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-----Original Message-----
From: Eugene Dillenburg [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
What a bad idea!  

Eugene Dillenburg
Exhibit Developer
Science Museum of Minnesota
============

Perhaps my memory is failing (gosh, I'm almost so old, they're going to need
to use the "X thousand years ago" model to describe my birth!) but I seem to
recall that SMM >did< use the CE/BCE dating on some of its exhibits.

This may be a minor issue. For many dates, there's no need for a AD/CE
label. When we say "Einstein came up with relativity in 1905", it's pretty
clear what date we're talking about. The tricky, moving target math of
describing such dates in X years ago" seems annoying/unnecessary.

Meanwhile, many dates science centers do deal with are better dealt with
this way are approximations anyway, and basing them on an event 2,000 (or
heck, 5,000) years ago is silly. So "the dinosaurs became extinct about 64.5
million years ago" is just fine.

It seems to me that the BC/E frame of reference only comes into a relatively
narrow window, and I don't know what SOP is in archaeology. (Anyone?)

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
Science Center of Connecticut

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