Stop using B.C.E. and C.E. you cretins!

[Traitorfish]

It was a world changing event, biologically, socially, politically, etc. The biological exchange and it's subsequent impact on world events can't be overemphasized.

Oh, no doubt. As much as I share Valka's wariness about seeming to glorify anything with such a coloured legacy, there really isn't anything in human history that comes close for the sheer weight and breadth of its significance. As you say, it was very literally world-changing.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Oh, no doubt. As much as I share Valka's wariness about seeming to glorify anything with such a coloured legacy, there really isn't anything in human history that comes close for the sheer weight and breadth of its significance. As you say, it was very literally world-changing.

Yeah I hope I didn't come off as glorifying the death and subjugation of so many millions of people. I really didn't mean it that way, just that the columbian exchange is as good of a reset point on the human timeline as just about any.

I freaking love having adult conversations on this forum. You guys rock.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There is that. But the exchange denotes something even greater in scope than that. I hope you understand the distinction. It also is a neutral label, not one that's meant to be seen as good or bad. It just was.

As a neutral observation that a specific historical event occurred, that's one thing. What I loathe about it is the idea that it was good. Because it wasn't good, for an awful lot of people. There are still First Nations people here who are bitter about it. One of them once told me flat out, she wished that ALL of Europe had been killed by the Black Death.

Yeah I hope I didn't come off as glorifying the death and subjugation of so many millions of people. I really didn't mean it that way, just that the columbian exchange is as good of a reset point on the human timeline as just about any.

I freaking love having adult conversations on this forum. You guys rock.

As a reset point, it's too recent. There was European contact with North America long before Columbus, even though it was largely forgotten for a long time. And to have much of the lead-in events that made the Columbus voyages possible on the other side of the dividing line would be needlessly confusing.

Maybe we should just use the Roman dating system. They reckoned their calendar from the founding of Rome.

Or maybe we should just leave it all alone and learn to count.

 

[Traitorfish]

As a reset point, it's too recent. There was European contact with North America long before Columbus, even though it was largely forgotten for a long time.

The point is that it was a novelty, it was the world-shaking results that followed from it. The Norse contact had no particular significance outside of the groups making direct contact- even the Icelanders had forgotten it by the the time contact was re-established- while the Columbian contact had profound and often world-shaking implications for societies who didn't even know it had happened.

 

[Quackers]

It's quite AmeroEuro centric IMO. Undignifyingly leaves out China and India who were more populous and richer then AmeroEurope at that time..

 

[innonimatu]

Surely the adoption of BCE/CE shows that people are dealing with it, in that they're quite happy to use a calendar of Christian origin, and reconcile it with their own sensibilities by tweaking the terminology a little.

Why can't the english and their colonials just replace AD with the far mole logical AC (after Christ) and call it done?

 

[Traitorfish]

It's quite AmeroEuro centric IMO. Undignifyingly leaves out China and India who were more populous and richer then AmeroEurope at that time..

No, that's kind of the point: the effects of the Columbian exchange were truly and undeniably global. I mean, just to take a mundane example, think of how important tomatoes, potatoes and peppers are in Indian cuisine.

Why can't the english and their colonials just replace AD with the far mole logical AC (after Christ) and call it done?

How is starting "after Christ" thirty years before his death "logical"? It's like claiming that the afternoon begins at half eleven.

 

[Dachs]

It's quite AmeroEuro centric IMO. Undignifyingly leaves out China and India who were more populous and richer then AmeroEurope at that time..

The Columbian Exchange affected them, too.

 

[Berzerker]

when does the hebrew calendar hit 6000?

 

[warpus]

Even if this statement is correct, it assumes that most of those legacy systems are "sane".

I know that that is a wrong assumption to make in the business world. Far too many of them were cobbled together over decades as needs and technologies changed creating a terrible mess.
Then you have issues where they were developed on the cheap often with the requirements changing on a near daily basis until it was released.

Yeah, there's no way of knowing what's going on behind the scenes. I've seen a lot of code that treats dates in all sorts of ways.

There wouldn't be one solution if this happened.. You would need to treat every system, device, and application separately and that would mean inspecting every one individually. A lot of them probably even wouldn't need any alternations.. but it would still be a LOT of work.

I was on a Y2K compliance team back in '98/99 at a large Canadian insurance company. They spent a lot of money on that crap. Everything had to be looked at - including the toilet paper supply company.

I would like to say though that by the time we need or want a new calendar system (after say, interplanetary colonization renders an earth-centric year obsolete) we probably won't have to worry about how difficult reprogramming calendar systems into our computer systems are. I'm sure it will be trivial by then.

I'm not sure where you'd get an idea like that, but I'm going to guess that you aren't a programmer

Then people should stop saying 'Oh my God', shouldn't they?

It's just a saying though.. When I say "Oh my God" I am not actually referring to God God - the big Christian guy in the sky. It's sort of like saying "killing 2 birds with 1 stone" or "you don't make an omlette without breaking a couple eggs". There are no birds, eggs, or omlettes involved. It's just a metaphor.

Christmas is awesome. It's family and gifts and feasts. I don't give a damn about where it came from, I give a damn about what it's come to mean.

It came from pagans, then it got re-branded by the Christians, and then re-branded again by the capitalists.

I'm sure it will be rebranded again at some point the future.

 

[innonimatu]

How is starting "after Christ" thirty years before his death "logical"? It's like claiming that the afternoon begins at half eleven.

Before Christ is counting from the mythical date of his birth, isn't it? Seems logical that after is after the birth. Every calendar named after people sets the era on some event related to the person.

 

[Dachs]

Before Christ is counting from the mythical date of his birth, isn't it? Seems logical that after is after the birth. Every calendar named after people sets the era on some event related to the person.

"After Christ" means that Jesus wasn't around anymore.

You may be looking for "Before/After the Nativity". But that's dumb.

 

[Traitorfish]

I think the natural direction for this topic to take is how the Columbian exchange affected Christmas. Obvious one is the turkey; anything else?

 

[Takhisis]

Yeah, Christmas in summer, baby, carousing all night low with minimum clothing, bikinis are viable.

 

[_random_]

I think the natural direction for this topic to take is how the Columbian exchange affected Christmas. Obvious one is the turkey; anything else?

Peanut butter blossoms? You do those things in Europe? You should:

It involves wheat flour and chocolate, so it's really quite representative of the whole dang thing. There's also stringing popcorn, but again, I'm not sure if that's done in Europe.
Edit: Also, the fact that Christian holidays are observed in the Americas is pretty significant.

 

[emzie]

It came from pagans, then it got re-branded by the Christians, and then re-branded again by the capitalists.

I'm sure it will be rebranded again at some point the future.

Yes, and?

 

[Save_Ferris]

Well, think about it: an atheist is the opposite of a Christian, right? And who's more Christian than Protestants? Nobody! And who's less Protestant than the Pope? Again, nobody! So, logically, atheism and papism are the same thing.

You can't explain that!

 

[Luckymoose]

I use BCE and CE. I won't stop using it. I refuse to use AD as it is not my lord's year.

 

[emzie]

I've decided I'm going to use BC and CE.

 

[Mango Elephant]

I have decided I'm going to use AE, ME, and PE.

Ancient Era (pre Jesus)

Middle Ere (Jesus - 1950)

Present Era (1950 - )