From The Kansas City Star: FINN BULLERS and DAVID HAYES: Y2K WATCH

Tracking possible Y2K problems as the year 2000 arrives

By DAVID HAYES and FINN BULLERS - Columnist Date: 11/05/99 22:15

Jan. 1, 2000, will dawn first in the independent republic of Kiribati, a group of 30 low-lying coral islands in the Pacific Ocean straddling the equator and the International Date Line.

Chances are the Y2K bug won't do much damage there. After all, the 81,000 inhabitants of Kiribati, in the Christmas Islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia, only got television in 1989.

But for those of us in Missouri and Kansas, it will be the first look at whether the change in dates brings the Y2K bug with it.

Jan. 1 in Kiribati will occur at 6 a.m. Dec. 31 in Kansas City, and for the next 18 hours we can track the Y2K bug as it marches across the globe on its way toward the United States.

It won't be hard to monitor.

"This is a very, very big story and we are making big plans to cover it," a CNN spokeswoman said. From its Atlanta headquarters, CNN plans to devote programming from its 34 bureaus to both potential Y2K disruptions and general millennium happenings.

Several Web sites also will track Y2K's progress.

The first potential headlines could come from New Zealand, which was the first industrialized nation to suffer a major bug bite when a $1 million smelting plant went dead in 1996.

From there, we'll be able to watch Y2K reach the South Pole, eastern Russia, Japan and Korea, China, India, London, Canada, United States, Mexico and Latin America.

Along with the public, several large Y2K watchdogs will be watching, too.

The United Nations-backed International Y2K Cooperation Center, a global clearinghouse for computer bug data in Washington, D.C., will collect information from 195 coordinators across the globe.

Reports there will be updated in real time on the center's Web site -- www.iy2kcc.org.

Just blocks away, the U.S. government's $49 million Y2K Information Coordinating Center is designed to give federal agencies a round-the-clock view of potential problems.

John Koskinen, head of the president's Y2K council, says the center will feed information to the president and two working groups, one for domestic crises and one for international problems.

Staffing the center, equipped with its own electric generator, will be up to 30 crisis management specialists led by retired Lt. Gen. Peter Kind, former director of the Army's information systems.

The center is up and running now, and will stay open until after Feb. 29, the leap year date that also could create computer problems.

Major television networks in the United States have told government planners they will staff the center beginning Dec. 1 to stake a claim to precious coverage space.

Elsewhere, the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center and the federally sponsored Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh will file reports of computer acts of terrorism from across the globe.

The State Department will collect reports from U.S. embassies and issue ongoing travel advisories at http://travel.state.gov. The Defense Department will gather news from military posts.

And in the Big Apple, the 22nd floor of the World Trade Center is home to that city's Y2K command center. The $15 million facility features hurricane-proof walls, its own heating and air-conditioning system, electronic maps, a call center and press briefing room.

"This will be the largest event-monitoring effort in the history of the federal government," Koskinen said.

Want to track the bug from home? Here are five ways to do it:

TV's Cable News Network.

Year 2000 Info will show when and where the bug first emerges. Click on www.timeanddate.com.

The International Y2K Cooperation Center will file real-time reports from 195 countries at www.iy2kcc.org.

Global e-mail updates from computer guru Peter de Jager will be sent to your home computer by sending a request to amy@year2000.com.

Christian Computing magazine editor Steve Hewitt of Raytown plans to hold a real-time Internet party at www.ccmag.com, with updates from readers across the globe.

Y2K Forecast

The federal government is offering "Y2K and You," a 31-page booklet covering a variety of Y2K-related issues. You can get a copy at www.y2k.gov or by calling the government's toll-free Y2K hotline at (888)-872-4925. Beginning Nov. 27, the Y2K hotline will expand its hours to include Saturdays.

And on Sunday, The Kansas City Star will publish "Y2K Forecast," a 12-page special section assessing global and national readiness, how to fix your home computer and what simple preparations you should take.

We answer frequently asked questions, dispel rumors, debunk scam artists, give our predictions and offer a Year 2000 quiz. Let us know what you think....

The Y2K watch column appears on Saturdays. To reach David Hayes, call (816) 234-4904 or send e-mail to dhayes@kcstar.com To reach Finn Bullers, call (816) 234-7705 or send e-mail to fbullers@kcstar.com All content ) 1999 The Kansas City Star

[Posted for educational and discussion purposes only]

For a huge collection of Y2K extracts and quotes, check the 'New World Order Intelligence Update' web page at:

http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/Y2KQUITE.HTM

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 07, 1999

Answers

Thanks John, "This is a very, very big story and we are making big plans to cover it," a CNN spokeswoman said.

Hang on!, now it is a "very big story"?

They ridicule the whole idea but now they are gonna put New Zealand (and others) under the microscope to see what falls over on Jan 1?

Oh well I suppose it still gives the IT "Geniuses" in the USA 17 hours to fix all those "bugs"

-- matt (whome@somewhere.nz), November 07, 1999.

All these $$$$ BBillions (some estimates eventuate at TTTrillions) for a
3-day storm

Right! Makes perfect sense ;^)

Great article: thanks, John Whitley.
and just think about how much they're leaving out of this article, multiply by moltipolls, and wonder how all these jee-whizacres bunkers are gonna track & communicate when electricity & telecoms go bye-bye, hhhmmmmmmm

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), November 07, 1999.

Think Big Mainframes, think globally, think GMT, think it may be coming to you sooner than you expect.........

Ray in OKC, OK where GMT rollover occurs at 6:00:01pm cst, 12/31/1999

-- ray (raymondo@prodigy.net), November 07, 1999.

The bunkers are for them to Hide in!

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), November 07, 1999.

CNN will be eating it up, until they smell smoke.

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), November 07, 1999.