Corrupt Politics

Before their implementation of the Western solar calendar system, the Chinese almost exclusively followed their own lunar calendar for determining the times of planting and harvesting and festival days. Although people in China today use the Western calendar for almost all business, governmental and practical matters of daily life, the old method still serves as the basis for working out numerous recurring holidays. This coexistence of two calendar schemes has long been accepted by the people of China.

However, this does not only apply to China, it also happens in most other Eastern countries, like Thailand, and most Arabic countries.

A lunar month is determined by measuring the period of time required for the moon to finish its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full eleven days shorter than its solar counterpart. This disparity is made up every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months.

The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions characterized by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all of which bear a close relationship to the annual cycle of agricultural work.

The Chinese calendar – very much like the Hebrew calendar- is a combination of the solar and lunar calendars in that it attempts to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar.

For instance, an ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year will be like, one needs to make a couple of astronomical calculations.

First of all, you have to work out the dates for the new moons. In these instances, a new Moon is the completely black Moon (that is to say, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun), not the first visible crescent, as is used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is then the first day of a new month.

The reason why the majority of countries which had their own calendars had to drop them in favour of the Western, Julian calendar that we use today, is business. First the British and then the Americans ran international business and they used the Gregorian calendar. Anyone who sought to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often differs from local custom in Third World countries.

The government desires to deal on the International markets, but the ordinary family in the country can not. So, the government took up the Gregorian calendar but the people only pay lip service to it. I live in Thailand and people here do not even use the 24 hour day divided into two halves. Their day has four sections of six hours each and the first part starts at 6AM, not midnight. Therefore, they have four 4 o’clocks a day, for instance but no 7 o’clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for instance in Muslim countries.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching Franklin planner pages. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our web site now at Promotional Desk Calendars

There are many presents that can be used as wedding favours, after all the point of wedding favours is to show your guests that you are grateful for them coming to your wedding and showing their support for your wedding. Therefore, you should really try to find wedding favors, that your guests will be keen on.

Naturally, the gift that most suits your guests, may not be one you would pick for yourself, but you are getting the wedding favours for your guests, not yourself. If you think about it, you should be able to come up with something that everyone will like and that you are proud to give. In order to help you get the task done, we will offer you a few tips below.

Love spoons are a popular souvenir at Welsh and other Celtic weddings. A love spoon was a wooden spoon carved by a love sick man for the woman he loved. She would then either take or refuse the love spoon, although she was not obliged by the acceptance of the spoon. Miniature versions are often used as wedding favours. They can be inscribed with dates and names and symbols of love such as a hearts, bells, vines, key holes, anchors and knots.

Wedding favours can also be suitable to eat. There are a lot of choices available for couples who wish to give their guests some type of edible favour. You can have many items personalized these days. Some firms specialize in personalized presents, which can also be given as wedding favours. Some examples of edible, personalized wedding favours might be: chocolate bars, mints, biscuits or gourmet chocolates. The box or wrapper could bear your photo or / and your names and the date.

Small wedding cakes are another concept for edible wedding favours. Miniature wedding cakes have a short shelf life so they will have to include a warning, which will probably be put on the packaging automatically, but it is worth checking.

A half / quarter or miniature bottle of wine or other drink would also be fairly easy to arrange as wine bottle labels can be acquired in any home brew shop.

Picture frames are frequent wedding favors. You could give a picture frame and follow it up with a photo of the beneficiary of the frame enjoying your wedding reception. This might be costly and tricky to set up as you will have to keep records of who has been photographed and who has not. It would be dreadful to miss someone out, would it not? You will probably also need a professional photographer or at least a dedicated amateur.

