On Wed, 30 Jul 1997, Jordan Reiter wrote:
> thinking of an even 5000 BC. The MARC's use of "c" for BC and "d" AD seems
> to me a little strange, considering that it ignores the more date-minded
> aspects of the two initialisms. Since the C stands for "Christ" and the D
> stands for Domini (sp?), which means something along the lines of "of our
> Lord", it makes me wonder whether bible-thumpers were at all involved in
> the development of the standard. ;-) Considering that some people who
>From "Star King", Jack Vance (Science Fiction, 1963):
"Deeming the unsubstantiated dogma of a localized
religious cult to be an undignified and unsuitable base
on which to erect the chronology of galactic man, the members
of this convention hereby declare that time shall now
be reckoned from the year 2000 A.D (Old System), which
becomes the year 0. The revolution of Earth about Sol
remains the standard annual unit.
.. Declaration at the Oikumenical Convention for the
Standardization of Units and Meters. "
(from the "background material" Vance prefaces many chapters with)
Andrew Daviel
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