Monday, 14 December 2020
Is this the most beautiful fish?
Sunday, 13 December 2020
Ethiopian calendar
It's 2013 in Ethiopia. For some reason, their calendar operates seven years behind our (Gregorian) calendar. Which is proof that time travel exists; on your next trip there, you will travel seven years back in time: Lily Allen is top of the charts, Barack Obama is US President, there has been no Brexit referendum, Britain has just exported pig semen to China. There's a chance to change the future!
Wait! You can't book your emigration flights on that flimsy evidence. It's not as simple as that.
theculturetrip.com tells me "Owing to its complexity, Ethiopians call the method used to calculate the calendar Bahere Hasab, or ‘sea of thoughts’. The calendar system starts with the idea that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years before they were expelled for their sins" [justice was slow in those days]. So they date their calendar from the end of that seven years, whereas Pope Gregory XIII went for the earlier date.
The only other countries which do not use the Gregorian calendar - at least that I could discover - are Afghanistan, Iran and Nepal. Countries which use their own calendars alongside the Gregorian calendar are Bangladesh, India, Israel, Japan and Thailand. These have the same dates as the Gregorian calendar with different religious holidays.
North Korea and Taiwan seem to be, along with Ethiopia, outliers in the world's calendar fraternity.
The North Koreans date their Juche calendar from 1912, the year of Kin Il Sung's birth. Of course. Thankfully they also recognise the Gregorian calendar. uritours.com tells me "For any date including or after 1912, the date must be written in either of two formats: May 22, Juche 109 (2020), or simply as May 22, Juche 109. There is no Juche 0. Years prior to 1912 (Juche 1) continue to be written as per the Gregorian calendar, there is no ‘before Juche’ or similar concept.".
I'm glad we sorted that out. I hope you're still awake.
I'm told that there will shortly be a new calendar in use in half of the United States. The Trump Calendar dates from 1946, the year of Donald J. Trump's birth. For any date including or after 1946, the date must be written in either of two formats: May 22, Trump 74 (2020), or simply as May 22, Trump 74. There is no Trump 0. Years prior to 1946 (Trump 1 [as distinct from "Trump won"]) continue to be written as per the Gregorian calendar, there is no ‘before Trump’ or similar concept.
In Taiwan the Minguo Calendar has one thing in common with North Koreans - it begins in 1912, in this case because that was the year of the establishment of the Republic of China. Similarly the days of the calendar match the Gregorian but are referred to as 民國元年 (Mínguó Yuánnián) for 1912 and 民國一百零九年, 民國109年 for 2020, the "109th year of the Republic", or simply 109. Simples.
Check out forvo.com to hear these Chinese words pronounced.
The first day of the Ethiopian calendar year is September 11. Or September 12 (in the year before the Ethiopian leap year). Back to theculturetrip.com for the final, encouraging word: "The calendar offers foreign travellers the perfect excuse to hold two different celebrations for New Year’s and Christmas."
Do you feel you need two Christmases every year? Kids, you know what to do.
Saturday, 12 December 2020
We are known by our initials
Friday, 11 December 2020
Pluto
Many years ago, when I was at school, I was taught that there are nine planets in our Solar System.
One day, slightly fewer years ago, the Interplanetary Council met. On Jupiter, not because they are the biggest but because it's their turn. A motion was presented by the Chairthing, to the effect that "Pluto is too small to be part of our club. Our next meeting is due to be there and it's just too cold. They should be relegated to the Second Division". "And it is 3,638.5 million miles away" piped up the little Mercuryling "and I wouldn't get back in time for Neighbours". "Best keep quiet, little Mercuryling" croaked Saturnbeast, "you'll be next in line".
"Wait a minute, we orbit the Sun don't we?" spluttered the Plutothing. "Once a day [that's a Pluto day; 248 earth years]. That's what planets do, isn't it? In any case, it only took us 20 earth-minutes to come here today." Now Pluto is the only one of the planets with teleport technology, so that's why they got there quickly. You might have thought to ask "how did you get here so fast" but the real question is "why did it take you so long?"
You would have thought that the other planets would have cosied up to the Plutonians, to do a trade deal - maybe some of our nice plutonium deposits in exchange for your teleport tech? "Don't be silly, we have our own plutonium - why do you think we are called Pluto?" "I thought you were named after Mickey Mouse's dog" whined the Marsling.
