New Calendar

Here we go with the long awaited new calendar project announcement!! This is a work in progress, if you have opinions or suggestions that can help further the development and implementation of this calendar, please speak up.

The issues the new calendar addresses:

1, Notable dates and holidays on the current calendar fail to carry information about both the day of the week and calendar date of the original event.

-Anyone know what day of the week July 4, 1776 was? Its not on wikipedia.

-What day of the week were you born on?

-Do you still remember that September 11th was on a Tuesday?

-Thanksgiving? Thursday. What was the date of the original feast? Dec 4th.

-Election day? Tuesday the what?

-Memorial day? Monday the what?

2, Sometimes holidays fall on inconvenient days of the week. Did anyone work a half day on Christmas eve Monday this year? Or New Years Eve Monday? I didn't travel home for the Fourth of July this time because it was on a Wednesday.

The new calendar resolves these issues in one simple stroke: January 1st resets the week to the same day of the week each year. That means with 365 days in a year, there would be one extra day remaining. One holiday would land on a three-day weekend between two five-day weeks. For example, if January 1st was a Sunday, the preceding Dec 30th and 31st would both be Saturdays.

I know what you're thinking: "this would never happen." Well, no one said it was going to be easy. And, the only way it could happen is if we develop the idea to a level where it makes so much sense that its hard to reject. I think its time to get a team together to hash out the idea.

1. For starters we should see where the holidays would land depending what day the year starts on.

2. Then figure out where the 3-day weekend should go.

3. Then think of corporate sponsors. This is where it could really get interesting. The airlines love Thanksgiving. Hallmark loves Fathers and Mothers day. Flower stores and restaurants love Valentines day. What if we could strengthen the impact of certain holidays? For example, the airlines lost my business this year because of the Fourth of July landing on Wednesday.

4. Then there is Leap Year. This will have to get special attention. The easiest thing to do would be to make another three-day weekend on the years that currently have a Feb 29th. It would be a lot easier if Feb 28th was a Fri or Sat. If not, it would either have to move to the end of a month where there is a weekend, or if February really seemed like the right time for it, there could be a 6-day work week with two consecutive Mondays or something. That would be terrible.

5. And most importantly, what should it be named?

Who is on board?