Despite the following, how many believe that the test was in some way falsified? Is there a wider conspiracy?

By Tanya Ho Toronto Star Staff Reporter

Toronto's electricity providers passed their year 2000 compliance test during a dry run in the city last night.

Services in Toronto's central and west-end areas suffered no ill effects as Ontario Hydro advanced its computer system to Dec. 31, 1999, at five minutes to midnight, at its Manby transformer station on Kipling Ave. at Bloor St. W.

The station feeds power to Toronto Hydro, which supplies power to some 200,000 residential and commercial customers in the test area.

``It was very successful. There was no problem with Ontario Hydro's feed into the city and no problem on Toronto Hydro's distribution system,'' said Blair Peberdy, spokesperson for Toronto Hydro.

-- Mr. notparanoid (drluv73@hotmail.com), March 08, 1999

Answers

Oh cut out the crap..........we get some good news and you just gotta use the conspiracy word.

Grow up!!

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), March 08, 1999.

Sure, I believe it. But I have a question. Why is it that every DGI shows up with "success" stories, and feels that it proves that everything is OK? Do you think that we GI's believe that no companies or utilities will make it? I think the question is what percentage will make it, and what percentage it will take to keep a particular industry functioning.

-- Online2Much (ready_for_y2k@mindspring.com), March 08, 1999.

Well, notp., what do you think? Do you live in the area of Toronto where this test was? Anybody else out there live in that area? Any noticeable effects? What about the test itself? What was involved? No telling, really. I'm sure that this report is accurate to whatever was actually done. Of course, may have been a very small test of a tiny part of the system. It may have also been largely a PR campaign (shutting down the transportation system during the test - something people would notice). However, I wouldn't jump to conclusions about falsification and conspiracy based on what you read here. There's plenty of other evidence of untruths happening, I don't think we need to read that into totally benign soundbytes like this one...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), March 08, 1999.

Question - We hear alot of success stories (supposed) of clocks being set ahead with no adverse effects on systems, such as the Hydro.

Does this adequately test embedded systems? You can't set the date ahead on a chip, can you? Wouldn't the chip still think it was the current date and therefore not malfunction?

Please enlighten me...

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), March 08, 1999.

Online, I don't think that DGI's feel that success stories prove anything. It only proves that some companies are solving the Y2K problem. OTOH, GIs haven't proved TEOTWAWKI either and never will. They use a lot of hand waving (it's too big, we never had anything this widespread) and "the whole world is connected" stuff to suffiently conclude the infrastructure will fail. You're right "what percentage it will take to keep a particular industry functioning". No one has the answers but I think because of redundancy, the number of success stories including contingency planning, and people's desire to make things work, no industry will fail. I don't have to prove it since it is opinion.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), March 08, 1999.

Maria,

By jeepers, I think you're getting the hang of this.

I've never thought that you fitted into the troll catagory. Just a DGI. Which is OK by me. (Remember I'm the original - You gotta make up your own mind - guy)

I appreciate that you thinking about the issues here. Even if we come to opposite conclusions.

--Greybear

-Got Reasons?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), March 08, 1999.

Now, just how big a test was it? Here, she quotes "one" transformer station. The other thread indicated a much more widespread test - of the generating facility at least, the downstream distribution implied.

I'm not a conspiratist - I'm skeptical until the system is tested - top of water to outlet of plug(s). Until you test the whole thing - you only know that what you tested works under the specific conditions you tested it under.

Which isn't good enough to know whether it will work under conditions other than what you tested at times different than what you tested.

After all - Chernobyl (and its sister reactors) had been running for years - producing lots of electricity for a long time. It didn't catch fire and spread radioactivity over 3/4 of Europe until they "tested" it under unusual conditions - conditions that they thought were going to demonstrate its safety features.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 08, 1999.

This reminds me of the April 9 NERC test on communications. I can see the headlines now "POWER GRID PASSES Y2K TEST". Give me a break. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 08, 1999.

Mr. N. P., Thanks for the post. Sysman; How could you be so sceptical about a "managed" test?

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 08, 1999.

Mr. notparanoid,

You might just have reason to feel better today...if you live in the Toronto area.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), March 08, 1999.

Downstream of that one transformer station.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 08, 1999.