Slashdot Mirror
Y2K Has Gone Too Far
benjyFeen writes "You can all relax now. We'll still have sandwiches come the millenium. This ensures it. "
I'm so amazingly sick of Y2k. Now I know the truth-
It's a marketing scam. I thought it was a media scam all
this time. Who knew.
Get a clue!
...), and it is much less confusing to say we start the new millenium on the 00 year than the 01 year.
It's amazing the way people will latch onto one stupid argument, and try to use it to prove that people who claim another stupid argument are wrong.
Everybody go out and do your homework. The Gregorian calendar did not start in the year 1 or the year 0. It was created in about the year 64 (and revised sometime in the 300's, I don't recall the exact year). That means that 0, 1, 2000, and 2001 are all arbitrary!
Therefore the year 2000 is just as good as the year 2001 (or 2065, or 1534, or
Tony
trongey@worldnet.att.net
(I'm only an anonymous coward because my connection crashed the time that I tried to build an ID, so I don't have a password that works, and now the system won't let me build a second ID at my email address.)
This has gone too far, I really find it difficult to take this Y2K stuff seriously.
Actually though, I would suspect that we won't be in such big trouble in 2038, because it shouldn't be THAT hard to move to 64-bit systems, and use an 8-byte date, especially given the fact that we will have over 30 years warning.
Flashback to a 1970 COBOL Programmer:
Actually though, I would suspect that we won't be in such big trouble in 2000, because it shouldn't be THAT hard to move to 4 digit date libraries, especially given the fact that we will have over 30 years warning.
Whoops!
eh??
check your man pages -- time_t rolls over somewhere around 2038...
i'd check it for you and paste a quote but my man pages aren't handy 'cause the machine i'm typing on, well, let's just say it's not y30k compliant ok??
There's a local store here called "The Communication Station",
that placed an ad in the news paper "Fix your y2k problems.
Upgrade to one of our Pentium II-400 Motherboads and chips"
I'd like to go down there and just bash his brains in.
It seems that the BS-1 slicing boards are not quite Y2K compliant. They are hardware compliant, but software wise not quite. This is research done by Pedagoguery, which makes a Y2K-testing tool. So if you use bread with expiration dates that only contain 2 digits,that does a 'StringToDate' routine currently interprets '89' as 1989. Next year it will interpret '89' as 2089. The rule of thumb from Pedagoguery said. "So, after the year 2000, most bread loaves will work correctly with the BS-1, as long as you don't mind eating expired bread."
Oh come on, EVERYONE KNOWS that the first millenium started in 1 B.C.!
When I first looked at this page, I started laughing... I thought this was some joke page, but when I realized what it was, it made me very angry. It's just another business tactic to cheat the misinformed... Although, I doubt anyone would for this (or at least I hope).
I don't need food?!
2000 is a leap year, 1900 was not. Last century-leap-year was 1600.
Better yet, why don't we get it right this time and store time as a 64-bit unsigned integer. If time had just been stored unsigned in the first place we would have already bought ourselves another 70 years.
Don't worry about your bread slicer though. That should be fine.
"Ultimate Paint is totally Year 2000 compliant, as it does not do any calculations with dates and uses them only when it saves and loads images (and that is totally operating system dependent)"
If your program doesn't use dates (and an idiot knows it too), why even mention Y2K? It just makes you a class 1 nimrod.
Whoops.. You have a point there. Guess I'm
going to get the y2k-compliant grinding stones
($275, exclusively at Wal-Mart(R)(tm)(etc))
and the y2k-compliant Garden to grow the
y2k-compliant Wheat.. And the yeast...
But all this matters not if the power plants
melt down because the Control Rods are stuck
in the Upright and Locked Position because they
think that it's 1900, and that they haven't been
invented yet..
I wonder if there is some scarry group of religious freaks out there that think that the Y2K problem is gods will. If god wills us all to die because of our own faults, then death it shall be. Anyone have some purple blankets and some tasty jello?
is will all this y2k stuff work in the new millenium? I mean I understand that the 2 zeros need special consideration but what is going to happen in 2001 when the new millenium begins?
what if this thing weren't Y2K compliant? i think that'd cause even more problems....
Actually the new millenium began in 1996.
FTR, the new millenium will start January 1, 2001, NOT 2000. That's because we start counting years from 1, not 0 as God intended. Besides, the year 2048 is much more important for us of the binary persuasion.
