A couple of letters to the editor in the Reno paper pretty much sum up the two sides. One, the gentleman states, "The very first decade of the first millennium begins with zero and 365 days later, becomes one. This first year is called 1 AD. The year following is called 2 AD. From the first day of 9 AD to the last (365 days later) is the 10th year of the decade!" And there we have precisely the logic that most people use to explain how next year is the new millennium. The first year is 1 and the end of the 9th makes 10.

The other one made some interesting points. "(In the beginning) if there was no such thing as a calendar and Adam wanted to start one, what would he call the first year? One, of course!" (Hey Gene, maybe the original sin was counting the first year zero!) He goes on, "All sets, series, runs, periodicals and anything you care to name starts with 1. (Otherwise) the opening game of the World Series would have to be Game 0, the first issue of a new magazine would be Volume 0, Number 0, and when we ask a child to tell us what the first 10 numbers are, that child would have to say 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9." And of course, the first day of each month would, by the first man's logic, be day zero. It doesn't become one until the end of the day, right???

You got 10 fingers, Gene. Which finger is 0?