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China's innovative solution to y2k problems!
marcus writes "China has given its airline bosses the ultimate incentive to solve the "Millennium bomb" computer problem by ordering them to take a flight on New Year's day 2000.
Update: 01/15 07:11 by S : Well apparently this was a
joke which got misreported: Markus Peter writes "Zhang Qi, responsible for y2k
problems in China, told the news that an employee of CAAC
(chinese airlines) suggested this as a joke
to her working group and it somehow leaked to the news"
(translation of the german link above). Well, I don't know
about you, but I thought that was a good example of really
assuming full responsability... they can't chicken out now
can they ? ;-)
that would work, but, isnt that a little crazy?
(another example of that lack of thought in china)
Mr Cooke says if problems do occur, it will be because airport and air traffic control systems have not been brought up to date or because telecommunications or electricity fail.
How would that make me any less dead?
Is for them just to install Linux. That would solve their Y2K problem and their software piracy problem at the same time.
:^)
-Joe Merlino
...just falsify the records. Or order
somebody else to do the trip for them.
Coward
It's...
Naah, I'd rather see the executives in charge of the NYC subway and bus system forced to rely on them for their weekly travel..
That junk about landing a plane without engines--well that works just dandy if you are on a propeller-driven plane. Fact of the matter is, a jet airplane falls like a stone without power. They are heavy and not balanced for gliding.
Therefore, landing before they run out of fuel would be rather necessary.
... I would make sure that the fleet included a hot air balloon. No computers, no problems.
that's the user/password to get in!
GOD I HATE SITES THAT MAKE YOU REGISTER. Privacy rules!!!
Read the book 'SLIDE RULE' by Neville Norway Shute, unfortunately out of print. The british gov. built an airship in a govt. facility and to prove it worked as advertised, the project managers and other mucky-mucks went for the first ride - and had the ride of their lives, the LAST RIDE. Government/management arrogance can overcome anything, even the fear of death and common sense.
Au contraire, when the Chinese are serious about stuff like this they do it. A few years ago a bunch of top level Commies were executed for corruption and taking bribes - not bad, methinks.
What do you think, Senator?
CBC's The National just reported on this story. Interesting :)
this is a French idea. during the XVII century all powder producers were
forced to host their staff (and their families) inside the producing unit,
just in order to let them take care of the safety.
but nonetheless, this is a very interesting idea
Scott told a joke a couple of years ago that still rings true:
.357 revolver and spin the cylinder. Place against your head and pull the trigger. If it clicks, you walk, if not, bummer.
Take a bunch of Microsoft and other PC software execs and put them in a room. Offer them the following choice:
1) Load a single shell in a
2) Install your software on a randomly chosen existing PC. If it works, you walk, if it doesn't, bummer.
His point was that most of the execs would likely choose Option 1, pointing out that your odds are better with at "russian roulette" than with PC software!
Crazy? It's great! If the problem is indeed solved, then the execs should have nothing to fear, and so they should think nothing of it. The should only fear the flight if they have reason to believe their lives are in danger.
Too bad I already know I won't have the day off on NYD. I'll be at work, making sure s**t stays up and running.
No, that's the lunar calendar that has the weird date - for all practical purposes they're using the same calendar as the rest of the world. Its just that they have a holiday (kinda like thanksgiving, but not) where they celebrate the _other_ new year.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
I thought china had a different calander and was on 4273 or something like that (the number above was made up, though I think the 4 is right)
Not that it particularrly matters, the average US plane is 20 years old or something like that. Pilots are trained to fly them without engines, (Yes, they fly without engines, If you can't find an airport within gliding distance you buy some farmers crops for the year, or ditch in the water. All of the above recovery techniques have been used by real pilots in real plans, and with most or all of the passangers living. SO long as the plane doesn't explode, which it shouldn't they will be fine. There also exist uncontrolled airports where pilots decide without a tower who lands/takes off when, carry a hand held radio (most pilots have them, at least in small aircraft) though there are enough backups on most planes that I wouldn't worry.
