The Symmetry of the Date Feb 20, 2002-Fiction!

The Symmetry of the Date, Year, and Time on February 20...It Will Never Happen Again-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
The message says that at 8:02pm on February 20, 2002, something will happen that has not occurred in more than a thousand years and will never happen again. The date, time, and year will be in perfect symmetry: 20:02, 20/02, 2002. It says that the last time this happened was at 10:01 on January 10, 1001.

The Truth:
Symmetry lovers really enjoy this sort of thing, but the claim that this is so rare and won't happen again isn't accurate. Also, it depends on which style of representing date and time is used.

The one in this eRumor uses the European style of day and date with the day first, then the month. Christmas, for example, would be 25/12. In the United States, the day is first then the month. Christmas, for example, is 12/25. Interestingly, the American form of the date works as well: 20:02, 02/20, 2002,

Calendar watchers say it will happen three more times this year and more than a hundred times this century. The next after February 20: March 30. That is: 20:02, 03/30, 2002

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

As the clock ticks over from 8.01pm on Wednesday, February 20, time will, for sixty seconds only, read in perfect symmetry 2002, 2002, 2002, or to be more precise - 20:02, 20/02, 2002.

This historic event will never have the same poignancy as the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month which marks Armistice Day, but it is an event which has only ever happened once before, and is something which will never be repeated. The last occasion that time read in such a symmetrical pattern was long before the days of the digital watch and the 24-hour clock - at 10.01am on January 10, 1001. And because the clock only goes up to 23.59, it is
something that will never happen again.