Another Millenium Question

[Roy]

The Old One and and the Little Guy are still arguing about their Millenium Survey and the fascinating answers it generated.

It seems they asked the wrong question. The obvious answer is that the Millenium ends at the exact instant the next one begins, at precisely Midnight GMT.

What they meant to ask was:

ON WHAT DATE DOES THE MILLENIUM END?

[steves]

Easy - 31st December http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Surely the next millenium starts the instant following the instant that the current millenium ends. Otherwise that instant would exist in two millenia.

However if an instant can exist in two millenia could someone please explain how as I would like to patent it.

[steves]

Hey I'm now a member. How did that happen? Is someone secretly monitoring my posts? And have they bestowed this honour upon me?

[Bleeding Edge]

Steves. December 31st of what year? 1999 or 2000. The millennium starts in 2001, no?

[Bleeding Edge]

Alright. I'm taking another guess. January 1st, 2001.

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

Bleeding Edge is guessing instead of thinking. - 8-Ball

Ya think? I guess! - Elf

[This message has been edited by MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF (edited 05-13-99).]

[Bleeding Edge]

Roy says, and I will agree, the M ends exactly at midnight "the exact instant the next one begins," correct? Okay. That means its the 1st and not the 31st. So; so far we have January 1st as the date. Now what year?
2001 or 2000? I'm inclined to think 2001.

Yikes! I am guessing.

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

Roy got the question wrong too. Har, har, har! - 8-Ball

He should have asked "At the end of what day does the Millenium end?" - Elf

Yup! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/redface.gif - Roy

[This message has been edited by MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF (edited 05-13-99).]

[Bleeding Edge]

Alright. This has really got me rattled.
So why isn't it January 1st 2001?


People will tout Jan. 1, 2000 as the beginning of the new millennium. But in fact, the big day will still be a year away?

The next thousand years really begins in 2001. Why? It's all in the way we count.

Our calendar begins with year 1, not year zero. That means advancing a full century always brings a date ending with 1.

Think of a new baby. It's not really 1 year old until a full 12 months have passed. The new millennium will not really have arrived until the full 1,000 years have gone by.

All of that will mean nothing, however, three years from now when most people celebrate New Year's Eve. That will be the party that counts. If you hold out for the ''real'' millennium, you'll be part of a lonely group of diehards.
By MARY JENNINGS
Special to The Courier-Journal


So what? The date is December 31st 1999 because this is what we perceive?

Grrrrr..



[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 05-13-99).]

[Bleeding Edge]

Then it's December 31st in the year 2000.

[Roy]

OK, OK, OK!!

HERE IS THE QUESTION.

WITHOUT REGARD TO THE VARIOUS CHANGES TO THE CALLENDAR (the stuff about "4 years", etc.) AT THE END OF WHAT DAY (specific date) DOES THE CURRENT MILLENIUM END?

By Jove, I think he's got it! - 8-Ball

I guess! - Elf

whew! - Roy

[This message has been edited by Roy (edited 05-13-99).]

[800XL]

At the end of Dec 31, 2000 it will be exactly 2000 years, 2 millenia, from the starting point of our calendar. To be excruciatingly correct, the millenium will be over, at 12:00AM Jan 1st 2001, which is the point at which the previous day is over. To relate to Roy's precise question, 12:00AM Jan 1st is the end of the day that is the answer to his question.

Now what I want to know, is which came first, the chicken or the egg?

[This message has been edited by 800XL (edited 05-13-99).]

[This message has been edited by 800XL (edited 05-13-99).]

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

If I saw it correctly, God evolved the chicken. - 8-Ball

I won't guess about the rooster. - Elf

[steves]

Bleeding Edge~Where's your sense of humour gone, Roy asked for a date and the 31st of December is a date isn't it. I know it wasn't what Roy meant but he left himself wide open to this answer and I couldn't resist it.

800XL~Year 0 didn't (doesn't?) exist so 2000 years is actually 2001 for the purists.

But who cares, when it comes down to it I'm celebrating the rollover of the last two digits (and so are most other people). I'm a engineer not a mathematicain so pragmatism comes into it somewhere).

P.S. I suppose technically the Millenium Bug is the (Millenium - 1) Bug (should we start a campain?).

P.P.S Oh the answer - technically 31/12/2001 OR 12/31/2001 depending what side of the pond you are on. Intrestingly enough it's a Sunday.

[steves]

Ops - I meant 31/12/2000 (wasn't typing straight - it was still early over here).

[Bleeding Edge]

Sorry.

I think I may be spell bound. I've become dense. My paranoia implicates One-Of-The-Three.

[800XL]

Steves: The end of the year 2000, as I said above, is 2000 years from the beginning of the year 0001.

BleedingEdge: Are there really three, or, in your paranoia, are you creating the image of three in you mind? There could be four you know...

[MadMax]

The answer is...Whenever the TV says so. Those evening news people are always right.

[Bleeding Edge]

Arrrrrgh..800XL your one of Them. Aren't you?!
.......................arrrrrgrh!

[steves]

800XL~Sorry having trouble reading was well as writing this morning.

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

We are but three, together we can cloud minds - 8-Ball

Mine's a bit clouded anyway. - Elf