WSJ.com:
Almost since
Pope
Gregory XIII promulgated the new calendar—itself a
reform of
Julius
Caesar's calendar—in 1582, proposals have bubbled up
for something better.Creating a calendar is difficult. Western
tradition demands a seven-day week. Ancient custom, rooted in
Moon cycles, calls for a 12-month year. The Earth's tilted axis
produces four seasons. But
Earth's
orbit, uncooperatively, takes slightly more than 365 days,
and 365 is divisible by none of 7, 12 or 4. And thanks to the
little bit of extra time—about one-fourth of a
day—required for a complete orbit, leap years are needed
to keep things on track.The
Wall Street Journal's Charles Forelle
takes
a brief look at the Gregorian calendar and some of the
alternatives such as giving February, May, August, and November
35 days and the rest 28 days, except in a leap year, when
December has 35.
