Like me, you’ve undoubtedly seen many articles that are attempting to not only label the first decade of the 21st Century (I like “The Oughts” the best) — they are trying to wrap up and summarize the decade.
There’s just one tiny little problem: The decade isn’t over yet. The first decade of the 21 century, like the 21st century itself, started on January 1, 2001 — which means that the first decade ends on December 31, 2010 and the new one begins on January 1, 2011.
Look at it this way: The first A.D. year wasn’t “0000″, it was “0001″. We start counting from one, not zero. So in order to have 10 years, you count from one to ten:
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Ten years, starting from “one”, not zero.
Same thing applies to a century; you count from 1 to 100 to get your century, so the new century starts in year 1, not year 0.
So we officially have to wait another year, which means, with any luck, I’ll be the only person doing “decade wrap-up” stories at the end of December 2010 and my predictions for the new decade will be the only “fresh” ones available, ensuring massive traffic to my website.
I can’t wait. Or I can wait. Or I HAVE to wait.
Whatever.
Have a great New Year — but remember, you have to wait another year before I can wish you a great New Decade…
