rogerw (05/17/82)
I have received several requests for a reference on the change in
the Gregorian calendar and who, in fact, can make such a change.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., Micropaedia, IV, s.v.
"Gregorian (new style) calendar," p. 725 contains the somewhat obscure
statement:
A further refinement, the designation of years evenly divisible by
4,000 as common (not leap) years, will keep the Gregorian calendar
accurate to within one day in 20,000 years."
When I originally came across this statement several years back, I assumed
some scientific body, presumably the same one that occasionally adjusts
the year by a second, had decreed such a change. In rereading it this
morning, I realized that the statement could mean either 1) such a
change has been decreed or 2) IF such a change were decreed THEN the
calendar would be more correct. The use of the word "will" rather than
"would" implies that such a change will, in fact, be made (rather
presumptuous, in a sense; who knows what our descendants two millennia
hence will do?) However, I could find no refinement of this statement
in the Macropaedia.
If anyone knows what the Britannica staff intended by this statement,
I would appreciate knowing.
As to who can really enforce such a change: nobody, not even a pope,
not even a government agency.
Roger Wells (teklabs!tekid!rogerw)