On the previous page, you were introduced to the physical units of Janus Metrics. This page will cover the social units.

Monetary Value

Janus Metrics has a standard name for units of value, in other words for monetary currencies: the  Merit [Me]. Which currency you mean depends on the context, or you can specify it with a preceding adjective, like Euro-.

Banknotes could be denominated in 1's and 3's, 10's and 30's, 100's and 300's, etc. 3 is a quarter of 12, and the closest integer to its square root.

Points

Janus Metrics also has a standard name for arbitrary units of comparison, like points in a sport, grades in school or stars in a rating: the  Valit [Va]. The scale is normally Janus 0-100%, written as a percentage.

Absolute time

The Chronit measures elapsed time, the time between two moments. In contrast, absolute time identifies a particular moment. The simplest way to express absolute time is to measure the elapsed time since a reference moment.

Janus Metrics does this, and the result is called the Janus Clock. The reference moment is called the Epoch, and it is arbitrarily set to midnight UTC the morning of 22 December 1957, 2 hours and 49 minutes before the winter solstice during which Sputnik was in orbit, representing the beginning of the Space Age. Other reference moments could have been chosen, for example the first human flight (Montgolfier, 1783), first radio (Marconi, 1896), first powered heavier-than-air human flight (Wright, 1903), first controlled fission (Fermi, 1942), first human spaceflight (Gagarin, 1961), first interplanetary spaceflight (Mariner, 1962), or first human lunar landing (Apollo 11, 1969), but Sputnik is recent, optimistic, inoffensive, and significant.

The Janus Clock measures time elapsed since the Epoch in units called Orit [Or]: 1 Orit means 1 Chronit since the Epoch.

The Date

Dates are also reckoned from the Epoch: the date is the number of days since the Epoch, not counting any fraction of the current day. In other words, each date is numbered by its beginning, not its end. Dates have nothing to do with years, months, weeks or days of the week.

The Janus Date is a unit called the  Dattit [Da]. Da 0 was 22dec1957AD.

Cyclical time

An Orit measures absolute time, but there is another kind of time important to us: the cyclical time which provides the social pattern in which we live our lives. Two cycles in particular are very important to us: the year and the day.

The Year

Janus also counts years from the Epoch. Years start on the southern solstice (the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere), which is usually 21-22 December. The Janus unit for year is the  Annit [An], from the Latin word for year, annus. The year that began on 22 December 1957 CE was Janus Year 0.

Note that Dattit and Annit measure completed days and years, excluding the already-past part of the current day or year. At midnight UTC at the end of 21 December of this year, the year will be complete, and the Annit will increment by 1. That's different from how we now look at it, where refers to today as part of the year in progress.

The Day

The Janus day is a social unit that enables people to coordinate their activities. It bears a close relationship with the astronomical day - the period in which the sun seems to circle overhead, but it's not necessarily exactly the same, any more than the current system.

Like the current day, the Janus day is anchored at noon, the moment when the sun is directly above us. Times of day are then expressed in units called  Solit [So]: 1 Solit means 1 Chronit since noon. Morning times (before noon) use negative Solit. Note that a Janus day isn't an even number of Solit, and it doesn't matter. In fact, the Janus day is not 24 hours - its length may vary, and in fact nothing prevents one day from overlapping with the next: you may be stumbling out of the disco at 17pm on Friday as the dedicated sport fishermen are headed out at -7am on Saturday morning.

Like the current system, the day is local : you share it with the other people in your city. But people in other cities may use different local time, without the need for time zones. For example, the French government may publish a local time standard based on solar noon at the zero point in front of Notre Dame cathedral. Or, if they wish to observe daylight savings time, they may advance the local time by a few minutes every day so that sunrise always occurs at the same local time of day. A Muslim standard might prefer to keep sunset constant. In any case, the standard is published in advance as a formula which, for a given date in a given location, produces the offset between absolute time and local time, between Orits and Solits.

