Year 2000 Time Bomb Disposal Kit (Photo credit: rjw1)
Does any one remember the millennium bug? Back in the late 1990’s the planet was a buzz about a worldwide catastrophe, “the bug.” Personal computers came into existence in the seventies. At the time, computers possessed limited storage capacity. Programmers allowed only two digits to define a year. After all, in nineteen eighty, who could imagine the world lasting until the year two thousand? Between two thousand, and the limited capacity of early computer memory, no one could imagine that using only two digits to define a year was a problem. Finally in the late nineteen nineties the world became aware. What will happen on New Year’s eve of 1999 when the calendar turns over and it becomes the year 2000? Will the year 00 mean 1900 or 2000? Imagine the confusion. What would happen to the stock market? What about our savings in the bank? Would we earn the interest of 1900 or the interest of 2000? Worse yet, would those on the verge of retirement in 2000 be set back to 1900 and not be recognized as being born?
The millennium bug caused a rash of business to change out all old computers with new ones that could handle the four digit year. I remember my company racing to check computers to decide if they contained any software that limited the year to two digits. If they identified a problem they replaced it, or bumped it down to an application where the year was not a factor. The whole world sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the clock to turn, and the computers to crash. It is now twelve years after the fact, and I have yet to hear of a problem related to the millennium bug. What that means is we converted every computer on time, or that the millennium bug was a non-problem.
Today, I hear a lot of discussion about a similar catastrophe, the “fiscal cliff.” What will happen to the economy if we reinstate the Clinton era taxes? Many pundits, Congressmen, Senators, and “we the Sheeple” believe it will destroy the economy and send us into another more deeper recession. Really? Who has any definitive knowledge or facts to back that up? I think it would make a great experiment to let it happen i.e. do nothing to avoid the fiscal cliff. Let the taxes go into effect. It is a democrat’s dream to get all that extra money into the coffers (or trough). Perhaps we would learn once and for all about economics. Is economics a real science, or is it a political folly? If it is a science, the democrats will be proven wrong and the people they profess to protect will suffer. If they are right, economics will be proven more witchcraft than science.
It might be interesting to take a simple poll and see how you feel about this argument. Click on the poll below.
Related articles
- Should Drivers Fear The Y2K Bug? – Car Care (motortrend.com)
- The end of the world is nigh (insearchofharris.wordpress.com)
- Windows XP is a ticking time-bomb with only 500 days to go (zdnet.com)
Filed under: Conservative, economy, family, Government, politics | Tagged: DVD, E-book, Fiscal Cliff, Holidays, Millennium Bug, New Year, Sheeple, taxes, United States, Year 2000, Year 2000 problem |
I started using an Apple IIe in September 1983. From 1997 we were bombarded and bugged from all corners by “The millennium bug” and I concur with Ankur Mithal “The millennium bug is vivid in memory.”
May I re-post (not reblog) this on my blog “Impressions”?
Yes you may. Thanks for visiting.
Didn’t see a poll button on the post. But I am with you on this. The millennium bug is vivid in memory. I remember hallucinating and building doomsday scenarios like earthquakes and civil strife (because of a computer software, remember!!) and paying millions to consultants who could solve all that.