Subject: (urth) Home Fires and calendar reform **SPOILERS**

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:55:22 +0000

In "Home Fires" there is never a mention of months or month names. There are
days, weeks, hundred-days, and years. What sort of calendar reform is this?
Asimov proposed a uniform calendar abolishing the old months, with 91 days
per period. Four of these gives 364 days, a reasonable fit with the solar
year. But four hundred-days is 400, which seems unreasonable. Does this
calendar just let the years fall where they may?  It seems impractical for
things like birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries (none of these things are
mentioned within the story).

The solar year is slowly getting longer, but it takes centuries to add
minutes. This story doesn't seem to be set that far in the future. One
possibility is that uniformity for business purposes has trumped all other
practical considerations. Possibly it was mandated by the power-mad
politicians. Or it may be another separation of religion and state, like the
contracts replacing marriage. Religious holidays would be observed based on
seasons and solstices, not a particular day of the year.
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From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:50:03 +0000

On 1/26/2011 10:55 AM, Dave Tallman wrote:
> In "Home Fires" there is never a mention of months or month names. There
> are days, weeks, hundred-days, and years. What sort of calendar reform
> is this? Asimov proposed a uniform calendar abolishing the old months,
> with 91 days per period. Four of these gives 364 days, a reasonable fit
> with the solar year. But four hundred-days is 400, which seems
> unreasonable. Does this calendar just let the years fall where they may?
>   It seems impractical for things like birthdays, holidays, and
> anniversaries (none of these things are mentioned within the story).
>
> minutes. This story doesn't seem to be set that far in the future.

I haven't read it yet, but isn't it a story with lots of time spent 
isolated from earth, on top of the time dilation, similar to THE FOREVER 
WAR?  Earth's calendar would become irrelevant while away, but 
provisioning would depend on the subjective time endured; 
hundred-man-day units is good for estimation and logistical bundling, 
where a day's consumables are 1500 minutes worth of oxygen, three hot 
meals, and 5 kilos of water.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

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From: Mr Thalassocrat <thalassocrat08 at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:50:38 +0000

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 3:25 AM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

> are days, weeks, hundred-days, and years. What sort of calendar reform is
> this? Asimov proposed a uniform calendar abolishing the old months, with 91
> days per period. Four of these gives 364 days, a reasonable fit with the
> solar year. But four hundred-days is 400, which seems unreasonable. Does
> this calendar just let the years fall where they may?  It seems impractical
> for things like birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries (none of these things
> are mentioned within the story).
>

Perhaps it's a separation-from-nature thing. Societies destroying themselves
by cutting themselves off from nature is a faitrly common trope for Wolfe.
Abandoning a calendar based on natural cycles fits with this, I suppose.
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:19:14 +0000

Mr. Thalassocrat wrote:

> by cutting themselves off from nature is a fairly common trope for Wolfe.

I found another clue -- Chelle's arrival day is specified as Day 180.
This suggests all days in the year are simply numbered from 1 to 400.
There is no need for hundred-day period names, because they can easily
be worked out from the top digit.

It's clear that there's no synchronization with the seasons. Day 180
is clearly in winter, and for us it would be around the end of June.
Probably years are measured in cycles of 400 days, so all ages should
be inflated by a factor of about 13/12. The system is absolutely,
chillingly logical and human-centric, completely cut off from nature.
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From: Darth Ed <darthed77 at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:21:53 +0000

> chillingly logical and human-centric, completely cut off from nature.

Hi, Dave. While I agree that the 100-day billing period for rent is
suggestive, I think it's a bit of a stretch to make the leap to 400-day
years. It just doesn't seem very pragmatic. And, if humanity were going to
deviate from a solar-based calendar system, why choose 400? Why not 1000?
10 periods of 100 days each. Probably have 10 days in a "week" with 10 of
those per 100-day period. I.e., the metric calendar system. That seems just
as likely.

Anyway, I have another theory regarding the _Home Fires_ calendar, one that
isn't wholly incompatible with yours, I think. As I was re-reading chapter
1, the opening scene got me thinking. It's snowing outside, and, when Skip
wakes up, there's a gift of sorts waiting for him. Could this be
Christmas???

