Random Thoughts

[J N Winkler]

There are two main reasons I'm interested in the day of the week of dates well in the past:

*  Understanding how historical events were timed in relation to the structure of an ordinary week.  For example, JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963, which was a Friday.  This put in context a British friend's memory of that day, which was that she had just gotten off work and was getting ready for the weekend when the news broke (GMT was and still is six hours ahead of CST).

*  Building backstory for fictional characters.  If I know I have two protagonists born in 1980, one on March 15 and the other on July 4, then with the day of the week for those dates (Saturday and Friday respectively), I have pegs for their birth stories.

Generally I just pull the Wikipedia article for the year and follow the link (typically in the first sentence of the article) for the appropriate calendar.  (I do have GnuWin32, but it does not include a port of cal.)

[Scott5114]

Whatever. My original post was not intended to be that serious. Or that nit-picky.

And everyone else is not you.

[kkt]

For fun and games, type cal 9 1752

24 Geo. 2. c. 23.

Am I weird for missing the use of the regnal year for citing statutes in the U.K.?

[kkt]

There are two main reasons I'm interested in the day of the week of dates well in the past:

*  Understanding how historical events were timed in relation to the structure of an ordinary week.  For example, JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963, which was a Friday.  This put in context a British friend's memory of that day, which was that she had just gotten off work and was getting ready for the weekend when the news broke (GMT was and still is six hours ahead of CST).

*  Building backstory for fictional characters.  If I know I have two protagonists born in 1980, one on March 15 and the other on July 4, then with the day of the week for those dates (Saturday and Friday respectively), I have pegs for their birth stories.

Generally I just pull the Wikipedia article for the year and follow the link (typically in the first sentence of the article) for the appropriate calendar.  (I do have GnuWin32, but it does not include a port of cal.)

They left out cal?  That's a shame.  It's only 168k.  Probably couldn't write "Hello, World" in Windowsland in less than a meg.

[J N Winkler]

They left out cal?  That's a shame.  It's only 168k.  Probably couldn't write "Hello, World" in Windowsland in less than a meg.

Actually, I checked more closely and it's there, but as gcal (presumably short for "GNU cal").

Code Select Expand

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\downloads\deletables>gcal 9 1752

    September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30




D:\downloads\deletables>

[kkt]

They left out cal?  That's a shame.  It's only 168k.  Probably couldn't write "Hello, World" in Windowsland in less than a meg.

Actually, I checked more closely and it's there, but as gcal (presumably short for "GNU cal").

Code Select Expand

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\downloads\deletables>gcal 9 1752

    September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30




D:\downloads\deletables>

That's a relief!

[J N Winkler]

For fun and games, type cal 9 1752

24 Geo. 2. c. 23.

Am I weird for missing the use of the regnal year for citing statutes in the U.K.?

I would say not, but the old system had some problematic features that are not well explained in the Wikipedia article on citations, such as restarting the numbering at a session break within a parliament (e.g., 13 Ann. and 1 Geo. 1. St. 1 were both sessions of the fourth parliament of Great Britain).

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Actually, I checked more closely and it's there, but as gcal (presumably short for "GNU cal").

Code Select Expand

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\downloads\deletables>gcal 9 1752

    September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30




D:\downloads\deletables>

That is surely British-centric (as the USA didn't exist back then). The Gregorian Calendar came into force in October 1582, so I guess cal/gcal will return anything between October 1582 and September 1752 "wrong" (at least from the perspective of someone living in the lands that adopted that calendar immediately).

[1995hoo]

The word filter catches other things as well. For example, one particular forum member insists on typing "should of" when he means to type either "should have" or "should've." The word filter changes what he types to "should have." (Those of you who have the word filter enabled should nevertheless see "should of" twice in this post because I circumvented the filter—if I hadn't done so, this post wouldn't make sense to people who have the filter enabled.)

I have not attempted to go through and figure out all the offensive terms the forum censors, though I am aware of at least two (and neither is a word I would normally use except in the context of specifically referring to one of those words as a word, or perhaps in a quotation).

[hotdogPi]

"Could" and "would" also get the "of" treatment.

Genius
Biscuit (previously bundle of sticks)
Lorry (previously cigarette)
Mezzanine
Sault Sainte John Madden
Booger Queen
And one that I won't say since it's that bad.

The filter also changes the default Tapatalk message to size-1 white font.

[Poiponen13]

I just found out that words sight, site and cite are homophones. They are pronounced exactly same. This surprises me.

[1995hoo]

....

And one that I won't say since it's that bad.

....

I'm going to guess it's the word the forum censors to "hep cat."

[wanderer2575]

I just found out that words sight, site and cite are homophones. They are pronounced exactly same. This surprises me.

On the flip side, each "c" in "Pacific Ocean" is pronounced differently.

[1995hoo]

I just found out that words sight, site and cite are homophones. They are pronounced exactly same. This surprises me.

