[Chaos-l] Daylight Saving Time

[D Gary Grady]

Stewart Wignall wrote:
> For those who need some further "time confusion" in their lives try living in Indiana

Eek!

As I understand it, Indiana has finally decided to go onto Daylight 
Saving Time statewide (not just the northwestern counties around 
Chicago), but allegedly each county will still be able to decide whether 
it wants to be in the Central or Eastern Time Zone.

On a vaguely similar front, as I suspect most amateur astronomers are 
aware, when Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian calendar, he decreed 
that New Year would henceforth be celebrated January first (as a 
previous Roman pontifex, Julius Caesar, had declared before) rather than 
on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, as had been the common 
practice throughout Europe since at least the Middle Ages.

The states of Europe (especially the non-Catholic ones) differed in 
their reaction to the changes. Some accepted both the revised calendar 
and the new date for New Year, some rejected both, and some adopted one 
but not the other, with the result that in going from country to country 
especially in the time period from late December to early April by the 
various reckonings, you passed through various different combinations of 
dates and years. Most eventually got with the program, but the Russian 
Empire clung to the Julian calendar until the Revolution. (Isaac Asimov 
liked to point out that he was born under the Julian calendar.)

Britain didn't adopt either change until the mid-1700s and dates for 
decades around the time of transition are often suffixed "N.S." (new 
style) or "O.S." (old style) depending on which calendar was being 
referred to. This had an impact on how to deal with birthdays and 
anniversaries. Should you celebrate on the same calendar date even 
despite the change, or should you adjust for it? George Washington was 
among those born when the Julian calendar was still in effect, and since 
he was born in February, not just the date but the year was different 
O.S. versus N.S. No wonder he said, "Ah, screw it. Let's just do it on a 
Monday."



-- 
D Gary Grady
Durham NC USA
dgary at mindspring.com