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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Neal on December 31, 2000, at 14:01:19
Happy New Year to All PB'ers. You're a wonderful group, and wonderful as individuals.
BTW, yes, this is actually the start of the new Millenium. It's a long explanation, but it actually boils down to the fact that there was no year 0 (zero). Therefore the first year of every century begins with 1, as in 2001. But who cares, right? Peace and joy to all.
Posted by Cam W. on December 31, 2000, at 15:52:38
In reply to Happy New Year! (New Millenium!) to All, posted by Neal on December 31, 2000, at 14:01:19
Neal - Oh, God! Is my computer going to crash, again! - Cam
8^)
Posted by r.anne on January 1, 2001, at 0:03:24
In reply to Happy New Year! (New Millenium!) to All, posted by Neal on December 31, 2000, at 14:01:19
The year zero didn't exist? Oh! I feel like I'm in the Twilite Zone, then. Or maybe I just came out of it since it's 2001 now. Happy New Century!
Posted by Neal on January 1, 2001, at 2:40:33
In reply to Re: Happy New Year! (New Millenium!) to All, posted by r.anne on January 1, 2001, at 0:03:24
> The year zero didn't exist? Oh! I feel like I'm in the Twilite Zone, then. Or maybe I just came out of it since it's 2001 now. Happy New Century!
Actually this year stuff is pretty interesting. Our calendar system is based on the birth of Christ. At the time Christ was born the year system was based on the founding of Rome, which was 755 BC. So Christ was born in the year 755 according to the official calendar of that time. (of course there was a Jewish calendar too, but let's keep it simple).
Sometime in the 6th or 7th century (A.D. or Anno Domini, or Year of Our Lord) the church fathers decided to base the calendar on the birth of Christ, and appointed a learned monk to figure out when Christ was born. The monk did a pretty good job, but most modern scholars think that he missed the date by four years. In other words, modern religious scholars think Christ was born in 4 BC. Therefore the real Millenium was in 1996.
Getting back to the learned monk; I'm sure that he gave the date of Christ's birth as year 1, since the concept of "zero" was not yet used. Of course if he was a modern monk and into computers, he might have given Christ's birth as the year zero. But zero as a birthday has problems, especially for a religious figure, since another name for zero is nothing, absence, negation, etc. Also, in slang, to call someone a zero is definitely not a compliment.
Anyway, the Mayan calendar predicts a catyclismic
event in the year 2012 by our calendar, and previous Mayan predictions have been dead on. So if the Millenium was not as exciting as you were hoping, there's still something to look forward to.
Posted by Greg on January 2, 2001, at 8:49:07
In reply to Re: Happy New Year! (New Millenium!) to All » Neal, posted by Cam W. on December 31, 2000, at 15:52:38
Cam,
If your computer crashes again it's probably because it's a Mac....
DOH!
> Neal - Oh, God! Is my computer going to crash, again! - Cam
> 8^)
This is the end of the thread.
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