http://www.msnbc.com/local/WBBH/213210.asp

Link Computer glitch sparks Y2K fears Highlighted on this occupational license, a date of January 1st, 1900. Thousands of these went out in Lee County, now some fear the county may not be ready for Y2K.

LEE COUNTY, Fla., Dec 14 - A county computer glitch dated 25,000 new occupational licenses back to the year 1900. Some fear the mistake is a sign of future problems related to the Y2K bug.

NBC2 Reporter Lou Arens investigates the date glitch

THIS HAS KIND of scares me. It really has, cause I didnt think this would happen in our small community, Ed Festa says of his misdated license. Festa has run his septic tank business in Southwest Florida for just over a decade, but this year, Eds county occupational license makes him a little uneasy, dated 01-01-1900. Some computer may integrate with another computer and say, hey this guy owes taxes back to 1900...this isnt right, Festa says. His license, like nearly 25,000 others in Lee County, gets renewed every year. So why the nearly 100 year-old date? A Y2K problem? Tax Collector Bill Fussell says no. This is a computer start date. This 01-01-1900, it will roll over when 2000 comes in and everything will be fine, Fussell says. The tax collectors office just finished updating its systems and claims the date was just used as a default, a back-up number. Ed, though, isnt so sure. If they have computer geniuses fixing the problem, why dont they put the correct dates in? Is there an underlying problem? That is what I want to know, he says.

NBC2 Y2K Resource Center

Just to make sure there arent any other questions, the tax collectors office will no longer use the number. From now on, itll use the word null instead. Additionally, Fussell reassures everyone in Lee County that the tax collectors new system is fully Y2K ready, and that there should be no problems come the new year.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 15, 1999

Answers

This isn't going to nullify the Y(NULL) problem

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 15, 1999.

This is a computer start date. This 01-01-1900, it will roll over when 2000 comes in and everything will be fine, Fussell says.

Why most programmers I know use 01-01-1900 as a convenient 'start date.' Why when I am programming that is the first trick that I reach for in my speciall little bag of weenie-type tricks.

"Hum,I need to fool a complete idiot like Fussell, to make him think that I fixed something, so I will be paid and than I can bug out with my preps. What zany special little trick will I pull out of my bag-o-tricks. How about a 'start date'

By Frizzel, you fool

-- By Buy (leaving@stayway.org), December 15, 1999.

Wow! This blatant LIE is so raw it has Pinnochio 5 Feet instant growth status!

LOLROTFLOAO

Why will Y2K be so bad? Why will humanimals exacerbate it? Because now humanimals have lost all grasp of the nobility and necessity for Truth, and wouldn't recognize the Truth if it pitbulled their behinds and kept shaking deeper and harder.

But the code has not been quite as swayed by "perception management" as the lost herd ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), December 15, 1999.

<<. This is a computer start date. This 01-01-1900, it will roll over when 2000 comes in and everything will be fine, Fussell says. The tax collectors office just finished updating its systems and claims the date was just used as a default, a back-up number. >>

Wow - blantant hypocrisy and lies.....I'm real sure that this guy "started" his license Jan 1, 1900.

BUT THE REPORTER DIDN"T CARE ABOUT THE OBVIOUS LIE? Just presented it as if it were another "side" of the story.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 15, 1999.