>Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:52:54 -0500
>From: AR Gouin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Millennium End/Beginning
The date that the century ends is not a matter of opinion or vote - it
is a fact. I infer from your posts that you want the 20th century to
end at the end of 1999 because it would be easier to deal with somehow.
I am reminded of the state legislature (help me out here, list: was it
Tennessee or Kentucky?), which earlier this century voted that pi equals
3, since that would be easier for pupils to learn.
Going back to another part of your argument, you said that during your
first year of life, you are zero years old. Agreed. During your second
year of life, you are one year old. During your tenth year of life, you
are nine years old. You then complete your first decade at the end of
your tenth year. You complete your first century at the end of your one
hundredth year. Moving from individual to culture, we completed the
second century at the end of our two hundredth year. We completed the
first millennium at the end of our thousandth year. We will complete
our second millennium, and twentieth century, at the end of our 2000th
year.
One minor point. You also said:
>And just like our first year of life ended on the day before our first
>birthday it nevertheless began on the day of our birth and forced us to
>spend a whole year being 0-year-old. It seems normal (to me at least)
that
>the 20th century should END on 31 Dec 1999.
Not quite true - Say I was born 13 May 56 at 0816. My first year of life
would end at 0816 on 13 May 57 - the day of my first birthday. There is
a special case involved here. Say you were born at 0000 on 19 Nov 97.
In that case your first year of life would end the day before your first
birthday. But your main point is true - you spend your whole first year
being zero years old.
>Actually year zero was called 1 BC.
No. The year 1 BC was just 1 BC.
There was NO year zero.