Later that morning, the waitress says that Chelle will be returning "this
coming Saturday" on day 180. Common usage of the phrase "this coming
Saturday" leads me to believe that the book opens on day 175 +/- 1 day.
(Most people would not use "this coming" to specify a day unless it was 4-6
days way.) So, if Christmas is day 175, then that would mean day 1 is the
Fourth of July, which would make sense for a North American Union dominated
by the former USA. The "NAU" name is probably just window dressing for the
United States essentially occupying the other North American regions
anyway. (David Foster Wallace does something similar in _Infinite Jest_.)
Perhaps 1776 is also year 1 in this Gregorian-derived calendar system. All
of this could be seen as evidence of secularization and extreme nationalism
in this future society.

Where my theory possibly breaks down is that the rest of the world surely
wouldn't adopt such a calendar system and it doesn't seem likely there
wouldn't be a commonly accepted calendar system used by the whole world.

Later,
Darth Ed
http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Profiles.DarthEd

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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:45:43 +0000

Darth Ed wrote:

> deviate from a solar-based calendar system, why choose 400? Why not 1000? 10
> periods of 100 days each. Probably have 10 days in a "week" with 10 of those
> per 100-day period. I.e., the metric calendar system. That seems just as
> likely.

There is more evidence that fits my theory. Johnson says he held a job for
"200 days or so, about half a year." That looks like either the old 365 or
my 400, not 1000. They still use week-day names, so likely the seven day
week is still around. Business likes to work in quarters of a year, so I
stand by 400.

> wakes up, there's a gift of sorts waiting for him. Could this be

The only "gift" is the announcement that Chelle is coming home. If it's
Christmas, it's also a work-day and nobody says "Merry Christmas" or
anything. Based on the travel plans Skip makes, the date must be 178, so the
Fourth of July doesn't work (a very clever idea, though).  It's extremely
likely that the year numbering was restarted with this calendar change.

Skip tells Sally he wants a suite reservation near the port for "the day
after tomorrow" which must be for what he expects will be a reunion night
with Chelle. He gets it for one night only, and that must be for day 180.
His 34-hour bullet train trip, leaving no later than 20:00, is compatible
with this. It would get him to the port   no later than 06:00 on 180. So
even if "this coming Saturday" is a little odd for the waitress to say, it
has to be only two days away.
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From: Darth Ed <darthed77 at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:24:18 +0000

Dave Tallman replied:
> The only "gift" is the announcement that Chelle is coming home.

It's the perfect gift for a man who has everything (except his contract
partner).

> If it's Christmas, it's also a work-day and nobody says "Merry Christmas"
> or anything.

Of course not. This future society is fully secularized. Instead of getting
married, people get contracted, etc., so we shouldn't expect anyone to be
saying "Merry Christmas" or getting the day off from work. It's just another
day to them.

> even if "this coming Saturday" is a little odd for the waitress to say,
it > has to be only two days away.

You're right. I assumed they had arrived in Canam the day before (day 179).
I meant to reexamine their travel schedule, but I didn't have the book
handy at the time. :-/

Later,
Darth Ed

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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:00:19 +0000

Darth Ed wrote:

Of course not. This future society is fully secularized. Instead of
getting married,
> people get contracted, etc., so we shouldn't expect anyone to be saying
> "Merry Christmas" or getting the day off from work. It's just another day
> to them.

Christmas as a secular holiday has a lot of momentum, since gift-giving is a
major boon to business. What could have killed that? Possibly the
energy-poor future would have seen it as an unnecessary waste of resources,
and stopped the secular celebration.
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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:10:09 +0000

Dave Tallman wrote:

> Christmas as a secular holiday has a lot of momentum, since gift-giving is
> a major boon to business. What could have killed that? Possibly the
> energy-poor future would have seen it as an unnecessary waste of
> resources,and stopped the secular celebration.

Actually, there's evidence for the continued celebration of Christmas,
because Chelle says to Mitch, "I bet there's a company Christmas party."
She's flirtatiously suggesting that he'll see more of her even after she's
settled in as the contracta of the boss, but  she wouldn't use this idea as
a cover if the possibility of such a party didn't exist.
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