But there is no guarantee that Paris time is the same as Barcelona time, even though Paris is directly north of Barcelona. Nor is Paris always going to be 1 hour ahead of London time - your watch, clock, computer or phone needs to know the formula for each standard, or capture a broadcast of the local time. When, for example, a World Cup match is being played in Rio, the website would just publish the absolute time (already easier than date + local time), and everyone would use their watch to know when that is in their local time.

The Day of the Year

The Janus year is divided into 12 Months of 30 days each, which happen to line up well with the months of the tropical Zodiac. Each of these months is divided into 5 Weeks of 6 days each, for a total of 60 weeks per year. In addition, there are four Holidays every year that fall between seasons:

• Easter falls on on the vernal equinox, at the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
• Midyear is a two-day festival that falls on the summer solstice, at the end of spring and the beginning of summer. The night between the two days is the shortest of the year, and traditionally, everybody stays up all night, making it one long day.
• Harfest falls on the autumnal equinox, at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
• Finally, Year End falls on the southern solstice, at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. Every fourth year, the Year End festival is two days long, unless the year is divisible by 128. This rhythm keeps the Janus calendar year in time with the astronomic year better than any other calendar ever used.
• (All the seasons above refer to the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed: for example, Easter falls at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.)

The holidays are considered their own month and their own week (Holiweek). The months, weeks, and days of the rest of the year all have names based on classical traditions. The Janus months line up with the months of the traditional Zodiac, and use the familiar Latin names:

Capricorn  	Aquarius  	Pisces  
Aries   	Taurus  	Gemini  
Cancer  	Leo  	Virgo  
Libra  	Scorpio 	Sagittarius 

Days of the Week

The days of the current seven-day week are named after planets, in turn named after gods. For example, Tuesday is named after the war god Tiw (Norse Tír), the Germanic equivalent of the Roman war god Mars, after whom the planet is named. Janus continues this tradition, but with Greek names so that there's no confusion. As days of the six-day week, we use the names for the six Olympian children of Zeus. They correspond pretty well to our current day names, but there is no Saturday - we took the Sabbath off! And we asked Athena to represent her father:

Planets	English	Italian	Hindi	Janus	Abbreviation
The Sun & other stars	Sunday	"soledi"	Ravivār	Apollo	
The Moon & other moons	Monday	lunedi	Somavār	Artemis	
Mars & Uranus	Tuesday	martedi	Mangalavār	Ares	
Mercury & Saturn	Wednesday	mercoledi	Budhavār	Hermes	
Jupiter & Earth	Thursday	giovedi	Guruvār	Athena	
Venus & Neptune	Friday	venerdi	Shukravār	Aphrodite	

As you can see above, the month names are shortened (and sometimes slightly altered) when combined, and the days of the week have one-letter abbreviations.

Days of the Month

The weeks and the days of the month have also been assigned to elements drawn from a set of five based on Aristotle, but adding soil or sand (Earth) as intermediate between solid and liquid. Each language uses its own words for those elements, but they're always abbreviated with the same five vowels, high for weeks and low for days:

Stone	Earth	Water	Air	Fire
(or Metal)	(or Wood)	(or Sea)	(or Wind)	(or Flame)
				

In the Janus calendar, there are no weekends : stores, schools, trains, etc. all have a single schedule (except for the holidays). But each person has his own repetitive schedule which includes days off during the week, vacations, and regular dates like classes, meetings or bowling night. For instance, you might have a class that meets every Artemis night, i.e. once every six days.

To facilitate this, the Janus calendar has a sequence of days of the month designed to interleave the working schedules of five colleagues, assuming each works one-fifth of his time (219 eight-hour days a year). That's the equivalent of 41 non-weekend days off a year, more time off than most Americans but a little less than the French. On this schedule, three of the five would work every day.

Here's how it works : the five weeks of each month are already assigned to elements. The schedule below also assigns each day of the month to an element. Finally, each person is associated with one of the five elements, and he gets the day off whenever either the week or the day is his element.

