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1. Explain the non-event that "Nathaniel Recalls the Miracle" is centered on.

"Nathaniel Recalls the Miracle" is centered on the New Year's Event between 1999 and 2000. Computers were programmed to only recognize dates up to 1999, and everyone was worried that at midnight on December 31st, the computers would malfunction and create chaos. But this never actually happened, and the change to years in the 2000's was uneventful.

2. What phrase makes Lucien think about the frog and the boiling water, and why?

When Lucien is talking to Matsumoto on the phone, Matsumoto refers to New York being "back to normal" (6). The story takes place in 2004, when New York was resuming business as usual after the September 11, 2001 hijacking that brought down the World Trade Center. Lucien is questioning what "normal" means under these circumstances, and whether New Yorkers are in some ways like the frog in the boiling water.

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