Calanders and Leap years

[peter]

We opperate the Gregorian Calander, the most widely used civil calender internationally, introduced to Chrisendem by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Given that Easter is held on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the sring equinox, which falls annually on or around the 20th March and is the day on which the hours of light equal the hours of darkness, the fact that there are not a whole number of revolutions of the earth upon it's axis in the annual passage of the Earth around the Sun [there being in fact about 365 1/4 days in a year] means that were not periodic adjustments made to the calander, the months of the year would not remain fixed in respect to the seasons that they occur. It is by a balancing of so called 'common days' and 'leap days' that the calander date of the equinox is kept from drifting more than a day from March 20th each year.

Leap days are added into the calendar once every four years on years that are divisable by four except when they occur on the turn of a century [ie years that are divisable by 100]. This latter condition is waved in the case of years that are divisable by 400, thus the year 2000 was a leap year, where 2100 will not be [because while it is divisable by 4 and 100 it is not divisable by 400]. This system will keep the calendar in balance for many years to come, running into the thousands I believe - but still other adjustments will need to be made.

Can anyone tell me what the next 'extraordinary' leap day will need to be over and above the rules outlined above; has it even been worked out. OR ... are the adjustments needed so small that they can be acieved using the addition/subtraction of 'leap seconds' on the international clock at the end/start of years?

[As an aside does anyone else agree that the co-opting of the year 2000 just the satisfy the 'aesthetics' of the situation, in order to celebrate the millenium was a mistake. Forgeting the birth of Christ aspect [and the fact that he bollocksed up the year calculation], When Dionysius Exiguus published De Temporum Ratione in 725 ad {on which the whole thing was based in respect of fixing the year date to the birth of Christ}, the concept of zero as a number was not as yet understood. Thus he began his calculations from 'the year 1' rather than the year dot. Thus the Millenium Cellebrations, in order to celebrate [what..... 1275 years of using the same calander]....er.... the millenium should have been held on 00.00 on the 1st Jan 2001. It's a fact; Am I right or am I right, I ask you! ]
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[wayfriend]

I don't think that there's anything more defined by the Gregorian calendar.

Given that an Earth year is 365.2425 days:

+ A leap day every 4 years makes a year (on average) 365.25 days.
+ Eliminating a leap day every 100 years makes a year 365.24 days.
+ Adding a leap day every 400 years makes a year 365.2425 days.

That's dead on, and so no further adjustments seem necessary.

An even more accurate measure of days per year would be 365.242546.
The next adjustment that could be proposed would be to add a leap year every 20,000 years. This would bring us to 365.24255.

You can see why no one is worried about it yet.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

[Vraith]

[wayfriend]

[Fist and Faith]

Any particular reason we gave the Earth's position on what we call January 1 the significance of the beginning of a new year?
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[wayfriend]

[peter]

[sgt.null]

I hate to be that guy...

calender
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[wayfriend]

[Hashi Lebwohl]

He probably meant "colander", the bowl with holes in it used for straining pasta (or other things you have rinsed in the kitchen sink).
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[Vraith]

[sgt.null]

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Synonyms.
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No matter how thinly you slice it, it's still bologna.

What is the secret of Zen? Burn all your Zen books.

If you can't handle losing then you don't deserve to win.

[wayfriend]

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Are you saying there are holes in my logic? That my argument doesn't hold water? That it boils down to nothing?
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No matter how thinly you slice it, it's still bologna.

What is the secret of Zen? Burn all your Zen books.

If you can't handle losing then you don't deserve to win.

[wayfriend]

I'm saying it could have used a little high pressure rolling to smooth it out a bit.
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* I occasionally post things on KevinsWatch because I am a fan of Stephen R. Donaldson; this should not be considered as condonation of the white nationalist propaganda which is posted far too frequently on this website.

[sgt.null]

[Vraith]

[sgt.null]

some mod should clean this thread up.
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life's not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis”
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