I just have this to say about y2k: it was sloppy thinking that created the problem, and it's a genuine shame that so many of the sloppy thinkers responsible were rehired at great expense to cure a problem they themselves created. Nice going. I'm impressed... not.
I shall now launch into a brief tirade about the "question" of when we should celebrate the turn of the century and the millennium. The correct answer to this "question", by the way, is midnight, January 1st, 2001.
"You're being technical, Jeff." Yes, and what could be more technical than the date of the millennium? There's absolutely nothing non-technical about it; it's a pure counting problem. It's not a touchy-feely kind of "oh, I think I'll celebrate the millennium today!" problem. If you don't want to celebrate at the end of this year, celebrate in the 26th century, when the calendar is 2000 years old.
For those who still do not get it, a metaphorical tale:
The Bozos initiate a new society and a new calendar on Sunday. Sunday is day 1. Monday is day 2. The week has seven days. Don't worry about the rest.
All week long, the Bozo heralds announce, "A week has seven days; Therefore, Saturday, which is day 7, will be the beginning of the second week of our new society." This sounds more or less right to people; they're too busy constructing the new society to notice anything strange about this determination. "Okay, Saturday is the new week," they say. "Fine, whatever." A few Bozos are appalled that the heralds, former bastions of truth, are spreading obviously inaccurate information, but these conscientious objectors are labeled "purists" by the heralds, and no one pays them any mind. Purists are extremists, and no one wants to be associated with extremists.
Friday night rolls around and the Bozos throw a massive celebration party. On Saturday, the Bozos are overrun by Morons. Hung over, groggy, and exhausted, the Bozos are completely unable to resist, and the Morons slaughter them mercilessly. After the pathetic, dehumanizing bloodbath, in which not even one Moron is seriously harmed, Dionysius, King of the Morons, is heard to remark, "Poor Bozos. They didn't even last one week."