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The Millennium Bug Mystery Cache

Hidden : 3/28/2016
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

To celebrate reaching our 2000th find, we thought we’d try our hand at a (relatively easy to decipher) puzzle cache that links quite nicely to the number 2000 – hence ‘The Millennium Bug’.


Historical Info

The final months of 1999 saw concern grow into panic when it was thought the millennium bug was going to cause computers to malfunction and potentially endanger everything from tills to power stations.

The bug was about the limitations of the clocks inside computers.  Since the 1960s computers truncated four-digit years (such as 1998) and saved them as two-digits (98) to save space & memory. As a result, when the new millennium arrived, it was expected many computer clocks would see 00 and understand that to mean 1900.

The hype in the media caused many households to panic when they thought all their electronic machines needed to be upgraded to ensure they were "year 2000 compliant".

Considering the number of computers and electrical machines in use at the time, there were only a handful of minor bugs round the world on 1st January 2000.  Fortunately, the huge catastrophe or ‘Armageddon’ that had been predicted was averted due to the foresight and diligent preparations of IT departments and programmers across the globe.

 

Puzzle Info

Hvcgs tczy igwbu uccr czr togvwcbsr pzoqypcofr obr qvozy cf dsbqwz obr dodsf hc qfoqy hvwg sbwuao ofs gots tfca hsqvbwqoz piug obr jwfigsg. Hc zccy tcf hvs awzzsbbwia piu, uc hc bcfhv twthm rsufssg twthm bwbs dcwbh nsfc bciuvh hkc ksgh bciuvh nsfc hvfss rsufssg gwlhssb dcwbh swuvh vibrfsr obr hvwfhm hkc. Hvcgs tczy, acfs ybckzsrusopzs kwhv qcadihsfg, rsqwdvsfwbu hvwg dinnzs eiwqyzm obr sogwzm hvfciuv o rsqfmdhwcb kspgwhs cf gdsqwozwgsr gcthkofs doqyous, fsgh oggifsr hvwg qcrs kwzz bch wbtsqh mcif qcadihsf. Ps qofstiz kvoh mci awuvh twbr oh hvs qoqvs zcqohwcb hvciuv – mci vojs pssb kofbsr.

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Puzzle] Jung jnf gur zvyyraavhz oht nyfb xabja nf? [Cache] Oruvaq n fghzc va gur urqtr - gjrrmref erdhverq gb rkgenpg gur ybt.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)