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Remember Y2K?

Posted on 08/11/2018 12:29:20 PM PDT by SamAdams76

I was remembering today the big Y2K scare we had during the late 1990s. Does anybody remember that? All the computers in the world were to shut down at midnight January 1, 2000 because apparently the computers would not be able to recognize "2000" as a valid year and go haywire, thinking it was 1900 instead.

As with many conspiracies, there was a grain of truth to this. There were many software programs at the time that had to be re-programmed to accept 2000 as a valid year. My wife was a COBOL programmer at the time and she had a few banner years as a contractor, fixing this bug. One one project, they were paying her nearly $150/hr.

I remember many Freepers here that were stocking up on canned goods and such, expecting the modern world to come to a sudden halt, forcing us back to a more agrarian way of life.

I was a Y2K skeptic but I do remember my heart skipping a beat as we turned the clock to midnight on December 31, 1999.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: computers; computing; y2k
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To: TexasGator

As a heart attack.


61 posted on 08/11/2018 1:15:22 PM PDT by Professional
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To: SamAdams76
Next we have the Year 2038 problem.

"The Year 2038 problem relates to representing time in many digital systems as number of seconds passed since 1 January 1970 and storing it as a signed 32-bit integer. Such implementations cannot encode times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. Just like the Y2K problem, the Year 2038 problem is caused by insufficient capacity of the chosen storage unit. "

62 posted on 08/11/2018 1:16:41 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: SamAdams76
Remember Y2K?

Remember? I'm still eating off all the rations I bought!

63 posted on 08/11/2018 1:16:49 PM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Professional

do you have any links to some evidence?


64 posted on 08/11/2018 1:17:13 PM PDT by bankwalker (Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.)
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To: TexasGator

Thanks for taking the time to research and post. Mostly those were minor inconveniences. Not sure I understand the abortion example.


65 posted on 08/11/2018 1:19:03 PM PDT by be-baw (still seeking...)
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To: SamAdams76

One of the “Alien Nation” movies (great show, great movies) which was shot a few years before that had a scene in 2000 with everyone going crazy and the cops making TONS of arrests.

No one realized what a nothing burger it ended up being. Especially here in the USA.


66 posted on 08/11/2018 1:19:24 PM PDT by freedumb2003 ("Trump is such a liar. He said we'd be tired from all this winning" (/dfwgator 7/27/18))
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To: EQAndyBuzz
What did you expect would happen?

Oh, I remember how brave everybody was in hindsight. My management certainly was. Three days prior they were sweating bullets, though.

I'm set with my own set of legacy skills this time. When Unix Epoch time rolls around in 2038 I'm gonna be rich. Otherwise, I'll just hold out until Y3K.

67 posted on 08/11/2018 1:20:00 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: be-baw
It was not a scam from the programming side. Legacy programs on IBM mainframes had to be reprogrammed and recompiled to expand the "year" field from 2 to 4 bytes.

If it was not done, there was the potential for a customer to be charged on their utility bill for over 100 years of utility usage.

As they stood, programs could not tell the difference between 1900 and 2000.

68 posted on 08/11/2018 1:20:29 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: bankwalker

The evidence to the Y2k Trillion dollar scam is right in front of everyone’s eyes. I’m amazed that nobody ever connects the damn dots.

What happened 2-3 months after y2k? Very noteworthy event domestically and globally.


69 posted on 08/11/2018 1:20:57 PM PDT by Professional
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To: SamAdams76

The real clock rollover problem hasn’t happened yet.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem


70 posted on 08/11/2018 1:21:28 PM PDT by Gideon7
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To: Professional

Please don’t leave us hanging.


71 posted on 08/11/2018 1:26:22 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: deadrock

Ok, everybody...I’ll be happy to explain my claim.

But if you wanna hear it, you have to participate. You will not be disappointed unless...you’re an idiot.

So, what happened of major global consequence in March of 2001?


72 posted on 08/11/2018 1:28:41 PM PDT by Professional
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To: Professional

And?


73 posted on 08/11/2018 1:30:13 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: Professional

I am a Registered Investment Advisor, I started in 1992. In 1996 while at Smith Barney, it was the first time I’d heard about the Y2k Problem and what it might mean for the tech business. I now own my own firm.

That is the very important Clue 1.


74 posted on 08/11/2018 1:30:18 PM PDT by Professional
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To: deadrock

It was a question...


75 posted on 08/11/2018 1:30:42 PM PDT by Professional
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To: SamAdams76

My boss was a dispatcher at the local electrical utility. He thought it was all bologna, but he said he was nervous when the clock went to midnight that night he was on shift. The system didn’t skip a beat. Thankfully!


76 posted on 08/11/2018 1:34:29 PM PDT by vpintheak (Freedom is not equality; and equality is not freedom!)
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To: SamAdams76

I was working as an IT contractor at MSNBC on the Microsoft campus. Management had announced that someone had to spend the night monitoring systems and to be available to reboot things if they went sideways. As low man they announced that I got the detail.

So I asked about compensation. If they thought that I would give up New Years with my family for straight time they were crazy. They offered a $200 bonus and I laughed. We finally negotiated a lump-sum of $2000 plus catered dinner plus a hotel room.

When the other guys found out they complained to management and my lead got the job.

So I spent the evening at home with my family after all.


77 posted on 08/11/2018 1:34:36 PM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
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To: BobL

Most people are unaware that mankind will face this SAME Y2K problem at the end of the year 9999, when the year rolls over to 10,000. But instead of the date going from 2 digits to 4, it will go from 4 to 5. We have about 7,982 years to prepare, however!


78 posted on 08/11/2018 1:35:24 PM PDT by 2harddrive (Go to www.CodeIsFreeSpeech.com for 10 FREE 3D-printer gun blueprints!)
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To: 2harddrive

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79 posted on 08/11/2018 1:36:37 PM PDT by 2harddrive (Go to www.CodeIsFreeSpeech.com for 10 FREE 3D-printer gun blueprints!)
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To: SamAdams76

My top pay was only $125 an hour. I got shafted!

COBOL here too. IMS DB/DC and CICS with a little DB2 thrown in.


80 posted on 08/11/2018 1:37:13 PM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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