Computer scientist William Tunstall-Pedoe, developer of the search engine True Knowledge, has determined that April 11, 1954 was the most boring day of the 20th Century. His conclusion is based on an estimate of notable births, deaths, and events:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Business/April-11-1954-The-most-boring-day-in-the-20th-century.htm via First Things | Photo by Flickr user Samuel Kreutz used under Creative Commons license
Every day something of significance happens, a person is born who is destined for fame, there is an event in the arts or sports, history is created. With 300 million of these facts fed into the “brain” of True Knowledge, Tunstall-Pedoe’s Cambridge company, the computer was asked: “What was the most boring day in the 20th century?”[...]
Nearly five million people are using True Knowledge every month, asking their own questions and contributing factoids and context to improve the quality of search.
Many of these facts include dates. The system has a unique understanding of the importance of the entities in the world which can be calculated as a number, such as events beginning and ending, births, deaths, wars, founding of businesses and the release of publications. So you can find out what happened on a particular day. For example, who was born on May 3, 1983?
“It occurred to us that we are able to objectively measure the importance of every day in history. Some days are highly eventful and on some days far less happens and we can also objectively estimate the importance of these events.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Business/April-11-1954-The-most-boring-day-in-the-20th-century.htm via First Things | Photo by Flickr user Samuel Kreutz used under Creative Commons license
Kirk Douglas' father died.
The U.S. State Dept. published "The Importance of Indochina."
Pianist Augusta Cottlow died.
Bandleader Paul Specht died.
J
Kirk Douglas' father died.
The U.S. State Dept. published "The Importance of Indochina."
Pianist Augusta Cottlow died.
Bandleader Paul Specht died.
Joshua Lederberg wrote to Werner Von Braun about E. coli genetics.
I could go on, but any day can now be reconstructed in details to one determined enough to view 100,000+ pages on Google.
When you "ask" it "What was the most boring day of the 20th century?" it does respond "April 11 1954".
However...
If you click the "How do I Know" button and "Facts" the fact(s) that it cites is "April 11th 1954 was the most boring day of the 20th century"- with the options that you "Agree", "Disagree", or "Edit".
If you then click on "Reasoning" it will tell you that it knows from "Locally Stored Knowledge" that "April 11th 1954 was the most boring day of 20th century"
Circular logic and no facts.
Looking up someone famous gives more interesting results. Searching for "Who is Sarah Palin?" reveals that she is the Governor of Alaska; she was the VP candidate in 2008; her measurements are 36-30-40; her children are: Bristol Palin; her "attributes" are roman catholic female; she signed "a bill (August 2008)"; her residence is Alaska, Wasilla, Alaska, Idaho; her location is Sedona, Arizona, Florida; her bra is "36C".
Governor: outdated info.
VP: true
Measurements: Why?
Children: Incomplete.
Attributes: Not roman catholic but female is correct.
Signed: ARE YOU SURE?
Children: incomplete.
Residence: whut?
Location: WHUT?
Bra: OMG WHY?
The site is a lot of fun but needs some work before it's facts can be considered as reliable as a politician's statements. And they have lots of Google advertisements.
Although the knowledge base is incomplete it does have fairly comprehensive knowledge about notable people, places and events and over 300 million facts so we stand by the calculation.
You can see the kinds of facts which contributed to the answer by asking questions like
what happened on 20 june 1976?
http://www.trueknowledge.com/q/what_happened_on_20th_june_1976
which should give you a feel for how unusually uneventful 11 April 1954 really was.
Barack Obama's "Primary Occupation" is "Author"
His residence is NYC.
His employer is Public Allies.
His location is Flint, Michigan.
300,000,000 "facts" do not matter if the facts are incorrect and/or outdated.
Database rules apply...GIGO.
This site is fun. FUN.
But please don't use it as a valid reference.
That battle shaped U.S. and French history for the latter half of the 20th Century to a great extent.
I'd say that disqualifies the date from being 'boring'.