"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

Since the radio at year end seemed to be full of idiots making "this was the decade of" lists, a reminder that **2010** is the last year of the first decade of the 21st century, not 2009. This goes back to the common, but foolish, misapprehension that 2000 was the first year of the century (and millennium).

For better or worse, most of the western world uses the Christian calender, which dates from Jesus's birth (thinly camouflaged in some places as "Common Era" but, I mean, really, it's only common because Europe and the Americas are overwhelmingly Christian).

There is no Year 0 in the Christian calendar.

In case that's having trouble sinking in, let's repeat it. There is no Year 0 in the Christian calendar. The year before Jesus was born was 1 B.C. The year he was born was 1 A.D. Thus, the first 100 years after his birth were 1-100 A.D. The first thousand years after his birth were 1-1000 A.D. Thus, the first *two* thousand years were 1-2000 A.D., and the second millennium since his birth ended with 2000 A.D.

We've got one more year to go in this decade, so let's make the most of it! :-)