UNLOCKED DOORS, MISDATED CHECKS, REALLY LONG JAIL TERMS Here's your Y2K glitch update! By Howard Dicus, WTOP News

http://www.wtop.com/mainstory5.html

We're starting to get a lot of reports of computer clocks that slipped through the cracks as computer programmers crunched those binary numbers to prepare for Y2K.

The D.C. Fire Department payroll computer has the glitch. Fire officials swear the checks will be out on time and banks will cash them. The Washington Times reports this is but one of numerous Y2K problems surfacing in D.C. computer systems. City officials also report that they left one replaced system up just to see what it would do, and, sure enough, on 1-1-2000 its clock said 1-1-1900.

Wind shear detectors suffered Y2K crashes in these frequently breezy cities: Chicago, Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, St. Louis and Denver. MSNBC reports the doors to the federal building in Omaha were stuck open from a Y2K glitch until a security computer was reset to the year 1972, which has the same number of days corresponding to the same days of the week as 2000.

The water authority in Bellevue, Washington, sent a proud notice to customers of its smooth handling of Y2K. Guess what the date on the notice was? And PCWeek reports First Union Bank sent notices dated "0001" which also included the usual boast of Y2K-readiness. In Naples, the Sicilian court system had to close for awhile after its computers began adding 100 years to jail terms.

It won't affect the prices you pay or the charges actually assessed to your credit card if you go to Nordy's today, but the Nordstrom's retail chain confirms that a Y2K problem disabled one of its internal sales tracking computer systems.

-- Jeanette Thomas (ou_2000@berkshire.net), January 05, 2000