This leap day and year would be the last ever if two scholars have their way

[Newest Reality]

Feb. 29ths, like the one tacked to the end of this month, exist because Earth’s orbit and human calendars are slightly out of sync. The planet completes its 584-million-mile loop around the sun in 365 days — plus 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. Leap days are designed to compensate for the excess time.

But, if two Johns Hopkins University professors had their way, this leap year would be the last of its kind.

They would replace the calendar with a new version. Theirs, the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar, is 364 days long. It is consistent: The year always begins on a Monday. Your birthday always falls on the same day of the week.

“The calendar will be exactly the same, every year,” said Richard Conn Henry, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University and one of the calendar’s designers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/this-leap-day-and-year-would-be-the-last-ever-if-two-scholars-have-their-way/2020/02/21/9fb8ad70-5345-11ea-9e47-59804be1dcfb_story.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Yeah, but:

It took a Caesar, and then a pope, to successfully reform the calendar. Henry and Hanke argue a president could do it.

“There is one person who could enact it, and he could enact it immediately. And that is President Donald John Trump,” Henry said. “And if I could have half an hour with him in the Oval Office, we would be adopting it this year. There’s no question about it.” (The president would ultimately be persuaded, the astronomer argued, because he would get to rename the calendar after himself, in the tradition of Caesar and Pope Gregory.)

“We have drafted up an executive order for Trump to sign,” Hanke said.

He predicted the states would follow suit after the federal government, then businesses and, ultimately, the world.

Ben Guarino
Ben Guarino is a reporter for The Washington Post’s Science section. He joined The Post in 2016. Follow https://twitter.com/bbguari

There was this comment:

Jim Konrad 27 minutes ago

Hanke, great idea! The current calendar is an annual mess. To others:
-- Your birthday isn't a holiday. It's not special if everybody has one. Celebrate on Friday or Saturday. Also, you are an adult. Act like one.
-- How often do we refer to the calendar as Gregorian in the first place? Who cares who the new one would be named after?
-- While this proposal is better than what we have, the Kodak 13 is even better.
-- Before we get this calendar going, we need to solve 2 things: Daylight Savings Time, and moving Super Bowl Sunday to Saturday.

International Fixed Calendar

[TwistedTinkerbelle]

2. Geeze

This sounds like something pulled out of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. Hang on folks, the year of *pick a corporation* is coming. Trump will find a way to make money off anything with his name on it!

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Streamlining things is the last thing El Capon cares about.

But tell him that he could name it after himself, and you just watch him pull that Sharpie out from wherever he keeps it.

[Chainfire]

4. I don't think Trump would buy it

It would be lowering himself to the status of Julius Ceasar.

[lapfog_1]

5. I have a friend who was born on Feb 29th

will this be her very last birthday?

[Jim__]

6. I can't read the article at WP, so my question is ...

... does the calendar handle the excess time at the end of the year? At the end of 364 days, the earth has not returned to the position it was at on day 1 of the previous year. So, unless they handle that in some way, January 1 gets earlier each year, and so, some years have winter in July. Are they changing the length of a day?

A consistent calendar is convenient, but seasons that rotate across the calendar are somewhat of a problem.

[Newest Reality]

7. Computers...

Nothing was mentioned about the changeover concerning computers and the more I consider that, the more this sounds untenable.

It makes sense to have an accurate calendar, but I wonder if they have even considered all the ramifications of a change like that. The current calendar is very deeply ingrained.

[mr_lebowski]

8. Sounds neat except every computer system in the world would need changing

if you do that ...

And don't tell me nothing happened in 2000, this is different and more significant.

And getting ready for that occurrence was very costly ... this change would almost surely cost more.

That was a change to data storage, this is a change to the way dates are fundamentally calculated. It's more deeply embedded stuff.

And then there's the question of physical documents (contracts and such) with dates on them. If you made a contract with someone for a 10 year period (10x365 days), is it now 10x364 days instead?

Also, eventually the seasons would get totally out of whack from when they are in the year now, which was presumably the original reason for the leap year.

These are just the things a schmo like me can reckon offhand.

I can't see the world deciding it's a logical move to make.

[Newest Reality]

15. Yup!

Bingo!

[jimfields33]

9. This is nuts!

My luck, my birthday would be on a Monday every year. No thanks. That’s just my selfish reasons. But there are tons of others.

[MagickMuffin]

10. I don't want my birthday to be on the same day every year

B O R I N G

[Midnightwalk]

11. What a bad idea.

14% of people will be stuck with a birthday in Wednesday.

Halloween on different days was always fun.

The computer stuff would eventually get sorted out, but y2k bugs are showing up this year. More will show up in 2050. It’s not free.

Who needs this type of consistency?

We can’t even move to the metric system so this won’t go anywhere. It is fun slinging mud at the idea.

[GeorgeGist]

12. Do these twits think ...

that the US controls the calendar?

[abqtommy]

13. I really don't have a preference. I don't have the kind of mentality or training to tell the

difference. As long as my Social Security keeps getting paid each 3d of the month I'll be happy. Kinda...

[hunter]

14. I'd prefer a lunisolar calendar.

The middle of each counted month would be a full moon.

This calendar would be kept synchronized with the solar year by uncounted time.

During this uncounted time clocks, calendars, and religion would be ignored. Clothing would be optional.

[BluesRunTheGame]

16. With my new calendar, every day would be Saturday starting at 5:00 AM.

At 2:00 PM Friday night would begin until 5:00 AM rolled around again. Mandatory payday would occur at 3:00 PM every Friday and you’d receive your two weeks pay. Our lives would be much better with my calendar because most bad stuff happens between Sunday morning and Friday afternoon.

[yonder]

17. For many, every night is Friday night

and every morning is Monday morning. I'm glad to no longer be in that group.

[mr_lebowski]

18. Eh ... that's not THAT bad ...

Where it really goes downhill is when every MORNING ... is Friday Night ...

[yonder]

19. Ouch. I remember those too. Hair of the dog.

Ouch again.

[roamer65]

20. I can't get behind the paywall, but how do they deal with the eventual seasonal drift?

Eventually it will affect the month/season timing. The Julian calendar had that problem.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Give-us-our-eleven-days/

[Xolodno]

21. Really bad idea....

....aside from the computer issues mentioned, which is expensive.....

You also have to re calibrate all of history and history books...and our schools can barely afford that already. Archaeologist, Historians are going to freak having to restate everything. Plus Zillions of documents of the past have to be "translated" constantly to the new date.

Not too mention, people would get hosed with their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. always being on a week day.

What makes the current calendar good, is its stability. Perfect, hell no, but that stability has something all previous civilizations calendars don't have, longevity and records up the wahzoo dated in that format.

And guess what, religious holidays based on the lunar calendar are really going to into havoc mode.

They want to use the Permanent Calendar, use it when we accomplish space travel across vast distances.

[hunter]

22. I'm disturbed by the attachment to calendars expressed in this thread.

Our current calendar was invented by Christians who meant to wrest us away from other religions and the natural rhythms of our biology.

The Church had no tolerance of lunar deities or nature worship.

Somehow we accept the tyranny of our clocks and calendars without question.