On Thu, 15 Aug 2002 10:05:30 Tom Wade VMS Systems wrote: > >>The only real issue would be how to tackle the leap year problem. >>I'd be happy to consider proposals for this. > >The most sensible idea I've heard for this was proposed by the late Dr Isaac >Asimov. > >A year consists of 13 months, each with 28 days. Each month has 4 weeks of >7 days each, using the familiar day names. This makes 364 days. The extra day >is designated 'year day', which does not belong to any month, nor does it >have a 'normal' day name (Mon, Tue etc). It follows the 28th day of the 13th >month. > >The extra day for the leap year is 'leap day', and also does not belong to any >particular month or traditional day name. It follows year day in those years >designated as leap years. > This is really a remarkable proposal! If it were not for its non-decimal nature I'd support it enthusiastically myself as it is indeed a great idea.
>The advantages of this system: > >1. All months are of equal length. Granted. But the fact that there would be a prime number of months would constitute a significant problem, especially for the financial world. >2. A particular date fall on the same day every year. True. I'm not sure though whether this is any such great advantage. People usually do not make this association. I.e. can you share what practical advantage one could derive from this (interesting) property? >3. Each month has exactly four weeks. Yes, this would greatly simplify payroll systems and all. >4. The seven day week is preserved. Excellent! >5. No change needed for units smaller than a day. > In other words, the proposal doesn't address the time construct, just the calendar. >Disadvantages: > >1. It is not decimal based (including hour, minute second). > This would be a major one. Applications that could use the full benefit of decimalization could not be realized anyhow. >Unfortunately, we simply can't achieve full decimalization... True, but this should not preclude us from going as far as one possibly can. We *can* fix the time construct. We *can* fix the number of months. But we *cannot* fix the weekly cycle (it's even a divine mandate... ;-) ). I mean, we can, theoretically, but we can't (it would ruffle too many feathers in the religious world) in practice. The problem emerging from stipulating that there would be 10 days in a week is that it could potentially be associated with days of rest falling on different days of the 7-day weekly cycle which would certainly upset too many people. Keeping track of the Sabbath would be a nightmare. Marcus Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
