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1,234,567,890 Seconds Since Unix Time Began

Posted by kdawson on from the epoch-making dept.

os2man was one of many readers to let us know that later on today, at 23:31:30 UTC (30 seconds after this story went live), the number of seconds since January 1st 1970 will be exactly 1234567890. January 1st, 1970 marks the start of the clock for the Unix operating system and many other operating systems. Here is a list of celebrations of the moment around the world.

38 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. FIRST by Mogget03 · · Score: 5, Funny

    first post of newepoch!

    1. Re:FIRST by __NR_kill · · Score: 2, Informative

      technically it's a dupe.
      http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/08/2043206

    2. Re:FIRST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um, the epoch hasn't changed.

  2. Woo hoo! by Eternal+Vigilance · · Score: 3, Funny

    Happy 1234567890, everyone!

  3. should we collect screenshots now? by daniel23 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    dp@tui:~$ perl -e 'print time(),"\n";'
    1234567890

    --
    605413? Yes, it's a prime.
    1. Re:should we collect screenshots now? by Bandman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My screenshot

      I used 'watch -n'

      --
      Check out my sysadmin blog!
  4. zomg zomg let's party like it was 1111111111 !1!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    n/t

  5. Can't be good by nizo · · Score: 3, Funny

    First I find out today is Friday the 13th and now this. I'm surprised today isn't some cult's doomsday.

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
    1. Re:Can't be good by SIR_Taco · · Score: 5, Funny

      Doomsday?! No way man, we're celebrating with some blue kool-aid! It's the only way to

      --
      I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
  6. Exactly 1234567890 seconds? by aj50 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At 23:31:30 UTC, the number of seconds since January 1st 1970 will be exactly 1234567890.

    Except it won't because unix time doesn't account for leap seconds

    --
    I wish to remain anomalous
    1. Re:Exactly 1234567890 seconds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      +1, pedant.

    2. Re:Exactly 1234567890 seconds? by againjj · · Score: 4, Informative

      The average person does not understand the difference between UTC and UT1. That is why Unix does not account for leap seconds. UTC uses SI seconds. Unix uses the rubber seconds that the average person understands. So, the correct statement is "At 23:31:30 UT1, the number of seconds since January 1st 1970 will be exactly 1234567890."

      Besides, it doesn't matter anyway, since this is simply for fun (and part of the fun is annoying pedants).

  7. Epoch win by VMaN · · Score: 4, Funny

    EPOCH WIN

    http://xkcd.com/376/

  8. What is everyone drinking? by Pathwalker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've got 15 year old Laphoraig here.

    1. Re:What is everyone drinking? by isomeme · · Score: 4, Funny

      378,683,112 second old Glenfiddich for me.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    2. Re:What is everyone drinking? by vyruss000 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wasn't it actually more of a countup? :>

  9. Timing == Everything by slimey_limey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't it a bit late to be posting the list of celebrations?

    --
    ☠
  10. Wow by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 5, Funny

    Happy sequential Unix time day.

    I am spending it drinking alone on a Friday night and wishing I had a girlfriend. How are the rest of you guys celebrating?

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    1. Re:Wow by ed.mps · · Score: 3, Informative

      same here

      --
      !sig
    2. Re:Wow by AaxelB · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'll also be wishing I had a girlfriend, but while drinking with other people. Most of whom are couples. Meh.

    3. Re:Wow by Joe+Jay+Bee · · Score: 4, Funny

      I spend every Friday night like that

      --
      I write bullshit
    4. Re:Wow by Cerberus7 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm spending it drinking at home with my wife. Pretty much the same.

      Also, thanks to her, I didn't get to actually see the numbers change at coolepochcountdown.com. I mean, ffs, I've had this page open for over an hour, watching the time countdown, and you wait until 10 seconds before the pivotal moment to ask me to do something, causing me to look away ever so briefly and miss it? ARGH!

      --
      I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
    5. Re:Wow by Ren.Tamek · · Score: 2, Funny

      First date in years :). It's like the gods of unix (linus himself?) came down from the heavens and sorted it out for me.

      Or maybe I just asked her out when we were drunk, one of the two.

      --
      "If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." - George Orwell, 1984
    6. Re:Wow by just_another_sean · · Score: 3, Funny

      Happy sequential Unix time day.

      I am spending it drinking alone on a Friday night and wishing I had a girlfriend. How are the rest of you guys celebrating?

      About the same. Oh, except my wife is asleep in the next room.

      --
      Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
    7. Re:Wow by greg_barton · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm spending it at home with my wife and 18 month old daughter, who we named after the first computer programmer, Ada.

      Hang in there, Mr Geek. Your time will come.

  11. I missed it by ChienAndalu · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wrote a countdown script but then I got confused. Guess I have to wait for the 64-bit one :-(

  12. I was so close... by Paul+Wolfe · · Score: 5, Funny

    > time.pl
    1234567889 (Fri Feb 13 23:31:29 2009)
    > timepl.
    timepl.: Command not found.
    > time.pl
    1234567893 (Fri Feb 13 23:31:33 2009)

    Stupid typo!

    1. Re:I was so close... by HeronBlademaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of us use command recall. Let this be a lesson to you.

  13. numerology: factors of 1234567890 by cats-paw · · Score: 4, Informative

    123456890 = 2 * 5 * 17 * 751 * 967

    Aaargh ! If only it had been prime.

    Oh, wait just 1 more second.

    1234567891 is prime :-)

    --
    Absolute statements are never true
    1. Re:numerology: factors of 1234567890 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      sorry to break it to you but the set of even primes is quite small.

    2. Re:numerology: factors of 1234567890 by FrangoAssado · · Score: 5, Funny

      sorry to break it to you but the set of even primes is quite small.

      True, an even prime is really odd.

  14. Re:Google by CaptCovert · · Score: 2, Informative

    Is this what you're looking for?

  15. It looks like by fishthegeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google got in on the action too.... here's the screen grab.

    Google 1234567890

    --
    load "$",8,1
  16. In case you wondered what is special by Bromskloss · · Score: 2, Funny

    about the number in question, I might have found an explanation. Consider the sum, as n goes from zero to b-1, for some base b, of n*b^(b-n). For the case of b=10, which seems to have a special meaning to some people, the sum results in the celebrated number.

    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
  17. Re:Aquarius by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unfortunately, living in a basement makes it difficult to "let the sunshine in".

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  18. Re:In other news... by rk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I figure Fox will cancel it after 13 episodes, just like they did to him last time. I used to think Joss was smart, but here he is, back with Fox, with a TV show with an interesting premise, and they've got him on Friday night again.

    If they do it to him again, I'll be disappointed, but I won't feel sorry for him this time.

  19. google front page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    google briefly changed their logo the below graphic:

    http://www.google.com/logos/unix1234567890.gif

  20. I almost missed it by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I got a screen capture but I almost missed it because I was thinking about the epoch in the scene on my background image. That is Apollo 17, Station 6 at about 91918279.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au