One day my wife came home with a Remnant Review that had been sent to her boss by a friend. This was my introduction, and even though I am a "show me" type, it got me thinking. So, how did you find out?

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 15, 1998

Answers

Wired Magazine article did it for me. Before that, I just thought it was another computer glitch that "they" would find a quick fix for (i.e. $25 dollar programs at Walmart, little bit of overtime, etc..)

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), September 15, 1998.

I was at the Engineer's Bookstore and saw Yourdon's book. After I read it, I started checking out systems that I am familiar with and work with every day...HVAC controls, Building Management Systems, Fire Protection Systems... I called some of the big suppliers of HVAC equipment, etc. That's when I got worried. The standard answer that I got was, "All of our systems are compliant, don't worry, be happy..." When I asked about systems that were over 5 years old, the response was, "Oh well those aren't our responsibility." So I asked some of the building management companies what they were doing and they said, "Oh that's not an issue, all of our computers are Y2K compliant...we only bought them a year ago." I got blank stares when I asked about their chillers and controls. Even in the company that I work for their only concern seems to be if the accounting programs are compliant. As long as they can bill for my time I guess they will be OK.

No one seems to be taking this seriously. I figure that if in my little corner world there are so many potential Y2K related failures then we are probably in for a rough time. So I started reading and planning and preparing. I've been lurking around here for about 2 months... It's nice to be out of the closet.

-- A. J. Wiggins (gotheblues@freewwweb.com), September 15, 1998.

Y2K has been standard fare for introductory Computer Science and Information Systems Courses for over ten years. Most tertiary CS students should be aware of the problem if not details of solutions. Awareness that I should do something in a wider context arrived following consideration of Y2K as a Technological Hazard in my work place. Hence my reference to Y2K as bringing about a Digital Winter in the same way as Neville Shute's On the Beach and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring while others have talked of the Nuclear Winter in relation to the impact of technological warfare.

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), September 15, 1998.

My father-in-law ask about Y2K. I had not paid much attention to what was going on, preoccupied with other things. Had read about the problem and understood basically what it was - no problem. I have worked for at least a dozen computer firms starting with IBM in 1964. Did contract work for the last 5 years. I can vividly recall some of the occasions when the system or server stopped. Some people get very emotional, especially when it could effect their pocketbook. To give my wife and in-laws a better answer, I jumped on the internet and saw GN's Y2K site along with many others. I had read Gary North's Remment Review in the 1980's and respected his business/social perspective. In the last three months, I have read all your 'post' here but this is my first post. The future looks interesting.

-- George (newsrc@txcyber.com), September 15, 1998.

I can't remember, but it was a couple of years ago. After that, I never thought the Feds, utilities, etc. would be lame enough to ignore the problem so long. I began to work on our PC problem at the office a few months before the Wired article.

The Wired article got me thinking about effects on me and my family. Yourdon's book got me REAL interested. Research on the Net made me a believer. You folks made me realize I am not crazy.

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), September 15, 1998.

I dear friend sent me a copy of 2 magazine articles last April. I had never heard anything about y2k before that. She and her husband (who's my veterinarian) are sensible people, so I wondered why they would believe such "scary, alarmist" stuff. I decided to research it for myself. Another friend then told me of a man he met who worked for the DOD as a programmer trying to fix their computers. When my friend asked him if y2k is really going to be any big deal, he said, "Oh, yes. We're not going to get it done on time and my boss has already taken his money out of the bank." That threw me into furious research and after a couple weeks of reading everything I could, I began to make my preparation list and get going!! Life has never been the same . . .

-- Mary (Beachyfe@hotmail.com), September 15, 1998.

Thankyou Uncle Deedah for starting another great post. I remember hearing about it on the radio and thinking " talk about a non-issue". Then a couple of months mom was talkin about it and told me to check out some website. So i did, and got the free y2k CPR tape which i have since spread all over tarnation. Fortunetly my wife totally agrees with me that this has the potential to be a disaster, especially with everything else thats going on. Now I just need to sell my house which I had already decided to sell before getting into Y2K.

