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Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:55 am

2000 was a more memorable year as all four digits changed.
Ditto on a smaller scale with 1960.
Remember Kennedy promising to put a man on the Moon before the decade is out? Strictly, a landing in 1970 would have qualified, but it wouldn't have been seen as such by anyone. Appearances are everything.
A decade is a period on ten years, and doesn't have to start from "1".

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:58 pm

^^ yes, but the crucial issue is the point of reference.

'a millenium' can be an arbitrary range of 1,000 years, but the 'second millenium' must be counted from year 1a.d., so it covers [by definition] years 1001-2000 inclusive.
likewise, 'a century' can be an arbitrary range of 100 years, but the '20th century' must be counted from year 1a.d., so it covers [by definition] years 1901-2000 inclusive.

however, when we talk about 'the nineties' we are talking about an arbitrary decade, so it is ok to define this [without reference to year 1a.d.] as 1990-1999.

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:08 pm

I don't think I care any longer.

But what I do care about is :

Come sunday, do I add a year to my age, deduct a year, keep it the same because of a mistake in the calendar, or can I just start all over with whatever age I feel?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:27 pm

I'd be inclined to go with any age you fancy Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

^
In that case I was 22 last Friday Laughing

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:29 pm

My roommate had a sweat shirt that had this message on it:

"Age is just a number, and mine is unlisted."

My sentiments exactly.

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:59 pm

^^ that's what my wife says. I'm more inclined to hide in a cupboard with a bottle.

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:55 pm

If you started with year 1 the decade ends with 31 December 10

(if you want to be pedantic of course the Gregoroian calendahr had not been invented.)

So the 21st Century started 1 Jan 2001

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:58 pm

This is a really hard thread to follow... Laughing

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:10 pm

Roycropper wrote:

We must've, ...

Good use of must've, such an unlikely word when you spell it out!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 12 Jul 2009 Posts: 15

I don't care as I'm still stuck in the eighties, 01/01/1980 - 31/12/1989. Boy George and Wham live.

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:19 pm

It's no bloody wonder these end of the world merchants keep getting it wrong. Rolling Eyes

I can't wait to hear the Mayans sorry excuses when the sun dutifully rises on Dec 22nd 2012. I'll be laughing that I've survived yet another Armageddon or doomsday prediction because they can't count.

They can't touch me.

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:55 pm

It isn't the Mayans who think the world will end in 2012. It's the people who don't understand the Mayans' calendar. The Mayans will be laughing.

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:55 pm

If the Mayans were so smart, how come they all died?

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:00 pm

^ They aren't dead. They just went to their home planet.

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:37 pm

windypops wrote:

I can't wait to hear the Mayans sorry excuses when the sun dutifully rises on Dec 22nd 2012.

Even if the Mayans were (or are) right, the sun will still rise on 22nd Dec 2012 (and on 23rd, 24th etc). The question is how many of us will be aroung to see it?

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:58 pm

^^^ Planning a trip somewhere the sun doesn't shine?? Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

1066 was counted as 1066, but under the Julian calendar. Ten or more days were lost when the conversion to the Gregorian calendar occurred, (between 1582 and 1923,) which just made it agree with the days that would have been lost through not being leap-years if the Gregorian calendar had been in effect from the start. So the main body of 1066 was 1066 whichever way you look at it, but the first week shouldn't have been if people were counting years correctly.

Time is an illusion; lunch-time doubly so.

The Gregorian calendar is out by 26 seconds a year, but by the time we need to make a correction the length of a year will have changed. We're as accurate now as we need to be.

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:34 pm

Approximate is good enough for me.

Accuracy is for the anally retentive.

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:39 pm

^^Not spoken by a true pedant... Laughing

Try that line on the pay clerk some time! Shocked

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:33 am

@thud, every once in a while "they" (whoever "they" are) add a second to the clock - I believe it's called a "leap second." I never notice them, though.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Yes, but that's to make atomic time agree with a solar day, not year. The caesium atom keeps better time than the Earth does.

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:00 am

Titania wrote:

@thud, every once in a while "they" (whoever "they" are) add a second to the clock - I believe it's called a "leap second."

that is true - they usually add or subtract them when necessary at end of june and/or end of december.
but there is also a proposal to stop adding them, as doing so is awkward in some science & engineering contexts.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:27 am

Quote:

Accuracy is for the anally retentive.

ooo I love a bit of......

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:39 pm

Er, I've seen the movie Shocked

. Can we get back to the point?

There is a stall in the middle of a local town's shopping centre (center, or mall, in the US) selling, in large expensive signwritten letters 'Baked Potatoes'

Jimmy Carter once corrected a school blackboard on TV to spell potatos wrongly with an 'e', but I couldn't find it on Youtube.

You have to be so careful typing in this thread, I just had an argument with the Mrs about how many 'l's in careful. Smile

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