Why are slice indices the way they are in python?

[Fredrik Lundh]

Michael Torrie wrote:

> Forgive me for my ignorance, but isn't "2006-12-31 23:59:59" actually
> one entire second earlier than "2007-01-01 00:00:00"?  Hence they are
> two different dates are they not?

given the context, maybe the poster meant that he's storing date 
*ranges* as [start, stop) (i.e. including start but not including
stop).

</F>