BC and AD

The year numbering system used with Common Era notation was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525 to replace the Diocletian years, because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. He attempted to number years from an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus, although scholars today generally agree that he miscalculated by a small number of years. . . . Numbering years in this manner became more widespread with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before the supposed year of birth of Jesus, and the practice of not using a year zero. In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era

You're welcome.

Saints and strangers

Today is the 390th anniversary of the day The Mayflower set sail for the new world. Garrison Keillor marks the occasion by telling me things about the passengers that I didn't know -- and that I'll bet you didn't know either.

Celebrate!

As one commenter notes: "See how us Fake Americans celebrate presidential elections in the East Village. We of the Less Patriotic, not Pro-American persuasion"

I can't watch this without getting teary.

Afterthought: I'll bet not one of these people ever wore a flag pin.

November 4, 2008

I guess I should be feeling a sense of excitement, but what I mostly feel is an immense sense of relief. Just a complete, unmitigated, totally drained sense of relief that George Bush will finally be packed up and sent home to Crawford. For just this moment, I don't even care whether Barack Obama will be a great president. I'm just grateful that for the next four years our president will be at least minimally competent and grounded in reality. Thank God.

Mother Jones -- Kevin Drum

Washington Post

Barack Obama had the highest vote percentage of any Democratic presidential candidate in 40 years. He had the highest non-incumbent vote percentage of any candidate, from either party, in 56 years. He's the fourth Democratic candidate in the last five elections to win more votes than the Republican candidate.

Washington Monthly

Tom Toles -- Washington Post

GAZA — From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens.

New York Times

Mother Jones -- Kevin Drum

If 64% is the final [turnout] number, where would that put the 2008 race historically? According to a Wall Street Journal item, we're talking about "the biggest voter turnout in the period since women got the vote in 1920.

Washington Monthly

My basic emotion is relief. The skill of an Obama administration has yet to be proven. The structure of our government will prove a more able opponent of change than John McCain. But for the first time in years, I have the basic sense that it's going to be okay. Not great, necessarily. And certainly not perfect. But okay. The country will be led by decent, competent people who fret over the right things and employ the tools of the state for recognizable ends. They may not fully succeed. But then, maybe they will. At the least, they will try.

Ezra Klein -- American Prospect