Let's tell spontaneous stories.

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Once upon a time there was a thread, and since it was more of a thing being done than a conversation about a thing, it got moved, but it was no big deal for anyone involved and everything remained pretty cool all around.

It was seventeen minutes until the countdown stopped, and no one had any idea what it lead to. It was everywhere, on every clock and display, and it'd been there for weeks. The economy was having issues because no one could trade stocks or use the internet; all people knew was that something seemed likely to happen when it reached zero. "After all," experts reasoned, "if it wasn't counting down to something, it'd hardly be a countdown!"

With fifteen minutes to go, someone called into their local radio station and said something interesting. It was so interesting, in fact, that the local radio station operator called up the national radio headquarters, had them put the guy on, and asked him to repeat what he said.

"Hey, sorry," he said. "I put my cell phone in the microwave and accidentally set it for several weeks. It should be done shortly, my bad."

With two minutes to go, all the experts who could make it to this guy's apartment in time were gathered around his microwave, discussing options. Everyone knew you couldn't just put metal in a microwave, as it'd have catastrophic effects; what if, when this cycle finished, the cell phone exploded? They couldn't take that chance.

With thirty seconds left, a woman used oven mitts and a spatula to attempt to pry the power cord out of the socket. She didn't get enough leverage and went away disappointed.

With ten seconds left, another woman tried again, this time thinking to pry with the spatula and not the oven mitts.

The timer hit zero.

The plug popped out.

Nothing happened.

In the weeks that followed, people began to forget about the incident. Thirty or so years later, people had forgotten almost entirely.

And those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.