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What were the longest and shortest years on record?

The longest year on record was 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) introduced his Julian calendar. In order to make up for the difference between the calendar date and the season (determined by the position of the Earth in its yearly journey around the sun), Caesar inserted 2 extra months and added 23 extra days to February. Thus, 46 B.C. was 455 days long.

The shortest year on record was 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585) introduced his calendar, the Gregorian calendar. He decreed that October 5 would be October 15, eliminating 10 days, to make up for the accumulated error in the Julian calendar.

The world only gradually changed over to the Gregorian calendar. Catholic Europe adopted it by the year 1584. Many Protestant continental countries did so between 1699 and 1700; England imposed it on its colonies in 1752 and Sweden...

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1. Time
   1. How is time measured?
   2. What is meant by Universal Time?
   3. How many time zones are there in the world?
   4. Who establishes the correct time in the United States?
   5. What is military time?
   6. What do the initials a.m. and p.m. mean?
   7. When is Daylight Savings Time observed in the United States?
   8. What is a leap second?
   9. What is the exact length of a calendar year?
   10. Where did the term "grandfather clock" come from?
   11. What were the longest and shortest years on record?
   12. Besides the Julian and Gregorian calendars, what other calendars have been used?
   13. When does leap year occur?
   14. When did January 1 become the first day of the new year?
   15. How were the months of the year named?
   16. Where do the names of the days of the week come from?
   17. Why are the lengths of the seasons not equal?
2. Weights And Measures
   1. What is the metric system of measurement?
   2. What are the U.S. and metric units of measurement for area?
   3. How did the yard as a unit of measurement originate?
   4. What is a bench mark?
   5. How was the length of a meter originally determined?
   6. How are U.S. customary measures converted to metric measures and vice versa?
   7. What is the difference between a short ton, a long ton, and a metric ton?
   8. Why is a nautical mile different from a statute mile?
   9. What are the equivalents for dry and liquid measures?
   10. What are U.S. and British measures for volume and weight of water?