Current Events

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=169765" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#996699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040467d1erlcll.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>2001: The Beginning of the 21st Century and the Third Millennium</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2001: The Beginning of the 21st Century "><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contents"><U>Contents</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact others"><U>Contact others</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Centennial Precedents"><U>Centennial Precedents</U></A>   |   <B>Current Events</b>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Other Facts"><U>Other Facts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Final Thoughts"><U>Final Thoughts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Countup Clock"><U>Countup Clock</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="077a7440.gif" border=0 width="167" height="68" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></b></div> <bR> <div> ' You want to lie, believe it, and make everyone else who knows its a lie</div> <div> pretend, all so a few people can pull one over on a world full of idiots who</div> <div> don't care about the truth? '</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Current Events</div> <bR> <div> <B>So what's happening now that all the hype is over and 2000 is under way?</b></div> <bR> <div> Even before the whole January 1st 2000 debacle commenced, a <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Appendix1"><U>report</U></A> in one of the UK's daily newspapers picked up on the story of the (then) forthcoming great Millennium bash whereby the British Government had had a confession to make. It actually admitted into it all being celebrated a year too early!</div> <div> It never changed things one iota though - the whole scam had gone too far forward to be rolled back, but I really wonder how many people read the report, and really cared? Live now and forget about tomorrow they said, as they struggled to peer beyond the end of their noses.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09b37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> A rather ironical and amusing story was reported by both The Times and Reuters at the end of December 1999. The <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Appendix2"><U>report</U></A> refers to a new Internet time system (much like Swatch's 'beats') which it is hoped will become a new international standard for all electronic mail and business transactions conducted over the Internet. While the idea is offered I am sure in good faith, it contradicts the government's own ideas as to when the New Millennium actually starts. They are hoping to make the <A HREF="http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/mill/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/mill/index.htm"><U>Royal Observatory at Greenwich</U></A> the Internet's official timekeeper with the launch of Greenwich Electronic Time or<I> 'GeT'</I>. However, the Royal Observatory is very much at odds with the government's own idea as to when the New Millennium actually starts. The government has wholeheartedly pushed the idea of Millennial celebrations at the end of 1999 whereas the Royal Observatory, the internationally recognized authority on timekeeping and the self-proclaimed last word on calendrics, posits  1 January 2001 as the start of the new era. (Timekeeping is defined as the "measurement of fractions of a day," whereas calendrics is "the reckoning of time over extended periods" - the day being the smallest calendrical unit of time.)</div> <bR> <div> Fun times are likely to be had by all then if they can't even agree on years which to celebrate, never mind minutes and seconds!</div> <bR> <div> So how easy would it be to introduce a cyberspace time system?  The Web article here in <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Appendix5"><U>Appendix 5</U></A> suggests that it wouldn't be easy at all.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09b37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> I wrote to Rob Warren one of the Assistant Astronomy Officers at the <A HREF="http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/mill/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/mill/index.htm"><U>Royal Observatory, Greenwich</U></A> (UK) just as soon as most of the New Year's festivities had died down. The original e-mail together with Mr. Warren's reply can be found in <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Appendix4"><U>Appendix 4</U></A> of this Web site. I knew that I was right, but it's always nice to make sure!</div> <bR> <div> Like the man says, they " <I>publish the correct data but it is not our job to ensure people are informed</I> ".</div> <bR> <div> So if they publish the "correct data" which is their job, why has it fallen on deaf ears (or blind eyes)? It seems to me that the powers-that-be were going to celebrate the 'New Millennium' come heaven or high water and no matter what the cost and subsequent humiliation when eventually 'found out'.