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  From: Richard Sharpe <sharpe@ns.aus.com>
  To  : LinuxSA@linuxsa.org.au
  Date: Sat, 06 Nov 1999 01:01:48 +1000

Re: Daylight Savings Time

At 11:02 AM 11/5/99 +1030, David Drury <idavid@smug.adelaide.edu.au> David
Drury commented on what I can only think was tongue-in-cheek
drivel^H^H^H^H^Herudition:

WARNING.  The following is (informed) opinion that will no doubt inflame
many.  Some will claim that I have gone too far and should be burned at the
stake for offending the sensibilities of the main-stays of our community.
Other, no doubt, will claim that I have not gone far enough and should be
burned at the stake for being the running-dog lackey of the establishment.
C'est la guerre!

>Hi,
>
>> Our current calendar was settled in western europe in AD 513 during an
>> alchoholics convention. Apart from lousy beer, a lot of wine, and much 
>> wenching, the honorable monks bounced and juggled a few numbers around and
>> came up with a solution that in fact leaves Christ's birthdate 3 years
>> PRIOR to AD1.  Even Xmas day is technically wrong, i don't remember the
actual
>> number (think Jan 3rd).
>
>Well actually I believe it is about 12 years out. it is definitly wrong.
>The date of December 25th is actually a convenient Roman festival date, 4

Yes, indeed.  When you are starting a new religion, it is helpful if you
can choose motifs and dates that strike a chord in your prospective
adherant's minds.  The festival was Saturnalia.

The choice of motifs can be quite interesting.  For instance, "The citizens
of Alexandria invoked, and took official oaths by, the trinity of Zeus,
Hera and Poseidon" [Peter Green, From Alexander to Actium, Page 397].

>days after Solstice, and it was the roman emperors trying to please both
>religions in the Roman empire. The actual date is actually mid year some

Highly unlikely that those in charge of the Roman empire at the time [circa
100CE] were in the least bit concerned about appeasing a minor religion
from a two-bit part of the empire.

They did, later, oppress adherants of the new religion, and treated them as
atheists.

Not until the time of Constantine did Christianity get a break, although
there had been some periods of official dis-interest prior to Constantine.

>time. You can work it out due to the fact that Shepards were watching
>their flocks by night, and a few other clues in the story.

Indeed. No-one knows when it might have occurred and we are left to infer a
date from the Gospels, all of which are likely to have been written after
the fall of Jeruselem in 70CE.

>> Second, the Gregorian calendar which we now temporarily subscribe to was
so 
>> stuffed up they had to plug the errors by inserting two extra months in the
>> year (which is why oct, nov december) are decimal months on the Julian
>> calendar. It's hard enough for me to figure out why SEPTember isn't the
seventh
>> month of the year when it says it is. 


Another source of uncertainty regarding exact dating of days at this time
derives from changes made by Augustus to the lengths of the months.
According to some accounts, originally the month of February had 29 days
and in leap years 30 days (unlike 28 and 29 now). It lost a day because at
some point the fifth and six months of the old Roman calendar were renamed
as Julius and Augustus respectively, in honor of their eponyms, and the
number of days in August, previously 30, now became 31 (the same as the
number of days in July), so that Augustus Caesar would not be regarded as
inferior to Julius Caesar. The extra day needed for August was taken from
the end of February. However there is still no certainty regarding these
matters, so all dates prior to A.D. 4, when the Julian Calendar finally
stabilized, are uncertain.

  [Excerpted from: 
     http://www.magnet.ch/serendipity/hermetic/cal_stud/cal_art.htm]

>Also they were out by missing leap years,and so to correct it, pope
>gregory actually took about 100 (I think) days out of some year. That was
>a real problem for some people then. "The church is stealing our time !"
>The gregorian calendar is actually necesary over the julian if you want
>your years to have your seasons match up (the only reason we need to
>measure years like that at all, otherwise it could be purely arbitary).
>
>There's probably much more reliable and informative information on the
>'net or in an encyclopedia for those really interested. The story of time
>measurement is interesting.
>
>Insidently, our numbering system and calenders actually go back to
>babylon, where they thought there were 360 days in the year, and hence we
>have 360 degrees in a circle (apart from the fact its a conveniently
>dividable number)


Regards
-------
Richard Sharpe, sharpe@ns.aus.com, Master Linux Administrator :-),
Samba (Team member, www.samba.org), Ethereal (Team member, www.zing.org)
Co-author, SAMS Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours
Author: First Australian 5-day, intensive, hands-on Linux SysAdmin course

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