I know a lot of you may have trouble believing this, but sometimes I have difficulty in expressing my angst and rage over this whole Y2k thing, and particularly where the electric industry is concerned. Just how the hell did we get into this mess? Then, tonight, I ran across a posting from an acquaintance of mine, Tom Benjamin, that nicely expresses some of the rage that I feel with the corporate world over this whole situation.

This is not something I normally do (repost in this forum) - but I hope the following repost of his newsgroup article gives you a bit of a sense of where I'm personally at in this thing.

Tom is a freelance hockey sportswriter based out of California. I think the "hockey" shows in his writings on the Y2k issue. His "Tom's Take", which will be posted as soon as the redesigned website is up, is really a seminal work in the frustration that thinking people carry with them when discussing Y2k. Enjoy the post!

Robert Brock wrote:

>To expect an electric company to guarantee that you will have power
>1-1-00 is unreasonable.  The power company can't guarantee that your 
>home will have electricity when the sun goes down today.

I agree. I don't expect this kind of guarantee. What an electric 
company should be able to guarantee is that they recognized that the 
Y2K problem existed and took appropriate steps to remediate in time 
to fix it. They should be able to guarantee that all the rollover 
issues have at least been addressed. I do not even expect that they 
should be able to guarantee that the fix was sure to work.

I have no guarantee but I have confidence that I will have power at 
the stroke of midnight tonight. I am entitled to exactly the same 
level of confidence at the stroke of midnight 2000/01/01. I have no 
guarantee that if I do lose power tonight at midnight that I will 
regain power in a few hours (probably) or days (at the outside), but 
I am very confident of that, too. I am entitled to the same level of 
confidence if the power goes out on 2000/01/01.

We do not have that reasonable level of confidence. The responsibility
is mind boggling. Every responsible company should be posting 
information that looks and sounds like Bethlehem Steel or the 
Springfield power plant. Every single one of them should have been 
on top of that problem a looooong time ago. That it is even a race 
is outrageous, never mind that it is a race that any reasonable 
observer would say is being lost.

I don't want a guarantee. I want the CEO of every power company to 
get up on a stage and tell me why it is even a race. Why they are not
finished right now. Why they let us get in a position where a Gary 
North, el whacko extraordinaire, is actually taken seriously. 
"Explain that, you asshole," I'd say. 'Tell me why we should not take
you out and hang you for not being finished right now."

>When they say that they will be ready (either with remidiation and/or
>contingency plans) the response in this group is that they are lying. 
>If they can't gurantee that all electric utilities will be remediated 
>the response is that...if all of the power companies can't gruantee 
>that they will be remediated it's the end of the  world.

They *will* be remediated?! They should be ready NOW! It will not be 
the end of the world if they are not remediated, but it *might* be the
end of western civilization, and it *will* kill people. This is 
exactly why they should be ready NOW. That they are not ready now is 
inexcusable.

We should all be pointing at Gary North and saying "Look at the nut! 
Sure there will be problems, because it was very big project and 
something was probably missed. But the problem *has* been fixed and 
they still have 13 months to work on ironing out all the bugs."

"Why can't I say that about Gary North, you asshole?" I would shout 
at the CEO of the power company. "Why are you racing to finish?" 

>As more and more milestones are passed in the Y2k countdown and 
>nothing happens, the probablity of a Y2k breakdown seems less and 
>less likely.  So far what I have seen is companies identifying these 
>critical dates and doing what needs to be done to correct or work 
>around the problem.

I don't think the milestones mean anything unless they are visible 
and then they only mean something if Joe Public notices. Y2K failures
have been around for a long time. Companies basically started the fix 
when they started having failures. The number of those failures is 
accelerating as we approach the year 2000. Most of the failures are 
not visible to Joe Public.

That is going to change. It is changing.

I think if we make it to May or June we will make it all the way to
2000/01/01 and we will see what will happen, finally. But there are 
miles to go before we sleep, and the public concern is rising.

And rightfully so!

"Listen up, asshole," I would say to the CEO of the Royal Bank. 
"I have to tell people not to take money out of the bank. I tell them 
the banks *have* to make it, or your cash is nothing but bits of paper
anyway. If everyone takes cash out, it is over."

My voice is shaking in rage. "Why can't I just tell everyone all the 
banks have fixed the problem? Why can't I just tell them you guys are 
all done? Cased closed. Maybe it is because you are an ireresponsible 
asshole, eh? Why aren't you already finished? Why do we even have to 
imagine bank runs? You asshole!"

