When I went to school I learned that I was born in 1945 AD. "AD" stood for "Anno Domini" which is Latin for "year of our Lord." In other words, I was born 1,944 years after the supposed birth of Jesus.

Later I learned that Caesar invaded Britain for the first time in 55 BC where "BC" was an acronym for "Before Christ."

Some time during the 1980s the use of AD and BC was deemed politically incorrect. This is the year 2007 CE (Current Era). We in the West still regard the birth of Jesus as heralding in the "current era."

Jews and Muslims both dissent. In the Hebrew calendar this is the year 5767 being 5,767 years since the creation of the world. For Jews the "current era" started with the Biblical date for the creation of the world.

For Muslims this is 1428 AH. "AH" stands for "Anno Hegeira" or "Years of the Hegeira." Hegeira is a Latinised form of the Arabic word hijra meaning "immigration." In the year 1 AH, corresponding to 622 CE, Muhammed fled Mecca for Medina. It is this event that ushers in the "current era" for Muslims.

Which current era should we adopt? Given the growing power of Islam perhaps we should switch to the Muslim calendar. We could argue that this is year 1428 ME (Muslim Era.)

I would like to offer two better candidates from which to measure the current era. The first is the year Galileo invented the astronomical telescope. I'm hard put to think of anything that has changed our understanding of the cosmos and our place in it more than the telescope. By that reckoning this 398 TE (Telescope Era).

Another possible starting point is the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of the Species" which revolutionised our understanding of our place in nature. This would then be year 148 DE (Darwinian Era)

Anyone else got any candidates for the start of the current era.

Oops.

Heading should be:

What defines the current era?

Actually, historical research indicates that Jesus was born around 4BC: otherwise he could not have encountered Herod who died in that year.

Curiously enough, whilst stopped at lights today I was gazing into the rear vision mirror and musing on whether it was in fact the past I was looking at(seeing as how I was looking at where I had been). Fortunately for me, my Inti-mate set me straight in no time flat by a) informing me that the light was now green, and b)explaining that a mirror is not a portal.....
AA130-years since the first Ashes test
AB-years since whatever it is that came B-fore
AC96-years since widewpread electricity systems
AD44-years since Bob Dylans first recording
AEIOU1744-years since the 5 vowels were first mined
AF44- years since the future arrived with.....etc

This is also the year 43 SMWTGF (Since Melbourne Won The Grand Final)

I'm not sure you guys are taking this seriously.

All the date systems that exist are religious in nature.

So it follows that if we need a new system, the only valid suggestion so far is 43 SMWTGF