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   From: alt.fan.jai-maharaj@googlegroups.com   
      
   Forwarded post:   
      
   The Case of The Missing Days   
      
   The calendar we are about to recycle, the English or the   
   so-called Christian calendar, is the original Roman   
   calendar as standardized by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE,   
      
   It was subsequently reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582   
   CE.   
      
   In the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar, the Julian   
   calendar, all years including the century years that were   
   completely divisible by 4 were designated as leap-years   
   with 29 days in February.   
      
   This caused the length of the Julian year to be 365.25 days   
   -- a number that was in excess of the correct length of a   
   year at 365.2422 days by 0.0078 days.   
      
   With the passage of time, the error continued to accumulate   
   and a revision was made by Pope Gregory in 1582.   
      
   He decided to omit the accumulated error, which by then had   
   reached an embarrassing 10 days: he ordained that the ten   
   days October 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 in 1582   
   be simply canceled.   
      
   Thursday, October 4, 1582 was forced to be followed by   
   Friday, October 15, 1582.   
      
   The leap-year rule was also revised by designating the   
   century years 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2100, 2200, 2300, etc.   
   as common or non-leap years with 28 days in February.   
      
   The years 1600, 2000, 2400, 2800, etc., which are wholly   
   divisible by 400 were termed leap-years with 29 days in   
   February.   
      
   This manipulation of the calendar reduced the average   
   calendar length down to 365.2425 days and the excess   
   residual error was now only one day in 3300 years.   
      
   Since that day of the missing days, October 12, 1582, all   
   scientific and historical records have been maintained or   
   expressed in terms of this revised calendar known as the   
   Gregorian calendar by those who follow the Western system.   
      
   Earlier historical records, however, are still maintained   
   by the Julian calendar, which has no 0 BCE or 0 CE years.   
      
   According to the Julian calendar, the year that precedes 1   
   CE is designated 1 BCE, except in astronomy where 1 BCE is   
   considered to be the leap-year 0 CE, 2 BCE as -1 CE, 3 BCE   
   as -2 CE, 4 BCE as -3 CE, 5 BCE as -4 CE (leap-year), and   
   so on.   
      
   The Catholic states of Europe were quick to adopt the   
   Gregorian reformation, but other countries took longer to   
   accept it, the latest being Turkey in 1927.   
      
   Officially, Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in the   
   year 1752 by eliminating the accumulated error of 11 days   
   from the month of September -- September 3 through 13 were   
   canceled, and Wednesday September 2, 1752 was followed by   
   Thursday, September 14, 1752.   
      
   The Julian calendar which had been in effect until   
   September 2 was renamed as the Old Style (O.S.) calendar,   
   and the Gregorian calendar in use that day forward was   
   named New Style (N.S.) calendar.   
      
   The British people who were occupying other countries at   
   time also followed this calendar conversion.   
      
   The abbreviations BCE and CE expand to Before Common Era   
   and Common Era, and are equivalent to BC and AD,   
   respectively.   
      
   End of forwarded post.   
      
   Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi   
   Om Shanti   
   http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj   
      
   "A king, though endowed with little prowess,   
   starting on an expedition at the proper time,   
   in view of the good positions of the planets,   
   achieves greatness that is eulogized in the   
   scriptures."  -- Brhat Samhita, 104.60   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)