According to Snopes.com 911 days separated the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, Spain. I had not heard that one.
911 Days
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Kevin
Kevin founded Wizbang in 2003. He still contributes occasionally and handles all the technical and design work for the site.
I thought it was 912 because of the leap year.
Well, yes, there were 911 days between the two dates, as noted in the Snopes entry. But who thinks, speaks or writes that way? March 11, 2004, was 912 days after September 11, 2001, which is the way people normally compare dates. It seems to me to be a tortuous manipulation of the dates to come up with the 911 figure. And to what point?
This theory doesn’t really cut much mustard with me. Occam’s Razor and all that.
Snopes’ detail shows this to be a little tricky. They are “separated by” 911 days. Or there are 911 days “between” the two events.
It’s like saying there are 364 days “between” Jan. 1, 2001 and Jan. 2, 2002. In ordinary English and using ordinary math, we’d say these are “365 days apart.” But, just counting the days IN BETWEEN the two dates, we get 364.
It is in that sense that “911 days separate the two attacks.” Maybe someone at first forgot Leap Day, and mis-calculated. But we’re left with this rather strained coincidence.
What a lousy place for a typo. Grr!
It’s like saying there are 364 days “between” Jan. 1, 2001 and Jan. 1, 2002.
I was guessing that’s what you meant. 🙂
Boyd,
Despite the time notations, I didn’t see your comment; mine adds nothing to it.
My life as a Commentor: redundant AND error-riden. 🙁
I’m going back to mess up my own blog now.
Well, at least you got a chance to stretch your fingers. 🙂
They are wrong from the start – when they say they are counting 9/11 as 0, that is correct. But to claim that from 9/12/01 to 9/11/02 is 364 days is wrong, it’s 365. Leave Excel at home, get out a calendar and count with your fingers and toes, if necessary.
Now if they are trying to say that you don’t count the first =or= the last day, they would be right – but nobody in the world counts like that.
I’ve lost a lot of the confidence I once had in Snopes.com. Now I only trust articles there that are signed — Barbara Mikkelson has a track record that no one else at Snopes seems able to match, and I suspect that’s why she’s the only one who signs hers.
Somebody besides Barbara writes those entries? Although I must have undoubtedly read some unsigned articles there, I’ve never noticed it until you mentioned it, Kevin. It just seems like they were signed by Barbara “I do all the work around here” Mikkelson.