Nice Year

Kinda Nice

Damola Morenikeji | More! | 19th February 2024 | U

It is better to be kind than it is to be nice. A kind person is supportive while still being honest, whereas the “nice” person will avoid the responsibility of delivering accurate feedback for the future for fear of awkwardness or hurting feelings in the present. “Happiness, for them, is zero-sum and immediate,” whereas the kind person understands that happiness is “collective flourishing” (750 words)

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Julius Caesar's Year of Confusion

Martha Henriques | BBC Future | 28th February 2024 | U

By 200BC, the Roman calendar — which was based on both the lunar year and a superstition about the wrongness of even numbers —  had gone “catastrophically wrong”. Harvest festivals fell in spring and eclipse predictions were four months out. Julius Caesar fixed it in 46BC with a year of 445 days. Leap days now keep us broadly on track. Until the 56C, when we will be out by a day again (1,600 words)