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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| | + | {{incomplete|Created by a CONFUSED HISTORIAN BORN ON DECEMBER 30TH - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| | + | Many files and database entries contain a date. When it is not set, it often defaults to the first day in the system. |
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| − | Many files and database entries contain a date. When it is not set, it often defaults to the first day in the system. The two dates listed below are mentioned as "significant" in the comic.
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| − | ===Dec 30th, 1899===
| + | The default "creation date" of many operating systems and software is Jan 1st, 1970. Which leads to a lot of files wrongly reporting that they were created on this date. This comes from dates being stored as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time Unix timestamps], which are defined as the number of seconds since Jan 1st, 1970, 0:00, so a timestamp value of 0 (the default value of integers in most systems) equates to this date. |
| − | Dec 30th, 1899 comes from a [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-review/ spreadsheet date compatibility issue] between Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 (referenced in the title text.) Spreadsheets store dates as sequential numbers so that they can be used in calculations. In Excel, by default, January 1, 1900 is number 1 [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/datevalue-function-df8b07d4-7761-4a93-bc33-b7471bbff252]. Based on that, Excel's integer date representation would be the number of days that have passed since December 31, 1899. However, because of a bug intentionally carried over from Lotus 1-2-3 where it counts February 29, 1900 as a day even though it actually was not [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/excel/wrongly-assumes-1900-is-leap-year], for any day since then, Excel's integer date representation is actually the number of days that have passed since December 30, 1899. Most other spreadsheet applications copied the behavior of Excel to maintain compatibility with it. This leads to the value of 0 in some applications (notably Open- and LibreOffice Calc and Google Spreadsheets) being interpreted as Dec 30th, 1899. Similarly, Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) interpret 0.0 as Dec 30th, 1899.
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| − | The historian in the comic presents some research wrongly based only on the number of entries created on those dates. This confusion on the part of the future historian only grows in the title text, where they make the claim that Lotus 1-2-3 is, in fact, religious imagery related to some sort of deity, potentially a lotus god, around whom the '1899 event' took place. This may be poking fun at the trope that anthropologists attribute any behavior they can't explain to religious ritual.{{Actual citation needed}} This historian's confusion may have been at least partially due to China's {{w|White Lotus|White Lotus Religion}}.
| + | Dec 30th, 1899 comes from a [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-review/ spreadsheet date compatibility issue] between Excel and Lotus 123 (referenced in the title text.) The value 1.0 is interpreted as the date Dec 30th, 1899 in Excel and in the majority of modern spreadsheet software. Similarly, Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) interprets 0.0 as Dec 30th, 1899. |
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| − | ===Jan 1st, 1970===
| + | The historian in the comic presents some research wrongly based only on the number of entries created on those dates. This confusion on the part of the future historian only grows in the title text, where they make the claim that Lotus 123 is, in fact, religious imagery related to some sort of deity, potentially a lotus god, around whom the '1899 event' took place. This confusion may have been at least partially due to China's {{w|White Lotus|White Lotus Religion}}. |
| − | Many operating systems and software store dates as {{w|Unix time|Unix timestamps}}, which are defined as the number of seconds since Jan 1st, 1970, 0:00 UTC. When data entry neglects to provide a value, the system may be programmed to treat it as 0; consequently, an unprovided timestamp value is interpreted as Jan 1st, 1970 thereby creating the illusion of an "activity spike" on that date.
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| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| − | :[Blondie is lecturing, pointing at a futuristic holographic display emanating upwards from a unit on the floor. It shows a presentation that features a timeline with two visible dates, 1899 and 1970. At the top of the hologram are two lines of text, above "1899" are three lines of text, above "1970" is one line of text, below "1899" are two lines of text, and below "1970" is one line of text; all of these lines of text are illegible.] | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| − | :Blondie: Historical records show millions of business transactions occurred on Dec 30<sup>th</sup>, 1899.
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| − | :Blondie: This economic activity sparked the digital age, culminating in a "data festival" on Jan 1<sup>st</sup>, 1970, when many early digital files were created.
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| | + | :[Blondie is talking, while pointing to a hologram, representing a timeline with two dates: 1899 and 1970] |
| | + | :Historical records show millions of business transactions occurred on Dec 30th, 1899. |
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| | + | :This economic activity sparked the digital age, culminating in a "data festival" on Jan 1st, 1970, when many early digital files were created. |
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| | :[Caption under the panel:] | | :[Caption under the panel:] |
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| | [[Category:Calendar]] | | [[Category:Calendar]] |
| | [[Category:Time]] | | [[Category:Time]] |
| − | [[Category:Programming]]
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