I just had a chat with a guy I've recently met who lives fairly near me, but not a neighbor. He has: wood stove, several acres, large garden, tree groves (lumber, fire wood). He has large generator, propane, disel, instant cut-over to all household applicances in case of outage. Good area, knows neighbors, well space, everybody with gardens, domestic animals. He has a large well-stocked fish pond. Isolated area, cannot be seen from any big road.

Anyway, this guy (should be a serious GI, right?) he is an ENGINEER FOR THE LOCAL POWER UTILITY !!

So I ask him, hey how bad is this y2k thing gonna come down ? And he looks at me like I'm insane and says "There shouldn't be any problem. Most software and embedded chips for utilities doesn't care about the date. We have manual overrides anyway, if needed. Why do you ask ?" I thought he might chase me with a net if I pursued it so I backed off.

Go figure !

- (the apparently unarmed and completely contrite, remodeled and FDA-certified) RC

"The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing." - Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

-- Runway Cat (runway_cat@hotmail.com), December 10, 1998

Answers

Runway Cat, so glad you are back, unintimidated and ready to scratch!

"The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly -- and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing."

".... Waste not a precious moment, for the bird of life soars but a little while in the skies of your present existence. Behold in your mind's eye that day, how soon! it will fly away. While you have it within your power, teach this bird to sing God's all-protecting Name. Guide its flight toward His shores of immortality. Let it not sweep onward into the caverns of dark death, whither it is fast winging now without a conscious aim."

" .... The life of the ordinary man flies away swiftly and erratically. You should not ignore the opportunities, however small, afforded by your present life and intelligence. Through even the tiniest of windows, by spiritually concentrated vision you can glimpse the vast sphere of all-freeing wisdom, and the goal of all-fulfilling Bliss."

Wine of the Mystic, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, A Spiritual Interpretation, by Paramahansa Yogananda, copyright 1994 SRF.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 11, 1998.

I've been known to respond like that, too, esp. to strangers. No need to blab; it's like telling someone how much you have in the bank, or how much $$ you earn. Non of their busy-ness!!

-- Anon (Idothesame@here.com), December 11, 1998.

His answer is different from other electrical engineers whom I've spoken to.

Spoken with.

With whom I've spoken?

Who I talked to.

Hell.

I talked to other electrical engineers. They disagreed with him.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 11, 1998.