John writes:

> Okay, the Catholic Church went on record a while back (remember, it is a
...
> 1st, xx00, and ending on December 31st, xx99; and a millennia starting on
> January 1st, x000, and ending on December 31st, x999.
>
> Gee, what a simple concept!

Yes...for an urban legend.

I certainly couldn't find any such proclamation at any Vatican web page.

I did find some proof that the Vatican is aware of when the millennium starts.
Check out

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_eng/static/caleng.html

search for "passage to the new millennium" ... a special prayer on
2000-12-31!  Reading all references to "millennium" in the above document,
and many in other Vatican documents, makes it clear that they are referring
to 2000 as the last year of the current millennium, and that they have full
knowledge of, and agreement with, the correct definition of the millennium:
that it starts 2001-01-01.

> The US Library of Congress, Royal Observatory, and some others have chosen
> to remain with the old scheme (in typical government fashion, they desire

No...not the "old scheme".  *THE* definition.  All others are simply
incorrect folk myths.  It really is as simple as that.

> to perpetuate an error).  The majority of businesses I deal with are using
> December 31st, 1999 as the end of the decade/century/millennia, and that is
> the date we are using.

Great...you're wrong, but that's your privilege.  It's the end of 1999, but
not the end of the century or the millennium.

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU BELEIVE IF YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN INCORRECT DATA!
Remember the phrase "garbage in, garbage out"?  That applies here.

Do we give in to the masses, and say "it's easier to redefine it than
to educate them"?  You can...I prefer not to.  I value my education.

Have a Happy New Year, for whatever reason you celebrate it!

> Do you have any program code that keeps track of which millennia a
> date is in?  Do you really HAVE to know which millennia a date is in?  Why?

Principle.

> Celebrate the date you desire!

I agree!

> If you don't like the end-of-millennia date
> I've chosen to use, or someone else has chosen to use, don't use it, use

If you donut like the way I spell "don't", then donut spell it that way.
See the problem?

> Can we finally drop this topic?

Only when we get it right, apparently.  It's like the "is 2000 a leap year
topic"...it didn't matter a damn if one "remembered" the rule incorrectly and
thought 2000 isn't a leap year.  It *is* a leap year and that's all there is
to it.  Similarly, it doesn't matter a damn what groups of people think:
the same people who said 2000 is a leap year say that the millennium starts in
2001, not 2000.

--
Stan (yeah, I have a *lot* of better things to do, but sometimes you just have
to fight the good fight) Sieler

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Stan Sieler                                           [log in to unmask]
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html          www.allegro.com/sieler