| Science
Friday > Archives
> 1999
> December
> December 31, 1999:
Hour One: Y2K Roundup
It's midnight, 1/1/00. Do you know where your computer's date is?
Yes, we know you may be sick of hearing "Y2K" by now, along with the marketing phrase "The Official _____ of the Millennium" (never mind the fact that the millennium doesn't begin for another year). But long before the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve, the calendar will already have changed in cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Wellington, New Zealand -- giving U.S. based observers a few hours to watch and learn about any possible computer glitches that might be on the horizon. We'll get the latest on the date change. | Some people are preparing for Y2K in some unusual ways. One, Daniel Hillis, doesn't think that the Y2K computer problem will bring widespread disaster. He's more focussed on creating a system that's Y-10-K compliant... a clock that he hopes will still be running - and accurate - in the year 12,000. |  | Others aren't so confident that the transition to the year 2000 will go smoothly. Outside of Toronto, Canada, survivalist Bruce Beach has constructed a bunker to end all bunkers -- made of 42 concrete-encased buses, sunk several feet beneath the soil. Beach says that his community will be able to sustain almost 500 people for weeks to months as they ride out any kind of "social disturbances" arising from the date change. We'll talk to him about his preparations, and his impressions of the world's readiness for the year 2000.
Y2K complacence, Y2K compliance, and your Y2K comments on this hour of Science Friday. Call in and contribute your thoughts at 1-800-989-8255.
Guests:
Bruce Beach
Founder
Ark Two Survival Community
Hornings Mills, Ontario, Canada
Peter Weiss
President
Vintage Management Company
New York, New York
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
- President's Council on Y2K Conversion
Ark Two Survival Community
Millennial fears drive survivalists underground: The Ottawa Citizen Online
Newsweek.com: My Turn: Why Do We Buy the Myth of Y2K?
The Long Now Foundation
WIRED SCENARIOS - The Millennium Clock Danny Hillis
ABCNEWS.com : Y10K Clock a Monument to Long-Term Thinking
NPR "Millennium" coverage This segment produced by:
Charles Bergquist
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
|