Tuck laughed. "Yeah, I know, it's a lot to deal with. But people who study ancient history often use the astronomical calendar because they care about astronomical events like eclipses and planetary conjunctions. I'm actually a fan of it because it makes things nice and simple, by getting rid of the B.C. and A.D. designations."

"What's wrong with B.C. and A.D.?" I asked.

"Aside from being more politically correct for non-Christians, the astronomical calendar uses plus years, minus years, and zero. This is the natural way to do it. Thermometers have positive temperatures, negative temperatures, and zero. If it's 5 degrees below zero, you'd want to say it's -5 degrees. You wouldn't want to have to say that it's 5 degrees B.C. (below chilly)."

I smiled and Tuck continued. "Dates from 1 A.D. going forward are the same in the astronomical calendar, only they drop the A.D. So 2012 A.D. in the Gregorian calendar is 2012 in the astronomical calendar. Or you can write it as +2012, either way. Before the year 1, the astronomical calendar has a year 0. Then going back, instead of using B.C., the years go -1, -2, -3, etc."

I liked this. "That makes a lot of sense," I said, "because it's the same way the integers work. Nice and simple. Why don't we just use that for everything?"

"Well, that would be a good idea," Tuck answered, "except there's a problem when you go back far enough. Like if I said the Mayan creation date was in the year -3113, you'd instinctively think 3113 B.C., wouldn't you?"

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