15 October—On this day in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII’s bull Inter gravissimas (Among the most serious) went into effect, thus converting Roman Catholic-dominated countries to the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar, which had been in use for over a millennium-and-a-half. For Gregory it was about the date of Easter, but eventually his calendar was adopted just about all over the world.

Both calendars are solar, with 365 days and quadrennial leap years. But the Julian calendar, which Julius Caesar is said to have proposed in 46 BC to reform the lunisolar Roman calendar, was off by 11 minutes every year. So the Gregorian calendar skipped leap years with years divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400 (giving quotients ending in 00). It’s all about developments in science and technology that engendered improvements in accuracy.

If you’re wondering, 1700, 1800, 1900 weren’t Gregorian leap years and 2100, 2200, and 2300 won’t be. But 1600 and 2000 were Gregorian leap years because they’re easily divisible by 400, and 2400 and 2800 will be—if the planet won’t have been consumed by global warming in the meantime.

And while we’re at it, centuries and millennia begin with years ending in 01, not 00. So 2000 was not the first year of the second millennium.

🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️

Region 20 Board of Education Members,

As a taxpayer in Region 20, I oppose any increase above the previously approved amount of $1.8 million (now $1.9 million with lawyer fees) to repay the debt owed to Litchfield from Region 20.

I ask that action be taken prior to a December referendum to reduce overhead and expenses to meet the taxpayer approved budget and that you balance the budget with reductions that will have the least impact upon students. I also believe that any ask over $1.9 million may put taxpayer approval for the $1.9 million in jeopardy.

That’s the wording of a petition currently being circulated in Goshen, Litchfield, Morris, and Warren—by town officials among others. It’s advisory, not legally binding, intended to politely warn the Region 20 school board to get real and make substantial cuts rather than the gratuitous additions its been toying with—and, incredibly, actually doing. There are some rational board members who support the necessary cuts, to be sure, but given the irresponsibility of other members, you never know.

As it is, the referendum is likely to go down in all four towns.

If you don’t have the opportunity to sign a paper petition, you can do it digitally by following this link:

https://www.gopetition.com/signatures/region-20-boe-referendum-petition.html

It will take you to a presumably safe website that, because it’s free to users, depends on ads to keep going. Also, it may take some time to load. Or not load from time to time. But if you’re lucky enough to get to the homepage, scroll down past the signatures until you get to “Petition/Public signature list” in rather small type on the left (no idea why it’s so small) and click on “Petition,” which is probably in blue.

That will take you to a page covered by an ad. (Like Oneforisrael.org exhorting you to “Bless Israel With Jesus.”) Dump the ad and you should have the page with the Region 20’s snarling bobcat glaring at you, the petition text, and, on the right, a place for you to fill in whatever blanks you choose.

The gopetition.com website has so many pop-up ads, you may find yourself tempted or misdirected to click on an ad rather than a proper link. As ever, be selective and careful what you click on. “Petition” on the homepage and the treacherous “I am not a robot” on the petition page. Ignore or dump the ads.

Good luck . . .