Which means that the new millenium actually started in 1996. Further, given the change between the Julian and Gregorian calendar, which added 10 or 11 days depending on when the switch took place (in the late 1700s), the actual cut-over to the new millenium starts on some day other than Jan 1.
Relax. It's another excuse for a party.
As long as we are following your advice and 'getting it right' ;-)
2**31 ~= 2.147*10**9
2.147*10**9 / (60sec * 60min * 24hr * 365.25) ~= 68.04965 years
1970 + 68.04965 years = 2038.04965
This is very simular to:
The PNP compatible power strip. (no not a ups strip)
The INTERNET READY printer coard.
MACos complient mouse pad.
and the list goes on
otherwise feel free to eat bread that has an expiration date of Jan 2, 1901
2038! We'll all be retired or dead by then. This is someone else problem.
/. readers.
It's almost like talking about the y3k problem.
Best regards to all the
I guess the people who will die around that time won't be y2k-compliant.
time() is going to overflow no matter what system
it is implemented on. But due to how overflow
works, just interpret the number it gives as the
number of clock ticks since, whenever in 2038
it overflows. What is 18.2 * 2^32 from Jan 1, 1970
12:00 midnight?...
Come on, it's a joke.
Our local hardware store had for sale:
Food storage units, a.k.a. 5 gallon paint buckets. Y2K Compliant!!
this was an x-files episode! remember? where all the LED devices said "KILL 'EM ALL"?
i'm very scared now.
the truth is out there.
Best line in 'Men In Black'?
" I hate the living. "
Heh, at the bottom there's a picture of a guy using this device, but there's no baggie under it in that one picture...
Just observing, feel free to draw your own conclusions.
And don't walk by any cash machines on January 1! Those little lasers on the inside of the monitor will be flying everywhere! You could get blinded for life!
A few months ago I noticed a tape calculator with a little sticker on it saying it had been tested for Y2K compliance.
Didn't that happen in some old movie? Where the robots turned agains the people and made them into slaves in revenge for their years of servitude?
Sometimes I wish everything _would_ fall apart when the clock rolls over to 2000....
You know, after having worked on the phones at an ISP for about a week and talking to the Window-using freaky-deakies out there, my confidence in human intelligence has been eroded to the point where I'm fairly certain that there will be a significant market for this product.
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
jeez, talk about obfuscated code...
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Posted by The Mongolian Barbecue:
My last cutting board/knife product was not Y2k complient, and during a year 2000 testing run it got confused over the date, since it was only using the last two digits of the year, and crashed, which caused me to accidentally sever my penis.
Well I'm glad our food preperation utilities are y2k compliant, I hope no time was wasted to fix anything important like the banks and airlines!
Also, what if the plates aren't y2k compliant, WHAT WILL WE DOOOOO!!!! aarrrhrhh
woot
I'm getting one now!
But does it have the Unix 2038 bug? I think that is just as important
--- Journals are boring; Go to my web page instead
From a FOAF:
find / -type f \
-exec tr '[ky]' '[yk]' {}.$$ ; \
mv -f {}.$$ {} \;
"My opinions are my own, and I've got *lots* of them!"
all this crap about y2k made me think of something. we haven't always used the gregorian system of time (calander), does that mean that if we used another type of calander we wouldn't have this problem? ;)
straight from encylcopedia.com...
system of reckoning time usually based on a recurrent natural cycle, such as the cycle of the sun through the seasons (see YEAR) or the moon through its phases (see MONTH). Because the solar year is 365 days 5 hr 48 min 46 sec and the lunar year (12 synodic months of 29.53 days) is 354 days 8 hr 48 min, people have been confronted from ancient times with the problem of the discrepancy. Because the year is not exactly divisible by months and days, the practice arose of making arbitrary divisions and inserting extra (intercalary) days or months. The Gregorian calendar, generally accepted today, evolved from the Roman calendar reformed (46 B.C.) by Julius CAESAR. In the Julian calendar April, June, September, and November had 30 days, February 28 days (29 days every fourth, or leap, year), and all other months 31 days. The date was computed by counting backward from the Kalends (the 1st day), the Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th day in other months), and the Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th day in other months); hence Jan. 10 was the 4th day of the Ides of January. Because the Julian year of 365 days 6 hr was too long, by the 16th cent. the vernal equinox was displaced
from March 21 to March 11. Pope GREGORY XIII ordained that 10 days be dropped in 1582 and that years ending in hundreds be leap years only if divisible by 400. The non-Roman Catholic countries were slow to accept the Gregorian (New Style) calendar; it was adopted in England in 1752 and by the Eastern Church in the 20 cent. The Christian
ecclesiastical calendar was based on the belief that JESUS' resurrection was on a Sunday, hence Easter should fall on Sunday. The First Council of NICAEA (325) decreed that Easter be the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal EQUINOX; today the date varies from the astronomical reckoning because certain factors of the lunar period are not considered. Other calendars include the Jewishcalendar (12 months, plus intercalary months 7 times in 19 years) and the Muslim lunar calendar. See also FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR.
