236

I just got the And I Feel Fine hat which states "post or vote on December 21".

Does SE have a time machine now?

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21
  • 1
    I just earned this hat now. :)
    – Himanshu
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:08
  • 13
    While it's 21st December somewhere, it's definitely not 21st December UTC.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:08
  • 7
    I think it's an off by 12 hours error. It's just gone noon here in the UK
    – ChrisF Mod
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:09
  • 18
    This is going to be a fairly highly upvoted question as all you have to do to get the hat is upvote it!
    – ben is uǝq backwards
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:13
  • so really do have a time machine ... i have got too
    – NullPoiиteя
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:15
  • 3
    Probably trying to do as much as possible before the end of the world tomorrow! ;)
    – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:24
  • @Sha Wiz Dow Ard today* :p
    – Travis
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:25
  • @Travis oh my! <going to buy some water>
    – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:26
  • 5
    Who cares, can't be a bug if it gives you more hats
    – user200500
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:31
  • 2
    Amazing how everyone are now wearing it, as if fearing it will disappear!
    – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:33
  • 1
    Thanks to that hat, now the Beatles song is stuck on my head.
    – bfavaretto
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:41
  • 1
    FWIW, each day exists somewhere on Earth for a whole 50 hours. (Dec 21 2012 starts in time zone UTC+14 at 10:00 UTC Dec 20 and ends in time zone UTC−12 at 12:00 UTC Dec 22).
    – R. Martinho Fernandes
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:52
  • 1
    This is probably preemptive, since they wont be able to actually give it out after the world explodes.
    – AviD
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:54
  • It is a play around the number 12: Change position to the digits of 12, and you get 21; the hat has been awarded 12 hours before the time...
    – apaderno
    Dec 20, 2012 at 13:06
  • 1
    @bfavaretto wat. Beatles? Not R.E.M.?
    – Aarthi
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:11

11 Answers 11

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110

So, the official answer is: we over-awarded the hat so that people in Auckland / Tokyo / Shanghai / Vanuatu wouldn't have to wait until their midday to receive it.

You're all mostly programmers, so you should be reasonably familiar with how much of a headache timezones can be sometimes. Since Stack Exchange is run on UTC, we have to leave a +14/-12 hour buffer so that the nations around the International Date Line have just as much opportunity to grab hats as people along the 0 longitude.

This behavior will also occur for the other hats that are date-sensitive. This included L'Chaim, and will include Tis the Season and the New Year's Eve Hat / Auld Lang Syne.

Basically: Don't panic! It's a feature, not a bug!

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13
  • 6
    Phew... I can feel the panic leaving my body ;)
    – Oded
    Dec 20, 2012 at 20:44
  • 91
    "You're all mostly programmers" - No need for insults.
    – yannis
    Dec 20, 2012 at 20:45
  • 1
    @Yannis YANNIS.
    – Aarthi
    Dec 20, 2012 at 20:46
  • 3
    Cheers, but don't forget the towel!
    – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
    Dec 20, 2012 at 20:47
  • 5
    Yeah, calling @Yannis a programmer. Bundling the rest of us with the likes of him.
    – Oded
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:04
  • 5
    @Oded to be fair, I called him "mostly" a programmer.
    – Aarthi
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:09
  • 1
    @Oded if you accept this answer, then Gamecat gets the pirate hat. Help a fellow meta-er out. :P
    – Aarthi
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:10
  • Hehe... this being the official story (um. answer)... Not a problem. Just as soon as I get my "Buddy Breathing" :)
    – Oded
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:11
  • @Oded yay he got it!
    – Aarthi
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:43
  • Always happy to help out a fellow Meta-er... even if he isn't wearing any hat ;)
    – Oded
    Dec 20, 2012 at 21:44
  • Wait... That means that I should have gotten the LChaim hat as I did post/vote on the morning of December 17th EST. No? @Aarthi
    – Naftali
    Dec 24, 2012 at 14:28
  • Hmm, we may not have had the extended window for L'Chaim. I shall ask. @amanaplan
    – Aarthi
    Dec 24, 2012 at 16:41
  • @Aarthi kk let me know if there is a conclusion ^_^
    – Naftali
    Dec 24, 2012 at 18:23
65

When tomorrow is today, either time has ended, or we are too bored to care about dates.

