[NTLUG:Discuss] Millinneum rant

[Christopher Browne]

On Fri, 17 Dec 1999 19:25:13 CST, the world broke into rejoicing as
Matt Midboe <matt at snsnet.net>  said:
> Here are some other things to think about in regards to time and calendars.
> Since the demarcation between BC and AD is the birth of Jesus Christ we are
> really off by two years since he wasn't born in 1 AD but 3 AD. Also I don't
> think those records are really all that scientific so we are still just making
> our best guesses about when AD began. So if you want to get really picky about
> when the millenium occurs try and keep those things in consideration.

It's more arbitrary than that; "A.D." rather refers to "Anno Domini," which
is more reasonably interpreted as "After His Ascention."  As a result, 
there's a roughly-33-year "fudge factor" thrown in for good measure.

Add to this that the calendar that we use, the Gregorian Calendar, was
only established in the 18th century, and involved some season-oriented
reconciling adjustments, and it is not tough to come to the conclusion
that any connection between our calendar and anybody's birth/death is
fairly arbitrary.

To be more specific, type:
% cal 1752

This displays that the British Empire moved to the Gregorian Calendar
in September of 1752.  Note that since this predates US independence, it
*appears* that the relevant "calendar legislation" for all of the former
British possessions is Lord Chesterton's bill of 1752.  Some relevant bits
of Chesterton's diaries are excerpted in the (VERY GOOD) book "ANSI Common
Lisp;" I think I'd like to read more of Chesterton's diaries some day...

At any rate, my tendancy would be to be "picky" and suggest that it is
the legislation passed by Lord Chesterton that should be considered
"gospel" in this regard.  The establishment of a Christian calendar
was *quite* fuzzy, and I'm not sure but that it may have involved more
pagan concerns than some would be comfortable with...
--
"I thought the idea with a  language was that you didn't have to point
and grunt" -- Chip Salzenberg
cbbrowne at ntlug.org - <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>