the following is a text version of most of my website
POSTSCRIPT: This website was frozen on December 31, 1999, as a permanent document on how all of us acted and reacted to the Y2K myth from 1997 to 1999. Enjoy reading all of the emails, especially the wild ones from 1998. - David Robert Loblaw, 03 January 2000
A Canadian's opinion piece
on this mischievous deception
The hysteria surrounding the Year 2000 computer bug will be the biggest money-making hoax in my lifetime. This web-site, originally created in the Fall of '97, is my way of congratulating everyone involved in
this elaborate and perfectly-executed scam.
Well done!
I’m in awe of the people who inflated this issue from a simple computer problem into mythical proportions. I don’t want it stopped; I’m eager to continue to watch the hoax unfold.
There is no way it can be stopped anyway as far too
many people have an interest in this being perceived as a big problem. No one who’s making money on it or whose reputation is on the line is going to drop their poker face until 01/01/00.
This is a simple and important computer issue
that must be examined. Any company, organization,
or government that does nothing is inviting disaster.
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
A simple explanation on what the millennium bug is all about.
WHY IT'S GREAT
It has all the elements to make it a great scam.
WHY THIS SITE EXISTS
My insidious, ulterior motive exposed.
WILD VIEWER FEEDBACK, last updated December 31, 1999 A.D.
Read snippets of the newest emails, some with:
"The world just thrives on disaster after disaster."
"I deeply admire your faith in your belief"
"Your not a very intelligent Canadian"
Send a response yourself.
Check out the weird and wonderful Email Archives:
1999 #3, 1999 #2, 1999 #1, 1998 #3, 1998 #2, 1998 #1
MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS
When does 'It' start? And what about Christ and those Survivalists?
A SKILLET OF SCEPTICS
Links to every Y2K sceptic in the world.
Beware of the sneaky millennium bug! It goes by a lot of names. Take a look at its aliases below, but be sure not to repeat them out loud three times.
milenium bug (one l, one n)
millenium bug (two ls, one n)
milennium bug (one l, two ns)
Y2K
Y2K computer bug
Year 2000 bug
Year 2000 crisis
Year 2000 virus
Year 2000 problem
The Oh-oh Problem
Computer Crisis of 2000
The End of the World As We Know It
TEOTWAWKI
A Canadian's opinion piece
on this mischievous deception
The hysteria surrounding the Year 2000 computer bug will be the biggest money-making hoax in my lifetime. This web-site, originally created in the Fall of '97, is my way of congratulating everyone involved in
this elaborate and perfectly-executed scam.
Well done!
I’m in awe of the people who inflated this issue from a simple computer problem into mythical proportions. I don’t want it stopped; I’m eager to continue to watch the hoax unfold.
There is no way it can be stopped anyway as far too
many people have an interest in this being perceived as a big problem. No one who’s making money on it or whose reputation is on the line is going to drop their poker face until 01/01/00.
This is a simple and important computer issue
that must be examined. Any company, organization,
or government that does nothing is inviting disaster.
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
A simple explanation on what the millennium bug is all about.
WHY IT'S GREAT
It has all the elements to make it a great scam.
WHY THIS SITE EXISTS
My insidious, ulterior motive exposed.
WILD VIEWER FEEDBACK, last updated December 31, 1999 A.D.
Read snippets of the newest emails, some with:
"The world just thrives on disaster after disaster."
"I deeply admire your faith in your belief"
"Your not a very intelligent Canadian"
Send a response yourself.
Check out the weird and wonderful Email Archives:
1999 #3, 1999 #2, 1999 #1, 1998 #3, 1998 #2, 1998 #1
MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS
When does 'It' start? And what about Christ and those Survivalists?
A SKILLET OF SCEPTICS
Links to every Y2K sceptic in the world.
