h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

February was the last month of the Roman year prior to adoption of the calendar reforms of Julius Caesar, which is why intercalary days are still bundled with February.

I was alive when it went up but being in an insular Brit community and only 6 at the time, it sort of passed me by. I knew plenty of people who did experience it, and I had a colleague who got out the day before it was built.

That is an amazing statistic - that the wall has been down as long as it was up. It seems like yesterday.

Do they still sell Amerikaner in Berlin bakeries, I wonder?

By "intercalary days," do you mean leap years?

Yes, leap-days are intercalary days.

Before the Julian calendar, the number varied, sometimes erratically

That is also the reason for the names being off:
October = 8-ber
November = 9-ber
December = 10-ber

So it is.

Also September. (7-ember)

Yes, I forgot September.

Still it looks like a lack of inspiration after running out of suitable gods/emperors

Other way around, I think.

The numeric designations came first.

It was only in Imperial times that the 5th & 6th months of the old calendar were renamed after Julius and Augustus, for example.

Dave Gorman makes a good argument for a 13 month year.
http://youtu.be/EcMTHr3TqA0


As arbitrary and confusing as our current calendar is, it could be worse.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20849_5-cultures-whose-calendars-would-break-your-concept-time.html

Lobster Thermidor was named for a French play. The play acted out exciting events in the French Revolutionary month of Thermidor. The Thermidorian Reaction took place on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 July 1794.

This was in summer. While it is true that 'Thermidor' has *two* r's in it, it really wasn't a good month for shellfish...

Sloths are the only mammal that doesn't fart.

Kangaroos don't fart either

You know this from personal experience, do you?

Sloths don't fart? They just exhale very slowly through their bums.

PP.

Rats, according to legend, do not belch. ...sometimes cited as reason not to provide them with carbonated beverages.

It's quite possible that kangaroos don't fart, but the previous comment could still be correct. Sloths are mammals, kangaroos are marsupials.

But since kangaroo ladies have boobies they must surely also be mammals.

And given their mode of locomotion, I think there may be a business opportunity in developing kangaroo sports bras.

PP.

Sports bras wouldn't do any good. Kangaroos' mammary glands are inside their pouches. (I think.)