Turn-of-the-Century Pigeons Photographed Earth from Above(newyorker.com) |
Turn-of-the-Century Pigeons Photographed Earth from Above(newyorker.com) |
Also, years less than 10 years ago which are still referenced a lot then require a switch to a different reading convention. This, I guess, wasn't a big deal from 1999 to 2000 because, "twenty-oh-oh" was too awkward and, hey, it's two-damn-thousand!
So I guess this applies to people born in the 80s (and before), so I assume this will be in the 2030s/40s.
It's too ingrained. And 2000 was a millenium shift. So I expect a new phrase to emerge.
1999 was when the party started, of course.
I find this peculiar. Hydrogen balloons were used for surveillance in the Civil War, 40 years earlier. It would have been easy to attach a camera to a small hydrogen balloon, with a clockwork device to puncture the balloon to bring it down in a reasonable distance.
Maybe, but homing pigeons have a few advantages. They return to their home "automatically" and they are not as conspicuous flying through the air.