Time's Up: 2^30 Seconds Since 1970 675
An anonymous reader writes: "In Software glitch brings Y2K deja vu, CNET points out a small wave of Y2K-like bugs may soon hit, though it gets the explanation wrong. It will soon be about 2^30 (1 billion, not 2 billion) seconds since 1970 (do the arithmetic). Systems that use only 29 bits of a word for unsigned/positive integers, or store time as seconds since 1970 in this format, may roll back to 1970. (Many systems that do not need full 32 bit integers may reserve some bits for other uses, such as boolean flags, or for type information to distinguish integers from booleans and pointers.)"
Yay! (Score:5, Funny)
OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
so in other words.. (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah well... (Score:4, Funny)
I thought we already rolled back to 1970's (Score:5, Funny)
yawn (Score:5, Funny)
But Y2K hasn't even come yet... (Score:5, Funny)
I fear to look... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
OMG (Score:5, Funny)
I'm a billion seconds old.
Holy shit.
Prepare for the Y10K Bug! (Score:5, Funny)
Now, I know what you're thinking. "There's no way someone will be using software I'm writing 8000 years from now." Yeah, and that's what programmers said 30 years ago about the year 2000. Be smart, and play it safe. Use a 5, or better yet, 10 digit year. What's a few bytes?
deja vu? (Score:5, Funny)
Y2K (Score:5, Funny)
There was no reply, though. His computer probably thought my letter was from a century ago.
Re:RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
So that means Linux is affected also, since its mostly copied from Unixware, right?
Phew, my Newton's Safe! (Score:5, Funny)
But, I'm sure Apple will have released a new Newton by then!
(I don't suppose anyone's ported the Rosetta writing recognition system to other PDA's, just in case?)
I am not worried! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMG (Score:4, Funny)
Re:RTFA (Score:4, Funny)
Are you a dog? (Score:5, Funny)
For Example (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yeah well... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Prepare for the Y10K Bug! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMG (Score:3, Funny)
Tom
Re:Seriously, why can't we fix this damn thing now (Score:3, Funny)
So.... (Score:3, Funny)
mid life bug (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah, but most of us are fine... (Score:2, Funny)
Nah... no way will any of these systems still be in use in 30 years time...
Re:How many seconds you have left: (Score:3, Funny)
Ob COBOL Y2K joke (Score:3, Funny)
Several years of this relentless, mind-numbing work had taken its toll on Jack. He had problems sleeping and began having anxiety dreams about the Year 2000. He must have suffered some sort of breakdown. Jack decided to contact a company that specialized in cryogenics. He made a deal to have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. This was very expensive process and totally automated. The next thing he would know is he'd wake up in the year 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about except getting on with his life.
He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was that. The next thing that Jack saw was an enormous and very modern room filled with excited people. They were all shouting "I can't believe it!" and "It's a miracle" and "He's alive!". There were cameras (unlike any he'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie. Someone who was obviously a spokesperson for the group stepped forward. Jack couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "It is over?" he asked. "Is 2000 already here? Are all the millennial parties and promotions and crises all over and done with?"
The spokesman explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle, it hadn't been year 2000 compliant. It was actually eight thousand years later, not the year 2000. But the spokesman told Jack that he shouldn't get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him.
Suddenly a wall-sized projection screen displayed the image of a man that remarcably looked very much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He told Jack not to be upset. That this was a wonderful time to be alive. That there was world peace and no more starvation. That the space program had been reinstated and there were colonies on the moon and on Mars. That technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had virtual reality interfaces which allowed them to contact anyone else on the planet, or to watch any entertainment, or to hear any music recorded anywhere.
"That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But I'm curious. Why is everybody so interested in *me*?"
"Well," said the Prime Minister. "The year 10000 is just around the corner, and it says in your files that you know COBOL...."
Re:OMG (Score:3, Funny)
It goes both ways.
If your a Christian, you're, like, 15 minutes old.
Re:does anybody else think... (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe because XML is easier to deal with in Visual Basic than 64 bit ints? =P
Testing? We don't need no stinking testing! (Score:2, Funny)
That's an excellent plan! Nothing bad has ever come from that train of thought before.
