
Tell HN: We are now closer to the Y2K38 problem than the Y2K problem - jedberg
For those of you who remember Dec 31, 1999, this might amuse you:  https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;dQo0y8B
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sigil
We need a catchy, vaguely ominous name to scare people into action. “Y2K38”
isn’t cutting it.

Proposed rebranding: The Epochalypse.

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rl3
Why, that sounds negatively epochalyptic.

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jedberg
I'll be just over 60 years old when that happens. With any luck, I'll be
retired and not have to worry about it... I think having to deal with both Y2K
and Y2K38 in one career is too much.

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dwd
We're at 72% gone.

June 10th, 2024 we hit 80%.

April 1st 2031 - 90%. (maybe not a good day to tell everyone to start
worrying)

August 25th 2034 - 95% (panic time)

As an aside, I always use 2038-01-19 for any far future end dates rather than
a null.

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runjake
While we're worrying about the Y2K38 problem, don'r forget to worry about the
Year 2036 Problem [1], as well. Here's a pretty good summary of the upcoming
time-related fun [2].

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem#Network_Time...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem#Network_Time_Protocol_timestamps)

2\. [http://www.lieberbiber.de/2017/03/14/a-look-at-the-
year-2036...](http://www.lieberbiber.de/2017/03/14/a-look-at-the-
year-20362038-problems-and-time-proofness-in-various-systems/)

~~~
hackerman12345
Don't forget 2019!

[https://www.gps.gov/cgsic/meetings/2017/powers.pdf](https://www.gps.gov/cgsic/meetings/2017/powers.pdf)

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ryanbertrand
We launched a crime based RPG game on iOS back in the day that had a
leaderboard which tracked in game net worth (cash, investments, etc).

I still remember the day we woke up to multiple emails and lawsuit threats
from our top player whose net worth suddenly went negative on the leaderboard.

Our players were very competitive and loved pushing the boundaries by trying
to find vulnerabilities, shortcuts, etc so we assumed the worst and thought we
had a bug in our system! Turned out to be our JSON parsing library was using
integerValue on our NSNumber instances causing the ints to overflow. It was a
tough week waiting for Apple to review the app while our players lost faith in
us.

Lesson learned :)

(Luckily the player and our community were understanding and stay around)

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franzwong
Japan's emperor will step down this year. They need to change their calendar
too.

