Is our calendar perfect? Far from it. The number of days in each month are uneven, its quarters are unequal, and it's impossible to determine when on which day any random date will fall.
But it turns out, there are many, many other - arguably better - ideas to reform it.
For instance, there's the 13-Moon Calendar. Inspired by the ancient Mayan Long-Count calendar, this proposal to reform the current Gregorian calendar re-names all the months, and introduces other innovations, including an extra month, which approximates many ancient calendars.
The Symmetry454 Calendar is a proposal by a Toronto university professor. It features four exactly equal quarters of 28-, 35- and 28-day months, making it easier to compare fiscal quarters. It's beautiful symmetry contrasts with the chaotic Gregorian.
The 13-month "Sol" Calendar updates an Old Idea - the 13-month year tied to the lunar cycle. This calendar's 13 months are all 28 days long, making it easy to remember the length of months. A leap year is added to the last month, December, and a new month, Sol, is added between June and July.
The New Earth Calendar is a bit of a hybrid - mixing the best elements of proposals like the Symmetry454 calendar and the 13 months of the Sol calendar.
Finally, the 30x11 Calendar is what its creator calls a "Gentle Update" of our current calendar. All of its months are 30 days long, except December, which rounds out the 365 or 366-day year with 35 or 36 days. It makes it incredibly easy to determine what day number each day on the calendar holds, and makes it easy to remember days.
All of these calendars - and MANY MORE - can be found EXCLUSIVELY on the new Abbott ePublishing eBook "2012: A New Calendar for a New Age" available on the Abbott ePublishing website.
But it turns out, there are many, many other - arguably better - ideas to reform it.
The Symmetry454 Calendar is a proposal by a Toronto university professor. It features four exactly equal quarters of 28-, 35- and 28-day months, making it easier to compare fiscal quarters. It's beautiful symmetry contrasts with the chaotic Gregorian.
The 13-month "Sol" Calendar updates an Old Idea - the 13-month year tied to the lunar cycle. This calendar's 13 months are all 28 days long, making it easy to remember the length of months. A leap year is added to the last month, December, and a new month, Sol, is added between June and July.
The New Earth Calendar is a bit of a hybrid - mixing the best elements of proposals like the Symmetry454 calendar and the 13 months of the Sol calendar.
Finally, the 30x11 Calendar is what its creator calls a "Gentle Update" of our current calendar. All of its months are 30 days long, except December, which rounds out the 365 or 366-day year with 35 or 36 days. It makes it incredibly easy to determine what day number each day on the calendar holds, and makes it easy to remember days.
All of these calendars - and MANY MORE - can be found EXCLUSIVELY on the new Abbott ePublishing eBook "2012: A New Calendar for a New Age" available on the Abbott ePublishing website.
