considered to be a spot just to the northwest of the little town of Lebanon, Kan. There's a marker and a small park there. When Alaska and Hawaii are taken into account, the center is often reckoned to be a spot some 17 miles west of Castle Rock, S.D.

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