David Topping at 11:57am ET
Why are people celebrating one year too soon? According to your Web site of the
Royal Greenwich Observatory, the third Millennium doesn't begin until 2001.
This isn't just "technically correct"—it's simply the way our calendar
system works, so what's wrong with everyone?
Kristen Lippincott at 11:58am ET
People have a fascination with numbers. It is the same sort of thing as kids
getting excited when the odometer in your car goes from 999 to 000. The reason
that the new millennium starts in 2001 is because when the calender was developed
in the 6th century, they began AD with the year 1. So the new millennium doesn't
begin until 2000 years after that or 2001.
What we are doing at the Royal Observatory is getting around this by saying that we are celebrating the beginning of the 'Millennium Year'.