It's obvious that we have many new people here either posting or lurking.

It would be wonderful if you could share how you became aware of y2k and what brought y2k to your attention. Also, when did you become aware of y2k? If you can, perhaps you could rate y2k based upon your present understanding of the issues.

I don't want to pry, but this information can be very useful it may offer hints on what might make building awareness a little easier.

Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to share : )

Mike ==================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), December 14, 1998

Answers

I just posted a resposne similar to what you asked for. I'm new to the issue, but damn....what do you expect! The tales are doomsday, I mean, one's surviavl(living, not dieing), is dependent upon it. Come on, what do you expect? How much more to know without just getting prepared for the outcome? What I need is a list of items, maybe a pregenerated-thought-out list of what to get/have, for the days ahead. Food, water, clothing, heat, & such are understood. But go into detail....you won't hurt my feelings. Thanx & sorry if the post seems urgent & panicky! LOL. I am panicky...what is the solution to a person or 2-3 household family?

-- Randy (flembob@usa.net), December 14, 1998.

Randy, I'm more interested in finding out what brought y2k to your attention.

Was it a family member? Was it the recent 60 Minutes show? I'm looking for answers from people who recently found out about y2k and who recently became aware of it's ramifications.

Thanks,

Mike =================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), December 14, 1998.

I had a drunk friend that knows nothing about computers bring it to my attention first. And I'm the one that had a computer for a year at that time. But, I have since read from www.cbn.org's list of Y2K stuff, & then recently heard it more on Art Bell's radio program...so, I started a "new" research on it. So, here, I am...gonna be around, to read the topics & post my own. Hey, I'm new to the topic & the effects it will have on our livesd so excuse me if I get carried away...ok? I love you all, & mean no harm. God Bless!

-- Randy (flembob@usa.net), December 14, 1998.

I got turned on to it(about 3 months ago) by my son, who sent me some links to look at and one link leads to another,to another,to another, ad infinitum. Depending on what they do in the next year, I rate it between 8 and 12.

I feel like I live in 2 worlds. The world of computer y2k and the regular world where nothing is said and if it is, it's by DGI's.I've heard every excuse in the book for why it won't happen.

-- sue (deco100@aol.com), December 14, 1998.

Hi, everyone. I've been lurking here for quite a while and it's been a true learning experience. Thanks. I heard about Y2K in May of this year from a family member who'd bought a copy of Chuck Missler's tape.

My first reaction was one of disbelief--all the usual denial stuff. (I plead temporary insanity and the pressure of a book deadline.) Anyway, my husband and I talked about it and he managed to convince me pretty quickly that this was *serious*. I then got on the web and looked up everything I could find on Y2K. Needless to say, we've been preparing ever since. I was especially glad to find Cory's Weather Reports--they are fascinating--so informative, and have helped to convince some of my family. If you're reading this Cory, THANK YOU! (I'll be subscribing soon!)

Scarlett

-- Scarlett (o'hara@tara.net), December 14, 1998.

If you are new here consider looking at the New to the Forum - Readme thread and posting to the What about you (third incarnation) thread. Both are active currently under New Answers.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 14, 1998.

Hey, guys. I'll turn 74 next May. How do I rate Y2K?

Adlai (quoting Lincoln) said it best: "It hurts too much to laugh, and I'm too old to cry."

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), December 15, 1998.

I had a drunk friend that knows nothing about computers bring it to my attention first.

In vino veritas. So it was a bar-room joke then.

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), December 15, 1998.

Shucks, I don't know - been aware it was coming since about 1972 or 73 I guess - a really good CS prof. at Western Ky University told me about it. In 1986 another prof. told me he was writing business software and there was some concern on the part of the manager about Y2K issues (software was for grocery warehousing and distribution, using barcode scanners to track inventories - new thing then). So it has been a while - I have had plenty of time to think things over and make up my mind as to what the most likely scenarios are.

And the whole thing was stupid anyhow - a single byte can store 256 values - so if we had just decided on a 'zero' year - say about 1950 or so this whole thing with storage sizes could have been avoided - and we would have more than 200 years to go before worrying about it.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), December 15, 1998.

Paul, that's what the originators of mumps did. They picked a zero year based on what they believed to be the birthyear of the oldest human alive at the time, 1840 I believe, and each day has been incremented thereafter. Our Y2K remediation was greatly simplified because of that standard.

Randy, no one answered your question. Do a search on Cassandra Project. They have a great personal/family preparation list. Must read for everyone.

Sorry Mike for the off-topic comments.

David.

-- David (David@BankPacman.com), December 15, 1998.

Hi Everyone,

I have been lurking here for a couple of months now. I had heard the term y2k but did not know what it meant until about 4 months ago. A very nice lady I work with began giving me material to read, including "Millenium Bug". I must say that I "got it" almost right away. I began sharing these things with my husband who has also "got it" but doesn't think it is going to be as bad as I do. The more I learn and research the subject, the more I believe that it is going to be TEOTWAWKI. I,too, find myself living in two worlds. Half of my brain is trying to make survival plans while the other half is wanting to make plans like nothing is wrong. I find it is easy to get into "overwhelm" if you try to do too much at once. I think it is funny how I used to want to win the lottery so we could buy a new car or whatever. Now, I want to win the lottery so I can buy more beans, dig a water well, etc.

Thanks for a great and informative forum!

-- Sharon in Texas (sking1440@netscape.net), December 15, 1998.

Randy: Don't panic, that's the number one rule. Be methodical to your preparation. You don't need long lists of things to survive, just the basics. Water should be your biggest concern, then food, shelter, and a gun to protect it.

-- Bardou (Bardou@baloney.com), December 15, 1998.

I was somewhat concerned, but finally "got it" from the Gary North pamphlet I read last April. I liked what someone above said about living in two worlds. That disconnect has hit me several times as I am shopping for items that may be of no use in a few months. The human mind allows us to buy storage food at one store, and useless consumer crap an hour later.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 15, 1998.

Mike - I got interested in commodity futures about a year ago -- thought I could make some money by correctly guessing where the markets would go (unsuccessful, BTW). Ran a search for "gold" on the net, kept following those "contrarian" links -- and eventually ended up here (Aug of 98). Rating: Sorry, Gary North scenario looks most likely to me.

-- Dave (dwood@southwind.net), December 15, 1998.