</div> <bR> <div> As a postscript, even Dr Kristen Lippincott,  the Director of the Greenwich Royal Observatory in an interview she gave to the BBC's '<I>Radio Times</I>' magazine 31.12.99 - 07.01.00 seems also to think that Millennium Eve was 31 December 1999:</div> <bR> <div> " As the Director of the Observatory (my husband says that I'm the Queen of Time!), I shall be here with most of my staff on Millennium Eve. It might sound hokey, but all of us who work here are really fond of the place and I think we'd rather be here than getting legless with friends. My evening will start with the big millennium concert just down the hill in the grounds of the National Maritime Museum - there's a fantastic line-up including Simply Red, Bryan Ferry, the Eurythmics and the London Symphony Orchestra"</div> <bR> <div> Perhaps someone ought to point her to her own Web site to let her know the truth of the matter <lol></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09b37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Not every country on Earth followed the rest of the world's example by celebrating the arrival of 2000 like "it's 1999". Out of those countries who use the Gregorian calendar, Cuba went alone, officially shunning millennium events 31 December 1999 and 1 January 2000 arguing that the new century and the new millennium won't start until one minute after midnight of 31 December 2001:</div> <bR> <div> " HAVANA--The millennium never arrived in communist Cuba.  The government of Fidel Castro officially shunned millennium events Friday night and Saturday, arguing that the new century and the new millennium won't start until one minute after midnight of Dec. 31, 2001. </div> <div> Instead, what began here at the start of 2000 was the "Year of the 40th Anniversary of the Decision of Fatherland or Death." </div> <div> In a country where every year gets a political and historical name, this year remembers Castro's 1960 coining of the slogan used regularly during speeches: "Fatherland or death! We will overcome!" </div> <div> The government's announcement last week that millennium events being held around the world were one year premature apparently dampened enthusiasm for big New Year's parties -which are never that big here, anyhow. </div> <div> No official events were scheduled, even though New Year's Day marked the 41st anniversary of the revolution that brought Castro to power. </div> <div> Traditional holiday celebrations were low-key, mostly intimate family dinners of roasted pork, black beans, yucca and green salad -along with plenty of rum. </div> <div> Tourists celebrated the new year with special holiday meals and shows in the plaza outside old Havana's towering cathedral, at the Tropicana nightclub and at hotel restaurants and discos. </div> <div> Swigging beer and swinging their hips to drum beats, practitioners of Cuba's Santeria religion celebrated the arrival of 2000 with African rites and rhythms that slaves brought to the Caribbean island centuries ago. </div> <div> At Hamel Lane, a closed-off street converted into a Santeria cultural Center, hundreds danced to rumba bands whose musicians pounded out rhythms on squarish wooden drums and sang centuries-old odes to Cuban orishas, or saints. </div> <div> Inside a bamboo hut populated by representations of Yemaya, Ochun and other orishas, a woman dressed all in white lighted the first of 2,000 candles to burn throughout the night in honor of the new millennium. </div> <div> Havana's streets were quiet, with the exception of honking horns at midnight. Just a few nuzzling couples were found when the clock struck 12 on Havana's famous Malecon seawall, often a gathering site for spontaneous celebrations. </div> <div> Mostly, the three-day government holiday that began Friday was a respite for Cubans increasingly wearied by daily demonstrations aimed at getting the United States to return Elian Gonzalez, the 6 -year-old Cuban boy rescued in November off the coast of Florida. The boy's mother died during their attempt to reach the United States. </div> <div> The U.S. government turned Elian over to his great-uncle in Miami, who says he can provide him a better life off the communist island. Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has demanded that the boy be returned to him in Cuba and Castro's government has made the fight its own. </div> <div> "In these heroic days, the revolution has once again shown its solidarity and extraordinary capacity for mobilization," the communist government said in a message transmitted on radio and television in the wee hours of Saturday. </div> <div> The fight to return Elian to his father in Cuba has become "a symbol, a dignified banner," and his return to the island is "our goal," said the message read on government-operated stations. "</div> <bR> <div> Source: <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/news/reports/y2k/wire/20000101/tCB00V0687.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.latimes.com/news/reports/y2k/"><U>Los Angeles Times</U></A>, 1 January 2000</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09a37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> '<I>Space Odyssey</I>' author corrects millennium misconceptions:</div> <bR> <div> " COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey," feels so strongly about people calling next year a new millennium that he issued a public statement this week to correct them.</div> <div> " <I>Because the Western calendar starts with Year 1, and not Year 0, the 21st Century and the Third Millennium do not begin until Jan. 1, 2001</I> " Clarke said in a statement received by Reuters.