As the countdown to the 21st century marches on, Nothing deflects Y2K worries like a humorous mouse pad. By now, most people are familiar with the usual suspects in the Y2K bug industry, which revolves around the computing chaos created by programs that record years as two digits and can't distinguish, say, between the years 1900 and 2000. You've got the companies selling products or services designed to fix the glitch, of course. Y2K bug trinkets.
Motivation is probably a big issue with that group.
So far, Will and his business partner, Hanna Irwin, have sold more than 10,000 units of Y2K bug merchandise. Not very warm, says Adam Kaplan, editor of Westergaard Year 2000, a Web site devoted to analyzing strategic implications of the Year 2000 problem. What it points out is how serious this problem really is. K toys sport millennium-minded messages. Keyes confesses that his wife gave him for his birthday a watch that counts down to the year 2000.