This year's Y2K: 'Leap second' threatens to break the Internet

Lady Fitzgerald · 20 Jan 2015

I thought the answer was 42.

Layback Bear · 20 Jan 2015

In some cases like stock market computer trading a ms could make you or break you. If your computer is a ms behind another traders computer you could loose a ton of money. I have read that some brokers will pay lots of money to located their computer close to the markets server just so their transaction will be done a fraction of a ms sooner than competitors.

jimbo45 · 21 Jan 2015

Hi there.

For most "Normal" people doing a bit of Day trading or Options trading (or both) that sort of speed difference is irrelevant -- for starters it's not just getting the best deal - you have to get the trade actually executed - by the time the automated system handles it the microsecond advantage is gone.

There's a Bid and Ask price -- you have to put your trade on with a value roughly between the limit ranges (experience will teach you what to offer) and then put your trade on -- there are options like Good for the day - means that if your trade can't be executed immediately attempts will be made until market closes to fulfil the trade at the price requested, Good till executed etc etc. You can put a "Stop Loss" on a stock too so that if the market changes you exit the trade if the price hits your stop loss (higher or lower depening on your trade).

While not going into the mechanics of trading - these stories about getting a few nano seconds by being nearer the server are just rubbish. Real time trading depends on many factors - often it's just "the feel of the market".

If there were any 100% successful automated trading systems around we'd all be using them !!!!!.

Maybe being nearer the server might cause a little bit of "Cranium Magnetic Stimulation" to the trader - whether that's an advantage or not -- who's to say !!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

Slartybart · 21 Jan 2015

jimbo45 said:

.....
Yet another SCAM designed for "Consultancy firms" to charge mega huge fees for doing non existent work for a non existent problem. Remember some "consultants" back in 1999 were getting paid over 2000 USD A DAY in money of that time --probably worth around 3,000 USD a day in today's money for simply eyeballing some lines of "COBOL" code (if anybody can still remember what that was) for some Banks.
.....
Cheers
jimbo

I really like the sensationalism of the article.
The headline:
This year's Y2K: 'Leap second' threatens to break the Internet
- ohhhhh, y2k and break the internet

The Heartbleed video and scary music

The sub-title:
Get your apocalypse bunker ready. This summer, a "leap second" will threaten to wreak havoc across the Internet.

Qantas' entire computer system went down for hours, forcing employees to check in passengers by hand.
Oh my goodness - forcing check-in by hand. Well it's a good thing the planes were still flying.

And just when you've finished praying that you've led a good life... the article tells you that there's a fix:

The good news is there's a solution. Google (GOOGL, Tech30) developed what it calls one of its "coolest workarounds" after a 2005 leap second made some of its computer systems to stop accepting new commands.
To avoid the leap second issue, Google gradually adds a couple of milliseconds to its servers' clocks throughout the day when a leap second is to occur -- just enough to stave off disaster by the end of the day but not enough to trip any alarm bells when the adjustments are made.

Oh my...... all of that and they already know how to fix it!
25 leap seconds since 1972 and the world is still here, the Internet is still here...... sheesh!

Bill
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Lady Fitzgerald · 21 Jan 2015