In February 1582: Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar which the world uses to mark the days of the year. Although the Gregorian calendar is named after Pope Gregory XIII, it is an adaptation of a calendar designed by Italian doctor, astronomer and philosopher Luigi Lilio. He was born around 1510 and died in 1576, six years before his calendar was officially introduced by the Pope (And put his name on it). These are the people, who came up with the idea of Leap Year, and 2016 just happened to be a leap year. This calendar loses a day every 3,000 years or so, the millennial generation will be long dead before they can blame us older people for that missing day. Now what has surprised me the most is that that it hasn’t been changed to some form of metric calendar like they’ve done with the measuring stuff?
A liberal on Facebook who claimed to be from the Millennial Generation blames my Generation (Post War Baby Boomer) for all the problems of the world. So I asked him what 16 year old kid would know anything about that. Then he explained that he was 42, born in 1974? I asked how he thought or figured he was a “Millennial” He explained because he was there for the change from 1999 to 2000. Since I lack a Liberal Arts Degree like him and only have a Bachelors of Sciences degree, what would I know? Well I know that I was there for the change right beside him but somehow it missed me. So I explained that a middle aged man could not possibly be a Millennial. Middle-aged, he angrily fired back? I explained that if the life expectancy was 76 middle-age ended four years ago for him. Maybe he planned to live past 100 and thought fifty was middle-aged? Good luck on that with Obamacare.
But he went away when he was stuck for a response to my point. But then it dawned on me that New Years is over, it really wasn’t because on Monday 8 February 2016 we have “Bagong Taon ng mga Tsino “or Chinese Luna New Year’s Day. Does it ever end? But do you find it funny that they use a Gregorian calendar so they’ll know when to celebrate? I searched a few web sites to find out what the new year was and the best guess was between 7,000-25,000, if you know please tell me I’d hate to get it wrong.
And the last one I’ll mention will be “Rosh Hashanah” Or the Hebrew New Year which is on Sunday October 2nd 5776 (Again 2016 by the Gregorian calendar) At least they kept tract of the year. I know this holiday very well as my neighbourhood was Irish Catholic in Boston but we were beside the Blue Hill Neighbourhood which was Jewish, and we knew and respected each other’s holidays and never heard about political correctness in the 1950’s + 60’s.it’s amazing we all survived. BTW I don’t remembered fireworks on Rosh Hashanah.
So I know other cultures around the world have their own New Years day, but I’ll let you readers tell me the one’s I’ve missed. But before I leave do you think we could standardise the world to one Metric Calendar we all could agree on?
La Fiesta de San Juan Bautista in June in Puerto Rico 90% of the island will walk into the ocean backwards at midnight to wash away any bad luck, if you drown the bad luck is permanent, and its so much more fun than any New Years Eve and twice the party, Plus NO Fireworks.
Hi Paul, great post but your getting to serious for me now ? I had to check your name
Twice to see if it was Paul Thompson, do I care about leap years but it’s nice to read about
A bit of culture now and again, its just another day has a old Beatles song would say,
Derek in pasig.
Derek;
Not enough sardonic wit, for yah huh??? I should have mentioned 2012 from the Mayan calendar? That bombed also so I can’t win. (lol)
Too deep for me, need to have a SMB or maybe 2 and contemplate what this all means.
Loren;
The beauty is it doesn’t really mean anything but a new, New Year to shoot off more fireworks at Tommy’s house!
One you missed is the Hijri calendar based on lunar cycles. This is the official calendar in some of the Gulf States and is used by all Muslims around the world for religious purposes. Because the calendar is based on moon cycles it has only 354.36 days per year which means the new year shifts with respect to the Gregorian calendar. We are well aware of this because Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the ninth month of Ramadan, is a national holiday throughout the Philippines and the Gregorian date changes each year. In fact it is the only public holiday which can not be precisely dated in advance because the beginning of Ramadan depends on the actual sighting of the new moon. Fortunately it rarely varies by more than a day or so from the date predicted by calculations of the moon cycle.
