# The Three 0s **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 1999, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986 "1999-11-28T09:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 1999, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/21 "1999-11-30T17:23:00Z")
To try flying this bird back from Cuba for White Wolf: \> “The millennium” is the 1000 years after the Second Coming when Jesus reigns on Earth and Satan is cast into the Pit. (Sorry, Brian! ;)) This is classic Christian doctrine, based on Revelations. \> Due to Abp. James Ussher’s mathematical genius, every fundamentalist is aware that the world was created ca. 4000 BC. Hence every '000 year is a millennial anniversary of that and JC is more likely to show up. \> Nostradamus had some major disasters predicted for this year, as did Mother Shippey, insofar as their stuff can be interpreted into anything resembling sense. \> The Y2K bug is focused on the tendency of computers to obey Murphy’s Law, and when faced with “What comes after 12-31-99?” glitch in precisely the wrong way instead of failing safe. I suspect a fair part of why this is a Big Deal rather than a minor set of bug-fix patches is the aforementioned millennial hysteria. So you are probably on target. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 1999, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/22 "1999-11-30T21:25:00Z")
Actually, James Usher calculated that the world began in October, 4004 B.C… (This was partly driven by the knowledge, already available in Usher’s time, that King Herod the Great [of slaughter-of-the-innocents fame] died in 4 B.C…) ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 1999, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/23 "1999-11-30T23:14:00Z")
A nitpick, Poly: > [@](#): > > This is classic Christian > doctrine, based on Revelations. Actually, it’s only one interpretation of the Revelation of John of Patmos. The idea of the millennium occurring after the “second coming” is a relatively new belief, fewer than 200 years. And it’s not adhered to by many mainstream Biblical scholars. -andros- ---
**Author:** ![bj0rn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/24 "1999-12-01T11:10:00Z")
the way we count: …-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3… 1 hasnt happened until the time we say ‘1’. one second hasnt passed until the clock ticks ‘1’ the first year of your life hasnt passed until the time of your first birthday. we all know this, we all do this. it is common knowledge. the way the calendar works: …3 bc, 2 bc, 1 bc, 1 ad, 2 ad, 3 ad… well, it seems to me like there is something missing. why? because the one that made the calendar and the ones that used it didnt know the meaning of ‘0’. there had been no such thing as “the year before”. they always just refered to another calendar that was used before. one interesting thought though. Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi 1(first year of our lord jesus christ). that should in the meaning of “counting” be the year 0-1. since it is the first year and since we do start counting with ‘0’. > [@](#): > > we DO begin counting with ‘0’, so we havent finished ‘1’ until we say ‘1’! > I’m not really sure what you’re saying here. When I start counting, I start with 1. I never say “0” when counting. of course we dont say ‘0’, although we should. like a clock that is timing the world champions 100 meter dash, on what number does that clock start? yes, it starts with ‘0’. that is our way of counting and just because some neanderthals(yeah, yeah…) didnt know the meaning/concept of the word/number ‘0’, doesnt mean that we also have to ignore that number. bj0rn - ‘0’, the most important number we can have, without it alot of awfully big numbers would look awfully silly. imagine the number 2000 without it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/25 "1999-12-01T16:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > …just because some neanderthals … don’t know the meaning of the word ‘zero’… Actually, there is evidence that Neanderthals did independently invent the number zero. Our own Dr. Fidelius has published a paper on “Mousterian Numeration Systems and the Origins of Pentadactylism” in the _Journal of Anomalous Paleontology_ (Miskatonic University Press, 1994). Though his monograph is now out of print, you can find a reprint in the _Annals of the British Colonial Shipping Board_, April 1, 1995 issue. ---
**Author:** ![bj0rn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/26 "1999-12-01T16:42:00Z")
AW…darn! even the neanderthals are brighter than we are! maybe the earth would have been better off if we were extinct and the neanderthal still alive. at least they would have gotten THIS right. bj0rn ---
**Author:** ![bj0rn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986/27 "1999-12-01T17:15:00Z")
anyway, back to the OP: sorry for that little sidetrack, but i felt it was needed because alot of people think a new millenium begins january 1 2000. that, with the millenium bug stuff has created the “panic” i belive you are talking about. BECAUSE people generally think that next january 1, a new millenium will begin. bj0rn [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-0s/16986.md?page=1)