Originally posted as:
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Subject: Nostradamus' 500th Birthday
Date: 6 Dec 2003 04:33:55 GMT
Message-ID: <bqrm7j$nmf$1@freenet9.carleton.ca>

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When does the 500th anniversary of Nostradamus' birth occur?
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The answer would have been easy, had the calendar not been
tampered with since his birth, and had the calendar itself not
been slightly defective, thereby necessitating leap years.
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To answer the question, one first needs to know when Nostradamus
was born. Using Jean-Aimé de Chavigny's short biography,
published in 1594, one gets to read:
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« MICHEL DE NOSTREDAME le plus renommé & fameux qu'ait
esté de long siecles en la prediction qui se tire de la
congnoissance , & iugement des Astres , nasquit en la
ville de Sainct Remy en Prouence l'an de grâce I 5 0 3.
vn Ieudy I4. Decembre, enuiron les I2.heures de midy »
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Born in St. Remy in Provence at about Noon on Thursday, December
14, 1503.
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Making an astrological calculation, one finds that he shall be
exactly 500 years-old on Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 4:09
p.m., Eastern Standard Time. How come?
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First, the 10-day correction to the calendar in 1582 by pope
Gregory XIII means that every anniversary of an event having
occurred before then would automatically fall 10 days later,
under the corrected calendar. So, Nostradamus' birthday ought to
be falling on December 24 every year. But...
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But the calendar year and the solar year do not coincide. So much
so that, to make them coincide once every four years, one needs
to add one extra day to February. Which means that many birthdays
sometimes fall either late on the previous day, or early on the
following day of one's date of birth, because of the presence or
absence of a leap year.
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In the case of Nostradamus, the Earth returns to the position it
was occupying relative to the Sun at his birth (the definition of
a birthday) the day before his theoretical anniversary, i.e.,
late on December 23, 2003.
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For astrologers, it is the apparent position of the Sun which
tells where the Earth is. In Nostradamus' case, his natal Sun
being at 1°37' CAPRICORN, this natal position is repeated for the
500th time at 10:09 p.m., Central European Time, on December 23,
2003.
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Should you want to raise your glass to the good doctor, the time
and day to do so depends on your time zone away from Universal
Time (or GMT) which would then be 9:09 p.m.

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In most of North America, 5:09 p.m. (Atlantic), 4:09 p.m.
(Eastern), 3:09 p.m. (Central), 2:09 p.m. (Mountain), or 1:09
p.m. (Pacific).
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Happy 500th, Nosty!
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------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Claude Latrémouille % -- "Claude! There ain't no stinkin' -- %
Le 6 décembre 2003- % cryptic anagrams in them dang verses,- %
APNCL#1400 -------- % ya hear?!" (A chorus of a.p.n. voices) %
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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Originally posted as:
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