0014_Aurora Alternative High School, The Phoenix, 1999

Description:	Y2K: Once in a Thousand YEarsCount Down to Destruction?ByEvan McMahon1998-99 was the year of hype,rumors, waiting, watching, andpanic. The cause of this state ofconfusion was the millenium, theyear 2000.People across the globe did everything to prepare for this oncein a thousand years experience.They did everything but sit in an-ticipation of the ten-secondcountdown to the year 2000.Masses of people flocked tothe Internet for guidance andtruth. Droves of screen namesflooded chat rooms, discussingeverything from Armageddon toaccounting problems; propheciesto party favors.Companies were profiting offmillenium fever. Posting Internetsites to sell Y2K t-shirts, jackets, pins, hats, glasses, countdown clocks, and the “Earthquake, tornado, blizzard, hurricane, flood, fire, famine, mudslide, missile-strike, stock crash,and riot safety kit”.Paranoia. That’s what most ofthe Y2K talk is about. Severalreligious groups believedNostradamus’ prediction of destruction. Many of these peopleand groups used the Y2K computer glitch to fuel their prophecies.This tiny error in programs thatprocessed dates was deemed “theglitch in technology that wouldend technology.” Is this true?Well, maybe not. Analysts andexperts agreed that the errorcould cause some programs toshut down, along with someolder computer systems. On theother hand, there is very littlebasis for panic.Experts said that most essentialsystems had been checked andre-checked. As of February first,most government agencies reported complete compliancewith the Y2K Defense Act.It was then that the United Statesshifted its concern to the countries around us. Concern washeightened about other economicsystems as well as other missileguidance and control systems.But as a whole, the Americanpeople weren’t all that worriedabout the end of the world. Liquor companies reported recordsales of champagne and sparkling white wine in 1999. Theyalso announced a demand andshortage of epic proportion forthe millenium celebration.“It’s the end of the world and Iknow it and I feel fine!” R.E.M.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-aurora/id/455
Collection:	Aurora Alternative High School

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