Re: Y2K Fears to Stop Cityrail Trains

[Michael <mk@netstra.com.au>]

[going more off topic here]

But then you yet again have the stupid people that have been led like sheep  
undoubtedly by the media hype to believe that they will die and other 
drastic things will happen if they dont get their toilet Y2K compliant and 
stockpile Y2K compliant food and water. IMHO, for the average household, 
Y2K will most probably not affect them much. The only real household issue 
would have to be the home PC, and even then limited to a lot older systems. 
As far as today's PC's and operating systems go, wait until 2036!! Of the 
computers I have tested for that date, just about all email programs and 
news clients will shit themselves, and any other application that is date 
reliant... Netscape Navigator also died on me in these tests.

Regards
Michael

Steve Kudlak said on 21/08/1999 in <37bdff4c.22445257@news.ovis.net>:

>On Wed, 4 Aug 1999 10:56:35 +1200, "Michael McDonald"
><michael.and.colleen.mcdonald@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
>
>>Don't forget that Sydney and Melbourne will have at least 2 hours 
warning,
>>Brisbane 3, and Perth 5, of any impending problems.  I can guarantee that
>>any engineer worth his salt will be watching NZ to see what happens at 
1100
>>GMT on 31-Dec-1999.  The wise may choose to use direct satellite
>>communications!
>>
>>You may have your own problems though!
>>
>>The effect of 0000 GMT on 01-Jan-2000 will be global rather spread 
locally
>>across time zones.
>>
>
>
>Interesting how many of us will not be at parties...or be at Y2K
>parties which will be dedicated  to watching what is happening across
>the world. I would speculate it will be interesting here in the US, as
>reports come as 0000GMT and 0100GMT. Especially if there are any
>"events" occuring in say the 3rd world. Presumably because they the
>older versions of things.
>
>Today in the local paper here (Wheeling, West Virginia, USA) there was
>
>a report via UPI, that the United States Navy had a report that things
>were supposed to wilder and wooly that previously expected....
>
>>I'm not expecting too many problems (famous last words!!).
>>
>>I've already experienced the Y2K problem.  Occurred in 1993 for a 
computer
>>system that I had partial responsibility for.  System had a very dicey
>>hardware clock (it was bigger than a PC mother-board, not very reliable, 
and
>>had a very crude method of setting time and date - very similar to the 
way
>>of setting most bedside radio clocks, but had to be done with software).
>>
>>After eliminating the clock as the source of the problem, it was a matter 
of
>>putting 2 and 2 together - the base time for the system was 1-Mar-1976, 
the
>>resolution of the timer (NOT the hardware clock) was 0.25 sec.  The time
>>that had elapsed was 2^31 "ticks"!!!  Since the system had been mainly
>>decomissioned we took the simplest solution of putting the clock back to 
a
>>year with the same calendar.
>>
>>Digital computer systems had a potential problem of similar nature a 
couple
>>of years ago - May 18, if I remember correctly,  but can't remember which
>>year it was.  Date was significant because it was 10000 days since the 
base
>>time of 1-Jan-1960 for Unix systems.
>>
>>If you are worried you can always try moving to a country which doesn't 
use
>>the Christian calendar.
>>
>>Not trains, but interesting (I hope).
>>
>>Cheers
>>Michael
>>
>>>> >David Bennetts wrote:
>>>
>>>> >> The NSW Transport Minister Carl Scully has announced that trains 
will
>>stop
>>>> >> at 11.45 pm on New Years eve and resume at 12.15 am in the city
>>underground
>>>> >> area, probably quite a sensible idea if one is not sure about the
>>>> >> reliability of power supply and signalling, particularly with
>>underground
>>>> >> stations.
>>
>>
>><remainder snipped>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>Well Interesting to see what happens. Especially with News Media.... I
>assume here we will get reports from the UK, and from other places in
>the world. So both December 31st 1999 and 01 January 2000 . When in
>GMT do people think people will start paying attention to what is
>going on?  Hmmmm this is going to have me getting  a world wall map
>with time zones.  Maybe we can get all the Alternative Radio Stations
>to play "Timezones "  by NEGATIVLAND ...but at MIdnight Local  Time or
>Midnight GMT. Midnight GMT would be more grandiose,  Midnight Local
>(OK astronomy-domination type <smiley> Midnight for one's loca.l time
>zone) might actually reassuring...If one heard it  from the next time
>zone over a lot...I used to have this compulsive little habit when I
>had a daysleep job on the Western US Coast.  I would set my shortwave
>to somewhere in the middle or low band,  and especially in NOrthern
>Hemisphere Winter I would hear of all things RADIO AUSTRALIA, which
>would sort of pop on around 1600PDT when it was a good idea to get
>up.  It was always reassuring to me. A friend of mine thought it
>"obsessive/compulsive" and I should worry about. I thought it was that
>I grew up watching too many end of the world movies.  
>
>
>Have Fun,
>Sends Steve
>chromexa@ovis.net
>