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Strange Signs Pop Up In Seattle Warning Of Internet Apocalypse This Week
By Alexa Heah, 02 Dec 2021
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Image ID 52107595 © via Kan1234 | Dreamstime.com
In the last several days, strange signs have been popping up around Seattle warning that the internet, as we know it, could end on December 2, 2021.
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper from CNET, who resides in the city, snapped an image of a message left on the sign of a closed sushi restaurant in her neighborhood. It rather ominously read: “12022021 INTERNET ENDS.”
The internet ends Thursday apparently so get ready I guess. pic.twitter.com/brcqL0PyxW
— GaelFC (@GaelFC) November 30, 2021
Upon posting the peculiar sight on Twitter, many Seattle residents responded with pictures of other signs they’d spotted with the same message. One, placed under a speed limit caution along a road, shared the cryptic message of “12022021 INTERNET ENDS.”
A few more messages were spotted under road signs around the city, and though someone posted an image of a man climbing one of the street signs, it’s not known if he’s the one behind this unsettling campaign.
“Looks like an attempt at viral marketing. Can’t be a movie, nothing big’s coming out that day,” posited a Reddit user.
well folks this is it. this is where the internet ends pic.twitter.com/OBSyLXRDC4
— Lāniē Heī (@byelanie) September 5, 2021
Cooper found that the date in question—12-02-2021—when written in numerical terms, is the longest palindrome date of the year. This would only work in the US, where the month is written before the day. Could this be all part of a guerrilla stunt campaign?
The mystery became even more confusing when Kurt Schlosser, a writer at GeekWire, chanced upon a website that seemed to be related to the messages: 12022021endofinternet.com. There isn’t much on the site apart from a 1977 Arpanet diagram and a digital clock counting down to 2pm (PT) on Thursday.
Will the internet really be coming to an end? While that’s not likely, the signs and messages have certainly got us eagerly awaiting what will happen when the clock hits zero.
INBOX: "I found that the end of the internet is either:
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) July 28, 2021
1) On the N 80th Ave overpass, or
2) Set to happen on December 2, 2021.
Either way, big news." pic.twitter.com/PKXlNam0Cl
[via CNET, cover image via Kan1234 | Dreamstime.com]
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