Beware of the sneaky millennium bug! It goes by a lot of names. Take a look at its aliases below, but be sure not to repeat them out loud three times.
milenium bug (one l, one n)
millenium bug (two ls, one n)
milennium bug (one l, two ns)
Y2K
Y2K computer bug
Year 2000 bug
Year 2000 crisis
Year 2000 virus
Year 2000 problem
The Oh-oh Problem
Computer Crisis of 2000
The End of the World As We Know It
TEOTWAWKI
Millennium Bug is a misnomer
Millennium ...
The Year 2000 is not the start of the next millennium. Even if it was, this date-field issue has nothing to do with thousand year cycles. If computers existed in 1899, we'd have called it The Year 1900 Problem.
... Bug
A bug is an unforeseen blip in software and other development. The Year 2000 issue is just that -- an issue, not a bug.
What it is
Decades ago, well-dressed computer programmers collectively and individually decided not to include the unnecessary "19" century digits before every year date. By doing so, this saved a lot of valuable, expensive, and rare memory space (back then). It was a responsible and logical decision.
If they did not do this, our current computer technology would probably be hovering around the early 1980's mark. People today would be drooling over possibly owning a Radio Shack TRS-80.
On New Year's Eve 1999, when we flip from 31/12/99 to 01/01/00, many computers won't know what Year 00 is and will assume either it's 1900 or nil-input.
This is an important issue that must be examined. Any company, organization, or government that doesn't take the time to look at how their systems will operate in the Year 00 is inviting disaster.
But ... most companies, organizations, and governments are doing or have already done so. The only reason to panic or worry would be if no one was doing anything about it. The issue does indeed exist; it's just not as gigantic a problem as it has been inflated to be.
If you do nothing to check your business computers, you may have some trouble on Saturday morning, January 1, 2000. If you own or run a company and any of your Computer People mumble, "I don't know if we can fix the millennium bug," fire them today. This issue will probably be one of the simplest computer problems they'll ever encounter in their careers.
Computer programmers create actual, brilliant programs out of mere ideas in their heads. For them to go through millions of lines of old code (many armed with rapid, automated testing tools) to find every date-field is child's play, not to mention damn dull.
Oh-oh! -- don't forget about the million/billion/zillion embedded chips and embedded systems. These cannot be re-programmed or upgraded. These are molded into solid cement and are unchangeable. You cannot get out of bed with them. Examine how many are actually date-aware ...
Planes will not fall out of the sky, elevators will not drop, governments will not collapse. The Year 2000 is going to arrive with a yawn.
If you don't believe me, click on this mushroom cloud graphic to read the worst case scenario from a guy named Gary North. After preaching mass destruction and economic chaos, he admits at the end of the article: "I'm not a programmer. My Ph.D. is in history. I take the historian's view: things are interconnected in ways we can barely understand." It's a very entertaining article. Gary describes it as, "ideal for introducing the problem to wives, in-laws, and other skeptics."
Millennium ...
The Year 2000 is not the start of the next millennium. Even if it was, this date-field issue has nothing to do with thousand year cycles. If computers existed in 1899, we'd have called it The Year 1900 Problem.
... Bug
A bug is an unforeseen blip in software and other development. The Year 2000 issue is just that -- an issue, not a bug.
What it is
Decades ago, well-dressed computer programmers collectively and individually decided not to include the unnecessary "19" century digits before every year date. By doing so, this saved a lot of valuable, expensive, and rare memory space (back then). It was a responsible and logical decision.
If they did not do this, our current computer technology would probably be hovering around the early 1980's mark. People today would be drooling over possibly owning a Radio Shack TRS-80.
On New Year's Eve 1999, when we flip from 31/12/99 to 01/01/00, many computers won't know what Year 00 is and will assume either it's 1900 or nil-input.
This is an important issue that must be examined. Any company, organization, or government that doesn't take the time to look at how their systems will operate in the Year 00 is inviting disaster.
But ... most companies, organizations, and governments are doing or have already done so. The only reason to panic or worry would be if no one was doing anything about it. The issue does indeed exist; it's just not as gigantic a problem as it has been inflated to be.
