DavidMG

We would have nothing new and still living in caves if everyone adopt this attitude.

The statement was if it isn't broken don't fix it. That's not an attitude it's a fact. We moved out of the caves because we fixed things that were broken. This isn't C(itizens) A(gainst) V(irtually) E(verything) people thinking as you tried to make it out to be. Even the guy with the idea admits it would be LESS accurate and adopted due to convenience. It's not like they can't/don't have the the ability to calculate interest these days.

"It's really incredible that in the Middle Ages, they were able to invent a new calendar that was so accurate," Henry told LiveScience.

Arrogant bastard, isn't he?

Here is an idea.

If the Neanderthals want an exact and repeatable calendar then just redefine the second.

Lets call it, a...ah, the Neanderthal second (Second^n).

Hence, if Sn = 1.014561666666667 x Second (SI), then you would have two options;

a) Divide the year to 12 months, with 30 days each.

b) Divide the year to 10 months, with 36 days each.

I would chose b). Divide each of the 10 months into 4 weeks with 9 days each. (5 day work week and 4 days weekend!!!!!) :-)

If this time isn't somehow accounted for, the calendar "drifts" relative to the seasons, and the next thing you know, Christmas Day is coming after the spring thaw.

Yes! That would happen, over a period of time, if the practice of the leap-year (the adding of an extra day to the month of February every 4 years) is discontinued and the Gregorian Calendar remains as is.

For instance, if next year's (2012) leap-year, and all future leap-years, become irrelevant, Christmas day, for the next 365 years, would come in the winter; followed by 365 years in Autumn; then 365 in Summer, etc., until a 1,460 year cycle is completed, and Christmas reverts back to winter to start the cycle all over again.

The article states "New Year's Day would forever come on a Sunday. So would Christmas."

Don't tell the 1%ers. There goes four paid holidays.

I think the new calendar could be made somewhat more appealing by adding penguins in some fashion.

Well, it was just a tought.

Research scientist to self:

"Hmmm......... what shall I do today"

"Reinvent the wheel!!!!!!....... Nope, did that yesterday".........

"Cure cancer!!!!!!!"..........Nope, would put to many fellow researchers out of work".

"Eureka!!!!! I've got it. I'll reinvent the calender!!!!!!! I will redeem my pointless existence as a researcher. God I'm a genius!!!"

This arrogant, pompous, self fulfilling jack-@ss probably has his birthday falling on a weekend next year, so he can celebrate it all future weekend's long boozin'-it-up if his lame idea were to ever become fact!. What about the other saps who's B/D would happen to fall on a weekday Sir Issac? How non-eventful would it be to have one's B/D forever fall on a Tuesday or Wednesday every year for the rest of your life?

This wanna-be mathmatician should stick to Quantum Physics and Astronomy before introducing anymore lame ideas!

Bad idea his calender..according to his calendar..I don't exist, born July 31st.

Where would my birthday be? With others on July 30th or August 1st?

I don't see it happening. The US can't even get on the metric system and these guys want to change the calendar. As complicated as our calendar is, it isn't boring. Admittedly, it does make certain things easier to calculate and who cares if your b-day is always on a Monday (not a good enough reason to not change imo) but can we first get on the metric system and be in synch w/ the rest of the world before we throw another system out of kilter. And what are you going to do w/ an entire extra leap week. For people who work on an annual salary, do they work a whole week free of charge or do they get an extra week of vacation. One day every 4 years is easier to shift around than one week.

Why do clowns like this have a JOB!!

Who is paying this idiot to work on this dumb crap?

I think this idea is great! No more confusing school schedules, payment schedules, and vacation schedules. We would always know what is going to happen when. I love it!

Not accurate but more convenient. Sounds like his next task will be running for President. And this guy is a professor? What diploma mill granted him a degree?

attriya...Do you know what PhD really means? Piled High And Deep. I've worked with at least 4 PhDs in my lifetime. Not a single one had any common sense. They only know what books tell them. Outside of the printed page, they flounder like a fish out of water for a week.

If this idea is acceptable, it must somehow, some way benefit those "fiscal" Big Business calendars and employers. We changed the dates of Lincoln's birthday from February 12th and Washington's from February 22nd to a single Monday in February. Now, no one even remembers why those two dates were celebrated. Convenience isn't a substitute for reality.

