Make sure that any grocery shopping you do during the last week of December is done before December 31st...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/319656.asp?cp1=1

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), October 06, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

U.S. sets up distant warning for Y2K

Officials plan command center in Washington to get early read on problems by monitoring Australia, New Zealand, Guam

By Tammy Kupperman and Robert Windrem

NBC NEWS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5  The United States will be watching from afar as New Years Eve revelers party in Australia, New Zealand and Guam. U.S. officials will have their eyes on the two Pacific nations and the U.S. territory Dec. 31 for an early read on how Y2K problems may play out at home.

Senior U.S. Officials tell NBC News that Washington has made arrangements with the governments of Australia and New Zealand and has wired U.S. military facilities on Guam to have them provide early reads on how Y2K is affecting them. Because of time differences, Australia, New Zealand and Guam will all celebrate New Years early Friday Dec. 31, Washington time.

And, say U.S. officials, the White House will give virtually hourly briefings during the day as events unfold down under.

The New Zealand capital of Auckland is 17 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, while the Australian capital of Canberra and Guam are 15 hours ahead, meaning the Year 2000 will arrive in New Zealand at 7 a.m. Dec. 31, Washington time, and in Australia and Guam at 9 a.m.

The United States hopes to get an early read on the severity of Y2K problems by keeping communications lines to the three sites open constantly, feeding into a White House Y2K command center at 18th and G streets, a block from the White House itself, U.S. officials say.

The read from Guam, the first U.S. territory to greet the New Year, will feed through a new Air Force Y2K Fusion Center at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Ala., home of the Air Force Network Operations Center. From there, notification will go to the Pentagons Y2K operations center in Crystal City, Va., which will operate from Dec. 28 through Jan. 4.

The Crystal City facility will feed information to the Pentagons National Military Command Center, which will in turn feed it to 18th and G Streets.

(All key Y2K command posts have been set up within blocks of the facilities they serve.)

The United States, Australia and New Zealand have similarly developed economies, using many of the same communications and computer systems. In addition, the three countries have a long history of ties that link government agencies. Anderson AFB on Guam has been a crucial Pacific military base for decades, with advanced communications links to the mainland United States as well as Asian nations.

By monitoring what is going on in Guam, the Pentagon will determine how its worldwide network and its weapons systems will operate.

[snip]

Even a 17-hour lead, however, will probably not be enough to allow problems to be corrected, but an early read may permit U.S. agencies to prioritize their responses or go to backup systems, say officials.

John Koskinen, the White Houses Y2K coordinator, is expected to brief the news media virtually hourly once the date change is under way on New Years Eve. Koskinen is expected to conduct his briefings from the 18th and G Street facility.

In addition, as midnight moves around the globe, U.S. embassies will be monitoring Y2K problems as they arise. Midnight in Tokyo, for example, will be 10 a.m. in Washington; Beijing, 11 a.m.; New Delhi, 1:30 p.m.; Riyadh, 3 p.m.; and Moscow, 4 p.m.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), October 06, 1999.

The Capital of New Zealand is NOT Auckland!! It is Wellington.....sheeesh

-- matt (appalled@somewhere.nz), October 06, 1999.

The United States hopes to get an early read on the severity of Y2K problems by keeping communications lines to the three sites open constantly, feeding into a White House Y2K command center at 18th and G streets, a block from the White House itself, U.S. officials say.

problems?...what problems? I thought they said it was AOK???

-- matt (In the limelight@somewhere.nz), October 06, 1999.

"Even a 17-hour lead, however, will probably not be enough to allow problems to be corrected,..."

what? not even 97% of them?

-- matt (stunned@somewhere.nz), October 06, 1999.

So...if "we" get reassuring, calming, all-is-well, my darling reports from Uncle Willie and Aunt Hillary (such a dear, sweet woman (sigh)) then we know it's time to hunker down and/or lock and load, right?

-- chairborne commando (what-me-worry@armageddon.com), October 06, 1999.

Do the embedded chips in the US weapons Systems know they are in Guam? Seems to me they would have the same date/time problem window as weapons systems on the US mainland. At any rate, it is a ridiculous assumption that less than one day warning will allow enough time to fix anything. I'm gonna take the day off and watch it unfold.

-- incredulous (cantbelievit@aol.com), October 06, 1999.

I don't think we'll see much "unfold" on the first day of the year

-- matt (matt@somewhere.nz), October 06, 1999.

The point I was trying to make by starting this thread is that the U.S. may see on TV the results of embedded systems failures in Asia while it's still December 31st here. If that happens, trying to buy milk, bread or eggs on the 31st could mean fighting traffic jams and long lines at the supermarket.

Shop early--before December 31st.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), October 06, 1999.

Linkmeister:

Excellent point. Who is it here who says, "beat the rush, panic early?"

There is no way anyone of mine will be anywhere near a store or major population center (read that as over 25 people together in one place) on December 31/January 2nd.

I just hope the goats have kidded by then, I won't need milk. Got everything else, and yes, will "lock and load". Don't expect the worst that day, just want to get "ready".

-- mushroom (mushroom_bs_too_long@yahoo.com), October 06, 1999.

Will someone please explain to me what all the panic is about? If we hear about it 17 hours ahead of time, that leaves, say, 10 hours to fix the problem and a whole 7 hours for end-to-end testing.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), October 06, 1999.

Also see Roleigh Martin's "Panic Buying Survey Report" at this link:

http://www.egroups.com/list/roleigh_for_web/316.html

Two quotes from it...

Primary Finding: People do not shop in preparation for a disaster until the disaster has unmistakably started -- when the snow starts falling, the hurricane is less than a half day away, or the river is already over it's banks and the temperature on the melting snow covered mountains is high.

...and...

ALL food store managers surveyed agreed that never under any condition has the general public purchased food more than a few hours ahead of an expected emergency no matter how bad the disaster was promised to be.

Commonly purchased items at the last minute include water, bread, flashlights and batteries, lunch meats, milk, toilet paper, and eggs.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), October 06, 1999.