Wedding favours can be anything really, but I reckon that they are best if they are useful. We gave very atypical bottle-openers away at our wedding. They had a pattern of a couple getting married, our names and the date. They also had a magnet in them to collect the bottle top as it came off. I have seen dozens of our bottle-openers stuck on our friends’ fridges over the years and the wedding was three years ago.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Welsh love spoons, or Wales in general, go to our website at Welsh Products Online

In the Tenth and eleventh centuries Scots Gaelic had been at its most widely used as a language where a lot of people who resided in Scotland spoke the language. Nowadays there is actually only about 1.6% who are able to speak Gaelic. The majority of pro- Gaelic speakers might state that this had been the strategy of the English – in order to free the British Isles of its Gaelic language and substitute it by the English language. However there are many of causes of the decrease of Gaelic as a language.

Firstly, by around 1400 the distinction between the Highlands and the Lowlands was firmly established. A scholarly man named John of Fordun had this to say about the differences between the highlanders and the lowlanders in 1380:

“The people of the coast are of domestic and civilised habits, trusty, patient, and urbane, decent in their attire, affable, and peaceful, devout in Divine worship, yet always ready to resist a wrong at the hands of their enemies. The highlanders and people of the islands, on the other hand, are a savage and untamed nation, rude and independent, given to rapine, ease-loving, clever and quick to learn, comely in person, but unsightly in dress, hostile to the English people and language, and, owing to the diversity of speech, even to their own nation, and exceedingly cruel. They are however faithful and obedient to their king and country, and obedient to their king and country, and easily made to submit to law, if properly governed.”

Consequently it may be asserted the main cause for the reduction of the Gaelic language was as a result of the break down amongst the various regions of Scotland. And by the sixteenth century the divergence between both was at a record high due to historical factors and a different language spoken. James VI had two key concepts for his Highland policy – one was to help to make an income and the other was to increase the amount of plantation. He suspected that the highlanders and especially the islanders weren’t paying their own reasonable taxation and he wanted to adjust this.

In 1597 he set up three burghs within the Highlands with the intention of permitting a number of the lowlanders to rule. With the strengthening Campbell clan as well as the detest for the lowlanders of the Highlanders and the Islanders, a lot more disruption was to follow. It was costing the King greater expense than he cared to pay.

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The start of the history of window cleaners in the UK came about as a result of the creation of windows and the perfection of the art of glass-making after 2000 BC.

The first window cleaning products were simply rags and water, however the first tool to be used that specialised in window cleaning for the horse sweat squeegee. This was originally used in the stables to rub down the animals, yet some realised that the long handles and absorbent material made it ideal for window cleaning.

As the 20th century moved on there were far quicker advancements in window cleaning products as science and manufacturing processes advanced. In 1936 the single blade window cleaning squeegee was created that helped to eliminate water spots and streaks on windows.

As time has passed, even soap became redundant in window cleaning. When tinted windows were developed it became necessary to develop a detergent that would not damage this glass. The result was ammonia-free window cleaning products that were effective in removing stains yet were not corrosive.

As we stand today, a thin layer of wax is even left as a residue that reflects light giving a beautiful shine to your windows, and also trapping moisture that helps to avoid smears and water spots.

As a result of all these advances it has become ever more easy for normal people to tend to the chores of window cleaning, and with the development of muc larger windows that let it more light this is ever more important.

These professional services will be important on tall buildings that only they can reach. As a result the industry has grown dramatically and has led to it becoming a passion for many people. To this extent, there are even competitions all over the world for professionals to demonstrate their skills.

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Though today we live in an age where such weapons are considered by many to simply be the pathetic tools of a technologically inferior age, there is something noble about swords and other melee weapons of days gone by.

The sword in particular has a special place in the hearts of many. Perhaps it is because it is the preferred weapon of duelists, and we find something special about the idea of two men facing off, skill against skill.

Whatever the reason, though, it is undeniable that the sword is the most common weapon when it comes to popular culture melee weapons. Be it the curved grace of the Japanese katana, or the simple efficiency of an Italian rapier, swords have a tendency to show up when you need to suitably epic duel.

