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Open Thread: Happy New Year!

Ron - Posted on 30 December 2009

As I'm writing this, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown is on ABC right now here on the east coast.

One of my pet peeves: 2010 is the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. We count 123456789 and 10, not 0 to 9. The first year of the first millennium CE was 1, not 0. The year 2000 was the last year of the 20th century and the year the century was named after. It sure wasn't the 19.99th century. It seems people back 110 years ago were smarter because they celebrated the dawn of the 20th century at 12 AM January 1, 1901.

Anyone have any resolutions for the new year? New year's wishes? My wish for the new year is a brand new Congress! Why the Democrats will lose the House in 2010 | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters

May you live long and prosper.

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I beg to differ

Submitted by NewHampster on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 10:24pm.

The dang millenium argument never ends but the simple answer is that people want to celebrate sooner rather than later.

But I really do disagree. Let's go back to when this calendar began. The birth of a bright child named Jesus.

In fact easier Ron is yourself. You weren't born on your first birthday and neither was Jesus. He was born at Zero. Year One was his first birthday but the first year was the time between zero and one. It is not about how we count from 1 to 10 but how we count years.

Jesus on the left - this decade on the right.

0 - 1 (2000)
1 - 2 (2001)
2 - 3 (2002)
3 - 4 (2003)
4 - 5 (2004)
5 - 6 (2005)
6 - 7 (2006)
7 - 8 (2007)
8 - 9 (2008)
9 - 10 (2009)

2010 is the first year of the new decade. The first year of the first millenium would indeed have been 0.

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I beg to differ, too

Submitted by Ron on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 11:52pm.

The dawn of the 20th century and a new decade was celebrated on January 1, 1901. If you don't believe me, look it up. The reason is because the Gregorian calendar starts with the year 1, not 0. There was no year 0. Here it is defined:

Century: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred) is one hundred consecutive years.
Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages (e.g. "the seventh century AD").

According to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st century AD started on January 1, 1 and ended on December 31, 100. The 2nd century started at year 101, the third at 201, etc. The n-th century started/will start on the year 100×n - 99.

The reason this is my pet peeve is because people used to know this but now, education and the media being what they are, people have forgotten this basic fact and keep making the same stupid mistake. We're in the 21st century so the year it's named after is 2100, the last year of this century. If the last year were 2099, it should be named the 20.99th century. Centuries are named after the last year.

We have a bad president due to ignorance. Blogs are all about informing people. Let's inform with the facts.

By that reasoning, Jesus was 1 when he was born

Submitted by NewHampster on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 9:40am.

Pope Gregory was an ass and I don't care who has followed the error all these years. In fact it is all BS since nobody really knows when Jesus was born but if an arbitrary date is picked then he becomes 1 after a year so he starts at ZERO.

What you are looking at, the Gregorian calendar and 1901, are all arbitrary, political dates not realistic natural dates. They were off by at least 6 years and probably more. See this.

I arbitrarily say tomorrow begins a new decade.

http://customsholidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_year_of_jesus__birth

The Gospels make no mention of a year or a time of year when Jesus was born. The question of what year especially has been a matter of intense debate, for our Gregorian calendar is supposed to begin with the first full year of Jesus’ life.

The most popular assumption is that Jesus was born on the 25 December just before year 1 or the first “Anno Domini”, literally the first (full) “year of the Lord”. That is 1 AD for short, relative to which we are now 2006 AD.

The first full year of Jesus’ life was fixed as the first year of our calendar by the monk and Vatican scholar Dionysius Exiguus. One day he counted 525 years from his present time (which he knew as year 248 during the Diocletian Era) to the year of the incarnation and birth of Jesus. He then reset that year as year 1 “Ante Christum Natum” (before the birth of Christ), 1 ACN or 1 BC for short. This dating system came to be universally accepted in the 8th century, and we still use it today.

Now we know that Christ was born quite some time before 1 BC. First of all, Herod the Great died in 4 BC, so for him to have played such a large role in the event surrounding Jesus’ birth (cf. the Massacre of the Innocents), these events must have taken place before or during 4 BC. We can, by the way, be certain of Herod’s death by dating the lunar eclipse that occurred right before, as asserted by the 1st century historiographer Josephus. But that only gives us the year at the latest. If we take the Star of Bethlehem to be the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, then Jesus could have been born even earlier, in 8 BC.

Unfortunately, one of the more historically precise indications we have to go on, namely Luke’s reference to Quirinius’ census, conflicts with Josephus’ statement of that Quirinius was indeed governor and that there was indeed a census, but in 6 AD, so long after Herod’s death.

Read more at Suite101: The Year of Jesus’ Birth: Christ was not born 2006 years ago, in 1 BC http://customsholidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_year_of_jesus__birth#ixzz0bGzpMANv

Back to your birthday argument.

When you turn 1 you are in your second year. This is spaces of time not single digits on a calendar. It has no relation to how we count shares of stock.

When you turn 58 you begin your 59th year.

The frist year is the time between nothing and 1

Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform

I don't care about Jesus' birthday

Submitted by Ron on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 3:36pm.

All I care about is the calendar and how it was established. It starts from January 1, 1. There are 10 years in a decade so 2010 is the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. The idiotic media got most people to celebrate the dawn of the 21st century a year early and it was the first time that happened since the invention of our calendar. It was a mistake that need not be perpetuated.

as my brother the philosopher said

Submitted by NewHampster on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 4:32pm.

he of less religion than I.

The Twenties were 1920 > 1929

The Sixties were 1960 > 1969 though they really didn't end until '73

Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform

Don't forget the noughties

Submitted by Ron on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 6:24pm.

'00 to '09. That doesn't change the fact that the last year of a decade is 10, 20, etc.