The TASC Group ( www.tasc.dot.gov/Y2K/ ) publishes a Clock which gives the number of Federal Days left 'till the END. You can right click on the screen and save the clock, in which case an Applet will be downloaded to your computer. You can then check it off line.

To make a long story short, I did that several months ago...and put the shortcut on my START menu. Recently, I have been counting down Federal Days. The downloaded Applet says just 11 Federal Days left. But when I visit the site on the Web, TASC now indicates 16 Fed days 'till the Roll. They apparantly Miscounted by 5 Days!!

Folks, this group peddled it's services to help other .gov groups get compliant. Yet they wrote a program to calculate their specialty...Federal Days...which is wrong. They have corrected the days, yet the Applet on my computer is uncorrected.

Folks, this does NOT inspire confidence!!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), December 06, 1999

Answers

Given the history of how the government has continually decreased the number of "mission critical" systems versus "non-mission critical" systems that have to be fixed (as deadlines slip-slided away), maybe they are now doing the same with days. The five "missing" days just are not mission critical!!

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), December 06, 1999.

Folks, I just reread my post, and I would like to correct the Tone. I am grateful for the Clock that TASC.dot.gov has provided...and I am not snickering at them.

My only point, which I should have emphasized, is that these Calendar programs apparantly are very difficult to "get right."

At least the Standard Algorithm is standard, and correct, save for 2000 Leap Year. TASC, in a well intentioned effort, wrote a different algorithm. Apparantly, these Calendar Programs are Subtle.

I shudder to think that the programs developed by many other .com,.gov,.edu,.org groups could be defeated by such subtlties.

-- K.Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), December 06, 1999.

These calendar programs are DIFFICULT TO GET RIGHT?? And presumably an error of FIVE FRIGGING DAYS is within acceptable tolerance???!!!!!!!

For me, this is where NOT having a technical background comes in handy, as I can "fill in" the gap with COMMON SENSE!!

Get some, dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), December 06, 1999.

You are in error, citizen. You have not discovered a plan to order everyone in the world to turn their clocks back five days in the last few minutes of 1999. However, it would be perfectly reasonable and achievable of us to do this. Should we do so, any failures would then be due to your non-compliance.

You are in error, citizen. What is your address? We have something here that we'd like to send you.

(Disclaimer: This is humour. I hope. ;) )

-- They/Them (They@Them.gov), December 06, 1999.

They/Them,

ROFL!!

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 06, 1999.