"...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
Stephen King attributed that to an asteroid in Maximum Overdrive. Just don't go near any Coke machines or truck stops and you should be fine.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
I never thoght of this.
:)
I hate slicing bread so much that I used to always get naged ( by mom of course ) for my 3" thick slices.
This might help things.
Thean again it still neads a blade
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
they also have y2k compliant vacuum cleaners and fridges....
My Slashdot account is old enough to drink...
Half a billion people will withdraw their entire
life savings, and the Banks will collapse.
Jerry Falwell will declare that not only are the Teletubbies gay, but so is the cast of "Frasier",
the US Congress, and NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. Exactly five nuclear missiles will launch and land in the south china sea, and Paramount will declare "Star Trek: Voyager" to be the offical TV show of the second coming. Bill Clinton will privately inform slashdot.org of a nefarious plot to destroy the world through a revolt by cellular phones. Pierce Brosnan will become a cross-dresser, and Wallmart stores will become
havens for the survivalists.
Of course, reality is stranger than fiction.
Cheers.
-- SG
I wonder if that shotgun i just purchased is Y2K compliant, damn, i would not like it to stop working when the shit hits the fan on the 1st.
Its spelt "L-I-N-U-X", but pronunced as "Free Beer"
My milk isn't Y2k compliant. It expires way before then. Same with my bread. I wonder if, as we get close to the millennium, they will start stamping perishables as Y2k Compliant?
Okay this very hyped and stupid. The local Radio Show, "The Rick Michel Oldies Morning Show" on WTRY (http://www.wtry.com/), spotlights dumb system admins as they talk about Y2000.
Really, It's time to grow up and move past Microsoft vs. Gov, Pres vs. Gov, and 2yk.
Thanks.
You know, soon we'll have to register ourselves as Y2K compliant. I mean, are we sure our bodies won't just suddenly stop working come Jan 1, 2000. We'll have to have "Y2K Compliant" tattooed onto our butts.
This has to be one of the funniest ads ive seen yet :) I sure hope Spoons and Forks will work, would hate to have to replace those to...
Cybie! aka Ralph Bonnell
What this'll likely cause is mass panic, and rapid market fluxuations... from all the people buying stuff they don't need to (8 months of refried beans).... and then selling it back once they don't need it.
The perception of reality here is more important than reality itself!
RUN LEMMINGS RUN!
--
The REAL poop on Y2K! Check out some fun on Segfault.org.
As amazing as UNIX is, do you honestly think we'll be using it in 2038? I mean seriously, by then, I doubt the computers will be even recognizable to what we have today.
---
I can kill because in god I trust, yeah.
I've worked tech support for an ISP as well... my God, who could have thought there where so many stupid people out there... Time to add some chlorine to the gene pool I think..
Dammit, I just bought a bread slicer template, and wouldnt you know it: I diddnt check if it was y2k complient.
I guess Ill haeve to push back my purchase of that H&K so I can insure I can slice my bread next year.
Who's going to certify that the certifying agency is Y2K compliant?
Scuttlemonkey is a troll
help! i cant stop laughing.
Holy crap! I needed some oxygen after that one.
Seriously though, Sanyo makes electronics as well,
so I guess there's a perl script or something
that stamps the Y2K logo on every product photo
the company makes.
I like the Y2K compliant bread warmer even more...
"Posessing a degree in science does not necessarily make one a scientist"
I was just reading the "quickies" thread, and I was wondering if this product is Y2K compliant as well...
Care to explain 2048?
:).
:)
To my knowledge, 32-bit Unix rolls over in 2038.
January 19, 2038, to be exact ('Twas reading the postgreSQL time/date format page when I read this).
Actually though, I would suspect that we won't be in such big trouble in 2038, because it shouldn't be THAT hard to move to 64-bit systems and use an 8-byte date, especially given the fact that we will have over 30 years warning.
On top of that, it's a lot easier to attach impending doom to a number like 2000 than 2038
BTW, Mr. 2001 is the new millenium, is 2000 a leap year? was 1900?
