I'm just following up on the confusion that seems to be going around. Lots of people think the century ends this year; others (myself included) insist it's next year. Perhaps this can't be resolved. This is the First Annual last December of the Century. Next year, we will have the Second Annual last December of the Century, which will also be the First Annual December of the new century. Then December 2001 will be the Second Annual First December of the new century.

Descriptively (rather than proscriptively), many people think this is the end of the century. I would like at least one of those people to explain to me the rules for determining which centuries have 100 years and which have 99 years, since if this is the end of the century, we obviously have leap (or shy) centuries.

If all this is confusing to you, it's because mathematics gets very confusing when 100 = 99.

--Charlie Baum