Vic

P.S. Anyone want to buy a house in N. Portland, Or? good price...:)

-- Vic (Light_Servant@yahoo.com), September 15, 1998.

I read the Nov 1997 "Prophetic Observer" which was entirely devoted to -- The Millennium Bug and the Year 2000. I had just gotten my computer and didn't know where to go to find information; also it seemed too far off to be concerned about.

In July this year I decided it was time to look into the situation and there was information everywhere I looked! There was so much to read that it was mind-boggling, but once you get caught up on reading what interests you on the boards, then the pace is not as frantic. The boards have really been helpful and enjoyable.

-- Sylvia (in Miss'ippi) (bluebirdms@aol.com), September 15, 1998.

Sometime back in the mid-1970's I was managing software development for a New Jersey computer manufacturer and learned about a Manhattan company called Yourdon, Inc. (Ed Yourdon's company).

Yourdon Inc. provided training in Structured Everything. I read Yourdon's books/articles, attended his courses (and also sent all of the Systems Department programming group leaders there). The whole experience was very positive, especially so since Ed Yourdon taught the courses personally.

Perhaps six months ago, one of those programming group leaders (now an old-timer at Boeing) forwarded some Y2K-related email to me with the comment "You might find this interesting, particulary since it came from Ed Yourdon." Talk about an understatement! Once I realized that Ed Yourdon was concerned about Y2K, my interest skyrocketed. Nothing has since diminished that interest. I am very grateful for Ed's work in this area.

The frustrating thing about Y2K is the reaction (& wierd looks) you get when you bring up the topic. D E N I A L is rampant!

I am currently trying to spread the word to the City Government here in Rochester, NY. So far I'm told "No Problem. We fixed it." I'm still trying to reach the Mayor directly, but haven't succeeded (got to meet eight other employees though).

-- Richard M. Woodward (RichardWoodward@connecticom.com), September 15, 1998.

I was at a seminar last year - a couple of them actually, and heard that Y2K was being discussed, but that it was all a buinch of hogwash. Then only a few months ago (Gosh, THAT'S scary!) I got a copy of the Remnant Review, which led me to GN's site, which led me here, which led me to Ed Yourdon's book - and then I forget where all else... :-)

And I agree - with all the stuff starting to pop up in the mainstream media, it is incomprehensible to me that people are so oblivious yet. I guess I pounce on any related tidbits like a dog on a bone, while most people scan the headlines and decide there is nothing of interest there, and move on.

Oh well, I've been called eccentric, and worse, before!

-- Melissa (financed@forbin.com), September 15, 1998.

In July the lady that does my hair asked me if I'd heard of this y2k computer problem, of which I had heard just a little bit. I told her that I wasn't worried 'cause the guv-ment wasn't gonna let something that bad happen! She then handed me her copy of Craig Smith's Y2KCPR booklet which I scanned thru & thought hmmm...what if there was something to it. So when I got home I immediately ordered my own copy of the booklet from the website & started searching & reading everything that I could find!! Didn't take me long to see what was coming! We've been sharing info ever since. It's nice to have some friends that are as concerned as I to dicuss stuff with. Have a good evening all...Donna in Texas

-- Donna B (Dd0143@aol.com), September 16, 1998.

Great question, Uncle. I had been vaguely aware of the Y2k problem years ago when I was programming, but had not been as close to the technical side in recent years and not thought much about it. Exactly 6 months ago, a friend forwarded an e-mail pst that I think was much of Gary North's intro to Y2k. It grabbed me right away. I set the date on my PC at 12/31/99 and saw it advance to January 4, 1980 - that got my attention for sure, and I began reading everything I could find on the web, and collected two three-ring binders of the more significant documents.. I've also created a few converts, but there are sure plenty of people out there who think it will be no big deal. Fortunately, my wife also believes it will be a problem, so I'm not creating a battle in my home. <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>..........

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), September 16, 1998.

I heard Art Bell's first interview with Gary North months ago...led me to GN's web site, next to this one, Then Yourden's book, etc., etc., I have been reading here every day, since! I follow up many links you folks provide and want to thank you! (Bet you would be amazed at how many of us lurkers there are...)

-- suzanne Hansen (suzannel@webtv.net), September 16, 1998.

