2007: May the door hit you.

Right now in Indiana it is 2007 (AD or CE depending on your own personal preference) but in Australia it is 2008 (AD or CE). Think about that for a moment. Really think about it. I assure you that it does not make one damned bit of sense.

In case you have all forgotten we live here:


All of us on that oblate spheroid rotating in space for no good reason at all. So to say that over there it is 2008 (AD or CE) whereas right here it is 2007 (AD or CE) is entirely fucking stupid.

For one thing we are all on the same damn oblate spheroid; it does not age in sections. It is not the case that the arbitrarily defined section of the globe which contains Australia is somehow older than the section which contains Indiana. It's all, the entire oblate spheroid, the same age. And we all know that age is 6,000 years for Young Earth Creationists, 4.54 billion years for Geologists, and completely fucking irrelevant for everyone else.

For another thing the numbering system itself does not make any sense. 2007? 2007 WHAT? Even the crackpots at conservapedia acknowledge that Jesus Christ was not born in 0 BC/AD/BCE/CE. So, given that the earth is either 6,000, 5.54 billion, or some other fabricated number of years old out of whose hat was 0 BC plucked? To answer my own question it was the hat of Dionysius Exiguus who, being a monk, obviously had a sensible, well-reasoned grasp on reality and undoubtedly a very fine hat.

For a third thing how the hell much sense does it make to group quantities of time in this manner? Is it really sensible to lump that chunk of time together as the 1900s and this chunk of time together as the 2000s? Does that actually behoove human beings in their thinking about the world? Does that allow for an accurate understanding of reality? Certainly it allows for appropriately titled VH1 specials concering various decades but in what sense are those decades meaningful? How does the transition from 2007 to 2008 MEAN anything? What will be different between today (2007) and tomorrow(2008), what is different in Australia (now in 2008) that is somehow not the same in Indiana where it is still 2007?

I contend that there is no meaningful difference but rather an interpretation of perceived differences resulting from this stupid system of measuring prolonged periods of time.

But I digress.

Despite the arbitrary nature of the date, its complete lack of meaning, and irregardless* of how old you, personally, think Earth is I invite you to have an enjoyable end to 2007 and wish you a delightful 2008. With any luck 2008 will be better than 2007. Though, admitedly, that would not be a very difficult task to accomplish.


*This is not a word, Twardy, you fucker.