In a message dated 12/25/1999 1:25:27 PM Pacific Standard Time,
foxvideo_at_wincom.net writes:
> Now what I would like some of you scientific types to explain to me is how
> folks living in the years 'BC' designated them. They couldn't say "this
> year is 45 BC'" because they didn't know when it was going to happen.
Time is relative. The Egyptians had their own calendar, it would be 5XXX now.
I rather like the Mayan interlocking circles. Their calendar was more
accurate than ours. It is also interesting that it had a start time that
preceded their own culture.
I suspect that for most of humanity that the stars and the night sky has held
a far greater position in ones life than now. We used to live a lot closer to
earth's cycles. The seasons and passing of years generate their own calendar.
We, in Oregon, are going through a long term cycle of heavier rainfall, more
than 18 years long. People seem to forget this is a 'cycle' in the dry years.
I wonder what the native American cultures called "EL Nino"? I am sure it was
a segment of their calendar.
Mediterranean metalsmiths(in Rhodes, 86BC) built a differential geared
calculator for calculating the positions of the sun and moon, with eclipses,
multiple years and more. Here is a URL which may have appeared on this list
before.
http://www.math.utsa.edu/ecz/ak.html
<A HREF="
http://www.math.utsa.edu/ecz/ak.html">Gears from the Greeks</A> I
hope this qualifies as "on topic"
Many cultures instituted their own calendars. Western civilization has
instituted the current calendar, mostly for commercial purposes. Since most
people have adopted it, the current calendar would be hard to change. This
is the same problem with the millennium change. I like the British
Observatory's statement. The idea of a year of celebration sounds like a lot
of fun, I hope to do my share.
Paxton
Received on Sun Dec 26 1999 - 00:26:00 GMT