This is the first time I've ever heard of this type of proposal (30-30-31). Unfortunately, from a purely technical perspective I'd say that it suffers from some serious flaws. Firstly, we'd still tie ourselves to 12 months in a year. Secondly, it would still not relate that well to the fact that there are 365 days in a year (i.e. such "relationship" would not be directly/easily determined). Evidently this comes from the fact that one would still use 12 months, instead of 10, to a year. And finally, it would still not make calcs decimally-friendly.
Marcus On Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:06:10 Pat Naughtin wrote: >Dear John, > >You argue this issue very well. I have interspersed some remarks. > >on 2002-08-12 04.54, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> 2002-08-11 >> >> I think that the controversy with the calendar has a lot to do with how it >> is to be set up. > >It is even important how the debate is set up. Most argue from a mindset >that has a favored unit. This is usually the year, regularly the month, >rarely the week, and almost never the fortnight. Unfortunately, your >sensible suggestion to use the SI unit of time, the second, is never used. > >> Traditionalist and even to some extent calendar reformers >> try to connect the measuring of time with the rotation of the earth around >> the sun (year), the rotation of the moon around the earth (month) and the >> rotation of the earth about its own axis (day). Any attempt to revise the >> present calendar, yet keeping these constraints on it is doomed to failure. > >All of these issues have been dealt with, in enormous detail, by some of the >world's greatest thinkers. Some of these, Hipparchus, Zhang Heng, Augustine >of Hippo, the maker of the Arybhata, Hermann the Lame, Omar Khayyam, Abraham >bar Hiyya ha-Nasi, and the makers of the 'Calendar of Reason', show the >range of people (and the range of cultures) that have been involved in the >calendar enterprise. > >[I commend to you, 'The Calendar' by David Ewing Duncan, which gives an >eminently readable account of 'The 500-Year Struggle to Align the Clock and >the Heavens - and What Happened to the Missing Ten Days'.] I have included >Duncan's 'Calendar Index at the bottom of this posting. > >It seems to me that the word 'heavens' has always been important in this >debate - the discussion has never been short of deep religious significance. >Augustine of Hippo, for example, with his belief in 'Sacred Time' almost >completely skittled calendars for ever. Were it not for the need to know >when the date of Easter occurred, we might not have a calendar at all. > >> A true metric (SI) calendar would have to be totally independent of these >> constraints. Cycles of the planets in this solar system and the stars would >> have to be totally ignored. A true SI calendar in the sense of "cycles" >> then in actuality could not exist. What would exist is the use of the >> already existent SI unit the second. > ><snip> I have no comments to make on the issue of when a calendar should >begin - or should have already begun! > >> As far as I see, calendar reform is a moot issue. We are wasting out time >> even thinking about it unless we plan to adopt the true SI unit to measure >> time. As long as we are restricted to measuring time via the sun, the moon >> and the stars, our present calendar is totally useful and in no need of >> reforming. Those who do ponder reform have yet to show me a truly workable >> "calendar" that is superior enough to the present one to cause us all to >> change. > >I agree with Bill Potts. I think that as far as we need go with calendar >reform is to 'the one with 30-, 30- and 31-day months in each quarter, with >an unnumbered World Day (or some such) to make up the 365, plus an >unnumbered Leap Day (probably between the new February 30 and March 1, to >satisfy tradition) every four years. World Day would possibly be between >December 31 and January 1.' > >My only disagreement here would be for World Day to occur between August and >September. This would give symmetry to each fourth year and it would make >the idea easier to sell, in the Northern hemisphere, as an extra day for >your Summer holidays. > >Cheers, > >Pat Naughtin CAMS >Geelong, Australia > >Duncan's Calendar Index > >Length of the (tropical) year in 2000 AD: 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 >seconds > >Time that the year has slowed since AD 1: 10 seconds > >Average decrease in the year due to a gradual slowing of the earth's >rotation: 0.5 seconds per century > >Lunar Month: 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.9 seconds > >The earliest known date: 4236 BC, the founding of the Egyptian calendar > >Ancient Egyptian year: 365 1/4 days > >Early Chinese year: 354 days (lunar year) with days added at intervals to >keep the Chinese lunar calendar aligned with the seasons. > >Early Greek year: 354 days, with days added > >Jewish year: 354 days, with days added > >Early Roman year: 304 days, amended in 700 BC to 355 days > >The year according to Julius Caesar (the Julian calendar): 365 1/4 days > >Date Caesar changed Roman year to Julian calendar: 1 January 45 BC > >Amount of time the old Roman calendar was misaligned with the solar year as >designated by Caesar: 80 days > >Total length Of 45 BC, known as the 'Year of Confusion,' after adding 80 >days: 445 days > >The year as amended by Pope Gregory XIII (the Gregorian calendar): 365 days, >5 hours, 48 minutes, 20 seconds > >Date Pope Gregory reformed the calendar: 1582 > >Length of time the Julian calendar overestimates the solar year per year, as >determined by Pope Gregory: 11 minutes, 14 seconds > >Number of days Pope Gregory removed to correct the calendar's drift: 10 > >Dates Gregory eliminated by papal bull to realign his calendar with the >solar year: 5-14 October 1582 > >Dates most Catholic countries accepted the Gregorian calendar: 1582-1584 > >Date Protestant Germany accepted the Gregorian calendar: partial acceptance >in 1700, full acceptance in 1775 > >Date Great Britain (and the American colonies) accepted the Gregorian >calendar: 1752 > >Length of time eliminated by the British Parliament to realign the old >calendar (Julian) with the Gregorian calendar: 11 days > >Dates Parliament eliminated: 3-13 September 1752 > >Date Japan accepted the Gregorian calendar: 1873 > >Date Russia accepted the Gregorian calendar: 1917 (and again in 1940) > >Date China accepted the Gregorian calendar: 1949 > >Date the Eastern Orthodox Church last voted to reject the Gregorian calendar >and retain the Julian calendar: 1971 > >Length of time the Gregorian calendar is off from the true solar year: >25.96768 seconds per year > >Length of time the Gregorian calendar has become misaligned over the 414 >years since Gregory's reform in 1582: 2 hours, 59 minutes, 12 seconds > >Year in which the Gregorian calendar will be one day ahead of the true solar >year: AD 4909 > >Year that Atomic Time replaced Earth Time as the world's official time >standard: 1972 > >The year as measured in oscillations of atomic cesium: 290 091 200 500 000 >000 > > Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. 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