By all means, please continue.  :^)

Here's a topic. Is 2020 the last year of a decade, or the first? My Facebook feed is blowing up with people on one side swearing that the decade was 2010-2019, while the other says that the decade goes from 2011 thru the end of 2020. Thoughts?

If you were born on the 1/1/2000, are you 9 or 10 when you reach 1/1/2010?

There are valid arguments for both sides being both right and wrong and getting drawn into that debate with an expectation of making a winning point is an example of an exercise in futility.

We score numerically in an abstract fashion that has more to do with convention than an absolute right or wrong method that is universal for all ways of counting.

Take Lionel's example for instance.  In China you are born being 1, so whilst he is looking to make the point that you'd be 10 in 2010, that doesn't hold true the world over it all depends on convention.

I'm glad I don't facebook.

So, a decade by definition is a period of 10 years...so by this measure both sides of the argument are correct...and so would someone who said that 2005 to 2014 is a decade!

Really, the argument (and it really is a Facebook/Twitter argument) is whether the "20's" run until Dec 31 2029 or 2030.

And the only reason we even have these social media debates is because there is no Year 0 in our calendar. We went from 1 BCE (or BC) to 1 CE (or AD) and skipped 0. Thus, we had this debate on a much larger scale as Dec 31, 1999 approached. Technically, the new century did not start until Jan 1, 2001 - because 2000 years of CE years did not end until Dec 31, 2000.

Same argument can be used for the decade.

But I fall on the common sense side, especially for decades...they are a simple way of identifying the 10 years that have the same 10's digit! so the 80's (my formative years) were from 1980 to 1989. The new 20's will be from 2020 to 2029.

It's just easier.

What Corrac said, they are both right.

A decade can end at any 10 year period.

but calling 1990 the last year of the 80's though technically correct, is confusing.

Pendants gotta pendant.

I'm with Corrac. Forget the technically correct answer and go with common sense.

You mean pedants gotta pedant? ;)

Point proven. :p

Spelig nevor waz may sttrong suite.

24,000th post.  :)

I'm pretty sure that the guild bylaws stipulate that that makes me the Guild Master for the next decade. So good news, guild dues just went up.

Hmmm, what shall we spend the extra revenue on?

Rush fans - crank some up today for Neil. RIP.

Amen to that!

Most of Canada will be in mourning; myself included.

Since I can't say anything to friends and family, because I don't want to hear another ear fill of "you should stop doing this", I'm making this request here...
okay, someone needs to get drunk for me, because I can't drink.

Secondly, this was a stupidly awful court case, unneccesarily  so, and I'm glad its over. That is all. Carry on.

Hope Iran offers reparations. Enough said, I think; RPOL prefers no politics.

No real reason to bring it up, but I just passed 12,000 posts in this game. I've seen games die out with a lot less than that in total.  :^)

In reply to Corrac Oakleaf (msg # 15):



A good number of Americans will probably be likewise.