Roger,

Well, actually my feeling is that holidays and celebrations are
whenever we decide they should be. Celebrating 2000 feels right,
so that's when it should be. In fact, 1/1/2000 is 1000 years from
1/1/1000 anyway. We don't seem to mind that February is shorter
than the other months, so what difference does it make that the
first "millennium" was technically a year short. The initial
point was arbitrary anyway, and could just as well have been a
year earlier. It's all arbitary. Some years have 366 days, but
we don't mind that. The first millennium had 999 years. So what.

My background is in math
and stat and so, from my standpoint, the year 2000 is *really*
arbitrary, since we could just as well have been counting in
base 8 or 12 or 60, and any of those cases, the years with three
zeros would definitely not have corresponded much with those for the
base 10 counting system. In any case, most systems start out a
bit sloppy and creaky. The date-counting system is no different.
It's when it finally settles down to a reliable process that
counts.

Sorry this is off-topic. I'm just back from vacation and am
having trouble adjusting to the "rules" of civilization again. :)

bob mauritsen

>
>Bob
>
>Oddly enough the Gregorian calendar includes millennia in it that end in triple
>zeros. Now if one wished to celebrate just those that occurred when all of those
>zeros turned up are you saying they couldn't? I, myself, can hardly wait until
>the year 10000. I hope my 'puter is Y10K compatible.
>
>Roger Craik
>
>Bob Mauritsen wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
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