>Should Y2k be a complete fizzle, I would hate to be in the shoes of 
>those "experts" who were too vocal about the enevatible collapse.  
>If I had quit my job,moved into the wilderness, and bought a years 
>supply of food based on their "expert" predictions...I wouldn't be 
>a happy camper.  (I couldn't help the pun).

First of all, I do not recommend that you either quit your job or 
move to the wilderness. I do suggest that you figure to be able to 
take care of yourself for three months. After that we are all playing 
it by ear anyway. I want more than that but that's only because I am 
terrified.

Second, I will be delighted if Y2K "fizzles". I will be every bit as 
angry at the CEO of AT&T as I am today.

"Look at what you are put me through, you asshole!" I would scream. 
"Why weren't you finished in lots of time? Why didn't you get done 
by, say, July of 1998? Your irresponsibility cost me time, money and 
grief. You asshole! Why was it even a race?"

I no longer trust the assholes. They lost me because they are not 
already finished. Our lives are at stake and it should not be close. 
It should not be a race. We should not be arguing about whether the 
race is being won.

I no longer trust the assholes. Do you?

Tom

P.S. "Pssst. The theatre is on fire. This is not a drill. Walk calmly 
to the nearest exit. Pass it on."

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1998

Answers

They thought there was plenty of time. Many have only recently discovered this is not a 10k, but rather a marathon. Sadly, this is no longer about winning, but about how badly we will lose. Perhaps it comes from never looking beyond the next quarterly earnings report.

Mike Lang

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1998

I wish I'd sent this post onto my congressman the other day when I wrote him of my angst. When I first awoke to this nightmare this summer I felt the same rage. But it's now mellowed into action. Maybe my action is just a way to fight the gathering gloom? I ask that same question every day how could so many seemingly smart people leave us with this mess? What enrages me now though is their arrogance at trying to deny it's a real problem. I wish the lawyers on all of them. Cause they're out here circling and they smell blood in the water.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1998

Rick (and others), I have a copy of 'Tom's Take' posted on my web page, http://www.huv.com/y2k if you're interested in reading it. It's probably the best piece of Y2K writing I've ever come across...

BTW, Tom lives in British Columbia now...

- Jon

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1998

Rick, posting "Tom's Take" as representative of your own anger and frustration was an exceptionally forthright thing to do. I have escaped any rage at corporations because I have never observed them to have much foresight in any area, or to have much focus beyond a profit and loss statement. So I never expected them to be pro-active in the first place.

I do have some measure of teeth-gritting anger at our government leaders, however. Unlike corporations, they are SUPPOSED to be overseeing those things which will affect the public welfare and the year 2000 problem has been in their frame of view for years:

The Social Security Administration knew about it ten years ago. And in February of 1996, "Senator Moynihan asked the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to study and produce a report on the implications of the year 2000 problem... On June 24, 1996, Sen. Moynihan announced that CRS had completed its Y2K report. After reviewing the report, Sen. Moynihan said, CRS reports that the year 2000 problem is indeed serious, and that fixing it will be costly and time-consuming. The problem deserves the careful and coordinated attention of the Federal Government, as well as the private sector, in order to avert major disruptions on January 1, 2000....On July 31, 1996, Sen. Moynihan sent a letter to President Clinton expressing his views and concerns about Y2K. The Senator warned the president of "a problem which could have extreme negative economic consequences during your second term: The Year 2000 Time Bomb."

To his credit, Senator Moynihan and a few others tried to get attention on a problem already known in government circles. To their discredit, they didn't make a forceful warning to the media when Presidential action was not immediately taken. When it came to a choice between knowledgeable, gutsy leadership - telling citizens and business there was a major problem on the horizon and they had darn well better tackle it RIGHT NOW -- and opting for the usual political stance of "we'll fix it just before a disaster is about to happen", we got politics instead of bravery. And in this case, you CAN'T get it fixed at the last minute, you can't pass some law or throw money at it in the eleventh hour. In my worst moments I'd like to stuff all those references to a "bridge to the 21st century" back down Clinton and Gore's throat. Forget Monica, I feel betrayed on an entirely different level.

In my better moments, which fortunately occupy the majority, I know that whatever did or did not happen in the past is as irrelevant now as the dinosaurs and the blame game accomplishes nothing at this point in time. I don't want to waste my energy by devoting it to anything other than what I can do NOW to get ready for any 2000 problems, and to spread the word to others.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 1998

Bonnie:

I concur completely with your statements. We, the ordinary civilians of America and the rest of the world, did not cause this problem, did not try to brush it off when we discovered it, didn't try to sweep it under the mat.

