Happy “Talk Like A Pyro” Day!

Yes, pyro.  Not to be confused with something else.

I must admit that one of my favorite minor aspects of the Christmas season is the variety and quantity of things that can be burned after use.  All those boxes, all that wrapping paper, cards from people one can’t stand, and so on.

Thus, you can imagine how much fun I had this afternoon burning the garland with which we festooned the interior of the Port-Swiller residence this year.  Believe me – pine boughs that have been hung up for a couple weeks, even when spritzed with water every day or two, go off with an almighty wooooosh! when set alight in the hearth.

Childish, perhaps, but most satisfactory.

2010

As I’ve said elsewhere, it is plain that this new year, 2010, is the last year of the first decade of the 21st Century, not the first year of the second decade.   This is a matter of simple arithmetic: One needs ten years to form a decade.  Since there was no year zero in our calender, one had to begin counting at the year 1 A.D., with the year 10 A.D. rounding things out.  Thus, every subsequent year ending in a “0” has capped off the preceding decade as well.

On the other hand, whether to call it “two thousand ten” or “twenty ten” is a more subjective matter.  Personally, I am happy with the latter form based on historickal precident.  After all, one usually does not speak of the Battle of Hastings being fought in the year “one thousand sixty-six” but in “ten sixty-six.” 

So if “twenty ten” bothers you, go tell it to the Normans.