Week	 Apollo	 Artemis	 Ares	 Hermes	 Athena	 Aphrodite
 Stoneweek	Waterday	Airday	Earthday	Fireday	Waterday	Airday
 Earthweek	Airday	Fireday	Waterday	Stoneday	Airday	Fireday
 Waterweek	Fireday	Stoneday	Airday	Earthday	Fireday	Stoneday
 Airweek	Stoneday	Earthday	Fireday	Waterday	Stoneday	Earthday
 Fireweek	Earthday	Waterday	Stoneday	Airday	Earthday	Waterday

If you study this calendar, you'll see that everybody has a full week of vacation every month. In between vacations, they work three days on and one day off, with an extra day off in the middle of the month. We call the single days off a "solody", the double days off a "duody", and a set of three working days a "triody". Here's how it looks from each person's point of view:

Week	 Apollo	 Artemis	 Ares	 Hermes	 Athena	 Aphrodite
1st Week	Work	Work	Work	Off	Work	Work
2nd Week	Work	Off	Work	Work	Work	Off
3rd Week	Off	Work	Work	Work	Off	Work
4th Week	Work	Work	Off	Work	Work	Work
5th Week	Vacation!

There are always three people working, and if the three of you are working in shifts to cover the entire 24-hour day, you would work the morning shift for your first two 3-day sets, the afternoon shift for the next two, and the night shift for the last two. The schedules are all identical (and symmetrical), so no element is better than another. However, each element shares four days a month off with two of the other elements, and only two days a month off with the other two. The same braid pattern repeats every month, but someone can switch elements at the end of the month without causing problems, for example to get a two-week vacation. Of course, everybody will also work some of the holidays if their workplace isn't closed.

By combining the abbreviations for the month, week, day of the week, and day of the month in that order, we get an acronym for the day of the year. This acronym spells a unit called the Hemerit , abbreviated He (from the Greek word for day). For example, Valentine's Day (15feb) is  He.Aquita.

Dual Calendar

Here is a dual calendar (for non-leap years). For leap years, February 29 is He Piscomu, and every date afterwards in the current calendar corresponds to the Janus date of the following day. For example, to see what Janus day it is on July 4th of a leap year, look up July 5th below.

