From the 'Ideas That Go Nowhere File': A New Calendar by 2006?

[Guest guest]

[Oh boy...'Newton Weeks' devoted to studying physics! Plus, the guy

proposes everyone on Greenwich Mean Time, which means the sun might

rise at 2 p.m. in California, and set at 4 a.m.

I'm betting this goes nowhere fast...!]

Just in time for New Year's: A proposal for a better calendar

No more '30 days hath September, April, June and November'

Wouldn't it be convenient if your birthday, Christmas and the Fourth

of July -- not to mention most other major holidays -- all fell on

the same day of the week, year after year? Wouldn't it make life --

or at least planning -- easier, for instance, to know that Dec. 17

would always fall on a Saturday or that January 1 -- New Year's Day --

would always be celebrated on a Sunday?

Conn Henry, professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of

Physics and Astronomy at The s Hopkins University, thinks it

would. He has designed -- using computer programs and complex

mathematical formulas -- a new calendar that would make it happen.

Under Henry's plan, each new 12-month period is identical to the one

that came before. Each month has either 30 or 31 days. January, for

instance, would have 30 days, as would February, April, May, July,

August, October and November. March, June, September and December

would all have 31 days.

Henry, a physicist who also directs the land Space Grant

Consortium, says his new calendar would have " profound economic and

practical benefits " if adopted worldwide. He is waging a Web-based

campaign to make this happen by Jan. 1, 2006. Henry points out that

this transition date is ideal, because New Year's Day 2006 falls on a

Sunday on both the old and proposed calendars, facilitating a

seamless transition.

" Just ask yourself how much time and effort are expended each year in

redesigning the calendar of every single organization worldwide to

accommodate the coming year's calendar, and it becomes obvious that

my calendar would make life much simpler and would have noteworthy

benefits economically, especially for businesses and other

institutions, " Henry said.

" With my plan, we can have a stable calendar that is absolutely

identical from year to year and which allows the permanent, rational

planning of annual activities, from school to work holidays. "

Called the " Calendar-and-Time Plan " (C & T) because it also advocates

the worldwide adoption of a 24-hour, universal time scale (more on

that later), Henry's innovation promises to improve on what he sees

as the " defects " of the dozen or so rival reform calendars that have

been proffered by various individuals and institutions in the past

100 years.

" Calendar reform has always failed before, and for a simple reason:

All major proposals involved breaking the seven-day cycle of the

week, which has always been -- and probably will always be --

completely unacceptable to humankind because it goes against the

Fourth Commandment of the Bible about keeping the Sabbath Day, " Henry

said. " C & T never breaks that biblical cycle. "

What's more, the C & T calendar is " far more convenient " than is the

current Gregorian calendar, which has been in place for more than 400

years -- ever since Pope , in 1582, modified a calendar that

was instituted by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.

To bring Caesar's calendar into sync with the seasons (one of the

main reasons for reforming it), the pope and his scholars removed 11

days from the calendar during that October, so that Oct. 4 was

followed immediately by Oct. 15. The need for that kind of adjustment

derived from the same problem that makes designing an effective

calendar a challenge today: the fact that there is an uneven number

of days in an Earth year: 365.2422 days, to be exact.

Our current calendar tackles this challenge by instituting " leap

years " every four years. Henry thinks he has found a better solution:

drop leap year entirely and institute, instead, a one-week " mini-

month " between June and July every five or six years. In honor of his

personal hero, Sir Isaac Newton, Henry has dubbed this seven-day

period " Newton. " His computer calculation ensures that " Newton Week "

brings the new calendar in sync with seasonal changes as the Earth

circles the sun.

Newton Weeks would bring with them benefits not enjoyed under the

Gregorian calendar, Henry said.

" If I had my way, everyone would get Newton Week off as a paid

vacation and could spend the time doing physics, or other activities

of their choice, " he said, only half jokingly . " You can't say the

same of leap years. "

Newton Week would pop up irregularly: 2009, 2015, 2020 and 2026, for

instance, would all need a Newton Week to keep the calendar as close

to the cycle of the seasons as possible. As a result, the new

calendar is never more than five days off the seasons. In fact, after

Jan.1, 2006, the C & T calendar would be identical to the current

calendar 15 percent of the time, and only one day different 29

percent of the time.

Henry has established what he calls the " International Association

for 2006, " an online organization aimed at rallying support for his

plan. He serves as president of the organization, and Jess Cully, a

calendar reform enthusiast from Portsmouth, England, is now vice

president for that country.

In addition to advocating the adoption of the new calendar, Henry

also urges everyone to simultaneously switch to what is

called " Universal Time " (formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time).

Doing so would synchronize the date and time the same worldwide,

streamlining such things as international business and exchange.

" We would quickly get used to the fact that sunrise and sunset

henceforth occur at what seem to us unusual hours by the clock, "

Henry said. " My late mother, for example, successfully switched from

Fahrenheit temperature to Celsius, telling me on one occasion, 'It's

a very hot day -- 30 degrees!' That shows me that people are

adaptable if benefits are there. The C & T benefit is much greater than

that resulting from the change from Fahrenheit to Celsius. "