NYSE halted trading today because of "hardware problem"

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Just came upon this CBS news bit while looking for something else. Wondering if it's Y2K related, since they never had that problem before according to the article. My hunch is that it probably is.

http://www.cbs.com/navbar/news.html

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), October 26, 1998

Answers

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh (cringe... please don't think badly of me... I only listen occasionally when I can't pick up any other station! Really!)

Anyway, as a sort of aside he mentioned something about the shutdown on the exchange, and said that someone in authority was saying 'This is what Y2K will be like!'

Rush scoffed, of course.

I will keep my opinions of R. L. to myself, but I thought it interesting, and look forward to news tonight.

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), October 26, 1998.


Here's what CNN is reporting. No mention of Y2K (I doubt it was but even if it were, I also doubt they'd say that.)

http://cnnfn.com/markets /9810/26/halt/


-- Arnie Rimmer (arnie_rimmer@usa.net), October 26, 1998.

Yeah.. they said it was a light trading day. That would be the time to do some testing. Of course the first thing that came to mind was y2k. Not that y2k is not on my mind all the time these days. Sometimes I look at everything with my y2k eyes.0-0 ^ - Mike Lang

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), October 26, 1998.

Wired News reported it: http://www.wired.com/news/

NYSE Computers Crash

Rev. 2:05 p.m. 12:07 p.m. The world's benchmark stock exchange shuts down for an hour because of computer trouble. The crash affects other markets.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), October 26, 1998.


OR a switch malfunctioned. I know I know...I will probably be stoned for this.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 26, 1998.



just don't be stoned for the big night.(12/31/99) I think speeding might serve you better.

-- hummmmpty dumpty (qerty@peace.com), October 27, 1998.

Actually, my family has threatened to tranqualize me for 12/31/99:)

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 27, 1998.


You're lucky. My family is considering cryogenic storage...

-- Arnie Rimmer (arnie_rimmer@usa.net), October 27, 1998.

Let me relay a story about that :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YEAR 2000 (Y2K) PARABLE submitted by Penny Pennington

There was once a COBOL programmer in the mid to late 1900s. For the sake of this story, we'll call him Jack. After years of being taken for granted and treated as a technological dinosaur by all the UNIX programmers and Client/Server programmers and Web site developers, Jack was finally getting some respect. He'd become a private consultant specializing in Year 2000 conversion. He was working short-term assignments for prestigious companies, traveling all over the world on different assignments. He was working 70 and 80 and even 90 hour weeks, but it was worth it.

Several years of this relentless, mind-numbing work had taken its toll on Jack. He had problems sleeping and began having anxiety dreams about the year 2000. It had reached a point where even the thought of the year 2000 made him nearly violent. He must have suffered some sort of breakdown, because all he could think about was how he could avoid the year 2000 and all that came with it.

Jack decided to contact a company that specialized in cryogenics. He made a deal to have himself frozen until March 15, 2000. This was a very expensive process and totally automated. He was thrilled. The next thing he would know is he'd wake up in the year 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about except getting on with his life.

He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was that.

The next thing that Jack saw was an enormous and very modern room filled with excited people. They were all shouting, "I can't believe it!" and "It's a miracle!" and "He's alive!" There were cameras (unlike any he'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie.

Someone who was obviously a spokesperson for the group stepped forward. Jack couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "It is over?" he asked. "Is 2000 already here? Are all the millennial parties and promotions and crises all over and done with?"

The spokesman explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle, it hadn't been year 2000 compliant. It was actually 8,000 years later, not the year 2000. But the spokesman told Jack that he shouldn't get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him.

Suddenly, a wall-sized projection screen displayed the image of a man who looked very much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He told Jack not to be upset. That this was a wonderful time to be alive. That there was world peace and no more starvation. That the space program had been reinstated and there were colonies on the moon and on Mars. That technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had virtual reality interfaces which allowed them to contact anyone else on the planet, or to watch any entertainment, or to hear any music recorded anywhere.

"That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But, I'm curious. Why is everybody so interested in me?"

"Well," said the Prime Minister, "The year 10,000 is just around the corner, and it says in your files that you know COBOL."

* * * * *

(a special thanks to Laurane for sending me this story!)

-- Max Dixon (Ogden, Utah USA) (Max.Dixon@gte.net), October 27, 1998.


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