Here’s a shot in the dark.
Remember the episode of “Ren and Stimpy” where Stimpy acted very superstious? In that episode Ren’s birthday was on some odd day. Could that have been May 33rd?
From this link, this stuff happens on the 147th day of the year which would be May 33rd on the aforesaid Genesis Calendar during a leap year.
http://www.dailyalmanacs.com/almanac2/may/0527.html
Holidays
[Afgh nist n] Independence Day (1921)
[Nicaragua] Army Day
[Nigeria] Children’s Day
[Turkey] Freedom & Constitution Day (1960, 1961)
[US] Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868)
[Virginia] Confederate Memorial Day (1868)
Observances
In 1564, [Luth] Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of church
In 2005, [Jewish] Lag B’Omer-Love for Holy Land Day (Iyyar 18, 5765)
In 2012, [Jewish] Shavuot-Celebration of 10 Commandments (Siv 6, 5772)
In 2035, [Jewish] Lag B’Omer-Love for Holy Land Day (Iyyar 18, 5795)
In 2050, [Jewish] Shavuot-Celebration of 10 Commandments (Siv 6, 5810)
[Christian] Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury
[Christian] Feast of St Eutropius of Orange
[Christian] Feast of St Julius of Durostorum
[Christian] Feast of St Melangel of Montacella
[Christian] Feast of St Restituta of Sora
[RC] Theodora, martyr in Alexandria
[old RC] Commemoration of St John I, pope/martyr
[old RC] Feast of St Bede the Venerable, doctor/writer
The DJ’s hint was to “go to the library and start reading the books”, and a previous question in the contest involved some Applebee’s licence plates on the wall.
My WAG is that some library in Milwaukee has a shelf with books entitled from L - M and there is a book about Leap Year which is 33rd in the row, or has 33 in its Dewey Decimal number, and I just wasted fifteen minutes of my life on this thread.
I’ll split the prize with whoever wins with this. I grew up outside Milwaukee.
Regards,
Shodan
Hey, you were no help when I won this contest back in February of '98 now were you? I had to do it all by myself.
Besides, I have no ideas whatsoever to be honest with you.
I’m willing to bet that the answer is a huge groaner! When we finally hear it we’ll probably all go GROOOOOOOOOAN!
I’m groaning at just having read the whole frickin thread without getting an answer.
Don’t tease me, folks.
Every time I see this thread bumped up, I think “Wow! An answer at last!” But now, it’s just more opinions again.
Aarrghhh!
Either SOMEONE comes up with the bleeping answer, or I start packing an Uzi. Take your pick.
::Ice Wolf turns, and stomps off back to the mountain, kicking a goat out of the way::
Hey, Ice Wolf, you know, I own a small gun store. I can get you a good price on that Uzi, and there are still high capacity magazines around. Hell, I can get you any kind of gun you want.
But an answer to this thread, that I can’t help you with. Sorry.
Unfortunately, that web site doesn’t say how many days are added to a leap year. The closest thing on a standard calander to that date would be Memorial day. Could that be it?
Time for me to chirp in after following this thread closely.
According to the DJs hints, it’s not some interpretation of dates…ie May 33=June 2 or something like that.
With the aforementioned web site with all the hints, it sounds to me like it could be the following:
-
It’s in a magazine/comic book/novel which would be impossible to find an archive of on the internet. Maybe some children’s book has a poem or an illustration with a fantastic calendar that has 33 days in may. It sounds like part of a nonsense rhyme. Something like Seuss or Silverstein, but to my knowledge I don’t know of anything by those authors that would have that. Ya know, like “Only on leap years, on May 33, the Goombas will cheer the festival of bees.” (The hint does say it’s some sort of festival.)
-
It’s part of a misprinted calendar from a leap year that had May 3 set as May 33 or something of the sort.
I’d be inclined that the answer is along the lines of number 1. Since I’m not in a country that has an extensive English library, I can’t be of any further service. But I’m willing to wager good money it’s something like 1.
Or it’s on some piece of modern art. But that seems even more remote.
It really sounds to me like the want something that actually uses the word “festival.”
one more thought –
what about some obscure science fiction or fantasy book? don’t these books occassionally have maps and other graphical things in the intros? At least I remember some dragon lance books and the such having them. perhaps one of them has the calendar? scratch the idea of the children’s rhyme. it sounds to me the guy has an actual calendar that lists may 33, not just some verse.
read the oft-posted link already. One of the DJs said:
It is therefore NOT Batman’s birthday, Tigger’s spring cleaning, Pippi Longstocking’s first menses, or any whimsical characteristic of a fictional character. It is a real calendar, meant to be an improvement on the Gregorian.
Some thoughts:
- We need to decide whether the question is asking for an event that only occurs in leap years, on May 33, or only occurs on THAT PARTICULAR DATE in leap years. The question is unclear on this point.
-These DJ quotes:
and
tells us that the name of the calendar in question is taken from the name of a person, which would argue against the Genesis Calendar. However, it has to be a calendar with a “May” and so must be in the same line of western tradition that produced the Gregorian calendar (traditional Asiatic, Jewish, etc. calendars are excluded, then, as well as things like the French revolution calendar, since in that the months were renamed).
-This DJ clue,
makes it unlikely that it is a purely scientific calendar used by astronomers or the like - a somber bunch, not much given to celebrating the “Festival of the Gas Giants” or such (The parties would be worth attending for the traditional burritos and egg nog, but be sure to leave before “Father Redspot” arrives with his sack full of Bic lighters for all the good girls and boys).