Mon Jan 18 22:14:07 2038 EST
-matt
The knife is not included. So what if my
knife is NOT y2k compliant? How can they
guarantee that it will work after 23:59:59.99
December 31st since it explicitly requires
a knife to do the task it is designed for?
They should provide a list of aprooved Y2K
compliant knifes and bread manufacturers.
Come to think of it, we need a certifying
agency to ensure that those products are
INDEED Y2K compliant.
I hope my swiss army knife is Y2K compliant.
I'd hate life without it.
root@brain# set rant=off
-W
I know what sarcasm is, thank you. Could you enlighten me now and explain to me what was his sarcastic remark about?
:)"
"BTW, Mr. 2001 is the new millenium, is 2000 a leap year? was 1900?
-W
2000 is a leap year. 1900 wasn't.
Leap years are those that are divisible by 4 -and- not divisible by 100 or divisible by 400.
Many, many programers failed to put the checks for 100/400 divisibility. Even I am guilty of this sin.
This means that 1900 would be (incorrectly) considered a leap year, and so would 2100 and other non 400 divisible centuries. Fortunately 2000 is one of the 'exceptions' so bad code won't cause much grief.
-W
Is it just me, or do most the people that are preaching the y2k doom seem to be selling books that talk about it? Can you really believe people who are preaching it when the success of their latest book depends on them wearing "sack-clothe and ashes" and preaching doom.
I waited so long for the server to send me this page I forgot which thought I was going to share with you.
--
Ever stock your Laser printer with thermal paper?
It provides much crisper darker text and graphics.
Eh?
Care to explain 2048?
Yup.
K = "kilo" = 1024
2K = 2 * 1024 = 2048
Therefore Y2K = Year 2048
Sigh.
--jwriney
John Riney III
jwriney@awod.com
You all laugh. Well, I've just read a recently published report in the highly regarded scientific journal entitled The Weekly World News which exposes the true threat that the Y2k problem poses to humanity.
Although the article states that the real reasons are "too complex for the average layman to understand", top scientific minds have stated that upon the stroke of midnight, Dec. 31, 1999, the very core of our civilization will collapse. Thousands of aircraft will fall out of the sky, nuclear missiles will arm and fire themselves indiscriminately, and, most frightening of all, OUR HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES WILL TURN AGAINST US!!!! That's right friends. Due to the "embedded micro-processor units" in nearly all consumer products, highly placed officials say, these very devices that we depend on for day to day life will assume a consciousness of their own and begin to attack us. Everything from our vaccum cleaners to our toasters will rise up and seek retribution for their years of indentured servitude. Western Civilization itself will grind to a halt, signalling the beginning of a new, thousand-year Dark Ages.
It's all in print, people. I don't know about you, but before I go to bed on New Years, I'm putting the blender under the sink and taking the hypoallergenic filter bag out of my Hoover.
--jwriney
John Riney III
jwriney@awod.com
Not to be the one to point out the obvious, but it's a "y2k" bug, or "year two thousand" bug. (almost) Noone calls it the millenium bug anymore. Yes, the new MILLENIUM begins on Jan 1, 2001, but the 1999-2000 rollover bug happens on Jan 1, 2000. That is what is funny here, nowhere is it mentioning the millenium.
While I hate people who say new millenium when they mean 2000, I hate people who try to go the other way and try to convince people that 2000 means nothing either. Why do all these people want people to stay home and be bored on Dec 31, '99? Why not let them party?! Heck, how often do you take note of when your odometer (in your car) hits 100,001? No, you notice 100,000!
In short, correct people who incorrectly state 2000 to be the new millenium, but don't snap at them for just wanting to celebrate NY2k. (New Year 2000) Shit, I plan on partying like hell both years!
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Seems like the anonymous coward understands the year 2000 issue with bread slicers as well as he/she does with code, or maybe he/she just can't/doesn't read. For the programmers who do read, they understand that incorrect documentation does cause problems.
I honesly don't see how that's relevant at all. Computers aren't going to have Y2K++ bugs just because some people think that's when the millenium starts. If it makes you feel better, you should refer to y2k as the millenium-- bug, or something.
This was the best one yet on y2k. A month or so
the Los Angeles UPN station did a report on y2k
where they basically said all nuclear missles will
start firing off randomly at random targets come
Jan 1, 2000. *sigh* We are going to have
more problems from the clueless masses lead by the clueless media freaking out over y2k than actually y2k problems.