Moment of Artificial Wonder

Nature keeps time, but doesn't bother about counting. People do like to count however. Especially us math geeks.

A close friend of mine (who's also fascinated by numbers) pointed out to me yesterday that early this morning, at one hour, two minutes and three seconds after midnight - and noon if you go by a twelve-hour clock - the time and date was officially

  01:02:03 4/5/06

Perhaps an uneventful moment, but one that only happens once (or twice on the 12-hour clock) each century. Of course there are some other notable moments upcoming,

  02:03:04 5/6/07
  03:04:05 6/7/08
  04:05:06 7/8/09
  05:06:07 8/9/10
  06:07:08 9/10/11
  07:08:09 10/11/12
  08:09:10 11/12/13
  09:10:11 12/13/14

which is as far as that goes if you're on a 12 month calendar. But the biggest one will be coming soon...

  12:34:56 7/8/09

That'll be two (or four) magic moments on July 8, 2009. Sounds to me like another good reason to have a drink with a math friend. Thanks Ann!