Month	Week	Day  Apollo	Day  Artemis	Day  Ares	Day  Hermes	Day  Athena	Day  Aphrodite
Month  Capricorn ♑	Week  Stoneweek	Decem 22 Caprupa	Decem 23 Caprute	Decem 24 Capruro	Decem 25 Caprumi	Decem 26 Caprutha	Decem 27 Caprufe
	Week  Earthweek	Decem 28 Caprope	Decem 29 Caproti	Decem 30 Caprora	Decem 31 Capromu	January 1 Caprothe	January 2 Caprofi
	Week  Waterweek	January 3 Caprapi	January 4 Capratu	January 5 Caprare	January 6 Capramo	January 7 Caprathi	January 8 Caprafu
	Week  Airweek	January 9 Caprepu	January 10 Capreto	January 11 Capreri	January 12 Caprema	January 13 Caprethu	January 14 Caprefo
	Week  Fireweek	January 15 Capripo	January 16 Caprita	January 17 Capriru	January 18 Caprime	January 19 Capritho	January 20 Caprifa
Month  Aquarius ♒	Week  Stoneweek	January 21 Aqüupa	January 22 Aqüute	January 23 Aqüuro	January 24 Aqüumi	January 25 Aqüutha	January 26 Aqüufe
	Week  Earthweek	January 27 Aquope	January 28 Aquoti	January 29 Aquora	January 30 Aquomu	January 31 Aquon	February 1 Aquof
	Week  Waterweek	February 2 Aquapi	February 3 Aquatu	February 4 Aquare	February 5 Aquamo	February 6 Aquathi	February 7 Aquafu
	Week  Airweek	February 8 Aquepu	February 9 Aqueto	February 10 Aqueri	February 11 Aquema	February 12 Aquethu	February 13 Aquefo
	Week  Fireweek	February 14 Aquipo	February 15 Aquita	February 16 Aquiru	February 17 Aquime	February 18 Aquitho	February 19 Aquifa
Month  Pisces ♓	Week  Stoneweek	February 20 Piscupa	February 21 Piscute	February 22 Piscuro	February 23 Piscumi	February 24 Piscutha	February 25 Piscufe
	Week  Earthweek	February 26 Piscope	February 27 Piscoti	February 28 Piscora	March 1 Piscomu	March 2 Piscothe	March 3 Piscofi
	Week  Waterweek	March 4 Piscapi	March 5 Piscatu	March 6 Piscare	March 7 Piscamo	March 8 Piscathi	March 9 Piscafu
	Week  Airweek	March 10 Piscepu	March 11 Pisceto	March 12 Pisceri	March 13 Piscema	March 14 Piscethu	March 15 Piscefo
	Week  Fireweek	March 16 Piscipo	March 17 Piscita	March 18 Pisciru	March 19 Piscime	March 20 Piscitho	March 21 Piscifa
Month  Holiday	Easter	March 22 Holipu
Month  Aries ♈	Week  Stoneweek	March 23 Arupa	March 24 Arute	March 25 Aruro	March 26 Arumi	March 27 Arutha	March 28 Arufe
	Week  Earthweek	March 29 Arope	March 30 Aroti	March 31 Arora	April 1 Aromu	April 2 Arothe	April 3 Arofi
	Week  Waterweek	April 4 Arapi	April 5 Aratu	April 6 Arare	April 7 Aramo	April 8 Arathi	April 9 Arafu
	Week  Airweek	April 10 Arepu	April 11 Areto	April 12 Areri	April 13 Arema	April 14 Arethu	April 15 Arefo
	Week  Fireweek	April 16 Aripo	April 17 Arita	April 18 Ariru	April 19 Arime	April 20 Aritho	April 21 Arifa
Month  Taurus ♉	Week  Stoneweek	April 22 Taurupa	April 23 Taurute	April 24 Taururo	April 25 Taurumi	April 26 Taurutha	April 27 Taurufe
	Week  Earthweek	April 28 Taurope	April 29 Tauroti	April 30 Taurora	May 1 Tauromu	May 2 Taurothe	May 3 Taurofi
	Week  Waterweek	May 4 Taurapi	May 5 Tauratu	May 6 Taurare	May 7 Tauramo	May 8 Taurathi	May 9 Taurafu
	Week  Airweek	May 10 Taurepu	May 11 Taureto	May 12 Taureri	May 13 Taurema	May 14 Taurethu	May 15 Taurefo
	Week  Fireweek	May 16 Tauripo	May 17 Taurita	May 18 Tauriru	May 19 Taurime	May 20 Tauritho	May 21 Taurifa
Month  Gemini ♊	Week  Stoneweek	May 22 Gemupa	May 23 Gemute	May 24 Gemuro	May 25 Gemumi	May 26 Gemutha	May 27 Gemufe
	Week  Earthweek	May 28 Gemope	May 29 Gemoti	May 30 Gemora	May 31 Gemomu	June 1 Gemothe	June 2 Gemofi
	Week  Waterweek	June 3 Gemapi	June 4 Gematu	June 5 Gemare	June 6 Gemamo	June 7 Gemathi	June 8 Gemafu
	Week  Airweek	June 9 Gemepu	June 10 Gemeto	June 11 Gemeri	June 12 Gemema	June 13 Gemethu	June 14 Gemefo
	Week  Fireweek	June 15 Gemipo	June 16 Gemita	June 17 Gemiru	June 18 Gemime	June 19 Gemitho	June 20 Gemifa
Month  Holiday	Midyear		June 21 Holito	June 22 Holira
