Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 by the Papal bull Inter gravissimas to correct an error in the Julian Calendar that caused the date of Easter to drift. The Julian Calendar had 365.25 days, slightly too long. The actual number is about 365.2422 days, so the calendar had drifted from the orbit of Earth. Gregory's scientific advisors told him the calendar had acquired ten excess leap days since the First Council of Nicaea, which established the rule for dating Easter in AD 325. Consequently, when the Catholic polities of Europe adopted the Gregorian Calendar, the day after Thursday, 4 October 1582 became this date in 1582: Friday, October 15. The bull had no authority on Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and a few other churches, so the dates of Easter and other holidays diverged. Great Britain and the American colonies did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Russia and some Eastern European countries did not make the change until the 20th Century. Some countries still use Islamic and other calendars. Ethiopia, India, Japan, Israel, North Korea, and others use their own calendars alongside the Gregorian calendar. Credit: https://w.wiki/SacM Photo: https://w.wiki/cRZq 1907 Vatican Library, Public Domain I was on call for juror service all week, but I wasn't called in. Yesterday evening, I was called to report today at 12:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan Courthouse south of downtown L.A. (That's not one of the fancy county courthouses downtown. The metro courthouse is more like a traffic court.) As I was about to walk to the bus for the one-hour trip to the courthouse, I received a text message, an automated phone call, and an email saying that I did not need to report today after all. Nor tomorrow, as my week of juror service was completed. Well, alrighty then. Instead, I got some work done, then I got on the bike for a ride ... to the courthouse! Why? I don't know. I guess because I've been hyper-aware of my juror service, and I felt like it would give me some closure! I planned a familiar ride up to Baldwin Hills Overlook, then to the courthouse, then over Coldwater to Sherman Oaks and back over Sepulveda pass. But it was over 90 degrees the whole time, so by the time I got to Beverly Hills, I knew it wasn't the right day to do all those miles and all that climbing. I was already into my third bottle of water, so I rode back to the shoreline on a familiar, flat route. It was an enjoyable ride. And I got a picture of the courthouse!