Over the past few months on Canadian television, there has been a commercial for SOS 2000. The commercial is in black-and-white (except for the red SOS 2000 logo at the end) and initially shows a huge iceberg floating directly in the camera's path.

The iceberg appears to be a computer-generated 3D model, rather well done. The narration mentions that the Y2K bug may be bigger than you expect, that it could "sink your business" if you aren't prepared for it, and that your business partners "may drag you down with them" if they aren't prepared as well.

Interestingly, the camera starts changing course to the right, and narrowly misses the iceberg at the end of the commercial.

Titanic imagery also makes an appearance on a related website (http://www.can2k.com/) in the form of a lifesaver.

-- Thomas M. Terashima (tom@nucleus.com), January 06, 1999

Answers

Hello Tom:

Well, I hope the camera had better luck going to the right of the berg than Titanic did going to the left!

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), January 06, 1999.

Peter:

That was one of the first thoughts that I had. ("Go port, go starboard?")

One of the central themes of the Titanic disaster is the relationship between humans and technology. Depending on who you ask, the upcoming Y2K event may be another historic lesson.

-- Thomas M. Terashima (titanicshack@yahoo.com), January 07, 1999.