Month  Cancer ♋	Week  Stoneweek	June 23 Canupa	June 24 Canute	June 25 Canuro	June 26 Canumi	June 27 Canutha	June 28 Canufe
	Week  Earthweek	June 29 Canope	June 30 Canoti	July 1 Canora	July 2 Canomu	July 3 Canothe	July 4 Canofi
	Week  Waterweek	July 5 Canapi	July 6 Canatu	July 7 Canare	July 8 Canamo	July 9 Canathi	July 10 Canafu
	Week  Airweek	July 11 Canepu	July 12 Caneto	July 13 Caneri	July 14 Canema	July 15 Canethu	July 16 Canefo
	Week  Fireweek	July 17 Canipo	July 18 Canita	July 19 Caniru	July 20 Canime	July 21 Canitho	July 22 Canifa
Month  Leo ♌	Week  Stoneweek	July 23 Leyupa	July 24 Leyute	July 25 Leyuro	July 26 Leyumi	July 27 Leyutha	July 28 Leyufe
	Week  Earthweek	July 29 Leyope	July 30 Leyoti	July 31 Leyora	August 1 Leyomu	August 2 Leyothe	August 3 Leyofi
	Week  Waterweek	August 4 Leyapi	August 5 Leyatu	August 6 Leyare	August 7 Leyamo	August 8 Leyathi	August 9 Leyafu
	Week  Airweek	August 10 Leyepu	August 11 Leyeto	August 12 Leyeri	August 13 Leyema	August 14 Leyethu	August 15 Leyefo
	Week  Fireweek	August 16 Leyipo	August 17 Leyita	August 18 Leyiru	August 19 Leyime	August 20 Leyitho	August 21 Leyifa
Month  Virgo ♍	Week  Stoneweek	August 22 Virgupa	August 23 Virgute	August 24 Virguro	August 25 Virgumi	August 26 Virgutha	August 27 Virgufe
	Week  Earthweek	August 28 Virgope	August 29 Virgoti	August 30 Virgora	August 31 Virgomu	Septem 1 Virgothe	Septem 2 Virgofi
	Week  Waterweek	Septem 3 Virgapi	Septem 4 Virgatu	Septem 5 Virgare	Septem 6 Virgamo	Septem 7 Virgathi	Septem 8 Virgafu
	Week  Airweek	Septem 9 Virgepu	Septem 10 Virgeto	Septem 11 Virgeri	Septem 12 Virgema	Septem 13 Virgethu	Septem 14 Virgefo
	Week  Fireweek	Septem 15 Virgipo	Septem 16 Virgita	Septem 17 Virgiru	Septem 18 Virgime	Septem 19 Virgitho	Septem 20 Virgifa
Month  Holiday	Harfest				Septem 21 Holime
Month  Libra ♎	Week  Stoneweek	Septem 22 Librupa	Septem 23 Librute	Septem 24 Libruro	Septem 25 Librumi	Septem 26 Librutha	Septem 27 Librufe
	Week  Earthweek	Septem 28 Librope	Septem 29 Libroti	Septem 30 Librora	Octo 1 Libromu	Octo 2 Librothe	Octo 3 Librofi
	Week  Waterweek	Octo 4 Librapi	Octo 5 Libratu	Octo 6 Librare	Octo 7 Libramo	Octo 8 Librathi	Octo 9 Librafu
	Week  Airweek	Octo 10 Librepu	Octo 11 Libreto	Octo 12 Libreri	Octo 13 Librema	Octo 14 Librethu	Octo 15 Librefo
	Week  Fireweek	Octo 16 Libripo	Octo 17 Librita	Octo 18 Libriru	Octo 19 Librime	Octo 20 Libritho	Octo 21 Librifa
Month  Scorpio ♏	Week  Stoneweek	Octo 22 Scorpupa	Octo 23 Scorpute	Octo 24 Scorpuro	Octo 25 Scorpumi	Octo 26 Scorputha	Octo 27 Scorpufe
	Week  Earthweek	Octo 28 Scorpope	Octo 29 Scorpoti	Octo 30 Scorpora	Octo 31 Scorpomu	Novem 1 Scorpothe	Novem 2 Scorpofi
	Week  Waterweek	Novem 3 Scorpapi	Novem 4 Scorpatu	Novem 5 Scorpare	Novem 6 Scorpamo	Novem 7 Scorpathi	Novem 8 Scorpafu
	Week  Airweek	Novem 9 Scorpepu	Novem 10 Scorpeto	Novem 11 Scorperi	Novem 12 Scorpema	Novem 13 Scorpethu	Novem 14 Scorpefo
	Week  Fireweek	Novem 15 Scorpipo	Novem 16 Scorpita	Novem 17 Scorpiru	Novem 18 Scorpime	Novem 19 Scorpitho	Novem 20 Scorpifa
Month  Sagittarius ♐	Week  Stoneweek	Novem 21 Sagittupa	Novem 22 Sagittute	Novem 23 Sagitturo	Novem 24 Sagittumi	Novem 25 Sagittutha	Novem 26 Sagittufe
	Week  Earthweek	Novem 27 Sagittope	Novem 28 Sagittoti	Novem 29 Sagittora	Novem 30 Sagittomu	Decem 1 Sagittothe	Decem 2 Sagittofi
	Week  Waterweek	Decem 3 Sagittapi	Decem 4 Sagittatu	Decem 5 Sagittare	Decem 6 Sagittamo	Decem 7 Sagittathi	Decem 8 Sagittafu
	Week  Airweek	Decem 9 Sagittepu	Decem 10 Sagitteto	Decem 11 Sagitteri	Decem 12 Sagittema	Decem 13 Sagittethu	Decem 14 Sagittefo
	Week  Fireweek	Decem 15 Sagittipo	Decem 16 Sagittita	Decem 17 Sagittiru	Decem 18 Sagittime	Decem 19 Sagittitho	Decem 20 Sagittifa
Month  Holiday	Yearend					Decem 21 Holithi	February 29 Holifi
Month	Week	Day  Apollo	Day  Artemis	Day  Ares	Day  Hermes	Day  Athena	Day  Aphrodite

