IP: he New Millennium from TELECOM Digest V19 #290

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Subject: The New Millennium
> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 20:40:36 -0400
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
>
>
> Special Information Leaflet No. 29: 'The New Millennium' 
>
> Answers to all your Questions about the Start of the New Millennium.
>
> 1. Summary 
>
> This leaflet covers the most frequently asked questions regarding the 
> start of the new (Christian, Gregorian) millennium and where to see the 
> first sunrise. In summary; the year 2000 will be a leap-year, the New 
> Millennium and the New Century start at zero hours UTC (commonly known 
> as GMT) on January 1st 2001 and on this basis, the first sunrise of the 
> new millennium will be at places around the world where the sun is 
> rising at that moment. 
>
> http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/new_mill.html
>
>
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe, maybe not. I risk getting a
> flood of mail as a result of even printing this here, but it makes
> the mistake of saying that the new (anything -- day, year, millennium)
> starts at zero hours GMT. It starts at zero hours *local time*. By
> coincidence, GMT and local time are the same thing in the UK, although
> I believe the UK also makes an adjustment in the (northern hemisphere's) 
> summer months. 
>
> If this were not so, that the cutover was at zero hours by the local
> time in each community, instead of zero GMT, then what precisely are
> the people in New Zealand supposed to do with the time between midnight
> and eleven AM on January 1; go into some state of suspended animation?
> If anyone feels like answering, please address this statement only,
> not the 2000 vrs. 2001 thing.  At least the folks in that part of the
> world will have warm, pleasant weather in which to deal with problems
> like the computers not working correctly at the electric and gas works.
> We here in the USA will have to address those problems as we sit in
> the darkness and bitter cold of January in the northern hemisphere.
>
> Just keep reading this Digest, as I will have full and live coverage
> of the riots around the world that day as everyone goes out to loot
> the stores in their community looking for food and things to use to
> start fires for warmth, etc. I certainly hope military authorities in
> the different parts of the world have gotten the computers working
> correctly regards their nuculear arsenals. That would be quite a way
> to resolve the whole problem wouldn't it ... oops, sorry about that
> nuclear missle coming your way, our computer malfunctioned. You'll
> wish the 'only' things wrong were the phones, electricity and bank
> cash machines were not working correctly. Meanwhile, over in Quantico,
> VA, those big, tough, manly Marines continue their daily training
> exercises in case you decide to act out on that Friday night/Saturday
> morning which will live in infamy.   PAT]