WI: An "American Republican Calendar?"

[Widukind]

There is nothing irrational or impractical with ten hour days and ten day weeks. In fact it is in line with the metric system of measurements, which is the most rational and practical system. Time is the only important area where metric system of measurement was not introduced.

You make a rather big assumption here, namely that the metric system is 'the most rational and practical system". Based on what? The fact that we have ten fingers, making it suited to our needs? Hate to break it to you, but a year has twelve lunar cycles. That's our basis for time measurement, and has been throughout human history. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that nearly every living thing on this planet is biologically aligned to that cycle? Replacing natural months with unnatural decimal cycles seems like a very dumb plan to me.

That means metric years, months and weeks are right out, really. While a metric clock might still work, even though a metric calendar is useless, it still offers no benefits at all. It isn't more "rational," either. You have two perfectly valid frames of reference. One is decimal, based on our ten fingers, which is thus perfectly rational for counting things, and a good basis for weights and measures... and one based on the lunar cycle, which is perfect (and perfectly rational) for time measurement.

Does it make sense to start measuring shorter instances of time (days, hours, minutes & seconds) according to the decimal standard, when it is inherently illogical to measure longer instances of time (weeks, months, years) according to that standard? No, it does not.

Therefore, I firmly stand by the opinion, put forth by Anaxagoras, that decimal time measurement is an ill-conceived notion. One should also observe that when the French actually tried it, it wasn't actually well-received, and they abandoned it when the revolutionary fever finally broke.

Make no mistake: I'm a big fan of the metric system for weights and measures. Very sensible. Should really be adopted world-wide. But metric time measurement just remains irrational and unwieldy.

 

[PaulJones202718]

I doubt that the Framers would consider this for more than five seconds. They didn't want to change the world, they just wanted Mad Old King George off their backs.

 

[rottengreekfire]

Apparently I'm not the only crazy person who had this idea.

(I made this last "year" and it would be for a modern setting, i.e. months Roosevelt, Lincoln, etc.)

View attachment New Calendar mk IV.pdf

 

[ArKhan]

I'd recommend doing like the French calendar and actually making up words to avoid confusion ("come back in happiness or perhaps in mid-liberty").

an exemple using as template the French calendar but with Anglo-Saxon roots instead of latin:

winter
1- sleetary
2- snowary
3- coldary

spring
4- saedil
5- blaedil
6- baeril

summer
7- sowly
8- haetely
9- waestemly

autumn
10- feallettanber
11- fogber
12- Forstber

Interesting names. The problem I have with this one, is:

1. July 4th is supposed to be day one year one. That means that new years is in summer, not winter.
2. No "extra days" at the end of the year.

 

[Marc Pasquin]

Interesting names. The problem I have with this one, is:

1. July 4th is supposed to be day one year one. That means that new years is in summer, not winter.
2. No "extra days" at the end of the year.

Well you can slide the months so Sowly is #1 and as for auxiliary days:

Liberty Day
Union Day
Labour Day
Founders Day
Constitution Day
Revolution Day

howzat ?

 

[Kishan]

You make a rather big assumption here, namely that the metric system is 'the most rational and practical system". Based on what? The fact that we have ten fingers, making it suited to our needs? Hate to break it to you, but a year has twelve lunar cycles. That's our basis for time measurement, and has been throughout human history. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that nearly every living thing on this planet is biologically aligned to that cycle? Replacing natural months with unnatural decimal cycles seems like a very dumb plan to me.

That means metric years, months and weeks are right out, really. While a metric clock might still work, even though a metric calendar is useless, it still offers no benefits at all. It isn't more "rational," either. You have two perfectly valid frames of reference. One is decimal, based on our ten fingers, which is thus perfectly rational for counting things, and a good basis for weights and measures... and one based on the lunar cycle, which is perfect (and perfectly rational) for time measurement.

Does it make sense to start measuring shorter instances of time (days, hours, minutes & seconds) according to the decimal standard, when it is inherently illogical to measure longer instances of time (weeks, months, years) according to that standard? No, it does not.

Therefore, I firmly stand by the opinion, put forth by Anaxagoras, that decimal time measurement is an ill-conceived notion. One should also observe that when the French actually tried it, it wasn't actually well-received, and they abandoned it when the revolutionary fever finally broke.

Make no mistake: I'm a big fan of the metric system for weights and measures. Very sensible. Should really be adopted world-wide. But metric time measurement just remains irrational and unwieldy.

There is nothing irrational in adopting the Metric system in time measurement also. Of course the two basic units of time measurement are the day and the year. Since the year contains 365.25 days the multiples of ten cannot be used to connect them.
But for units shorter than a day and longer than a year we can use multiples of ten. We already use terms like decade, century and millennium for units above year. Similarly for units shorter than a day, multiples of ten can be used. Terms like deciday(2.4 hours), centiday(14.4 minutes), milliday(1.44 minutes) etc. can be used. A second can be defined as one by hundred thousand of a day.
The units between the day and the year may be retained as the present weeks and months. The lunar circle of 30 days may be retained as the month. If a five day or six day week is adopted it will fit neatly into a 30 day month. But the religious significance of the seven day week is the problem.

 

[VictorLaszlo]

One of the main reasons why the decimal measurement of time did not catch on even in revolutionary era France was that unlike today when the average consumer purchases a new watch every 12 to 24 months (when the battery and the bracelet have to be replaced) a watch or a clock was regarded as a substantial private investment, an item that most people would buy once maybe twice in their lives and that would be handed down from father to son.

Furthermore, not only did most people not have the money to purchase a new time piece quickly, the production capacity back then was not sufficient to replace a sizable enough portion of those used in an acceptably short timeframe to allow a halfway smooth transition. It was not until Ingersoll introduced the 'Yankee Dollar-Watch' (with an MSRP of US$ 1.00, therefore its name) a good century later in 1896 that watches became mass produced consumables with 40 million units sold over the next 20 years.