Random Thought of the Day

so Months are pretty arbitrarily created. There is no REAL reason to have 12 months except that it is a nice divider by 4 (for 4 seasons). So my question is - why the hell does February only have 28 days, when all the other months have 30 or 31?

Both January and March have 31 - so why didn't they just make them 30 days - take those 2 extra days and add them to February to get 30 days. March would still end at exactly the same day, thus none of the other months would be affected.

It is pure silliness. I don't like it.

Re: Random Thought of the Day

Doesn't it have something to do with the moon?

Re: Random Thought of the Day

there is a reason but now I can't remember it. I need to look it up I will get back to you.

Re: Random Thought of the Day

I looked it up, but it is still random. They should fix it ...now.

A widely believed--but possibly erroneous--story has it that February is so short because the Romans borrowed a day from it to add to August. August was originally a 30-day month called Sextilis, but it was renamed to honor the emperor Augustus Caesar, just as July had earlier been renamed to honor Julius Caesar. Naturally, it wouldn't do to have Gus's month be shorter than Julius's, hence the switch.

But some historians say this is bunk. They say February has always had 28 days, going back to the 8th century BC, when a Roman king by the name of Numa Pompilius established the basic Roman calendar. Before Numa was on the job the calendar covered only ten months, March through December. December, as you may know, roughly translates from Latin as "tenth." July was originally called Quintilis, "fifth," Sextilis was sixth, September was seventh, and so on.

To meticulous persons such as ourselves, Randy, having the calendar run out in December and not pick up again until March probably seems like a pretty casual approach to timekeeping. However, we must realize that 3,000 years ago, not a helluva lot happened between December and March. The Romans at the time were an agricultural people, and the main purpose of the calendar was to govern the cycle of planting and harvesting.

Numa, however, was a real go-getter-type guy, and when he got to be in charge of things, he decided it was going to look pretty stupid if the Romans gave the world a calendar that somehow overlooked one-sixth of the year. So he decided that a year would have 355 days--still a bit off the mark, admittedly, but definitely a step in the right direction. Three hundred fifty five days was the approximate length of 12 lunar cycles, with lots of leap days thrown in to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons. Numa also added two new months, January and February, to the end of the year. Since the Romans thought even numbers were unlucky, he made seven of the months 29 days long, and four months 31 days long.

But Numa needed one short, even-numbered month to make the number of days work out to 355. February got elected. It was the last month of the year (January didn't become the first month until centuries later), it was in the middle of winter, and presumably, if there had to be an unlucky month, better to make it a short one.

Many years later, Julius Caesar reorganized the calendar yet again, giving it 365 days. Some say he made February 29 days long, 30 in leap year, and that Augustus Caesar later pilfered a day; others say Julius just kept it at 28. None of this changes the underlying truth: February is so short mainly because it was the month nobody liked much--a judgment with which I heartily concur. Frankly, if the Romans had cut it down to 15 minutes, it wouldn't have bothered me a bit.

Re: Random Thought of the Day

Hmm.. this is what I found

When Rome emerged as a world power, the difficulties of making a calendar were well known, but the Romans complicated their lives because of their superstition that even numbers were unlucky. Hence their months were 29 or 31 days long, with the exception of February, which had 28 days. However, four months of 31 days, seven months of 29 days, and one month of 28 days added up to only 355 days. Therefore the Romans invented an extra month called Mercedonius of 22 or 23 days. It was added every second year.

By the 15th century the Julian calendar had drifted behind the solar calendar by about a week, so that the vernal equinox was falling around March 12 instead of around March 20. Pope Sixtus IV (who reigned from 1471 to 1484) decided that another reform was needed and called the German astronomer Regiomontanus to Rome to advise him. Regiomontanus arrived in 1475, but unfortunately he died shortly afterward, and the pope's plans for reform died with him.

Then in 1545, the Council of Trent authorized Pope Paul III to reform the calendar once more. Most of the mathematical and astronomical work was done by Father Christopher Clavius, S.J. The immediate correction, advised by Father Clavius and ordered by Pope Gregory XIII, was that Thursday, Oct. 4, 1582, was to be the last day of the Julian calendar. The next day would be Friday, Oct. 15. For long-range accuracy, a formula suggested by the Vatican librarian Aloysius Giglio was adopted: every fourth year is a leap year unless it is a century year like 1700 or 1800. Century years can be leap years only when they are divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600 and 2000). This rule eliminates three leap years in four centuries, making the calendar sufficiently accurate.

In spite of the revised leap year rule, an average calendar year is still about 26 seconds longer than the Earth's orbital period. But this discrepancy will need 3,323 years to build up to a single day.

Re: Random Thought of the Day

i feel like my IQ just raised a few points reading all about this.

can i use you ladies if i make it to who wants to be a millionaire, and a calendar question comes up and i need to phone a friend?

speaking of millionaire, if i was on there, i feel like i would want to slap meredith vieria across her face, and say "why'd you leave the view, cause now it's rosie's show!"

Re: Random Thought of the Day

Wow - I hardly ever expect to learn when I come onto LIW... This was like a drive by education... I dont know what hit me....

Re: Random Thought of the Day

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Posted by SuzBride

August was originally a 30-day month called Sextilis but it needed an extra day to fit in all the sex

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Re: Random Thought of the Day

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Posted by kittythestray

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Posted by SuzBride

August was originally a 30-day month called Sextilis but it needed an extra day to fit in all the sex

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August is now the NWR month

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Re: Random Thought of the Day

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Posted by SuzBride

random, wide, erroneous, short
Sextilis.
i wouldn't do Gus... shorter than Julius.

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