<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Things are really not going well for Groupon right now. As we recently reported, Groupon issued\u00A0a public statement from its accounts to the effect that the\u00A0company\u00A0has \u2018material\u2019 weakness\u00A0in its financial controls, following\u00A0a wave of negative press.\r\n\r\nTNW, mostly, or completely under the pen of Alex Wilhem, has been\u00A0critical\u00A0about the company. He's been joined by the voices around the tech writing community, expressing either alarm, or at least worry about how the company is operating.\r\n\r\nToday, Groupon reached an entirely new level of what is apparently, baffling stupidity. This morning, Groupon sent an email to its users saying: &amp;quot;This year, the Earth is turning the big 4-0-0, and Groupon is committed to helping the planet reach its 401st birthday by offering\u00A0green deals\u00A0and supporting environmental campaigns through\u00A0Groupon Grassroots\u00A0and\u00A0CrowdRise, co-founded by\u00A0Edward Norton.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWait...What?\r\n\r\nWe knew that Groupon was having trouble with math, but we're just as confused as the cupcake-carrying Earth looks in the screenshot above.\r\n\r\nAccording to Wikipedia, Earth Day\u00A0is celebrated on April 22nd, and has been recognized as an official holiday since 1970, which is not 400 years ago. Wikipedia also puts scientists' estimates of the actual\u00A0Earth at\u00A04.54 billion years\u00A0old, which is also not 400 years ago. So, where did Groupon come up with this number?\r\n\r\nIn a\u00A0recent tweet, Groupon replied, &amp;quot;We got our facts from NASA, Apollo 16 sang &amp;quot;How Old Are You Now&amp;quot; and Earth responded with 360&amp;quot;. Riiiiight.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSomeone with a sense of humor decided to edit the year 1612 to reflect the Earth's birth on April 18 -- according to Groupon...\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMy friend Amy Vernon won't stand for this shit so she took Groupon on like Donkey Kong on Twitter. Here's what the &amp;quot;bunch of morons&amp;quot; had to say to her:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt what point should a company swallow its pride and get on with it?\u00A0And in all seriousness, why does Groupon think the Earth is 400 years old? And will someone please notify Edward Norton's public relations team?\r\n\r\nElenaphotos21\u00A0via shutterstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2012/04/18/why-does-groupon-think-the-earth-is-400-years-old/>