HootSuite.com tries to tell us about a failure
Earlier today, HootSuite.com—a Twitter application site that allows members to manage multiple profiles—had been suffering from server overload. To alert users, they posted a very well-designed fail page as is the latest rage in web design. Something on that page caught my attention.
In creating this clever little list of possible causes of their site’s failure, they … um … failed. Check out reason three:
‘The date is Sunday, December 23, 2012’
I can only assume that they’re referring to the alleged Mayan End of Times. The problem is, they’re off by a day. According to modern Mayan cultists, the world will end on December 21, 2012. Therefore, the internet (including HootSuite.com) will not work on December 22, 2012.
OK, so they’re not completely wrong. I do suppose the internet won’t work on the 23rd either. Still, they missed the joke by that much…
My forefinger and thumb are very close together
For a second i was waiting for you to complain about that not being the date today or something… but you did get it and actually found the fail.. .incredible!
Keep it up
December 23 – An alternative date for the completion of the thirteenth B’ak’tun in the Maya calendar, using a correlation constant of 584285 (a.k.a. the Thompson, “astronomical” or “Lounsbury correlation”), which is supported by a few Mayanist researchers.
OK. Still, the more commonly accepted (and more widely known) End of Times is 12-21-12.
Nice catch, Mr. Bailey. We were indeed referencing the end of the Mayan calendar. In fact, there’s some debate about the exact day.
See, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Doomsday_prediction#December_21.2C_2012
First speculation about that date was December 24, 2011, which was revised to Dec 21, 2012. In 80s it was revised again to Dec 21, 2012.
Hoo’s your source? Hoo, hoo?
Yeah … ever since I’ve posted this, I’m getting all sorts of ‘real’ dates. Oh well. I guess this is what happens when there are no Mayans around to ask.
Love your site by the way. It makes my life so much easier.
Ummm… did you consider that it’s a leap year?
Ummm. Being a leap year would not actually change the date of something. Like, Christmas is always 12/25 … even on leap years.
Sheesh, you brainiac, you MISSED OUT!
TIMEZONES!!!!
When it’s December 21st, 2012 over where the Mayas used to be waiting for them Spanish and all that stuff, it’s December 22nd, 2012 where I live, at least for a big part of the day.
Because I’m a few timezones ahead of them slow Mayans.
And if I’d be living in Australia, it’d be even more timezones, making the difference a full day.
So… for me and my Australian post-apocalyptic buddies, the date would be spot on.
I just hope the “end of times” doesn’t result in Mel Gibson putting on a leather outfit… I mean, sheesh, it’d suck if it was just him and me left and he’d go that way, because I always saw myself as strictly straight.
And no, that time when I got so drunk that I tried to make out with a bearded midget does not count.
(In case it’s not obvious yet, from the start of this post I’m just taking the piss out of things, though I was actually surprized that people so intensely focussed on correct dates didn’t catch the issue with different timezones…)
And yes, I am aware of the flawed reasoning in saying that it’d be a full day difference with Australia… like said, I wasn’t being serious about it, though it still does catch me as odd how people discuss an internet-issue and the Mayan end of times – both things pretty much having a global effect – as something that only concerns a relative small segment of the world; the segment that lives in one particular timezone, which basically is a narrow strip out of the entire world’s surface.
Ah, point well taken … except you left out one basic point. The only timezone that counts is the one I am in. And even though I don’t live anywhere near the Mayan homeland, I fully believe that all proclamations and predictions throughout history were rewritten on the day I was born to reflect the positions of the sun and moon over Hoboken NJ USA. Sorry rest of the world, you’ll have to reset your watches.
The Mayan calendar is a speculated end of days. It does not specify the end of the world, nor does it outline any clear event.
Recent historic study and common speculation has suggested it was simply the end of their calendar, the date they were limited to reaching. If it is the end of the world, too many suggestions come off from the various members of the Scientific field.
Oh, and wikipedia is only as relevant as the last edit.