Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A Unique Wednesday

Because it’s my Birthday! And not just any old Birthday, but the same day of the week I was actually born!

With leap years, having your Birthday fall on the actual day of the week you were born is pretty sparse. But there is a pattern to it. For my birth date, the year intervals are: 6, 11, 6, 5, 6, 11, 6, 5, 6, 11, 6, and so on. Assuming that I live to 100 years, I would have only had 14 Birthdays that fall on a Wednesday. This is my 5th one since my birth.

This whole notion made me remember seeing an educational program about significant numbers and also why we should switch to a 28-day calendar. The proponent spouted a bunch of reasons such as corresponding to the phases of the moon (which is not entirely true), all the weeks would be uniform, etc. This 13-month calendar originates from over 150 years ago and is an interesting concept. But it got me thinking about all the celebrations (e.g., weddings) that typically take place over the weekend. So for instance, Saturday the 7th, 14th, 21st, or 28th would be a significant day for most people year after year. The only thing that changes is the month.

To illustrate this concept further, check out a calendar and look at February 2009. Our Gregorian calendar will look like a 13-month calendar (albeit for just one month), which won’t happen again until February 2015.
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