There used to be a time when well meaning, but slightly deranged folks, used to patrol the streets & hold up placards proclaiming that the end of the world is nigh! This morning's Antipodean newspapers are full of the story that the New Zealand's Millenium Committee's planning is so sadly lacking and the Government has had to belatedly appoint an AUSTRALIAN to tackle the celebration management! In response to this announcement of national importance, several of my colleagues have rather rudely pointed out that, you should only put someone in charge who knows how to read the time! What can they mean I wonder?! The rest of the paper seems full of doom and gloom predictions about the Y2K BUG and how it will destroy human life as we know it, because computers will be hoodwinked into believing that they are operating in the year 1901. For those of us in the Museum and nonprofit world, responsible for maintaining cultural records in secure databases, there ARE serious implications. There must surely be a LIGHTER side to all of this millenium stuff as wel,l or am I alone in thinking that the timing for the event is not only inaccurate but also overated?! ___________________________________________________________________ On the subject of time, some titles for your Year 2000 and 20th Century edification! Just a few of the one thousand titles available in DR DRUM'S NOT-FOR-POFIT BOOKSHOP http://members.tripod.com/~DrDrum_2/Bookshop.html ___________________________________________________________________ * RITES OF PASSAGE: ART FOR THE END OF THE CENTURY -Morgan & Morris * SIGNS FOR THE TIMES: SYMBOLIC REALISM IN MID-VICTORIAN WORLD - Chris Brooks * TWENTIETH CENTURY POPULAR CULTURE IN MUSEUMS & LIBRARIES - Fred Schroder * THE WIRED MUSEUM: EMERGING TECHNOLOGY & CHANGING PARIDIGMS - Katherine Jones-Garmil * AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: 125 YEARS OF EXPEDITION & DISCOVERY - Lyle Rexer * HIPPOCRENE U.S.A. GUIDE TO UNCOMMON & UNHERALDED MUSEUMS - Lincoln S. Bates & Beverly S. Narkiewicz ____________________________________________________________________ best wishes to all from Dr Drum the only Doctor NOT diagnosing Year 2000 Bugs!