Can someone provide the link to Dave Kostner's csy2k post regarding the explosion being due to Y2K testing??

Thanks,

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), February 20, 1999

Answers

Roland,

Here's the entire text of Dave Kostner's csy2k post thereon:

"Testing gone haywire. No doubt about it. Y2K Already called. They confirmed."

That's it! He did not indicate who he called or just what they said. There are several other posts on csy2k about that explosion at the Concept Science facility near Allentown, PA, and as of this time none of the others provide any support for the attribution of the explosion to Y2K testing.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), February 20, 1999.

See:

http://www.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/dnquery.xp?ST=PS&QRY=Y 2K+Explosion+In+Lehigh&defaultOp=AND&DBS=1&format=terse&showsort=score &maxhits=100&LNG=ALL&subjects=&groups=comp.software.year-2000&authors= &fromdate=&todate=

I see nothing here except the original poster's claim that he called and confirmed it was Y2K-related. Having seen more than my fair share of trolls related to Y2K, I think it best we don't jump to conclusions. There doesn't appear to be much evidence that this had anything to do with Y2K - at least not at the moment. When I see plant officials start making such claims and names start being provided, then maybe I'd be willing to listen but as of this moment, I'm more than a little skeptical that this was Y2K related. Could it possibly have been? I suppose, but it could also just as easily be the result of some other snafu.

Not every disaster that happens this year, be it an explosion or a plane crash or a flood, will be related to Y2K.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), February 20, 1999.

Dave Koster has, in general, been conscientious, and not a doomist likely to jump to foregone conclusions without some checking. We all wish he'd said who he talked to and given a bit more detail.

Barring some informative update, I'm inclined to believe that y2k testing was occurring at the plant at the time, if only because such testing is (or damn well *should* be) going on everywhere, every day.

Whether the explosion was directly related to such testing will probably take further investigation. My own knowledge of embedded systems leads me to believe that this sort of accident is very possible due to some system (or series of systems) that wasn't fully understood. But just because I'm not surprised doesn't mean that's what happened. Unless there are direct witnesses ("we did this, and it led directly to that") who weren't killed by the results and who are willing to talk publicly, we'll probably never know for sure.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), February 20, 1999.

Guess DK left himself logged in...

-- Declan McCullagh (declan@y2kculture.com), February 20, 1999.