psychoceramics: Tudor Crackpot...

[Dave Pigott <davep @ harlequin.co.uk>]

Tired of arguments about whether to celebrate the millenium on
Jan 1, 2000 or Jan 1, 2001? Here's the solution.

     BISHOP USSHER DATES THE WORLD: 4004 BC

     James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of
     All Ireland, was highly regarded in his day as a churchman and
     as a scholar. Of his many works, his treatise on chronology
     has proved the most durable. Based on an intricate correlation
     of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean histories and Holy writ,
     it was incorporated into an authorized version of the Bible
     printed in 1701, and thus came to be regarded with almost as
     much unquestioning reverence as the Bible itself. Having
     established the first day of creation as Sunday 23 October
     4004 BC, by the arguments set forth in the passage below,
     Ussher calculated the dates of other biblical events,
     concluding, for example, that Adam and Eve were driven from
     Paradise on Monday 10 November 4004 BC, and that the ark
     touched down on Mt Ararat on 5 May 1491 BC `on a Wednesday'.*

     [Ussher's spellings have been faithfully kept. AE is a ligature.]

Since there was no year zero, 6000 years after October 23, 4004BCE
is October 23, 1997, that is, today. So if you believe Bishop
Ussher, today is the millenium!

Happy birthday, world!