Frequently Asked Questions
On which day of the week did the Big Bang occur? And was it in the morning or the afternoon?
Nobody knows. It should be a simple matter to go into Microsoft Outlook’s calendar and just scroll backwards until the beginning of time to find out the exact age of the universe, but unfortunately it won’t work. Computers can’t handle date fields that far in the past.
Should years still be leap years if divisible by four, unless also divisible by 100, unless they are divisible by 400 – even for those years when the Sun will have died out?
No, of course not. The whole point of this leap year mess is to make the year match one revolution of the Earth around the Sun, so for those years when the Earth doesn’t revolve around the Sun, why bother? I propose to the International Calendar Association or whoever is in charge of this stuff that the rule be changed. The year should be a leap year if divisible by four unless divisible by 100 unless also divisible by 400 unless the year has more than 16 digits. Therefore, Feb. 29, 6400 should be a valid date, but Feb. 29, 2834683560325996400 should not.
Isn’t a "K" really 1024 not 1000?
You’re right, computers are binary, and a K is really 2 raised to the 10th power (i.e. 1024) not 1000. One K of RAM or disk space means 1024 bytes, and 2K is 2048 bytes not 2000. Therefore, the next time your boss asks you about Y2K compliance, you can explain to him that technically "Y2K" isn’t until 2048 so you still have 49 more years to prepare. You’d be wrong but it sounds convincing.
If a computer hardware or software manufacturer makes claims that their product "will function correctly in the year 2000 and thereafter", while in fact it is only Y2K compliant not Y10K compliant, can I sue them?
Great idea! This could be a good way to make lots of easy money! "Thereafter" is a very long time, and such wildly overstated claims are false advertising. (Of course, you might have to prove damages.)