M&D Spoiler - Chapter 64 (& others)

[Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs...]

On Mon, 2 Jun 1997, Greg Montalbano wrote:

> In the introductory material dealing with astronomy throughout history &
> throughout the world, I found this passage dealing with China:
> 
> "They have also the first record of an eclipse of the sun (BC 21280;  and
> one of their emperors put to death the chief astronomers Ho and Hi for
> failing to announce the solar eclipse of 2169 BC."

Yes...I knew the basic story of Hsi and Ho from an astronomy book I read as
a child.  Pynchon embellishes it considerably...

> But the discovery that pleased me the most was in the section dealing with
> Pope Gregory's calendar reform:
> 
> "Protestant England did not accept the change intil 1752.  The difference
> then amounted to 11 days.  This sweeping change was received in England with
> great dissatisfaction.  

Interestingly enough, there are _still_ lots of people on this planet who
refuse to accept the loss of those 11 days (which, I believe, have increased
to 13--the Gregorian counter omits leap days on century years [1800, 1900],
while the Julian does not).  My fiance met one of them just the other week.
He was an Old Calendar Russian Orthodox priest, eating in a local cafe.
There are a few Russian and Greek Orthodox groups who have still never
recognized Pope Gregory's calendar (like the English Protestants were,
they are loathe to recognize any Popish innovations).

Max

 M a x i m u s  D a v i d  C l a r k e | The Balkans produce more
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