I was given a project to do by my employer (in the UK) back in 1993 to look at y2k. It was intitiated by certain articles in the US computer press that were beginning to appear. No one in management believed the impact report we made, though to give them their due the rectification work was started then continued in fits and starts over the years. It was shelved for a while since they had a plan to rewrite all of their systems, it didn't come to anything of course. They lost a whole year doing that, but they got back on course. I didn't get any thanks or recognition in those days just constant whinging. "why do we have to spend money getting nowhere", "these systems won't be here in 2000" etc etc. I stuck my neck out trying to convince management. They hadn't read it in the general media so no-one believed it. The conclusions we came to independently are now well known, I suppose everyone was going through the same process. It didn't dawn on me at the time that it would mean Armageddon. but armageddin out of here now. TTFN

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), September 16, 1998.

The Teaching assistant who taught my very first Computer Science course in 1980 brought it up during class when we were covering how to do date math in FORTRAN. One professor I ended up having for three different courses (Data Structures, Operating Systems and Computer Organization) managed to work it into all three courses during 1980-1982. I hated that old coot with a passion, but I learned a lot from him, and one of the things I learned was a real hatred of short term planning in software. Unless the programming tools (databases, compilers, operating systems, etc.) I was using were non-complient, I have never written non-Y2K complient code since I got points deducted from a project in that Data Structures course for doing so.

Don't let anyone kid you: this is not a problem that people haven't known about until recently. It is, however, a problem that the right people haven't cared about until recently.

-- Paul Neuhardt (neuhardt@ultranet.com), September 16, 1998.

I had read a previous book by Ed Yourdon and considered him very interesting. One day when I was really bored I did a web search on his name to see what he was up to. Boy did I find out!!! Then I found out that other people I knew (ok, so I don't know them that well) already knew about this and hadn't bothered to clue me in. That made me mad! I have clued in everyone in my family plus close friends.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), September 16, 1998.

Earlier this year, my husband was working at a Nuclear Plant during it's shutdown (they do this every 18 months). Someone brought up the subject of y2k and my husband said that the Nuclear Plant was spending tons of money to be set up for y2k, whatever that was. I remember thinking , well...that's probably the most important thing...that all Nuclear Plants would be ready for some upcoming problem with their computers when the year 2000 got here. Very vaguely remember hearing on t.v. or in small talk about y2k. THEN, in July I think, we got a home computer, which I knew almost nothing about using. Once I got e-mail down, my family in another state and I e-mailed every day. One day the message I got was "Blondie, what do you think about y2k?" I said that I didn't know, but that it was an upcoming problem and the Nuclear Plant is prepared for it. He sent me Time Bomb 2000 info by e-mail and my life changed that day! I started to panic right off...wanting to keep it to myself so that no one would think that I was a lunatic. The first person that I did tell gave me such a bad time, I was so frustrated. But that didn't stop me. My husband was a little leery at first until I had him read some of your posts. He too is all for us preparing now. Sometimes I am selective, but I do get the word out when ever the opportunity arises. I haven't stopped thinking about y2k since that first day I heard from my family member. I have been making the most of every day, especially when I hear 575 days left, 525 left, i.e. as I see it getting closer and closer. Some of you lurking...take that step and speak up, would like to hear from you. We are all in this together. Blondie

-- Blondie Marie (Blondie@future.net), September 16, 1998.

I was listening to talk radio (rush's show) and I heard him say that Y2k'ers were nutz, etc. (he's such a bonehead...) So I did a search and found out exactly what the problem was. This was about the time that Bennett was holding his June senate hearings on y2k. I watched the videos and became increasingly alarmed. I was waiting for Klinton to use y2k as an excuse to divert our attention from his sorid life, but when that never came, I decided that y2K was REALLY bad.

I, too am a lurker here... It really helps to know there are others out there. Thank you all for your thoughtful remarks, they really help.

From now on, when the questions aren't too technical, I will put my 2 cents in..

-- Okum (ws000@aol.com), September 16, 1998.

