Blast from the Past!

Fire Trucks: for the record Ed

Basic premise: Firetrucks will have y2k problems. Eddie says "prove they will work" on his "yourdonefor.conjob" website. Doomzies gather factoids to try and back him up.

Doomzie "Justin Case (justin case@Aloha.com), March 06, 1999." "exaggerates". Doomzie "Dan (DanTCC@Yahoo.com), March 06, 1999." tells outright lie. Mutha opens can of whoop-ass. Doomzies start the standard "backpedal". "Rhonda (wemnwo@spacestar.net), March 12, 1999." Kills their lying bullshit with a solid shot of T-R-U-T-H.

Doomzies scatter like roaches in the light. "doomers" try and derail the thread through personal attacks.

Bob Cooke weighs in with conspiracy theories (as usual)....

Thread quietly slips into oblivion, conviniently ignored by doomsayers, including King Ed himself.

Score another one for the pollies/realists.

-- Archivist (maintaining@the.archives), June 20, 2000

Answers

You make it sound as if it was Ed Yourdon who started a rumor. After looking at that thread, it looks as if this was first discussed in the U.S. House of Representitives.

-- (?@?.?), June 20, 2000.

Two days before New Years Day, my 16 yr old son rode with his 17 yr old friend to drop off his Dad at an underground gov. facility outside of Wash DC., for the rollover.

The reality of "possible" problems was enough for the fed. gov. to order him to leave his family for three days.

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), June 20, 2000.

KoFE, thank you.

This point needs to be brought up every time someone tries to realign history without that perspective.

-- Normally (Oxsys@aol.com), June 20, 2000.

Another 'diversion' attempt by KoFE. He was part of the $50 Mill. toss away to satiate FEAR. KoFE uses is just like the pre-2000 doomzies did to divert.

I,,,,YES.... ME........sourced the story that DECLAN DEBUNKED ABOUT "FIRE TRUCKS". It was a FRAUD and it was used to the end of 1999.

YOURDON NEVER DID HIS "HOMEWORK" outside of his specialty in I.T. Yet, he felt free to write chapter after chapter on "embedded failures" for his COMIC BOOK and then re-inforced his "beliefs" and the Dooomzies with posts to TB I.

I believe the problem about this stems from the ever popular "urban legends" that have gotten way outta hand in regards to year 2000.

Fi re truck urban legends exposed in TIME This thread is about all of the Doomzies GOSSIPPING about Y2k failures in emergency vehicles. YOU toss in your 3 days with the Fed. FRANKLY, I don't much care that you enjoy the Work Release program that saw you doing only 3 days.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 20, 2000.

YOURDON NEVER DID HIS "HOMEWORK" outside of his specialty in I.T. Yet, he felt free to write chapter after chapter on "embedded failures" for his COMIC BOOK and then re-inforced his "beliefs" and the Dooomzies with posts to TB I.

I believe the problem about this stems from the ever popular "urban legends" that have gotten way outta hand in regards to year 2000.

An urban legend I see being promoted now is that there never was concern about embedded systems on the part of reputable individuals. That simply isn't true.

http://www.house.gov/reform/gmit/y2k/980909.htm

Link

(begin snip)

"We found in our field hearings that while some organizations are on the right track, many have concerns about identifying and repairing embedded systems located in such critical equipment as nuclear plants, water and sewer processing systems, and even traffic signals. There are approximately 25 billion embedded chips in use throughout the world and as many as 50 million of them depend on date calculations.

"Representatives from the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told us about testing the Y2K status of equipment on their fire trucks. To their great relief, they found that the trucks water pumps are year 2000 compliant. To their dismay, however, it turned out that the mechanisms operating their ladders will not work without Y2K repairs. This is a fine illustration of how the Y2K problem can pop up where you least expect it. Further, as Baton Rouge reported on its findings, representatives from the City of New Orleans admitted they had never thought to test their fire trucks. This illustrates yet another crucial point: the value of sharing information. It is essential at every levelFederal, State, local, non-profit, and private-sector.

(end snip)

-- More (from@the.archives), June 20, 2000.

