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MONTHLY ARCHIVES
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The Country’s Shortest Celebration
July 08, 2009 5:49 PM
ABC News On Campus reporter Loren Grush blogs:
At around half past noon today, a momentous occasion occurred that only happens once a century: the numbers aligned. At exactly 12:34 and 56 seconds, the date and time read 12:34:56 07/08/09.
Technically, it can be argued the event happened twice today, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. But if you want to get picky, 12:34 a.m. is 00:34 a.m. in military time. And we can just ignore the people who write the date 07/08/2009, claiming the event happened 2000 years ago.
So how did people celebrate? With one very short cheer. University of Texas student Jon Everett created a Facebook group to honor the event. Over 700 Facebook users had signed up to participate.
“I just like doing unusual things as far as making people aware of interesting events,” said Everett of creating the group. “It’s a way for people not to take life so seriously, as we tend to do.”
In the event’s description, Everett instructed people to cheer for a second and then sigh once the moment is over.
“I was in my ballroom dance class when it happened,” said Everett. “So I got everyone in the class to celebrate with me. Right when the time came, we all went ‘YAY!’ and then when it was over, we all went ‘AWWW!’”
But since the occasion was so short, some people sadly missed out. University of Texas student Sam Clark was extremely bummed to discover that he had forgotten to cheer.
“I felt angry at myself that I missed such a huge opportunity,” said Clark. “I just would’ve been so fulfilled if I had been aware of it as it happened. That’s all I could have asked for.”
But there is hope for those like Sam. People in Europe place the day before the month when writing the date. So if you travel abroad in August, you can celebrate the one-second celebration all over again.
July 8, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (4)
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What exactly happens once a century?
There are
1:23:45 6/7/89
As well as
12:34:56 7/8/90
I guess it is on 12:34:56 7/8/9 once (or twice) a century
Posted by: Larry | Jul 8, 2009 7:16:05 PM
Unfortunately this information is not correct. This event happened on 6/7/89 at 1:23 45. I know because my daughter was born at that exact second.....
Posted by: Maria | Jul 8, 2009 8:24:39 PM
Frankly, you aren't close. Your sequence begins with a "12" and has a zero in the wrong place. Therefore, many events can follow your sequence:
01:23:45 on 06/07/89 AND
02:34:56 on 07/08/91 AND
12:34:56 on 07/08/90 AND
there are others:
01/23/45/;
09/08/07 at 06:05:04
But Maria is right
01:23:45 on 6/7/89 is the only true perfect numerical sequence from zero thru nine. Also, all sequences occur twice in a 24 hour cycle.
Posted by: Leonard | Jul 8, 2009 8:48:11 PM
Man, aren't we all clever.
Posted by: Sam | Jul 8, 2009 9:41:20 PM
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