Y2K II? - Computer chaos feared over 2015's leap second

[Maverick]

Here we go again.. quit your jobs, sell the house move to the hills

"The year 2015 will have an extra second — which could wreak havoc on the infrastructure powering the Internet"

"Britain, for example, has said that the leap second should stay. Getting rid of it would mean the end of Greenwich Mean Time, used in some European and African countries, which is measured by the sun and would no longer be accurate"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/08/computer-chaos-feares/21433363/

 

[jontte]

something similar than the last Y2K bug???

 

[Maverick]

something similar than the last Y2K bug???

I have no clue, first I heard about this

 

[Gazrok]

The most this could cause is slightly inaccurate timestamping or expiration dates, etc.
Nothing like the scope of a reset of dates due to not being able to do the year 2000, like the Y2K bug.

And, after all, that didn't really cause much issue.

 

[DrHenley]

Windows Time Service can gradually adjust for small time corrections to avoid the consequences of discontinuities in the time. It just speeds up or slows down the clock slightly until it's synced.

A time discontinuity can have pretty drastic consequences by the way. It can create something akin to a singularity in continuous models.

 

[jontte]

okay,now I'm lost..way too much computer lingo for this blond to understand

 

[Gazrok]

Nerd humor....

A time discontinuity can have pretty drastic consequences by the way. It can create something akin to a singularity in continuous models.

Translation: messing with time can cause a black hole.

 

[jontte]

hey,I understand it...once you translated it to me

 

[DrHenley]

If time suddenly jumps while continuous calculations are being made, you get some really wacky results. For example, if you set the clock back a second, and you make calculations before and after and calculate the rate of change, you could have a singularity in the rate of change (seems to approach infinity momentarily) or simply a division by zero error if the two times are exactly the same. Or you could have a negative number where there should be a positive number. It could crash the program, or cause a controller to go haywire. If the software is written correctly, however, it should discard spurious results like that.

 

[Gazrok]

I see your point, but still liked it as humor first. Hehe...

 

[psalm 7]

Regardless I cant waite to spread this at work . Ofcorse with the disclaimer that I dont think anything will happen but Im just saying .

 

[Maverick]

Worst it could happen a ordered package one second late or worst yet, the purchase price may not be what you actually pay or the comet striking earth may be one second late screwing up everyone's plans... good grief

 

[realisticdude]

.............................I survived Y2K.................................... Got the t-shirt to prove it ......... right next to the Rush , Eric Clapton and ZZ-Top concert t-shirts .