Requiem for Relativity

Hi Joe, somewhere in my drink befuddled brain there's a vague memory of someone explaining that program code, cut and pasted into a text document, has some problems with line breaks being seen as paragraph breaks.

Then there's the problem of how good the site is at keeping out hackers. I think that it will see the program as a virus. Best to pop it into a folder then zip it and send it to Larry for advice on how to get it to interested parties.

(Edited) Hi Mouro, is that 365. something figure not really, point two four something? which would make up our leap year exra day?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Joe Keller</i>
<br />I need suggestions for "cutting & pasting" from the "command prompt" window, into Windows documents. So far, I've been able only to cut & paste into other command prompt windows. I'd like to paste my new BASIC computer program here.
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Hi Joe,
You can do that by right-clicking into the command prompt window title bar, and choosing Edit -&gt; Mark.
Then you select the text you want to copy with the mouse, by pressing the left mouse button while moving the mouse.
An then, go to the title bar and choose Edit -&gt; Copy again by right-clicking.
It's better to zip the file and attach it in some way, as Stoat says.

Mauro

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Stoat</i>
(Edited) Hi Muro, is that 365. something figure not really, point two four something? which would make up our leap year exra day?
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Indeed. And you can check by yourself. More on this later.

I'll rephrase my precession question a little differently. Currently, at the winter solstice in late December the Earth is near perigee. In roughly 13,000 years, halfway through the precession cycle, at the winter solstice, still late December by the tropical year, will the Earth be near apogee?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nemesis</i>
<br />I'll rephrase my precession question a little differently. Currently, at the winter solstice in late December the Earth is near perigee. In roughly 13,000 years, halfway through the precession cycle, at the winter solstice, still late December by the tropical year, will the Earth be near apogee?
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Hi nemesis,
Short answer: No.
What encompasses the points of perihelion and aphelion is the length of the sidereal year. The tropical year is 20 minutes shorter, to align the calendar with the seasons, that is, to maintain the equinocces(marks of the seasons) in relatively the same days, due to the earth axis precessing, and then changing the occurrence of the equinocces. The tropical year is a convenience.
In 13.000 years, as the difference is cumulative, you'll have a (significant) difference of 13000 * 20 = 26000 minutes, around 18 days, between a calendar based in the sidereal year, and one based in the tropical year.
So in late December, the Earth will still be near perihelion, although in a calendar based in the tropical year perihelion will really occur around December 13.

Thanks, Maurol. You describe the tropical year as a convenience - it sounds more like a fudge factor to me. I don't see the problem with the solstices changing calendar dates, especially over such a long time frame.