THE YEAR-ZERO SCROLLS
--------------------

Translated from Latin scroll dated 2 BC

Hail, Cornelius; if you are well, then I am well.  Are you still working
on the Y zero K problem?  This change from BC to AD is giving us a lot
of headaches and we have little time left.  I don't know how people will
cope with working the wrong way around.  Having been working happily
downwards forever, we now have to start thinking upwards.

One would think that somebody could have thought of this earlier and not
left it to us to sort out at the last minute.  I spoke to Caesar two
days ago.  He was livid that the divine Julius hadn't done something
about it when he was sorting out the calendar.  Said he could see why
Brutus turned nasty, and maybe the Senate and people should reduce the
sacrifices there.

We called in Consultus, but he simply said that continuing downwards
using minus BC won't work and as usual charged a fortune for doing
nothing useful.  Surely we will not have to throw out all our hardware
and start again?  Macrohard will make yet another fortune out of this,
I suppose.

The money lenders are paranoid, of course.  They have been told that all
usury rates will invert and they will have to pay their clients to take
out loans.  It's an ill wind ......As for myself, it is with difficulty
that I will see the sand in an hourglass flowing upwards.  We have heard
that there are three wise men in the East who have been working on the
problem, but unfortunately they won't arrive until it's all over.

I have heard that there are plans to stable all horses at midnight at
the turn of the year, since there is fear that they will stop and try
to run backwards, causing immense damage to chariots and possible loss
of life.  Soothsayers report that to be on the safe side, one should
spend the day in  bed.  Some say the world will cease to exist at the
moment of transition.  Many believe that Romulus will return to Rome.

In any case, we are still continuing to work on this accursed Y zero
K problem.  I will send you a parchment if anything further develops.
If you have any ideas, please let me know,

Plutonius

--
Vectored by Moose Mansions (http://www.splange.freeserve.co.uk/)