“The Fish Fry is the unofficial homecoming of Indiana agriculture,” said Danica Kirkpatrick, Executive Director of the Ag Alumni Association. “Not only do we have a fun, educational program, but our guests tell us each year how much they enjoy the networking and exhibit area. While you can’t help but notice the obvious Purdue Pride at the Fish Fry, you don’t have to be an alumnus to attend.”
This content is accessible to paid subscribers. To view it please enter your password below or send mike@standardsmichigan.com a request for subscription details.
This content is accessible to paid subscribers. To view it please enter your password below or send mike@standardsmichigan.com a request for subscription details.
This content is accessible to paid subscribers. To view it please enter your password below or send mike@standardsmichigan.com a request for subscription details.
The Earth’s precession is a slow, cyclical motion of the rotational axis that causes the position of the celestial poles to change over time. This motion is caused by the gravitational influence of the Moon and Sun on the Earth’s equatorial bulge, and it has a period of about 26,000 years.
Over astronomical time, the Earth’s precession has caused a number of changes in the position of the stars and constellations in the sky. For example, due to precession, the position of the North Star, or Polaris, has shifted over time, and in ancient times, other stars, such as Thuban, were used as celestial markers for navigation. Additionally, precession can cause changes in the length and timing of the seasons over long timescales.
The Earth’s precession is affected by a number of factors, including the gravitational pull of other planets, the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, and the distribution of mass within the Earth itself. These factors can cause slight variations in the rate and direction of precession over time.
Overall, while the effects of precession on the Earth’s rotation and position in the sky are not easily observable on human timescales, they are an important component of the Earth’s long-term astronomical behavior.
The earth makes “one” trip around the Sun in approximately 365.2425 days. An additional day every four years helps synchronizes the calendar year with the solar year — assuming a perfect circle. Alas, the orbit is far from circular — it is elliptical and eccentric — thus confounding assumptions about climate change.
Today we revisit our earlier inquiries, readings and research with some consideration to how computer software deals with a leap year. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
Programming languages face several challenges when dealing with leap years, primarily because leap years don’t follow a simple pattern and can vary depending on the calendar system being used. Some of the challenges include:
Algorithm Complexity: Writing algorithms to accurately determine leap years can be complex due to the various rules governing leap years in different calendar systems. For instance, the Gregorian calendar, which is the most widely used calendar system, has different rules than other systems like the Julian calendar.
Handling Calendar Systems: Some programming languages have built-in libraries or functions to handle leap years, but they may not support all calendar systems. Developers need to ensure that the language’s built-in functions or libraries accurately handle leap years according to the desired calendar system.
Cross-Platform Consistency: Different platforms and programming languages may implement leap year calculations differently, leading to inconsistencies when working with date and time data across different systems.
Localization: Some calendar systems used in various regions have different rules for leap years. Programming languages may need to support localization to handle these differences accurately.
Performance: Implementing leap year calculations efficiently can be challenging, especially when dealing with large datasets or frequent date/time manipulations. Optimizing leap year calculations for performance without sacrificing accuracy is important in high-performance applications.
To address these challenges, programmers often rely on built-in date and time libraries provided by programming languages or use third-party libraries specifically designed to handle calendar-related calculations accurately and efficiently. Additionally, thorough testing and validation of date-related logic are essential to ensure correctness, especially in critical applications.
In Python, leap years can be accounted for using the calendar module or by writing custom logic. The calendar module provides a function called isleap() to check if a given year is a leap year.
Here’s an example of how you can use the calendar module to check if a year is a leap year:
python
import calendar
year = 2024
if calendar.isleap(year): print(f”{year} is a leap year.”) else: print(f”{year} is not a leap year.”)
Alternatively, you can write custom logic to determine if a year is a leap year. The logic for determining leap years is as follows:
If a year is evenly divisible by 4, it is a leap year.
However, if the year is evenly divisible by 100, it is not a leap year, unless:
The year is also evenly divisible by 400, in which case it is a leap year.
Here’s an example of how you can implement this logic in Python without using the calendar module:
python
defis_leap_year(year): if year % 4 == 0: if year % 100 == 0: if year % 400 == 0: returnTrue else: returnFalse else: returnTrue else: returnFalseyear = 2024if is_leap_year(year): print(f”{year} is a leap year.”) else: print(f”{year} is not a leap year.”)
Both approaches will correctly determine whether a given year is a leap year or not.
Alexander Fleming
Born on: August 6, 1881, in Scotland.
Died on: March 11, 1955.
The Scottish bacteriologist known for discovering penicillin, revolutionizing medicine. His work paved the way for antibiotics, saving countless lives and earning him the Nobel Prize in Medicine. pic.twitter.com/jNkmKKNaJm
1439 – Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.
Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925) was a self-taught English mathematician and physicist who reformulated James Clerk Maxwell’s original set of twenty equations into the four differential equations known today as Maxwell’s equations. pic.twitter.com/xYFJFa341G
In 1883 the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company was established. Known commonly as “Ediswan” the company sold lamps made with a cellulose filament that Swan had invented in 1881. Variations of the cellulose filament became an industry standard, https://t.co/mmDHYKDTlqpic.twitter.com/t5fRFKCEyW
We’re celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science!
Let’s look back on the life of Marie Skłodowska Curie: a Nobel Prize laureate who dedicated her life to science and became one of the world’s greatest scientists.#WomenInScience#NobelPrizepic.twitter.com/urix0dUh9B
The Steam Engine: The invention of the steam engine in the 18th century by pioneers like James Watt revolutionized industry, transportation, and agriculture, powering factories, locomotives, and ships and driving the Industrial Revolution.
The Internal Combustion Engine: The development of the internal combustion engine in the 19th century revolutionized transportation and manufacturing, leading to the proliferation of automobiles, airplanes, and machinery that powered economic growth and globalization.
The Internet: Originating from research projects in the late 20th century, the internet has become a fundamental infrastructure for communication, commerce, education, and entertainment, connecting billions of people worldwide and enabling unprecedented access to information and resources.
Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits: The invention of semiconductors and integrated circuits in the mid-20th century paved the way for the digital revolution, enabling the miniaturization and mass production of electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, and microprocessors.
Agriculture: The transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to settled agriculture marked the beginning of civilization and allowed for the development of permanent settlements, leading to population growth, specialization of labor, and the emergence of complex societies.
The Wheel: Invented around 3500 BCE, the wheel revolutionized transportation, enabling the movement of goods and people over long distances and laying the foundation for subsequent advancements in engineering and machinery.
Writing: The development of writing systems, such as cuneiform in Mesopotamia and hieroglyphs in Egypt, facilitated the recording and dissemination of information, contributing to the preservation of knowledge, governance, and cultural expression.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T