Consider also that when the Gregorian calendar was instituted,
there was a huge adjustment made in the date. So, if you are
counting the absolute number of days that have transpired, then
Jan 1, 2001, is not the actual start of a millennium, either. :)

Bob Mauritsen
Green Lake, Seattle

>
>Yes, everybody *does* understand the technical point, but hey,
>vox populi has spoken pretty clearly here.
>
>Our system of time reckoning is completely arbitrary anyway,
>and there's nothing magical about the number of laps the earth
>has taken around the sun since we started counting -- other
>cultures started counting at different times.
>
>No, what's really interesting is simply that leading digit in
>front of the year, and it now says "2" instead of "1". You're
>welcome to wait a year for your millennium, but ours started
>yesterday...
>
>Jim McCoy
>jfmccoy at earthlink.net
>Redmond, WA
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Susi and Dale [mailto:susidale at home.com]
>Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2000 9:55 AM
>To: jfmccoy at earthlink.net; Pterodroma at aol.com;
>tweeters at u.washington.edu; dipper at inch.com
>Subject: Re: Y2K #001 - NORTHERN HAWK OWL
>
>
>Does everybody understand that the "new millennium" will not begin until
>January of 2001? Sorry if it hurts any feelings, but the century/millennium
>didn't change yet.
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Jim McCoy <jfmccoy at earthlink.net>
>To: <Pterodroma at aol.com>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <dipper at inch.com>
>Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2000 2:50 AM
>Subject: RE: Y2K #001 - NORTHERN HAWK OWL
>
>
>> Congratulations, Richard! This is a terrific story. I had
>> contemplated sending out a message asking after people's
>> millennium birds, but never got around to it. I was mildly
>> pleased to hear and subsequently see a flicker for my first,
>> instead of the crow I was expecting, especially since it was
>> one of my first favorites as a child. I knew somebody out
>> there could surely do better than that, but I didn't dream
>> anyone would come up with something so good as a northern
>> hawk owl! If you could live long enough, you'd still be
>> bragging about this one at the next millennium. ;)
>>
>> So, OK, anybody else out there have a good first bird for the
>> new millennium? We'll have to concede the "#1 #1" to Richard,
>> but let's have some honorable mentions...
>>
>> Jim McCoy
>> jfmccoy at earthlink.net
>> Redmond, WA
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>