What next? Change US Independence Day to a Monday? July 4th is now and always has been Independence Day in the US.

Thinking he read the article that Samoa got rid of a Friday and has to try to "keep up with the Jones"

Why would having every calendar date falling on the same day of the week be preferred over the current system? He provides examples such as Christmas always falling on a Sunday, etc. Who is to determine what days of the week all the holidays or days of some significance will fall? I can see endless bickering over that alone.

On top of that, there would be an entire week inserted to accommodate this calendars inherent inaccuracies, and for what? Just so certain dates of significance could always fall on the same day of the week? This is really a boneheaded idea that actually injects chaos over order and will never happen, thank goodness.

Penguins!!!

I don't like the idea of this new calendar. It sounds too complicated having to adjust for days, hours, minutes, etc. Way too confusing. What should I do with my beautiful sundial? Trash it of course. And why call it the HH calendar. Reminds me too much as referring to Heaven and Hell. .....Maybe these guys can pay us for an extra (Xtr) week off so we can deal with the anxiety.

The article states "New Year's Day would forever come on a Sunday. So would Christmas."

Don't tell the 1%ers. There goes four paid holidays.

Do you even know what a 1%er actually is?

One percenter

Some outlaw motorcycle clubs can be distinguished by a 1% patch worn on the colors. This is claimed to be a reference to a comment made by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in which they stated that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying that the last one percent were outlaws. The comment, supposedly a response to the Hollister riot in 1947, is denied by the AMA—who claim to have no record of such a statement to the press, and that the story is a misquotation. As a result, some outlaw motorcycle clubs used it to unite or express themselves and are commonly referred to as "one percenters". According to the ATFthey are also known as Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs or OMGs

Did you know that in other countries, like the Netherlands for example, do not give additional days off for holidays that fall during the regular work week like the USA does?

The government also recognizes the period between Christmas and New Year as "equivalent" to holidays for the purpose of filings/payments to or by the government; if a term ends on such a day, the term is extended. If either First or Second Christmas Day falls on a weekend (i.e., Saturday or Sunday), there is no additional weekday given in exchange. That is, in years where First Christmas Day is a Saturday, there are no national Christmas holidays at all.

Try using your computer for actually learning something instead of spreading false truths and regurgitated Internet babble in the future.

And to think our Governments (the taxpayers) dish out grants for research like this!

Yo Longhair

Try some Metamucil before bed tonight. You'll feel better tomorrow.

First off, this will never happen. EVERY country in the world would have to adopt this or it would be worse than shifting to and from day light saving time or taking into consideration all the different time zones.

Secondly, I like the days shifting around because sometimes my birthday (September 1), falls on Labor Day and I get a paid holiday. If this were globally accepted, I would miss out.

Thirdly, April 15 would fall on a Sunday and the government would have to either change the tax return deadline or always allow an extra day to file. Those money grubbers would never stand for that.

This professor would be better serve finding solutions to actual problems we have in this world, but I think he lacks the talent and knowledge to cure cancer, so he pi$$es away his time working on the ridiculous. The current calendar is great, the changing of days is what is the best thing about the Gregorian calendar. It is proper that Christmas and New Year's fall on different days, and that we have leap year. It's the great equalizer for those of us who have to work weekends. The calendar was not created to be convenient for corporate America but to accurately represent the time it takes the earth to navigate around the sun and the lunar cycles. So like so many before me have said, DON"T FIX WHAT AIN"T BROKEN DUMBA$$!

You have to remember he probably got his degree from John Hopkins, and they are noted for fixing problems that don't exist so they can justify their salary. His NEW calendar would create more problems than it would solve.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT CHANGING THE CALENDAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a good idea. So is adopting the metric system. And the birthday thing? Get over yourselves; you're not that important.

Drakkonis,

LMAO!

Would these be "gay" penguins or "straight" penguins?????

its funny, he said

"It's really incredible that in the Middle Ages, they were able to invent a new calendar that was so accurate," Henry told LiveScience.

but he forgot to add... "And yet, in these modern times, I created a PoS self-described inaccurate farse of a calander for 'convieniance' instead of function to get 15 minutes of fame"

this loser needs to go rent a different brain from Netflix

Pi shore does equal 3 in the Babble. Who you gonna believe? a calculator made by some heathen chinee or the actual word of GOD?? 30 cubits around by 10 cubits across is THREE by gum.

