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It's Not the Millennium Yet! Jenn Peterson | Staff Writer 
"5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year and Happy New Millennium!" was yelled out by millions of people around the world this past New Year's Eve. But are we really in the new millennium yet? There are many who say that we aren't. I am one of those that say the third millennium won't start until January 1, 2001. Why does everyone think that the Millennium starts this year? There are two theories that I have come up with. The first is that many people don't understand that our modern calendar started on January 1, 01. People probably think it started with the year zero. If that were true then we would be in the new millennium now. My second theory is that people just aren't doing the math right. Each millennium starts after a thousand years. If the first millennium started in 01 then two thousand years later is 2001. If the millennium started in 2000 then that means the last millennium was only 999 years long. There are probably others who don't fit into either of these theories and went with the flow and said it's the new millennium just because everyone else seems to think so. Who says the calendar starts with the year one and not zero? Dionysius Exiguus, the 6th century scholar, says so. He created the Gregorian calendar that we use today. He used Easter as a reference to count the years and he started the calendar on January 1, 1 A.D. (Anno Domini). Now that I've made my point that we are not in the new millennium, I should address the constant incorrect reminders about the millenium in the media. For the last few weeks of December all I saw on TV were commercials for the last sales of the Millennium. After midnight on New Year's Eve I saw reports about the first baby born in the millennium, the first this of the millennium and the first that of the millennium. Every time I say to the TV, "It's not the new millennium yet!" as if the person on the tube is going to reply, "Oops, you're right Jenn. Nevermind everyone!" You can go to the US Naval Observatory WebPages and read more about the third millennium. Check out their millennium pages and see the official countdown to the millennium! I understand it's too late to change everyone's opinion and I hate to disappoint the mother who had the millennium baby and tell her that she doesn't have the first baby of the millennium. I also don't think all of the retail stores are going to have a second last sale of the millennium and admit they were wrong the first time. I do think it was cool to see 1999 roll over to 2000 and see all the numbers move up one digit at the same time, and watching all the countries around the world bring in the new year on TV was pretty nifty too. But it's also just another year in time. In my opinion the number of the year does not mean that much; it's a reference to events that happened in history. It's what happened in that year that makes it special. Celebrate the year, not the number! Responses: Refresh frame to view latest entries.
Keep rockin Jenn Comments: Comments: Name: Benjamin$, baby! Name: SnotPhan
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