Althouse: Here we are in 2025 — the quarter century mark.

January 1, 2025

Here we are in 2025 — the quarter century mark.

It's a nice solid milestone. 25 has a substantiality that exceeds that of 22, 23, and 24. It's more "famous," no? It's the atomic number of manganese.

46 comments:

Kate said...: Someone born today would most likely be alive when the calendar flips to 2100. That's a weird number.; 1/1/25, 6:43 AM
gspencer said...: Won't the quarter century mark only be reached after the completion of 25 full years?; 1/1/25, 6:43 AM
Breezy said...: Jan 1 2000 thru Dec 31 2024 is 25 years; 1/1/25, 6:47 AM
Eva Marie said...: Your comment reminded me of Oliver Sacks who would have been 92 (Uranium) this year.
“Oliver Sacks viewed his age through the lens of atomic numbers by associating his age with the corresponding element on the periodic table, essentially thinking of himself as the element with the same atomic number as his age; for example, if he was 80 years old, he would consider himself "Mercury" because Mercury is element number 80 on the periodic table.
By linking his age to an element, he was essentially using the periodic table as a symbolic representation of his life journey. “ ; 1/1/25, 6:53 AM
Amexpat said...: I can't comprehend 2025 - it's post future. I remember worrying about big brother in 1984, computers crashing in 2000 and looking forward to flying PanAm to the moon in 2001. Most of the SciFi books I read about the future took place before 2025.

Fuck the future. All that matters to me now is the present and the past.; 1/1/25, 6:58 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Mathematics is the science of patterns, so I've been told.; 1/1/25, 7:00 AM
Mr. T. said...: We've circled back to the Roarin 20s.

Where gangsters and organized crime rule. Except now instead they're called "doctors" and "goverment-sector unions."; 1/1/25, 7:05 AM
Lawnerd said...: Manganese, most people don’t even know what that is. - Carl the greens keeper, Caddyshack, 1980.; 1/1/25, 7:05 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: i like even numbers better. Don't know why. I look forward to 2026. Maybe 2025 won't be that bad - for an odd year. Thank God, we're about to say Goodbye to Biden. So, this year has possiblites.; 1/1/25, 7:12 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Atomic number free association. I loved HS Physics. I liked HS Biology. I hated Chemistry. I had to learn all the atomic numbers, and then forget them all the day after the course ended. I haven't thought of it since HS. Thank God.

But I still know E=Mc2 and F= MVa and kings play chess on fine green sand.; 1/1/25, 7:15 AM
gilbar said...: breezy thinks that years started at year ZERO; 1/1/25, 7:17 AM
Big Mike said...: @Amexpat, then watch out, lest the future fuck with you.; 1/1/25, 7:19 AM
gilbar said...: people that are old enough to vote, or fight in the Army were born in 2007..
The later half of the Bush Presdency; 1/1/25, 7:21 AM
Big Mike said...: It's the atomic number of manganese.

Using that logic we should have celebrated 2008, eight being the atomic number for oxygen, without which breathing has been known to be difficult.; 1/1/25, 7:24 AM
Dixcus said...: "Cinderella story." - Carl; 1/1/25, 7:25 AM
Breezy said...: The zero-th year is a year. Just like there are ten digits, 0-9.; 1/1/25, 7:26 AM
Duty of Inquiry said...: And now it can be told, I'm a quarter of a century old,
But I'm a half a century high.; 1/1/25, 7:29 AM
Iman said...: Brown acid BAD!!!; 1/1/25, 7:41 AM
Robert Cook said...: The 20th Century began on January 01, 2001. 2000 was the last year of the 20th Century.; 1/1/25, 7:41 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The zero-th year is a year. Just like there are ten digits, 0-9."

There is no zero year. The first year only becomes a year at the end of the last day in the last month of the 12 months that comprise the year. That first completed year is Year One. The first century is a complete century at the end of the last day of the last year of the 100 years that comprise a century.; 1/1/25, 7:46 AM
Robert Cook said...: The 20th Century began on January 01, 2001. 2000 was the last year of the 20th Century."

