Why 1901 Seems Familiar to Him

1901

"It may sound odd to you," said a bookkeeper, "but the date 1901 seems already more familiar to me than 1900 ever did. You see, we don't get a cipher at the end of a year date but once in ten years, and we get two ciphers there only once in a hundred years. Practically no man ever sees more than once in his lifetime a year with two ciphers in it, and as a matter of fact it never gets to be familiar to him, and so 1900 seemed just about as strange at the end of the year as it did at the beginning, whereas a year running out with figures, to which we are accustomed, does seem familiar. Actually 1901 seems like an old friend, and I'm glad to see it." — New York Sun.

The Longest Year on Record — 46 B.C.

1907

The year B. C. 46, by order of Julius Caesar, the then reigning Roman emperor, contained 445 days. To clear away all the confusion which had previously existed in reconciling the lunar with the solar year, Caesar, with the help of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, undertook a thorough reform of the calendar. He effected it by making the year now called 46 B. C., "the year of confusion," consist of 445 days and the succeeding years of 365 days, with the exception of every fourth year, which was to consist of 366. This method is called the Julian calendar.

The number of days in the months from January to December before Caesar's time had been respectively 29, 28, 31, 29, 31, 29, 31, 29, 29, 31, 29, 29. These numbers Caesar changed to 31 and 30 alternately, with the exception of February, which was to have 29 in ordinary years and 30 in leap years. In honor of himself he changed to July the name of the month that followed June. The pontiffs in applying the Julian calendar went wrong by inserting leap year every three years instead of every four years, and this continued till the year now called 8 B. C., when the Emperor Augustus ordained there should be no leap year for twelve years, which made leap year occur in 4 A. D. At the same time Augustus gave his own name to the month following July, adding one day to it, which he took away from February.

A Date with Number 9 — The Rest of Their Lives

1890

The New York Tribune draws attention to the fact that for 110 years to come, no man, woman or child will write the current date without using the figure 9; for nineteen years during that period two 9's must be written — in 1899, 1909, 1919, 1929, 1939, 1949, 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1995, 1997, 1998; and for one year — 1999 — three 9's will have to be set down. Of the people now living, it is safe to say that not one will ever write the date of his or her time without using a 9. Besides minding their p's and q's, the next three generations much give particular heed to their 9's. Nine has never been regarded as a particularly lucky number, but beyond question the years in which it will hold so conspicuous a place will bring benefits of undreamed of value to the world.

—New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Feb. 28, 1890, p. 6.