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Bitten by the Bug Bona Fide Y2K Glitches of the New Year W E B L I N K S  Y2KMistakes.com |
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By Jonathan Dube ABCNEWS.com Jan. 8 — Y2K came and went without major social unrest, widespread computer breakdowns or nuclear weapons launches. But that’s not to say there were no glitches at all. Here is a sampling of some of the snafus wrought by the millennium bug. Can You Take
a Check? The Y2K bug hit a video store customer with a $91,250 late
fee when he returned The General’s Daughter. A computer at the
Super Video rental store in Colonie, N.Y., calculated the tape as being
100 years late. Must have been a really good movie to keep it that
long. A Century
Behind Bars. Court officials in Naples, Italy, found that prisoners
looking forward to release next Monday had, according to computer records,
been detained 100 years too long and should have been released on Jan. 10,
1900. Others whose sentences were due to have ended in December 1999 could
look forward to another century behind bars, while those awaiting hearings
also had an extra 100 years to wait. Anybody know a good lawyer?
Born an Old
Man. In South Korea, about 900 families in apartments in Pyongchon,
just south of Seoul, went without heat for several hours Saturday when a
central heating system malfunctioned. In the nearby city of Ansan, a
hospital said Sunday that its computer recorded a newborn’s birthday as
Jan. 1, 1900. The child apparently was very mature for a newborn.
DOD Losses.
For two hours on New Year’s Eve, the United States lost all
information from spy satellites that take pictures over places like the
Middle East and Russia. The data was beamed back to Earth, officials say,
but because computers couldn’t translate the information, it was lost
forever. Now we’ll never know what the Russians did to celebrate the new
millennium. Darn! Game
Over. Game maker Nintendo’s official Pokémon Web site displayed the
date Jan.2, 3900. Ash suspects the snafu is part of a plot hatched by Team
Rocket and summons Pikachu. Problem solved.
Correction,
Please. The New York Times published an Associated Press story
about Wal-Mart expanding its Web site but misdated it Jan. 1, 1900.
Wal-Mart always was ahead of the Times.
Monopoly
Meltdown. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer software displayed the year as
3900 on some Web pages when it read outdated programming language commands
embedded in some sites. Microsoft also experienced a “minor” glitch in its
Hotmail e-mail program that caused an error in some message dates. And
even Microsoft’s own Web sites weren’t perfect: dating errors cropped up
on its New Zealand and Finland sites. Rumor has it that Microsoft is no
longer content with monopolizing the PC industry and now seeks to control
time itself. Netscape of
the Future. Netscape Netherlands, United Kingdom, Brazil and South
America sites all thought it was Jan. 1, 19100. On the Netscape’s Latin
America Web site, the date read “Sabado, 1 de enero, 19100.” Como
desconcierta! An Aged
Degree. Korea University sent out graduation certificates dated Jan.
13, 1900, according to The Wall Street Journal. We would like to extend
our belated congratulations to the new, er, old, graduates!
Inflationary
Effects. London’s Independent reported that a man in Germany
logged onto his bank account on his personal computer to find that he had
the equivalent of $6,826,253.67 extra in his account — but the transaction
date was 30 December 1899. Now what’s the interest on that?
Do You Still
Trust E-Trade? E-trade’s site offered new customers a year-end bonus
of $100. The only catch: users would have to wait 18,100 years for the
check. The site was dated Jan. 1, 20100. That’s a long time to wait for
$100. Laptop of the
Future. Apple’s iBook page was dated 20100 — making the slick computer
truly the laptop of the future. | |||||||||||||||||||
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