South County Talk

The Roman Calendar was "a mess". Year 47 BC was 355 days in
length. Year 46 BC was 445 days in length. 

Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC. It was 
used until the 1500's. Pope Gregory XIII, in a papal bull in Feb
1582, introduced the Gregorian calendar. It's leap year is every
four years except when divisible by 100 unless also divisible by
400.
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Dionysius (wrongly) fixed Jesus' birth with respect to 
Diocletian's reign in such a manner that it falls on 25 December
753 AUC (ab urbe condita, i.e. since the founding of Rome), thus
making the current era start with AD 1 on 1 January 754 AUC. 

How Dionysius established the year of Christ's birth is not known
(see section 2.10.1 for a couple of theories). Jesus was born
under the reign of king Herod the Great, who died in 750 AUC,
which means that Jesus could have been born no later than that 
year. Dionysius' calculations were disputed at a very early stage. 

When people started dating years before 754 AUC using the term 
``Before Christ'', they let the year 1 BC immediately precede AD
1 with no intervening year zero. 

Note, however, that astronomers frequently use another way of 
numbering the years BC. Instead of 1 BC they use 0, instead of 2
BC they use -1, instead of 3 BC they use -2, etc.
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The concept of a year ``zero'' is a modern myth (but a very
popular one). Roman numerals do not have a figure designating
zero, and treating zero as a number on an equal footing with 
other numbers was not common in the 6th century when our present
year reckoning was established by Dionysius Exiguus (see section
2.10). Dionysius let the year AD 1 start one week after what he 
believed to be Jesus' birthday. 

Therefore, AD 1 follows immediately after 1 BC with no 
intervening year zero. So a person who was born in 10 BC and died
in AD 10, would have died at the age of 19, not 20. 

Furthermore, Dionysius' calculations were wrong. The Gospel of 
Matthew tells us that Jesus was born under the reign of king 
Herod the Great, and he died in 4 BC. It is likely that Jesus was
actually born around 7 BC. The date of his birth is unknown; it
may or may not be 25 December.
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In the historical system of dating, AD 1 is preceded by 1 BC; 
there is no year 0. In the astronomical system, AD 1 is 
designated +1; this is preceded by year 0, which is preceded by
year -1. The historical system was introduced in the 16th 
century. However, the astronomical system was not introduced
until the 18th century.

• COURTESY? - Do they teach it in Driver's Ed? How many drivers will come out of the SKHS Parking Lot after school lets out before one will let you out of the teacher's lot at the bottom of the hill - 12, 13, 14? Haven't these kids heard of "1 and 1"?
• RI Traffic Safety Coalition is pushing for GRADUATED LICENSES for teenage drivers. (ProJo, 10/30/97). How's my driving? - See Call-My-Mom
• Driver Education SCHEDULE, usually out of date.
• For information on Driver's Ed Classes, call 401-222-4600, x2184. Carol Pontarelli or her boss, Vanessa Cooley, should be able to help you.
• Six hours of Road Training (Auto insurance may discount $90 for road training; another $120 if driver is an honor roll student. The road training discount lasts until the driver is 21 years old - definitely worth it.)
  • AAA - call Paul Gagnon, 401-732-5000 x417; $138, add $15 if you use their car for test. 5/98.
  • Welsh, Narragansett - 401-783-0962, 2 hrs/week; $165. 6/98.
  • Hafey, Richmond - 401-539-0236.

01/11/97 - President Clinton, in his radio address
to the nation, says ... 

(CNN) -- Good morning. Today, I want to talk about how to build upon 
the progress we've made together in working against crime and violence
and especially how we can fight against youth crime.

...

I want every police officer, prosecutor and citizen in America working
together to keep our young people safe and young criminals off the 
streets. This should be AMERICA'S TOP PRIORITY in the fight for 
law and order over the next four years.  I pledge it will be mine.

Thanks for listening.

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02/10/97 ... Stephen Cuomo, Director of Legislative Affairs, in the
Attorney General's Office, (274-4400) says there are two bills 
concerning juvenile crime that the A.G. is pushing. E-mail your 
legislators and tell them to support these bills. For status and text 
of bill, click here for (www.state.ri.us).
  #1 - Bill S97-0201 (Senate) and H97-5664 (House) will
establish a commission to study and make recommendations concerning 
juvenile crime. One issue to be addressed would be the "confidentiality"
of juvenile offenders. Many "stake holders" would be on the commission, 
the ACLU, Police, DCYF, A.G., etc. 
  Hopefully this bill will pass and the commission's recommendations 
will become another bill in the next legislative session.
  #2 - No number assigned yet. This would allow the records of 
juvenile criminals to be made known to school officials.
05/05/98 ... Update, Stephen says to forget those two bills 
from last year. They either died or were defeated. The latest plan is
for Governor Almond to issue an Executive Order establishing a 
commission to look into juvenile crime.

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Click here for "diary" of RI juvenile, school related crime. (Come Back!)

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