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Untrue Beliefs

Brian H Wrote: Feb 03, 2010 2:13 PM

It comes to this: was there a year 0? Does any historian refer to events in 0 A.D.? Is there also, then, a 0 B.C.? That's what you would need if you count each century (or decade) beginning with year 0; the first decade A.D. was 0-9, and so on.

But it's too awkward to think and talk that way in 'real life'. Easier just to use the 10s digit as the guide.

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Untrue Beliefs

Here's a sample of last week's news reporting: "A new decade is about to start ...", "What better way to start a new year and decade ...", and "ABC 'World News' Decade Look-Back." One would think that the first decade of the third millennium came to an end midnight Dec. 31 and the new decade began a minute after midnight. The truth of the matter is that we must wait another year before the new decade begins at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2011. Just do the math: The end of 2001 was the first year of the decade; the end...

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