Here at the Daily Revolution we are supposed to be on vacation, but I just could not let this one pass by. I mean, how often is it that the entire planet seems to ignore simple reality and go for glamor and drama instead? OK. Bad question. But really, one thousand years includes all of the years from 1 to 1,000 inclusive otherwise it isn't a millennium.

  Back in the year 999 everyone used Roman numerals for counting. They watched the calendar change from DCCCCLXXXXIX to M. Now that would have been something really wonderful if you ask me. It was a sort of a millennium DEbug. Good stuff for the average Joe.

  This time around we got the bug but missed the windshield it seems. Even if you were not stuck with 50 jars of salsa like some extreme survivalists, you could not have missed the energy and excitement around the big triple oh. We were warned that it could be the end of civilization as we knew it. How very exciting for us all really. Thank you Y2K. It was a blast.

  So is it any suprise that we all went gaga for the year with pizzaz? The artist known in the 1980s as Prince knew even back then that 1999 would be the big party. 2001 was a glitch ... a technicality for the scientists ... a snooze.

  (By the way, has anybody noticed the parallel between the half finished international space station in the movie 2001 and the half finished international space station in the real year 2001? Do you think we are going to have a "monolithic" revelation about secret alien intelligence this year too?)

  2001 may be a technicality, but the math is a no brainer. Goofy simple. A millennium is an interval of 1000 years and a century is an interval of 100 years. In the Gregorian Calendar, which we use, there is no year zero and the sequence of years near the start runs as follows;
..., 3BC, 2BC, 1BC, 1AD, 2AD, ...

   Because there is no year zero, the first year of the calendar ends at the end of the year named 1AD. By a similar argument 100 years will only have elapsed at the end of the year 100AD.

  Since 2000AD is the 2,000th year of the Christian calendar, it will be the last year of the Second Millennium. So the 3rd Millennium and the 21st Century will begin at the same moment, namely zero hours UTC (commonly known as GMT) on January 1st 2001.

   It is interesting to note that this is not the first time that this controversy has arisen. The Times made the following comments about the beginning of the 19th Century:

"We have uniformly rejected all letters and declined all discussion upon the question of when the present century ends, as it is one of the most absurd that can engage the public attention, and we are astonished to find it has been the subject of so much dispute, since it appears plain. The present century will not terminate till January 1, 1801, unless it can be made out that 99 are 100... It is a silly, childish discussion, and only exposes the want of brains of those who maintain a contrary opinion to that we have stated."

  But in all honesty, it's not really the year 2000 anyway. The reason is because of Dennis the Short (Dionysius Exiguous for those who knew him), a sixth-century Scythian (now part of Russia) monk and amateur astronomer. In A.D. 532 (or 525, 526, or even 534 according to some) created what would became our modern calendar dating system.

  Dionysius pegged the year following Jesus' birth as Year 1 by his faulty but well- intentioned calculations. He decided to reset the system of counting years to honour the birth of Christ so that the year 248 Anno Diocletiani became the year 532 Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, known as 532 AD for short.

  In his scheme, Denny believed that Christ was born on the 25th of December of the year preceding the start of the year 1 AD. There is no year 0 AD preceding the year 1 AD. Indeed, the concept of counting from zero, rather than one, does not exist in Latin and was introduced into Europe from the Middle East many centuries later.

  Therefore, Dionysius' calendar places the birth of Jesus Christ at the end of the year 1 BC. The 2,000th anniversary of Christ's birth would then be 25 December 2000. However, modern research indicates that Christ was probably born in 6BC and certainly by 4BC, when Herod died.

  There has been a whole lot of calendar tweaking over the centuries. I Chadwick has written much about this issue and he has dozens of links on his page. Click HERE to learn why you could "Blame the madness on Dennis the Short."

  So is there a point to all of this? What could I possibly say that could adequately finish off two thousand years? Just this: When midnight comes, stop and take a moment to look at the people and world around you. Last year we welcomed the year 2000, this time we have achieved it! Now that the world is truly about to enter a new century - what will your role be?