-Finally, I interpret
to mean that the significant event is something that occurs IN THAT calendar, whatever it may be, and not something that occurs on some equivalent date in the Gregorian calendar (the pinpointing of which would require calculation).
The last point, if I interpret it correctly, is telling. Logically, the event itself has to be timed from the designated leap day somehow in calendar X. Some holidays are tied to equinoxes (like easter), but I don’t know of any tied to the leap day which is, after all, just an arbitrarily chosen day. It has no religious or political significance that I’m aware. X is a strange calendar, alright.
So what could occur on May 33 only on leap years? Why May? Is that some period of time approximately 3 months from the leap day, as it is tempting to assume from our experience with the Gregorian calendar, or is the leap day in a different place in calendar X? One possible answer is that leap day itself occurs on May 33, but someone guessed that and it was wrong.
In sum, we want a western calendar, named after someone (almost certainly its inventor), with a festival of some sort that occurs on May 33 in leap years (or possibly that only occurs in leap years, on May 33).
My best guess: a calendar invented by some nineteenth century or early twentieth century intellectual that has properties (probably arithmetic) that make it more useful than the Gregorian in some way. It was likely proposed and caught on in a few isolated circles (or these DJs would not have had opportunity to read about it) but, obviously, was never widely adopted. The festival is probably an adaptation of a Christian holiday (supported by the word “festival”), but possibly honors a political event of significance to the inventor.
Reading it again, the second quote in my post above might mean you DO have to convert the calendar X date to its Gregorian equivalent. Oh well.
I seem to recall hearing about a series of calendars which were made from the perspectives of the other planets in the solar system.
Maybe one of the other planets has a May 33?
Sorry…no cites or links, just my admittedly poor memory of an overheard piece of trivia. Just thought I’d chime in with it, since I don’t think it’s been mentioned so far.
Thrash
APB said:
Not necessarily taken from the name of a person. The name could appear on the calendar without said person having ‘invented’ it.
Perhaps we should concentrate instead on the words ‘some kind of calendar’, which could imply something akin to the Aztec’s solar calendar.
Here’s what the librarian (cited by maralinn) says who claims to know the answer in response to maralinn’s request for the answer.
http://forums.delphi.com/n/main.asp?webtag=be-libraries&nav=messages&msg=37.1
"Since this involves a contest that wouldn’t be quite fair.
I’ll post a partial answer here that builds upon your previous comments.
From the Bill Hollon’s Website
What happens on May 33rd, but only on leap years?
This question originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a radio show called “You Can’t Win.” It has been frequently asked of me by email and as of the end of February of 2001, May 33rd is still being searched for a couple dozen times a week by visitors using my site’s search engine.
The Genesis Calendar’s month of May has 35 days, so possibly it is the May 33rd referred to in the show’s question. If so, and the event that happens only on a Genesis Calendar leap year is related to a Gregorian Calendar date, whatever the answer is will be true for only about thirty more years at most depending on the unnamed year assigned as first of the Genesis Calendar’s era. That’s because those two calendars have different methods of assigning leap years.
More to come"
…but this person is getting pissed at her cat and mouse “I know but I won’t tell attitude” so whether she truly “knows” or not is probably open to question.
From: JAYJOHNS1 1:52 pm
To: Paula, Libraries Sciences (LIBRARYHOST) unread
"It is obvious that the answer is unknown to you, LIBRARYHOST; your motive for claiming you have the answer, however, is unclear. It has been made clear that the correct answer has nothing to do with the Genesis 7-day Calendar. Dropping this “hint” is misleading and not what one would expect from a librarian. It’s also been established that there need be no calculations or conversions performed to come to the answer. There is a calendar out there with a clearly labeled May 33rd on it, and on this calendar that day is listed as some kind of festival. To claim that the answer has been frequently asked of research librarians is ludicrous. Think, Stumpers has no answer to this, but you do? The answer has eluded thousands for about six months now and if it were anywhere on the web or even a library’s listserv I believe it would have been uncovered by now. This question is a thread on a number of message boards with nothing more than shots in the dark being offered by posters. If you truly have a guess, circumvent your moral objections (which I must doubt you have) and post to this site "
The obvious question – which has already been asked – then becomes: ‘Why, if this is the case, hasn’t she gotten in touch with the radio station already (and shown us all how smart she is, in the process)??’
Probably for purely altruistic reasons, or perhaps because she is very modest/shy…
Yeah, that must be the reason :rolleyes:.
This is the responce I got from the ‘Genesis’ folks. I’m not even sure what to make of it.
Good Afternoon Christopher 3-5-01
There is No May 33rd except in the Genesis Calendar and that never changes. Leap year is the last day in March when it is scheduled by Celestial Solar activies; outside of Earths Physical Dimensions. April 1st is the New Year’s first day and May has already in the proper Annual
Progression. You may be certain that May 33rd is not affected by except by Disk Jockies Fancies.
Would this be outside the realm of possibility:
It seems the radio station wants to dissuade people from searching the infinite data expanses of the internet. Lots of hints on going to the library, and looking it up. More luck with “calendars” than “festivals” they say.
Could someone at the radio station been silly enough to go to the central Milwaukee library and, say, inserted a calendar of the station’s own invention into a book on obscure calendars, hoping somebody would just get off his/her ass and search the normal way?
Naa…but there’s gotta be a damn catch somewhere.
I think the answer can only be found in a library.