January 27, 2004
From the desk of Jane Galt:The Clash of Nations
We've heard a lot, over the years, about how this or that nation is going to surpass the West in some technology, and shortly thereafter will own the world. Up until now, these things have not come to pass; we have not sold our birthright to the Saudis for their oil, nor the Japanese for their walkmen, nor the Germans for their BMWs, nor the Indians for their bottomless reserves of skilled programmers willing to be paid in cigar bands.
But simply because these sorts of proclamations have never come true in the past does not mean that they never will. And in fact, we face a growing threat from the Muslim world that is not merely likely, but inevitable. That threat is the Muslim calendar.
As you may or may not know, the Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar; as such, it only has about 354 days. This means that the Muslim calendar gains on the Western (Gregorian) calendar at the rate of 11 days every year.
Up until now, we have been protected by the foresight of our ancestors, who arranged to have their major religious figure born more than 600 years before the major religious figure of the Muslims. Thus, we are fortunate enough to find ourselves in 2004 when the Muslim world is only in 1425.
But Western hegemony cannot last forever as long as we are locked into the solar model. Every year, the Muslims creep forward by another eleven days while we wait, helplessly, for them to overtake us. On May 1st, 20874, the Muslim Calendar will pull even with the Gregorian, and thereafter, the Muslims will be ahead of us. By 20909, the Muslim world will be a full year ahead of us. How can we hope to compete, economically, if the Muslim world is able to tap the technological riches of the future while we remain mired in a less advanced present?
The only solution is to act now to preserve our competitive advantage. We must switch to a lunar calendar now, to ensure that Western society will forever be The Society of the Future.
There will be naysayers, of course, those who do not believe that the threat is real or imminent. But try though they may to stick their heads in the sand, they cannot alter the merciless trend that will, if we do not act now, doom our great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great . . . - great - grandchildren to the pitiful stature of second class citizens. If we love our great(x) grandchildren, we will act immediately to ensure their futures, rather than selfishly insisting on maintaining a Gregorian calendar which can ultimately only benefit us at their expense.
Posted by Jane Galt at January 27, 2004 6:57 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksNot to worry, The Yahrzeit Calendar(Judaism) has a wonderful head start of being 3760 years ahead of Gregorian calendar. And since it's also lunar in basis, the Islamic calendar won't surpass it anytime soon.
Not so fast, BigFire. The Jewish calendar is indeed lunar-based, but periodically has days intercalated so that the year is roughly a solar year long. This is why Passover, Yom Kippur, etc. fall at roughly the same time (Gregorian time) every year, while Ramadan travels throughout our Gregorian year as the Muslims continue their unstoppable march.
But man! I have been waiting to use the word intercalation for, like, years. Gregorian years and lunar years. Thanks!
What about the Chinese and Mayan (or was it Incan) calendars?
The Chinese year (recently celebrated New Year's) is a lunar-based one---and they hit Year 4702, iirc (Year of the Monkey, btw).
Perhaps that's the solution---to become Chinese?
The problem is much, much worse than anyone imagines. Our year is really 365.2424 days long and we add a day every four years unless it's a millenial year and not divisable by 400.
Even with the intercalation we're still short one day every three thousand years, and if that weren't enough the earths orbit is actually slowing down.
The Gummint should do something!
Not to worry, The Yahrzeit Calendar(Judaism) has a wonderful head start of being 3760 years ahead of Gregorian calendar. And since it's also lunar in basis, the Islamic calendar won't surpass it anytime soon.
Aha! Proof that Jane's theory is correct since we all know that the Jews actually run the world!
Not quite sure where the Chinese manage to fit into that model, though. Perhaps the Illuminati are actually Chinese?
I suspect the Islamic world will be struggling with Y2k issues around 2561.
Re: Dean
The big issue with Mayan calendar system is that no one uses it anymore. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is very much alive and kicking. 3 of my cousins never bother to celebrate their birthdate in Gregorian, only the Chinese Lunar dates.
When it comes to celebrations, the only sensible course is to celebrate New Year's, Birthdays and the like in the Gregorian calender. AND then celebrate them again in the Chinese one, and the Jewish, and the Muslim, and the Mayan, and ....
It's hard work, but it must be done. For multiculturalism if nothing else.
(Still recovering from Chinese new year, and I'm a Catholic Irish-Australian)
It's clearly time to establish a colony on Venus. The year there passes even faster than the Muslim year.
Big Fire: "The big issue with Mayan calendar system is that no one uses it anymore."
That is what you think. Check out Rabitt in the Moon. Want something to worry about?
The current cycle of Maya dates ends on December 21, 2012 (or maybe December 23). Some folks think it means the end of the world.
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