Tag Archives: seven

A Star with 49 Points, to Celebrate the 49-Hour Weekend Caused by the End of Daylight Saving Time, Tomorrow, in Most of the USA

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49

This is the weekend that Daylight Saving Time (or DST) ends in most parts of the USA, which means that this is the only weekend of the year, here, which lasts 49 hours, rather than the usual 48.

To celebrate this once-a-year event, I created the design above, based on the number 49. I started by making one heptagram, inscribed in a circle. The heptagram I used is one of two which exist, and is also called the {7/3} star heptagon. It looks like this:

7star

After making one of these, I then rotated it 1/49th of a full rotation, repeatedly, until I had seven of them inscribed in the circle. Seven times seven, of course, is 49, so this created one type (many are possible) of 49-pointed star. Also, I had already extended the line segments to form lines, so that this geometrical design would extend outside the circle. Next came thickening and blackening these lines, as well as the circle, and re-coloring the red points to be black, as well.

All of this work was performed using Geometer’s Sketchpad. I then took a screenshot, moved the design to MS-Paint, and used that program to add the colors seen in the image at the top of this post.

I don’t like Daylight Saving Time, and never have, but I do enjoy the end of it, when it arrives once each year, and we get our “missing” hour returned to us — the one which was stolen from one of our weekends in the Spring.

To those who live in areas which do not observe DST, such as most of Arizona, you are fortunate — at least in this one respect. Heart attacks actually increase when DST starts each year — a fact which can be easily verified with Google. There are other problems with DST, as well. Daylight Saving Time (one of the worst ideas Benjamin Franklin ever had) should be abolished. Everywhere.

Seven Moving Lights in the Sky, the Seven Days of the Week, and Other Significant Sets of Seven

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days of week and lights in the sky

Have you ever wondered why the number seven appears in all the places it does? We have seven days in the week. Churches teach about the seven deadly sins, and “seven heavens” is a common phrase. There are seven wonders of the ancient world, and seven of the modern world. The number seven has appeared in many other socially significant ways, in societies all over the world, for millennia.

It is no coincidence, I think, that the ancients were able to see seven lights in the sky which are either visible in daylight, or move against the background of “fixed” stars at night. They ascribed great significance to what went on in the sky, since they viewed “the heavens” as the realm of the gods in which they believed. The evidence for this lives on today, in the names of the seven days of the week, and numerous other sets of seven, all over the world.

It is possible to see the planet Uranus without a telescope, but it is very dim, and you have to know exactly where to look. No one noticed it until after the invention of the telescope. If Uranus were brighter, and had been seen in numerous ancient societies, I have no doubt that we would have eight days in the week, etc., rather than seven.