In future news, PTC spokesman Joe Gavaghan is now working for Microsoft's Security division.
Oh no! Groundhog day! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Prepare for the Y10K Bug! (Score:3, Funny)
That's not a bad thing, unless you mean they'll be using those crazy american pints (12 Oz?) rather than proper wholesome British pints (16 Oz I think).
Re:But Y2K hasn't even come yet... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:rash of naughty dates coming (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMG (Score:1, Funny)
Not any more...
Re:Some systems... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Seriously, why can't we fix this damn thing now (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, we could fix the bug now. Likewise, we could also address world hunger, the deficit, the exploding crime problem, terrorism and a host of other issues with such cautious, preventative measures, but doing so wouldn't give us the instant gratification we desire now, so we'll let your children deal with the deficit, crime, terrorism, poverty, hunger and the time bug. We have better things to do. I'd write more, but I think "Friends" is coming on.
20 generations by 2034? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:RTFA (Score:4, Funny)
It's a long-standing rule of Fight-O-Net / UselessNet / Slice'n'DiceDot that when one attempts to correct the grammer or speling of another, invariably they themselves will make a misteak.
If for no other reason, of course, than the fact it doubles the fun of language police.
Re:Party Like Its 2037 (Score:5, Funny)
That does NOT count as a sufficient documentation of the above feature!
Re:RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
thank you Unix for combining data and error conditions into one convenient return value!
Re:Damn... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:yup... (Score:2, Funny)
That page is worth visiting for the disclaimer alone:
"PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any use of this Web page, in any manner whatsoever, will increase the amount of disorder in the universe. Although no liability is implied herein, the consumer is warned that this process will ultimately lead to the heat death of the universe."
I have one! (Score:5, Funny)
I just want to know: Does that count?
Re:RTFA (Score:4, Funny)
Re:RTFA (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Y2K (Score:2, Funny)
Just for kicks, I decided to run the tool linked on that site. Turns out I'm in for some trouble (?).
Output from my Windows notebook:
It seems that though this system, made in 2001 is just fine. Windows XP, with a service pack from just a few months ago, is still not Y2K compliant. Maybe this is the reason GoLive keeps crashing and my popcorn does not fully pop.
Re:OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
Calm down, man! Look, society might collapse or it might not - either way, that's no reason to down some kind of odd suicide cocktail.
Salvation For Loveless Geeks? (Score:4, Funny)
Sally Roberts, pucker up.
Re:OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
I thought it was pregnancy that was the result of some 'affection'.
You, sir, are incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
In standard /. fashion, I will overlook factual inaccuracies in the interest of pursuing my goal of correcting everyone's grammar. As such, I must tell you that Y2K *began* on January 1, 19100.
Duh, it can! (Score:5, Funny)
The guy who posted above you 8 minutes earlier already understood the solution: return a damned pointer!
Why, oh why, is this so hard to understand? Here, I will provide a contrived, stupid example.
#define MIN_CHEST 25
#define MAX_CHEST 55
#define MIN_WAIST 19
#define MAX_WAIST 65
typedef enum { brown, blue, red, blonde, blue, cmax } colour_t;
typedef struct
{
char *name;
size_t waist;
size_t chest;
size_t hips;
colour_t hair;
colour_t eyes;
} girl_t;
typedef struct
{
size_t count;
girl_t *girls;
} girl_array_t;
void mempanic()
{
write(STDOUT_FILENO, "oh oh\n", 6);
_exit(1);
}
girl_t *createAllGirls()
{
girl_array_t *girlArr = calloc(sizeof(*girlArr), 1);
char name[64];
size_t waist, chest, hips;
colour_t hair, eyes;
if (!girlArr)
mempanic();
for (waist = MIN_WAIST; waist girls = realloc(girlArr->girls, sizeof(*(girlArr->girls)) * (girlArr->count + 1));
if (!girlArr->girls)
mempanic();
sprintf(name, "chick #%i", girlArr->count + 1);
girlArr->girls[girlArr->count].waist = waist;
girlArr->girls[girlArr->count].chest = chest;
girlArr->girls[girlArr->count].hips = hips;
girlArr->girls[girlArr->count].eyes = eyes;
girlArr->girls[girlArr->count].hair = hair;
girlArray->count++
}
return girlArray;
}
There. Everything you need. A single return value, a dynamic sized array of structs. And girls.
