"I just wanted to mention, for those who have asked... Absolutely nothing whatsoever happened today in Sector 83 by 9 by 12."

https://youtu.be/vZt5_27mGcE?si=PaeEaF9Ws0aDvMMt

I am totally sure I've seen that plaque in O'Hungry's. It's a San Diego classic. It's reassuring to know that there are such places around the world.

I need this for some past companies I've worked at.

Funny, does anyone know the history of any of the markers? I'm just curious why this is global thing really.

The one from Míšov, Czech Republic is tribute to the running joke of nonexistent genius Jara Cimmrman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1ra_Cimrman

The bust (if you even can call it that...) pictured in the article is terrifying!

The plaque is identical in two of the photos (one from Ireland, one from Luxembourg), and the wording is identical in those two plus a third (from Western Australia). That makes me curious.

You don't think this is just a joke that multiple people thought of independently?

Some of them might be in reaction to a local event, or even a worldwide event that had no local impact. But I think they're mostly just jokes.

Was it in a Monty python sketch or something?

It’s curious how there seem to be so few combinations of place and time where nothing important happened.

It’s just the macro perspective. Down around the Planck limit, there’s something going on all the time, everywhere, all at once!

My great grandmother taught me that “nothing doing” meant something similar to “there’s nothing for it”.

I’m in my late thirties and it was still in common use in India, and perhaps specifically among Anglo Indians? But it meant more like “no chance”.

“Can I go out to the movies with my friends?”

“Nothing doing! You have an exam tomorrow”

Or failure to do something.

“I tried to fix it myself but nothing doing”.

Looney Toons / Merry Melodies also bear out this connotation quite well

The Futility Closet website (and, formerly, podcast) is an amazing treasure trove of fascinating facts.

Yes! and thank you for making me remember its existence

1897 seems like an important year.