If you do nothing to check your business computers, you may have some trouble on Saturday morning, January 1, 2000. If you own or run a company and any of your Computer People mumble, "I don't know if we can fix the millennium bug," fire them today. This issue will probably be one of the simplest computer problems they'll ever encounter in their careers.
Computer programmers create actual, brilliant programs out of mere ideas in their heads. For them to go through millions of lines of old code (many armed with rapid, automated testing tools) to find every date-field is child's play, not to mention damn dull.
Oh-oh! -- don't forget about the million/billion/zillion embedded chips and embedded systems. These cannot be re-programmed or upgraded. These are molded into solid cement and are unchangeable. You cannot get out of bed with them. Examine how many are actually date-aware ...
Planes will not fall out of the sky, elevators will not drop, governments will not collapse. The Year 2000 is going to arrive with a yawn.
If you don't believe me, click on this mushroom cloud graphic to read the worst case scenario from a guy named Gary North. After preaching mass destruction and economic chaos, he admits at the end of the article: "I'm not a programmer. My Ph.D. is in history. I take the historian's view: things are interconnected in ways we can barely understand." It's a very entertaining article. Gary describes it as, "ideal for introducing the problem to wives, in-laws, and other skeptics."
The best illogic starts with a true premise. In this case, some computers will have a little problem with Year 00. After that truism, it gets weird.
A good scam ...
can be summarized in a few words. "Computers won't know what Year 00 is."
A good scam ...
sounds like it has technical validity. "I'm able to figure out that I'm 50 years old by subtracting my birth year of '49 from the current year of '99, but next year when I subtract '49 from '00 - I'll be negative 49 years old!"
A good scam ...
sounds like it will affect millions of people. "Computers are everywhere. Planes will crash because they use computers, so will elevators. The banks will crash. The high-tech weapons of the military will freeze."
and the best one:
A good scam ...
rests on EGO. No one wants to look stupid. Once someone buys into a scam, they'll do or say anything not to look the fool. That is what fuels a scam.
A good scam ...
can be summarized in a few words. "Computers won't know what Year 00 is."
A good scam ...
sounds like it has technical validity. "I'm able to figure out that I'm 50 years old by subtracting my birth year of '49 from the current year of '99, but next year when I subtract '49 from '00 - I'll be negative 49 years old!"
A good scam ...
sounds like it will affect millions of people. "Computers are everywhere. Planes will crash because they use computers, so will elevators. The banks will crash. The high-tech weapons of the military will freeze."
and the best one:
A good scam ...
rests on EGO. No one wants to look stupid. Once someone buys into a scam, they'll do or say anything not to look the fool. That is what fuels a scam.
This site was first called ...
... Millennium Hysteria when I launched it in late-1997, but I soon found that was far far too big of a category. Once the Y2K-circus opened its tent inside my organization and the travelling freaks dazzled management into doing anything they asked, I whittled the site to Y2K to give voice to the eye-rolling that all of my programmer colleagues were doing.
As I say on the main page of my site, I admire everyone who’s making money off Y2K. To create a multi-billion dollar industry out of a million dollar computer issue is outstanding. This demonstrates the essence of capitalism and entrepreneurship: find a need or a desire or a fear and exploit it to get as much money out of it as possible until it runs dry, then find something else.
I would never stand up and debate any of the Y2K hypsters in public -- they have everything going for them. With only a few words, they can easily exploit the fear of the unknown, the fear of computers, and especially the fear of big numbers. If they opened their speech with a line I once read on the net somewhere: "Every time bomb has a clock. This time bomb is a clock!" everyone’s heartbeat would increase and I’d be left mumbling, "but, but, but ..." I’d be slaughtered.
