Thought this was interesting.....

[Rachel Bray]

Yeah....that's what I get for immediately forwarding an e-
mail without really thinking about it first.  I thought 
about 2112, too.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Here's an article about 
it from today's Columbus Dispatch:

It is a rare occurrence -- just a minute long -- that no 
one now alive has ever experienced or likely ever will 
again. 
At two minutes past eight tonight, the calendar will 
achieve a triple palindrome, when the time -- on a 24-hour 
clock -- and date synchronize to read the same backward as 
they do forward: 20:02, 02/ 20, 2002. 
It's valid even in countries where the day precedes the 
month: 20:02, 20.02, 2002. 
This quirky twist in time is possible only once in a 
lifetime. The last time it occurred was 1111. We won't see 
another until 2112. 
After that, there won't be another again. 
"I give this as much significance as Y2K, which as we all 
know was monumentally insignificant,'' said Mark Saltveit, 
editor of the Palindromist Magazine in Portland, Ore. 
"Yet you won't believe how much attention it's been 
getting,'' Saltveit said. "I'm talking to the BBC three 
times (today). It's like a feeding frenzy. 
"I'm a palindromist and I've been telling people to get a 
life.'' 
While mathematicians have a familiarity with palindromes, 
it was language that first made them possible. 
They were originated by Sotades the Obscene, whose vulgar 
verses about a ruler of ancient Egypt led to the poet's 
execution in the third century B.C. 
Some say the first conversation on Earth began with a 
palindrome: "Madam, I'm Adam.'' 
But perhaps the most famous is the line: A man, a plan, a 
canal: Panama. 
On her Web site, Ohio State University linguist Pauline 
Welby displays what she said is her all-time favorite 
palindrome: Dubya won? No way bud! It's a reference to 
George W. Bush's controversial 2000 presidential victory. 



Rachel Bray
The Ohio State University
Fees, Deposits and Disbursements


Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me....I wish 
none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that 
is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is 
what to do with the time that is given us.