Newsgroup: it.fan.startrek
Titolo: Data stellare!

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041227/calendars.html
Dec. 30, 2004 — Two scientists who believe the current Gregorian calendar
is outdated have each created proposals for calendars that they believe
improve upon the current system.
Both of the new plans involve acceptance of universal time worldwide. Both
also would place specific dates of the month on certain weekdays that never
would change. For example, if January 1 were to fall on a Sunday in 2006,
New Year's Day would occur on a Sunday every year thereafter.
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“ A permanently fixed calendar would simplify everybody's lives. ”
The creators of the new systems say their plans would save individuals and
businesses substantial money, time and effort, which now go into scheduling
and restructuring the current calendar.
According to a recent Johns Hopkins University press release, the first
system is called the "Calendar-and-Time Plan." Richard Conn Henry, a
professor in the university's Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and
Astronomy, invented the plan by crunching numbers into math equations
utilizing a Fortran computer program.
Under Henry's plan, each month would have either 30 or 31 days. In place of
leap years, which keep the calendar in sync with seasonal changes, a
one-week "mini month" would be inserted between the months of June and July
every five or six years.
Dubbed "Newton Week" after the British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the
seven-day period could, Henry says, be a paid vacation for everyone to do
physics or other activities of their own choosing.
Henry began his calendar reform project after years of feeling annoyed at
having to rework his schedule.
"I discovered that the pain of rescheduling chapter assignments in my
course each year was totally unnecessary," Henry told Discovery News. "That
made me mad and I'm still mad."
He added, "Once I started, I realized I could help the U.S. economy by
fixing the two wasted weeks at the end of each year and I did so. I really
think the economic benefits will be large, but I can't prove it."
The two "wasted weeks" refer to the scheduling changes that most employees
and businesses experience each year around Christmas and New Year's. Under
Henry's plan, both holidays would always fall on a Sunday.
The current calendar has been in place since 1582. During that year, Pope
Gregory modified a calendar instituted by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. The
modifications involved removing 11 days from the year 1582, which meant
that October 4 was immediately followed by October 15.
The challenge then was the same as it is today. Calendar creators must
produce a balanced system with the uneven figure 365.2422, which is the
number of days it takes for the earth to orbit around the sun.
Irv Bromberg, assistant professor of clinical biochemistry in the
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of
Toronto, agrees that the Gregorian calendar needs an overhaul.
"A permanently fixed calendar would simplify everybody's lives," Bromberg
told Discovery News. "(It would allow for) permanent scheduling, fixed
holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, memorial days, etc., and it would save
a lot of resources and money that are wasted each year rescheduling to
adjust to the varying Gregorian calendar/weekday relationship, or whatever
traditional non-perpetual calendar you wish to compare it with."
Bromberg has devised his own plan, called the Symmetry 454 Calendar, which,
unlike Henry's system, places the extra leap week at the end of the year
and begins weeks with Monday instead of Sunday.
One key to Bromberg's calculations is the "Orbital Date," which he likens
to the "Star Date" from the "Star Trek" television series, although he
admits the writers for the show devised no particular calendar system.
"The Orbital Date represents the unique moment in the Mean Orbital Year,
which I have defined as 360 degrees divided by the long-term mean daily
change in solar longitude," Bromberg explained.
Both scientists are hopeful that the current calendar will be reformed
soon. Henry has established a movement on the Web called the International
Association for 2006, with a target date of Jan. 1, 2006 for implementation
of his new system.
"It needs government support," Henry said. "U. S. government, but China and
everyone else. If the economic benefit is great, I think it might happen."
Jolan Tru
-- 
Filippo "Hytok" Simone - L'oracolo sampdoriano di Sunnydale
La Casa degli Elfi - 
http://www.freewebtown.com/lacasadeglielfi/
Enclave del Dominio - S.N.S. Despiser - 
http://ildominio.altervista.org/
Commissione Voyager - 
http://www.voyageritalia.com/

 New Year's Day would occur on a Sunday every year thereafter.
Brrrr!
Vorrebbe dire che il 2 di gennaio si riprenderebbe a lavorare. OGNI ANNO!
Mai ponti, mai varietą di feste...
No, no, no, io non lo voglio! :)

 No, no, no, io non lo voglio! :)
su! su!
un trekker deve comportarsi da adulto!
e poi il calendario entrera' in vigore solo dopo che sara' scomparsa la
poverta'
 l'odio le guerre e sara' nata la flotta stellare
e l'accademia della flotta sara' aperta a tutti
e ci sara' stata la terza guerra mondiale.
chi se ne frega della feste :D
(e poi io non ho fatto feste neanche quest'anno!)
mrt^^