When does the first decade of the 21st century end?

As we near this year's end, we are being bombarded with articles that summarize the past decade..."The best baseball (football, soccer, badminton) players of the decade!"..."The top news stories of the decade!"...etc. But, when does the decade end? December 31, 2009 or 2010?

I am reminded of a question posed to my class by a law school professor in 1970. "When will the century end," he asked. There were two obvious answers: December 31, 1999 or 2000. As we pondered the answers, it became obvious the question had nothing to do with law. It was asked to make us think.

Ultimately, we figured out that in the calendar in common worldwide usage, the first year was "Year 1" and the 100th year was "Year 100." That marked the first century. Each succeeding century, then, began with "1" and end with "00." The twentieth century began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000. The first decade of the twenty-first century began January 1, 2001 and will end about a year from now, on December 31, 2010. Save those "all-decade" lists for another year.

A present-day law school professor ponders this same question here. Maybe this is about law?

"Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word."

The Kansas State Board of Education responded to my lawsuit on Dec. 9, voting once again to deny me a teacher's license. Here's the T C-J report. A few points:
1. There are felons teaching in the Kansas public schools today. One of them was honored with a "Teacher of the Year" award 2 years ago.
2. This BOE licensed a felon a few months ago.
3. The BOE must find a felon is "rehabilitated for a period of 5 years" before issuing a license.
4. Six votes are needed from this 10 member Board to obtain a license. Four members voted to license me. Two of the 6 who voted to deny me spoke on the record saying they were satisfied I was rehabilitated. The two did not explain the inconsistency in their vote.
5. My recourse is to go back to Court and ask the Judge to find that the BOE decision is not supported by the evidence. I'll probably do this next week.
6. I feel like Red (the Morgan Freeman character) in The Shawshank Redemption who went before the State Parole Board every year, said the right things, did the right things, patronized them and was denied for parole. Finally, he said what was in his heart, cussed repeatedly, insulted them and, lo and behold, had his parole approved. The scene is worth revisiting.