Is 12 am (per Fodors message) 12 midnight or 12 noon?

12am is always 'midnight'...

Hi sheila,

12 AM is midnight (0000 hrs).

12 PM is noon (1200 hrs).

Actually chaps, could I just point out that the "m" in am or pm is "meridian" and thus neither should appear with the number 12 when referring to time. I have been waiting for the site to go off for the last 15 minutes, but it would appear I need not have worried.

Of course you are right Sheila But we often say 12pm for noon and 12am for midnight around these here parts So at 12 MIDNIGHT New York City time you will [I trust] be tucked safely into the land of nod.

But, but but, but...

how do you KNOW!!?

The announcement said the site would be down Jan. 16. After midnight will be Jan. 17. It was an entirely confusing announcement. Also, they are always down longer than the time they say they'll be down. So after all this, when and for how long they'll be out of service will end up being a surprise anyway.

I find Fodors'/Random House's/Bertelsmann's use of US East Coast time to be irritating. How about GMT? So, the site will be inop at 0500 Zulu on 17-Jan-2005 until...er...

>The announcement said the site would be down Jan. 16. After midnight will be Jan. 17.<

0000:00:01 is after midnight on Jan 16.

Doesn't tomorrow start immediately after midnight, which follows tonight? I thought today started immediately after midnight, which followed the p.m. hours of Jan. 15.

Sheila -- how do I know what???
Maybe the site is down right now and we don't know it

How do you know if someone means midnight or noon- OK, sometimes the context allows, but when it could be either, like this time and it's just plain wrong.

If a tree falls in the forest and there's no-one there to see it,.....?

The use of the "24-hour clock" eliminates any confusion about whether or not it is noon or midnight or one second thereafter.

OTOH I'm not sure what it takes to raise the intelligence quotient or the boredom threshold.

I checked in late last night pacific time and it was down - so its all over and done with. Big notice on the home page "temporarily down for maintenence, thank you for your patience yada, yada . . . " And the "talk" page was toally off line.

The message says 12:00 am which is midnight, no? until 6:00 am Monday. Which means that it has not happened yet, right?
And as far as I have been given to understand, Fodors (Random House) goes by NYC time- Eastern Daylight Savings Time at the moment..right?
LOL

Scarlett: That is what I though too, but last night (11 p.m. PST) when I logged on I got the "sorry we are down for scheduled maintenence . . ." message. Maybe they plan on being down twice -- or maybe there was a mistake in their message.

Could they have meant Sat/Sun and not Sun/Mon?

I just looked back and there is an approx 2 hour gap in posts btw 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. EST.

And it wasn't the normal big blue Fodors logo we get when they are having unexpected problems - but a "we are doing maintenence" message. But it sure wasn't down the 6 hours they estimated - so it is still a mystery . . . . . .

Fodor's was ambiguous in its announcement. I think they mean midnight tonight.
And for those who get upset about Fodor's using EST in its messages, please keep in mind that they apparently do that because their home base in located in EST territory.

Did they change the announcement since yesterday? It now pretty clearly states that they will begin around 12AM Sunday evening which would mean tonight. But who in their right mind would say that something starting at midnight on the 16th, is scheduled for the 16th. Wouldn't it already be the 17th when they start?

That's what I said, Patrick. No one seems to agree.