The only way to make this worse would be to produce a metric version.

Iago Steele

What frightens me is that this crap might catch on, the same way that celebrating the new millennium in 2000 instead of 2001 (when it actually happened) caught on.

That must have bothered you sooo much, huh? Get over it.

It says a lot about your character if you find these things 'frightening'.

oh, shut up, btj89!

It says somewhere that it would be more business friendly.. Oh by all means lets change for the corporations.. Think some printers would loose business because people would reuse the old ones because they were all the same.. Sounds bad for the economy to me..

Debbie-3524668

oh, shut up, btj89!

It's always amusing to see the people who believe they need to share their all-righteous opinion on the Internet get so riled up when someone else points out the flaws in their ridiculous beliefs. For me, it's relatively easy to do.

Getting frightened by the thought of celebrating the new millennium when it turns 2000 or the thought of changing the calendar to make it more convenient for not only YOU, but the rest of the world? OH THE AGONY! THE HORROR!! That would actually require less thinking on your part!

Not that you people do much of that anyway, you're so closed-minded.

Honestly, WHO CARES?

btj89...I cannot imagine anything less educational than a self-important scheisthead know it all.

From the looks of it, too many people these days are too FULL of themselves to know they aren't the only humans left on the planet who matter.

the same way that celebrating the new millennium in 2000 instead of 2001 (when it actually happened) caught on.

Lago,

Any time from 0.00 to < 100 years (that's 0.00 to 99.999...) is part of a century. The same time frame can be said of a mellennium (it's just 10 centuries). The time immediately after the turn of the century, time > 99.999... years or 100 years, is the beginning of the next century. According to your theory the year 2000 to <2001 (or 2000 to 2000.999...) would not belong to any mellenium.

The millennial celebrations as with those celebrating a new decade or new century
have generally been celebrated, since the inception of the Georgian calendar,
on zero years. For example the beginning of the 19th century was celebrated on
01/01/1800. This is where society and culture won out over mathematics nad still does

The Georgian calendar has yet to exist for 1000 years, it is yet to reach even 500
years, so in essence culture decided when to celebrate millenniums, decades and
centuries with the mathematicians complaining otherwise.

The year one and year 1001 never actually existed other than retrospectively. So the world populous decided when to celebrate leaving the mathematicians to contemplate their navels and cry ba-hum-bug into their watered down beers.

ERROR alert in my post its Gregorian Calender not Georgian. Well now THAT is awkward
;).

Mathematical accuracy is not up for debate. Pi never equals 3.

But we're not talking about math, we're talking about engineering, where accuracy is up for debate. No one uses the real pi because it is infinitely long (and we haven't finished calculating it yet). We use the value most appropriate/convenient for the job. For calculating population density within 50 miles of a city you might need a fairly accurate value of pi, for calculating the area of a penny 3.14 works just fine.

A year isn't 365 days long, it isn't even 365.25 days. A year is 365.256363004 days long. As such we have all agreed we don't care about accuracy, we want something useful/convenient, and that is what is up for debate, the definition of "useful" and "convenient".

Um.. the romans did that. Saturnalia.

Honestly, when I heard the idea of an extra week at the end of so many years, that's PRECISELY what I thought.

And the romans weren't the only ones. many cultures had an exxtra week or so tacked on to the end of the year to adjust the seasons. We were more dependent on the seasons back then and therefore much more sensitive to adjustments that needed to be made.

instead of moving us forward, this calendar idea is just sending us back.

EarlyOut...I worked in a payroll division of the biggest data processing company in the US for 5 years. In certain years, there actually was a "53rd" week. It was usually when December of one year ended with more than 3 days and January began with 2 remaining business days. This was mainly to accommodate the variations in fiscal years. Some business have a January to December fiscal year which accounts for their need for a 53rd week.

EarlyOut ... problems with that leap week were the first thing that came to mind when I read about the proposal. One of the biggest problems has to do with things like rent, lease payments, etc.... People are willing to ignore an extra day in February every four years, but they might balk at being asked to give up a week of revenue, and renters would certainly be upset if they had to pony up extra money every five years.

Yes, you got it. If a change is made, it should be 13 months of 28 days, with one extra day each year - and two extras on the leap years. It's OK to count the extras as a day of the week. The rotation of the holidays from year-to-year breaks up the monotony - keep the calendar makers in business - every year the same would be painfully boring.

