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Big Deal

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by daniel, Nov 11, 2011.

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  1. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    The nut jobs are making a big deal out of today's date, 11/11/2011, which of course they like to write as 11/11/11. Never mind that our calendar system is entirely arbitrary. Originally intended (I suppose) to begin with the birth of Jesus, it turned out they got both the date and the year wrong, so the starting point is doubly arbitrary. We still use the old Roman system for the number and lengths of the months, making the monthly divisions arbitrary.

    But there's no stopping the wackaloons. There will be ten times as many marriages in Vegas today as on a typical Friday in November, and pregnant mothers are lining up in droves for cesarian sections so their babies will have 11/11/2011 as their birthday. They are calling today "good luck."

    Sheesh! It's no wonder we can't solve our social, economic, or resource problems when people are this stupid! I wonder how many people will buy lottery tickets today and select all elevens.
     
    #1 daniel, Nov 11, 2011
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I agree with the general idea that it is arbitrary. But I stop far short of calling it stupid. It makes people happy. They enjoy the idea that there might be something special. It doesn't mean they're stupid. A child w/ an 11/11/11 birthday will be one that everyone will remember, likewise a marriage date. If it makes people happy, even if deep down they know it's silly and superstitious it's a good thing and it certainly doesn't mean they are stupid.

    Life is hard enough, there's plenty of bad and depressing things to go around. So why not take the small silly pleasures where and when we can?

    *The true nutjobs that think it means the end of the world and stuff like that, I'm happy to join you in calling stupid.
     
    #2 efusco, Nov 11, 2011
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  3. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Have a nice day D.
     
    #3 spiderman, Nov 11, 2011
  4. NYPrius1

    NYPrius1 Active Member

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    We all need some Fun!! Especially These Days.

    And Happy Veteran's Day!!
     
    #4 NYPrius1, Nov 11, 2011
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  5. San_Carlos_Jeff

    San_Carlos_Jeff Active Member

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    It's a big deal in my house, my son's birthday :)
     
    #5 San_Carlos_Jeff, Nov 11, 2011
  6. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Tell him Happy Birthday from us!
     
    #6 spiderman, Nov 11, 2011
  7. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Anyone want to argue about whether it is
    11/11/11
    YY/MM/DD
    or
    11/11/11
    DD/MM/YY
    or
    11/11/11
    MM/DD/YY
    ?
     
    #7 JimboPalmer, Nov 11, 2011
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It *is* a big deal. It's the last binary day of the century.

    Of course that is meaningless and dates are arbitrary, but it's still fun.

    Tom
     
    #8 qbee42, Nov 11, 2011
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  9. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    It's not even really 11/11/11 unless you arbitrarily hide the 20. The actual 11/11/11 refers to a date that came many centuries before it would have been called that. In the year eleven CE neither the Julian nor the Gregorian calendar existed. Today is actually 11/11/2011, or (depending on your notation) 2011/11/11. (I don't think anybody puts the year in the middle.) And even that is only if you use the Gregorian calendar. Eastern Orthodox uses the Julian calendar, so for them it's not even the eleventh today. And then there are the Jewish, Arabic, and Chinee calendars, just to mention several in common use today.
     
    #9 daniel, Nov 11, 2011
  10. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    November 11 is of global significance, whether you call it Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veteran's Day.

    But that's not the issue Daniel's talking about.

    It's neat when the digits on the odometer are all the same. Same idea with the digits on the chronometer - it's a novel curiousity. No, it's not as fascinating or important as a rare celestial event, but it's not entirely insignificant, either.
     
    #10 hyo silver, Nov 11, 2011
  11. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Hey, look at that. Daniel's last post was at 11:11 am! On 11/11/11! All hail Daniel! :hail:

    (You did that on purpose, didn't you? All while arguing against its significance.) :rolleyes:
     
    #11 hyo silver, Nov 11, 2011
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  12. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    Numbers are cool. You don't think it's cool when your odometer goes to a number ending in 0000? I like it when the clock says 3:14:15. Or 1:23:45. I smile inwardly when my number at the deli is 42.

    Numbers are cool.
     
    #12 Stev0, Nov 11, 2011
  13. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    It's 11/11/11? Oh my god! Time for me to buy a McRib! When I woke up today? My alarm clock read 7:00....that's 7-1=6, 0+6=6, 0+6=6, which works out to 666! The synchronicity is almost testicle numbing..

    Well gotta go! Going to swing by the Cemetary and see if I can pick up some EVP's then I'm heading for the National Forest for a go at sighting Big Foot.
     
    #13 The Electric Me, Nov 11, 2011
  14. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    To me the big deal is that the entire planet uses the same calendar and the same 24hr clock. It doesn't have to be that way - we still don't all use the same tape measures, scales or bottles (which wrecked a Mars mission if I remember correctly). Breaking the day into 24 pieces is just as arbitrary as any other quantity, and while months are loosely associated with the moon, that they're uneven causes all kinds of needless inconvenience. Yet the whole world pegs its timekeeping to a single system. Amazing.
     
    #14 airportkid, Nov 11, 2011
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  15. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    Except Muslim Countries. In various military command posts, the clocks are all offset by integral hours.....except the clock for Afghanistan which is offset by 30 minutes.
     
    #15 FL_Prius_Driver, Nov 11, 2011
  16. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    We have the railways to thank for that. Before the necessity of continental timetables, each town set its own local 'high noon'. That particular timekeeping method has its own logic and charm, but it's not very practical for coordinating with the rest of the world.
     
    #16 hyo silver, Nov 11, 2011
  17. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Danny,

    You need to relax a little and maybe spend some time petting the cat.
    I don't see anything wrong with having a little fun with 11/11/11, as long as you're not selling all of your worldly possessions and waiting in a field for the mother ship to come pick you up.

    Part of the reason for the fact that we can't "solve our social, economic, or resource problems" is that some people have edited out their sense of humor, and become a little inflexible in their thinking.
    I'm not trying to pick on you, since sometimes you're actually thoughtful in your comments, but just try to lighten up a little bit, huh?

    You're only going to be on this oblated spheroid for a little bit longer...a VERY little bit if the Mayans were right, so why not have a little fun?

    Grab the cat, unplug the Tesla, and go get a lottery ticket!!
    You don't have to pick 111111...they'll let you do a quick-pic, and I wouldn't want to take you too far out of your comfort(?) zone. :)
     
    #17 ETC(SS), Nov 11, 2011
  18. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Speaking of measurement confusion [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider]Gimli Glider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
     
    #18 JimboPalmer, Nov 11, 2011
  19. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Purely an arbitrary coincidence, I assure you. :D

    Listen, folks, I have no problem with people having fun with numbers. But I was talking about women asking for cesarian sections so their kid would have a birthday of 11/11/2011 and other serious life choices that any reasonable person would put more thought into than "Hey, it's a cool number, dude!"

    Interesting fact about humor: Humor is a universal human trait. Everyone has a sense of humor. But humor is so diverse that people are always accusing others of having no sense of humor simply because what strikes one as funny does not strike another as being so. Or because one person is serious about a subject that another person does not take seriously, the second accuses the first of having no sense of humor. I laugh my head off at jokes that you'd probably say, "That's not funny."
     
    #19 daniel, Nov 11, 2011
  20. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    My ex was completely convinced that I had no sense of humor at all.

    :huh:

    The fact that I didn't actually kill him should have been a clue...
     
    #20 Rae Vynn, Nov 11, 2011
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