Metric Calendar

[Sadena Meti]

This is just something I came up with while in prison the first time. Mid-2008.

Something for after the revolution:
http://www.sadena.com/MetricCalendar.jpg
The underlined dates are 8 official holidays, half of which are tied to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun (actually all 8 are, but I'm not going to explain cross corner points are they are mainly a pagan idea, though they have an astronomical basis). In case you are wondering, the names are Greek. Why Greek? Because Greek letters are also numbers. The months could start on any day, ideally a Sunday (though we'd have to come up with new names for the days of the week too). I just chose Wednesday to make the months clearer. 13 months, closer in alignment with the moon, 4 weeks, 7 days. Only 1 variation, the 30th of Nu, the leap year date.

Again, I did this all on a typewriter. Lots of time in prison (Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution). I even worked the calendar backwards and found my birthday, the date of the Revolutionary War, etc.

Actually I now remember why I started it on a Wednesday. It was to make all the dates, solstices, equinoxes line up with 2008. Even though January 1st, 2008 wasn't a Wednesday, the rest matches up.

[ComradeGrant]

Didn't the French Revolution institute something like this?

[Sadena Meti]

Didn't the French Revolution institute something like this?

They just remained the months as far as I know, gave each a name proper to what kind of weather you would find in it, or what was done with it.

[Fulanito de Tal]

Why are weeks seven days long?

[Sadena Meti]

Why are weeks seven days long?

Several reasons. 1, the lunar cycle (7X4). 2. In honor of the unions who gave us the weekends. 3. 7's a lucky number :) Also, you can't get near 365 without using 7 as a multiple.

[Queercommie Girl]

How about use more than just Greek terms for the names of the months?

[Sadena Meti]

How about use more than just Greek terms for the names of the months?

Well I gave that a lot of thought. I thought about what the French did with their names, which was clever, but didn't find it to be scientific enough. But the Greeks use of letters and numbers interchangeably made the most sense. Also, Greek is the language of science (one of them). Alpha particles, Gamma radiation, etc.

[Queercommie Girl]

Well I gave that a lot of thought. I thought about what the French did with their names, which was clever, but didn't find it to be scientific enough. But the Greeks use of letters and numbers interchangeably made the most sense. Also, Greek is the language of science (one of them). Alpha particles, Gamma radiation, etc.

A purely numerical calendar naming system would be the most culturally internationalist. (Technically modern numbers are Indo-Arabic in origin, of course, but numbers transcend linguistic barriers much better than words)

In fact, modern Chinese names for the months of the year are purely numerical. January = Month One, February = Month Two, etc.

In Chinese 15/04/2011 would be: Common Era Year 2011, Month 4, Day 15.

[agnixie]

They just remained the months as far as I know, gave each a name proper to what kind of weather you would find in it, or what was done with it.

Interesting idea.

Also re the french: they also made changed weeks to décades (10 days) and made the 5 or 6 leap days into a half week of celebrations.

[Q]

More info on the decimal calendar and clock of the French revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar).

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Someone told me there's an app that will keep you up to date.

Today is 26 Germinal, Lilac day.

[Sadena Meti]

Once came across a Palm app that had the standard calendar, the Muslim calendar, the Chinese calendar, and the Hindu calendar. Not the French one though.

[Agent Ducky]

Wow that's sorta... confusing.

If it were up to me I would make weeks 5 days. It would make sense for an international revolution, etc where people all use different calendars...

[Sadena Meti]

Wow that's sorta... confusing.

If it were up to me I would make weeks 5 days. It would make sense for an international revolution, etc where people all use different calendars...

5 days, 5 fingers, great. But that makes 73 weeks, a bit hard to make into months. Also it ignores the moon (which I'm not saying is important.)

[Agent Ducky]

Hm. 73 weeks?.... Well, months as they are now don't fit weeks very well anyways...

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

If it were up to me I would make weeks 5 days.

Proving you're more of a revolutionary than those who came up with the Revolutionary Calendar. The purpose of the ten-day week was to give the workers a day off every ten days, instead of every seven days, as before.

[Dimentio]

They just remained the months as far as I know, gave each a name proper to what kind of weather you would find in it, or what was done with it.

They instituted an idiotic 10-hour week, with 9 working days and 1 day off. It was a relief for most working people when the old Gregorian Calendar was reinstituted.

They also had 10 hours per day, with 100 minutes for every hour and 100 seconds for every minute.

[Il Medico]

Ummm....whats wrong with the calender we already have?

[Tim Finnegan]

This reminds me of the calendar based on a deck of cards from The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. I'm down, as long as we get to keep the 365th "Joker Day" as our annual work-free piss-up. ;)

[Agent Ducky]

5 Day week because that benefits the workers if you keep weekends how they work now =D

[Olentzero]

I'd be all for a 5-day week. 3 days on, 2 days off... It would also work with a 10-day week, too, if we didn't want to have 73 weeks a year.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

Nah, the current calendar is good enough. I don't see any reason to change it.