Linux is Smarter Than Me
April 04, 2004
Tonight, while I was using my computer, I noticed that my clock was an hour fast. I reved up my clock applet to set the date and time. However, when I tried to adjust the clock to 2:45am it game me an error "Can not set date." WTF?
At first I thought it was a problem with the program, so I tried a few more things and received the same cryptic message. I knew it was time for some commandline action using the `date` command. I quickly scanned the man page and issued
bash$ date 04040245
only to be denied with the message "invalid date." At this point I was thoroughly confused. Other dates worked, but not the hours between 2:00 and 3:00 am on April 04, 2004.
I went to my roommate and he informed me that tonight was a daylight-savings time change. Then it all made sense. The hour between 2:00 am and 3:00 am on Apr 04, 2004 doesn't technically exist. Mathmatically it is a legal date, but according to the calendar rules, it does not exist. Incredible. Hence, I arrive at my conclusion; Linux is smarter than me.
Posted at 03:00 AM in Linux | 
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