Reply #2: 8 days a week is not enough to show I care

[velvet]

The first French Republic introduced the metric system of weights and measures, and a fine thing it is too. They also made a valiant but flawed attempt to do a similar thing with time.

The French Republican Calendar, in use from 1793 to 1806, had 10-hour days, 10-day weeks and twelve 3-week months per year. Five extra days and six in leap years were national holidays occurring at the end of each year. The year began at the autumn equinox.

The tenth day of the week was the day of rest.

The days and months were all renamed. If we were living under the French Republican Calendar today we would be in the month of Floreal and today would be Decadi.

Wikipedia has a comprehensive article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar I'll just quote the paragraph on the main reasons the calendar was not a success ...

"The calendar was abolished because having a ten-day working week gave workers less rest (one day off every ten instead of one day off every seven); because the equinox was a mobile date to start every new year (a fantastic source of confusion for almost everybody); and because it was incompatible with the secular rhythms of trade fairs and agricultural markets. Another criticism of the calendar was that despite the poetic names of its months, they are tied to the climate and agriculture of France and therefore not applicable to France's overseas territories."