The money wasted by governments around the globe would have been easier to justify if there had existed the smallest hint of a reason to prepare.

But no such reason ever existed, and there was never a need to prepare.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 20, 2000.

Andy Ray admits it was more than just the old TB2000 forum or Ed Yourdon that was worried about y2k....

-- (An@historic.day), June 20, 2000.

Why are we talking about this now? It's over.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), June 20, 2000.

Ask the 'Archivist' who started this thread.

-- (I@don't.know), June 20, 2000.

Kevvy (More from the archives):

You need to do better research, son. Read the link provided on ins tant urban legend

snip

Instant Urban Legend

FROM TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1998

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NETLY NEWS Alligators running amok in the sewers of New York, homeless guys showing up at emergency rooms, their kidneys mysteriously removed by black market "organ transplant" rings... and now this: Fire trucks that won't start as of Jan. 1, 2000. You might expect millennial tub-thumpers such as Gary North to hold forth that this is the "kind of problem" that "challenges the world." But Forbes Digital Tool? It reported in March that "one small town in Texas discovered not so long ago that its fire trucks won't start come Jan. 1, 2000." Other web sites began to warn that "large vehicles may not start." Voil`! An urban legend is born.

The myth got its start when Austin's representative at the kickoff meeting of a Texas government Y2K group wondered aloud if there might be Y2K problems with fire engines. Austin, it turns out, is Forbes's small town. This musing ended up in the meeting minutes, which were placed on the Internet on a Texas government site -- and, well, you can guess the rest.

end snip

Tip for Dense Individuals (DI's): When you see the term "25 billion" or "50 billion" embedded systems, it should tip you off IMMEDIATLY that whoever is writing or saying this does NOT know what they are talking about. Those were 2 numbers thrown around by the doomers, and they kept them circulating for quite some time.

PS I started this thread because A) Ed's take on firetrucks was funny, B) how quickly the lies of the doomers were exposed was a crack-up, C) I'm tired of revisionist historians trying to "cover up" what the extremists of y2k did last year.

-- Archivist (maintaining@the.archives), June 20, 2000.

So what was the actual number of chips in use throughout the world in 1998? Set the history straight for us. The most common estimates I heard were 40, 50 or 60 billion. Most of these chips, of course, were freestanding and not a part of any date processing by systems.

-- What was (the@actual.number?), June 20, 2000.

You guys mean that we didn't lose our nuclear missle radar shield for 3 days at the rollover? Then why all the fuss?

And ok, maybe that kids Dad snook out the back after they dropped him off.... But I didn't post a diversion; you just have a meme so bad you can't consider an alternative.

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), June 20, 2000.

ARRRGGH!

Most of these "chips" weren't free standing. For heavens sake, what would they be doing if they weren't part of a system? It was never about "chips", it was about embedded systems, some of which contained hundreds of chips. It was the input or output of the system that mattered, not the performance of each individual chip. We tested systems, not chips.

Depending on your definition of embedded systems, the estimates I've read place it somewhere between 3 and 6 million nationwide.

Might I add that anyone using the term "embedded chips" demonstrates their complete ignorance of embedded systems?

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), June 21, 2000.

Kofe, wow, just like old times! CPR beat me to it.

"The reality of "possible" problems was enough for the fed. gov. to order him to leave his family for three days." Sweetheart, FUD order him to leave for three days, not any reality of problems. FUD FUD. Repeat it a couple of times. FUD spread by Eddie yourgod. You still don't understand do you? Fear and doubt lead the gov and most Fortune 500 companyies to spend extra money on contingencies. What a waste! Not reality but fear. If it were left to reality, nothing MORE would have been done, just the remediation.

"You guys mean that we didn't lose our nuclear missle radar shield for 3 days at the rollover? Then why all the fuss?" Please show me the details for this statement!!!!! Where did you find this?????? Pure garbage, more spreading of misinformation. No we didn't lose of nuclear missle radar shield.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 21, 2000.

Hey Maria, Does anything happen without you knowing about it?

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), June 21, 2000.