This is the International Fixed Calendar (IFC).
It splits the year into 13 months (each with 28 days). And the world was very close to adopting it in the 1930s.
Compared to the 12-month Gregorian calendar, IFC is much simpler:
▫️ Calendar is same every year
▫️ Each month has ry month starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday
▫️ Every date of every month is the same day (“16th” is a Monday)
The 13th month was called “Sol”, as the extra month fell between June and July, around summer solstice.
You’re probably thinking “28x13 = 364” (and “I’m learning way more about calendars than I expected today”).
To address this — and to get to 365 days — the IFC added a one-day world holiday (“Year Day”) between the last Saturday and Sunday of the year.
Kodak founder George Eastman was a fan of IFC and used the calendar for Kodak reporting. Eastman even convinced 100+ other companies to do the same.
Kodak kept the IFC from 1928 until 1989.
Why? Every month had the same number of days (and weekends), making it easier to compare income statements across months and years.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the IFC was the brainchild of an accountant (a British dude named Moses Cotsworth).
The IFC was ultimately scrapped.
Religious bodies couldn’t agree on standardizing certain dates (e.g. the one-day world holiday would change which day the Sabbath fell on every year; there was no agreement on Easter).
The business community also realized that existing bonds and contracts — using the Gregorian calendar — would be a pain to update.
Days and years follow the logic of the solar system. Months are way more flexible, and that’s how we almost had the IFC.
