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

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.

Comments

FIRST

[Mogget03]

first post of newepoch!

Exactly 1234567890 seconds?

[aj50]

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

Re:Exactly 1234567890 seconds?

[againjj]

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).

Epoch win

[VMaN]

EPOCH WIN

http://xkcd.com/376/

Timing == Everything

[slimey_limey]

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

Wow

[Hogwash McFly]

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?

Re:Wow

[Joe Jay Bee]

I spend every Friday night like that

Re:Wow

[Cerberus7]

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!

Re:Can't be good

[SIR_Taco]

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

I missed it

[ChienAndalu]

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

I was so close...

[Paul Wolfe]

> 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!

Re:I was so close...

[HeronBlademaster]

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

numerology: factors of 1234567890

[cats-paw]

123456890 = 2 * 5 * 17 * 751 * 967

Aaargh ! If only it had been prime.

Oh, wait just 1 more second.

1234567891 is prime :-)

Re:numerology: factors of 1234567890

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:numerology: factors of 1234567890

[FrangoAssado]

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

True, an even prime is really odd.

It looks like

[fishthegeek]

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

Google 1234567890

Re:What is everyone drinking?

[isomeme]

378,683,112 second old Glenfiddich for me.