The three-day weekend is still going on in the U.S.: everyone’s happy that New Year’s Day was on Friday, as people got off from work from Thursday afternoon (sometimes right after noon) until Monday. Everyone, that is, except for Professors Ceiling Cat Emereti. At any rate, it’s 2016 and it will take some time to get used to writing “2016” on checks—or do people write checks any more? Not much happened on this day in history; in fact, it’s the most boring day I’ve encountered since I started looking up that kind of stuff. See for yourself. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s notion of a Hilicentric universe is dispelled, and she is distraught.
Hili: What is a year?
A: It’s the time it takes the Earth to go around the Sun.
Hili: But you said that everything revolved around me.
Hili: Co to jest rok?Ja: Czas obiegu ziemi dookoła słońca.
Hili: A mówiłeś, że wszystko się kręci wokół mnie.
Lagniappe relevant to the above, from a tw**t found by Grania:
It’s obvious what’s happened. The poor dear misunderstood “heliocentric”.
How to break it to her gently? Perhaps she could be told that both things are sort of true?
Feliocentric?
According to the Writers Almanac, today
is Isaac Asimov’s birthday, born in1920.
I thought the planet Vulcan was fictional – the abode of Spock on Star Trek. But it was a planet hypothesized on this date in 1860 to account for irregularities in Mercuries orbit. The peculiarities have now been explained by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
As well as the “discovery” of planet Vulcan (and I thought wait, what? too) this day also marks the birth of Isaac Asimov in 1920, and the surrender of the emirate of Granada in 1492, completing the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors. So not all that boring a day as the professor wants us to believe.
He should be using BCE.
He *should* be writing CE.
The replacement of AD and BC with CE and BCE is interesting in that they refer to exactly the same numbers. I suppose it’s a nod to secularism, and probably has some religionists fuming about it as part of the War on Christmas.
It’s clearly a violation of Christians’ freedom of religion.
When is this change supposed to be taking place? I had enough trouble the last time.
Ha ha – the “BC” cartoon is funny and he is even using a calamus.
I love how alarmed Hili looks – great match between pic and dialogue. 🙂
Hili … one nonplussed puss…
At my civil service job, I occasionally have to prepare some documents which I have to sign & date and which have the date format: “This ____ day of _______ , _____ A.D.” Fortunately, I have the option of changing that “A.D.” to “C.E.” which I’ve been doing for several years now and so far either no one has ever noticed or hasn’t bothered to ask me about it. If someone did, I’d offer that I don’t recognize any “lord” as having dominion over me and this isn’t the year of any lord.
I also edit and write articles for the monthly newsletter of the freethought group I belong to and on those occasions when a reference to an even that took place in antiquity (as in at least 1,900 years ago) comes up, I always use either BCE or CE.
Always love the idea that B.C. people knew they were B.C. At a “Festival of Trees” many years ago, my favorite entry was one titled “Christmas, B.C.” It was decorated with little dinosaurs and such.