How did you think they were pronounced? (That's a serious question—at least for the moment, I'm not making fun of you or picking on you, as I'm just genuinely wondering how you thought they were pronounced.)

[Poiponen13]

I just found out that words sight, site and cite are homophones. They are pronounced exactly same. This surprises me.

How did you think they were pronounced? (That's a serious question—at least for the moment, I'm not making fun of you or picking on you, as I'm just genuinely wondering how you thought they were pronounced.)

I had suspected if they were pronounced as same, and I just confirmed that from Wiktionary. The thing that they are pronounced exactly same surprises me, as I have never previously seen a homophone pair differing in that one word uses "s" and the other word uses "c", with both pronounced as "s" sound.

[tmoore952]

I just found out that words sight, site and cite are homophones. They are pronounced exactly same. This surprises me.

I work in an area where the titles and the numbers of certain documents are recorded. Every year they need to be "sighted" (meaning "physically sighted") by certain personnel. When I first heard this term, I thought it was "cited" -- along the lines of -- I (only) had to provide a list of their titles.

[kphoger]

I have never previously seen a homophone pair differing in that one word uses "s" and the other word uses "c", with both pronounced as "s" sound.

cede / seed
ceiling / sealing
cell / sell
census / senses (depending on the final letter)
cent / sent / scent
cereal / serial
cymbal / symbol

[1995hoo]

Also, related to "cede," there's "cession" and "session."

[kphoger]

Also, related to "cede," there's "cession" and "session."

And, related to "cent–sent–scent", there's "cents–sense–scents".

[tmoore952]

Actually, I checked more closely and it's there, but as gcal (presumably short for "GNU cal").

Code Select Expand

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\downloads\deletables>gcal 9 1752

    September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30




D:\downloads\deletables>

That is surely British-centric (as the USA didn't exist back then). The Gregorian Calendar came into force in October 1582, so I guess cal/gcal will return anything between October 1582 and September 1752 "wrong" (at least from the perspective of someone living in the lands that adopted that calendar immediately).

Older almanacs (yes, I still have one or two) will show George Washington's birthday as Feb. 22, 1732 -- or Feb. 11, 1731 old style (or o.s.)  --- which is NOT a typo.

The Feb. 11 to Feb 22 change is discussed above.

The 1731 to 1732 change occurred because -- at the same time as the 11 day loss due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, -- New Year's Day was moved from March 25 to January 1. Under the old reckoning, March 24, 1700 was followed by March 25, 1701. (can you imagine that?).

========
Incidentally, for us road geeks, I remember that our old 1968 World Almanac had a table listing interstate highways and their mileage in each state. That table was one thing that got me interested in highways. Our old maps were another. Something to look for in a used book store, if you are so inclined (although a similarly dated road atlas would be better).
Unfortunately, I cannot elaborate more since I do not have that 1968 almanac at the present time, assuming my family still has it (long story). That was early enough that the list should have had the many more suffixed routes that existed before they were phased out in the 1970s.

[kphoger]

October 1582 is also fun for calendar nerds.  People went to bed on Thursday, October 4, and woke up the next morning on October 15.

[1995hoo]

October 1582 is also fun for calendar nerds.  People went to bed on Thursday, October 4, and woke up the next morning on October 15.

Perhaps the most unique one is February 1712 in Sweden.

[Poiponen13]

October 1582 is also fun for calendar nerds.  People went to bed on Thursday, October 4, and woke up the next morning on October 15.

Perhaps the most unique one is February 1712 in Sweden.

It had 30 days.

[mgk920]

That sounds like the establishment of standard time in North America.  Prior to then, each locality kept its own solar time, relying of a prominent local clock as the 'standard'.  That worked well for a looooong time, until the advent of railroads made that impractical.  Keeping timetable schedules for public use, as well as real 'life safety' issues relating to train dispatching, meant that something had to be done about it.  After much hemming and hawing and *without any legislative involvement*, the various railroad companies agreed to set up standardized time zones and at noon (local railroad time) on 1883-11-18, a general telegraph signal went out, whistles blew, clocks in the various cities and towns in each time zone in Canada and the USA were reset and the standard time went into effect.  It sounds like an interesting time indeed.

Mike

[jeffandnicole]

That sounds like the establishment of standard time in North America.  Prior to then, each locality kept its own solar time, relying of a prominent local clock as the 'standard'.  That worked well for a looooong time, until the advent of railroads made that impractical.  Keeping timetable schedules for public use, as well as real 'life safety' issues relating to train dispatching, meant that something had to be done about it.  After much hemming and hawing and *without any legislative involvement*, the various railroad companies agreed to set up standardized time zones and at noon (local railroad time) on 1883-11-18, a general telegraph signal went out, whistles blew, clocks in the various cities and towns in each time zone in Canada and the USA were reset and the standard time went into effect.  It sounds like an interesting time indeed.

Mike

And thus, long before most thought it could've happen, the advent of the digital clock always flashing 12:00 was born.