I remember where I was when I first heard the term. It was early 1998 and I was in a McDonald's drive-thru. My friend was explaining to me why he and his family had decided to move to rural Arkansas next year. "Y2K," I said. "What's that?" ADVERTISEMENT Y2K. The "millenium bug" arriving in the year 2000. The new millennium. Some of you might well remember this time. For those under about age 30, let me catch you up. Many of the computers used in government and business in the late 20th century, including ones that powered the early internet, supposedly had something of a ticking time bomb inside of them. "It's very hard to tell how bad the situation will be. I'm sure things will break. It's very hard to dispel a nightmare scenario," Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's chief technology officer, was cited as saying in a January 1999 Forum column. "The dark-side scenario of airplanes falling out of the sky and bank computers crashing is possible. But it's fundamentally very, very hard to know whether the impact will be big or little." The problem was the two-digit-year date field (think "93" as in "1/1/93"). Theoretically, the arrival of the new millennium — the year 2000 — would reset all these computer clocks to "00" as in "1/1/00," wrecking anything that counted on dates to function properly. Theoretically, anyway. The list of public fears was a long one, illustrating how central computer technology had become in our lives, and mirroring larger uncertainty about the new millennium. And while company officials and local, state and federal officials sought to reassure the public, ongoing reporting indicated nobody was quite sure nothing would fail. So the fears remained up until the last minute. ADVERTISEMENT "Up against the deadline for fixing an unprecedented technological blunder, the world exhibited some jitters Thursday over the prospect of failures in the computers on which we depend," wrote the Associated Press, as printed by The Forum on New Year's Eve, 1999. "There was testing galore and a few confessions of Y2K-unreadiness." Some religious figures took the moment to insist the coming apocalypse was God's judgment on a wayward culture. "(God) may be preparing to confound our language, to jam our communications, scatter our efforts and judge us for our sin and rebellion against his lordship," evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell said in August 1998. "We are hearing from many sources that Jan. 1, 2000, will be a fateful day in the history of the world." As if to embody the looming fears, WWE wrestler Chris Jericho gave himself the moniker Y2J (for Jericho), playing off the Y2K term. His entrance to arenas was marked by a countdown video that, when it got to zero, included shutting off the venue lights, leaving people in noisy darkness before Jericho was revealed. As the year 2000 approached, the fears began to grow into something of a hysteria for some people, sparking drastic decisions, like my friend's family's decision to move to the woods. Others took money out of the bank. Some stocked up on supplies and guns and ammunition to survive the coming failure of civilization. The growing fears were in odd juxtaposition to the more joyful expressions by some about the year 2000. Big millennium parties were planned. Monopoly put out a millennium edition with fancy holographic cards. The boy band Backstreet Boys released their "Millennium" album, still iconic among my generation (OK, fine — I'm listening to it right now). Many people dismissed the fears and planned to go about their lives, expecting the furor was overblown. ADVERTISEMENT I moved from North Dakota to South Dakota in 1999, and as the new millennium approached, I was about 55% convinced Y2K was going to cause big problems. I remember counting down the last days of the 1900s and thinking everything was possibly about to change. It didn't, of course. While there were some hiccups among some computer systems, much of the billions of dollars in preparation worked. A concerted global effort to stave off disaster was effective. The apocalypse never arrived, civilization continued. In fact, my daughter was born later that year — one of many "millennium" babies who are now 24 years old. So what happened to my friend who moved to Arkansas? I don't know. I'd like to think he and his family went on to live their best life in a cabin in the Ozarks, ready for the end of the world that never arrived. Have a moment or person in history that you think is especially interesting? Contact me at jfugleberg@forumcomm.com and tell me why you think it would be a great subject for this column.jili apps casino 。

The rapid development of e-commerce in China has significantly changed the way people shop and consume goods. With the rise of online shopping platforms, consumers now have access to a wide range of products from the comfort of their homes. This shift towards online consumption has not only transformed the retail industry but also created new opportunities for businesses to reach a larger market.Golf: A game of truthfulness, unity – Usim-Wilson

