As you may have noticed, today is 12/12/12, which is kind of interesting, but not really. It’s just a quirk of our calendar, albeit one that, chances are, you’ll never experience again in your lifetime. Let’s all take a moment to reflect on our mortality — hooray!

Now, to be sure, there are less depressing ways to celebrate 12/12/12 (perhaps at 12:12 p.m.?) that don’t involve mulling the unavoidable, everlasting nothingness that awaits us all. You could take twelve shots, for example, or have an orgy with eleven other people. Or you could recognize 12/12/12 by writing letters, which is what the Times (as discovered by our own Stefan Becket) suggested in an article exactly 100 years ago today:

In honor of our adorable predecessors, let’s all take a break from work to-day and write a “great many letters,” whatever those are.