Ah, if it was mid-1908 to mid-2008 then you'd an exact even century.

They're just starting early (late-2007) so that everyone isn't surprised.

By the way - I assume that Guinness (dark beer and all that) realizes that they're rapidly approaching 250 years? I'd have expected to see some early signs of a party by now.

250 years? That'll be a record then.

Err... rextradited? ...rendited? umm... well, had some made up verb done to it.

looking for Jimmy Hoffa don't confuse them with your "facts". Guinness now there is something to celebrate (just in general I don't really even require a reason).

Must be hidden in some vault and sealed under the 100 year old rule.....

Not to be seen until 2107

... that the Feds are way ahead of their time.

I more or less assume that this is them getting ready for their Centenary year, which happens to be next year. We're at the tail end of September so its only 2 months away.

I'm assuming that people will need time for preparing the celebrations. Just imagine the hi-jinks that could ensue - People could buy a cocktail, relax and have a listen to the famous Martin Luther King tapes.

It'll be great.

If anything, they've lengthened it. Date ranges like this are normally inclusive.

E.g. if you said a music festival was 23rd to 25th September, that would be a 3 day festival, not 2.

Thus 1908 to 2008 is 101 years.

So one year missing per 100. Starting from 0AD we're about 20 years short of where we though we were. 9/11 has not happened, the turn of the century has not happened. America is not involved in a hopeless endless war in the middle east.

Problem solved.

Being Federales, I can only assume it must be one of three things. So either they can't count, they are trying to convince someone they are actually ahead of the bad guys or they but it with the laptops and firearms that went missing some years ago. Of course it could also be one of the 8 combinations of those three.

Damn! How'd they do that?

erm last time I checked there were 12 months in an Earth year, September being the 9th, leaves 3 months to the end of the year

I hate to be a pedant but that's still three months, not two...

"We're at the tail end of September so its only 2 months away."

I think you've been looking at that duff FBI calendar again.

They won't be 100 years old until 2009.

If 1908 is the first year,

then 2007 is the 100th year

and 2008 the 101st year to celebrate a century past now.

So it could have just as well said 1908-2007 and it would have avoided a lot of confusion. Confusion rules better though.

It was sent to GITMO as an enemy combatant of the U.S.A. since there is not any due process down there and no time line for repatration it will be held indefinently. Please do not discuss this matter again as BIG BROTHER has prying eyes...

If your birthday is on a specific day in 1908, your 100th birthday is on that date in 2008. That year is your centennial year, even though the portion of it after your birthdate would make up part of your 101st year.

To give a couple of obvious examples: the bicentennial of the United States was 1976, for the period 1776-1976, while the Queen's Golden Jubilee year was 2002, for the period 1952-2002.

In short, no one is confused - except perhaps some of the persons commenting on this story.

Given that the FBI was founded in 1908, 2007 would be the 100th year, but 100 years would not have passed until 2008. The 100th year has to conclude before you can say 100 years have passed.

The FBI website says "Celebrating 100 years". Now, are they celebrating the 100th year, or the passage of 100 years, viz., a century? I would interpret it as the latter, in which case they are correct to say 1908-2008.

FBI: 100 years of cross-dressing

centennial and 100th birthday is 100 years after. That is, if birthdate was in 1908, 100th birthday is in 2008.

Maybe confused with that crap about centuries starting in '01 years? That's because dumb people (almost) 2007 years ago didn't know about, or use the number 0. Then you have historians back then screwing up and eating away 0 AD so "historic time" doesn't equate with "astronomic time", "ISO time" or any other mathematically useful date system.

So basically the century rollover is in '01 because first century was 1-100 instead of 0-99, not because of freaky counting. Oh, and that is because you're counting from the first day of first year, to last day of last year. Move over the "start pointer" one day, and you would get 0-100 or 1-101. ;)

Is 100 years of existance something for the FBI to be celebrating? Surely if they were doing their job properly they would be celebrating "xxx years of no kidnappings", "xxx years of no federal crime", "xxx years of not putting the wrong bloke behind bars" and most importantly "xxx years of not assisting a despotic wannabe dictator systematically disassembling the constitutionally assured rights of American citizens!"

"So basically the century rollover is in '01 because first century was 1-100 instead of 0-99, not because of freaky counting. Oh, and that is because you're counting from the first day of first year, to last day of last year. Move over the "start pointer" one day, and you would get 0-100 or 1-101. ;)"

Arguing about when a century starts is even more arbitrary though, given the number of times the calendar has been reformed in the past two millenia. Whether a year was skipped at the start of the caledar isn't really relevant compared to all the other discontinuities in the recorded timeline that lead to this year being counted as the 2007th.

I wonder if anyone has worked out how many complete solar revolutions the earth has made since whatever day christ died, I've never thought of googling that till now.

Too true - apparently Belgium even missed Christmas one year because of a calendar reform which skipped 4 weeks. Gutted!

"Surely if they were doing their job properly they would be celebrating "xxx years of no kidnappings", "xxx years of no federal crime", "xxx years of not putting the wrong bloke behind bars" and most importantly "xxx years of not assisting a despotic wannabe dictator systematically disassembling the constitutionally assured rights of American citizens!"

Dont make me laugh. They would be lucky to get to xx years, unless the first two x's were zeros.

its obvious aint it, didn't this century have a leap year?

It's ok, I have my coat.

odd because wiki doesnt even list the 1908 century.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centuries

Shirly they mean a centenary?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenary

Oops sorry forgot we were talking about the feds, nope there right!

Soooo... if I get fired, all I need to do is say 'logic bomb'?

and my ex-employer automatically looses 70-120k

Well that settles it, no need to actually get in trouble, it'll be more fun knowing they spent so much looking!

It's obvious whats going on here. Mr GW Bush has told the FBI to detain 2007 until further notice, then in a couple of years time when he's done his 2 terms in office and been kicked out, he will get his mates in the FBI to "re-instate" 2007, and he will them claim that as it's 2007 he is the righfull president of the United States of America and Great Britain

This date stuff has been a problem to us all since we started counting with computers and brought in all that new-fangled stuff about leading zero's instead of proper grown-up counting like what we used to do with a stick and tray of sand.

In the old days, a zero was nothing at all and so not counted. But we're having a bit of trouble with the conversion technique and we can count on the US Feds to deeply consider it and then get it wrong - or right - depending how you count.

They aim to confuse, and are making brilliant progress. probably with all the practice they had in y2k. Whichever year that was...

...my centuries at a full 100 years. I guess the boys at the FBI are the same. And as far as I know, you count the 100th year of anything after 99 full years, but you can't have a century with 99... Ask any cricketer.

"or currently forming the basis of an anti-Russki missile shield temporal weapon. " Against a Rasputin or a Catherine or Potemkin?

Obviosly this doesn't include their little jaunts back to 1939 and 1773... Or am I thinking of the NSA?

Hood, Jumper, GITMO.

If mere automakers can advance the calendar, why not our top cops?