It makes an even better job than the Gregorian calendar when it comes to approximating the calendar to the solar year.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Wikipedia tells me it was come up with in 1923, long after both global trade and the industrial revolution. You need all the countries to agree on the same calendar system or commerce is really hindered. It was way too late to change in 1923.

    The French tried to change the calendar to something more sensible and closer to metric after the French Revolution. It did not last long.

    Things seem to work just fine with the calendar we have anyway.

    Also, it could be worse. The Mayans had three different calendar systems- a solar calendar, a lunar calendar, and a 260-day calendar which we don’t know the origin of, but I like Dr. Ed Barnhart’s theory that it’s very close to a human gestational period.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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    It was intended to bring the existing Julian calendar in Eastern orthodox churches closer in to line with the gregorian calendar. It was not meant to be a universal calendar.

    It’s not realistic to alter the existing calendar in this day and age. The gregorian calendar was already too embedded in 1923 to change, and now it’s globally dominant.

    The only way to replace the calendar now would probably have to be a brand new calendar (to prevent confusion with the existing calendar, it’d need new month names for example) OR a global agreed change to the gregorian calendar.

    Neither is likely; there doesn’t seem to be a big enough need or benefit to get countries together to change this. They can’t even agree on action on pressing crises like the climate crisis.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Guessing not much will happen to the calendar until (well, if) mankind ever settles on other planets. Some universal mode of timekeeping would need to be decided upon for consistency between planets with differing day and year lengths.

  • kava@lemmy.world
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    look at the chaos that Y2K was. one doesn’t simply adopt a new calendar.

    it’s too ingrained. it’s like ripping out the foundations of a house to build a new one. it would have to be one hell of a calendar

    • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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      There is a pretty fucking solid one:

      13 months exactly 4 weeks long. 364 days. Two unique days: New Years Day and Leap Day. Just put them together.

      Now every month is the same length. Every numbered day is the same day of the week in every month for the whole year.

        • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          Either A) New Years Day is a day of the week and your birthday changes every year (but in a vastly more predictable way; NYD will make next year’s dates one weekday ahead), or B) New Years Day is a completely separate day and all years are identical, and you choose your birthday to be celebrated on the closest agreeable weekend if that matters to you

    • CMLVI@lemmy.world
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      Yeah. There aren’t any REAL issues with the current calendar. Months aren’t equal, we have leap year. But it doesn’t break anything, it’s just annoyances you live with.

    • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Interesting. Although I’d contend no one “celebrates” daylight savings. It’s not a holiday, and unfortunately saying “it’s not 9am in my house” probably won’t get people far.

      I do like the percentage clock idea.

      I have a 24 hour analogue clock on my wall - one turn of the clock with the hour hand is a full 24 hours instead of 12. It really changed my concept of time in the day. 12 noon is at the bottom of the clock.

      It always feels striking to see the clock at noon and realise how small the morning really is due to sleep and how much of the day is left.