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The Old Wa Cup promises to be a showcase of talent and skill, with top players from around the globe vying for the coveted championship title. The intensity and competitiveness of the matches are expected to be unparalleled, as players push themselves to new heights in pursuit of victory.Senior members of Canada's cabinet held talks Friday with US President-elect Donald Trump's nominees to lead the departments of commerce and the interior, as Ottawa works to hold off the threat of punishing tariffs. Canada's newly-appointed Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump's commerce secretary nominee, who will also lead the country's tariff and trade agenda. Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum was also at the meeting held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Leblanc's spokesman Jean-Sebastien Comeau, who confirmed the participants, described the talks as "positive and productive." Trump has vowed to impose crippling 25-percent tariffs on all Canadian imports when he takes office next month. He has said they will remain in place until Canada addresses the flow of undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl into the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised retaliatory measures should Trump follow through on his pledge, raising fears of a trade war. Leblanc and Joly "outlined the measures in Canada's Border Plan and reiterated the shared commitment to strengthen border security as well as combat the harm caused by fentanyl to save Canadian and American lives," Comeau said in a statement. Canada's Border Plan -- estimated to cost CAN$1 billion ($694 million) -- was crafted as part of Ottawa's response to Trump's concerns. Lutnick and Burgum "agreed to relay information to President Trump," the statement said. Trudeau is facing his worst political crisis since sweeping into office in 2015. Leblanc was named finance minister earlier this month after the surprise resignation of Chrystia Freeland. In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of prioritizing handouts to voters instead of preparing Canada's finances for a possible trade war. More than 75 percent of Canadian exports go to the United States and nearly two million Canadian jobs depend on trade. bs/aha

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The acquisition of a Virginia Beach software development company is fueling its growth as a health care technology leader that can leverage artificial intelligence to help transform patient care. DOMA Technologies in Virginia Beach joined forces with Livanta, a Baltimore-area health care tech company, as part of their acquisition earlier this year by Pleasant Land, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm. Pleasant Land merged the businesses to create a leading high tech provider of health care quality oversight and clinical assessment services. Financial terms of the acquisition and merger were not disclosed. DOMA founder and CEO Pat Feliciano is staying on as chief executive of the combined company headquartered in Virginia Beach. The organizations collectively have 750 full-time employees, including 250 from DOMA. “We anticipate additional growth here and across our locations going forward,” Feliciano said. “We have additional opportunities here on our current site to continue to expand as needed to support future growth.” DOMA, founded by Feliciano in 2000, is finishing a facility buildout for its previously announced expansion of its London Bridge Road headquarters and anticipates its completion by mid-2025. The company name remains under consideration for a rebranding. As a contractor, DOMA has developed federal health care platforms to ultimately improve patient care and has provided medical record solutions to hospital systems. The merger enables the companies to leverage their artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled digital technologies to unlock new efficiencies in health care delivery, particularly in quality oversight and developing insights into vast amounts of unstructured health data, Feliciano said. Throughout the past 24 years, and especially within the past several years, the company has been on a strong growth path, seeking opportunities to apply its technology expertise. DOMA recently expanded in Baltimore, Maryland, and Las Vegas, Nevada. “In the year ahead, we anticipate growing our team by a couple hundred members, potentially reaching a total of about 1,000 employees across the organization by the end of 2025,” Feliciano said. “This partnership not only amplifies our ability to deliver value to customers and patients but also opens up meaningful career growth opportunities for our team members.” Committed to advancing quality improvement in public health, DOMA is now positioned to serve more than 32 million Medicare beneficiaries and over 3 million veterans. “As a unified entity, we are now one of the largest quality improvement organizations in federal health care,” Feliciano said. Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.comIn a move that has sent shockwaves through the aerospace industry, Boeing has announced that they will be laying off nearly a thousand employees in their operations in California and Washington. The decision comes as Boeing continues to face challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing impact of the 737 Max crisis.

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