On 12/12/(19)12, the thoughts of NY Times editors went straight to letter writing. Sounding something like carnival barkers, they alerted their readers: “Those who put off writing after to-day will never again while they live have this opportunity! When again a person takes pen in hand to indite a letter with the figures 12-12-12 in the date line, an entire century will have passed, and the earth will be peopled by quite another generation.” It was apparently impossible to believe that the new generation would barely know the definition of “date line” any more.