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Fuelman » Today, 2:16 pm » wrote: ↑

Today, 2:16 pm

Possible reason for data seemingly **** up.

Looks like we are in serious need for an upgrade!

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2 ... ered-doge/

Why 150-year-old figures may exist in the Social Security database
Social media commenters came up with one possible explanation for the 150-year age, and experts who have worked closely with the Social Security Administration told PolitiFact it was plausible.

Under an international standard called ISO 8601, a missing value for a date is coded as May 20, 1875, because that was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the “Convention du Mètre.”

For that reason, under some coding systems, a missing value for a date will default to 1875 — which in the year 2025 produces a round figure of 150.

“Some people, particularly some immigrants, really don’t know their exact birthday, so there would have to be some alternative means of verification,” said C. Eugene Steuerle, a fellow at the Urban Institute, a think tank, and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department during the Reagan administration.

Another possibility is that a beneficiary’s record in the system may have multiple fields for birth dates, one of which is missing data because it’s not needed for calculations.

“Some records may have missing codes, while others may have conflicting information on age or date of birth, so the staff would have created queries to determine which fields are actually used,” J. Michael Collins, a University of Wisconsin professor of public affairs, said.