When you leave the Google search box blank and click the “I’m Feeling Lucky” option you are lead to a page that displays a mysterious countdown clock…but to what?  The end of the world in 2012?  World peace?  Unfortunately it’s not as exciting as either of those pending events.  Simple math calculations reveal that it is counting down to the new year, the end of the first decade in the 2000s.  Interestingly the timer only shows up in the following URLs: Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.ie and Google.com.au; Google German and French are left out of the prank.  I guess this is Google’s way of wishing everyone a happy new year, besides changing their homepage logo on the day of, of course.

[Via Telegraph.co.uk]