Global Dates and Times

>From 2.4.5.5 Global dates and times
(http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#global-dates-and-times:):

The following are some examples of dates written as valid global date
and time strings.

"0037-12-13T00:00Z"
    Midnight UTC on the birthday of Nero (the Roman Emperor).
"1979-10-14T12:00:00.001-04:00"
    One millisecond after noon on October 14th 1979, in the time zone
in use on the east coast of the USA during daylight saving time.
"8592-01-01T02:09+02:09"
    Midnight UTC on the 1st of January, 8592. The time zone associated
with that time is two hours and nine minutes ahead of UTC, which is
not currently a real time zone, but is nonetheless allowed.

Why is Nero's birthday given such importance, as though it is a date
that should be inscribed into everyone's mind who might read the HTML
5 spec?  It is frivilous, and unwelcome.  The description should read:

Midnight UTC on 13th December 37 AD.

Adam Hepton