A few words about the timekeeping systems in Many Moons, and where to find more information about them:
Gregorian:
You're soaking in it! If you really need more info about the Gregorian calendar, check the Calendar FAQ (below) or the book Calendar, by David Ewing Duncan.
Julian Day Numbers, Modified Julian Day Numbers, etc.:
The Calendar FAQ:
<http://www.pip.dknet.dk/~pip10160/calendar.html>
(These are measures of time used primarily for astronomical calculations and calendrical conversions.)
(The Esperanto of calendars: a great idea, but no one wants to learn it. Basically a reform of the Gregorian calendar with a number of nifty features.)
Shire Reckoning and Eldarin (Calendar of Imladris):
... and of course Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
(The Calendar of Imladris, called "Eldarin" in Many Moons, is the calendar of the Elves (or Eldar) of Middle-earth, as imagined by Tolkien. Shire Reckoning is the calendar of his Hobbits. The weekdays and months are currently displayed in Quenya, or High Elvish.)
(Does anyone really need to be told what Star Trek is? Stardates are, of course, the timekeeping system of the United Federation of Planets. The important thing here is that a fellow named Andrew Main <zefram@fysh.org> has figured out how stardates work in detail. Many Moons presently implements stardates up through the first change in the system, which occur in the Star Trek universe on 26 Jan 2270 C.E..)
Swatch Internet Time:
<http://www.swatch.com/internettime/fs_time.html>
(The Swatch company (yeah, the one that makes watches) recently initiated a new timekeeping system for the Internet, with Nicholas Negroponte's help. It divides the day into 1000 units, from @000 to @999. @000 is at midnight Biel Mean Time (Central European Winter Time). There are no timezones in Internet Time, so if you arrange to meet your friend online at @565, you'll both know you mean the same time.)
"How to Live Eleven Days in Twenty-Four Hours" and related materials:
(This essay by Robert Anton Wilson, later revised and reprinted in Cosmic Trigger III, was the original inspiration for Many Moons and its consciousness-expanding agenda.)
Accuracy check for Many Moons:
Today Date and Time: <http://www.panix.com/~wlinden/calendar.shtml>
(Will show today's date and time in a variety of different systems, including astronomical measures, the World Calendar, and Stardates.)
Possible Future Additions to Many Moons:
New Clocks/Calendars:
• The 'Pataphysical Calendar
• Clocks and calendars for the planet Mars
• Discordian calendar
• Discordian Time Flavour 1
• Historical Calendars, especially Baha'i and Jain
• My personal Discordian Time non-standard
• Collins Metric Time
• The 28-Hour Day
General Improvements:
• Sunset calculations for Eldarin calendar
• Latitude and longitude preferences
• Multi-system clock for the desktop, constantly updated (like continually pressing the Now button)
• Bree names for Shire Reckoning
• Sindarin and English names for the Eldarin calendar
• Stardate issues after TOS-style stardates
• Convert to and from any calendar in program
• CE/BCE checkbox
• "Time" as well as "date" fields for exact date conversion
• "Visual" calendars (lots of little boxes, like a wall calendar)
Contact:
For bugs, comments, questions, suggestions, or simple support, email the author, Ron Hale-Evans, at rwhe@apocalypse.org, or see his website at <http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe>.
