Year 2000 Computer Problem (Y2K Bug)
             No event since the destruction of the city of Pompeii by a volcanic eruption has had this kind of potential to affect the globe. With less than 2 months until the year 2000, two small digits may turn January 1, 2000 from one big celebration into a worldwide technological nightmare. On the edge of the new millennium, a common defect in the world's computer systems has spawned a fear that has governmental and industrial powerhouses trembling. The year 2000 computer problem, labeled the "Y2K bug", is unlike any other problem in modern history for several reasons. It will occur at the same time worldwide, time zones withstanding, and it affects all languages and platforms, hardware and software. The world is going to come to a "virtual" halt.
             The year 2000 is not really a "bug" or "Virus", but is more a computer industry mistake. Computers are programmed to store the date in the following format: dd/mm/yy. This only allows 2 digits for the year. January 1, 2000 would be stored as 01/01/00, but the computer will interpret this as January 1, 1900 – not 2000. This two-digit date affects information manipulation, mostly subtractions and comparisons. For example: I was born in 1983. If I ask the computer to calculate how old I am today it subtracts 83 from 99 and announces that I'm 16. Not bad. In the year 2000 however, that computer will subtract 83 from 00 and say that I'm –83 years old. This error will affect any calculation that produces or uses time spans. Here's the scenario: Imagine making a payment on a loan in 1999 for a bill that is due in 2000. The banks' computers will interpret the "00" as 1900 and you would then be charged with 99 years of late fees. Suppose an individual on the east coast at 2 minutes after midnight, Montreal Time on January 1, 2000 decides to celebrate the year and century by ca...