Untrue Beliefs

I hate to see you start off this column by getting the dates wrong, as it leaes you trying to make the rest of your good observations with egg on your face. The new Century started on 1JAN2000 not 01JAN2001, so the first decade ended a few days ago on 31DEC2009.

This question comes up at the beginning of every century, and the same "logical" arguments supporting '01 are made, and the correct answer is then forgotten before the next century starts. SO here goes:

The Gregorian Calendar is ARBITRARY. No one was using it in the year zero, and we now know that it was about 4 years off so the idea that we can start with the first Christmas and count forward is hopeless.
It is the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church,...