I'm sure there are many like me, and probably you, who clicked onto Y2K only this year, or maybe the tail end of last. I've logged more than 500 internet hours on Y2K since the beginning of summer, and I'm sure that's a mild figure compared to many devoted 'Digital Revere's.' Blame is as easy to spead as manure on this issue, but it bears little fruit. So let's get ready.

It has been said that few great leaders come from good times, they arise only during times of distress. Those who assist in preparing their families, their communities and their churches to make it through the transition will be the great leaders in this looming crisis. Those new leaders will come from the community, maybe even local government.

The late Tip O'Neill coined the phrase "all politics is local." In this case, 'all Y2K is local.' Everyone will have to deal with their own brush fires, so they don't all come together to create a giant forest fire. So be ready, with all that you have, to prepare those around you.

That's what we can do. Blame will be left for a later day. Although I have always said the the only thing lawyers were good for was being contestants on "Jeopardy", I suspect they will do a good job with 'blame' after the dust settles.

Good luck. My apologies to Rick for not keeping this in line with respect to utilities.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 1998

I agree! Thanks for posting this.

What I can NOT understand is the utilities saying things like "we're making good progress". What's "good progress"? Why cant they say something like (and I'm making this up) "we have 1200 systems, we have tested 7 determined 600 to be non compliant, we have replaced 300 and it took us 3 months to do so, therefore we will be able to replace the other 300 within 3 months, and will be finished by March 1999." Hearing things like "we're 25% through with our remediation plan" is meaningless, unless they say what the plan is.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 1998

Rick, I would like to add something I should have put in my earlier post. Acknowledging the frustrations, as you did, allowed the rest of us to vent some of our own and my thanks to you for that.

Even more importantly, I would like to offer my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to you, and to EVERY person who has asked a question or answered one on this Forum, or in any way tried to spread awareness of the problem. Heroism is not the lack of fear or anger, it's dealing with that fear and anger and going forward to do what needs to be done. Tom is right in that even if the worst case scenarios don't happen, we never should have had to go through the race to begin with. You are one of the ones who stood up when it counted, Rick. A salute to you. And if your parents are still living, tell them I think they did a fine job of instilling honor in their children. I'd give them a hug if I could. In fact, I'd give everybody who's out there trying to warn about this mess a hug if I could. At least they have the courage of their convictions. God bless them, every one.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 1998

Mr. Cowles,

thank you for posting this particular cry from the heart of us all. Please convey all of our thanks to Tom, and all of our commisseration (-3 sp), too. Also, thank you for allowing a link to it from Ed Yourdon's BBS, which is how I got here. Now I need to add this group to my list!

Chuck Got Wheat??? AND xanax??

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1998

Blessings upon both your houses.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1998

Rick, I would also like to add my appreciation to you and everyone on here for creating this site and opening my eyes. I thank you for helping me and mine. I unfortunately came to this late but I will be ready. One thing that did strike me about the article you posted is that although I am just as dismayed and disgusted as everyone else about this situation, it is not fair to blame corporate America for all of this. We in America take for granted many things, and safe, cheap power is one of the them. It is not our RIGHT to expect it, nor is it a companies responsibility to provide it. It is solely a service that we pay for, nothing more and nothing less. It is all our fault for not being "aware" of the situation and for not addressing it. I do agree that our governments are at fault. If the SSA understood the problem ten years ago then the government is responsible for not getting the message out and we are responsible for not voting in responsible concerned representatives rather than what we have. We all created this situation by being more interested in sound bites and polls then good common sense governing. Does anybody else think that we will see a trmendous increase in the number of long term politicians retiring and a large number of corporate CEO'/CFOs/CIOs retiring this coming year? Sorry about waxing politic...

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1998

Rick: Great Posting. I really laughed about the Gary North stuff. It's humiliating being lumped in with that guy just because we feel contingency planning is prudent. When people tell me that I and the rest of the End-of-the-Worlders are nuts; I remind them that in the last millennium change 999 to 1000, 65% of the Medieval farmers deeded their land to the Catholic Church in preparation for the BIG TRIP. The bus never came; but the church sure go a lot of land! Those of us who advocate contingency planning are NOT waiting for the bus! That's a whole other group.

