The centenary moment arrives
posted at 12:34 pm on July 8, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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I’ve timed this post to go up at 12:34 ET this afternoon in order to celebrate an event that happens twice every hundred years, and happened for the second time today. The clocks will read 12:34:56 on 7/8/9 a mere 56 seconds after this post goes up in the Eastern Time Zone, as they did 12 hours earlier. It’s quirky and esoteric, but also a little bit of fun.
The previous occasion of this kind of sequencing took place in 1978, at 12:34 on May 6th. When that moment arrived, I was rehearsing for a school musical (Bye Bye Birdie), and I had everyone stop and wait out the full minute.
And yes, everyone thought I was a geek then, and I’m sure they think I’m a bigger geek now.
Carry on.
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On my birthday too! I feel special..and old.
vcferlita on July 8, 2009 at 1:22 PM
smeg head
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Heh
ladyingray on July 8, 2009 at 1:22 PM
I was 2. Days.
TexasDan on July 8, 2009 at 1:23 PM
I remember celebrating 12:34 on 5/6/78. How time flies.
Harpoon on July 8, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Was I the only one who remembers:
01:23:45 6/7/89 ?
Talk about a geek, I actually have a picture of this from my old digital watch…
BVM on July 8, 2009 at 1:29 PM
.
All of it or just the orifices? You’ll recover MC. Place the Phantom Menace dvd in and watch your bleeding stop and your wounds heal. Long may you live and prosper. I’d give you the “V” hand gesture but you would probably ingnore it anyway being a Star Wars fan over the Star Trek saga. Remember this one MC: You can love your lightsaber just don’t loooooove it like its your lightsabor. Look that one up.
Americannodash on July 8, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I’m gonna tell my little boys about it as I have a couple of hours before it hits here. Get them geeky early. Part of my birth control plan. Geeks aren’t really attractive until college when the girls start to see earning potential over ‘cool’ for people to date.
Also this would be a great day to be a wedding planner/venue.
oddjob1138 on July 8, 2009 at 1:30 PM
In Europe, they use military time on a 24-hour clock, so quarter to midnight is 23:45. If Ed eats his Wheaties and gets lots of exercise and drinks from the Fountain of Youth, he will get another chance to do this at quarter to midnight on 6 July 2089, or 23:45 on 6/7/89.
Unless, of course, he did it on 6 July 1989.
In Europe, they also like putting zeroes in front of single digits, so that an hour, a minute, and a second after they rang in New Year’s 2001 was 01:01:01 on 01/01/01.
Steve Z on July 8, 2009 at 1:31 PM
At least my computer didn’t crash…
JetBoy on July 8, 2009 at 1:33 PM
why do i keep having to log in?
DanaSmiles on July 8, 2009 at 1:34 PM
I bet you pee on your own cornflakes
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 1:35 PM
When I was in the 9th grade I looked at the date on an upside-down MAD magazine and realized that 1961 would be the last year that looked the same upside down and right side up until the year 8008. You can see how much attention I was paying in class.
rivlax on July 8, 2009 at 1:35 PM
I was productive at that moment in time. Not a bad way to mark the event. ;-)
itzWicks on July 8, 2009 at 1:38 PM
You will think I’m making this up, but I printed something almost 10 years ago that bore the timestamp: 09/09/99 at 09:09:09. 22 years before that, I created a file on a DEC PDP/11 with the timestamp 07:07:07 07/07/77.
You can be sure that my finger will be poised on 09/09/09 at 09:09:09
mr.blacksheep on July 8, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Happy 29th Birthday!
Laura in Maryland on July 8, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Haha! Good stuff.
orange on July 8, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Oh, I do love a discussion about the Doctor and Red Dwarf. :)
Fishfishfishfish
tickleddragon on July 8, 2009 at 1:42 PM
What are nixie tubes?
TXMomof3 on July 8, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Remember this one: Kirk and Spock did it.
Yep.
MadisonConservative on July 8, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Ya know that theory should be studied and put into the school system!
petunia on July 8, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Old-fashioned numerical displays that look like valve transistors. Retro-electronics geeks love ‘em.
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 1:49 PM
.
Not knowing what the “it” you’re talking about, how about a link to “it.”
Americannodash on July 8, 2009 at 1:53 PM
They boldly went were few men have gone before.
Deeeep space.
MadisonConservative on July 8, 2009 at 1:54 PM
Is it time for shirtlifter humor already? Awesome.
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Looks like it’s a full moon tonight, too…OMG!
SouthernGent on July 8, 2009 at 2:04 PM
,
Your imagination into the absurd knows no bounds. Literal versus figurative expressions shouldn’t ever be tried at home no matter what the products money back guarantee subscribes. Leave those deep spece thoughts to the professionals.