The Hijri calandar makes sense if you spend most of your time riding a camel across the desert or floating in a boat on the high seas but it serves no purpose for those tilling the soil and planting crops. Actually, that’s not entirely true. In Thailand I was told that Camote (sweet potato) should be planted by naked maidens on the night of a full moon. Something to do with rising sap I was told although I’m not sure if that was the sap in the planting material or the male spectators.
I don’t get why it would make sense if your riding a camel or floating on a boat?
Does the new moon happen on the 354.36th night?
Rusty
The way I thought of it was that if you are were a merchant or trader, as many Arabs were in the days of yore, and spent much of your time on long sea voyages or caravans plying the land-based trade routes, changes in the phase of the moon were an easier measure of the passage of time than solar observations. Solar calendars are far more important, if not essential, to agricultural based societies whose activities depend on the stage of the solar year.
The average length of the lunar cycle is 29.53 days so twelve lunar cycles would be 12 x 29.53=354.36 days. You’ll rarely see a new moon at night in the Philippines, but you might just catch it rising in the early morning and sure enough you’ll catching it rising again 354 days, eight hours and thirty-eight minutes later. You could probably set your clock by it, but Google is easier!
The Metonic cycle or the lunar cycle of 19 years, was one of my my main tools in stock market trading.
While most people have no clue what it is, you would be amazed to know how important it is.
I am talking important RIGHT NOW, while I am typing.
Palawan Bob,
How do traders use metonic to do whatever?
Rusty
Rusty;
With a super computer?
I guess it is extremely technical. Which means I’d fall asleep have way through the explanation.
Stiil a metroic day trader whatever it was, I can’t find what Palawan Bob was talking about, sounds unique.
Palawan Bob;
I can’t believe it could be that important, as your comment was so short. (lol) But that is one I never heard of before.
OK, now I get it. At first I thought you were talking about Paul downing SM in his boat and starring at the sky.
Good information, thanks.
Rusty;
I find anything with more moving parts than a Zippo lighter too technical; for me. Contact Palawan Bob for the straight poop.
What the heck does metronic mean anyway? When I type the word “metronic” spell check underlines it. Guess I’ll never be a trader, huh?
Rusty;
A party????
They need more parties in the Philippines. More holidays. More days off from school. There just aren’t enough.
Rusty;
They do need more time off from school as they just added two more years without adding one new teacher or new classroom yet.
When the teacher, at my son’s H. S., left the classroom the accelerated (spelling?) students used to take over. Those accelerated students were the types that went to Ateneo (spelling?), University of Philippines, Cebu Doc, etc.
Which makes me wonder about something someone said about UP. The person said UP, Diliman, was a lower class university than Ateneo. Is that true?
Rusty;
University of the Virgin Islands is where I earned my degree and I really don’t remember much about that. So I can’t speak about schools.
Rusty;
A boat and a camel both ride with a similar motion. (LOL)
The old swaying motion. Reminds me of something soft. Yup, my Jr. High mind.
Rusty;
Ships don’t sway they roll. (lol)
Malcolm;
Hijn? Well yes that is a new calendar to me, but surprisingly due to the youth of the Muslim religion I wonder why didn’t they just use the Hebrew calendar that had been in front of them 4,000 before that mew one. But who knows why? When I was sailing to the Gulf every year it seemed to my crew that Ramadan was never ending.
A Metric Calandar ? This would not surprise me. I work in a place that has Metric time clocks. Thats right, instead of 60 minutes the hour is registered in 100 time units. What will they think of next ?
Happy New Year Paul.
Where do they have a metric clock with 100 units? That doesn’t make sense. Is it in Paul’s house?
U.S. Postal service
Bob (NY);
UPS will copy that idea.
Rusty;
I gave away my Rado watch in the year two thousand, you would be hard pressed to find many clocks. I like how they do it in casinos there is only day time and night time.
