Life in Berlin is much more regular than in Hong Kong.

I go to the physics department of Humboldt University four times a week, and I usually spend my time in the NB Yàn room in Berlin on the Elbe. In order to maintain the consistency of the research, Dr. Lan Hongzhe and Dr. Jia Huamei also came to Germany with their respective assistants.

I accompany my wife, son and daughter, do what I like, go to Humboldt University to take classes, and participate in a day of continuing education organized by Germany every Thursday, and live a very comfortable life.

Back in his home country, Jan Joseph was also happier than in Hong Kong. Now his public identity is "assistant", and since he is an assistant, he can't just do the work of a bodyguard.

As always, wake up on time at six.

After sorting out the fax from the Hong Kong headquarters of NB Electric and NB Shiyàn room, he changed into sportswear and went for a run in the woods with the charter who had just gotten up.

"The air is so good."

After running more than 400 meters, he began to run backwards as usual, and said with a smile as he ran: "Joseph, there is a proverb in our hometown that the plan of the year lies in spring, and the day lies in the morning, and the air is so fresh in the morning, how good it is to come out to exercise and exercise, but Qingqing just can't get up." ”

Jan Joseph laughed: "Children are like this, and you were so busy before, you didn't have time to spend with them like you do now, and you didn't get into the habit of getting up early to exercise." ”

"Yes, habits are important," the charter glanced back in the direction and turned around, "Joseph, it's almost Christmas, what are your plans?" ”

I talked about my children early in the morning, and now I ask myself what I plan for Christmas.

Jan Joseph was stunned for a moment, and then reacted. Little August was bouncing around Magdalena all day. The relationship between mother and son is getting more and more harmonious. Jan Joseph was envious. If you really don't want to be a son in West Germany, that's fake, but what can you think?

He pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "They have their own lives now, and they are said to be living happily, what else can I plan?" ”

The charter grabbed the towel around his neck and wiped his sweat, and said seductively: "Anyway, you are the biological father of the child, it is one thing whether they are happy or not, and it is another thing whether you go or not." ”

"I want to think about it."

"What to think about. It's so decided," for fear that he wouldn't go, the charter specially added: "Professor Asaume made an appointment the day before yesterday to let our family go to his place for Christmas, you don't have to worry about this, you can go when you should go." ”

Jan Joseph was not afraid of the muzzle of the gun, but was afraid of facing his son who had been away for a few years, and seeing that the attitude of the charter was so resolute, he was silent for a while before he whispered: "Well, I listen to you. ”

As he spoke. A small squirrel suddenly burst out of the woods. These little ones are not afraid of people at all and do not only move in the woods. Sometimes I visit the villa and make a mess in the kitchen.

The charter slowed down, did more than a dozen chest expansion exercises in a row, and asked as he ran back, "What's the news in Hong Kong?" ”

"It's all bad news."

"Bad news?"

Jan Joseph nodded heavily and introduced one by one: "The day before yesterday, a China Airlines passenger plane crashed after landing at Kai Tak Airport and rushed into the sea, injuring 23 people on board. Yesterday, a fire broke out in a Hong Kong-owned toy factory in the Hong Kong Special Economic Zone, and because the windows and doors of the factory were sealed, hundreds of workers did not undergo escape training, resulting in a tragic trampling of Yan Zòng, resulting in 87 deaths and 52 injuries. ”

More than 80 people died, more than the number of casualties in the explosion at the Qingshuihe storage and transportation warehouse.

The charter was secretly frightened, and after thinking about it, he said solemnly: "It's really a disaster, and the blessing is unparalleled!" We must learn from this that such a terrible tragedy cannot happen in our factory. ”

"There is an arrangement at the headquarters, after the accident of the China Airlines passenger plane, Mr. Wu asked NB Airlines to send experts to participate in the investigation to ensure that our flight will not have the same problem. The same goes for fire prevention, for which the board of directors has also passed a resolution to have safety managers in all branches around the world starting next month. ”

The movement was very fast, and he nodded with satisfaction, and when he ran to the front of the villa and was about to go upstairs to take a shower and change clothes, he suddenly turned around and asked with a smile: "Joseph, do you know what day it is?" ”

Jan-Joseph was confused and puzzled, and said, "November 1st, it seems that there is nothing particularly memorable. ”

The charter nodded to Magdalena, who was facing her, took off the towel and said with a smile: "It was not worth remembering before, but it will definitely be worth it in the future, because today is the day when the Maastricht Treaty officially entered into force and the European Union was officially born." From today, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Finland and Austria will become not only a true political and economic union, but also a monetary union in the near future. ”

For those of them who were deeply impressed by the war, this was indeed a big event, and Jan-Joseph reacted and immediately nodded again and again: "The birth of the European Union, and the euro is not far away, it is indeed worth commemorating." ”

Magdalena was not interested in these national affairs, and brought out two breakfasts and urged: "Sir, Dr. Klinsmann has already called three times, please be sure to attend today's meeting. ”

"Got it, I'll be down right away."

