From: Robert Bannister on
Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Feb 21, 12:20 am, Yusuf B Gursey <y...(a)theworld.com> wrote:
>> On Feb 19, 11:25 am, Mike Barnes <mikebar...(a)bluebottle.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> John Atkinson <johna...(a)bigpond.com>:
>>>> Halmyre wrote:
>>>>> I just wish they'd settle on a date for Easter and be done with it.
>>>> But, the whole point of Easter is that it has a full moon!
>>> A full-*ish* moon, actually. The definitions of the equinox and full
>>> moon used when determining Easter are rather different from the real
>>> definitions used by astronomers, which would actually give rise to
>>> different (perhaps several weeks different) Easter dates depending on
>>> one's longitude.
>>> But I thought that for most people the whole point of Easter is that
>>> they get time off work.
>> not in the US, at least not in my state.
>
> ? Time off? Offices aren't open on Sundays anyway, and retail stores
> haven't closed on holidays in years.

Right. Not only are both Friday and Monday holidays, the Friday is the
most closed up holiday of all in Australia - worse than Christmas Day -
no paper, no shops, no pubs, no nothing. We do seem to be moving rapidly
to shops being open every day; our government tells us this is progress;
I am not convinced.

--

Rob Bannister
From: Brian M. Scott on
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:01:15 +0800, Robert Bannister
<robban1(a)bigpond.com> wrote in
<news:7ue3asF7eoU4(a)mid.individual.net> in
sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.lang,alt.usage.english:

> Yusuf B Gursey wrote:

>> On Feb 19, 11:25 am, Mike Barnes
>> <mikebar...(a)bluebottle.com> wrote:

[...]

>>> But I thought that for most people the whole point of
>>> Easter is that they get time off work.

>> not in the US, at least not in my state.

> Are you saying that Easter is not a holiday in your state?

He's saying that people don't get time off work on account
of it. Which is doubtless true; I don't, either.

Brian
From: Greg Hennessy on
["Followup-To:" header set to sci.astro.]
>>> But I thought that for most people the whole point of Easter is that
>>> they get time off work.
>>
>> not in the US, at least not in my state.
>
> Are you saying that Easter is not a holiday in your state?

He's probably saying that most people don't get Easter off, since they
don't work on Sundays.


From: Robert Bannister on
Andrew Usher wrote:
> On Feb 19, 6:07 pm, Robert Bannister <robb...(a)bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>>> 6. This is surely the best possible arrangement that can be made,
>>> without disturbing the cycle of weeks or that of calendar days
>>> inherited from the Romans.
>> If you are going to try to make it sensible, then please give us 13
>> four-week months with one or two specially named days at the end of the
>> year to even it out. The first day of each month should be a Monday.
>
> Once again, I said that I excluded having days outside the week. And
> the first day of the week is Sunday, not Monday - that is an
> incontrovertible fact.

Oh dear. I had thought that you weren't a crank up till now.

>
> Having 13 months, in addition, would screw up a bunch of things ; in
> particular, 13 can't be divided.

Why is that so important? Why is not having days outside the week
important? I seem to have lost the point of having a calendar change.


--

Rob Bannister
From: alan on

"Androcles" <Headmaster(a)Hogwarts.physics_u> wrote


> Observing the planets as gods goes back to prehistory
> and are the basis of the seven day week.

The strcit 7 day week actually had its origins with the Jews. Ancient Rome,
for example, had an 8 day week and was consistent with the scheduling of a
market-day.
Other cultures at other times have had 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 day "weeks" ---
they also corresponded with the local market day cycle and were concerned
with practical proximity to a market center, having nothing at all to do
with astronomical observations.