Even after the "crisis" fizzles to nothing shortly after 01/01/00, the hypsters still win. They will announce that everything turned out fine and total destruction was avoided because of their work. They'll accept our thanks, and walk away with smiles on their faces and money in the bank. (Actually, some of them won't walk away. As they don't want the goose to die, they are busy creating post-2000 scenarios: hire con-sultant X to maintain a vigilant check on your applications in 2000, 2001, 2002 ...)
I named my site and its email "just a number" as it sums up what I think about this. Whenever a number is higher than a few dozen, everyone’s mind starts to blur. Debates can only be held up with words; the moment someone injects a number, the resulting fact-eating disease starts to kill the debate.
We attach high emotions to bland numbers. On the stroke of midnight on every New Year’s Eve, there is a momentary thrill. "Oh my God, it’s 1990! 1990!!! We’re in The Nineties. It feels so weird to say it." We now await The Big 2000 as the most gorgeous, sexiest date we’ll ever have. He/she better not let us down.
With each email or web-site I read, I say to myself, "Does this person actually want there to be problems on 01/01/00?" and the answer is often yes. This dumbfounds me. For whatever reason, I see that many people are looking forward to major chaos and catastrophe (not to themselves, of course.) Some actually need there to be temporary chaos in order for wonderful things to happen to them immediately afterwards.
The daily onslaught of responses I receive are now my favourite part of my web-site. I first assumed only friends and colleagues would comment; and now, due to the ever-increasing volume, I can no longer personally respond to every email I get (well, I could, but I need to spend time with my cats too.) I’m always adding more clips of my favourite emails on my Viewer Feedback page.
When all is said and done, it is an absolute certainty there will be computer problems in the first week of January 2000 (as there were this past week and will be next week.) I know I'm going to love working on JAN-00 as I'll be able to blame every single problem I have on Y2K. "Sorry, I didn't send you those stats. My system crashed. Year 2000, you know."
Every kid dreams of the perfect excuse; soon, every adult will have one.
All the best to you and yours in '00
OR
Make today a good day as there are only a few left.
... Millennium Hysteria when I launched it in late-1997, but I soon found that was far far too big of a category. Once the Y2K-circus opened its tent inside my organization and the travelling freaks dazzled management into doing anything they asked, I whittled the site to Y2K to give voice to the eye-rolling that all of my programmer colleagues were doing.
As I say on the main page of my site, I admire everyone who’s making money off Y2K. To create a multi-billion dollar industry out of a million dollar computer issue is outstanding. This demonstrates the essence of capitalism and entrepreneurship: find a need or a desire or a fear and exploit it to get as much money out of it as possible until it runs dry, then find something else.
I would never stand up and debate any of the Y2K hypsters in public -- they have everything going for them. With only a few words, they can easily exploit the fear of the unknown, the fear of computers, and especially the fear of big numbers. If they opened their speech with a line I once read on the net somewhere: "Every time bomb has a clock. This time bomb is a clock!" everyone’s heartbeat would increase and I’d be left mumbling, "but, but, but ..." I’d be slaughtered.
Even after the "crisis" fizzles to nothing shortly after 01/01/00, the hypsters still win. They will announce that everything turned out fine and total destruction was avoided because of their work. They'll accept our thanks, and walk away with smiles on their faces and money in the bank. (Actually, some of them won't walk away. As they don't want the goose to die, they are busy creating post-2000 scenarios: hire con-sultant X to maintain a vigilant check on your applications in 2000, 2001, 2002 ...)
I named my site and its email "just a number" as it sums up what I think about this. Whenever a number is higher than a few dozen, everyone’s mind starts to blur. Debates can only be held up with words; the moment someone injects a number, the resulting fact-eating disease starts to kill the debate.
We attach high emotions to bland numbers. On the stroke of midnight on every New Year’s Eve, there is a momentary thrill. "Oh my God, it’s 1990! 1990!!! We’re in The Nineties. It feels so weird to say it." We now await The Big 2000 as the most gorgeous, sexiest date we’ll ever have. He/she better not let us down.
