· The first publishing catalogues for the new year begin to dribble through, bringing with them the usual mix of hyperbole and superlative.
Qualifying matches for the 2004 European championships, which are spread over a year, begin with a schedule of 20 matches this weekend.
William the Conqueror decreed that the year begin on January 1, but England later joined the rest of Christendom and adopted March 25.
I propose that the day start at 8 a.m. and end at 4 30 or 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and that the school year begin in mid-August and end in mid-July.
The first emperor, Shih Huang-ti, of the short-lived Ch'in dynasty (221 206 bc) made the year begin one month earlier—i.e., with the lunation (the period of time between one new moon and the next) before the one in which the winter solstice occurred.
It is impossible to know how many of the approximately 140,000 adoptions in the United States each year begin with the Internet; most older children are adopted by relatives or by foster parents, and the growing number from abroad are placed through agencies.
