This year, the second Friday in November has the most interesting time/date signature of the century. About an hour before noon, for one second only, it will be 11:11:11,11/11/11.
It happened in the year 1911, and will again in the year 2111.
There’s something fascinating about all those “1″s. There are lots of other “repeating number” dates – December 2012 will give us 12:12:12,12/12/12. But that’s not nearly as interesting as this one, with the single digit, “1″.
That instant will occur 24 times around the world (just like New Year’s Day), in each local time zone. (So if you miss it on the West Coast, all you need do is hop over to Hawaii.)
Some say you get another chance that evening. This is simply not true. The nighttime signature would be “23:11:11,11/11/11″, or worse: “11:11:11 pm,11/11/11″, both of which break the simple symmetry of the real signature.
Armistice Day
November 11th marks the anniversary of Armistice Day. On that day in 1918, World War I ended. A truce was signed with Germany, to go into effect at “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. (“Armistice” means “truce”; Germany didn’t officially surrender, but the terms of the truce were so punitive upon Germany that they may well have set the groundwork for World War II.)
The day was renamed “Veterans Day” in the U.S. after World War II. In Britain, it’s called “Remembrance Day”, also known as “Poppy Day”.
It has been a long tradition to observe 2 minutes of silence every November 11, at 11 o’clock.
Poppy man
Poppies have long been a symbol of veterans day. It began after WW I, with a poem by John McCrae: In Flanders Fields.
In England, there’s a guy called “Poppy Man”, who goes around supporting the Royal British Legion, an organization that serves British ex-servicemen.
That website hasn’t been updated since 2007, but the work goes on: Poppy Appeal 2011.
I like the poem “In Flanders Fields”. What do you think about the terms of the WWI armistice, being the cause of WWII? Seems to make sense. I would be interested in reading about other opinions and factors.
It’s been a while since I read about it. One detail I remember was that the were ordered to give up more submarines than they actually had. I’ll look for some sources and eMail you.
One other detail: The WW I surrender was signed in a railroad car owned by the French leader, Marshal Foch.
During WW II, in 1940, when the Germans captured Paris, and France surrendered, Hitler made sure that same railroad car was brought around, and made the French sign the surrender in it.