Got the internet at my home in February. Being from Oklahoma, I was snooping around in some conspiracy documents relating to the OKC bombing, Bill Clinton or some other luminary and somehow came across a link to this site (not real sure how that happened). It scared the hell out of me at that point. I asked for verification from friends and relatives in the computer industry. One friend informed me that he was working on y2k consulting, that the problem was indeed real and that he utilized this site for reference. Sometimes I feel like Chicken Little looking up at the sky when publications like the Weekly World News pick up on this story. I do not, however, doubt that there will be a problem. My wife also agrees that things could get ugly.

I am also somewhat of a luker and definitely not a technological-brained person. This site is very educational to we lurkers.

-- bhayes (bkhayes@intellex.com), September 16, 1998.

Good job Uncle D! As a former "lurker" yourself, you know how to reach the reluctant. :-)

I started preparing back in January, but didn't even know about Y2K at the time. I was just watching all of the global changes (Asia, etc.), and felt like we were in for some hard times. When I would go to the store to buy cough medicine, deoderant, etc., I would pick up 2. One to use, and one to tuck away. (You wouldn't believe how quickly you make a great stash! :-) The nice thing about doing it that way, it doesn't put a strain on the finances.

Sometime in the Spring, I started hearing little tidbits, seeing Magazine articles, catching clips on television, but it wasn't until I started researching it on the Internet that I got the true "scope" of the problem. I bought Mr. Yourdon's book. I didn't spend much time on the computer before, but now my husband (programmer) calls me a "Computer Geek." (with a smile on his face of course!)

I'm really glad I found this forum. Much of my extended family is in denial and sometimes you think, "Maybe I am nuts!" I keep trying to tell them that even if things are only bad for a few weeks or months, many people could die. I especially worry about babies and the elderly. It only took 2 months of extreme heat this summer to kill over a hundred people, and frigid temperatures will be even worse. Being prepared is like insurance to me. I have fire insurance on my home, car insurance on the vehicles, and I hope I never have to use them, but if I do- I'm SO glad they're there.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 16, 1998.

My sister moved to Eastern Washington, some people she met gave her a tape called Y2K Millennium Bomb, she sent the tape to me in February of this year. Then my mom gave me the CBN address on the internet and I started doing some investigating. I now have five 3" binders full of information and helpful hints, and my mom and I have been preparing ever since. The hardest part about all this is trying to convince others, especially your loved ones. Some of them don't want to listen and think you've gone off the deep end. I have plenty of information to give people but they don't want to read it. After you start investigating Y2K you start cross checking and branch into other areas like martial law, government Executive Orders, laws, etc. I've found out how really uninformed I have been all these years.

Sometime I think I'm not getting prepared fast enough because you only have some much money each week, then trying to prepare extra for my children who don't listen. I have 4 daughters and 8 grandchildren. I keep after my children encouraging the ones that are, mentioning it to the others. I don't know what I would do without my sister. Her and her husband are preparing this for a family retreat, wood stove, wood/propane heater heats the house, etc. My mom and I just bought a 26 foot trailer to take over and I'm converting it to solar. Everytime you buy something you feel a little bit better inside. If nothing happens I can donate food to the food bank and have a vacation retreat away from the city.

I'm starting to prepare myself mentally for some decisions I will probably have to face next year. Like what happens if you want to take a leave of absence from work a couple of months and they won't let you; when do you leave the city. (This is second hand information from a friend of mine; she said her friend saw workers putting something like dynamite in a hole in the road. They took out their camera to take a picture but was stopped, the workers were angry about it.)

How can we believe anything anyone (especially the government) says about systems being fixed when they get caught in lies all the time. We're sort of preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. Where I work they just started assessing the embedded chip problem this August and expected to have them ALLLLLL replaced and tested by this Dec. I don't think so.....not with a company this size.....

-- busy in Seattle (Jolann.Leifer@PSS.boeing.com), September 16, 1998.

In the late 80s a programmer told me it would be bad, and that he intended not to go to work on the first day of 2000. I thought, "This couldn't possibly affect me, since I'm not a programmer." (I don't think that now.) By a couple of years ago it had started to creep into my consciousness the same way AIDS did--early news reports that didn't seem relevant to my life, with the reports getting more frequent and scarier. I suspected things would be bad. In April I bought a copy of Gary North's scary pamphlet, and it's been all downhill since then. I had some difficulty convincing my husband, but now we are preparing.

