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Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

#3

Post by x1798DE »

facorreia wrote: post #2

> the agency uses a two-digit code for the birth year I find that surprising, I would expect even newcomer professionals to at least have heard about the Y2K bug.

Not sure why anyone is memory conservative these days anyway, but it's possible they thought about it but figured that there weren't that many people over the age of 118 floating around, and even if they get a letter reminding them to register for the draft, they'd just ignore it.

Re: Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

#4

Post by Igglyboo »

x1798DE wrote: post #3
facorreia wrote: post #2

> the agency uses a two-digit code for the birth year I find that surprising, I would expect even newcomer professionals to at least have heard about the Y2K bug.

Not sure why anyone is memory conservative these days anyway, but it's possible they thought about it but figured that there weren't that many people over the age of 118 floating around, and even if they get a letter reminding them to register for the draft, they'd just ignore it.

Or it's a legacy system they never bothered properly fixing and just used some quick hack when 2000 rolled around.

Re: Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

#6

Post by noelwelsh »

mandalar12 wrote: post #5

"These letters were sent due to a computer error, the agency said in a message posted online" No this is a human error. Are they trying to avoid responsibility when this is a minor (and a little funny) mistake ?

In the final analysis, very very few computer errors are the responsibility of the computer.

Re: Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

#7

Post by donutello »

x1798DE wrote: post #3
facorreia wrote: post #2

> the agency uses a two-digit code for the birth year I find that surprising, I would expect even newcomer professionals to at least have heard about the Y2K bug.

Not sure why anyone is memory conservative these days anyway, but it's possible they thought about it but figured that there weren't that many people over the age of 118 floating around, and even if they get a letter reminding them to register for the draft, they'd just ignore it.

> but figured that there weren't that many people over the age of 118 floating around

The letter shown in the example was sent to someone who died in 1992 so there's at least some evidence to suggest that floating around is not a necessary condition to receive the letter.

Re: Men born between 1893 and 1897 reminded to register for the draft

#8

Post by revelation »

Igglyboo wrote: post #4
x1798DE wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why anyone is memory conservative these days anyway, but it's possible they thought about it but figured that there weren't that many people over the age of 118 floating around, and even if they get a letter reminding them to register for the draft, they'd just ignore it.

Or it's a legacy system they never bothered properly fixing and just used some quick hack when 2000 rolled around.

It is 2014, males born in the 2000s are not yet at an age where they would be harassed by the selective service.

My estimate is we will see this blow up again in 2018.

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