Unix world braces for geekgasm

Updated The world's digit-obsessed UNIX lovers are just minutes away from the celebration of a lifetime. At 11:31:30pm UTC time today, the POSIX clock reaches 1234567890 seconds.

Widely used by UNIX and UNIX-based OSes - including Linux and Apple's Mac OS X - the POSIX clock measures the time elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC January 1, 1970 (minus leap seconds). That's the beginning of the UNIX Epoch. Just because UNIX people say it is.

You can obsessively watch the countdown to 1234567890 over at the Cool Epoch Countdown - though countdown may be the wrong word. The site also points the way to some epic Epoch humor.

According to 1234567890 Day, countless 1234567890 parties are set to whoop it up across the planet - though countless may be the wrong word.

As we've said before, the world will not end at 1234567890 UNIX time. Unless coincidence strikes. The Unixalypse will come in 2038, when UNIX machines using 32-bit signed integers will suddenly forget they're UNIX machines. ®

Update

We can confirm that the POSIX clock reached 1234567890 - and that the world did not end.