From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: The Emacs Calculator and calendar Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:47:37 -0400 Message-ID: References: <87y5jk3f7d.fsf@gmail.com> <87626md8aj.fsf@Rainer.invalid> <83vcem6592.fsf@gnu.org> <5071E6E7.7080906@cs.ucla.edu> <50732AD7.8000003@cs.ucla.edu> <5073C3F6.40606@cs.ucla.edu> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1349797759 9335 80.91.229.3 (9 Oct 2012 15:49:19 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 15:49:19 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Paul Eggert Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Oct 09 17:49:26 2012 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc3g-0002lu-MN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:49:24 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:54812 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc3a-0003ef-5w for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:49:18 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:49439) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc30-0003A5-Qf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:49:15 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc1y-0003cP-M8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:48:42 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([208.118.235.10]:50588) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc1y-0003c2-DW for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:47:38 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TLc1x-0007zi-JT; Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:47:37 -0400 In-reply-to: <5073C3F6.40606@cs.ucla.edu> (message from Paul Eggert on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:28:06 -0700) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-Received-From: 208.118.235.10 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:154257 Archived-At: You are arguing against a proposal that would apply complex objective criteria, yet to be defined, to judge the "correct" calendar for each time and place, going back into prehistory. I agree with you that that would be a mistake. But since nobody proposed it, why argue against it? I'm talking about doing simple things that would be useful to some real users. We would extend it as far as it can usefully go, without trying to describe the calendar shifts of every point on earth. I will respond to some of your points to show the difference between these two ideas. Two jurisdictions around then could plausibly be called "Hungarian", but neither one controlled what is now Budapest. I don't think it matters whether any of them controlled Buda. If, however, they used different calendars, that might mean it is hard to give a useful meaning to a Hungarian calendar domain in that period. Yes, no doubt most Hungarians of the time would have preferred some Christian calendar. But they weren't running the show, For this purpose, which is to help people understand books that deal with Hungarian history, who ruled Hungary (or Buda) at the time is not the determining question for what a "Hungarian" calendar domain would usefully say. A Hungarian history book probably won't give dates from the Ottoman occupation based on the hegira (I can ask some Hungarians if you like), and neither would an English book about Hungarian history. and for all I know were not even a majority in the area in question. I think they were, for a considerable part of Hungary, but that's not a crucial question for this purpose: defining a "Hungarian" calendar domain that might be useful for people today who are thinking about dates in the Hungarian past. Perhaps all modern books about Hungarian history use the Gregorian calendar even back to the 800s. If so, there is no need for a "Hungarian" domain and I would not make one. I would create only the domains that are actually useful for users. There is no reason to insist on "complete or nothing". -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call