Posted by Elder D. pls read [Skeptic] on April 09, 1999 at 09:19:32 {qzNMJDwJ.24tPLfAHmiAQ0vvLkUBWM}:
In Reply to: EndOfSystem: Shutdown Command! posted by Elder Donolley on April 08, 1999 at 20:49:44:
I am a software developer. Your son may be as well, but he is probably a junior programmer or else he would have known about this one.
You can be forgiven because you do not know software.
However, common sense would tell you this
can't be so. Everyone is aware of the Y2K problem. Programmers are very date conscious lately because of the attention given to the Y2K problem.
Do you think the ENTIRE computer world would miss this one? That should raise a flag. Why
would your son figure it out and no one else?
:calendar used in some computer programs, reads 9999 -- a code that was used to tell some mainframe computers it was the end of the program and to shut down."
This is not done today, but it may have been an old practice. I dunno. I used to use 9999 as a dummy value.
:the year, in this case 99. So Friday, the 99th day of 1999, is 9999, a code that could tell some computers to shut down."
Your son may not have known this, but he could have easily checked it. Computers do not store dates as day-year. They store dates as the number of seconds (it may even be hundredths of seconds, I am going on memory) since a specific date. PCs are from Jan 1, 1980 - I believe UNIX systems are from Jan 1, 1970 but I am not sure.) The number 9999 has been reached and exceeded long ago.
Another thing. Dates are data. They are not part of the executable code. Even if the computer read the date as 9999, it would only use it as a date. It would not use it as an instruction and hence would not shut down.
Your son should have known that. These two things show he is at best a junior software developer. He might be brilliant, but he is not experienced in the software field.
Such end of the world predictions do nothing to glorify Jehovah. They only make you, the JW faith, the Bible, and Jehovah look foolish. I sincerely wish you (and all JWs, including the Society) would stop saying the end is near. All of you have cried "Wolf!" too many times.
Skeptic
Computers are the engine of Satan's world and when they all shutdown, you might as well admit the Society was right all along. Jehovah's promises
are near. Can't you smell the fresh air, hear the birds chirping, and taste the bountiful fruits of perfection? I most certainly can.
Sometimes this is just too easy.