This was in the New York Times this A.M. The explosion had something to do with the power plant at the Company. It is speculation on my part but I seem to think it was caused by an embedded chip failure. Also, New Yorks 911 system crashed yesterday as backup generators failed to start as the result of a "test." Here is the link to the article on the fire at The New York Times. You may have to go through the log in procedure to get there. It's free.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 1999

Answers

One thing we all have to do, or at least are striving to do, is maintain some sense of reality on the Y2k issue.

From what I've read about the Ford company power plant, it was simply a boiler explosion. While that may have had tragic consequences for the personnel killed or injured in the explosion yesterday, that's all it was. Though not a frequent occurance, boiler explosions do happen. That's why the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) boiler and pressure vessel code was adopted, to set some standards for boiler construction and operation. Again, I seriously doubt any "boiler control" or Y2k testing was involved in this particular incident.

Same with the NYC 911 story. Any facility with a backup generation system periodically tests that system to make sure it will kick on when it is supposed to. Power failures *do* happen occasionally; it's nice to know that your backup system will work when it's needed, so the systems are tested frequently. Doesn't matter whether it's 911 dispatch, a hospital, or a nuclear power plant. All of them test their backup systems quite frequently.

What I'm saying is: the Y2k issue is problematic enough without us potentially inferring problems where these things happen all of the time. Let's be careful out there. ;-)

-- Anonymous, February 02, 1999

Ditto, Rick.

A sense of perspective is called for. If you want to see presumptive paranoia at it's best (worst?), spend a few minutes on the Yourdon forum.

Y2K is a reality. Let's not make it any worse than it is.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 1999

Alright, Alright I said it was "speculation on my part". Sure was an ugly fire.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999