http://keywords.oxus.net/archives/2006/12/31/y100/ The personal blog of P. Kerim Friedman. Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:00:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://keywords.oxus.net/archives/2006/12/31/y100/comment-page-1/#comment-6558 Douglas Gilbert Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:51:57 +0000 http://keywords.oxus.net/?p=2580#comment-6558 Egads, calendar problems. It's endless. The Romans screwed up the calendar by having the calendar maker be a political appointment. The lunar cycle doesn't mathch the solar cycle, but yet there are holidays keyed to both the lunar and solar cycles. On top of all that the atomic clock shows that there are not 365.25 days in a year but a very inconvenient number that requires a leap second every I-don't-remember amount of time. And the Earth's spin on its axis is slowing down due to friction with the atmosphere, making the day shorter --- so how many days does it take for the Earth to revolve around the Sun --- I'm not exactly sure. I think my alarm clock is off by something. Now if only this would be the year of something important, it could be designated the Year 0. But, of course, there is that ancient curse,"may you live in interesting times". I think we all could do without the honor. Egads, calendar problems. It’s endless. The Romans screwed up the calendar by having the calendar maker be a political appointment. The lunar cycle doesn’t mathch the solar cycle, but yet there are holidays keyed to both the lunar and solar cycles. On top of all that the atomic clock shows that there are not 365.25 days in a year but a very inconvenient number that requires a leap second every I-don’t-remember amount of time. And the Earth’s spin on its axis is slowing down due to friction with the atmosphere, making the day shorter — so how many days does it take for the Earth to revolve around the Sun — I’m not exactly sure. I think my alarm clock is off by something. Now if only this would be the year of something important, it could be designated the Year 0. But, of course, there is that ancient curse,”may you live in interesting times”. I think we all could do without the honor.

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