That’s my birthday, if you where wondering.
(Just a quick fact: this year, due to incompatibility of Gregorian and Persian leap years, and the relative inaccuracy of the former, my birthday was October 27th.
As a friend mentioned, my 28th birthday was not on the 28th of the month. In fact, as she again noted, the first time my age turned perfect after I knew what it was, I lost my perfect birth day of the month.)
Anyway, last year I found out that my birthday is the same with Bill Gates. This year, I was cursing my bad luck when I stumbled upon the fact that I share this birthday with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sharing anything with the guy is anything but an honor by default!
Here are some fun facts about my birthday:
- There are 64 days in a year after October 28th!
- I have the exact same age (±24 hours) with the Czech football player Milan Baroš. I’ve known this for several years now, but I don’t know how. My best guess is IMDB!
- John Romero is born on this day. Since we are in the same business (behold the shameless arrogance!) I must include him here. I firmly believe that “id Software” would still be making great games (as opposed to great engines only) if he were still with them. (Incidentally, this is one of the few posters that I’d be willing to hang in my room instead of James Hetfield’s Jolly Roger pose poster.)
- John Locke died on this day. No, not that John Locke, this John Locke! (Sorry, couldn’t resist a “Lost” reference.)
- A guy named Landon Curt Noll has this birthday too. I knew him from the IOCCC (he is called chongo over there.) (Warning: if you think you know C, and are not ready for a rude wake up, don’t go there! Here’s the Wikipedia page for a milder kick) but apparently he is quite a diverse person!
Also, we used the FNV hash function (co-authored by him) in the “Silent2″ project (maybe 10 people in the entire world know what that is!) without me realizing who he was. Alas, I had to abandon that project, which I regret to this day, since the concept and opportunity were both very unique.
- A whole bunch of other stuff have happened on this day, some of the most famous of which can be viewed on or accessed through the Wikipedia page.
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MatGill | 08-Nov-08 at 10:28 am | Permalink
Well, technically speaking your birthday could be both of those days. It actually depends on either where you were born or where you reside (or wish to reside) today, which is of course totally bazaar! In fact if you take it to be the function of where you are, then you might end up not having a birthday at all if you travel on a particular schedule.
Check out the discussion on an old post on my blog:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-YjgwYDI8dq8HKmpWliyQ8xn1Dg–?cq=1&p=1098
yzt | 08-Nov-08 at 7:41 pm | Permalink
You do have a point. Birthdays may be implicitly dependent on birthplace in our minds.
However, I think you agree with me that someone’s “birthtime” is absolutely definable, since wherever and whenever someone is born (if on Earth or in its orbit) the Earth must have had a specific place relative to the Sun.
This can be defined using the portion of the year that has passed (or remaining.) One can use the Autumnal Equinox and the Solstices as marker points through the year.
Now that I think about it, our (Persian) first half of the year is longer than the second half by several days! However, Wikipedia claims that the Autumnal Equinox is usually on September 22nd (our first day of Fall) and I think it can move at most one day to one direction on leap years and whatnot.
I must research the matter more!
Whatever this issue is, unlike those friends of yours, I don’t think this is irrelevant or that you should chill out!
MatGill | 09-Nov-08 at 12:40 am | Permalink
Hehe! When you get detailed, be sure not to get too detailed
I could argue that you can never define that specific time, because people at different sides of the globe have relative moving speed between them (actually huge relative speed), and thus simultaneous events for them are defined differently (check out relativity of simultaneity). It basically means that A and B being born right now (as I see ‘now’) one here in Montreal and one there in Tehran are not born at the same time to your eyes. So my definition of the birthdate should have the same value for A and B, and yours should make them be different, which means that birthdate is a function of the place you are on the globe.
Mind bugling, isn’t it? I think there is a space/speed invariant definition of simultaneity in special relativity.
MatGill | 09-Nov-08 at 12:41 am | Permalink
Do you still think I should not chill out?
MatGill | 09-Nov-08 at 12:49 am | Permalink
You’ve just been out-geeked!
yzt | 09-Nov-08 at 1:20 am | Permalink
OK, I won’t argue with that.
However, from an engineering perspective, the difference in velocity you mention is not enough (in my physics-and-math-impaired opinion,) to cause a noticeable discrepancy in viewer time comprehension.
Therefore, I’m personally willing to forget about any mathematical differences. I think the specific state of Earth relative to the Sun (including position, spin state, etc.) can be used to define an exact (enough) and location-independent birthtime for people. Wouldn’t you agree?
And I still think you shouldn’t chill out! Why should anyone stop thinking? But you can chill enough to start seeing the world as an engineer (and be content with that,) instead of a mathematician, if you want a simpler and less abstract life.
MatGill | 09-Nov-08 at 1:55 am | Permalink
Well, the whole point is that you are making an assumption for yourself that not everyone follows. I could say you can think of the angular position of the moon towards the earth as your anchor (which means you’ll have 12 birthdays a year). Or I could just use the half-time disappearance of a radioactive substance or any other made up timeline. The big picture is that not everyone goes with the same calender, and as long as that is the case, you are bound to have 0, 1, 2, or more birthdays a year.
In any case, I’d rather have more than one birthday (cake) in a year. It’s more fun. And you can chill out if you get at least one birthday