It's easy to make a perpetual calendar using five cubes: two for the twelve months, and one each for weeks, days of the week, and days of the month. Here are two different versions, one in a nice holder:

And here's the image used to make them:

As you use a calendar like this, it's convenient to be able to calculate the Hemerit of the next day. The month, week, and day of the week are easy. For the day of the month, there's a simple rule: given the usual order of the elements (Stone-Earth-Water-Air-Fire), every new day advances three, except that Apollo advances the week instead of the day, while his neighbors Artemis and Aphrodite advance only one day each. That rule keeps your calendar in sync (between holidays).

Latitude and Longitude

Position on the surface of the Earth (or another planet) is measured by longitude west and latitude north of a reference point in the Gulf of Guinea where the prime meridian crosses the equator. East and south use negative numbers, and the latitude is written as if it were imaginary. In romanization, the letters n s e w are used as signs.

Both longitude and latitude are measured in turns, or Torit, so that all values are fractions. This combination is called a  Lokit [Lo]. For example, the lighthouse at Pointe des Almadies, Senegal - the westernmost point in Africa - is at Lo w04873n04095.

Compass Directions

Headings and bearings are expressed as angles using a unit called an  Azimit [Az]. An Azimit of °3 means 3/12 of a full turn right (clockwise) from due west, in other words, north. Likewise, Az°6 is east, and Az°③ is south.

Recap

Annit	An	absolute year		
Azimit	Az	direction		
Dattit	Da	absolute date		
Hemerit	He	day of the year		
Lokit	Lo	location		
Merit	Me	value		
Orit	Or	absolute time		
Solit	So	time of day		
Valit	Va	comparison		

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