- Time of past OR future Camino
- First one in 2005 from Moissac, France.
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Thanks @David, I echo the appreciation in thinking of us with large parts of our nation on fire & battling long term drought.Thank you for thinking of us in Australia. Yes, our beautiful country is on fireand still another 2 months of Summer to go...... hard not to start ranting about the ostrich like mentality of our leaders in denying the existence of climate change when faced with such overwhelming evidence to the contrary! But this forum is not the place for this sort of discussion.
Rather we have to focus on what we can do to help one another and our beautiful planet. The Serenity prayer comes to mind at times like these. May 2020 bring much needed healing to everyone everywhere and to our precious Mother Earth ❤
First, wait till the start of 2021 to celebrate the start of this century's third decade.
Precisely, it is their fist year, not their zero-th year and they turn one at the end of it, not zero. And they are a decade old when they turn ten, not when they turn nine.Yet a baby’s first year is the 12 months before s/he is 1 year old
And this was the most important thing you found about this? Really?
I started my reply with the more important thing. The other stuff was just a droll observation!!And this was the most important thing you found about this? Really?
but our calendar calculations don't work like that - for some reason (neatness?) we count the first year as zero therefore the end of the number nine in the series is actually the end of the tenth year, a decade, so the next ending in zero is a new decade - so, 2020 - Happy New Year and Decade!
But @David, calendar dates work exactly as I described. Dates are ordinal numbers, counting numbers if you will, and start with the first of a thing and progress from there. There is no concept of zero in this framework. The Gregorian calendar comes forwards from 1 AD. Nothing happened in 0 AD (or BC 0) because no such year exists. The year before 1 AD is BC 1. The end of the first decade after Christ's birth is the end of 10 AD, and the start of the second decade at the beginning of 11 AD, and the pattern continues to this day.but our calendar calculations don't work like that - for some reason (neatness?) we count the first year as zero therefore the end of the number nine in the series is actually the end of the tenth year, a decade, so the next ending in zero is a new decade - so, 2020 - Happy New Year and Decade!
@David, what a wonderful sentiment to share.
That said, it always fascinates me when people want to mark the end of a time period like a decade or century a year early. I always think of these divisions as counting constructs, when it only makes sense to start with the number one, ending a decade with ten! Very simply, a traditional structure begins with the year One, and the 21st Century began on 1 Jan 2001, as did its first decade, and it's third decade will begin on 1 Jan 2021.
I suppose in these times when 'anything goes', you can decide to celebrate the end of a decade any year you like. And, to my great distress, I noticed recently that the once powerful arbiter of correctness, the BBC, is suggesting that this year is the end of a decade, so you are in good company.
In the meantime, I
- Zero-eth, won't get too upset by the odd counting, and
- First, wait till the start of 2021 to celebrate the start of this century's third decade.
What an odd notion. Particularly since ordinals don't exist for n<=0. But I suppose you could use any symbolic representation you choose that is convenient, such as weekday and month names, or even years. Clearly Arabic numerals, convenient as they are, have never been the only way of representing dates, etc.I used to be a C programmer. I always count from zero.
All of this is very true. Nevertheless, people have an emotional reaction to when the numbers roll over. I remember it on the old odometers in cars which were made from the little wheels of numbers. Everyone would watch when we reached a new peak and all of the nines rolled over into zeros.But @David, calendar dates work exactly as I described. Dates are ordinal numbers, counting numbers if you will, and start with the first of a thing and progress from there. There is no concept of zero in this framework. The Gregorian calendar comes forwards from 1 AD. Nothing happened in 0 AD (or BC 0) because no such year exists. The year before 1 AD is BC 1. The end of the first decade after Christ's birth is the end of 10 AD, and the start of the second decade at the beginning of 11 AD, and the pattern continues to this day.
These are pretty basic number concepts, but it seems they may not be that well understood. That is a pity. But thank you for your good wishes for the new year, and let me join you in wishing everyone a safe, happy and successful 2020.
We are in the first year of the new decade if not completed, and no ' put out fires rain' on the horizon with months of fire weather ahead of us. Already 2 / 4 day runs of 40+C and Feb is our hottest month but not to worry, the earth is flat. The first sentence in reply, the rest just an observation with regards to the Aussie post.Precisely, it is their fist year, not their zero-th year and they turn one at the end of it, not zero. And they are a decade old when they turn ten, not when they turn nine.
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