[via] We've seen our fair share of slow news days here at Switched, but, according to a computer programmer named William Tunstall-Pedoe, none in living memory has ever been quite as dull as April 11th, 1954. On that Sunday, Belgium held a general election, a Turkish academic named Abdullah Atalar was born, and a soccer player named Jack Shufflebotham died. And, apparently, that was about it.
As the Telegraph reports, Tunstall-Pedoe arrived at this conclusion using a computer program called True Knowledge. The program analyzed 300 million facts about "people, places, business and events," and used complicated algorithms to calculate the most "objectively" boring day since 1900. "Nobody significant died that day, no major events apparently occurred and, although a typical day in the 20th century has many notable people being born, for some reason that day had only one [Atalar] who might make that claim," Tunstall-Pedoe explained.
There is, of course, some obvious irony to Tunstall-Pedoe's declaration. After all, we're writing about that boring date today, and today isn't really that boring, is it? The ultimate x-factor may just be Atalar, who now researches atomic-force microscopy and digital integrated circuit design at Bilkent University. If the academic eventually wins the Nobel Prize, or solves global hunger, or does anything else life-altering, he may just save his birthday from historic infamy. The pressure's on.
Did you like this post? Leave your comments below! Found this Post interesting? Receive new posts via RSS (What is RSS?) or Subscribe to CR by Email