-- Teresa Fisher (75247.3512@compuserve.com), September 16, 1998.

I picked it up on the Net about one year ago. I'd heard about it for some time. Got really convinced when I started checking my client's machines, applications, etc. (Small biz's) I'd tell them there was probably nothing to this, but let's check for fun. It stopped being fun when we saw things like databases and accounting programs unable to find the data files, etc.

I live in NC and I was just at a new customer's place yesterday. What makes it unique is that this was an agency for the USDA. I asked them how they were coming on Y2K efforts. The response from all three standing there was "Y2K What?" Makes you feel good all over to know how well the government's doing when local branches of agencies don't even know the problem exists, and it's Sept. of 98, doesn't it? We're trying to get a local Chamber of Commerce to host a talk with us. They're afraid they might look like they're promoting false problems.

After seeing some of the above reactions to Y2K, boy am I glad I grew up and still live on a family farm. My friends tell me it's fun to watch a guy kill and dress a hog with one hand, and design Access databases with the other. I tell them it's all part of being a good southern boy! Sorry ya'll from the North! We'll start hog killing courses next week! Hey, not a bad business to be in after ....

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), September 16, 1998.

I knew there was a problem from my college courses in 1977-82. In 1983 I had to fix the date problems in a pension calculating program for a govt. agency, then wrote a lease/purchase evaluation program which had to be able to handle 20-30 yr. leases for another govt. agency. Both ran on microcomputers that were more like glorified calculators (this was just at the beginning of the PC revolution). Since I was aware of the problem from working on these obscure programs running on machines that would be obsolete in less than 2 years, I figured there was no way that it would still be a problem by the turn of the century. It still amazes me that there are so many machines out there with a Y2K problem that should have been scrapped long ago.

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), September 16, 1998.

Since I first bought a PC so many years back.............. I have been a 'conspiracy' interested person. As such I subscribed to several list serves. Across one came a writeup by North on Y2K. Just shear luck I read it I guess, I usually trash 95% of what comes across that list without reading. I was literally stunned.

Since then it's been a daily thing. It was about December of last year that it kicked in full blast and we have been preparing since.

I have thousands of hours invested in researching this mess... I just cannot poke holes in the probability of serious problems. I have tried, and hard too.

At the begining of the journey I read Ed's book while it was still on line. It's was a big help. One day I got an E-mail concerning a request for info I had posted in a news group. It was Ed yourdon out of the blue. His notes helped a LOT in driving home how serious this situation is. No, he did not say RUN FOR THE HILLS WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE......he just told me a bit about what he had planned for his family.

You see, after reading his book, I researched Ed Yourdon himself so I could get an idea how to take the book. What I found was a guy who is looked up to and respected. In the words of one Computer co exec I talked to.."If Ed Yourdan said something you better listen". As an aside, that guy is now in serious denial. Since then I have bought the book and shared it with others I know. No help, but I keep trying.

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), September 16, 1998.

I first heard about 2000 as a problem when taking a BASIC course in the late 70's. I didn't think much about it, thought that all those "old programs" would surely have been replaced, until a news show on T.V. (Canadian) stated it was a big problem, but that there was time to deal with it and that companies were in fact doing just that. This was in 1996. I heard no more about it until I got an advertisement for Gary North's Remnant in February. I read it to my husband, who is in the telecom business and asked him if there was anything to it. To my amazement, he said that there was and that about 80% of his time at work was spent on the problem (that's now 100%). His company believes that they have everything under control, so he doesn't think it will come to TEOTWAWKI. I wish I could share his sanguinity!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 16, 1998.

Another voice from the woodwork here... Been in IS for almost 16 years, started researching Y2K in April to help my nephew (newly-minted MIS degree) look better (more "business savvy") in job interviews. The more I looked, the worse the picture got. Have had immense respect for Ed Yourdon for many years - he literally "wrote the book" on major systems development. Between his work and that of Ed Yardeni, I was completely convinced within 2 months of starting the research. Have persuaded the wife and immediate neighbors to begin "1 month outage" preparations. Given current trends, however, will have to make a decision by year end (approx. 3 months) whether to leave SoCal (a desert without power and water.) Not sure Herself and the kids will accept this, so will have wait until the facts are clearer and my analysis better supported. Very much appreciate everyone's contributions here. Thanks!