With each email or web-site I read, I say to myself, "Does this person actually want there to be problems on 01/01/00?" and the answer is often yes. This dumbfounds me. For whatever reason, I see that many people are looking forward to major chaos and catastrophe (not to themselves, of course.) Some actually need there to be temporary chaos in order for wonderful things to happen to them immediately afterwards.
The daily onslaught of responses I receive are now my favourite part of my web-site. I first assumed only friends and colleagues would comment; and now, due to the ever-increasing volume, I can no longer personally respond to every email I get (well, I could, but I need to spend time with my cats too.) I’m always adding more clips of my favourite emails on my Viewer Feedback page.
When all is said and done, it is an absolute certainty there will be computer problems in the first week of January 2000 (as there were this past week and will be next week.) I know I'm going to love working on JAN-00 as I'll be able to blame every single problem I have on Y2K. "Sorry, I didn't send you those stats. My system crashed. Year 2000, you know."
Every kid dreams of the perfect excuse; soon, every adult will have one.
All the best to you and yours in '00
OR
Make today a good day as there are only a few left.
It's so boring being a sceptic. (I'm a 'skeptic' when I'm in the U.S. and I'm a 'sceptic' when I'm in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the rest of the Commonwealth.)
If you had a choice of going out to dinner with either a flamboyant Y2K spinner-of-wild tales or a monotone Y2K debunker, I know which one you'd choose. (Me too.) So don't go out to dinner with any of the following people, even if they pay:
DEBUGGING THE Y2k STORY [dead link]
Written by two programmers, I highly recommend reading this clear and to-the-point expose. At the end of it are their Predictions and Recommendations. Two good quotes from the article are: "simply the amount of money being spent seems to be a major component shaping the belief of many people" and "like many other celebrities, Y2k is mostly known for being famous."
A GREAT QUOTE FROM 'REWIRED' [dead link]
Paul Kedrosky: "Y2K advocates were like newly hatched mosquitoes. They only have a short amount of time to suck blood before they die."
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF'S "NO WHERE TO RUN" ARTICLE [dead link]
"Although fans of apocalypse have always looked for any excuse to expect the worst, the millenium bug has provoked an unprecedented amount of doomsday scenario planning from otherwise sane people."
WHAT STARTED IT FOR ME [dead link]
The famous article, "The Year 2000 as Racket and Ruse," by Nicholas Zvegintzov that was first published in American Programmer in February 1996. "The Year 2000 problem has three advantages that help to make it a perfect racket. First, it has a basis in reality.... Second, it is a software problem - perhaps the only software problem that lay people can easily understand.... Third, its association with the turn of the millennium plays into superstition."
BRIGHT IDEAS TO EXTERMINATE THE BUG [dead link]
"... simply call the next century, 'New 1900' ... Add a letter to the year, like 1999A, 1999B, 1999C, and so on ... name years the way we name Hurricanes and Sporting Arenas ..."
MURPHY'S LAW DOESN'T APPLY HERE [dead link]
"(An) Apollo mission was so complex, that if every component was required to work correctly for the mission to succeed, then only one in five million launches would have succeeded! ... This logical flaw seems common in the way many commentators on the Y2K problem have been approaching the problem...."
EXPOSING 'DOOM AND GLOOMERS' [dead link]
"This page explores and explains some of the background of those that claim governments will fail and financial and monetary systems will collapse. I call these people the "Doom and Gloom" set.... They are a combination of religious radicals, gun nuts, and book sellers."
THE YEAR 2000 HOAX [dead link]
"I asked my local banker for a repayment schedule for a 35-year, $250,000 home loan. It took some computer inputting on his part (he typed with one finger) and the nearby printer delivered a schedule into 2032. How did he do it? The banker laughed when I told him about the gloom and doom forecast for the year 2000."
