The 5 steps to ACTUAL calendar reform

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2015/05/11 13:49 +00:00, original URI: http://www.siao2.com/2015/05/11/8770668856267196418.aspx

Along similar lines as my DST roundup blog at http://www.siao2.com/2015/03/17/8770668856267196341.aspx blogger Matthias Rascher pointed out on Twitter a nice summary of failed attempts at calendar reform: 10-day weeks, Year Day, and other failed attempts at calendar changes http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/04/11/history_s_failed_attempts_to_redesign_the_calendar_from_99_percent_invisible.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

It is easy to think that you have a good idea, and it is even easier to think that you have a great idea. And it is better to realize that it probably won't work, even when (or especially when!) you might even be right.

So I'm going to save everyone some time, and explain the only way to reform a calendar. In just five easy steps....

1. Have a truly unique and powerful idea about calendar reform. I cannot state this point enough, since it is so easy to overlook that nearly everyone does. How many people are using the French revolutionary calendar, anyway?
2. Pick a religion (not a country) with a history spanning millenia and use them to push your agenda. No matter how smart one believes atheists to be, none of them have ever reformed a calendar by admitting their lack of religion aloud.
3. Be prepared to support them any way you can, including giving up naming rights for your new baby. Remember that the Gregorian calendar was named after Pope Gregory.
4. Prepare to wait several hundred years or longer, since that's how long it will take most people to adopt it anyway. Remember that even popular calendars take a while to catch on.

In the end, I'm not going to finish this list, since it seriously unlikely to ever happen. Though if someone really thinks that they are the exception that proves the rule, I'd be happy to cure you of your misguided notion(s). 😉

For better or worse, we have the best calendar that can make it through the process. If you want to be immortalized, you'll need to find a better way....

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