#1930: Calendar Facts
Permalink
Transcript
-Calendar Facts-
[Shown below is a branching flow chart of sorts that begins at the phrase "Did you know that", then flows through various paths to build up a sentence. (Note that the "→" arrow symbol is used below to indicate a new branch with no intermediate text from a previous branch.)]
Did you know that:
the ( Fall | Spring ) Equinox
the ( Winter | Summer ) ( Solstice | Olympics )
the ( Earliest | Latest ) ( Sunrise | Sunset )
Daylight ( Saving | Savings ) Time
Leap ( Day | Year )
Easter
the ( Harvest | Super | Blood ) Moon
Toyota Truck Month
Shark Week
→
happens ( earlier | later | at the wrong time ) every year
drifts out of sync with the
Sun
Moon
Zodiac
( Gregorian | Mayan | Lunar | iPhone ) Calendar
atomic clock in Colorado
might ( not happen | happen twice ) this year
because of
time zone legislation in ( Indiana | Arizona | Russia )
a decree by the pope in the 1500s
( precession | libration | nutation | libation | eccentricity | obliquity ) of the
Moon
Sun
Earth's axis
equator
prime meridian
( International Date | Mason-Dixon ) Line
magnetic field reversal
an arbitrary decision by ( Benjamin Franklin | Isaac Newton | FDR )
?
Apparently
it causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
that's why we have leap seconds.
scientists are really worried.
it was even more extreme during the
Bronze Age.
Ice Age.
Cretaceous.
1990s.
there's a proposal to fix it, but it
will never happen.
actually makes things worse.
is stalled in congress.
might be unconstitutional.
it's getting worse and no one knows why.
(Sourced from explainxkcd.com)
Title text:While it may seem like trivia, it (causes huge headaches for software developers / is taken advantage of by high-speed traders / triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout / has to be corrected for by GPS satellites / is now recognized as a major cause of World War I).