The Millennium Bug: Do we laugh or panic? -- Daily Herald

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This one has a few comments bound to make you smile. Especially the parts about the Feds & Ch. Trib.

Daily Herald

Thursday March 25, 1999 The Millennium Bug: Do we laugh or panic?

National Guard units from all 50 states will undergo special training for Y2K in May and at least one state is considering a budget increase to allow it to call up the National Guard next winter if the Millennium Bug bites too hard and civil unrest breaks out.

Meanwhile, scores of companies in Chicagoland and elsewhere are telling their workers not to plan vacations next Christmas season in case computer glitches lead to production meltdowns. And stockpiling by survivalists might lead to economic problems, with overbuying in November followed by zilch in January.

Am I being scary, telling you this? I don't know. It's amusing. But if everyone is going to take it seriously, maybe it isn't funny.

James Bidwill, former top exec of the Merchandise Mart and head of his own consulting firm, leads a half-day seminar in the Loop next Wednesday on Y2K problems. Every company in the metro area is invited to send reps. Coffee and doughnuts will be served in the lower level auditorium of the Thompson Center state building at Randolph and Clark.

Bidwill said a countrywide National Guard call-up is possible this winter if the computer glitch goes global and causes panic, looting or interruptions in commerce. Like elevators not working in high-rise buildings (which is a possibility because elevators are told to run by microchips). Or banks not operating because of computer shutdowns. Or groceries not getting deliveries from computerized warehouses.

David Hall, senior consultant for ACS Technology Solutions in Oak Brook, will speak at the half-day confab put on by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. He says glitches at the turn of the millennium could include airport shutdowns and grounding for trains run by big diesel engines. He said Chicago itself is slow off the mark in dealing with Y2K computer problems.

Some states have problems already, said Bidwill: New Jersey sent out welfare food stamps early last week because of a chip glitch.

Wisconsin is the state which intends to include money in the new budget to call up the National Guard, Hall said. He knows because he's a light colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Imagine riots over cheese shortages. Imagine Wisconsin even having computers.

"Hospitals and utilities are canceling vacations at the end of the year," Hall said. "Airlines are starting to issue non-refundable tickets for the year-end period so ticket buyers don't cancel and ask for their money back." He and Bidwill are self-described non-alarmists. Just cautious.

Not so the Chicago Tribune, where an associate editor sent out a staff memo last week canceling all vacations between Dec. 27, 1999 and the end of January 2000. What if computers shut down presses or keyboards? Reporters using pencil and paper? The mind reels. Who will do spell-check? Editors? Here's the headline: OFFICIALS SAY SKY FALLING.

The sky-is-falling attitude from many comes from the fact all computers have chips that mark time in two digits for each year. This is 99. The new year is 00. Zero-zero does not compute as NEXT; it computes as BACK to the beginning. The two-digit year was introduced around the time Vice President Al Gore invented the Internet in the 1970s. "Computer space was expensive when computers were new," Bidwill said. "Each generation of computer makers thought the problem of a century-end glitch would be solved by the next generation. It wasn't." The feds say they're A-OK but we've read their lips before, haven't we? Blame Gore.

Bidwill said states like Illinois face glitches earlier than year's end because fiscal years come early. New York starts FY 2000 next week, he said. Illinois starts FY 2000 in July. He said a quarter of Y2K problems could come before Christmas.

Hall gave a great scenario for Jan. 1, 2000: Everyone picks up the phone to see if it's working ... and doesn't get a dial tone because everyone is doing the same thing and the system is temporarily overloaded. You want panic? Call 911. Ooops.

Reps from city, state and the G speak Wednesday. Tickets are free but limited to business types. Hall, Bidwill and other experts will speak. And donuts will be available for stockpiling.



-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), March 25, 1999

Answers

There's enough misinformation in this article to set the blood boiling in either a doomer or a polly!

"The sky-is-falling attitude from many comes from the fact all computers have chips that mark time in two digits for each year."

All computers? Do some research!

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), March 25, 1999.


That reporter is only cutting on Wisconsin cause he doesn't have a cottage in the North Woods ;)

I live in a tourist town,Illinios people out number the locals here in the summer.

I figure all those cottages that are closed for the winter will be busy around the New Year. Dress warm ;)

-- maji (majiWI@yahoo.com), March 25, 1999.


maji,

I know how much y'all love us FIB's ;-)

-- Deborah, a Flatlander who once lived in the Coulee Region (infowars@yahoo.com), March 25, 1999.


Buddy,

I agree, it is loaded with misinformation, but I really loved a couple parts such as:

"The two-digit year was introduced around the time Vice President Al Gore invented the Internet in the 1970s."

or

" the Chicago Tribune, where an associate editor sent out a staff memo last week canceling all vacations between Dec. 27, 1999 and the end of January 2000. "

Which I didn't know. That might make a few more people at the trib take notice.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), March 25, 1999.


For your info. Check and see what the Press has to deal with. It is interesting to consider that Delcan and other press folks don't consider looking to see if they will have a job after Y2K. I am sure Paul Milne has a shovel they could use to clean the animal wastes. (CSY2K folk may remember this from last spring) Get a haircut an do your job

Newspaper Association of America

http://www.naa.org/technology/y2k/y2k.htm

-- Brian (imager@ampsc.com), March 25, 1999.



Good job it wasn't: "...the Chicago Tribune, where an associate editor sent out a staff memo last week canceling all vacations between Dec. 27, 1999 and the end of January 1900" ;-)

-- (someone@somewhere.com), March 25, 1999.

Actually I know for a fact that the Wisconsin Guard is deploying to the Illinois border to keep the FIB's ( F**king Illinois Bastards) south of the border where they belong.... ):-}

-- AnotherCheeseHead (Nofibs@Wi.com), March 26, 1999.

Cheesehead,

I can hardly blame them.

Although in defense of FIB's I must say, having lived in both places Il. has hardly cornered the market on idiots.

We are all Americans first after all. I'm sorry I even posted this, it was quite insulting to my neighbors to the north. I will accept the BFI award for the day.

-- Deborah, the Flatlander (infowars@yahoo.com), March 26, 1999.


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