The sword isn’t the only melee weapon to talk about though. The spear in particular needs special mention; a weapon regarded by many to be superior to the sword in every way except for being easy to carry. There is an old saying: To defeat a spear user takes three times the skill it would take to defeat a similarly talented sword wielder.

It is of course no surprise then that spears have served as the main weapons for armies since the dawn of human history. Almost every army has used spears as their main weapon of war, and for good reason: They are simple to produce, and have a brutal, simple efficiency that is almost impossible to match.

The last class of weapons, bludgeons, is overlooked even more often than polearms. But maces, warhammers, and flails all have their own uses, even if they aren’t as graceful or pretty as the other weapons; their brutal efficiency simply cannot be ignored.

In particular, a bludgeoning weapon can have devastating effect when employed against armored foes. It is for this reason that at several points in history, western knights preferred maces and flails over swords as their sidearms.

Though not really a weapon, I feel this article would be incomplete without a mention of shields. Despite being even less popular in popular culture than other melee fighting weapons, the fact remains that the man with a shield is often the last man standing.

A skilled fighter can defeat almost any attack with a good shield in his hands, and the best can use them as a brutally effective bludgeon. Dual-wielding may be popular in movies and games, but I’ll take a shield for my off hand any day in real life.

That’s all I have to say about melee weapons today. I hope you’ve learned a little about the weapons that defined our history for so many years, and that you give them at least a little respect even in a world with guns and bombs.

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The modern Japanese script was derived from Chinese characters which since then have evolved into a logographic writing technique. The kanji script today as we understand stands for Japanese writing style which originally has been adopted from Chinese symbols. If you translate the kanji script you will find Hans character from which it was developed.

How come the Kanji script today belongs to Japan if it had its origin in China? The whole thing was the result of the trade followed by the two countries where Japan would import Chinese articles with Hans script labeled on them.

You may find number of instances such as the then Han dynasty monarch had presented a gold seal to the Japanese with Hans inscription. What we still don’t know is that how and when the Hans script was adopted and controlled by the Japanese.

It could be quite possible that the Chinese themselves had started using the Chinese Kanji script in Japan when some of them migrated to China. There was no way that Japanese could have had an occasion to comprehend and then learn the language by themselves.

The political ties between China and Japan goes back a long way and such a boding required a volume of paperwork which was necessary to go to and fro from one country to the other. In Japan they set up a committee called Fuhito who were entrusted with the duty to learn Chinese language so that they could read the documents. This perhaps made way for the Chinese Kanji script to be accepted developed in Japan.

Chinese Kanji script brought the idea of formal writing script in Japan which did not have one at that time. They began to use Chinese script for writing initially and slowly shaped their own writing system with matter taken from the Chinese script and then reshaping them to fit the Japanese grammar.

The Japanese accepted the Chinese symbol characters in their script and wrote the Japanese language with Chinese symbol naming it as Kana syllable. It was a distinct accomplishment as far as Japanese script was concerned. To further the easy acceptance of their script the Japanese introduced phonetics in their script where as in China Chinese symbols had no phonetics whatsoever.

Where the Kanji script is concerned it is used more extensively in China than in Japan. But one thing that should be kept in mind is the style of both the scripts are quite different. On the surface they may look similar but they are structurally quite dissimilar.

The reading method of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated exclusively as symbols and as such has no phonetic value where as in Japan it is read according to their phonetics as we have already discussed.

Chinese kanji symbols are an old form of script that is very artistic. If you would like to learn more on Chinese animal characters click the links.

This article discusses Joseph Stalin Facts about his life. Joseph Stalin was in ruler-ship from’28 till the time of his death in’53. Stalin ruled very harshly and many people were oppressed due to his leadership. He kept five year plans where he banned farmers from having any private property. In his younger days he trained as a priest. The Soviet Union suffered due to his leadership with many casualties during WWII.

