I don't want anyone to have problems, but on the other hand I'd prefer at least a LITTLE bit of drama...

The New Zealand Government y2k "incident" page reports NO problems, all systems normal, as of five o'clock this morning, NZ time.

Boring.

How about some stories of heroic rescuers saving the power grid through incredibly bright, brave actions.

Dang.

Which area is next to roll?

joj

-- jumpoff joe a.k.a. Al K. Lloyd (jumpoff@ekoweb.net), December 31, 1999

Answers

Since I believe that many of the stories that show up on TB2000 are complete fabrications I will fabricate a story of heroic rescuers saving the power grid through incredibly bright, brave actions. Hope you enjoy it.

Y2K News Dude, Wellington New Zealand, Jan 1, 2000 - As y2k apparently has gone off without a glitch for the nation's power grid (except for a brief blackout due to a windstorm) we would like to thank the heroic actions of Al K. Lloyd who bravely fought the y2k bug singlehandedly.
By day Al Lloyd is a mild mannered poster to the Timbomb 2000 forum on the internet, but at night he is Jumpoff Joe - Y2K SUPERHERO. Singlehandedly, JJ Y2KSH converted himself into computer data and entered the power grid spraying raid at each and every y2k glitch he saw. Even though he was outnumbered, Joe used his quick reflexes and brute strength to overpower the bugs, and thus saved New Zealand from the second dark ages.
To JJ Y2KSH we salute and thank you.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), December 31, 1999.

Re: Hoax.

I've spent quite a bit of time from 1997-1998 fixing Y2k problems. And getting paid for it. Not "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice", but not minimum wage either.

And I'm up at 4 am volunteering my time (ie unpaid) at a really unique and exciting time giving out a "heartbeat" to Health Care people (and places like this when I can find the time) Just In Case things turn to custard (now a vanishingly small probability).

Look, it's our job to deal in "worst case" scenarios. We break our hearts (often literally - pulmonary thrombosis is an occupational hazard) desperately thinking of ways that things could go wrong, and avoiding them - either by bug-fixes, work-arounds, or other risk mitigation (doing things a different way).

In this case, it seems we've avoided the really, really bad stuff. In Australia. So Far. We still may get bitten badly, but then again, we may not, even probably will not.

To take a pretty good analogy, it's like a fire in a building. Enough firemen arrive quick enough to extinguish it with no-one burnt to death, or it appears now, even hurt. A non-event, a non-crisis. But also a non-Hoax. Had the fire been left alone the whole block would have been consumed.

The fire's out. But some of us are still raking the coals, and watching for spot fires that could still be very destructive.

Go watch some firemen in action sometime. It would be instructive.

Meanwhile, 0417 in Canberra, Australia and All's Well.

-- Alan E Brain (aebrain@dynamite.com.au), December 31, 1999.