Remembering Y2K

[Sentry18]

I remember Y2K. I met my first "prepper" because of it.

https://www.theprepperjournal.com/2019/12/26/remembering-y2k/

Remembering Y2K
By
Wild Bill
-
December 26, 2019

Computer code

The end of days…

Jan 1, 2000, was supposed to be the end of the world. Anyone else remember that?

It’s hard to believe that in just a few short days, the Y2K ‘disaster’ will have been 20 years ago.

I remember all the hype and hysteria surrounding it. Clocks would go haywire, planes were going to fall from the sky or get lost due to GPS issues, and your bank would lose all your “money” because of date issues.

The run-up for Y2k started about 2-3 years ahead of time, when programmers started pointing out that the date codes in computer software wouldn’t handle the change from 99 (as in 1999) to 00 (as in 2000), as the programming would think it was 1900 instead of 2000.

…and it fizzled out

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
What ultimately happened? A whole lot of nothing apart from a lot of money being spent to fix the problem.

I know people who spent a lot of personal money to purchase property for a bug-out location. We considered it, but the place we looked that was both affordable and near like-minded people we trusted was a 19-hour drive from the Metropolitan Phoenix area. Impractical, to say the least. Ultimately, we decided on a ‘shelter-in-place’ strategy.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
An ounce of prevention
We stocked our pantry with food we liked and would eat, had extra water on hand (about 3 weeks’ worth of drinking water) and water filtration, and 4 cases of MREs. We also filled both our vehicles and an extra 20 gallons of gas in case of short-term shortage. Living in the desert, there’s not much place to go that several million of my ‘neighbors’ wouldn’t have also gone to.

At the time, I was big into shooting competitions, so I’d purchase an extra case of ammo when I bought ammo for competitions. By the time Y2K came about, I had about 8k rounds of Israeli M193 and M855 ammo that I’d gotten. Sadly, I’ve used that up in the intervening decade. It was good ammo, and too bad it’s no longer imported (that I can find).

As I said, Y2K turned out to be a bust. However, it was invaluable to get me and my family thinking about preparedness and was what really started me into this area.

How about you…if you prepped for Y2K, what did you do? Were you even around for Y2K?

 

[lonewolf]

why should we remember it? nothing happened.
apart from some computer nerds crapping themselves.

 

[Sentry18]

A lot of things happened. The "prepper" industry saw a huge growth, people began to think about renewable energy and foods, preparedness stuck it's toe into the mainstream, survivalists got media time to spread their message, etc., etc. I know many preppers and survivalist who track their origins to Y2K, including me (sort of). Just because the world didn't come to a crashing halt doesn't mean Y2K didn't affect the world. Besides, in my adult life there have been dozens and dozens of potential and predicted SHTF events that didn't come to pass. But all of them reminded us why preparedness is the way.

 

[lonewolf]

most people who prepared back then gave up soon after when nothing bad happened, a bit like those who are prepping for Brexit today.
only those who are doing it as a lifestyle will be doing it when SHTF finally arrives.
its something one has to be committed to, many lose heart and give up .

 

[Sentry18]

Perhaps where you live, but not here. Y2K developed or revitalized the preparedness industry and lifestyle. While some returned to their normal way of life after the code didn't wipe everything out, many did not.

 

[lonewolf]

Perhaps where you live, but not here. Y2K developed or revitalized the preparedness industry and lifestyle. While some returned to their normal way of life after the code didn't wipe everything out, many did not.

your right "perhaps where you live" is correct, we see that on the forum I run, names come and names go, a hard core are left.

 

[havasu]

We assumed planes were going to fall from the sky?

 

[lonewolf]

We assumed planes were going to fall from the sky?

some people assumed that, I did not. wouldn't have made any difference to me if they had, I don't fly and I don't use public transport.

 

[Weedygarden]

I think part of it was hype, but part of it was genuine concern. We have to not let news drive fear in us, but rather use reasoning and respond appropriately. Having conversations in groups like this helps with seeing things from other perspectives. Others will often respond with hysteria, no matter what the situation. Thinking and discussing possibilities and solutions helps alleviate anxiety and potential problems.

I drove by a house on some rolling hills. I saw the back yard fence lined with fire wood. I thought it was a great way to store wood and maybe to add some defensive lines. After Y2K that wood disappeared soon. If Y2K had happened as predicted, I am sure others would have helped themselves to the wood, but the homeowners were ahead of the wood gathering for themselves.

 

[Sentry18]

We assumed planes were going to fall from the sky?

Everything computerized had the potential to fail, and fail instantly. It was all based on "we don't know" and not guaranteed doom. All part of the evolution of technology.

