The perpetual calendar
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From: Andrew Usher on 19 Feb 2010 13:46 On Feb 19, 11:52 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon! You might as > > well scrap the whole thing otherwise. Or are you suggesting that we > > only take holidays at Easter every four years or so, when your settled > > date just happens to correspond with the right lunar phase? > > We don't have Christmas only when there's a bright star in the east. > > It's like saying "I was born on a Wednesday, so I'll only celebrate my > birthday when it falls on a Wednesday". The reason I fix Christmas to a Sunday has been my observation that arranging a family Christmas is substantially more convenient when it falls on a weekend than in the middle of the week. Given that Christmas is the most important holiday in the year, should we not all get at least a 3-day weekend, which we have for lesser holidays? Andrew Usher
From: Cheryl on 19 Feb 2010 14:00 Andrew Usher wrote: > On Feb 19, 11:52 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >>> But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon! You might as >>> well scrap the whole thing otherwise. Or are you suggesting that we >>> only take holidays at Easter every four years or so, when your �settled� >>> date just happens to correspond with the right lunar phase? >> We don't have Christmas only when there's a bright star in the east. >> >> It's like saying "I was born on a Wednesday, so I'll only celebrate my >> birthday when it falls on a Wednesday". > > The reason I fix Christmas to a Sunday has been my observation that > arranging a family Christmas is substantially more convenient when it > falls on a weekend than in the middle of the week. Given that > Christmas is the most important holiday in the year, should we not all > get at least a 3-day weekend, which we have for lesser holidays? > > Andrew Usher The thing is that depending on your job, local holidays (eg whether Boxing Day is included) and the fact that New Year's Day comes so closely after Christmas Day, judicious use of annual leave days can give much more than three days in a row off if Christmas Day itself is mid-week. I would have thought that the summer holidays were far more important, at least to families with school-aged children, and in the US, Thanksgiving has an astonishing degree of importance. -- Cheryl
From: António Marques on 19 Feb 2010 14:28 Zhang Dawei wrote (19-02-2010 17:40): > António Marques wrote: > >> How can you even *think* that is the case?? How can you even >> *notice* the holidays shown are US-specific? Obviously the US >> holidays are there to illustrate how it works, not to be used >> universally. Likewise the numerals and month names. Sheesh. > > I can simply think it is the case because the website gives no > indication at all that the holidays are there *merely* as an > illustration, and the way it is described suggests a definite proposal > of those dates (as well as the other holidays taken from a limited > selection of other countries) to be holidays. Furthermore, given the > lack of appreciation from some of the world's geography, it is not > unreasonable to suppose that one should take what is proposed in that > website at face-value. If they were there *merely* as an illustration, > then that should have been made clearly known. So, it is not obvious > at all, and your complaint that I have somehow been deficient in not > engaging in mind-reading here is unwarranted. > > In fact, there should be no country-specific holidays shown at all if > the intent is to try to persuade as many people as possible, from as > many countries as possible, round to thinking this kind of calendar is > a good thing. Instead, a better tactical move would be to always use > generic names, holidays, and so on (like the "Mid-Quarter days"), with > a note stating that additional holidays could be added, according to > each country's requirements. > > So, it remains a failure if its intent is merely to illustrate the > concept because it fails to explicitly say that it is just an > illustration, and it fails to mention the country-specific > customizations of the holidays explicitly. Furthermore, if the overall > aim is persuade people from different countries round to accepting the > concept, the above slip ups are compounded into a tactical error > brought about by this by seeming to insist on just a small limited > number of specified country's holidays, which will not persuade people > from different countries to accept the proposals. A word of advice: when your interpretation of something makes no sense at all, and yet a tiny change in one of your assumptions may make all the nonsense go away, be prepared to revise your assumption. Communication only works thanks to the ability of both parties to infer the strictly unstated. It's only natural that unnecessary disambiguation be omitted. That can lead to misunderstading at times, but it's the price to pay for efficiency. Another one: when you come across some idea/proposal that appears to have some obvious flaw, which however can be left out with no impact at all on the rest, feel free to leave it out and just evaluate the rest.
From: jimp on 19 Feb 2010 14:21 In sci.physics Andrew Usher <k_over_hbarc(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Feb 19, 11:52 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> > But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon! You might as >> > well scrap the whole thing otherwise. Or are you suggesting that we >> > only take holidays at Easter every four years or so, when your “settled” >> > date just happens to correspond with the right lunar phase? >> >> We don't have Christmas only when there's a bright star in the east. >> >> It's like saying "I was born on a Wednesday, so I'll only celebrate my >> birthday when it falls on a Wednesday". > > The reason I fix Christmas to a Sunday has been my observation that > arranging a family Christmas is substantially more convenient when it > falls on a weekend than in the middle of the week. Given that > Christmas is the most important holiday in the year, should we not all > get at least a 3-day weekend, which we have for lesser holidays? > > Andrew Usher Less than around 30% of the world population cares about Christmas or Easter or think that "Christmas is the most important holiday in the year". -- Jim Pennino Remove .spam.sux to reply.
From: Cheryl on 19 Feb 2010 14:36
jimp(a)specsol.spam.sux.com wrote: > In sci.physics Andrew Usher <k_over_hbarc(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> On Feb 19, 11:52 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> >>>> But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon! You might as >>>> well scrap the whole thing otherwise. Or are you suggesting that we >>>> only take holidays at Easter every four years or so, when your “settled” >>>> date just happens to correspond with the right lunar phase? >>> We don't have Christmas only when there's a bright star in the east. >>> >>> It's like saying "I was born on a Wednesday, so I'll only celebrate my >>> birthday when it falls on a Wednesday". >> The reason I fix Christmas to a Sunday has been my observation that >> arranging a family Christmas is substantially more convenient when it >> falls on a weekend than in the middle of the week. Given that >> Christmas is the most important holiday in the year, should we not all >> get at least a 3-day weekend, which we have for lesser holidays? >> >> Andrew Usher > > Less than around 30% of the world population cares about Christmas or > Easter or think that "Christmas is the most important holiday in the year". > > But just about all of them in the northern hemisphere want a big break in the middle of the winter, whatever the reason or name for the holiday. I expect that the southerners would like a break in the middle of their summer, but I don't know that myself. -- Cheryl |