As a chemist, I'm always looking for simple ways to envision or describe complex phenomena. One hit me in the cab on the way to the airport in Boston yesterday. Memorial day traffic is intense, but ripping along. All of a sudden we hit the traffic jam. An hour later we pass the source of the problem: one broken down car blocking only one of the four lanes. How could one broken down car create such a problem? Go figure. I had been talking to the cab driver about y2k. He now gets it.

-- Dave (aa@aaa.com), May 29, 1999

Answers

Dave, your are a man after my own heart. I am still one of those that believes the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Your Analogy is perfect. One broken system on the highway of commerce and that's the end of the traffic. So much for the hi-tech, gobble-de-goop.

-- Richard Westerlind (Astral-Acres@webtv.net), May 29, 1999.

David,

I'll be using that one!!!

David

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), May 29, 1999.

Very true Dave. I've always been more successful "getting through" this way, rather than to discuss clinical facts (too sterile for many). I've always liked the Titanic analogy though....people dancing, drinking and making merry, as the water slowly and steadily rose beneath them. The Government playing violins on deck to "soothe the masses". Not enough life-boats and the denial behind even needing more, on and on. This subject of y2k is FULL of them. The most recent analogy I've imagined is in respect to the Governments newest "tactic" regarding the reassurance that "the COUNTRY will be fine...but expect small localized problems". To me, Koskinen has now asked each one of us to load one shell in the chamber, spin it, and hold it to your head with your finger on the trigger. Then ask yourself if you're feeling lucky today? This will create an environment of getting EACH person to prepare without the panic that the ENTIRE country is in deep doo-doo. My President has now asked me to play Russian Roulette. Can't wait to see what "hoop" the lion tamer will hold up next. I'm not jumping anymore, I'll just watch the show.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), May 29, 1999.

Dave,

That is indeed an excellent analogy and is appropriate to much in the Y2K situation.

When I was flying out of NAS Dallas, I used to see such things from an airborne perspective over the Dallas/Ft Worth freeway system. Seeing it all in the same image only reinforces what you've pointed out.

I recall reading somewhere, and my own observations have borne this out, that a single stalled truck that blocks a single lane of traffic for 5 minutes results in delays and disruptions in following traffic for over an hour!

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), May 29, 1999.

Yup, a good analogy alright. Traffic in the lane is disrupted but can still carry on by transferring to another lane. Given a large enough a freeway the disruption is minimal. And the proper applied resources will quickly clear away the problem!

-- A good analogy (Casual@observation.com), May 29, 1999.

Take that great analogy skyward with the FAA and air traffic control when merely one plane having problems or one key airport weathered in impacts heavily on the system.

-- (snowleopard6@webtv.net), May 29, 1999.

Hey Dave - I think you missed the real Boston traffic y2K analogy from Friday. Monday of last week, someone driving through the elevated "Central Artery" section of Boston noticed there was a buckling girder, and reported it to the State Police in South Boston. Noone checked until Friday morning. By Friday noon, the entire Central Artery had been shut down (one southgoing lane open, none northbound).

This is the highway for through traffic - either heading south to Cape Cod or north to the White Mountains or Maine. It is taking all weekend to fix. The extremely busy Memorial Day weekend. They could have started early in the week and finished by Friday, but noone took the report seriously. I'm guessing noone will admit to the screw up either.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), May 30, 1999.