On Thu, 01 May 2014 16:01:02 -0500, Eris Reddoch <erisred@bellsouth.net>
wrote:

>Ob Trav:  Imagine the trouble when a system joins the Imperium
>and has to switch all their communications and calendar to
>Imperial standards. Maybe that's one reason the Vilani are so
>conservative when it comes to change? :)

Actually, I don't know that it would be any sort of major problem: the
world would have to make changes only for their dealing directly with
the Imperium; local-only stuff could - and probably would - remain with
their local protocols.

Even today, some countries - Israel and China are two that immediately
spring to mind; a few second's reflection says to add most of the Moslem
world to the list - use two calendars in parallel, the Gregorian and a
local one, the latter generally being used for traditional or religious
purposes.

Where the local astronomical year doesn't match up with the Imperial
year, a local calendar may be considered more important than the
Imperial one, as agricultural rhythms will conform to the local seasonal
cycles. Local timekeeping may persist, too, as a better fit than the
Standard Imperial Clock - for example, rather than adding a 37-odd
minute "comp" to the day if I were on a resource-independent Mars, I'd
simply make my seconds about three percent longer, so that the Martian
day would be 24 *hours of 60 *minutes of 60 *seconds, so that everything
comes out nice and even, and time-zone corrections don't have to worry
about "are they six hours ahead or are they in Comp right now, or ...".
For communication with Earth, I'd have access to clocks and calendars
that keep Earth time, but it doesn't otherwise make sense for Mars to
conform to an Earth clock or Earth calendar - it simply doesn't fit the
astronomical facts of Mars.

Even for some Imperial commerce, an Imperial noble acting as nominal
Imperial Governor of my world might be willing to accept that the world
will conduct business affairs on the local calendar; if s/he has
sufficient liquidity, and my local year is 401 Standard Imperial days,
s/he might accept receiving taxes once per _local_ year, if s/he
receives the extra 10% that represents the difference in the length of a
year. Or, if my year is only 244 Standard Imperial Days, s/he might
accept one remit per local year, again, but one of only 67% of the
Standard Imperial Annual Tab. Or, s/he might insist that we remit on the
Imperium's schedule, to placate the Office of Calendar Compliance.

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