The Computus Engine

Some things sneak up on you. For example, it seems I've had a blog for over 20 years. Since January 2000 to be precise. I've hosted it at crashposition.com and then here at computus.org. Behind the scenes those posts have lived on a variety of publishing platforms. * For the first couple of years each post was hand-rolled in HTML. * In July of 2002 the blog moved to the new hotness that was Movable Type. * In 2006 it moved again, this time to Wordpress where it has lived until...

Regnal dating is a largely historical system used for the dating of documents. It records a date as a numbered year running from the anniversary of a monarch’s accession. Many cultures around the world have used this system. Chinese history is often referred to by eras defined by the ruling emperor of the period. In Japan the Gengō (元号) system counts eras in years beginning from the accession of the emperor. In May of 2019 the then emperor, Akihito abdicated the throne. This brought the Heisei...

Electromagnetic Field is a magical place that only appears every couple of years. When it does, it's filled with interesting people and all the wonderful things they've been working on. You'll find blacksmiths and autonomous robots, crochet and flame throwers, and just lots and lots of lasers. The event is usually held every two years but, due to COVID, the previous event was four years ago. EMFCamp started out with small ambitions; for a few friends to go camping. "It has now..." to quote the...

Daylight Saving Time is the name given to the process of setting clocks forward by an hour during spring and summer, then setting them back again during Autumn and Winter. The benefits of this biannual ritual are largely to do with making the most of natural daylight. The history and politics though, are for more controversial. In the US, Canada, and parts of Mexico, DST already began on Sunday, March 8, 2020. In the UK we switch from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) over to British Summer Time (BST)...