This is a link to the Y2K article in the Memphis paper today. They will archive it tonight, so better read fast. Sounds like Shelby County has been working on Y2K compliance for quite a while.

http://www.gomemphis.com/capages/3y2k.htm

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), January 03, 1999

Answers

Thanks for the post Paul!

Good article, and more evidence that indeed something is being done about this problem, and that we might not be in so much trouble after all.

Did anyone listen to Ed Yardeni's latest Y2K Action Day conference? It was about action being taken on the local/city/county level, and yes, Virginia, there is stuff being done at that level. No, not every single city or county in the USA is up to speed, but a bunch ARE. Contrary to what the pessimist/doomer/roll-over-and-die faction might have us believe.

The survey a few weeks ago said half the counties in the U.S. didn't have a Y2K plan. OK. We have 362 days left. I prefer to call that glass half full. Things are definitely being done. Half done, half not. But we have time left. If you want to call that glass half empty, that's your prerogative. But **AGAIN**, it all comes back to the matter of

"what is your life philosophy?"

that is a big operative variable in this Y2K argument/discussion/debate, come what may

-- John Howard (Greenville, NC) (pcdir@prodigy.net), January 03, 1999.

I don't call the glass half empty, probably more like 90% empty. Don't get me wrong, clearly Shelby County has been very proactive with Y2K, and has a lot to be proud of. But they aren't done yet, though confident-that-they-will-be, etc., etc.

The part that I thought particularly worrisome was:

At Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division, internal Y2K experts targeted
its mission-critical systems to be fully compliant by the end of 1998,
including systems responsible for delivering and restoring service.

Yet, in spite of it clearly now being 1999, they cannot actually claim that this has been completed! Y2K cannot be fixed. Wake up!!!!!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 03, 1999.

"Read quick or it will be gone" - what, Shelby County???

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 03, 1999.

Jack -

Quick thought on the end of 1998 and the fact that is now 1999. Yep...sure is. A whole 4 days. Assuming this was published in the Sunday paper (could not find a date on it) this article was written AT THE LATEST on Thursday, 12/31. Sunday articles are very rarely written on Sunday, and considering the holiday involved, it was 12/31 at the latest.

This may have also been what is called an "evergreen". You write the story in advance, sometimes a month or more, and hand it in. The editor will run it when A)it is a slow news day B)He is short column space or C)he lacks a certain type of article for that day. There is no telling when this article was written and it is highly unlikely if it was a last minute print (one of the reasons I named above) that they could have gotten a hold of anyone at the power company to update.

It is also likely the company did miss it's due date, but I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion considering the source.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), January 04, 1999.

Rick, Thanks for sharing your expertise. This is the sort of info us non-reporter people wouldn't know. Please do it again where relevant.

-- Maria (encelia@mailexcite.com), January 04, 1999.

Rick and Maria: What part of 1998 versus 1999 don't you understand? This is more than just very obvious sloppy journalism, of which I really could not care less about. This is about there not being enough time left to fix Y2K, clearly, yet unrealistic deadlines continue to be set, missed, and then simply re-set again.

And I know that it really does not matter whether it is 4 days into 1999 or 4 months -- this game will continue for as long as it is able to. But the day cometh, there is no stopping it.

Y2K cannot be fixed.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 04, 1999.

Actually Jack, its more likely they are done and the final report is still being written. BTW - did you notice that the IS manager for Shelby County started Y2K work in 1986? That ought to be a long enough start to satisfy even Milne!

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), January 04, 1999.

I can't speak for Paul M., but the way I look at it is: Shelby County started 13 years ago and they still are not finished yet! Even if they actually complete their Y2K work this year, what does that say about anywhere else?

Get real!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 04, 1999.

Well, if you look at Shelby County/Memphis, we are in pretty good shape here. If you look around Memphis you pretty quickly find out we are the headquarters for Fedex, major hub for both the Postal Service and UPS. In fact, shipping comes to this city via water, air, rail and truck. Memphis is the shipping way point for everything in the south central US. Even severe Y2K problems would be unlikely to stop all that. In a 130 mile (or so)radius you will find quite a number of TVA power plants - including the monster hydro plant at Kentucky Lake - and the city has its own power plant to boot! The city water system is from deep wells sunk into limestone - and if that failed we have the entire Mississippi River to draw on! There is a lot of grain storage in the county - a monster grain elevator on the Mississippi is so close to the building where I work that I could almost hit it with a rock. And they are all full at this time of year! And to top it all off - we are home to the only petroleum cracking plant in Tennessee - which gets most of its oil from wells in Western Ky and (I think) Central Tennessee.

So I think that Memphis is in a very unique position to survive almost any Y2K disaster. There is only one downside to Memphis in fact - we are sitting on the cursed New Madrid fault line - and this city is not earthquake ready by a long shot. So I really do keep disaster supplies - but I worry more about earthquakes than Y2K.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), January 04, 1999.

"What part of 1998 versus 1999 don't you understand? This is more than just very obvious sloppy journalism, of which I really could not care less about."

In this one case, and only this one case, it makes a world of difference when that article was written Jack. I understand 1998 vs. 1999 perfectly fine, but this *one* case is what I was referring to.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), January 04, 1999.