From the WIRED Magazine article: "This Is Not A Test".

Jay Abshier (Texaco's Year 2000 project manager) "admitted he'll probably take Texaco's data center off the grid at the turn of the millennium - that he'll warm up the generators and go to emergency backup several hours before midnight... just to be safe".

It may make sense for us to also do this to protect against potentially harmful power fluctuations, to our applicances and electronics for example. So should we also consider turning off our power before midnight, just to be safe - what do you think?

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), March 21, 1999

Answers

If you turn off the power, you would miss out on the biggest event in modern history!!! It would be like going into the next Century with the blind fold on! I would unplug every thing except your TV!

-- old sailor (old@sailor.com), March 21, 1999.

I for sure will have all other appliances turned off, and be watching the big ball come down................ and then CRASH!!!!

-- Mouse (bit0cheese@please.com), March 21, 1999.

Its my impression that all of this is going to occur at 7pm in the east. So don't forget that the crash, if it occurs, is not going to wait until midnight.

Got a wind up alarm clock??

-- Taz (tassie@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

As stated before, the main fuses will be pulled before midnight. We will have the tv on.

-- SCOTTY (BLehman202@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

Rob,

See the following thread for a warning by a New Mexico power company to its customers:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000bFR

The power company is warning of possible frequency and voltage fluctuations on January 1.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), March 22, 1999.

Looks like youz guys will just have the tube on. I was thinking of turning everything off, including the TV. Beforehand, we may get a heads up from NZ, Australia, Europe, etc. Maybe run the TV off a genset.

Taz or anyone: Why 7:00 - are you talking about the differences due to the time zones?

Linkmeister: Thanks for the link - I missed that one, as I seem to miss so many these days. Hard to keep up. For one thing, it didn't occur to me to do this for the other periods mentioned. Good idea I think.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), March 22, 1999.

The 7:00pm comes from the fact that some systems are running on Universal or Greenwich time which is 5 hours earlier than EST. Airlines and the FAA use this time to standardize their data for worldwide business dealings. I understand that some electric utilities do the same, but I don't have specifics on that.

-- Gordon P.Connolly (gpconnolly@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

Thanks Gordon. Got it.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of how many other companies intend doing this as well.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), March 22, 1999.

My plan for New Year's Evil: Well before 7 PM EST, turn off main circuit breakers, light the Aladdin lamps, connect the shortwave radios to 12 vdc auto batteries, get a good fire going in the fireplace, and have everyone in the house listening to a different SW broadcast band for early news of y2k failures. Once an hour have a meeting and swap stories. Open one of the 5 gallon buckets of popcorn, and keep the beer cold on the outside deck. Ignore the TV.

-- Les Holladay (holladayl@aol.com), March 22, 1999.

we'll be having a big party at the local bar, music and dancin'. Several lamps will be ready, inside and outside (thank you Petromax) and at least two generators for the entertainment. Ain't gonna let no freakin' probs with electricity ruin one of the best parties ever. In fact I plan on partyin' most of this year, whenever I get the chance!

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), March 22, 1999.

Will not abrupt declines in the usage of electricity contribute to the potential for damaging surges adversely effecting the grid and those who have not disconnected?

Could such consequences become soley a result of human action?

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 22, 1999.

Watchful,

They could indeed, (answers both questions) yet the situation can be avoided entirely if the PsTB will simply "come clean".

It looks to me to be essentially the same dilemma as with the banks. Do you risk your money or your electrical devices on the information provided, or do you "play it safe" and protect them from any eventuality?

The essence of the dilemma is trust and it seems to be in very short supply in America in 1999.

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 22, 1999.

No need to cut the power, but unplug vulnerable appliances.

Most vulnerable are consumer electronics gadgets with electronic power supplies and a standby mode rather than a true "off". VCRs, TVs, many PCs and monitors, etc. are in this category. Overvoltage can nuke their power supples even if they are in standby (what you may think of as "off")

Next most vulnerable are motorized devices, if on at the time. Fridges and freezers are the bost obvious examples. Brown-outs are more damaging to these than overvoltage spikes. Anyone know for sure about central heating circulation pumps? My guess is that they are more resilient (different sort of motor).

Resistive heaters and light bulbs will take just about anything that gets thrown at them.

-- Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), March 23, 1999.