Today the World Net Daily report "Army prepares for Y2K food crisis stated, "A memorandum from Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre to all defense agencies spells out the need to be prepared to "respond to requests for assistance from civil authorities both domestically and overseas throughout the Y2K date transition period (defined as Sept. 1, 1999 through March 31, 2000)." Anyone know, why as early as Sept 1st? Thanks for the answers. Lori.

-- Lori (ABaby72@aol.com), May 24, 1999

Answers

It is probably because one of the "danger" or "trigger" dates is September 9, 1999. Ninth day of ninth month of 99, which supposedly will end up being "9999" in some computers based on gregorian date calculations. Of course this needs to take into account that there are some zeroes in there, so it could probably look like this: "090999" or "990909". Some string of nines could mean "end of input" or other such dire commands. Some people say this is pure "bunk", and others don't. Just my opinion on this. I might be wrong.

Am I right?

-- newlurker (no@no.com), May 24, 1999.

Maybe ..

AUGUST 21 (Midnight): GPS (Global Positioning System)- Very nulnerable time http://www.techstocks.com/~wsapi/investor/reply-9567593

SEPTEMBER - MILITARY: "For the purpose of this memorandum, the Y2K transition date period is defined to be from 1 September 1999 through 31 March 2000 " SUBJECT: DoD Year 2000 (Y2K) Support to Civil Authorities FROM: Deputy Secretary of Defense http://www.army.mil/army-y2k/depsecdef_dod_civil_support.htm

SEPTEMBER - UTILITIES: Sept-9 Nationwide Test of entire American Electrical System "Drill may include reducing planned outages, modified committment of resources, redispatch of generation and transmission loading, cooperation with electric market participants, and staffing of all critical facilities. Simulate system conditions and operating plans for the Y2K transition as closely as possible..." http://www.techstocks.com/~wsapi/investor/reply-9568312

FYI: 9-9-99 is a critical programming date with potential for lots of problems.

BTW: Military worries that WVA/VA 765KV grid interconnection planned for 1998 won't be available until 2002, making mid-Atlantic states vulnerable. http://www2.army.mil/army-y2k/Hottopics.htm

SEPTEMBER - BANKING: "they predict that cash problems ...could crop up from as early as September and that they will almost certainly last until the end of February." http://www.techstocks.com/~wsapi/investor/reply-9546755

OCTOBER 1 As I recall - beginning of federal govt fiscal year.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), May 24, 1999.

Cheryl, another Cascadian? Thanks for your good post on dates.
Don't think any dates hold a fuse to the Big Oh Oh, but it's nice they prompt some drills and contingency planning. GPS rollover might be interesting.
But we have to wait until New Year's Evil for the real fireworks. Unless Nik's gut is right and Memorial weekend proves too memorable, or Nostradamus really did pinpoint the 7th month of 1999, King of Terror in the skies ...

my, the calendar is looking crowded ... tentative appointments with doom taking up room ...

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), May 24, 1999.

As far as Sept. 1 -- besides GPS and 9999 -- I think there's an important psychological factor. After Labor Day, people "get back to work." Summer is over, plytime is gone, and there's usually more of sense of "reality" somehow, and people will wake up to the fact that it's getting down to the wire. I don't really expect to see much in the way of awareness uppage during the summer, but after labor day -- watch out!

Just like during this past winter, there was an uppage in the level of awareness, once spring rolled around, things quieted down. Once we get into the final season, things will heat up. Also, Oct. is the "traditional" time for stock market "adjustments." This year may be a doozy, which will only lead to more awareness and the possibility for panic. If they start planning for contingencies to be in place for Sept 1, then they'll be well along by mid-Oct if things happen then...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), May 24, 1999.

Could it be because a LOT of companies and government organizations have slid their completion dates to the end of September...and when they miss that date, it will be obvious that they aren't going to make the December 31, 1999 hard date.

Any preparations after September will be most difficult. It might be a good time to plan to do the physical work...having the materials already on hand. Cut and split firewood, build that fishing boat, etc.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), May 24, 1999.