-- Mac (sneaky@lurk.com), September 16, 1998.

I learned about it in college back in the '80s, but didn't take it seriously then; I figured that they would have resolved this issue by 1998.

It started to hit home a couple of years ago when I had to implement a windowing technique for a slew of reports...that's about all I can say without making myself vulnerable to the attornies...sorry!

Still, I figured at the time: No biggie...it's easy to fix...just lots of mundane maintenance, playing with dead languages that didn't do much to bolster the resume...at least for the moment ;-)

I didn't think about it much until I got an email posting from a friend the beginning of this year concerning the power grid. The Wired article that appeared this Summer was the clincher, however.

I've given up trying to tell people about it...they just think I'm trying to "drum up extra business".

just my .02

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), September 16, 1998.

Great question!

I first heard about it in early 1990 when a programmer friend mentioned that there were only ten years to fix it. It sounded like one of those things that would be invisible to the casual observer. About five years ago, working in a Mac repair shop, it came up again, and I've been thinking about it in the lower levels of my brain since. About six months ago, one of my current company's clients, a big multi-national sent out a pretty, non-threatening questionaire to all of it's vendors to find out what kinds of remediation plans people were working on. This led me to the bookstore and Timebomb 2000. Then the Wired article really did me in. Since then I've been on the web almost every day gathering information and lurking around.

Luckily, most of my immediate family members are computer/web savvy, and we all sort came to the same conclusions at the same time. We are preparing together for a not worst-case scenario.

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), September 16, 1998.

What a great "community" question Unka D!

Well I'm somewhat of a PC geek; work on them for a part-time living. Web nut, etc. First heard about Y2K about a year and a half ago, near as I can remember; considered it to be a mainframe problem that would have very little effect on me personally.

Then started seeing a bit more about it, and how it would affect PC's in some ways too; got a bit more interested.

Then ran across something about some 'Yardeni' fellow, and how he predicted Y2K could cause a recession -- I went Whoa! and started looking into that angle of it. Already had been looking for a major correction to the markets for some time, due to what Mr. Greenspan termed "irrational exuberance" a while back, but this put a whole new spin on things. But I still hadn't thought it through to the point of its having any effect on power, transportation, and all the 64,000 other things we now know it will affect to one degree or another.

Then about 2= months ago (sure seems like longer ago, thinking back...awareness has changed and expanded quite a bit since then, dontcha know), was attending the July 4 parade/picnic in metropolitan Bayview, NC, on the Pamlico River, and talking with a fellow about computers. The subject of Y2K came up, and I was sharing my (limited) knowledge about it, as the resident computer "expert", when up walked Walter W. and asked, "Well how bad do you think it will be?" (He was up from Alabama visiting his folks, who live in the same town I do.)

Well, we exchanged e-mail addresses. I sent him a techno-geeky e-mail about how to fix some such problem in his Internet Explorer browser; he sent me some Gary North links, and posts from this bulletin board (and still does). Guess which had the greater effect on which person!!! It's been a quick and vigorous learning process ever since. (Thanks Walter!)

-- John Howard (pcdir@prodigy.net), September 16, 1998.

seems I got one of those little booklets by gary north way back in 95. I read it with great interest, and tossed it in the trash with the rest of the junk mail. its pretty much the same one he still mails out, for I get the same one in the mail about once a year. so, in jan. 96, I start thinking, hmmm, havent started an i.r.a. yet, so I picked a fund, wrote a check for two thou, and headed for the post office. When I got there, I sat in my car, thinking about that little booklet. I sat there for a looonng time, and wound up deciding not to risk it. so, about two months later, there I am again, thinking the same thing, hmmm, I really, really should start that i.r.a. once again, I made out the check, put it in the envelope, and headed for the post office. and once again, that nagging y2k thing hit me, however, this time I dropped it in the box. did it again in 97, and again in 98. tommorow, im gonna call the fund and say, "send me my money" shoulda listened to that nagging feeling, I guess.