 

[Sentry18]

When Y2K hit I was a senior patrol officer. Our Sergeant warned us of the more realistic possibilities we could face on that shift if things went wrong. Then he took a few days off, which we all thought was interesting. I later found out that he was concerned enough to have prepared for the possibility and refused to work on 12/31/99. He had even moved from in town to an acreage the summer before. After new years he came in like no-big-deal. But his preparedness mentality never stopped and he continued to be ready for anything. He is still the most prepared person I know, but I would not go to his place uninvited if something ever happened.

 

[SheepDog]

There was a lot that happened before but because of Y2K! Coders had to rework the date code for all the software and operating systems that existed. The variable that carried date information was not big enough (ran out of room for the binary) and the code required overhaul to change it. We will face another "disaster" in the future because the patch wasn't enough for unlimited growth. It would have worked better to save date information as a text word and convert it from and to a number in use. That is the way I handle dates in my software rather than as a numeric expression. Who ever thought it was a good idea to use the number of days since 1 AD to store dates was an idiot!

 

[Bacpacker]

I had been preparing well before y2k. But at that time I was running our county emcomm group and our county government was concerned enough to ask us to station radios and operators at several locations around the county. Wife and I were at the EOC. sure glad nothing took place, but it was a good exercise in what could take place. Afterward was also a good time to pick up items people bought and decided they didnt want to keep. Dime on the dollar for some stuff.

 

[kd4ulw]

I can remember watching the New Year celebrations in Germany, Paris, and England on TV with midnight approaching the Eastern time zone while loading my drum magazine for the AK-47. Didn’t think much would come from the Y2K but ya never know!

 

[Meerkat]

most people who prepared back then gave up soon after when nothing bad happened, a bit like those who are prepping for Brexit today.
only those who are doing it as a lifestyle will be doing it when SHTF finally arrives.
its something one has to be committed to, many lose heart and give up .

Lonewolf, between that and Venazuela most are still aware. One of my daughter's read about Vinazuela on the site moany of us came here from and she has been a prepper since.

 

[dademoss]

Oh the memories Friend of mine decided to "prep" at the last minute, just in case. He stopped over to ask what I thought of his preps, he knew we had some stuff set aside for emergencies. He had bought bulk rice. Yes, just rice, ok, but really really really boring. I asked about water to cook it, he said it comes out of the faucet (true enough, till SHTF). I asked about how he was gonna cook it? OOPS, the stove will probably crap out too, either before or after the water shuts off. Now I have to wonder if ever ate all his rice?

 

[Sentry18]

I also remember Art Bell's popularity shot up with his numerous guests discussing the potential Y2K threat. Got me through many slow night shifts. And perhaps tore my tinfoil hat just a little.

 

[Weedygarden]

Oh the memories Friend of mine decided to "prep" at the last minute, just in case. He stopped over to ask what I thought of his preps, he knew we had some stuff set aside for emergencies. He had bought bulk rice. Yes, just rice, ok, but really really really boring. I asked about water to cook it, he said it comes out of the faucet (true enough, till SHTF). I asked about how he was gonna cook it? OOPS, the stove will probably crap out too, either before or after the water shuts off. Now I have to wonder if ever ate all his rice?

That kind of thinking is what is going to get all of us. Most of us will have the rice, the water, a way to cook, but will miss something very important. I think that is why a group of people discussing the possibilities is so important.

 

[dademoss]

Oh yeah, I know something is gonna bite my butt, but what? Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, and think outside the box.

 

[lonewolf]

Lonewolf, between that and Venazuela most are still aware. One of my daughter's read about Vinazuela on the site moany of us came here from and she has been a prepper since.

Venezula has gone very quiet on the UK news, nothing has been said about it for ages.
most people in the UK go about their busy little lives without a second thought(step daughter calls it her "hamster wheel").
there are very few real preppers in the UK, some do it for awhile but then get bored and move on to other things.
I could count the real preppers I know on the fingers of one hand.

 

[Sentry18]

 

[snappy1]

We were preppers for hurricanes as we were in FL before Y2K. We thought of the hype as a marketing opportunity for big companies. Never changed our ways even when we traveled full time for 9 years. Never know what will happen!

 

[lonewolf]

I think there was some panic amongst the computer types in the UK, didn't give it much thought at the time as I wasn't online then, I don't think many people did.
we were prepped but not concerned.

 

[SheepDog]

My only concern was that banks and insurance companies would lose the dates for their customers, all that money was tied to the date code on the OS and the software they used. The coders spent the better part of a year fixing the problem before it became a problem.

