Number 198 - November 1999

The Ballad of the Y2K
Submitted by RJB www.Joke-Of-The-Day.com - May 20, 1999 sing to tune Gilligan's Island
Just sit right back, you'll hear a tale     Of the doom that is our fate.        That started when programmers used           Two digits for a date           Two digits for a date RAM memory was smaller then;    Hard drives were tiny, too.       Four digits are extravagant,           So let's get by with two.           So let's get by with two. "This works through 1999,"     The programmers did say.        "Unless we write new code by then,          The data goes away.          The data goes away." But management had not a clue;     "It works fine now, you bet!        Rewriting code costs money,           We won't do it just yet.           We won't do it just yet."	Now when 2000 rolls around     It all goes straight to hell,        For zero's less than ninety-nine,           As anyone can tell.           As anyone can tell. The mail won't bring your pension check;     It won't be sent to you        When you're no longer sixty-eight           But minus thirty-two.           But minus thirty-two. The problems we're about to face     Are frightening, for sure.        And reading every line of code's           The only certain cure.           The only certain cure There's not much time, there's too much code,     And COBOL-coders, few.        When the century is finished,           We may be finished, too.           We may be finished, too. From NOCCC Website
Number 198 - November 1999