"Enough; we should vote" the Earthling intoned. Of course, ever the diplomats of the Solar System. They voted: 8 to 1 for the relegation of Pluto. Now there are only eight planets. But who will be next? The Mercuryling is keeping quiet on that one.
The Second Division is now a club of five planets - Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake [that's a name? Did someone makemake that up?]. They are known as dwarf planets. I don't think that's a politically incorrect term, as dwarfism is a known medical condition. Except for Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt, these small planets are located in the Kuiper Belt. That's just around the Kuiper Waist and holding up the Kuiper Pants.
Pluto is not even the biggest of these. That's Eris, whose diameter is 1,445 miles against Pluto's 1,430. Close.
Space.com tells me that the debate over Pluto's status continues:
The debate started anew after the New Horizons mission passed by Pluto in 2015, revealing a world of surprising geological complexity. As of 2017, delegates from the mission [wait! They've travelled more than 5 million km to get here? Wow] are trying to get Pluto's planethood status back.
The primary concern stems from the requirement for a planet to clear out its local neighborhood [ah, those pesky plutonium dealers on the street corners, that's the problem?].
'In no other branch of science am I familiar with something that absurd," New Horizons principle[sic] investigator Alan Stern told Space.com in 2011. "A river is a river, independent of whether there are other rivers nearby. In science, we call things what they are based on their attributes, not what they're next to.'
Yep, I'm with you, Al. #GetPlutoBack
How does a mere blogger know this esoteric stuff? Research, mate, that's how. With a bit of help from NASA.
Thursday, 10 December 2020
John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge was the youngest ever Vice President of the United States. He served from 1857 to 1861 and was 36 when he was inaugurated. After his vice presidential term, he became a general in the Confederate Army in the Civil War.
At the other end of the spectrum, Joe Biden will be by far the oldest to be inaugurated as President at 78 when he takes office in January.
No doubt you think that it has always been the case that US Presidents can only serve two four year terms but not so. This was established in the twenty second amendment to the constitution in1951. Previously, Franklin D. Roosevelt served three full terms and two months of a fourth term before his death in office in 1945.
By the way, the two terms do not have to be consecutive, so it's possible for a President, who served one term then lost his re-election bid ,to serve his [it's always been a male so far] second term subsequently. Grover Cleveland is the only one to have done this in,1885 and 1893. So far... So, although Biden will be the 46th President, he will only be the 45th person to be President. Remember that for your pub quiz.
It's not necessarily a good thing to seek a second term. I browsed and analysed some polling data from Gallop and discovered that the majority of Presidents for whom they conducted opinion polls of approval ratings showed a significantly lower approval in the second term than the first:
So maybe think again, Donald.
Friday, 4 December 2020
The Boys are Back in Town
As Thin Lizzy sang:
Guess who just got back today
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, hadn't much to say
But, man, I still think them cats are crazy
In this case, the boys were 22 young men, four officials and numerous coaching and support staff. Most importantly, two thousand football fans.
Last night's match at the Emirates Stadium in North London between home club Arsenal and visitors Rapid Vienna marked the first post lockdown match involving a Premier League team. London is in Tier 2 and so 2,000 fans were allowed in. Fully socially distanced and ultra-cautious monitoring.
The teams ran out to the strains of Thin Lizzy's song. The fans cheered, booed when necessary (when Vienna scored a goal) and their rabid influence caused Arsenal to be well, most unlike Arsenal recently, scoring four goals.
On Sunday the Gunners move across London to Tottenham for their next match. While Arsenal were hammering Rapid last night, Spurs struggled to a 3-3 draw against a different Austrian team LASK, in the historic city of Linz. Their most recent, and iconic signing, Welshman Gareth Bale, on loan from Real Madrid, suffered the ignominy of being substituted by .....no, not Harry Kane, not new striker Vinicius.... journeyman trundler Serge Aurier. Spurs will have their own 2,000 fans to help but Arsenal fans in front of our TVs will be singing the latest epic I have penned:
Gareth Bale
You've gone all stale
Nothing is sorrier
Than giving way to Aurier
I don't think Thin Lizzy still perform so I'll have to get someone else to record it.
Sing loud, fellow Gunners fans!