Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 19:41:35 03/18/04
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On March 18, 2004 at 22:37:03, Bob Durrett wrote: >On March 18, 2004 at 21:49:32, Mark Ryan wrote: > >>On March 18, 2004 at 18:45:36, Jeroen van Dorp wrote: >> >>[snip] >> >>>Following the debate about the exact beginning of the new millennium (2001) you >>>could well argue that Steve's "sixties" start at age 61. >> >>[snip] >> >>>J. >> >>No, Steve's situation is different. The calendar never had a Year Zero: the >>year One BC is followed by One AD. Thus the first day of Anno Domini occurs in >>the Year One. And 2000 years elapse in January of 2001. But for Steve, 60 >>years of life elapse the day he turns 60, and therefore his "sixties" start at >>age 60. > >Technically, that is inaccurate. He was "alive" as a distinct [and probably >unique] entity for at least *****59***** years, approximately nine months [assuming a >normal pregnancy], and however many days have elapsed since his birthday. To be >more accurate, one would have to take into account the hours, minutes, seconds, >tenths of seconds, etc. since the time of the fertilization of "his" egg. The >precise determination would have to take into account the fact that >fertilization of an egg does not take place instantaneously so a specific event >in that process would have to be designated [by mutual agreement among experts] >as being the moment when his life began. Of course, the real situation may be >much more complicated than that because we do not know for sure that Steve is >not a clone or has been in cryogenic suspended animation for hundreds of years. >We have to assume. > >: ) > >Bob D. > >> >>Incidentally, the exact beginning of the new millenium could not have been on >>January 1, 2001, because 10 days were "disappeared" as a result of the switch >>from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar: >> >>http://www.geocities.com/calendopaedia/gregory.htm >> >>http://www.geocities.com/calendopaedia/julian.htm >> >>Moreover, the current "millenium" is a retrospective construction, because, of >>course, the concepts of BC and AD were not invented until long after the time of >>Christ. >> >>So ultimately it was fair to celebrate the millenium whenever we felt like it. >>Smart people partied three times (or more). >> >>Mark (Happy Birthday, Steve)
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