What’s so special about 2020?

But first a prosperous new year. Make money and stay healthy.

Sorry back to “What’s so special about 2020?”.

Every 60 years, a new decade according to the Western calendar* coincides with a year of the rat, the start of the 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar. This last happened in 1960.

1990 was a relative quiet year. But in 1961, we had the Berlin Wall crisis and in 1962, we had the  Cuban missile crisis. The USA and the USSR were daring one another to go to war

Will the USA and China have their own version of the Berlin Wall crisis and Cuban Missile crisis? Perhaps centred around HK? Let’s hope not. And if they do, let’s hope they both back down without violence. But then maybe it’ll be a very serious row between N Korea and the USA with China dragged in very reluctantly

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*Conventional wisdom* says that 2020 is the start of a new decade in the Western calendar. Strictly speaking the new decade doesn’t start until January 1, 2021; the old one concluding on December 31, 2020. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/new-decade-2020-or-2021-100900

But this means this millennium began on January 1, 2001 not January 1, 2000. The previous millennium ended only on December 31, 2000, not December 31, 1999. So a lot of parting was done on the wrong date.

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