Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT: 2455-2459 (27-31 May, 2013) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread
Kugai:
Well, Shakespeare is good for learning ancient Danish Politics :-D
ankhtahr:
I think reading the Edda is pretty useful as well.
By the way, I just realised how serious Angus' desire to move is.
Method of Madness:
I've always meant to read the major religious texts, just haven't gotten around to it.
Sorflakne:
--- Quote from: Method of Madness on 26 May 2013, 12:53 ---I've always meant to read the major religious texts, just haven't gotten around to it.
--- End quote ---
The world was created by a divine being or beings out of a formless void and some people extolled the god(s) they worshiped and were either accepted into some afterlife or were damned and then in the end, the divine being(s) destroys the world.
There you go. Every religious text ever summarized in one sentence.
KOK:
--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 26 May 2013, 07:03 ---
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 26 May 2013, 06:05 ---The pattern of the Gregorian calendar repeats every four thousand years.
--- End quote ---
I think four hundred years is enough, if you only worry about which day of the week falls on which date. This is because in every span of 400 years there are exactly 97 leap years. On a regular year the calendar moves up one week day (because 365 is congruent to 1 modulo 7), and on a leap year the calendar moves up 2 week days (well, there will be one extra day). Therefore in a span of 400 years the calendar will have moved up 400+97=497 days, which is a multiple of seven, so the calendar repeats.
This, of course, ignores things like the location of the Easter which depends on the cycle of full moons. Because the length of the Moons period is (most likely) not a rational multiple of days (and it actually varies, as tidal forces and such affect the Moon's motion), that is unlikely to repeat exactly. At least not from here to eternity. Well, the Gregorian calendar itself will deviate from the "true" Solar calendar eventually, so this last point is kinda moot.
--- End quote ---
The Gregorian calendar actually does contain rules for calculating the exact date of easter. The official full moon dates repeat in a cycle of 19 years. Every time a leap year is skipped, the dates are moved one day to compensate. Since the 19 year cycle is not exact, the dates are moved one day every 300 years. Once every 2500 years, the period between adjustments is 400 years in stead of 300, giving a cycle of 2500 years. The dates were moved in 1700 and in 1800. In 1900 a leap year was skipped, but it was 300 years since the system was started, and the two adjustments canceled out. In 2000 the leap year was not skipped, so no adjustment.
This does not mean that the date of easter repeats in a cycle of 2500 years, only that the official date of the full moon does. Easter is the first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. How long the cycle is for this I don't know, and it is moot anyway since the system is not going to be in use for that long.
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