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Subject: Re: millenium - 2000 or 2001?
From: Roger M. Derby (derbyrm@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Dec 26 1999 - 20:24:05 EST
Craig wrote:
>
> Officially, the new millennium begins Jan 01, 2001, according to the US
> Naval Observatory, the OFFICIAL TIMEKEEPER of the US, and the same of the
> Official timekeeper in the UK, and also by those that believe it's important
> to have 1000 years in a millennium instead of 999.
Are you saying that the year 1900 was part of the 19th century?
The OFFICIAL TIMEKEEPER of the US is an individual with a nose, a belly button,
and an opinion just like everyone else. I really doubt he found the answer thru
one of his telescopes.
Those of us who had to really analyze number systems in order to design
computers have always recognized that one started counting at zero. (Although
there was a misguided bunch who had both negative and positive zeroes in their
implementations.)
There not only wasn't a year zero. There wasn't a year 1000 one millennium ago,
even if you allow a couple of years slop.
What the celebration is about is the same feeling, on a global scale, that leads
the family to lean over the driver's shoulder and cheer as the odometer goes
from many nines to an integer followed by a bunch of zeroes.
Roger
-- http://www.seidata.com/~derbyrm
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