THE Y2K STIMULUS [dead link]
"Yes, fixing the Year 2000 bug is causing alarm and costing billions. But it's also goading many offices to improve. Past turn-of-century celebrants have sometimes included end-of-the-world groups led by prophets of doom. In our technology-driven age, it's perhaps not surprising that a millennium computer bug has spawned prophets of techno-doom."
YEAR 2000? SHUT UP ALREADY! [dead link]
"The Year 2000 is a hoax. The compu-world won't crash, the planet won't be paralyzed, and chaos will not reign... at least no more than usual."
"MILLENNIUM BUG, SCHMILLENNIUM BUG!" [dead link]
"The threat that computers won't be able to handle the year-number rollover to 2000 is not glowing too hot on my radar screen."
If you had a choice of going out to dinner with either a flamboyant Y2K spinner-of-wild tales or a monotone Y2K debunker, I know which one you'd choose. (Me too.) So don't go out to dinner with any of the following people, even if they pay:
DEBUGGING THE Y2k STORY [dead link]
Written by two programmers, I highly recommend reading this clear and to-the-point expose. At the end of it are their Predictions and Recommendations. Two good quotes from the article are: "simply the amount of money being spent seems to be a major component shaping the belief of many people" and "like many other celebrities, Y2k is mostly known for being famous."
A GREAT QUOTE FROM 'REWIRED' [dead link]
Paul Kedrosky: "Y2K advocates were like newly hatched mosquitoes. They only have a short amount of time to suck blood before they die."
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF'S "NO WHERE TO RUN" ARTICLE [dead link]
"Although fans of apocalypse have always looked for any excuse to expect the worst, the millenium bug has provoked an unprecedented amount of doomsday scenario planning from otherwise sane people."
WHAT STARTED IT FOR ME [dead link]
The famous article, "The Year 2000 as Racket and Ruse," by Nicholas Zvegintzov that was first published in American Programmer in February 1996. "The Year 2000 problem has three advantages that help to make it a perfect racket. First, it has a basis in reality.... Second, it is a software problem - perhaps the only software problem that lay people can easily understand.... Third, its association with the turn of the millennium plays into superstition."
BRIGHT IDEAS TO EXTERMINATE THE BUG [dead link]
"... simply call the next century, 'New 1900' ... Add a letter to the year, like 1999A, 1999B, 1999C, and so on ... name years the way we name Hurricanes and Sporting Arenas ..."
MURPHY'S LAW DOESN'T APPLY HERE [dead link]
"(An) Apollo mission was so complex, that if every component was required to work correctly for the mission to succeed, then only one in five million launches would have succeeded! ... This logical flaw seems common in the way many commentators on the Y2K problem have been approaching the problem...."
EXPOSING 'DOOM AND GLOOMERS' [dead link]
"This page explores and explains some of the background of those that claim governments will fail and financial and monetary systems will collapse. I call these people the "Doom and Gloom" set.... They are a combination of religious radicals, gun nuts, and book sellers."
THE YEAR 2000 HOAX [dead link]
"I asked my local banker for a repayment schedule for a 35-year, $250,000 home loan. It took some computer inputting on his part (he typed with one finger) and the nearby printer delivered a schedule into 2032. How did he do it? The banker laughed when I told him about the gloom and doom forecast for the year 2000."
THE Y2K STIMULUS [dead link]
"Yes, fixing the Year 2000 bug is causing alarm and costing billions. But it's also goading many offices to improve. Past turn-of-century celebrants have sometimes included end-of-the-world groups led by prophets of doom. In our technology-driven age, it's perhaps not surprising that a millennium computer bug has spawned prophets of techno-doom."
YEAR 2000? SHUT UP ALREADY! [dead link]
"The Year 2000 is a hoax. The compu-world won't crash, the planet won't be paralyzed, and chaos will not reign... at least no more than usual."
"MILLENNIUM BUG, SCHMILLENNIUM BUG!" [dead link]
"The threat that computers won't be able to handle the year-number rollover to 2000 is not glowing too hot on my radar screen."