1 Jan
2011
1 Jan
'11
10:35 a.m.
On 2010 Dec 31, at 2:40 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
I beg to dffer..
It is a histoirical fact that at least in the UK, the start of the 20th
centruy was celebrated at the start of 1901. If you want to have the new
millennium starting in 2000 (and thus a new decade starting in 2010), you
ahve to be able to justify having only 99 years in the 20th century.
Yes, I feel there should have been a yeas 0. And for that matter the
months and days of the month should start with 0 too (just as hours,
minuts, seconds all start at 0 at midnight). But it's not done that way.
So I shall stick to claiming that this is the start of a new decade...
A little over 11 yaars ago, I came up with 2 definitions :
Millennium (latin Mille Annus) : A period of 1000 years, in particular
the yeas 1..1000, 1001..2000, 2001..3000, etc
Millenium (latin Mille Anus) : 1000 people making a right arse of
themselves by celebrating a new millennium in the wrong year.
Happy new decade to all members of this list and
their families.
[Yes, I do start counting from 0 normally. But the calendar doesn't
:-(,
and thus I think that new centrieies, decades, etc start with years
ending in '1'.]
New year, yes; but (for the other opinion) the decade started last year.
The calendar doesn't really denote an absolute time lapse, it just
provides labels to points in time. The epoch is arbitrary (who knows
what really happened in year 1).
OK, I might as well wish you a happy new year' on the 19th March at
15:23:10. A period of 365.25 days starts then after all :-)
As such, the absolute year or decade or century is meaningless. For
For that matter a new yrear is meaningless. AFAIK January 1st doesn't
correspond exactly to any special point in the earth's orbit.
what it matters at all, it's all about fun and
it's more fun to give
special celebration to 9's rolling over into 0's, rather than a
Some people really do have an odd idea of fun...
solitary 1 showing up on the right. Does anyone watch
for the car
odometer to roll from 10000 to 10001? No, they watch for 9999 to roll
Actually, I might. Or I might for a counting devive that I'd just
reassambled. To make sure a second carry doesn't occur (with some
mechancial coutnters thic cna happen if the star wheels ar emisaligned).
into 10000. Is it exciting because it starts or
completes 10000 miles
or kilometres? No, it's just fun to see all the 9's rolling into 0's.
In any case, a car odometer is a bad example. They do start from 0. They
change to 00001 after the first mile/km. And so on. So going from 09999
1o 10000 idos occur after 10000 miles/km
Similarly, for general comprehension it makes more sense to group 2010
with 2011..2019 rather than with 2001..2009; or to associate 2020..2029
together rather than 2011..2020 together, etc.
It may make more sense (and I prefer to start counting from 0 in almost
all cases), but alas it's no the way the calendar is set up.
-tony