A negative Zero?
Modern computers have immense processing power that allows them to crunch numbers faster than a human being could ever hope to. However, that doesn’t make computers smart. A single wrong word in the wrong place can grind computer processes to a glitchy halt, like someone’s last name. People whose ls name is “Null” carry what may be one of the most unfortunate names possible in the current society. That’s because, in computer terminology, the word “null” translates to “no value.” And computer programs want a number or other value everywhere, so what do they do when they run into an unexpected “null?” Well, they crash. And that can make getting things done virtually impossible for any Null.
First off, we have Jan Null. The 75-year meteorologist from Half Moon Bay, CA. His first strange computer event happened years ago when he was attempting to reserve a hotel room online. He’d fill out his personal details on the reservation website and hit “submit,” only to get bounced back to an empty reservation form. He tried over and over the system failed, so Jan called the hotel to make his reservation. Much to his surprise, the employee on the phone ran into the same issue. Null’s last name reset the reservation system with every attempt. Finally, Null managed to make his reservation after the hotel agent suggested they misspell his name on purpose and add an explanatory note to the reservation.
Next, we have Nontra Null from Burbank, California. Her maiden name is Yantraprasert. In 2014, after she had become a Null, she was invited to attend a friend’s wedding in India. Excited, she applied for a visa and started packing her bags. When she asked the Indian embassy about the status of her application, she got a bizarre answer. According to the embassy, they were unable to process her visa, because her last name crashed their system with every attempt.“ I had to mentally come to terms with not being able to go,” Mrs. Null told Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, she finally received her visa — a day before her non-refundable flight. Someone at the embassy filled the paperwork by hand.
Joseph Tartaro got a vanity plate for his car the plate reads “NULL” Joe thought it’d be funny to have an “empty” license plate. Joe hoped he might get out of paying some traffic tickets with the magic word on his license plate…But the exact opposite happened. After paying one small traffic violation in 2018, Tartaro received hundreds of tickets in his name — for incidents that had happened to strangers in completely different cities. The “null” that had been entered into the traffic control system caused it to go haywire and start assigning information from other tickets to fill what the computers thought was a lacking data entry. Just recently, an insurance agent wanted to come inspect his vehicle after Tartaro was reported as having had two serious accidents within 48 hours. Tartaro told his insurance company the car hadn’t moved from his driveway in a month.
Computer confusion
Enter password: ‘snowflake’
Confirm password: ‘snowflake’
Error, your passwords are not alike.
The oldest computer can be traced to Adam and Eve.
Yes, it was an Apple.
But with an extremely limited memory.
Just one byte.
Then everything crashed.
The best joke on mankind is that computers ask humans to prove they are not robots…
After only six months of marriage, the unhappy wife made an appointment with a divorce lawyer. “We met through a computer dating service,” she said between sobs. “For the life of me, I’ll never understand what that machine saw in him.”
March 7th Birthdays
1964 – Wanda Sykes, 1974 – Jenna Fischer, 1970 – Jacquelyn Doucette, 1981 – Laura Prepon
1950 – Franco Harris, 1952 – Lynn Swan, 1967 – Bryan Cranston, 1934 – Willard Scott