6 Brain-Stretching Calendar Systems You Never Knew Existed
If you're celebrating New Year's Eve on "December 31st", you're doing that because of one emperor, one much-younger queen, and a pope who revised those lovers' work. That's right: three dead people are why billions of us hoist champagne at a specific annual minute. Isn't it strange how much of the world runs on that schedule? Isn't it odd how we accept a life of obtuse month lengths and confusing leap days? And did you know the WEIRD CALENDARS RABBIT HOLE goes so much deeper than that?
On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt rings in "the new year" with comedians/podcasters Billy Wayne Davis and Danielle Radford. It's a special double-topic show, beginning with the strange history and complex present day of the "normal" calendar. Then they'll explore the most obscure, bizarre, and theoretical calendars from world history, many of them invented to fix that pope-y dating system you might've planned a party around.
Footnotes:
Billy Wayne Davis 'Live At Third Man Records'
Tights And Fights podcast (Maximum Fun)
We've been using the Gregorian calendar for years. It's still bizarre. (Vox)
How could the year 2000 be a leap year when 1900 was not? (HowStuffWorks)
The Future of Leap Seconds (TimeAndDate.com)
Ancient eclipses show Earth's rotation is slowing (Science)
Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round (Scientific American)
This Day In History: March 8th, 1917: February Revolution begins in Russia (History.com)
Russia's October Revolution Anniversary Is Marked In November: Here's Why (Newsweek)
Sweden Enjoys February 30 (History.com.au)
5 Cultures Whose Calendars Would Break Your Concept of Time (Cracked)
MacGyver Tip: Use your knuckles to remember each month's days (Lifehacker)
Corn Flakes Were Part Of An Anti-Masturbation Crusade (Mental Floss)
