I am amazed at the mounting hysteria among IT people about the upcoming clock change on March 11. Thanks to a congressional act, we’re getting rid of daylight savings time three weeks early this year, and I for one, am glad for it.
But … you’d think Y2K was coming back to haunt us for all the noise being expended talking about it. So Windows 2000 users won’t get an automatic update … um, probably Microsoft Me and Bob users won’t either. Will planes crash, power plants go dark, and cats start dating dogs? Yeah. Just like they did in 2000, when everyone toasted the New Year expecting looting to break out by dawn.
Here’s one example from ZDNET:
“Some say those companies that don’t pay full attention to the issue are in for a rude awakening.
“We’ve been aware of the DST changes since late last year. But the tools and patches keep changing, or weren’t available, which made it difficult to create a solid plan,” said Warren Byle, a systems engineer at an insurance company. “This change might go smoothly for those who are prepared, but I think it will be the ‘Y2K that wasn’t’ for the rest.”
The move could impact time-sensitive applications other than calendaring, such as those that process sales orders or keep track of time cards. Gartner, for example, says the bug could lead to incorrect arrival and departure times in the travel industry and result in errors in bank transactions, causing late payments. In addition, trading applications might execute purchases and sales at the wrong time, and cell phone-billing software could charge peak rates at off-peak hours.”
I have a solution. It’s called changing the clock. You know the drill. Go to the clock and spin the hands forward an hour? Do the digital equivalent on your desktop and be done with it. And sure, any IT person who doesn’t reset the server clock should get spanked.
Not so fast. Those clock things can be tricky, indeed.
How tricky?
Well, a few of the newest invisible flying machine from the USAF, better known as the F22A Raptor, managed to get themselves in a dogfight with father time and the results weren’t pretty.
The Raptors, headed to Japan, took off from Hickham AFB in Hawaii. Problem was, they had to cross the dreaded International Dateline.
Some systems, including navigation, fule and some of communications crashed. No rebooting in the sky. These poor Raptors had to follow a tanker plane back to Hawaii and they were glad to have the clear skies. Navigating by an empty sky isn’t that easy when everything on your plane is digital. Perhaps pilots ought to carry a good, old compass, just for luck.
Will planes crash? Not this time, amigo, but it was a close call. Father Time is not to be screwed with, mocked, or spit upon. He hath shown his fury to the $120 million per plane Raptor with his dasterdly dateline weapon and now, I fear, your words hath made him angry once again.
Before he fills your garden with rats, leaves dog excrement in your living room, and whispers to your eldest how much better he would look with a full face tatoo, I think some sort of sacrifice is in order.
Fire up the BBQ, hide the dogs, and make nice to Father Time come Sunday. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
I’ll make sure to bring my Timex next time I take the family Raptor out for a spin over Guam.
You STILL mock Daddy Time? Cheeky bastard.
Sure, Sunday will come and go and everyone except those in Indiana will merely be a little tired from losing one hour of sleep but that doesn’t stop Poppy T from lurking in the shadows, reaching within your body, and giving your clogged arteries a good shake.
Be warned. One day you will be young and healthy and able to sleep throughout the night without going to the bathroom then BOOM! Papa Time comes into your house, sprinkles some dried cat urine upon your head and BAM! you’re 50 with a bad back, going blind and shopping for Depends.
Laugh now but you know what’s coming.
Oh, and that thing about Eliot and the face tattoo? So sorry, but he’s already picked out his china pattern: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/05/teacher_sports_full_.html
Mock away, funny man, mock away
Tick Tock. What I want to know is who can I get to spend one lousy buck on a Mega Millions (random pic) before the stores close? My ex tells me it is too cold to go out back there and she lives only a couple of miles from a convenience store in Manomet. Oh well, I can always spend it at the local Dollar store for a crying towel.
Lookie what just arrived on Outlook, a note from tech support:
“I will be patching the Exchange Email Server this afternoon for the change in Daylight Savings Time.
It will also be necessary to patch the Outlook email client manually to bring calendar appointments in-sync with Daylight Savings Time.
I will be sending out a software tool next week for Outlook to do this. It is quick and easy to run.”
Argentina doesn’t have daylight savings time, the country would just collapse in riots a looting. Talking with Mike Mann he stated the same was true about China.
Maybe it’s time we evolve into something that is not designed around the fact it took days to cross a time zone? But then again we’d get a bugger such as Swatch’s internet time.
The Daily Show had a great take on this
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=83445
enjoy