Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or missing dates?

Re:Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or mi... by lenerdenator on Monday February 17, 2025 @01:13PM (#43081745)

They might, but that's irrelevant in a way. If they're 150 years old, they're dead, and if you claim the OASDI benefit of someone who is dead, you're committing a crime.

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Re:Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or mi... by pbhjpbhj on Monday February 17, 2025 @01:25PM (#43081834)

A brief search suggests it's inheritable in limited circumstances. Are you saying that's false?

I'm recalling the posts about the last person claiming civil war pensions dying in 2020 (155 years after the war) and wondering if there is anything similar going on here.

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Re:Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or mi... by manquer on Monday February 17, 2025 @01:43PM (#43082002)

War pension claims like that were common and not fraud.

The pension is claimed by the wife of the veteran , it was a practice to marry a very young girl very late in life partly because of the pension.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_wh...

The person you are referring to was eligible as a disabled child of veteran https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Triplett

There are many age curiosities out there like the fact the grandson of John Tyler the 10th president who was born in 1790 is still alive, I.e his grandfather was born 235 years ago!

they are just that curiosities, not really fraud and even when it is one, it never significant just like voter fraud never turns out to be one .

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Re:Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or mi... by lenerdenator on Monday February 17, 2025 @01:28PM (#43081866)

If it's designated by law to be inheritable then it's a moot point.

It's also worth noting that OASDI is not the same as a Civil War pension. One was set up to support men who fought in service of the Federal government, the other was set up to keep the Old Aged, Survivors, and Disabled Insured. They're legally separate programs and thus have different statutes regulating who can draw benefit from them.

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Re:Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or mi... by dec0dedab0de on Monday February 17, 2025 @02:30PM (#43082483)

Even if that is the case, there should be an easy way to query that. even If they update the systems, and discover zero fraud or bad data it’s still a net win

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