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Almost as interested in world rollovers as the bunkered down were the U.S. and Russian military officers at Peterson Air Force Base, the now permanent Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability. Officers from both sides of the cold peace, who were there to make sure no nukes accidentally went off, labored to keep busy, channel surfing among CNN and other news shows and showing one another Russian Internet fare. The only old-school touch was the hot-line phones, black for Moscow, white for the U.S. When the clocks changed in Moscow and no bugs were reported, the Russian team applauded and U.S. Major General Thomas Goslin Jr. congratulated Russian group leader Colonel Sergey Kaplin. He may have deserved even more congratulations. Russia spent $4 million on Y2K military preparations while the U.S. spent nearly $4 billion. In fact, Americans spent an estimated $100 billion to be ready on all fronts, from telecommunications to sewage treatment. It is still unclear whether that was money partly wasted or money that saved us from a meltdown, but any funds that happened to be spent on ensuring the safe, swift delivery of newsmagazines is money well spent.
The FAA confidently sent its chief, Jane Garvey, flying from Washington to Dallas during the key hour of midnight Greenwich Mean Time. The only surprising thing about the flight was that the FAA chief had to fly coach. Joining her were 36 passengers, including one brave TIME reporter, Washington Senator Slade Gorton and Janet Rhodes, 63, whose life's goal was to fly during midnight of the millennium. Rhodes booked the trip months in advance, had her flight canceled twice owing to lack of passengers and eventually got a ticket on the flight Garvey was taking, figuring American couldn't cancel that one. "I'm as happy as a lark," she chirped, after drinking a glass of complimentary champagne. "This is the most fun I've ever had on a flight. I just love being part of history."
Fear itself was virtually nonexistent on Friday, with almost no one making a last-minute ATM run, leaving the $50 billion of extra cash the Federal Reserve had printed for the occasion to be turned into mulch later this month.
So as Apocalypse Not struck around the globe--and all terrorists were either caught, in bed watching television, or releasing a planeload of hostages--people everywhere celebrated. Many cultures celebrated despite the fact that most follow completely different calendars, and despite the fact that far too many people were pointing out that the millennium doesn't really start until next year and that our system is all messed up anyway, because Jesus was born 2,004 years ago. They celebrated because the most famous odometer mankind has ever created was displaying three zeroes in a row. It's exciting enough when it happens to your own car; when it happens to the world, it makes you downright giddy.