(blog): Happy Consecutive Number Day!

It's seems like every day, like every number, has something special about it, but as George Orwell might've said, but wisely chose not to, "Some dates are more special than others". (Had he said something about some numbers being more equal than others, that could've been a problem, but would've fit well into his theme. But that's a subject for another blog post.)

Today is Consecutive Number Day because it is 12/13/14. We've had a Consecutive Number Day for each of the past 11 years -- TWO, if you use the Commutative Property of Dates (also known as the DD-MM-YY format). This last fact makes this year's date even more special because there won't be a 12-13-14 is London or Madrid or pretty much everywhere else in the world where they use that format because there isn't a 13th month.

Finally, it's special because after 12 years in a row, this one will be the last one for a long time. Now, don't fret yourself into a worry. You don't have to wait until 2103 for another one ... unless you're some kind of crazed purist. Me? I like to run the numbers, have fun with the numbers.

The first Consecutive Number Day that I took note of happened when I was in ... kindergarten, no, wait, Pre-K! Yeah! That's the ticket! ... in 1978. It was 5/6/78 and we even had to pause at 12:34 pm (I was asleep for 12:34 am) to note that it was 12:34 5/6/78.

Eleven years later, digital watches were common and we knew the correct time to the second, if we ever bothered to set it correctly, so we knew when it was 1:23:45pm 6/7/89. We could do the same the following year, although 7/8/90 wasn't quite as much fun.

Two thoughts come out of this. First, given the accuracy of today's computing, I had to wonder if the atomic clock could tell us when it was exactly 1:23:34567891011 12/13/14 (and, if so, did some geek take a selfie of it?). Second, it gives us something closer to look forward to.

Hold the date now in your datebook app for 1/2/34. Sadly, there isn't a 5:67 am or pm. Not even in London. Or even in Pasadena, where they'll be hosting the Rose Bowl because New Year's Day is on a Sunday.