Going to chime in again to ask you to keep these stories coming, and add in anything you think I should read on it. This seems like a good post for the new year, no?
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Let me re-cast that. I hope there are enough people getting alarmed about the dangers of deeply-embedded UNIX software being 2038-vulnerable that the same "nothing happened" is the result.
Grateful to Y2K, DH as a programmer could just about write his own ticket. The salary he pulled down-more than he makes now - let us buy our house.
I wasn't as worried (or stockpiling) about the effects as I am NOW with what looms after Jan. 20.
There were definitely some real Y2K issues. I fixed one myself into an app I had created years prior.
I think the bad rep was that consultants whipped it into a frenzy over *anything* digital. I was sicced on 100 different pieces of third party operational technology and didn’t find a single thing.
I'm a retired state child welfare social worker. Over the past generation the hard work of social workers like myself, state legislatures and federal agencies has resulted in a significant reduction in child sexual abuse in the US. Not that you'd ever see the story in the MSM.
Prior to Y2K I traveled to every county in WV manually patching state government NT4 servers.
The systems weren't infrastructure critical, but they were mission critical.
Remember acid rain and numerous air quality alerts? Was this just another threat that never happened? No. A problem mitigated.
I spent 5 years in a lab developing products to reduce NOx emissions and received a patent and an award from popular science. Just one of many people involved.
It’s fascinating-why some Americans won’t comprehend, embrace, take pride in these accomplishments. After Spain got through its 1st major Covid lockdown, a day of thanks & celebration for the *children* was declared, a national party, to recognize their sacrifice & contribution to the common good.
Perhaps in the US but not in most of the rest of the world. In Europe vaccination uptake increases whenever health warnings are given. This is the especially the case with recent uptake in HPV vaccination to counter cancer rates. It’s now standard vax for both boys and girls in Europe. And free.
Not too long ago that was true in the US, vax conspiracy was an outlier. Sadly, those coming into power in conservative states are *prohibiting* vax recommendations by public officials.
And pasteurization and water treatment as well. Sure you're going to go start your own farm in the wilderness with raw milk fresh from the udder and good clean water from the well, because it's healthy and natural, none of these chemikillz. And then the cramps start.
I was only a teenager at the time but I remember the conservative Catholic homeschooler families hoarding canned goods for the y2k societal collapse, and the Protestant Prosperity Preachers on the cheap local channel selling buckets of emergency rations...
...and considering how those movements of that particular strain of Protestant and Catholic Christianity completely hijacked American Christianity in the present day, making other types of Christian out to be heretics, I feel like their prepper culture is an important part of the history.
This was the first time I can ever remember NORMAL conservative Catholics hoarding supplies and becoming preppers (my family didn't, but several families did). The ones deeper into the cultlike movements than us constantly did, because of other doomsday scares like "The Three Days of Darkness."
And then, of course, the 2000 election which they thought of as a mandate from God. There was some kind of conspiracy theory about the image of the Virgin Mary appearing on a bank in Florida and everything. They thought Bush getting in was their mandate from Heaven. And then 9/11...
...and it all exploded from there. I was very fortunate that I was going to a community college and getting to know non-Christians and a lot of Muslim immigrants personally, just as everyone I knew was digging in their heels and becoming much more conservative.
Since you asked, I actually had a Y2K software failure. The distributed back-up system for my group’s 10 workstations, which cost a pretty penny, ceased working after Y2K. Obviously
a back up system relies heavily on dates, and this company did not do the hard work to prevent failure. I was never able to get recompense from the company either. I no longer remember the company name, however.
You missed on this one big time. Had you bothered to read the transcript or listened to it on NPR, you would realize they clearly said that the reason it was a non-event was because IT staff across the world identified it, made sure we knew about it, and put in a concerted effort to mitigate it.
Good day and Happy New Year Professor! Just dropping in to let you know I'm here on Bluesky, and as always am following you. Thank you for everything you do!
I was an early hire for this innovative FBI program to actually make government more efficient and effective. It takes hard work and an understanding of the purpose of government. Not a stupid acronym and a red pen.
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Once, two billion seconds sounded like such a long time.
I wasn't as worried (or stockpiling) about the effects as I am NOW with what looms after Jan. 20.
I think the bad rep was that consultants whipped it into a frenzy over *anything* digital. I was sicced on 100 different pieces of third party operational technology and didn’t find a single thing.
The systems weren't infrastructure critical, but they were mission critical.
Thanks Heather!
Happy New Year!
:D ( I know, I tend to use too many exclamation points... )
*Those not directly involved in the response/mitigation are more susceptible than those with the direct experience.
I suspect we will all sorely miss Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, by Feb 1 if not sooner.
I spent 5 years in a lab developing products to reduce NOx emissions and received a patent and an award from popular science. Just one of many people involved.
1. baseline cognitive biases (e.g. availability, anchoring, confirmation, framing effect)
2. the incidental ways
for-profit media exaggerates and exploits them
3. the intentional ways propaganda weaponizes them
https://open.substack.com/pub/lancefrosen/p/our-enemy-is-fear?r=29ti17&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Special_Advisor_Program
I helped bring this to the Secret Service too.