Monday | April 29 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
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Monday | April 29 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Tuesday | April 30 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Wednesday | May 1| Colloquium 15:00 UTC
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News:
March 22: Government-funded college program for teachers of color accused of discrimination
Readings: US Law Schools Consider Eliminating US Constitution Law Class Requirement
Monday | March 18 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Tuesday | March 19 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Wednesday | March 20 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Thursday | March 21 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Friday | March 22 | Colloquium 15:00 UTC
Saturday | March 23
Sunday | March 24
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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.
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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.
“Marriage is a duel to the death
which no man should decline”
— G.K. Chesterton
…”Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.
For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up;
but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!…
– Ecclesiastes 4:9
More
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” — Genesis 2:24
International Building Code §303.3 Assembly Group A-2
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.
Here’s an example of how you can use the calendar
module to check if a year is a leap year:
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:
Here’s an example of how you can implement this logic in Python without using the calendar
module:
def is_leap_year(year):
if year % 4 == 0:
if year % 100 == 0:
if year % 400 == 0:
return True
else:
return False
else:
return True
else:
return False
year = 2024
if is_leap_year(year):
Looking back at 2023 @mikefiedler discovered some impressive metrics that we want to share! @fastly #PyPI #pytho pic.twitter.com/EXfWwduWA9
— Python Package Index (@pypi) February 14, 2024
“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is.
If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.”
Saint Augustine (“Confessions” Book XI)
Starting soon! https://t.co/JL03EIEMqo pic.twitter.com/Ttpp4TA8jr
— Wendy Bohon, PhD 🌏 (@DrWendyRocks) December 28, 2023
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” — Groucho Marx
“Time is a great healer, but a terrible beautician.” — Unknown
“Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of 30.” — Robert Frost
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” — William Penn
“Time is the best teacher; unfortunately, it kills all its students.” — Robin Williams
“Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.” — Jennifer Yane
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” — Mark Twain
“They say time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.” — Louis Hector Berlioz
“Middle age is when you’re sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings, and you hope it isn’t for you.” — Ogden Nash
“The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize you’re not in shape for it, it’s too far to walk back.” — Franklin P. Jones
“Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.” — Faith Baldwin
“Science advances one funeral at a time”
— Max Planck
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica | 1686 Sir Issaac Newton
A Mathematical Theory of Communication | 1948 Claude E. Shannon (University of Michigan)
1955 Polio Vaccine: Jonas Salk (University of Michigan)
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— THE BIOGRAPHER (@DA_BIOGRAPHER) February 16, 2024
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
— Physics In History (@PhysInHistory) February 18, 2024
Jordan Peterson: “No One is Ready for What’s Coming”
History of Western Civilization Told Through the Acoustics of its Worship Spaces
“The Great Archimedes”
Baylor University Presshttps://t.co/jbaGIt5tqW@Baylor_Press@BaylorECS pic.twitter.com/4FbcZqLPrQ— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) August 4, 2020
The Future of Cosmology | Roger Penrose
A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid | James Watson & Francis Crick
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 11 JANUARY 1922: First Use of Insulin in Treatment of Diabetes by Sir Frederick G. Banting at the University of Torontohttps://t.co/8emK7QL3rh@UofThttps://t.co/wFm1acWCHchttps://t.co/5n032GQOSp pic.twitter.com/qJWCMdXsa1
— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) January 11, 2021
Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
Power system load flow analysis in an interconnected system focuses on various aspects of AC power parameters, such as voltages, voltage angles, real power and reactive power. #Newton-Raphson #Gauss-Siedel @IEEECampus https://t.co/xoyNZd36KS pic.twitter.com/1gfvcsrF3g
— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) October 5, 2021
Maxwell’s Equations and Electromagnetic Waveshttps://t.co/lsQtMoQ99v
@yaleseas pic.twitter.com/CJQV6SQK2k— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) September 17, 2020
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/mmDHYKDTlq pic.twitter.com/t5fRFKCEyW
— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) August 11, 2020
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 #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/urix0dUh9B
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) February 11, 2024
I drew this morpho butterfly with mathematical equations. pic.twitter.com/YEtf46K6UU
— Hamid Naderi Yeganeh (@naderi_yeganeh) February 4, 2024
“Who Invented Wireless? Marconi, Lodge or Tesla?”@ILuvePhysics @IEEECampus @IEEE_EMCS https://t.co/Khrw5sMSsQ pic.twitter.com/PRSAaNd8u7
— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) October 8, 2021
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/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
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