>From: "F.J. Ted Douglas" <tdouglas_at_MNSi.Net>
>To: "Charles Fox" <foxvideo_at_wincom.net>
>Subject: Fw: Y1K Crisis Loomed...
>Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 14:57:50 -0500
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.2106.4
>X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Rev. Iain Macdonald <iain.macdonald_at_ns.sympatico.ca>
>To: Alf & Sue Baldwin <abaldwin_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Allan Cunningham
><acunning_at_execulink.com>; Barry Leslie <bleslie_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Bethe
>Nolan <lexian_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Bob Perry <rjperry_at_idirect.ca>; Chris
>Ewington <cbe_at_h2oent.com>; David Hart <hoppnerhart_at_sprynet.com>; David
>Nichols <prisma_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Debbie McKee <mckeebr_at_gov.ns.ca>; Dr.
>Wayne Stobo <stobow_at_mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca>; Fisher McKay
><f.mckay_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Fred & Elizabeth Durham <bulld_at_azstarnet.com>;
>Jack Waller <ab497_at_chebucto.ns.ca>; Mary Miller <at747_at_chebucto.ns.ca>;
>Moira Laidlaw <laidlawm_at_ozemail.com.au>; Peg Perry <pegperry_at_idirect.com>;
>Peter Hogan <peter.hogan_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Phil Cummings
><phil.cummings_at_ns.sympatico.ca>; Rev. Richard Fairchild <rjf_at_rockies.net>;
>Val Chappel <valchap_at_admin.unr.edu>
>Date: January 30, 1999 9:51 PM
>Subject: Y1K Crisis Loomed...
>
>
>>Canterbury, England. A.D. 999.
>>
>>An atmosphere close to panic prevails today throughout
>>Europe as the millennial year 1000 approaches, bringing with
>>it the so-called "Y1K Bug," a menace which, until recently,
>>hardly anyone had ever heard of. Prophets of doom are
>>warning that the entire fabric of Western Civilization,
>>based as it now is upon monastic computations, could
>>collapse, and that there is simply not enough time left to
>>fix the problem.
>>
>>Just how did this disaster-in-the-making ever arise? Why
>>did no one anticipate that a change from a three-digit to a
>>four-digit year would throw into total disarray all
>>liturgical chants and all metrical verse
>>in which any date is mentioned? Every formulaic hymn,
>>prayer, ceremony and incantation dealing with dated events
>>will have to be re-written to accommodate three extra
>>syllables. All tabular chronologies with three-space year
>>columns, maintained for generations by scribes using
>>carefully hand-ruled lines on vellum sheets, will now have
>>to be converted to four-space columns, at enormous cost. In
>>the meantime, the validity of every official event, from
>>baptisms to burials, from confirmations to coronations, may
>>be called into question.
>>
>>"We should have seen it coming ," says Brother Cedric of St.
>>Michael's Abbey, here in Canterbury. "What worries me most
>>is that 'THOUSAND' contains the word 'THOU,' which occurs
>>in nearly all our prayers, and of course always refers to
>>God. Using it now in the name of the year will seem almost
>>blasphemous, and is bound to cause terrible confusion. Of
>>course, we would always use Latin, but that might be even
>>worse -- the Latin word for 'Thousand' is 'Mille' - which is
>>the same as the Latin for 'mile.' We won't know whether
>>we're talking about time or distance!"
>>
>>Stonemasons are already reported threatening to demand a
>>proportional pay increase for having to carve an extra
>>numeral in all dates on tombstones, cornerstones and
>>monuments. Together with its inevitable
>>ripple effects, this alone could plunge the hitherto-stable
>>medieval economy into chaos.
>>
>>A conference of clerics has been called at Winchester to
>>discuss the entire issue, but doomsayers are convinced that
>>the matter is now one of personal survival. Many families,
>>in expectation of the worst, are
>>stocking up on holy water and indulgences.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Charles E. Fox
Chas E. Fox Video Productions
793 Argyle Rd. Windsor N8Y 3J8 Ont. Canada
email foxvideo_at_wincom.net Homepage
http://www.wincom.net/foxvideo
Received on Mon Feb 01 1999 - 05:24:41 GMT