Time for a new calendar?

[farmkid]

Does it annoy you that the calendar changes every year? That you can never remember which months have 30 days and which have 31? That Columbus Day was on October 10 last year, but will be on October 8 this year?

Well, here's the solution: A couple of researchers at Johns Hopkins have proposed a new calendar which keeps the days and months the same each year. According to this calendar, the year begins on Sunday each year. Every month has 30 or 31 days, none of this 28 day crap. What's more, there will be two months with 30 days, and then one with 31 days, so March, June, September, and December will have 31 days and the rest will be 30 days.

But how does it account for the fact that the earth takes 365.2422 days, which is not even close to a multiple of 7, to travel around the Earth, you ask? Well, every few years, there's an extra week added on to the end of the year to get things back on track. The seasons will be off by a few days some years, but who really cares?

Now, here's my thought on it: Is it really that much of a problem for anyone? I've never had any problem adjusting each year, and in reality, this would cause more trouble than it's worth. Anyway, what do you all think of this?

link

 

[RoJoHen]

The only thing I have a hard time adjusting to is writing "2012" instead of "2011" when January rolls around...but it's now the 3rd, and I'm over that problem.

So...no...the calendar is really not that difficult, and I like that holidays and things fall on different days every year.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Does it annoy you that the calendar changes every year?

No.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I like that things fall on different days of the week each year. It allows for some variety in things like planning vacations and parties.

 

[farmkid]

Does it annoy you that the calendar changes every year?

No.

That's kind of what I figured would be the general response. I'm not sure why these guys think it would be so great for the world. Apparently it annoys them, but I think a better solution for them would be some medication, rather than a new calendar for everyone else.

I am curious, however, to know others' thoughts on the idea.

 

[scotpens]

. . . But how does it account for the fact that the earth takes 365.2422 days, which is not even close to a multiple of 7, to travel around the Earth, you ask? Well, every few years, there's an extra week added on to the end of the year to get things back on track. The seasons will be off by a few days some years, but who really cares?

Farmers, maybe?

The Hebrew calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon, solves the discrepancy by adding a whole extra month every 4 years. An extra day, an extra week, an extra month -- what's the difference?

The Gregorian calendar makes every year divisible by 4 a leap year, except that end-of-century years -- those ending in 00 -- are leap years only if divisible by 400. So the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 weren't leap years, but 2000 was.

No calendar is perfect, but the current one used by most of the world is pretty well in sync with the seasons. IIRC, the calender will be 1 day out of sync by the year 6000-something. We'll worry about that then, if we're still around.

Anyway, what do you all think of this?

I think some people have too much time on their hands.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I just work out how many days in each month on my knuckles as I can never remember the rhyme.

I could get behind the group that wants to change the map of the world, but change the calendar, not at all.

 

[Pingfah]

For 3 months a year I design calendars for a living, and I heartily endorse this idea.

 

[tomalak301]

It doesn't bother me that some months have 30 days and some months have 31. If I need a good remembering, I always recite the poem in my head and the leap year always happens on an election year so this year is the leap year all the Leap Year people are happy to finally have a birthday.

To answer the question, no we don't need a new calender. It will be more of a hassle to remember that than what we have now.

 

[Davros]

The change I would make is to take one day from two of the 31 day months and put them at the end of February so it will have 30 days like other months and would have 31 days on leap years.

 

[MacLeod]

Can I come up with my own Calander instead it's really quite simply

We move to a 13 month calender each month has 28 daysthis gives us 364 days, so either the first or last month of the year has 29 days. Getting us to 365 days. So every 4 years we continue to have the leap year with either the first or last month having 30 days.

Really there is no need to change the current calender.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I can sort of understand the appeal for businesses, but my bottom line is that the current calendar is just fine thank you.

Now what I would like to get rid of is switching back and forth between standard time and daylight saving time (summer time, I think some of you call it).

 

[Kirby]

every few years, there's an extra week added on to the end of the year to get things back on track.

So we're adding an entire leap week, instead of a leap day every few years? Stupid.

I agree with MacLeod make a 13th month, if nothing else to screw with the people who freak about about the number 13; triskadeckaphobia, I think.

 

[Lindley]

Thirty days has September, April, June, and November. It's not that hard to remember.

 

[scotpens]

Thirty days has September, April, June, and November. It's not that hard to remember.

All the rest have thirty-one
Except the second month alone
To which we twenty-eight assign
'Til leap year gives it twenty-nine.

Alternate final couplet:

. . .Which has but twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

I prefer the first version. It rolls more smoothly off the tongue, even with the inverted grammar.

Of course, there are numerous variants, including plenty of silly ones.

 

[Maestro]

Why, God?! WHY?! Why couldn't you have made our year exactly 365 days long? Why is the extra .2422 days necessary?! Argh! Why do you hate us, GOD?!

 

[scotpens]

Why, God?! WHY?! Why couldn't you have made our year exactly 365 days long? Why is the extra .2422 days necessary?!

So much for Intelligent Design.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Oh look, another leap week calendar...

The current calendar is a complete mess and could use a lot tweaking, but I don't feel like a leap week is the answer. Season start and end dates, year length, solstices, everything would vary by up to 7 days. You wouldn't be able to say “this is the coldest 7 November ever”. Any measurements relying on a fixed position in the orbit would be void. The new dates can't be related to the dates we have right now.

Also, did you go and read the original suggestion that the article points to? The author is a nut who insist that along with the calendar we must switch to universal time and drop the time zones. While the time zones also need some work, dropping them altogether is like Ron Paul's view of fixing the economy.

In my humble opinion, the International Fixed Calendar is the best solution anyone has offered. It has 13 month of exactly four weeks, with the same distribution of week days every month. You have a special year day when you celebrate the coming new year, and a leap day added each four years. Both are not part of a week or a month, and appear in the middle of the weekend. The biggest advantage over leap week calendars is that all dates we have have exact equivalents in the new calendar.

You can also switch to it without interrupting the month and week flow, just wait until 1 January is on Monday and start using it. (There are two other possible divisions, but they do not preserve the week days between months – quarters and 7 months.)

Only downside: Each year has 13 occurences of Friday 13.

 

[RoJoHen]

Both are not part of a week or a month, and appear in the middle of the weekend.

Automatic 3-day weekend? I'm sold.

 

[Sephiroth]

well, the Mayans figured it out, came up with one wall wall callender that lasted for hundreds of years after they were wiped out