[NTLUG:Discuss] Millinneum rant

[Christopher Browne]

On Fri, 17 Dec 1999 20:15:58 CST, the world broke into rejoicing as
al_h at technologist.com  said:
> Christopher Browne wrote:
>  .
> .
>  .
> .
> > It's more arbitrary than that; "A.D." rather refers to "Anno Domini,"
> > which is more reasonably interpreted as "After His Ascention."
> 
> How about an -Accurate- interpretation, or does that count?

The *literal* translation is roughly "The year of the Lord."

This still leaves open for argument whether the counting should begin:
a) The date He was born;
b) The date He was first *recognized* as Lord, which would be somewhere
   around his thirtieth year;
c) The date at which he became the Resurrected Lord...

Unfortunately, it is not evident that "year 0" in the old Julian calendar
could have represented any of these dates, which is unfortunately
injurious to the notion of A.D. represnting a particularly "accurate"
epoch representation.

If you are inclined towards a still earlier date, then it would not be
unreasonable to use the early portions of the gospel of John to indicate
a pathologically earlier date, namely via:

d) In the beginning was the Word...

Almost all of those (save the pathological d)) can fit with "Anno Domini."

All of those events represent potential candidates for accurate start
dates; which would be most appropriate is a matter of opinion.  I'm afraid
that the choice of "accurate" interpretation is just that, opinion.
There are just too many reasonable candiates for "start of epoch."

Of course, the above is *somewhat* irrelevant (if irreverent), as we're
using the Gregorian calendar today that arbitrarily started at 1752, by
legislative authority.  (Or as late as this century, in some places...)
By *that* token, it is readily argued that there's still about 752 years
left until the end of the first Gregorian millennium.

Head to work Monday and tell people that there are still 752 years left
'til the end of the millennium.  And watch for the strange looks...
--
"Some sins carry with  them their own automatic punishment.  Microsoft
is one such.  Live by the Bill,  suffer by the Bill, die by the Bill."
-- Tom Christiansen
cbbrowne at hex.net - <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>