Joseph Stalin was not a wealthy man, but despite hardships he became ruler. Stalin was born to a poor family whose father was a shoemaker. Stalin’s mother was deeply religious and wanted her son to become a priest. This was seen as the only way for Stalin to get out of the poverty he was born into. He was enrolled at a seminary school. Stalin’s way of writing and speaking was what led him to power. Despite training to be a priest Stalin tried to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church at the time of his power.

Stalin was influential in the Social Democratic Labour Party where he influenced many radical strikes amongst workers. Stalin had a mission of overthrowing the Tsarist government which he eventually achieved. Due to him sending threats to the government he was sent into exile in Siberia.

A number of years later Stalin was exiled again. Whilst Stalin was in exile in Siberia World War I broke out and tore Russia apart. When Tsar Nicolas was given the lead in the army Stalin created complete disaster. Many food shortages broke out across the land and there were terrible living conditions.

When Stalin came to power he managed to lead inner parts of the Communist Party. Lenin felt anxious about Stalin’s domination and in his last will and testament he stated that he did not want Stalin to take on his position. Much of Stalin’s life is surrounded by myth. He liked to give speeches wearing high heels because he was so short of stature.

Stalin’s mother was a devout Christian lady who wanted her son to become a priest. His mother believed that becoming a priest would free them from the poverty that they faced. Joseph Stalin’s mother wanted the best for her son but, he had other plans. Eventually he denied his Christianity for Marxism.

Stalin was an intelligent man who did well at school and won a free scholarship. During this time he formed a secret society names Messame Dassy. The people who belonged to this group also supported Georgian independence of Russia. There were a number that were socialist revolutionaries. Stalin was a man that believed he was the ultimate power and nobody or nothing could be as good as him.

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The Khmer Rouge is the communist party of Cambodia, ruled by Pol Pot from’75 to’79. It is the worst nightmare that the world has ever seen.

The Khmer Rouge had thousands of followers and an insurgency had begun against the government in the year’70. With the aid of the Viet Cong troops and the North Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge gained control over a large part of Cambodia. It grew very popular in a short time and increased from 3,000 to 30,000 in strength in just three years, from’70 to’73, sending back the Viet Cong troops and Vietnamese whose help was no longer needed.

Finally, led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Cambodian government in’75, after which the “Democratic Kampuchea” was established. Literally overnight, the new governance took cruel and drastic measures. Entire cities were evacuated. Property was abolished. Factories were closed. Schools were shut down. Money did not hold any value. Hundreds of thousands of taxi drivers, cooks, factory workers, clerks and everyone else became farmers suddenly. They even assassinated skilled workers and intellectuals, and many others died due to starvation. Records show that at least 2 million people died. Cambodia was reduced to nothing but a nation of slaves.

In’79, because of a strained relationship, the Vietnamese troops invaded and helped the local factions in getting rid of the Khmer Rouge government. Unfazed by this, the Khmer Rouge continued its activities near the Thai border, with its 30,000 strong army. The United Nations recognized it as the official government of Cambodia.

After two years, the government formed a coalition with Norodom Sihanouk, the former premier and Son Sann, a non-communist leader. The leader of the Khmer Rouge was no longer Pol Pot but Khieu Samphan. However, it is said that Pol Pot still remained the unofficial leader. UN supervised elections were requested by the different Cambodian factions looking for some sort of a peace and this was fulfilled in’92, with UN taking over the government administration. Around that time, the Khmer Rouge did not acknowledge the results of the elections and withdrew itself from the peace treaty. Finally, it began to fight again.

Internal disputes led the Khmer Rouge to disintegrate in’97, leading to the imprisonment of Pol Pot. He died soon after in’98, bringing to a close what was the worst reign of modern times. By’99, all the other members of the Khmer Rouge were defected, captured or surrendered.

Not many scholars believed the reports of mass killings in Cambodia before’79; however, when the Khmer Rouge was overtaken by the Vietnamese, the extent of the disaster was clear to all.