Yup this post gave me the hat too. Feature confirmed.

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12
  • 7
    My head asplode
    – Andrew Barber
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:11
  • 1
    Seeing as the SO timemachine posted from the 21st, I think we will survive.
    – Oded
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:11
  • It is already Dec 21 in the Pacific Ocean.
    – nhahtdh
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:11
  • 1
    @nhahtdh - but Stack Exchange usually operates on UTC and it's not 21/12 here.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:12
  • @ChrisF: Just offer the most logical explanation that I can think of, that doesn't make this a bug.
    – nhahtdh
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:13
  • 11
    @ChrisF - not this time, we're intentionally +/-12hr with the hats on time ranges since over-awarding is better than feeling left out, festive!
    – Nick Craver
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:15
  • @NickCraver - fair enough. I can't complain.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:16
  • 7
    Nice hat trick.
    – Toon Krijthe
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:16
  • @NickCraver i love this hat thing ... it was totally unexpected
    – NullPoiиteя
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:30
  • @Nick you are not over-awarding enough! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%2B14
    – R. Martinho Fernandes
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:57
  • @R.MartinhoFernandes - I had very little to do with the hats...I just stumble around our code and read it (sometimes), before making crazy changes.
    – Nick Craver
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:58
  • 1
    @NickCraver You should post this as an answer.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Dec 20, 2012 at 13:23
18

Nah, The Mayans weren't prepared for the confuddling time zones. So hopefully the end of the world will be delayed by a few millenia while they are mired in bureaucracy trying to untangle tricky issues like:

  • Should the end of the world be phased in over a 24 hour period to ensure doom happens on the correct day for everyone.
  • How should leap seconds and the move to Gregorian calendar be accommodated?
  • Should the next stone calendar be carved using a Stardate datum?
  • How to deal with pesky loose ends like time dilation
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1
  • 3
    And don't forget daylight saving time.
    – nikoshr
    Dec 20, 2012 at 14:09
12

As per current time zone it is 21st December in Auckland. So the description of this hat is correct.

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3
  • 5
    "So the description of this hat is correct.".. in Auckland.
    – user200500
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:26
  • 20
    So it is friday in Auckland...
    – Toon Krijthe
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:26
  • 6
    UTC (GMT/Zulu)-time: Thursday, December 20, 2012 The Mayan Calendar finishes one of its great circles in December 2012. Some believe this is a sign of the End of the World. In Auckland this happens on Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 12:11:00 AM.
    – Travis
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:28
6

StackOverflow is preparing for the DOOMSDAY, so distributing the hats right away before we face a scary day tommorow...Chill out guys users with maya hat are safe ~Cheers~

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3

This is a live post from India and it's almost 21st December 2012 and no harm till now.

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3
  • Well, it should happen "during the day" so we'll have to sit and wait. :-D
    – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:32
  • The Maya's lived in South America, so we probably have to wait a couple of hours.
    – Toon Krijthe
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:32
  • it doesn't matter if its happen or not but i believe in living like there's not tomorrow...
    – Dipesh Parmar
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:34
3

It appears to be 12 hours out from UTC. SO does run on UTC doesn't it? Funny, I got the hat on SO but not on Meta.

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2
3

This effect also occurs with regards to the winterbash-2013 hats.



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1

And they continued to peck away at their keyboards, unaware of hats with power beyond their comprehension were already being set in motion....

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1

They're just hedging their bets. If the world really does end tomorrow, we won't get those badges. Status-as-designed.

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0

20/12 here and I got my hat. We must be, ahem, Out of Time.

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