What day is it?

[smokingman]

It is of course Saturday.This simple question led me on a quest to find out why it is Saturday.It is just how my mind works,always seeking to understand why we perceive things the way we do.

The question did not have a simple answer.It turned into a historical journey through time itself,and our understanding and measuring of the rotation of our planet around the sun as we wobble our way through our solar system.

As a species we have used many different ways to measure this journey.According to a recent estimate (Fraser, 1987), there are about forty calendars used in the world today.Our currently accepted western Gregorian calender is the most widely accepted civil calender on earth,but has only been in use in its current form since the year 1582.This fact fascinated me.How did we come to accept this form of measuring years,months,weeks,and days?How do others who do not use the Gregorian calender view our planets journey and mark the passage of time?

Now having formed more questions with out having answered the first I had to ponder the role of the calender.No longer just a question of what day is it,but what role does the marking of time play in society,our species development,and the human condition?

I will update this thread as my journey through time progresses.Many questions to answer.

The web is a wealth of information,but I will also visit the library in my quest.

Some sources thus far.
wikipedia.org
Calendars and their History
Other Ancient Calendars | Calendars
Encyclopedia Mythica: Origin of the names of the days

Think about how you perceive the world around you.Then ask why.There is much to learn about our species,and yourself through discovering the reasons you perceive the world in the manner you do.First you must ask questions,then seek the answers.

Happy Saturday.

 

[stephen87]

You are incorrect, sir. The correct answer would be "20 days before the end of the world and a day you should be spending with your family."

 

[Bunnykid68]

42

 

[Sylvain]

Well your question should have been "What day is it HERE (and name a specific location)?" since over here it's Sunday and not Saturday.
You Sir are a man from the past.

 

[smokingman]

42

When?

• Forty-two is a pronic number and an abundant number; its prime factorization 2 · 3 · 7 makes it the second sphenic number and also the second of the form { 2 · 3 · r }. As with all sphenic numbers of this form, the aliquot sum is abundant by 12. 42 is also the second sphenic number to be bracketed by twin primes; 30 is also a pronic number and also rests between two primes. 42 has a 14 member aliquot sequence 42, 54, 66, 78, 90, 144, 259, 45, 33, 15, 9, 4, 3, 1, 0 and is itself part of the aliquot sequence commencing with the first sphenic number 30. Further, 42 is the 10th member of the 3-aliquot tree.
• It is a Catalan number. Consequently; 42 is the number of noncrossing partitions of a set of five elements, the number of triangulations of a heptagon, the number of rooted ordered binary trees with six leaves, the number of ways in which five pairs of nested parentheses can be arranged, etc.
• It is conjectured to be the scaling factor in the leading order term of the "sixth moment of the Riemann zeta function". In particular, Conrey & Ghosh have conjectured
  
  where the infinite product is over all prime numbers, p.[1][2]
• It is the third pentadecagonal number. It is a meandric number and an open meandric number.
• 42 is a Størmer number.
• 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO)[3] and International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).[4]
• In base 10, this number is a Harshad number and a self number, while it is a repdigit in base 4 (as 222).
• 42 is the only known value that is the number of sets of four distinct positive integers a,b,c,d, each less than the value itself, such that ab-cd, ac-bd, and ad-bc are each multiples of the value. Whether there are other values remains an open question.[5]
• 42 is a (2,6)-perfect number (super-multiperfect), as
  

Vogons?

 

[Bunnykid68]

When?

• Forty-two is a pronic number and an abundant number; its prime factorization 2 · 3 · 7 makes it the second sphenic number and also the second of the form { 2 · 3 · r }. As with all sphenic numbers of this form, the aliquot sum is abundant by 12. 42 is also the second sphenic number to be bracketed by twin primes; 30 is also a pronic number and also rests between two primes. 42 has a 14 member aliquot sequence 42, 54, 66, 78, 90, 144, 259, 45, 33, 15, 9, 4, 3, 1, 0 and is itself part of the aliquot sequence commencing with the first sphenic number 30. Further, 42 is the 10th member of the 3-aliquot tree.
• It is a Catalan number. Consequently; 42 is the number of noncrossing partitions of a set of five elements, the number of triangulations of a heptagon, the number of rooted ordered binary trees with six leaves, the number of ways in which five pairs of nested parentheses can be arranged, etc.
• It is conjectured to be the scaling factor in the leading order term of the "sixth moment of the Riemann zeta function". In particular, Conrey & Ghosh have conjectured
  
  where the infinite product is over all prime numbers, p.[1][2]
• It is the third pentadecagonal number. It is a meandric number and an open meandric number.
• 42 is a Størmer number.
• 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO)[3] and International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).[4]
• In base 10, this number is a Harshad number and a self number, while it is a repdigit in base 4 (as 222).
• 42 is the only known value that is the number of sets of four distinct positive integers a,b,c,d, each less than the value itself, such that ab-cd, ac-bd, and ad-bc are each multiples of the value. Whether there are other values remains an open question.[5]
• 42 is a (2,6)-perfect number (super-multiperfect), as
  

Vogons?

Guess my pat answer to some questions is a little more complicated than I realized

It is just my age

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

There's a pretty good SEC championship game going on right now...

 

[smokingman]

Well your question should have been "What day is it HERE (and name a specific location)?" since over here it's Sunday and not Saturday.
You Sir are a man from the past.

Great.Now I have to figure out where here is.How can I possibly do that?If I know where I am,then how will I know how fast I am moving?If I know my mass how can I tell where I am going?With out knowing my mass I can never figure out the affect gravity will have on my space time.

Thanks.

 

[Sylvain]

Great.Now I have to figure out where here is.How can I possibly do that?If I know where I am,then how will I know how fast I am moving?If I know my mass how can I tell where I am going?With out knowing my mass I can never figure out the affect gravity will have on my space time.

Thanks.

It also makes you wonder about time travel and the relativity of time and space since you are talking with someone who's talking to you from the future.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Great.Now I have to figure out where here is.How can I possibly do that?If I know where I am,then how will I know how fast I am moving?If I know my mass how can I tell where I am going?With out knowing my mass I can never figure out the affect gravity will have on my space time.

Thanks.

But if you never stop to make such observations or measure your place in space-time, you could be anywhere/anytime.

 

[smokingman]

But if you never stop to make such observations or measure your place in space-time, you could be anywhere/anytime.

It is all relative

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

It is all relative

Kinda like taking a quantum leap of faith?

 

[Bunnykid68]

Kinda like taking a quantum leap of faith?

Or Thanksgiving dinner

 

[SSGSAD]

There's a pretty good SEC championship game going on right now...

OK, so I HAVE to ask, if it really pretty good, then WHAT are YOU doing here ?????

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

OK, so I HAVE to ask, if it really pretty good, then WHAT are YOU doing here ?????

But where is here?

 

[HarleyHunter04]

OK, so I HAVE to ask, if it really pretty good, then WHAT are YOU doing here ?????

I'd guess multitasking. That is what I was doing as well.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

Our currently accepted western Gregorian calender is the most widely accepted civil calender on earth,but has only been in use in its current form since the year 1582.This fact fascinated me.How did we come to accept this form of measuring years,months,weeks,and days?

By getting rid of the (debatably) more accurate Pagans version of the calendar. Oh how the Romans despised them

 

[stephen87]

It is all relative

Isn't that what they say at weddings in KY also? "We're all relatives."

 

[jsharmon7]

What are you smoking, man?

 

[smokingman]

What are you smoking, man?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9-LXN2Q5GM&feature=plcp[/ame]

I gave up smoking :P