Here's an interesting article I pulled out of a UK Newspaper. For me it sums up why our government has mislead us all about Y2K; withholding and downplaying information for fear of starting some panic scenaro. Well it is just that stupid-ass policy that will cause the panic to begin with. And while I'm ragging about the government, let's not forget the News Media. Never before have I realized how controlled they all are. The articles on Y2K are meatless and silly, virtually always bringing Gary North or Jerry Farwell into the picture. What ever happened to investigative reporting? I see them specifically attempting to downplay this issue.

I have a couple of brother-in-laws who live in England and they are always saying that the Brit's follow the American's lead, whether it's in the stockmarket or policy. What do you think about this?

ARTICLE from the UK Electronic Telegraph

PRIVATE government fears that the Millennium bug could create widespread civil emergencies by disrupting key services such as electricity and telecommunications have been revealed for the first time in a confidential Cabinet memo.

The possibility of calling in the troops to help communities that lose power and essential utilities as a result of computer malfunction at the beginning of 2000 is also sugggested in the leaked letter.

Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, writing eight weeks ago to George Robertson, the Defense Secretary, raised the prospect as part of his campaign to resist severe cuts in Scotland's Territorial Army. Mr. Dewar argued that this could not come at a worse time because cuts from 7,000 to 4,000 could severely hamper Scotland's ability to copy with serious civil emergency.

He wrote: " This could well leave the Government open to criticism over reduction of emergency preparedness at a time when Millennium bug problems pose a potential threat to key services such as electricity and telecommunications and when, therefore, emergency preparedness should if anything be enhanced.

Mr. Dewars comments caused an immediate controversy, with opposition parties and technology experts saying that they revealed a far more worrying state of affairs than ministers had previously conceded.

The memo was leaked to the Scottish National Party, whose leader Alex Salmond, yesterday demanded and emergency Commons statement on Mr. Dewars fears for vital services.

Robin Guenier, former head of the Governments Action 2000 unit, said Mr. Dewars letter was the first time private Cabinet concerns had become public. He criticized ministers for trying to play down the risks posed by the bug. He said: There is a problem in the Cabinet. The view among some in government is that we should try to keep some of these fears under wraps in case people panic.

THE ANSWER IS FULL DISCLOSURE OF CONTINGENCY PLANNING BY THE GOVERNMENT

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

-- Anonymous, November 24, 1998

I am not surprised by the seemingly limitless human capacity for denial and procrastination in the face of unpleasant facts. That is just human nature. I am increasingly upset, however by the continuing efforts of governments, and utilities, etc. to gloss over, make like an ostrich, or paste on happy-face stickers when confronted by Y2K facts. They treat us like children too young to deal with the hard facts of life in a rational manner, and I for one resent it.

Thanks, Rick, for posting Tom's comments. He is right: it should never have been a race in the first place. The electric and telcom utilities (well, the larger ones, anyway) have known about Y2K for many years. About 12 years ago I worked for an information service abstracting regulatory cases before state public utility commissions. Every so often, a case would come through where someone would demand that a major utility show what they were doing about the "Year 2000 Problem" and predicting all kinds of miserable results if they failed to address it. These cases were generally dismissed because the utility would respond "well, gee, our engineers have assured us that our problems will be minimal at best, and besides, we have plenty of time to fix it." At my office, we would say, "look, there's another of those millennialist whackos. Can you believe those nutcases seem to think the infrastructure will go "poof" on 01/01/2000?" Arggh!

We are all victims of the human propensity for denial and procrastination: however, continuing efforts by government, NERC, etc. to support public denial merely ensures that we will get an eventual "hard crash" instead of a "bumpy landing."

Linda "putting on my parachute *now*"

-- Anonymous, November 24, 1998

This is a welcomed catharsis of our anger and frustration. Thanks Rick and others. Going one step beyond raw emotion, in my heart of hearts, I can only believe the source of the Y2K phenomenon goes way beyond the arrogant "assholes" we love to blame for not seeing or believing its magnitude. For so many millions of intelligent people to be so blissfully unaware of the size of the Y2K threat is negatively miraculous in my view. A somewhat different view would be to say that humanity has collectively lost touch with reality, if it ever had it.

Either way, I believe the source of this phenomenon is deeper than deep, and that when all is said and done the collective response will be one of awe, more than anger and frustration. Not in the beginning, of course.

To Rick and all who make this website and forum what it is, thanks for your pioneering spirit and sense of duty. Today is Thanksgiving, and I thank God that my wife and I have some company on this scary journey.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 1998