Thought Y2K was anticlimactic? Just wait. Unix systems measure time in seconds from January 1, 1970—the famous “Unix epoch.” Unfortunately, storing this timestamp as a signed 32-bit integer means it overflows in 2038. On Tuesday, January 19, 2038 at precisely 03:14:07 UTC, the Unix timestamp flips negative, and if your systems aren’t upgraded, get ready for a spectacular meltdown: corrupted databases, erroneous timestamps, unhappy sysadmins. Sure, you laugh now—but mark your calendars. The next Unix apocalypse is already scheduled, and this time it’ll be more than planes grounded and COBOL developers becoming overnight millionaires. You’ve been warned.