2000 won't come in without comptuer porblems. However the ones that people really worry about were unlikely even without any fixes. (Nuclear bombs for instance probably wouldn't launch becuase the comptuers that control the launch can also be affected - command a crashed comptuer to launch a bomb and no bomb is launched.
RE point 2: That was my point. the airplane will work, or at least there is no reason to belive it won't.
I would think that the *safety* of air travel on
Jan 1, 2000 would be 'safer' than being on the
ground. (Let's ignore the logistics of flight
scheduling, seating, luggage, etc, that are affected
by the economic side of y2k). The key thing here
is the air traffic control system - I know that
the US system is either due or recently loops on
it's internal clock, and while not on Y2K, it's a similar
problem with digit placeholders. Secondly, unless
they are stupid, i'd think that if there are any time-based chips or operators in a plane, they would be ignorant of the date, and thus, not y2k affected. Of course, this part I'm not sure about, but reportly, plane safety is a non-y2k concern. (Just getting to your plane, on the other hand...)
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Compulsion. "You must do this". If my government told me to do that, I'd tell them where to go. But then, I live in a democracy (...at the moment).
worldmobilenet.com -- World Prepaid Wireless Internet plans
The reason being, there isn't room for all the aeroplanes in the world to be grounded at the same time. There have to be a large number airborne all the time.
That reminds me of a conversation I had with a Russian programmer. I said if we built bridges like we build software I'd never cross a river. He had been trained at first as a civil engineer, and said in Russia when they built a bridge they made the heads of the construction company stand underneath it - while they rolled tanks and trucks overhead! NO bad concrete in those babies!
The revolution will NOT be televised.
Admiral Rickover, mastermind behind the US nuclear submarine program, used to require the head engineers for a sub to go on it's first dive. Same theory behind QA. If their life *is* put on the line, they'll be a little more careful.
How's my programming? Call 1-800-DEV-NULL
I appreciate all of the training and planning that the courageous pilots go through for my safety and well being but I'd prefer that all landings that I am involved in use engines and runways.
As a matter of fact I insist.
I started with nothing and I still have most of it.
We'll all be flying along on Earth when the year rolls. What about all those 1800 or so nuclear ICBMs that are on hair-trigger alert to blast off for Russia, or thence hither? What about all the nuclear generators? Or any number of other local hazards. Not the least of which would be if people get the idea that military and police will be on holiday, so they can sack any city they like. I think I'll plan a little holiday to Antarctica, or maybe just be in an airplane on New Year's Eve, just to be safe!
:)
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
...the emperor is not as forgiving as I.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Not that it particularrly matters, the average US plane is 20 years old or something like that. Pilots are trained to fly them without engines,
I thought jet (not propellor) planes can't fly/glide w/o at least one engine on.
Lack of thought? Sounds prefectly logical to me. I love it. Sometimes I wish the US government would have streight forward answers such at this.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
In the government/military when you say that you are "reasonably sure" of something it means that you have every reason to be sure and that the prediction will be correct barring an extremely unlikely alignment of extremely unlikely coincidences that you could not possibly hope to consider.
Geoff
They provides ample evidence that voting Communist is the only way to a sane society
All you can be assured of by this, is that the flights which these 'bosses' are going to be on, are not going to fail.
Communists, and all their stupid-ass ideas piss me off!
They will not be able to find the airports when there are no lights on, no electricity to power the radios on the ground, or any of these things that electricity provides both in and out of the free world.
China may have problems, but I'll be damned if thats not a way to get results!
Mebbe China should get those hackers they wanna sentenced to death to ride the airplane in Y2K....yeeehaaaa!!!
Of course, if they still force them to fly if they come back late '99 and admit that it may be insecure to fly, then it will be crazy...
But this way they're at least sure that if the bosses considers it insecure to fly on New Year's day 2000, they'll admit it, and not just hope everything works out ok.
Why do you think this idea is stupid? And why do you think the people in power in China are communists?