Colorado emergency operations computer turns clock back to 1936

The Associated Press 1/1/00 5:34 PM

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) -- A dispatch terminal at Colorado's Y2K emergency operations center flashed the wrong date at midnight Friday, but it was not Jan. 1, 1900 -- it was Feb. 6, 1936.

"When we rolled over to 2000, the terminal rolled over to that date," said Polly White, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Office of Emergency Management. "Which is kind of weird, isn't it?"

The rollover to the year 2000 had raised concerns that some computers would treat Jan. 1, 1999 as Jan. 1, 1900 -- not the 37th day of 1936.

The strange date did not affect communications and was still showing on the terminal when the center at Camp George West was closed down at 10 a.m. MST, Ms. White said. It was the only glitch to report all night.

Officials called Motorola, which made the terminal, and the company said no similar problems had been reported. Ms. White said she had no idea why the date appeared.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), January 02, 2000

Answers

The only thing to report... in the whole state... in the y2k emergency center. Great (sarcasm) that's like the date being wrong over at DeBunkers. It's probably nothing, but where else might it turn up? Still waiting.

-- Michael Erskine (Osiris@urbanna.net), January 02, 2000.

Vern, do you ever read Viz?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 02, 2000.

I guess Polly White will have to change her name to avoid confusion. Polly is no longer a Polly.

-- Slobby Don (slobbydon@hotmail.com), January 02, 2000.