Posted on 12/31/2009 2:36:00 PM PST by La Enchiladita
As we approach the end of the year 2009, we are seeing a repeat of the innumeracy that was so prevalent as we came to the end of 1999.
To wit, the first of January 2010 is not the first day of a new decade, but the first day of the last year of the first decade of the 21st century, which began Jan. 1, 2001.
Ours is a decimal system, based on the numbers 1 through 10, and when you count things – be they apples, fingers, cars or years – you begin with 1.
This is because if you don’t have at least one, you have nothing to count. Calling 2009 the end of the decade is akin to telling a child to count his fingers as follows, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and telling him: “You have 10 fingers.”
As final emphasis, in our decimal system any number ending in zero is the final number in a group of 10. A number ending in two zeroes is the final number in a group of a hundred, whilst three zeroes is the last in a group of a thousand, etc.
Why is this hard for otherwise intelligent people to grasp?
Oh, and in passing, saying that “most people think this is the end of the decade” is of no import whatsoever. Numbers, arithmetic, mathematics is not subject to “what people think.”
I fail to see why anyone would get worked up about this.
My husband even locks up our guns during decade changes, afraid of what I might do in our neighborhood. He had me committed on New Year’s Eve 1999 while he stayed up all night to see if our computer would crash. Who’s crazy, huh?
The author is in denial.
I agree it only seems like it should be about 2003, but no, we are in a new decade and the decade digit is about to flip.
(The author just doesn’t want to admit he’s getting old.)
Not even a nano second.
“The year 2009 ends 10 years of years beginning in 2000. It is the last year of the first decade of the 2000s.”
From 0-1 is one year, from 1-2 is two years......from 8-9 is nine years, from 9-10 is ten years. The new decade begins at the beginning of 2010.
If it were money, one half dollar, another half dollar, then you have one dollar. You don’t start off with one dollar, you start of with a fractions of a dollar.
Hey, I’m not totally unsympathetic. I’m an editor by trade, so sometimes I feel compelled to call people on grammatical technicalities that 90% of the population wouldn’t care about. (Er... I mean “about which 90% of the population wouldn’t care.”) But I also know there are times when strict adherence to the rules is clumsy, stilted, and generally more trouble than it’s worth. Sometimes an intelligent decision to break the rules is in order. (And who gets to make these damn rules anyway?) I think that’s the general concept here.
When does a year begin? For some it begins on January 1. But a school year begins usually sometime in September. Fiscal years begin almost anytime. The astronomical year begins at the Vernal Equinox (in March).
A decade, a set of ten years, can begin anytime too. So the first decade of the 2000s ends tonight. And the 201st decade since the time reckoned as the birth of Jesus doesn't end for another year.
ML/NJ
Speaking of the full moon, last night it was mostly obscured by clouds here, but the SETTING moon woke me up a few minutes after 6:00 a.m., at an angle where it was shining in my window directly on my face. By then, the clouds had cleared and it was really BRIGHT.
There was a “week of Zero” b/w December 24, -1 BC and Jan. 1, 1 AD.....
Yeah, and it’s like another big misconception about the “Blue Moon” being tonight. Actually it won’t be a “Blue Moon” until around November of 2010, and not tonight... :-)
But..., will anyone care to get the facts straight? LOL...
365
You learn stuff on FR all the time:-)
I know! We can designate every year ending in ‘0’ as a ‘twilight zone.’
Ready for that?
“365 “
Then, the new decade starts tonight.
See my post #35.
The year 1 A.D. ended one year after the birth of Christ.
What do you call that year that transpired after the birth of Christ?.... He lived and accumalted one year of age month by month. His life began at birth, started at zero, and one later He was one year old. He wasn’t just then starting his first year of life.
Actually, SyFy Channel shows Twilight Zone marathons around the New Year’s (on right now).
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....now, you threw a wrench into it.......
“The year 1 A.D. ended one year after the birth of Christ.”
I thought the year 1 A.D. ended one year (A)fter the (D)eath of Christ.
Did you hear Walter Williams try to enlighten the flatlander who argued against this being the end of decade? We went through this at the turn of 2000.
I fought the term ‘normalcy’ for a very long time, and now I don’t care. There is an example for you. I guess there is a rule somewhere that rules get broken all the time, eh?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.