Now that he has to take care of Xiao Zhanghan by himself, Xia Yao naturally couldn't get up so early, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, teased in the bedroom for a while, and went to the next door to call Qingqing that little lazy guy again, and then hurriedly ate a few bites of breakfast, and rushed to the real yàn room with Yang-Joseph.

It's no better than Hong Kong, which has hardly held any events since its inception. Far away in the suburbs, there are not so many reporters who come here to cover the news.

The guests arrived in a short time, and Dr. Klinsmann and other bigwigs of the real room came early, inspected the newly renovated multi-functional conference room, and were busy checking the meeting materials, even asking about whether there was enough parking space and what to eat for lunch.

"Marcus, they're not coming, are they?"

Seeing that it was almost eight o'clock and there were no cars on the road outside, Dr. Klinsmann, who was holding the event for the first time, was a little nervous and doubtful that people would not give him face.

"Don't worry, it'll come."

Dr. Marcus's voice just fell. The charter smiled confidently, "Doctor." This is the first academic exchange event we have held. And with so many invitations sent out in advance, I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't come. ”

Germany is not Hong Kong, and Berlin is not Hong Kong.

With the famous Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Association for the Promotion of Applied Research and the Leibniz Society in Germany, and so many West German research institutes with R&D capabilities stronger than the other, the Berlin NB studio is too inconspicuous and not even as well-known as a research institute at RWTH Aachen University.

If it weren't for the pleas, Dr. Klinsmann wouldn't have rushed to ask them, even when he was anxious. Three Kesbauer buses slowly approached from a distance.

Three cars were sent out, and all of them came back, matching the number of people invited. The doctor was excited, and hurriedly trotted forward to greet him.

The line-up of guests was very strong, including representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the State Government of Berlin. The financial community invited three representatives, namely Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Postbank; Four presidents or vice-presidents of the Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Association for the Promotion of Applied Research and the Leibniz Society in Germany came.

The other guests were computer professors from RWTH Aachen University, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, University of Leipzig, University of Munich, University of Hamburg, Technical University of Dresden, Technical University of Berlin, University of Cologne and University of Münster.

Dr. Klinsmann didn't know how to get a senior government official, so he simply pushed the charter to the front. After a pleasant exchange with the Deputy Minister of Education and Research and the officials of the State of Berlin, the charter beckoned everyone into the conference room.

"Dr. Hartle. I'm sitting with you today. As soon as the man in front of him sat down, Dr. Christian sat down next to a specialist in his forties.

Nice environment. I just don't know if they can make a name for themselves, Dr. Hartle from Max Planck looked around, smiled sideways and asked, "Why?" ”

"Because the protagonists of the seminar are your students, I want to share your pride."

"I have a lot of students, which one do you refer to?"

"You don't have much China, do you?"

Dr. Hartle asked, "Ginger, Christian, are you saying Ginger is here?" ”

"She's not here, can I invite you?"

At the same time, Deputy Minister of Federal Education and Scientific Research Petri is whispering with the statute. Yesterday, Minister Angela mentioned on the phone that otherwise he would never have condescended to come here, and others did not know why they were talking and laughing, but he leaned into the ear of the charter and asked worriedly: "Mr. Zhang, if these predictions are all right, what areas will it have an impact, and how much damage will it cause?" ”

"I really can't answer this question, but I'm sure that if it doesn't attract enough attention from the whole society and even the world, the losses it will bring will be hundreds of billions."

The young scientist next to him, who is recognized all over the world, said that if he didn't predict it, there shouldn't be much of a problem, thinking of the possible consequences of a small negligence, Vice Minister Petri couldn't help but sigh: "It's terrible, but fortunately it was discovered in time." ”

The charter glanced back and said quietly: "This qiē still needs to be confirmed by the experts, if they think that the prediction is okay after the end, it means that there is a big problem." ”

"I hope you're wrong."

"I want to, too."

As she was talking, Jiang Meimei, wearing a pale yellow coat, walked onto the stage one after another with four German researchers from the Berlin NB room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, please allow me to introduce four of my colleagues, this is Dr. Jiang Meimei, Deputy Director of the Computer Application Center of our NB Office, and this is Dr. Julis, Deputy Director of the Berlin Computer Center......"

The five young people are from Germany, Hong Kong and Russia, and all of them have studied in Germany, and even their doctoral supervisors are sitting in the audience. Seeing the high-spirited appearance of their students, several professors invariably gave a round of applause.

Dr. Ehrlich, director of the computer center of the NB room in Berlin, is the protagonist of the day, and while gesturing the real yàn staff to distribute the materials, he pointed to the picture of the projector that had just been screened, and said: "As we all know, the development of computers depends largely on storage technology. From the 60s. Storage is then applied to the computer. And the cost was high at the time. If you use a four-digit number to represent the year, you will need to take up more memory space, which will increase the cost. So in order to save storage space, the programmer uses a two-digit number to indicate the year.