The casinos, in Vegas, do it right. It is so hot outside that the people really have to stay in a casino to cool off. Heck, while they’re there why not have a beer and drop some money in a bandit.
Rusty;
A three shoe Blackjack is the only game that you might win.
Is a three shoe blackjack a shoe shine? That’s the only winner n Vegas. Once I played the bandit for 3 dollars. I won. I took my money and ran. I’m still running.
Now how do I get my wife to run. She’s playing mahjong as I’m typing.
Rusty;
My wife loves Lotto, I’m happy about that.
Did your wife win the lottery in the States? If she did can I apply to pour your SM? I have references. I’m personal friends with the 3rd cousin to the 5th generation of camel jockies. I’ve been a poorer pourer of many Shieks.
Should you decide to accept this challenge please notify P Bob and he will then notify me.
Bob (NY);
A metric time clock? The calendar is next.
Horace’
There is but one flaw in your application, the only place an SMB gets poured is across the teeth and down the gullet. The come in wonderful containers both bottled and cans. (lol)
Bob (NY)
Do they pay by the unit instead of by the hour? (lol)
If you show up late for work, yes, you are deducted by the time clock unit. Same applies if taking too long a lunch break. Come to think of it, even my vacation hours are calculated in Metric ! What will they think of next ?
Bob (NY);
So while you are visiting the Philippines you are burning up units? My my, that must be fun! I’d be afraid to take a nap and wake up and not know how long I slept!
It would make sense so it will not happen.
Gene;
You might be right, using how many calendar’s there are now.
Nice research.. Good information. Thanks.
I wonder what they used before 1852? Perhaps George used pebble’s.
If Pope Greggory hadn’t invented the calendar would Gore have come to the rescue?
Rusty
Rusty;
All Al Gore invented was Y2K and dangling chads in Florida. Where is he now?
Give the people a bingo card and that don’t miss. I sort of wish Gore had won. Bush had a good first term but the 2nd was a disaster.
Rusty;
Just be glad that we got Obama in office to spend eight years explaining Bush’s mistakes and how not to fix them.
I thought of a new version calendar, but no one will like it. It needs 13 months, of 28 days each, with an even 4 weeks a month. Sundays once each month would always start on the 1st of the month. The Leap-year day every four years would not be in any month, just an extra day ( A free holiday) at the end of the year. Note: ( divide 365 by 28 and get 13; and 28 divided by 4 = 7).
Nobody would want a 13-month year, would they?
Why not market it and find out? It might, in 50 years, become a hit. You’d become a god zillionaire. That extra month, however, could be a sticking point.
Rusty;
That’s more money than the US owes China! Wait there is 11 months left in 2016.
I thought the Philippines already had a 13 month year for which they get 13 months pay.
Gary;
I forgot about that. I wonder if that is metric?
Larry:
I found the flaw, by starting every month on the 1st of the month we’d be coping the Gregorian calendar. Now if we start every month on a Sunday, every month would have a Friday the 13th which would cause madness in people with Paraskevidekatriaphobia!
Paul,
Why not just have even numbers on the calendar? Wouldn’t that mean that you’d have 24 months, or 730 days, in a year? So would we all be half our age? Young bucks, right?
However, I think this would only work if we also had a metronic clock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar
Malcolm;
During the French revolution I always wondered if the group that surrendered first was the winner. Metric time, I wonder why that didn’t stick?
With the way they fought I’d say whoever surrendered first was smarter if not the winner.
Paul,
February originally had 29 days, 30 on a leap year because Julius Caesar wanted 31 days in a month named after him. Then Augustus Caesar wanted a month named after him, so the roman senate had to give him 31 days also. So, another day was stolen from February.
Easter comes on the first sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.
I’m not sure I can keep up. I just need to know when payday shows up.
Hudson;
Where the hell have you been? But good to hear from you no matter what the calendar says! After reading about the Caesar twins I’m thinking metric and remove the egos out of the day selection.