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We're closing in on the silver anniversary of one of the odder moments in recent human history: Y2K. In the years leading up to Jan. 1, 2000, there had been long-standing concern that the increasing numbers of things in our lives connected to technology would stop working because so much early computer code counted years in two digits, up to "99," and no one was quite sure what would happen if it was allowed to roll over to "00."
For some industries and the computer software they relied on, there were obvious problems: banking and taxes, memberships, insurance policies calculating life expectancy -- anything that built its math on years dating back to 1900 or beyond 2000 would be affected, and code would have to be updated to add two more digits.
But there was more widespread concern that everything from airplanes to traffic lights could be affected. A global effort ensued to prepare for Y2K. And when Jan. 1, 2000 came along -- not much happened.
In the audio above, we look back at Y2K with Chris Bronk, an associate professor in the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs. He was a software engineer during the Y2K days, and he shares his recollections with us.
LISTENER MEMORIES:
We also asked your fellow Houstonians to share some of their experiences. Here's a sampling of what they told us:
A Scary Moment on a Cruise
Zach writes: "I was on a Caribbean cruise at the time with 22 family members. The night of Dec. 31 I think we were off the coast of Jamaica. We were told the ship was not at any risk because it was new and built with the Y2K issues already resolved...but of course there were small doubts everyone had because of all the hype everywhere.
So we were on the ship's deck for this big Millennium NYE celebration waiting for the fireworks to start when all of the lights on the boat go out for a brief moment. The music which was playing stopped, and it was eerily quiet...then they come on the speakers and say 'just kidding' and then the fireworks start going off.
It was probably 5-10 seconds of darkness, and I remember the brief panic building until looking up and seeing the Milky Way above and feeling somehow calmed. I thought if this was real somehow things would be OK. And they were. I remember the stars and that sense of calm more than anything else about that cruise."
Counting Down to the End
Emmanuel writes: "My mom believed in one false prophet that said that the world [would] end that night. She advised every one of us to come back home. We all went back to Coleman, Texas, where she was.
We all went to church and expected the world to end while we were in church, hoping to go to heaven at end-of-life. When it was 12 midnight and nothing happened, we celebrated as if we had won a lottery in church."
Y2K Jackets
Adam writes: "My brother and I were in high school at the time. Our dad bought us huge, puffy jackets just in case the power grid went down for an extended period. We still have them and call them our 'Y2K jackets.'"
Stockpiling for the Apocalypse
Rowan recalls: "My stepfather was convinced the world would end and got my mother into the frenzy. When she passed away a couple months prior we, her kids, had to clean out the house and found all these supplies they'd stockpiled like giant containers of rice for an apocalypse she never lived to see -- and of course never happened. Fun."
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was the local Morning Edition host at WILL, the public radio station in Champaign/Urbana, Ill. And I was working on Dec. 31, 1999. There had been long-standing concerns as we rolled over into the year 2000 that the increasing numbers of things in our lives connected to technology would stop working.
So, as the world scrambled to update computer code, our eyes were on those first time zones changing over into the new year. The very first was going to take place at 4 a.m. our time, and we were airing the BBC's live broadcast from Tonga. An excited reporter laid out what was happening -- and then suddenly, with 45 seconds left in the new year's countdown -- the feed cut out. Silence.
Well, okay, could have been any old technical snafu. And the BBC was back on our air an hour later, from the next time zone ringing in the new year. Another celebration. Another excited reporter...and again, the feed cut out, 45 seconds before the countdown there ended.
At this point, we were growing a bit concerned. Was this Y2K thing really a thing? Was it messing with our ability to broadcast?
When it happened a third time, just before 6 a.m., our technical team finally caught on -- it was our own, regularly scheduled automation system triggering local breaks we just happened not to be taking that morning. See the BBC usually didn't feed us audio all the way through that last minute. It was a human error. Garbage in, garbage out. But it had nothing to do with the dreaded Y2K."