With the rapid development of computer technology, although the price of memory has been reduced later, the practice of using two digits to represent the year in computer systems has been inherited due to the inertia of thinking, year after year. Until today.

As you know, the NB Office has just reached a series of agreements with the BJ Olympic Organizing Committee to assist BJ in making the 2000 Olympic Games a green Olympics and a science and technology Olympics. Just as we were about to identify specific R&D projects, it suddenly dawned on us that using a two-digit year would not be able to correctly identify the year 2000 and beyond. ”

In addition to government officials and representatives of the financial sector, all of Germany's leading computer experts were present.

As expected by the charter, Dr. Ehrlich woke up the "dreamer" with a word, and as soon as the words fell, the experts realized the possible effects of this, and there was a commotion in the room.

Jiang Meimei took over the conversation. Pointing to the image behind him, he explained in fluent German: "As computer researchers, we know very well that this little oversight can lead to problems. But we don't know how big this trouble is, what areas it will involve, and what kind of impact it will cause. So Guò simulation modeling, a verification of more than a dozen key areas was carried out, and the results were shocking.

For example, in the financial industry, if decisive measures are not taken and attention is not taken, by the year 2000, the banking system will interpret the year 2000 as 1900, causing confusion in the calculation of interest and automatically erasing all records. ATMs will reject ATM cards for '00' years. The insurance company may miscalculate the number of years of each policy. For stock stock exchanges, which have just adopted computer systems, the impact is even greater! ”

This is no small matter, and several representatives from the banking community were completely dumbfounded.

Looking at the way everyone looked at each other, Jiang Meimei continued: "In the telecommunications industry, if you make a three-minute call at 23:59 on December 31, 1999, the bill of the telecommunications company may show 100 years - 3 minutes; The IRD's computer may think that you have been in arrears for 100 years and send you an astronomical notice of back tax.

Medical equipment, such as life-saving systems or monitoring systems, may cause patients to be in critical condition, and blood bank management, doctor's order system, medical records, and equipment management may not function normally.

The same is true for the power industry, where we did a practical project at NB Power Leipzig, which was entered for 00 years, and as a result, the power plant automatically stopped operating, and in some cases there were changes in voltage and frequency, resulting in total power outages, electrical failures and even burnouts. Please note that this is a conventional power plant, and if it is a nuclear power plant, then I really don't know how to describe it. ”

Another researcher picked up and said with a smirk: "Ladies and gentlemen, I noticed that the Federal Selective Service had just introduced an automated system, and if the software had not been programmed to notice the problem, by the year 2000 the conscription system would have sent letters to deceased men born between 1893 and 1897 ordering them to register for the army or face fines and imprisonment, and the Wehrmacht would have a ridiculous zombie army." ”

The whole scene of the end of the world, the representative of the state government of Berlin, realizing the seriousness of the problem, could not help but look back and ask: "What do you think, Langelhans?" ”

Professor Heike of the Department of Computer Science at Freie Universität Berlin lowered his head and confirmed with a grim face: "I think that if this problem is not completely solved, then the problems that will arise will be more terrible than the descriptions of several young scientists." Because in addition to computers, all embedded devices are involved.

From production lines, automated instrumentation, automobiles, elevators, alarm systems, fire detectors to medical equipment, to telephone exchanges, air conditioners, traffic lights, thermostats, etc., it has penetrated into every corner of our daily life, and they also have this problem. ”

"Yes."

Jiang Meimei nodded, and said with a stern face: "All systems involving software will not be able to distinguish whether the '00' in 2000 means '1900' or '2000', which will lead to the dysfunction of various computer business processing systems and control systems. So we describe this problem as an abominable pest called the 'millennial bug'! ”

With the development of science and technology today, computers and chips have been applied to all fields you can think of, such as electric power, telecommunications, civil aviation, banking, securities, nuclear power and military.

A professor who contracted a research project for the Ministry of Defense did not dare to take it lightly, and immediately got up and asked, "Have you calculated how many points in time there are?" ”

"Thirteen!"

Dr. Ehrlich sighed and uttered a very unlucky number. And their assistant wasted no time in changing to another slide and marking each point in detail at the time point.

The representative of Commerzbank took notes, and asked suspiciously: "Isn't April 9, 1999, not yet the year 2000?" ”

Dr. Hartle had reason to be proud when his students noticed such a terrible problem, and the problem was so terrible that he really didn't feel that proud, and he crossed his arms and said, "It's not the year 2000, but 9999 represents the maximum value in many computer programs." ”

9 September 1999, 31 December 1999, 1 January 2000, 3 January 2000 (the first business day of 2000), 10 January 2000 (1/10/2000 for the first seven-digit column appear), 31 January 2000 (the last day of the first month of 2000)......

These are not speculations, and each date has an associated real number jù validation. In other words, if you want to survive the millennium unharmed, you must pass these thirteen hurdles. (To be continued......)