The entire world is crazy. Right now, everyone’s gearing up for “The End of The Millennium” and “The Beginning of The New Millennium.” Religious organizations of all kinds are preparing, media outlets are celebrating the most important events of the millennium, and marketers are cashing in big time on the millennial craze.

We’ve got the candies of the new millennium (M&Ms), toys of the new millennium (Barbie), TV shows and airline promotions and clothing and fast food — all celebrating the arrival of the new millennium.

There’s only one problem.

This isn’t the end of the millennium.

You’ve heard this before, of course. Ever since America starting talking about Jan. 1, 2000, as the beginning of the new millennium, pundits have been refuting the country’s belief. Not that anyone has listened.

So why should I chime in on the matter when no one has listened to those who have spoken before me?

Well, if you turn to the front page of today’s Daily (after finishing my column, of course), you’ll notice on the bottom of the page a story about the first decade of this century.

The story is the first in a 10-part series the Daily is doing from now until Christmas break on Iowa State through the century.

The series will focus on ISU’s accomplishments and happenings during each decade as reported by my predecessors at the Iowa State Daily. We’ll quote old stories and talk to people who lived through important events at ISU during the 20th Century.

The series will be a lot of fun to report, and it should be fun to read.

There’s only one problem.

We’re a year off.

This century and this millennium won’t end on Dec. 31, 1999. It will end on Dec. 31, 2000. The new century and new millennium will begin on Jan. 1, 2001.

OK. Let’s talk this through.

One millennium is 1000 years. Two millennia are 2000 years.

In 1999, we are observing the 1999th year, beginning with 1 A.D.

Jan. 1 will be the first day of the 2000th year. Right? Right.

So the last day of the last year of the second millennium will be Dec. 31, 2000. The first day of the first year of the third millennium will be Jan. 1, 2001.

The only way the year 2000 could be the first year of the new millennium is if we began counting with the year 0. And we didn’t.

According to the Royal Observatory Greenwich (among other places), the Gregorian calendar, which we use, does not have a year zero. It doesn’t exist.

So the calendars 2000 years ago read something like this: 2 B.C., 1 B.C., 1 A.D., 2 A.D.

No zero. No millennium, at least not yet.

I’m adamant about this, and I don’t understand why the whole world refuses to listen to simple logic.

But it doesn’t, and it holds fast to the belief that in a little more than a month, we’ll be breaking out the champagne to celebrate the end of a millennium.

I thought long and hard about how to cover this so-called millennium in the Daily. I didn’t want to play it up like so many other media. I didn’t want to run a ton of stories supporting millennium fever, because I don’t believe it should exist yet.

But I can’t just ignore the millions of people the world over who really believe this is the end of the millennium.

The “Cyclone Century” series is a compromise. It won’t refer to the so-called millennium or the end of the century. But it will look back on the last 100 years of the university’s history.

I hope you enjoy the series. And maybe, just maybe, when the year 2000 rolls around, this unfounded millennial madness will finally go away.

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Sara Ziegler is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, S.D. She is editor in chief of the Daily.