Selenium approaches

[Dkipen at aol.com]

Dear friends,

I have a stumper for us all, not because it has much to do with Pynchon,
although I bet Mason & Dixon could've answered it, but because together we
somehow always manage to know everything: Viz., how can I know when it's
midnight tonight without watching TV or listening to the radio or checking my
watch? Put another way, how did they know when the millennium turned in the
year 1000? If the answer's astronomical and therefore geography-sensitive,
I'll even settle for where to look it up.

Thanks,
David

P.S. Extra credit essay question: Where will TRP ring in the new millennium?