-- ed (edrider007@aol.com), September 16, 1998.

Rats! Uncle D, do you know a realtor named Barbara??? You have the same propensity to ask just the right question!

Knew in 82 but the discussion then was "It won't be OUR problem because WE won't be working here!" Even though my system was compliant. Subject lay dormant until Art Bell resurected it about 3 months ago. Shared the current research with my spouse and she has taken off with a ROAR! Now preparing is how we look at EVERYTHING!!!

-- Chuck a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 17, 1998.

I heard about it first in late 97 (or should I say 1997) through the normal braindead-media sources. I didn't get the impression that it was globally or personally important, but I knew there was such a thing. Through 98 and endless hours of compulsive net-serfing on totally unrelated topics I encountered it here and there, and in about June I came across the "It'll cost $600 B" quote which peaked my interest a little. "Geez, no-one's gonna make any profit next year", hmmmmm...filed to the back of my mind. My general anxiety about looming global crises had been accelerating since the Thai el barto went down the tubes, but it stepped up a gear with evil-fucking-Suharto's "resignation" and the obvious failure of IMF efforts to reverse the situation. In June, Nexus magazine had a y2k article, which is a pretty good intro to the topic, and that got me thinking a lot more, but even then I wasn't particularly interested in it, although I now had lingering doubts. I asked my dad what he knew about it, and I suggested that he might like to opt out of the stockmarket while it's still riding high. He said it was nothing to worry about, they could just turn off the computers on dec 31 and turn them back on on Jan 2 and everything would be sweet!! At this stage i had no response to this (!) I was directing my serfing a little bit more towards the immediate-problems-of-the-world topics, but one day on my usual perusal of the ufo websites I went from ufomind.com to sightings.com, where I bumped into to their large-ish collection of y2k articles, which definately opened my eyes. From there, i think, I got to garynorth.com...which blew me away. I spent five days non-stop reading most of the sight and lots of the external links. From then on I was - am - a full-blown, certified (certifiable?) y2k doomsayer. I've read most of the y2k-skeptic pages and found them to be devoid of sound argument and persuasive evidence. Their best arguments seem to be "It's so important. There's no way the government and corporations would let such things happen!" (Yeah right!), or "Such things can never happen, therfore they won't" (Read some history, Bud) or "Gary North is some sort of obscure Presbyterian, therefore you cannot believe anything he says, or be convinced by arguments he offers, or take heed of evidence from elsewhere compiled at his website", (no reply necessary.) As a practising atheist I am naturally suspicious of crazy aMerican christian wacko's and their generally deranged websites, but even when taken with a large grain of salt GN managed to drastically change my mind about the current state of the world......Y2k is clearly the most important factor to be considered. I've started preparing, informing friends of the urgency, planning finances, making contingency plans; sounds as if I'm no more prepared than the corporations, but my own personal operation (i.e. consume food and water and psychedelics, avoid trouble, make love, read science and write philosophy, survive well,) is somewhat smaller and more manageable than unilever's or ITOH's or Franklin Templeton's, and vastly less computer dependent. Thankfully, most of the more enlightened young people I've encountered all want to live in self-sufficient communties anyhow, so y2k should serve as a well-needed catalyst for change, especially seeing as how doing-nothing-wait-and-see-ism will result in one or another shade of "totally-fucked", and most any intelligent and independent person will reach this conclusion if exposed to the relevent evidence. (apologies for the length of my post, fnarr)

-- C. Montgomery Burns (wow@sothisishowitallends.com), September 20, 1998.

Ealy last spring, my sister gave me a Remnant Review (Gary North). I looked at it with healthy skepticism. The next day, CBC television did a "reassuring" program about Y2K on "Undercurrents". That got me really scared (it MAY not be as bad as TOTAL chaos!?!). Then I saw an article the next week in the Alberta Report. Getting hit on the head three times within a week at least got my attention. I'm still fighting with myself to keep focused on the problem without panic or denial (which seems to be my two most favourite modes of operation).

