Alex Livingston wrote:
[Chris Carrier wrote:]
WRONG! Negative year numbers are not part of the Gregorian calendar.
Still not quite right: *non-positive* numbers are not part of the Gregorian calendar. Which presents me an opportunity too hard to resist to scream something that I have never yet explicitly read anywhere on this discussion group or anywhere else on the Internet. Year numbers are *ordinal* (as opposed to cardinal - correct me if I've got this the wrong way round), i.e., like the day of the month (and the month of the year when written numerically), they indicate the "howmanyeth" year it is (I can't think how better to put it). AD 1 was the *1st* year (of the era). 1997 is the 1997th year. It follows that the *1st decade* comprised the years 1 to 10 *inclusive* (the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ..., and 10th years); the *1st century* comprised the years 1 to 100 *inclusive*; the *1st millennium* comprised the years 1 to 1000 *inclusive*. And 2000 will be the 2000th year and hence the last year of the 200th decade, the 20th century, and the 2nd millennium.
[snip] [yawn] [snip]
I think that, if you re-read what Chris said, he is of the same opinion as you - as are, probably, most clear thinking people and we probably don't need it spelt out in words of one syllable. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the world's population which uses the Gregorian calendar are not right-thinking and are going to celebrate the new millenium on 1st January 2000, whether you or I like it or not. When we celebrate it on 1st January 2001 the heaving masses will look upon us as blithering idiots who've obviously been asleep for the previous year. We are, don't forget, talking about the same people who have, en masse, been out and bought new versions of Windows 95 or Windows NT for Christmas because they wouldn't recognise an operating system if it fell on them. I'm sure Bill Gates will work out how to get a few dollars from every one who celebrates the new millenium (by copying someone elses idea, of course). Happy New Year Pete -- Peter H.C. Hullah Technical Services mailto:Peter.Hullah@eurocontrol.fr EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre Phone: +33 1 69 88 75 49 BP 15, Rue des Bordes, Fax: +33 1 60 85 15 04 91222 BRETIGNY SUR ORGE CEDEX France