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Subject: Re: millenium - 2000 or 2001?
From: Craig (craig@XXX.XXX)
Date: Mon Dec 27 1999 - 16:06:29 EST
Of course the OFFICIAL TIMEKEEPER has an opinion, and his opinion is the one
that matters. You may think it's 3:00 P.M., but if he says its not, then
you are wrong. If he says the new millennium starts January 01, 2001, and
you disagree, then you are wrong. That's pretty simple.
Incidentally, I've been working with computer number systems since 1977, and
I know very well how computers count; I may have taught you how to do the
math. Fortunately, my experience covers more than computers and I know
there are other number systems, some without zero, such as the one which
started our calendar system.
Incidentally, as the calendar we use is based on the birth of Jesus, it is
wrong by about five or six years. The "new" millennium has come and gone.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Happy New Year!
Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX]On
Behalf Of Roger M. Derby
Sent: Sunday, December 26, 1999 20:24
To: NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX
Subject: Re: millenium - 2000 or 2001?
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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