10 years ago we were just coming up to the much anticipated Y2K. The issue of turning over to the year 2000 raised a lot of concern with computer systems and prompted huge efforts to prepare. At work we went through more than a year of preparation of procedures, coordination with other agencies, and drills for the possibility of failure of computer control systems or communication systems.
Then on December 31, 1999 the year 2000 came in hour by hour in each time zone around the world while we watched to see if there would be any problems. I was at work that night monitoring the status as the year 2000 came in. Fortunately everything went smoothly and we did not have to call on any of our emergency procedures.
Those were very memorable times. Now we are 10 years later "Y2.01K". Since that time the legacy of Y2K has probably been more formalized emergency preparedness in many areas.
2 comments:
At least that farcical "The sky is falling" media hyped scare had a final end point. The current one AGW is less likely to be so easily resolved as it is much more religious in nature. Ie one must have faith in things unproven and most likely unproveable.
I see a lot less media attention to global warming as there was for y2k. For y2k most businesses had a fairly rational approach to preparation. Some individuals were in an overly panicked mode from the media.
Global warming, or termed more broadly climate change, is a much larger long term issue than y2k was. There are different views on the issue certainly. But it seems that moving to energy uses with less potential impact on climate is wise.
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