The world just celebrated....well..more like ignored.... the
anniversary of the World's Most Boring Day of the 20th Century. That
would be Sunday, April 11, 1954, according to a computer program called
True Knowledge. The British makers of the program built a computer data
base of 300 million facts and then programmed a computer search engine
designed to answer questions directly rather than using key words. To
test it they decided to ask the computer whether it could determine the
most boring day of the 20th century. And it did, using data and reason
to come up with the answer. The fifties as a whole were considered a
boring decade, so why not one day from it as the single most boring.
Here's the case why it was the most boring. Using notable births, deaths and events as the basis for determining the most boring, the computer could find no other day with as little happening. First, there are always famous people born or dying on any given day, but not apparently on April 11, 1954 It was the day Turkish academic, Abdullah Atalar – and other minor celebrities were born. That's really an excitement reach. And perhaps the biggest event in the news that day was the elections that were held in Belgium. Belgium is a pretty boring place in itself, so it is fitting that election day there would be an exciting event on April 11th.
So I concede that that was the most boring day, but I'd love for there to be more days on this planet where absolutely nothing happened. It's unlikely given the mass communication technology of today. In 1954 news was transmitted at a snail's pace. Today we get American idol updates, blogs, Yu Tube postings and a million other inanities reported every second. The older times of no news is good news might be referable and we now might want to celebrate and imitate "boring days" as a way of escaping the insanity of the world in which we live. One day on this planet where there were no wars or violence and no one was mistreated or went hungry would be a welcome one. Now that would be a day to remember, almost exciting in a perverse way.
Hmmmmm Ironically, maybe if we all take an interest in April 11, 1954 as the Most Boring Day, it will make it a more interesting one and we can designate a new Most Boring. As to the century's most exciting day the programs creator, a fellow with a most assuredly non boring name of Tunstall-Pedoe, didn't believe the computer or any one person for that matter could come up with a single day. “The most exciting day is much harder,” he said. “After all, you’ve got two world wars, assassinations, nuclear bombs, men landing on the moon. It's far easier to calculate the least eventful day. After reading what I wrote here I think you have a great head start on making this day your most boring day ever.
Here's the case why it was the most boring. Using notable births, deaths and events as the basis for determining the most boring, the computer could find no other day with as little happening. First, there are always famous people born or dying on any given day, but not apparently on April 11, 1954 It was the day Turkish academic, Abdullah Atalar – and other minor celebrities were born. That's really an excitement reach. And perhaps the biggest event in the news that day was the elections that were held in Belgium. Belgium is a pretty boring place in itself, so it is fitting that election day there would be an exciting event on April 11th.
So I concede that that was the most boring day, but I'd love for there to be more days on this planet where absolutely nothing happened. It's unlikely given the mass communication technology of today. In 1954 news was transmitted at a snail's pace. Today we get American idol updates, blogs, Yu Tube postings and a million other inanities reported every second. The older times of no news is good news might be referable and we now might want to celebrate and imitate "boring days" as a way of escaping the insanity of the world in which we live. One day on this planet where there were no wars or violence and no one was mistreated or went hungry would be a welcome one. Now that would be a day to remember, almost exciting in a perverse way.
Hmmmmm Ironically, maybe if we all take an interest in April 11, 1954 as the Most Boring Day, it will make it a more interesting one and we can designate a new Most Boring. As to the century's most exciting day the programs creator, a fellow with a most assuredly non boring name of Tunstall-Pedoe, didn't believe the computer or any one person for that matter could come up with a single day. “The most exciting day is much harder,” he said. “After all, you’ve got two world wars, assassinations, nuclear bombs, men landing on the moon. It's far easier to calculate the least eventful day. After reading what I wrote here I think you have a great head start on making this day your most boring day ever.
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