</div> <div> " <I>Though some people have great difficulty in grasping this, there's a very simple analogy which should appeal to everyone. If the scale on your grocer's weighing machine began at 1 instead of 0, would you be happy when he claimed he'd sold you 10 kg of tea?</I> " Clarke questioned.</div> <div> " <I>And it's exactly the same with time. We'll have had only 99 years of this century by Jan. 1, 2000: we'll have to wait until Dec. 31 for the full hundred </I>"</div> <div> Clarke's view has long been held by people who doubt that anyone else can count.</div> <div> Australian Prime Minister John Howard, for example, made the same point in 1997 — only to be called the party pooper of the century in newspapers.</div> <div> Clarke said the psychological effect of the three zeros and the Y2K bug that will affect computers was much too powerful to be ignored.</div> <div> " <I>So everyone will start celebrating at midnight Dec. 31, 1999</I> " Clarke said, adding that 2000 should be called the Centennial Year and 2001 the Millennial Year.</div> <div> British-born Clarke, who has lived in Colombo for more than 30 years, has had many predictions come true, including his then-controversial 1945 outline of a network of geo-stationary communication satellites.</div> <bR> <div> Reported by <A HREF="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,30005109,00.html?" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,30"><U>deseretnews.com</U></A> 7 January 1999 (Taken from a Reuters article of December 1999)</div> <bR> <div> "<I> Clarke's view has long been held by people who doubt that anyone else can count. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, for example, made the same point in 1997 - only to be called the party pooper of the century in newspapers</I> "</div> <bR> <div> Source: <A HREF="http://www.m321.com/whensub.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.m321.com/whensub.htm"><U>m321.com</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09b37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> In what can only be seen as a strange move, after celebrating the 'new millennium' by issuing in a range of commemorative stamps in the UK in the run-up to 31 December 2000, the Royal Mail in January 2000 has issued yet <U>another</U> range of commemorative stamps. This time, on the 19p stamp it's to celebrate the 'Third Millennium 2000/1' with the 26p first-class stamp erring on the side of caution with 'Millennium 2000/2'!</div> <bR> <div> The two stamps can be viewed <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Appendix7"><U>here</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b137040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Well, at least LineOne (a UK ISP) seem to have got something correct. In the following report from 20 May 2000, they talk of the birth of Tony Blair's son as the first child to be born to a serving Prime Minister "this century". Presumably they <U>do</U> mean the 20th century!</div> <bR> <div> <I>Mrs Blair, 45, will be the first Prime Minister's wife this century to give birth while her husband is in office. The couple - who already have two sons, Euan, 15, and Nicholas, 14, and a daughter Kathryn, 11 - admitted being shocked but delighted when news of the pregnancy was announced in November.</I></div> <bR> <div> Source: <A HREF="http://www.lineone.net/express/00/05/20/news/n0100splash-d.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.lineone.net/express/00/05/20/"><U>http://www.lineone.net/express/00/05/20/news/n0100splash-d.html</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09a37040.gif" border=0 width="567" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Did you know that:</b></div> <bR> <div> The First Millennium (1 - 1000 AD) consisted of 365,250 days.</div> <bR> <div> Our current millennium (1001 - 2000 AD) will consist of 365,237 days.</div> <bR> <div> The Third Millennium (2001 - 3000 AD) will consist of 365,242 days.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Why the discrepancy?</I> It has to do with the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Prior to this time, the calendar in use by the Catholic church was based on a system developed under Julius Caesar. In this system, a leap year was inserted every four years in an attempt to keep the calendar in synch with the astronomical seasons. The Julian year was thus 365.25 days long. It follows that 1000 of these years would have 365,250 days.</div> <bR> <div> In 1582 Gregory's scholars changed the time-scale of calendar reckoning. They specified a new formula for computing leap years, such that the Gregorian year was reduced to 365.2425 days. To bring the new calendar into compliance with the astronomical seasons (which had "drifted" significantly with respect to the Julian calendar), 10 days "disappeared" from the Gregorian calendar between October 4 and October 14, 1582. So, nearly 582 years of the current millennium were tabulated under the old Julian Calendar system of 365.25 days per year, while the remainder has been tabulated under the Gregorian system for a total of 365,247 days. However, the Gregorian reform eliminated 10 days from the year 1582, and so the actual day count for the Second Millennium will equal 365,237 days.</div> <bR> <div> Unless the calendar is once again reformed at some future date (the Gregorian calendar will gain a day on the astronomical seasons in about 3000 years), the Third Millennium will consist of 365,242 days.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>