Wrongspeak! Don’t you know that Current Year is 72 of the Atomic Era?! Of course, those heretics in the Archaeology department say it is year 67 After Present. And those upstart kids over in the Journalism department insist it is year 10 of the Ascension of the Light Bringer.
(Archaeologists use a “Before Present” dating system, with their baseline year being 1950. Except that some of the younger ones use 2000 instead.)
Where/when do we start counting the Atomic Era? There are a few places, even ignoring the first bits of semi-modern atomic theory and the initial discovery of radioactivity and of nuclear fission:
1. Fermi’s group starting (and then stopping!) a sustained, controlled chain reaction that failed to blow up Chicago.
2. The Trinity Test.
3. Hiroshima, Nagasaki?
4. The first full year after such (like how horse age is counted from 1 Jan…)
The Atomic Age is dated from 1945, which is Year Zero.
As part of my subtle humor attempt, I computed the years above from 2017, making all of the numbers a year off. Because adding a layer of stupid on top of the overly erudite screed seemed funny at the time.
If I were to wear fancy dress, would I need to have a personal silver (or plated, anyway) straw in the vest pocket to complete the ensemble, now? Perhaps in a nice velvet lined case or such.
Tempest in a Teardrop: The Churchians 
You guys out west and those straw bullies! We feel for you! (Straw bullies haven’t made it here yet.)
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They are on the way. The Starbucks sippy cups are a dead giveaway.
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It is coming. I seem to recall hearing that some places in MD, like Ocean City, are starting to ban plastic straws and DC has a proposal in the making. https://wtop.com/dc/2018/07/plastic-straw-ban-proposed-in-dc/
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DC should stop sucking? Good luck with that!
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roflmao
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It sucks to be a fungus in the summer when everybody else is photosynthesizing like it’s 1999.
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It’s 2018. Nothing existed since last week, when Trump got elected. What is this “1999” you speak of?
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Wrongspeak! Don’t you know that Current Year is 72 of the Atomic Era?! Of course, those heretics in the Archaeology department say it is year 67 After Present. And those upstart kids over in the Journalism department insist it is year 10 of the Ascension of the Light Bringer.
(Archaeologists use a “Before Present” dating system, with their baseline year being 1950. Except that some of the younger ones use 2000 instead.)
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Science! + Snark = Win
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Where/when do we start counting the Atomic Era? There are a few places, even ignoring the first bits of semi-modern atomic theory and the initial discovery of radioactivity and of nuclear fission:
1. Fermi’s group starting (and then stopping!) a sustained, controlled chain reaction that failed to blow up Chicago.
2. The Trinity Test.
3. Hiroshima, Nagasaki?
4. The first full year after such (like how horse age is counted from 1 Jan…)
5. Something other?
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The Atomic Age is dated from 1945, which is Year Zero.
As part of my subtle humor attempt, I computed the years above from 2017, making all of the numbers a year off. Because adding a layer of stupid on top of the overly erudite screed seemed funny at the time.
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Ah… that had me bewildered and attempting (I do NOT declare success) further humor.
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If I were to wear fancy dress, would I need to have a personal silver (or plated, anyway) straw in the vest pocket to complete the ensemble, now? Perhaps in a nice velvet lined case or such.
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