THE CONSOLIDATED CALENDAR
A proposed contribution to current and on-going efforts, - with a long history - to yield the best and generally most acceptable approach to reform the current Gregorian Calendar.
OBJECTIVES
To seek out the attributes that can, by their intrinsic values, override conflicts, accentuate priorities and promote the practicals.
What must it have?
Simplicity
Flexibility
Smoothness
Compatibility (to other dating systems)
Convenience (to users... and computers)
Permanence (of the type: "once printed, forever valid")
All of the above, with the least change or deviation from the current and the familiar; the already well accepted concepts, - conventions, - traditions.
Simply put: "The most benefit for the least cost."
FEATURES
Changes and Overview
Leap Year's Day transferred to Dec 31. This date and calendar entry is observed in Leap Years only. In Common Years it is ignored.
February has 30 days.
July has 30 days.
The Core of the Year, comprised of 364 regular days, each with its regular Weekday designation begins Monday, January 2, and ends Sunday, December 30.
A period of one or two Special days (averaging 1.2425 days) completes the year. These days have no Weekday designations, but are known by their traditional Special designations LYD and NYD respectively; they are now consecutive and occupy the Year-end transition gap. For the many cultures and societies of the Globe, this expansion of the Holiday Season means that the door of options opens a little wider. Some will choose to use it for more rest, or more meditation or prayer or overtime or celebration. However, for the astronomer it means something else. It means that the spotlight is on the Glorious Foresight, that provided a generous little time buffer in the gap. This buffer will keep cushioning and absorbing the incessant changes that come with the Nature of the Universe, inclusive of our Galaxy, our Solar System, our Planet and its Calendar.
The Year and its Divisions
There are only two kinds of Year; the 366 day year and the 365 day year. We may name them Leap Year and Common Year, - or Long-year and Short-year, if you please, but the need for some exception handling and smoothing arithmetic remains.
The commercial user, of course, has the option of applying the Core Year perspective with simple denominators, for perfectly smooth and even divisions (e.g. 182 day Halves and 91 day Quarters). Otherwise Q2 and Q3 are 91 days, Ql and Q4 are 92 days in Leap Years, due to one Special Day in each. Q4 is 91 days in Common Years.
Predecessors to the Gregorian and Julian Calendar systems showed a bias, favourable to duodecimal numbering, to wit: twelve months per year. This convention is very deep and it is not practical to view it with a critical "reformer's eye". However, 12 divided into 366 yields 30.5, Consequently, our Gregorian Calendar has a variety of different lengths for months. The closest to "natural" solution seems to be: only two kinds of Month. The 31 day Long Month and the 30 day Short Month. Six of each per year. One each per month-pair, or Bi-monthly period, or "Bimo". That is six Bimos of exactly 61 days each in every Leap Year. In Common Years the last Bimo (November-December) is only 60 days.
This is as close to "ideally smooth" as we can get, while at the same time also adding one more simple denominator (i.e. 6), honouring the duodecimal connection and confirming that predictable uniformity, under a perpetual rhythm is at the heart of the system. And so it should be, for a system that is striving to be known as user-friendly, computer-friendly and thoroughly practical.
Compatibilities and Conveniences
The changes listed in the preceding paragraphs may seem to be quite modest, but the restrictions they remove are far from insignificant. The attached, full year's calendar has a week number and a day number (within year), associated with every date entry. Why? Because we can. We can define with this calendar, any date at all (just add that year number, chalked on the wall). For example it is easy to see that September 5 is also Day 249 of the Year, - or that it is the Wednesday of Week 36.
Hopefully - in any event - all Holidays, whether religious, commemorative, or civic, statutory or otherwise, will find their date-niche in this permanent grid.
OBJECTIVES
To seek out the attributes that can, by their intrinsic values, override conflicts, accentuate priorities and promote the practicals.
What must it have?
Simplicity
Flexibility
Smoothness
Compatibility (to other dating systems)
Convenience (to users... and computers)
Permanence (of the type: "once printed, forever valid")
All of the above, with the least change or deviation from the current and the familiar; the already well accepted concepts, - conventions, - traditions.
Simply put: "The most benefit for the least cost."
FEATURES
Changes and Overview
Leap Year's Day transferred to Dec 31. This date and calendar entry is observed in Leap Years only. In Common Years it is ignored.
February has 30 days.
July has 30 days.
The Core of the Year, comprised of 364 regular days, each with its regular Weekday designation begins Monday, January 2, and ends Sunday, December 30.
A period of one or two Special days (averaging 1.2425 days) completes the year. These days have no Weekday designations, but are known by their traditional Special designations LYD and NYD respectively; they are now consecutive and occupy the Year-end transition gap. For the many cultures and societies of the Globe, this expansion of the Holiday Season means that the door of options opens a little wider. Some will choose to use it for more rest, or more meditation or prayer or overtime or celebration. However, for the astronomer it means something else. It means that the spotlight is on the Glorious Foresight, that provided a generous little time buffer in the gap. This buffer will keep cushioning and absorbing the incessant changes that come with the Nature of the Universe, inclusive of our Galaxy, our Solar System, our Planet and its Calendar.
The Year and its Divisions
There are only two kinds of Year; the 366 day year and the 365 day year. We may name them Leap Year and Common Year, - or Long-year and Short-year, if you please, but the need for some exception handling and smoothing arithmetic remains.
The commercial user, of course, has the option of applying the Core Year perspective with simple denominators, for perfectly smooth and even divisions (e.g. 182 day Halves and 91 day Quarters). Otherwise Q2 and Q3 are 91 days, Ql and Q4 are 92 days in Leap Years, due to one Special Day in each. Q4 is 91 days in Common Years.
Predecessors to the Gregorian and Julian Calendar systems showed a bias, favourable to duodecimal numbering, to wit: twelve months per year. This convention is very deep and it is not practical to view it with a critical "reformer's eye". However, 12 divided into 366 yields 30.5, Consequently, our Gregorian Calendar has a variety of different lengths for months. The closest to "natural" solution seems to be: only two kinds of Month. The 31 day Long Month and the 30 day Short Month. Six of each per year. One each per month-pair, or Bi-monthly period, or "Bimo". That is six Bimos of exactly 61 days each in every Leap Year. In Common Years the last Bimo (November-December) is only 60 days.
This is as close to "ideally smooth" as we can get, while at the same time also adding one more simple denominator (i.e. 6), honouring the duodecimal connection and confirming that predictable uniformity, under a perpetual rhythm is at the heart of the system. And so it should be, for a system that is striving to be known as user-friendly, computer-friendly and thoroughly practical.
Compatibilities and Conveniences
The changes listed in the preceding paragraphs may seem to be quite modest, but the restrictions they remove are far from insignificant. The attached, full year's calendar has a week number and a day number (within year), associated with every date entry. Why? Because we can. We can define with this calendar, any date at all (just add that year number, chalked on the wall). For example it is easy to see that September 5 is also Day 249 of the Year, - or that it is the Wednesday of Week 36.
Hopefully - in any event - all Holidays, whether religious, commemorative, or civic, statutory or otherwise, will find their date-niche in this permanent grid.