On This Day Pre-Y2K
Confused by any of the jargon you see below? Check the Y2K Glossary!
April 1, 1999 Permalink
In a Y2K story I read at home last night, a CalTech researcher has discovered the solution to the Year 2000 mess. Independent verifcation has validated this. The new technology, Periodic Error Nullification and Corrective Instrument Logic, is said to be able to replace computer processes prone to Y2K. Evidently it’s very user-friendly and while a bit slower than computer processes, it’s almost infallible. Wall Street is lining up behind the manufacture of this breakthrough and the federal government has begun talks with the inventor to acquire this new process and implement it on all 70,000+ mission-critical and non-mission-critical systems. I don’t have the URL, but I think it has something to do with the technology’s acronymn.
—Sniff Jones, Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 04/01/99
Well, I am now convinced that Y2K is nothing to worry about. I visited Peter de Jager’s web site, and if he feels we have conquered Y2K, then so do I. All those little programmers working all those late nights have obviously paid off.
Embedded chips? Forget about them. Something doesn’t work, just throw it out and buy a new one. It will keep our economy going in 2000!
April Fools!
OK, I’m kidding, but Peter de Jager is serious about declaring victory. We’ve addressed the problem, the fix is in place and the emergency has been avoided, is basically what he says. But I think this is foolish and shortsighted. Sure, we’ve called attention to the problem and it’s beginning to be addressed. But that’s only the mission critical things. What about all the non-critical applications? What about all the embedded chips? What about the people who are lying or stretching the truth to look good or earn a bonus? What about the recession? What about panic caused by people? What about a bank run and stock market crash?
De Jager concludes by saying preparing for a year is not necessary, but that preparing for several weeks or a month (I’m paraphrasing here) is still smart. He predicts there will be no TEOTWAWKI, but for me, a month without electricity, a few weeks without food a water is still a severe emergency. And while we may avoided a “global power blackout” I sure wouldn’t want to be in the city that does have a power outage.
We’ve got about 275 days left. I’m still planning on using them to their best advantage.
—Jack, Diary of a Survivalist, 04/01/99
