Depending upon your point of view this could be my last column for the 20th century, for the Millennium.
But, if you’re a purist like my father-in-law, Murray, you still have another 12 months to go before we enter the 21st century and the Third Millennium.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a little bugged by all of this talk and media hype about the millennium.
Sure it all started with dire warnings about the problems older computers and computer programs will face as a result of something, appropriately named the “millennium bug.”
Now that the millennium bug has been, for the most part squashed, the hype continues about Jan. 1, 2000 being the start of a new century and a new millennium.My father-in-law, known as Grandpa to our dog Tickles, argues that the new century and new millennium don’t start until Jan. 1, 2001.
He has the backing, by the way, of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Murray’s logic is simple, there are 100 years in a century and 1,000 years in a millennium.
Since the first year after the death of Christ was 1 A.D. and not 0 A.D. since the Romans had no zero in their written and spoken language then the 20th century began Jan. 1, 1901 and will end Dec. 31, 2000 just as the Second Millennium began Jan. 1, 1001 and will end Dec. 31, 2001.
I’ve long since stopped trying to refute his logic since it is as impeccable as the computer programming skills he practiced during a long professional career in government service.
Another one of those things that has been bugging me for a while is the fact that when people refer to 2000 they invariably say “the year 2000” as if we wouldn’t understand what they were talking about otherwise.
The first time I can recall thinking about 2000 as a year was when I was in elementary school.
In a lesson about calendars, the teacher asked us what year we were born and then to figure out how old we would be in 2000.
Since I was born in 1953, it was simple subtraction to discover that I would turn 47 in 2000.
At that tender age I had no concept of what it would be like to have lived for 47 years.
I do now.When are we going to lose “the year” adjectives and just use the numbers like we have for some many years?
I predict that when we reach 2001 most people will feel relaxed enough to drop the adjectives.
There are a few more practical concerns that I have such as what should I do with blank checks that have “19--” on them?
Should I just write “20” over the “19” and finish the year with “00?”
I ordered these checks just about six months and should have anticipated that the check company wouldn’t know that I would not use 400 checks in such a short time.
What about those persons who have older video tape machines that may not accept 2000 as a legitimate year for programming the recording of shows.
Fortunately, I don’t have one of those older VCRs, but I’m told that changing the year to 1972 should make it work appropriately since the calendar in 1972 and 2000 are the same.
I’m sure there are other practical concerns that I haven’t discovered or thought about when it comes to the hot issue of the new millennium.
One thing that I’m sure about is that the next millennium will be just as long as the last two no matter when you start it, later this week or a year from now.
Dave Ricker is a reporter and assistant managing editor for the Green Valley News and Sun. He has 24 years experience as a reporter and editor in both print and broadcast news.The views expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper’s staff or its management.
News, Sahuarita, Inside Neighbors, Sports, Weather,Business,T.V. Listing, Health, Letters to the Editor,Subscribe, Obituaries, Meetings, Horoscopes, Home