Maybe the extra month could be Holiday Month, when everyone is on vacation.

Suggesting that the 365th (or 366th) day of the year not count as a day of the week is a complete non-starter, since it throws off the cycle of Sabbath days for most religions that observe one. They will NOT like the idea of losing their unbroken God-given cycle of having their Sabbath every seventh day (indeed, "Sabbath" is derived from the old Hebrew word for "seventh"). You can expect any calendar which breaks the week-cycle to be decried as the work of the Devil.

I hadn't looked at it that way, not being religious myself since the age of 14. I can see that there would be intense resistance to have the one or two days that aren't accounted for in the holy books. I lived in a high rise in midtown Atlanta which had no thirteenth floor. 13 months would be a hard sell too because of superstition.

Is the Islamic calender and time keeping better.. Obama would probably go for it..

Roadrunner0 ...as expected...ending this year with anti-Obama BS is the only thing the right wing hateful addicts know. I imagine, when, not if, President Obama is re-elected, the right wing will stage an all out attack on any American who dared exercise their Constitutional right to vote for the president of their choice? Or is that another thing the righties will choose to put an end to? Oh..sorry...McConnell is already on that one.

Oops, then night and day would slip! We could call the 13th month "Lunacy".

but why not just make seconds longer so that the .2422 day gets spread over the entire year evenly?

Changing the length of a second would affect everything. Also, it would not be a US thing but a world thing.

The length of the day would change if seconds were longer and noon would soon be in the middle of the night. The rotation of the earth dictates the length of the day. The problem is the time it takes to go around the sun does not come out even. That makes the seasons slip if the calendar does not adjust for it.

Can you imagine all the modifications needed to do that? Near everything electronic would require new equipment to operate, diagnose and repair. All clocks become obsolete and need to be replaced. Computers would need to be completely redesigned. A second is a mathematical constant, everything in the scientific world that relates to time would have to be recalculated, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. The impracticalities of your idea are far too many to even fathom at this time.

I agree.! I wouldn't want my B-day on the same day all the time. And to go a little deeper ..At work how would you like to be working on the Holidays. All the time, because of your work schedule.

"The calendar I'm advocating isn't nearly as accurate" as the Gregorian calendar, said Richard Henry,-----Then why mess with it then? Leave it as it is. Like someone (above ) said If it ain't broke don't fix it.

The Mayan calendar is no good. It ends in 2012. We need a calendar that goes way beyond that. Let's keep the calendar we use now. It works OK for me.

So let's just get rid of math as it is accurate, and apparently this prof doesn't like accuracy, just convenience!!! Somebody check his credentials, they MAY NOT BE ACCURATE, just conveniently made up to get his gig!!!

WAH WAH WAH, my birthday is on a weekday!!! Really people? Not like it already does most years anyway. Nobody gives a flying F#@K.

At work how would you like to be working on the Holidays. All the time, because of your work schedule.

This comment makes no sense and shows no thought in it. Not addressing.

The Mayan calendar is no good. It ends in 2012. We need a calendar that goes way beyond that.

Um, the CALENDAR is a CYCLE. The current Mayan cycle (you know they've been gone for over 1100 years, right?) ends in 2012. What to do about this? START A NEW CYCLE.

Too many morons on the inturnetz these days spreading misinformation (their opinions). I'm just part of the select few (sadly) trying to fix it.

Hah! I wonder if his students can use the same excuse on an exam...

"Um, Dr. Henry, I know my answer wasn't completely accurate, but it was more convenient!"

Methinks El Professoro doth spend too much time with his nose in books. His world is obviously in black and white only. What's with the hotchas with a need for methodical precision that reduces humans to robots?

btj89....Someone too full of themselves today? When the rest of the world is able to catch up to such an enlightened, almighty educational level, it may be a good idea to check that pedestal from whence your posts come....the base is chipping away and there's a crack traveling up the middle.