Um...obviously, I meant that the 21st Century began on Jan. 01, 2001. Ahem.; 1/1/25, 7:50 AM
Old and slow said...: Cerium. Cerium oxide is very fine abrasive used for polishing stones.; 1/1/25, 7:50 AM
n.n said...: A milestone or a millstone. It's 50/50, and the bestest and brightestest are wasted, so Happy New Year! Hee Haw.; 1/1/25, 7:57 AM
Breezy said...: ChatGPT agrees with you. I stand corrected regarding how centuries are counted. We’ll have completed a quarter century at the end of 2025. We are just starting that year. But, I’m correct that the years ending in 0 are indeed a year.

ChatGPT:
The 21st century began on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 2100.

Centuries are based on the Gregorian calendar and start with year 1 of each new hundred-year cycle (e.g., the 1st century started in the year 1, not year 0).; 1/1/25, 8:02 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Your comment reminded me of Oliver Sacks who would have been 92 (Uranium) this year"

Thanks for calling that book — Uncle Tungsten — back to mind.; 1/1/25, 8:03 AM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: If we don't do something now, 6 billion people alive today will be dead by 2100! Panic!; 1/1/25, 8:23 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Newman was just like Robert Cook.; 1/1/25, 8:24 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Like Old and Slow, I am Cerium at the moment. Having been a chemist I have long associated my age with the atomic numbers. This age, 58, is the first time in 5 years that my age has been associated with an element that I actually used as a chemist- the last one had been Iodine at 53 and the next one will be Europium at 63.; 1/1/25, 8:34 AM
Breezy said...: I’m a rare earth element. I need to remind my better half of that on occasion.; 1/1/25, 8:43 AM
Original Mike said...: Oh Be A Fine, Girl, Kiss Me; 1/1/25, 9:14 AM
Original Mike said...: Thulium? I'm Thulium? I'm not sure I've even ever heard of Thulium.
I've got to endure this millstone 10 whole months until I'm Ytterbium. Now there's a cool element. Say it with me; ter-be-um.; 1/1/25, 9:22 AM
Amexpat said...: @Big Mike, it will sooner than later. But when it does it will be the present not the future.; 1/1/25, 9:32 AM
Kakistocracy said...: My son the quant sent me this: 'Don't forget to write 2025 as 1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³"; 1/1/25, 9:35 AM
campy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/1/25, 9:38 AM
J Severs said...: 2025 is a perfect square. 45*45.; 1/1/25, 9:39 AM
gilbar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/1/25, 9:46 AM
Temujin said...: I'm already longing for the 'sanity' of the 20th century.; 1/1/25, 9:48 AM
Lazarus said...: Manganese came up in a language class and we all thought it was magnesium.; 1/1/25, 10:00 AM
Lazarus said...: You know you're old when you no longer refer to yourself by atomic number but by atomic weight. "Hey you, U-238!"

I haven't reached that point yet. I'm still in my rare earth phase, saddled for the year with an element I have never heard of, but it is good to think that these are my rare earth years. Soon enough, every year more on earth will be rarer and rarer.; 1/1/25, 10:05 AM
Lazarus said...: Biden was sort of our Harding. A figurehead who had no clue what was going on.; 1/1/25, 10:08 AM
WhoKnew said...: At 70, I will let being the penultimate metal in the lanthanide series be the touchstone that defines my new year.; 1/1/25, 10:18 AM
Narayanan said...: neat > next cubic series = 3025; 1/1/25, 10:59 AM
Clyde said...: Gold is element number 79, so I guess we now know when the Golden Years start...; 1/1/25, 11:04 AM
Clyde said...: Ha!; 1/1/25, 11:15 AM
SteveSc said...: Can we start the Quarter Quell?; 1/1/25, 11:21 AM
Mason G said...: 2015: Back to the Future Part II
2018: Rollerball
2019: Blade Runner
2022: Soylent Green

-----> You Are Here

2027: Children of Men
2028: 12 Momkeys
2029: Terminator
2032: Demolition Man
2035: I, Robot
2038: V for Vendetta
2044: Looper
2054: Minority Report
2070: Interstellar
2084: Total Recall
2122: Alien
2130: The Black Hole
2173: Sleeper
2199: The Matrix
2220: Forbidden Planet
2263: The Fifth Element
2293: Zardoz
2387: Star Trek
2500: Logan's Run
2505: Idiocracy; 1/1/25, 12:57 PM