Letter to the Editor - Dixon

Dear Kort,

WOW! You really did a neat composition job on my old dinosaur calendar article. It looked ten times better than it did when I first put it in the East Texas Mensa newsletter in January, 1988.

Also thanks for the new data point for my graph in your Aug/Sept issue of POC: the 18 hour day in 900 million BC! If that indicates 487 days per year, my straight-line equation is pretty far off. I had (for 600 to 133 million years BP):

Million years = -9.94 x (days in year) + 3613

This equation gives 1228 million years BP rather than the correct 900. The line is curved, so I (must) use the graph. The last stromatolite coral data point I had was "500 million years ago there were 412 days in the year." The corals laid down a microscopic layer of coral every day. Scientists counted them for our enjoyment.

The last Calendar SIG newsletter I received was Oct '86, and Indianapolis Mensa put out a good issue on calendars that winter. The May '95 Mensa Bulletin had an article by William Becker in Florida on a Mars calendar for colonists to use. I am sending you some of my propaganda on reusing old calendars. You can reuse your 1996 calendars in 2024, and if you can find an old 1986 calendar, you can use it in 1997.

I get the most comments on a modified Texas A&M calendar I print every year. Aggies put all the Sundays of the year on one panel, all the Mondays on another, etc. The calendar was a stupid, useless Aggie joke. Except for Friday. Everybody loves Friday. So I print a Mensa Friday Calendar, and tell folks its the only calendar they need. You mark off each Friday after it is over, and start looking forward to the next one. If next Friday is the 12th, Thursday must be the 11th etc. 8-10-12 ... Monday must be the 8th if Friday is the 12th.

The Millennium. Yes. You can celebrate Saturday night Dec. 31, 1999 and rest up on Sunday, OR on Sunday night Dec. 31, 2000 and start your millennium on a Monday. Yuck! I'll send you a 1997 Friday calendar soon.

Charles Dixon



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