# Re: Announcement SDMB
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 31, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327 "2001-07-31T13:44:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/1 "2001-07-31T13:44:19Z")
OK, who was registered December 1969? Or should that be “Dr Who”???
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### Author:  [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/2 "2001-07-31T13:52:20Z")
I just came to ATMB to point that out. Except that my announcement “registered” at Jan 1970. That must be ground zero for the software. Cool.
pan
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/3 "2001-07-31T14:09:29Z")
In the forum display, the thread starter (which seems to mean the last poster for announcements) is listed as “()”, but there’s no name displayed next to the post. What gives?
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/4 "2001-07-31T15:22:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kabbes \*
> \*\*I just came to ATMB to point that out. Except that my announcement “registered” at Jan 1970. That must be ground zero for the software. Cool.
>
> pan \*\*
Are you in England? … let’s read the profile … yep.
A common internal format for storing dates as integers is a format popularized by UNIX, which represents the date as a count of seconds since midnight, Jan 1, GMT. Software hiccups involving dates stored in this format tend to result in 0 being displayed as Jan 1, 1970, which may get translated into December if adjusted for a timezone in the Americas.
BTW, this creates a “year 2038” problem when that counter rolls over a 32 bit signed integer.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/5 "2001-07-31T15:32:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by yabob \*
> \*\*BTW, this creates a “year 2038” problem when that counter rolls over a 32 bit signed integer. \*\*
Course, by then we’ll probably have perfected the 64-bit architecture. IIRC, that won’t pose a date problem until after the sun goes cold (and who knows what we’ll be using by then).
And to keep this on topic, I saw the last poster displayed as “tech ()” in the GD announcement.
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### Author:  [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/6 "2001-07-31T15:36:54Z")
mmmm… 32 bit signed integer…
er…
Anyway, I see from your explanation that once again Britain has managed to keep its one last piece of world dominance - that of GMT being zero hour!
Though it seems that this is now being threatened by Chicago Reader Time (CRT)
(on preview I see that **ultrafilter** has picked up on the thing that brought me back to ATMB - the further organic growth of the name in the announcement box. What will be next? “Technician”? I live in fear of it being **techchick68** )
pan
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### Author:  [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/7 "2001-07-31T16:49:03Z")
Wait, if its 1970… where the hell are my bell bottoms??
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### Author:  [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/8 "2001-07-31T22:01:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \*
> \*\*Wait, if its 1970… where the hell are my bell bottoms?? \*\*
Wait, if it’s 1970… how in the hell am I here?? I am not even a twinkle in my daddy’s eye…
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/9 "2001-08-02T14:13:04Z")
And who is this jdavis chap? Hmmm?
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-announcement-sdmb/74327/10 "2001-08-03T00:32:21Z")
Otherwise known as Jerry the Tech God.
We probably owe him, collectively, about a zillion beers and a few first-born children, so show some respect.
your humble TubaDiva
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