Americannodash on July 8, 2009 at 2:05 PM
That explains my hairy palms
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 2:06 PM
*space
Americannodash on July 8, 2009 at 2:07 PM
It is cool…only wish I had planned something amazing to do today…
Bob's Kid on July 8, 2009 at 2:11 PM
FIFY
- The Cat
MirCat on July 8, 2009 at 2:14 PM
There will be one next month on the 7th. But you have to write the date in dd/mm/yy format.
sram on July 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM
There’s 30 seconds I won’t get back.
jack herman on July 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Ha!
SouthernGent on July 8, 2009 at 2:18 PM
No, it lasted a whole minute.
- The Cat
MirCat on July 8, 2009 at 2:20 PM
We don’t recognize “0″ at HA.
:]
bluelightbrigade on July 8, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Cool pic of the Nixie tube counter…solid state is way cool, but I miss the warm glow of vacuum tubes.
*sigh*
Dr. ZhivBlago on July 8, 2009 at 2:29 PM
No vacuum…filled with neon
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 2:35 PM
I have stuff that still uses nixies. Hope they don’t go bad. I doubt if I can replace them.
Mr. Grump on July 8, 2009 at 2:37 PM
It’s what time? I’ll have to adjust my sun dial.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Nixies….happy days…
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Not nearly as relevant as 01-20-2013.
regal on July 8, 2009 at 2:47 PM
If you live in Europe then next month you can relive 123456789 again.
Europeans write the date: day, month, year as opposed to month, day, year in the US.
albill on July 8, 2009 at 3:08 PM
That’s about all the fun they’ve got to look forward to ;)
LimeyGeek on July 8, 2009 at 3:15 PM
This relies on selective ignoring of digits, culture-dependent formatting of dates, etc… Why not 12:34:56 7/8/2009? This isn’t the year 9 afterall.
LOL… still cool though.
DaveS on July 8, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Did you wear your red shirt today?
kirkill on July 8, 2009 at 3:19 PM
Right about…NOW, Californians get to celebrate something other than higher taxes.
kirkill on July 8, 2009 at 3:23 PM
oops, I missed it, my watch threw me off, it was 1:23…oh well
kirkill on July 8, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Just happened here on the West Coast!
tommylotto on July 8, 2009 at 3:35 PM
And will happen in the 50th state in just under 3 hours.
Del Dolemonte on July 8, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Happy 12:34:56,7/8/9 day……I guess, from the west coast!!!
FontanaConservative on July 8, 2009 at 3:47 PM
And when will states 51-57 experience it?
FontanaConservative on July 8, 2009 at 3:48 PM
“Bye Bye Birdie” was the school play at Annandale High School ( Fairfax County ) in 1963. I didn’t think it was still being Done in ‘78
Janos Hunyadi on July 8, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Joe Biden says that none of this “economic stuff” matters anymore — because the world is going to end very soon, viz. winter solstice 2012.
My collie says:
I heard that Al Gore is really angry that his theories about global warming will never be vindicated.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on July 8, 2009 at 3:59 PM
As was pointed out by some of my friends — I was *never* this geeky ;-) — today at 5 mins and 6 secs after 4 it will have been/ will be 04:05:06 07/08/09.
leucanthemum b on July 8, 2009 at 4:45 PM
I’m not alone.
gbear on July 8, 2009 at 5:48 PM
You can say that again.
Aronne on July 8, 2009 at 6:08 PM
We were on the Harley riding through the Black Hills. Cool.
karl9000 on July 8, 2009 at 6:54 PM
I remember all the fuss about whether the new millennium began on Jan. 1, 2000 or on Jan. 1, 2001. To me, the big thing was seeing all four numbers change at once. Plenty of people have seen the two numbers on the right change, and there are many who have even seen three change.
But it had been about 1,000 years since any one had seen all four numbers in the year change at once. That, to me, was the big deal.
KyMouse on July 8, 2009 at 7:45 PM
dang i missed it
davidk on July 8, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Ah, Ed, I guess I’m a geek, too because I also love things like this!
-Aslan’s Girl
Aslans Girl on July 8, 2009 at 7:49 PM
I, too, loved that moment. I connected my VCRs together so that I could record on one the onscreen display of the date/time from the other for posterity.
-Aslan’s Girl
Aslans Girl on July 8, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Jim Croce is way more geeky then your centenary obsession ;-)
Bill Blizzard on July 8, 2009 at 11:32 PM
What will we have to look forward to when we find a numerical value to follow 9 with a 10 or 0?
What really happened to you Ed when the clock struck 12:34:56 am and did it recur at 12:34:56 pm?
MSGTAS on July 9, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Too much TIME on someone’s hands.
RobCon on July 9, 2009 at 12:15 PM
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