Oh...too late...god fell off the pedestal.

btj89

WAH WAH WAH, my birthday is on a weekday!!! Really people? Not like it already does most years anyway. Nobody gives a flying F#@K.

not worth the comment either

Too many morons on the inturnetz these days spreading misinformation (their opinions). I'm just part of the select few (sadly) trying to fix it

Your one of them don't ya know that should make you feel better m8

Some people seem to always get stuck working the holidays. If you had a work schedule you would know that. but you must be one that works when they want to . So put a little thought into it it just might hit you one of these days

btj89, how little you know about ancient people. The Romans would have fed you to their pet lions. The Polynesians would have thrown you into their favorite volcano. Moses would have closed the Red Sea back up while you were still crossing. The Mayans? Well, you really don't want to know what they would have done with you. Now quit trying to give everyone who is just having fun posting a few jokes a hard time. Why don't you go outside and play with your marbles, if you haven't lost them?

m-612920...And this is a guy who gets a 6-figure salary paid for by taxpayers?

Better to have your birthday on leap-day!

Ixor Kleb...my ex rather enjoyed the fact that in 15 years of marriage, he only had to buy 3 anniversary presents. He chose the wedding date...February 29th. It was forever a joke between us. So was the marriage...roflmao.

something gone wrong with this idea . Prefer to include months . Next thing some one will want to get rid of the 4 seasons .

The day of the week would still slip every year unless you had New Years and Leap New Years day without having it assigned to a weekday. 52*7=364

Leroy...Well of course they want to get rid of seasons...How else can mankind control nature? They're already so far out of touch with nature as it is. They've lost the ability to allow nature to take its course without going hysterical from loss of control.

Every four years you would have 30 days in the 13th month. If you took them out of the week, then the calendar wouldn't shift.

Make it even more fun and join the rest of the world in the metric system at the same time!

But why would we need to join the rest of the world in metrics?

That was tried in the 70's softdude and it failed miserably in America. Just look on a drink bottle, they're still trying to shove it down our throats! How many cc.s in a cup of water? Hmmm, I don't know or care, but 8 fluid ounces equals one cup!!

If we are going to screw things up, there have to be a lot of things we could change that would have everybody confused. I don't understand why a scientist would advocate such a change other than on April 1st.

Robert-301053: The problem with the US conversion to metric in the 70's was that everyone kept trying to compare the two systems, instead of just making the switch. When you buy a bottle of soft drinks today, do you convert liters to fluid ounces before you decide which size to buy, or do you just grab the 2-liter or the 1-liter, depending on your thirst? You're familiar with the liter measurement for soft drinks now so it's not a problem any more.

If the US had made a complete switch to metric back then there would have been about a month of confusion and then the new metric units would have become familiar, and a lot easier to work with mathematically than our present conglomeration of measurement units.

kamudi...No...that wasn't the problem. The problem was generations of children taught that a pint is a pint, a quart is a quart and a gallon of gas is a gallon of gas.

How on earth the education idiots ever thought they'd reteach metric to fully grown adults who lived without the metric system is beyond me.

There's more to the problem than just a bottle of soda pop. When I cook and bake, I don't want to have to grab a calculator just to figure out in metric what a tablespoon is. I know that by using a set of measuring spoons. I don't call a tablespoon anything but a tablespoon.

The US should have just went metric. I remember driving down I-75 trying to compare kicks and miles.

As for the calendar didn't Al Gore already take credit for it?

How on earth the education idiots ever thought they'd reteach metric to fully grown adults who lived without the metric system is beyond me.

Simple, you change everything into metric and they'll learn. Can you imagine going to bed one night and having 12 pennies being a shilling and 20 shillings ( or 240 pennies) being a pound and waking up the next morning to have 1 pound be equal to 100 pennies? If the British could decimalize their monatery system by saying "As of such and such a date everything changes" then changing from imperial to metric shouldn't be a problem.

I'm really not into "conformity"...most Americans aren't either, I'd suppose.

If we could all jump up but never come down, that would do just fine! The landing would negate the jump.

You are right. I am still working out the details...

"educating children better getting"??

Is that Pennsylvania Dutch? Throw the cow over the fence some hay!

Perfectionseeker, 1st of all, quit with the worlds problems, start in your own backyard first, and NO, WE as taxpayers are not responsible for the European economy. Oblowhole can kiss my buttocks if he thinks that we as taxpayers will willingly bailout europe!!

And we could shift the calendar in the southern hemisphere by six months so they could have a white Christmas too.

You make entirely too much sense...your post is accordingly ignored. Welcome to Newsvine.

I'm sorry, but your statement sounds like it's coming out of the mouth of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory....I await the episode where they discuss this and he actually says your words.