This morining in our local paper "The Buffalo News", Tom Toles, a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist had a mock front page edition of a newspaper for January 1, 2000. The mock headlines are as follows:

* 5 ATM machines fail to work properly! * Power out to over 3 homes in Northeast! * Not all library cards recognized! * Terrified residents in the dark 7 minutes! * Automatic toilet won't stop flushing!

Then in small print as another bi-line, "In other news: AIDS cases up 18% worldwide" his then one line comment "That's not a computer virus is it?"

I recognize his intent was to bring more awareness to the AIDS issue and bring it more to the forefront, but for him to make a trivial issue about what's facing us all, in less than three weeks now, really bother's me. Unfortunately, no matter how many awards he has received thoughout his career for excellent reporting of issues through his cartoons, he should still "get it" enough not to use Y2K as a joke. Apparently, everyone in the media is in for a shock soon.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), December 13, 1999

Answers

Sounds like some of the "reports" given out here.

"29 embedded failures!" (59,385,873,294 have no failures)

Hershey has Y2K failures"(not noticing the thousands of businesses that had none.

You know the routine, one out of a billion is proof that we are toast come 00/00/00

Trust me when I say you have a lot more to worry about with those "rights activists" and "professional protesters"! You wouldn't believe the trype those fools are "testifying" about here in Seattle this week!

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), December 13, 1999.

Ask not for whom the clock Toles, it Toles for thee, Tom!

Kook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), December 13, 1999.

The correct spelling is "tripe"

-- Woodsy Owl (speakandspell@getitright.com), December 13, 1999.

KLIF, 570 AM here in Dallas, has made it public that they are going to broadcast 45 seconds of static starting at midnight central time as a gag. Veeeeerrry funny, isn't it? I just found that HILARIOUS.

Not.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 13, 1999.

I see the cartoon as a criticism of media coverage rather than of Y2K pessimism. Having read and appreciated Toles's work, maybe I'm predisposed toward inferring something perceptive from it, whether intended or not.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), December 13, 1999.