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Article #846

At Last! The voice of Reason!

#846
From: ncr... Nichael Cramer
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1990 02:59
26 lines
1615 bytes
{Re: The recent discussion concerning when a decade/century/millennium
     begins. -- N}

>From The Boston Globe's "Letters to the Editor", of 5 JAN 1990:

			 IN THE YEAR 0? IMPOSSIBLE

I am tired on{sic} the bean-counters who insist that 1990 is not the
beginning of a new decade, or that Jan. 1, 2000, the beginning of a new
century. 

Clearly, there could not be a year "0," which is an abstract concept that
cannot have real existence (or it would not be "zero"), despite computers
that insist "0" is a number.  Can you imagine Dec. 31, 0, AD?

It is logically impossible to have a real year 0, just as you cannot have 0
dollars.  Is a $20 bill worth only $19 because there is no $0 bill?

So one can argue that the first "decade" had only nine years, and therefore
every subsequent decade (century, millennium) begins with the "0" year.

Up with common sense, down with bean-counters! 

                                                  XXXXXXX X. XXXXXXXX
                                                  Auburn {Mass}
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From: ncr...@bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trivia,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: At Last!  The voice of Reason!
Message-ID: <50810@bbn.COM>
Date: 12 Jan 90 02:59:11 GMT
Sender: ne...@bbn.COM
Reply-To: ncr...@BBN.COM (Nichael Cramer)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
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Posted: Fri Jan 12 03:59:11 1990
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