Of course, I didn't test it. But if you really need girls that bad, let me know and I'll make sure it builds.
Now, this is just some text to avoid the lameness filter. Doo dah. Tobacco use during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth. abies born preterm are at an increased risk of infant death, illness and disability. Health Canada.
L'usage du tabac pendant la grossesse accroit le risque d'un accouchement premature. Les bebes prematures font face a des risques plus grands de mort infantile, de maladies et d'incapacites. Sante Canada.
Okay. Maybe I'll de-indent my code. Stupid piece of shit.Meta-control-Q should fix that.. Oh great! Now I need more characters per line. Comments, here I come...
Re:Umm, none? (Score:3, Funny)
So just what kind of a two-bit operation are you running here?
Re:Some systems... (Score:5, Funny)
Um, not to be quarrelsome or anything, but I'm not sure sure you'll find anyone here willing to make that distinction.
Present company execpted, of course. :)
Re:so in other words.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:ObCalculation (Score:3, Funny)
I mean 13:37.
Re:You, sir, are incorrect (Score:2, Funny)
I've heard some lofty goals, but this goes to a whole new level.
My Y2K Story (A little offtopic) (Score:4, Funny)
About 30 minutes before Y2K hit our time zone, I noticed the maintenance guys firing up the big diesel backup generators in our rear parking lot. I asked my boss about it. "Oh yeah," he said, "They're going to take us off the power grid just in case." No big deal to us: we have UPS's on all our PCs, and the power fails over all the time in the always-spectacular Kentucky summer thunderstorm season. (Half of the building's lighting turns off to conserve power, everyone slightly gasps, but keeps working...we're used to it.)
But not so for the "Y2K Command Center." The "suits" had plugged all their spreadsheet-running PCs straight into the wall, and when we changed over to the generators (on their command) the momentary power drop caused *every single one* of their machines to go down....
We laughed in their faces openly. If that's not being hoist by one's own petard I don't know what is. It almost made it worth it not to be kissing my sweetie on New Year's Eve.
Re:RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
The second rule of Fight-O-Net is: You do not talk about Fight-O-Net.
Re:Use Planck-Time and 256Bit Integers (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Party Like Its 2037 (Score:4, Funny)
Back in 1999, some BBS door functions stopped working, apparently due to running out of single-digit dates. *sigh*
In the Closet I have a P90 that ever since Y2K, firmly believes the year is 2094. Oddly enough, NWDOS7 thinks this is a perfectly acceptable date!
Orange Alert (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How many seconds you have left: (Score:4, Funny)
perl -we 'print "seconds left: ", ((2**30) - localtime), "\n"'
Argument "Mon Dec 22 01:44:41 2003" isn't numeric in subtraction (-) at -e line 1.
seconds left: 1073741824
Not too Informative, if you ask me...
Re:OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OH NO! (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, you asked for it
The only two tools a handyman will ever need are duct tape and WD40. If it moves but it shouldn't, use the duct tape; if it doesn't move but it should, use the WD40.
Pure nonsense! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Some systems... (Score:4, Funny)
It was flame bait and I just wanted to post an educated rebuttal.
Translation:
Re:OMG (Score:5, Funny)
I was born just before 1970. I'm a billion seconds old.
Worse yet, you're in your 30s. Sorry, dude.
The end of the world (Score:3, Funny)
This conversation took place somewhere in the year 2000. He was not very pleased to hear that if he were right, the world would already have ended 5 years ago.
Re:Party Like Its 2037 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:OH NO! (Score:3, Funny)
A girlfriend?
What for? He's already got lubricant.
Re:Not quite accurate (Score:2, Funny)
Saturday, January 10, some big iron datacenter in Silicon Valley
Tech: What's this? ERROR 2393: HAXX0rS HAEV STOELN YUOR MEGAHURTZ!
I love you Jeff K.
Re:so in other words.. (Score:3, Funny)
It's still 1024 for me no matter what SI says.
Then go take a 1 km walk off a 1000 m pier.