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The list of y2k-vulnerable operations in Seattle is large, and this is just one article in the SEATTLE TIMES (Nov. 2).
If Bill Gates has a magic bullet, he had better get it into production soon. Let's hope it takes less time than it took to build his $52 million home on Lake Washington.
Years ago, Tom Lehrer said, "Life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put in." This observation may have more than philosophical significance in 2000.
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One mission-critical program where work on year-2000 issues was lagging, according to a recent status report, is the pump-station network -- a system that monitors 73 stations around the city to keep track of sewage and waste-water flows.
"Seattle being a city of hills, we don't always get the gravity flow we want," says pump-station supervisor Dave Anderson, who notes the system generates reports that are time and date stamped.
System reliability is particularly critical when Seattle's winter storms arrive to make sure the pumps are functioning and to alert officials about where to send emergency crews to avert overflows.
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