The Khmer Rouge even till this day evokes a sense of shock from Cambodians as well as the whole world, not just due to the death toll, which does not reflect the brutalities and tortures they carried out during their regime. The severity of their rule was such that there probably was no other revolution which changed the lives of an entire population.

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In the Twelfth Century, William de Barri owned Barry Castle, but it was attacked and destroyed by Llewellyn Bren in 1316. It is said that the Cavaliers rebuilt it, but that it was subsequently destroyed again by the Roundheads, never to be rebuilt.

The Norman invaders were thoroughly detested by the local people and they had to build large mansions to defend themselves from frequent assaults on them by the people of the valleys and the mountains. During the reign of Henry III, there were 12 castles within six miles of Barry. In Glamorgan, there were 30 castles and in South Wales as a whole there were 150 !

Porthkerry and the church lying to its west is said to have taken its name from Ceri, who is said to have founded a port, ie ‘Port Ceri’. People say that Ceri ap Caid, the King of Essyllwg, resided in Porthkerry before the Christian era and that his bard, Corvinor, was the first to have built a ship with sails and a rudder for the race of Cymru. Some believe that Ceri was a nephew or grandson of Caractacus (Caradog) and that he assumed the leadership of the government in South Wales when Caractacus was sent to Rome.

John Wesley preached in the Porthkerry Church pulpit, and sometimes outside too, between 1741 and 1743. There are two very old churches still in use today in Barry, St. Cadocs Church in Cadoxton and Merthyr Dyfan Church in Merthyr Dyfan. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Cadoxton was the largest village in the Barry area: for example, in 1844 the Parliamentary register contained 25 names: 20 from Cadoxton and five from Barry. The one church was dedicated to St. Cadoc, who used to spend Lent on Flat Holm and Barry Island. The village took its name from the church, which was founded in 800 AD.

Merthyr Dyfan Church, which is situated in the north of Barry, was founded in 600 AD and the name means Dyfan The Martyr. There were two saints of this name. The one travelled to Barry to convert the local people to Christianity and the other lived in the sixth century. He was the son of a Welsh chieftain. His sister was also martyred and the town of Merthyr Tydfil is named in her memory.

The Christian faith grew exponentially in the Vale of Glamorgan and in the middle of the 2nd. Century, Llewrwg, Prince of Siluria, became the first king, anywhere in the world of all time, to be baptized into the Christian faith. He sent to Rome for more Chritian teachers and was sent Dyfan and Fagan. The former was martyred near the site of the church and the latter was canonized. St. Fagan’s just outside Cardiff was named after him.

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Sash windows in the form of very basic timber shutters have a history dating back as far as the thirteenth century.

It was not until around the sixteenth century that glazed sash windows came on to the scene, sliding side ways unlike today’s vertical sliding sash windows, that only actually started to appear mid seventeenth century in France.

When the nobility came to England (in asylum from the guillotine!) they brought with them new ideas and designs of the more sophisticated vertical sliding sash windows across the Channel.

One of the first glazed sliding sash windows was created and fitted for Henrietta Maria, the Queen Mother, who returning from France with French joiners, encouraged the renovation of Somerset House in London.

The exact history of how the weighted and balanced glazed sash window came about is not clear, although some say that the invention was a British one, many could say it was a french one.

A vertical sash window with glass and heavy thick glazing bars also known as Georgian bars to accommodate the very thin and delicate glass of the time, would have been a heavy beast of a window for the operator.

The counter balance was developed for use in doors originally but it did not take long for someone to apply the system to windows.

At no point in history has any one person laid claim to the invention of the sash window nor has there ever been a patent applied for.

Glass producers began to make glass that was more reliable and stronger and the British Government of the day stopped the taxation of glass, this all helped towards sash windows with large panes without bars.

It was a sign of being well off during the glass taxation period to have large glass windows in the UK.

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