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when a message popped up on the screen saying the device was in-
fected with a deadly virus and would blow up in thirty seconds. As the
machine counted down to zero, Donna ran out of the room screaming.
Mark also planned a practical joke for New Year’s Eve 1999, based on
his parent’s fears of what was called the Year 2000 problem, or Y2K bug.
In the late 1990s there was widespread concern over the way computer
dates were abbreviated; to save space on computer memory chips, only
the last two digits of the year were used. The Y2K problem was based on
the theory that the programming bug would cause computers to register
the date as 1900 when the year turned over to 2000. Some believed
this glitch would cause banks to lose their financial records, airplanes
to crash, and nuclear power plants to melt down. Some people stocked
up on food, water, toilet paper, and even guns in anticipation of a Y2K
disaster.
Zuckerberg’s parents did not arm themselves, but they were con-
cerned about the Y2K bug. Knowing this, Zuckerberg waited until exactly
midnight on December 31. When the date rolled over to January 1, 2000,
he shut off the electrical power in the house at the circuit breaker in the
basement. After frightening his family, Zuckerberg switched the power
back on, giving everyone a laugh. As for the Y2K bug, most computers
were fixed in anticipation of the new year, and few problems were en-
countered.
“Controlled Yet Sometimes Undisciplined”
Zuckerberg attended Ardsley High School in Ardsley, New York, in ninth
and tenth grade. At Ardsley, Zuckerberg’s studies in Latin led him to in-
vent a digital version of the board game Risk, set in the Roman Empire.
The computer game featured a virtual general called Julius Caesar who
was so skilled at military strategy even Zuckerberg had trouble defeating
him. However, Zuckerberg felt that Ardsley did not offer enough high-
level computer science and math courses for him to continually improve
his programming skills. In 2000, in search of a better education for their
son, the Zuckerbergs enrolled Mark in Phillips Exeter Academy, a presti-
gious prep school.
