John: Well said.
There is one calendar reform (which has nothing to do with SI) that would make the current system somewhat more rational. (And, yes, we've discussed it here before.) That's 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. Manufacturers of decorative wall calendars would, of course, lobby vehemently against it, as every year's calendar would be identical to the previous one. Those born on February 29 in a leap year would get to celebrate a real birthday every year, instead of only every four years. They would, presumably, be in favor of the change. It's not going to happen, but it does make some sense. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of kilopascal > Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 11:54 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:21667] calendar reform > > > 2002-08-11 > > I think that the controversy with the calendar has a lot to do with how it > is to be set up. 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. > > 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. A point of origin would have to be > decided as time equals zero seconds and all time forward would be measured > linearly from that point. If the point of origin is the moment of the big > bang, then there would be no negative time. But, a problem exists. We > would not be able to know the exact moment of the present time as accurate > measurement of time has not been recorded since the moment of the > big bang. > > Events would be recorded as to the exact second they occurred, and events > such as age would be determined from the present time subtracting > the moment > of birth. Thus all differences in time would recorded in seconds and its > prefixes. Of course, this will never be adopted, but it is the only true > way to measure the passage of time and still be within the > framework of SI. > > 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. > > John > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Louis JOURDAN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, 2002-08-11 07:51 > Subject: [USMA:21666] Re: Unit names; consumers' rights; duodecimal system > > > > At 20:08 +0000 02/08/10, Brij Bhushan Vij wrote: > > >Hi Mike: > > > The French failure of the Calendar and Time were not the reasons > > >that it lacked its links with the NUMBER system, but the *failure to > > >link arc-angle with TIME zones* i.e. the hour-angle. If this was > > >done,in that *had the Nautical Kilometre* been defined and linked to > > >METRE: as 1/100th of the *grad* it might have survived for some more > > >time, or may be could have continued and I would have learned that > > >way! > > > But, Napoleon's coronation could yet be another reason to abandone > > >the *Freedom calendar of France*. Could someone *enlighten me* on > > >this since I worked without any information on the subject! > > > > see > > http://perso.wanadoo.fr/louis.jourdan/metrication-en/tempsen.html > > > > Louis > >
