"When do centuries end?—at the termination of years marked '99 (as common sensibility suggests), or at the termination of years marked '00 (as the narrow logic of a peculiar system dictates)?... the source of all our infernal trouble about the ends of centuries may be laid at the doorstep of a sixth-century monk named , or (literally) Dennis the Short. ...Dennis neglected to begin time with year zero, thus discombobulating all our usual notions of counting. During the year that Jesus was one year old, the time system that supposedly started with his birth was two years old. (Babies are zero years old until their first birthday; modern time was already one year old at its inception.) The absence of a year zero also means that we cannot calculate algebraically (without making a correction) through the B.C.-A.D. transition. ...The problem of centuries starts from Dennis's unfortunate decision to start with year one, rather than year zero... logic and sensibility do not coincide, and since both have legitimate claims upon our decision, the great and recurring debate about century boundaries simply cannot be resolved. ...One might argue that humans, as creatures of reason, should be willing to subjugate sensibility for logic; but we are, just as much, creatures of feeling. And so the debate has progressed at every go-round."