 

[Sentry18]

I was the last LEO in my state to make a DUI arrest and the first officer in my state to make a DUI arrest in the new millennia. Just before Midnight on 12/31/99 I came upon a drunk woman, passed out behind the wheel of her car, which was in drive but not moving, sitting at a set of stoplights. As the detention officers were walking her from my patrol car to the detention cell, another car pulled up outside and began to squeal their tires. The driver then pointed a gun at the detention officers and yelled out some curse words. As I was still in my car I called for the gates to be opened and initiated a high speed pursuit which ruined a few cars and earned that guy 10 years in prison. Dispatch logged me in pursuit at 12:01am on 01/01/00.

The tie in to Y2K is that the detention center had on extra staff because they were afraid their electronic locking systems could fail, otherwise I would have had to bring in my own arrestee. And I got that DUI arrest because the traffic lights did fail. The went from red/green to just flashing and that drunk woman feel asleep waiting for the flashing red light to turn green.

 

[Woody]

There was a lot that happened before but because of Y2K! Coders had to rework the date code for all the software and operating systems that existed. The variable that carried date information was not big enough (ran out of room for the binary) and the code required overhaul to change it. We will face another "disaster" in the future because the patch wasn't enough for unlimited growth. It would have worked better to save date information as a text word and convert it from and to a number in use. That is the way I handle dates in my software rather than as a numeric expression. Who ever thought it was a good idea to use the number of days since 1 AD to store dates was an idiot!

My sister graduated college in the early 1980’s with a computer science degree – Programming. She saw it a a good future… And she was correct.

I asked her about the Y2K thing when it started to get the hype. She just laughed and said it was really nothing. She was in high demand because she knew dinosaur code: COBOL. Apparently it was what a lot of the old mainframe systems were coded in, ones that were not upgraded much. She set her own price for going in and correcting systems, she made a killing as I heard it. Everyone was in a panic and there were not many programmers who were proficient in COBOL around

Anyway, As I understood it, or remember it anyway. Dates were programmed in with 2 digits as in 81, 99 and so on. It saved ‘space’ and made programs run faster back then instead of processing 4 digits each time. The programmers never thought that code would still be used in 5, 10 or 20 years so did not think to give it 4 place as in 1999. Remember, processors were extremely slow and storage space extremely expensive back then. Anything they could do to keep speed up and storage low was HUGE. When it rolled around to 2000 all the dates would say is 00 and many systems would think it was 1900.

She just went in, went through code and changed it all to reflect 4 digits. She said it was just tedious as most of the code was cumbersome and having been added to for years, was a mess to begin with. I believe the technical terminology is “crap”or Garbage. <= Attempt at levity!

Yeah, I made it a bit more simplistic I think, but as she told me back then, nothing to worry about at all. Nothing was going to fall from the sky, nothing was going to stop functioning, the world was not going to end. All it was going to do is screw up some banks reporting and automatic payment systems. No money would disappear, nothing like what the news was portraying the situation to be, at all.

 

[zoomzoom]

Being a lifelong COBOL programmer myself, a bit more to add to Woody's post.

A) Yes, COBOL is often considered a dinosaur but a really, big, badass dinosaur.

B) Woody is correct that many dates were stored with only 2 digits. To change it to 4 digits for Y2K is often a big deal. Imagine all the files that need conversions. A common practice for Y2K was to set up a cut-off year and in our case, we used 25. If a date had a year of 25 or greater, it was calculated to be a 19xx year (1925-1999). If it was 24 or less, it's a future date (2000-2024). Birthdays had special handling as there is no future birth dates.

C) COBOL applications are normally run on mainframe computers (also thought of by many to be dinosaurs). BOTH ARE OLD but still are widely used in very large institutions where a lot of power is required (mainly financial institutions, and until recently healthcare). To give you an idea, my last job before retirement was working at a very large healthcare organization. We ran 15 hospitals patient management and accounting systems using primarily COBOL on a mainframe computer. The physical mainframe computer was a little larger than a large kitchen refrigerator and could process over 500,000,000,000 instructions PER SECOND. The healthcare system is going to "modern" technology and replacing the mainframe with servers. As I recall, it took a warehouse size building to hold the thousands of servers required to run the new technology.

 

[Morgan101]

I remember Y2K. That was probably the start of a cottage industry we now call prepping. We actually had our first introduction to it ten years earlier. Iben Browning, a name nobody will remember, predicted there would be a major eruption on the New Madrid fault in early December of 1990. The days came and went, and nothing happened, but he scared enough people into starting some preparations.

After Y2K we had the Mayan apocalypse in 2012. Everybody is still scratching their head after that one came and went. I wonder what the next one will be. Anybody out there study Nostradamus?

 

[SheepDog]

The next date is 2031 - that's when we all die from climate change. There will undoubtedly be more in the coming decade as doom sells even better than sex.

 

[Morgan101]

The next date is 2031 - that's when we all die from climate change. There will undoubtedly be more in the coming decade as doom sells even better than sex.

You are right! AOC told us the world is going to end in 12 years. What was I thinking?