-- Lois Knorr (knorr@attcanada.net), September 20, 1998.

I've been lurking for the last 6 mo. but this is my 1st post. Let me preface my remarks with an intoduction. I'm 51,married 32yrs to the same "girl"(who is totaly on board vis. a vis. y2k), the father of one and the grandfather of 3. I spent 10yrs. in the Marines with 2 trips to Nam. Been working the last 20 odd yrs as a machinist. Got my 'puter 6 mo. ago,found AOL's million minutes to the millennium web site(I know a**holes on line,but everyone starts somewhere) They had a message board there and someone mentiond the y2k problem with a ref. to Gary Norths site. I started reading the stuff he had and the links.Called in sick at work,and, stopping only to pee and make more coffee, spent the next 40 straight hrs.reading.I went from total disbelieve to total acceptance in that 40 hrs. The next weekend I talked to my son (father of a 6yr.old and twin 2yr.olds,with a wife in total denile).He had heard North on the radio,probably on Art Bell,and he was trying to think of a way to approach me on the subject without sounding like a kook. I'm lucky in that I only sleep 4 hrs.a day so I can spend a lot of time reading the newsgroups,and this forum(which I must say has the best signal/noise ratio of them all) and North. I think we are looking at a middle of the road situation. Some rolling blackouts,interruptions in deliveries of everthing and major economic problems but civilization stays prety much intact. My son,who has nether a computer nor the time to research the subject,and counts on me for info,thinks TEOTWAWKI. Mad Max,cannibal pointy haired bosses from the city,shootouts in the front yard. [as an aside,isn't it interesting how two people with the same info. come to two different conclusions?] We are preparing for his version.(Prepare for the worst,hope for the best) Fortunately I have lived below my means all my working life.Never had a credit card,paid cash for a new car every 3rd. year,and except for my house, I have never been in debt. As a consequence I have the cash flow to get ready for whatever,"Something wicked this way comes" I just reread that last paragraph and it sounds awfully braggy and I apologize for that,but it is a statement of fact. We buy 3wks. worth of groceries every wk.(except for meat of course) and will continue to do so for as long as there is food to be bought.I have decided to forgo the MRE/freezedried/dehydrated route because of the children. Food fatigue,food boredom is a big factor to consider when planning food storage.{Although I seem to go the other way,I have eaten the same breakfast and lunch every day for over 20 yrs.and would eat the same dinner every day if my wife would let me.:) } No generator.Fuel storage problems,noise. Aladinn lamps,kero heater,plenty of kerosine. I have guns in the house for the 1st time in my adult life. We have 2 Ruger 10/22's,2 Ruger mini14's,2 Mossburg 500's,and 4 Colt 45's with 10's of thousands of rounds of amo for each gun. My son has always had guns since he moved out on his own and his wife grew up in a cop family and has been shooting all her life. We are teaching my wife and grandson to shoot and go to the range every wk. I had forgotten how much fun shooting can be. I pray I never have to kill another human but I WILL DO whatever is required to take care of these children. I'm out of the stockmarket for the 1st time since I was 18. All my cash is in junk silver and gold coins.I think even in the worst case this will be the best way to move my money into the next millennium. This has gone beyond "How did you find out" and I apologies for that,but I sometimes suffer from diarrhea of the keyboard. I will close by thanking all of you who have contributed to my education in y2k/survival/preparedness. Back to lurking,

Sean in Indy.T?T

-- papaw (papaw@my-dejanews.com), September 20, 1998.

I orginally found out from GN on Art Bell. After extensive research, thank you Ed Yourdon!, became conviced on the reality. I go through the normal cycles of "gee this cant be real, can it?" to "I have to get going" Last week I took my first big step by getting out of the trap that is San Diego and southern California and moved up to rural northern Cal. I did work at a national travel agency that has made NO preparations for Y2K (not to mention problems with airlines, aircraft, and traffic control.) I have tried to let as many friends and family know as possible. Thank goodness those closest to me agree, as we are now preparing together. It is nice to know that there are other rational, truth seekers out there. Good luck!

-- Lenny Bellows (fsharp@flash.net), September 21, 1998.