I'm visiting my uncle this week, who lives a mile from the explosion. He drove us by the portion visible from the main road...burnt trees and vegetation...and a house totally devastated where one boy died.

Apparently the computer alarms go off so many times, resulting in false alarms that someone decided to ignore this one and gas flowed into a mountain stream, caught fire and raced down the mountain.

Nothing so far indicates any connection to a y2k problem, say upgrading software. It is simply a devastating example of what malfunctioning systems can do.

-- Dina McCullough (DinaLM11@aol.com), July 13, 1999

Answers

Ummm,,your statement is not entirely accurate. They were in fact working on the computer systems shortly before the system crashed. It did crash by the way.

This is why the Pipeline Safety boys are issuing this rather cryptic alert: -------------------Begin------------------- Preliminary review of the SCADA system indicates that the processor load (a measure of computer performance utilization) was at 65 to 70 percent during normal operations. Immediately prior to an upset condition occurring on the pipeline, the SCADA encountered an internal database error. The system attempted to reconcile the problem at the expense of other processing tasks. The database error, coupled with the increased data processing burden of the upset condition, hampered controller operations. In fact, key operator command functions were unable to be processed immediately prior to and during the abnormal operation. It is possible that post installation modifications may have hampered the system's ability to function appropriately. -----------End------------------------

Now what do you gather from that statement. I'd say they did something to screw up their Scada. What was the error? Why don't they specifically identify the processing error which caused this? If you're really trying to save more lives, don't just issue some bullshit like...blah blah...internal error....blah....coupled with increased horseshit...blah blah....

Cmon boys, I smell cheese. What was the real cause of this error? I think they know, but they're not tellin. Shame on you all. If, and this is a huge if, this was a Y2K inspired error (or an upgraded Y2K system failure) and you're not telling us, then the blood of any more innocents who die is literally on your soul.

If it was simply a processing error, then issue a statement saying the problem WAS NOT RELATED TO Y2K.

-- Crude Dude (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), July 13, 1999.

You can be certain that any failures we see from this point on will instantly blamed on anything but Y2K upgrades or testing. The push is on to calm the little people, and we better get used to it.

There are pollys here who say that an upgrade install or test that goes bad is not a "Y2K problem". One cannot study the Y2K problem without considering this aspect of it. The new, hastily installed systems could indeed cause us more trouble than the legacy systems.

I know that there is no evidence that this incident has anything to do with upgrade or testing, but it is very difficult to not be suspect.

-- Jack Binns (cq@2k.prep), July 14, 1999.

Crude dude,

Why would they make a statement that it was not a Y2K failure? The people responcible are taking the fifth. They would probably be GLAD to blame it on Y2K rather than their lack of following correct procedures.

Believe it or not, but the majority of the world does not eat, sleep and deficate Y2K like people on this forum. Real life is continueing to happening beyound your mental/emotional ability to grasp it.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), July 14, 1999.

Rushed fixes that break, when the reason for the fix is Y2k, are not some vague software problems separate from Y2k. THIS IS the Y2k problem, one of the manifestations we geeks have been predicting for a couple years.

The Y2k problem is not just an embedded device that pops at midnight, 12/31/1999. It's not just a JAE for July 1. It's also the stock market slowing down from fear of the unknown, it's strains on the supply chain as people stockpile, it's the deaths by heart failure of the old geeks doing their best to keep things running, it's the coming rage and fear by the DGI's when the truth dawns, it's the irrational government response when lies stop working, it's all kinds of stuff.

You don't get to put up a crime scene tape and say "here is the bad part, everything else is normal".

-- bw (home@puget.sound), July 14, 1999.