John Howell wrote:
keith helgesen wrote:
Then there was the one about when did the millennium start -00, or
01. Who
cares now?
Mostly computer engineers whose programs did NOT melt down as predicted!!
An old navy friend was working for a noted computer firm (Verisign) back
then, and has a picture of him standing next to the central DNS at
midnight on December 31, 1999. It was already pretty clear nothing
worse would happen.
I got many chuckles out of that particular argument. Anyone who knows
anything about our calendar should know perfectly well that it never was
and never will be a mathematically exact construct. In fact, it's a
King List--which is how they kept track of years in Egypt, Rome, and
Palestine--but with only a single King on it!! That's what Anno Domine
MEANS!! And they even got the birthday wrong! Nobody has ever agreed
on when the New Year starts except locally ("sometime between September
and April!"), and there's the little matter of the 10 days that
disappeared in the 16th century when the Pope tried to realign the
calendar with the celestial signs that had gotten all out of synch (the
difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars).
So, this is the Year of the Wombat, isn't it??? And New Years is on
John Lennon's birthday??
I know it used to be the Century of the Fruitbat, but can't remember
what it is now. :)
cd
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