Y2K is a bogus scam perpetuated by people wanting to make $$$ from fear!! I hope you all enjoy those mre's for the coming millennium....I'll stick to my lobster and steak!!

-- Syberina Future Gurl (Syberrider@thefuture.net), January 08, 1999

Answers

Stick around Sy. You don't have to be so provocative. Just call it a 3 or a 4 and the retards will go nuts. Quite funny.

Actually it's perpetuated more by the religious wackos who are looking foreward to the doom thing. Profiteers like EY would be second, followed by stupid lonely people.

I hope you're for real. Hang in there and you'll get a feel for how to press the buttons for maximum effect, and how to ignore the retards, who 99% of the visitors to this forum are also ignoring.

It's a new day So Have a Nice One

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@excite.com), January 08, 1999.

Jimmy B. Doughnuts,

I've been lurking here off and on for nearly a year now, and used to find need information in the posts. Seems now, everything is just childish arguments. Oh well,

What I really wanted to tell you is that I have a son who IS a "retard" as you would say. He has Down Syndrome. He has had two open heart surgeries, several dental sergeries, and five eye surgeries. He is the bravest, most compassionate, most loving soul I have ever known. He is slowly loosing his eyesight, and has very little verbal acuity. He is 21 years old, and will graduate from high school this year, and I remember with pride his great accomplishment just a few years ago when he learned how to tie his shoes.

He is the joy of everyone who knows him, and my best friend. I should only hope that you, too, will be blessed with the knowledge of some "retard" like him. So GROW UP and find another adjective.

Lon Frank

-- Lon Frank (postit@here.com), January 08, 1999.

Thanks Lon,

I too have a son who has had open heart surgery and has had many learning challenges. I am thankful for him --- he has made me a better person. In spite of the childish namecalling and superficial comments, he continues to attack life.

I sometimes quietly wish that every person that enters this site, would have children that struggle. Caustic comments would skid to a stop.

Tim

-- Tim (3083@aol.com), January 08, 1999.

Jimmy,

I'm not a religious whacko or profiteer. Neither am I lonely. Stupid happens. Part of being human, you know?

Last July, when I was still working for a public safety software developer, an acquaintance of mine asked me to read and comment on a paper about Y2K. I did. I became curious.

I checked out some of the links. Douglass Carmichael (one of many gentle, wise minds who crafts queries that keep me in the game), David Isenberg (a technical mind and much more), David Eddy (Y2K technical evangelist - don't remember how I got there, David), and more. Could of gone on forever ~ How long is the coast of Ireland, huh?

But, enough was enough. It was time to move on...

At the end of August, as Hurricane Bonnie (no pun intended) disrupted the life of my community, I put closure to "a steady job" (my family's words) and entered into uncharted territory. With the blessings of my wife and kids - and this work continues to challenge that blessing every present moment - I've found paid work (most of the time)that contributes to my family's well being while allowing me the time to explore the queries of Y2K.

Today, I make $9.00 an hour removing stucco from compression joints in a building on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. The failures in this building are not on the order of the complex systems failures outlined in Charles Perrow's book Normal Accidents, but they are, nonetheless, accidents.

Accidents, unintended consequences in spite of the best intentions. Hmmm...?

Were you around January 28, 1986? Did you watch the space shuttle Challenger blow up? I did. Saw it on TV while I was riding a stationary bike at the 24 Hour Fitness Center in Dallas, Texas.

If you missed it, or want a deeper understanding of what happened, get Edward R. Tufte's Visual Explanations Start on page 39. When you've finished reading, sit still for a moment and think about what action you might have taken if all the king's horses and all the king's men had been listening to you.

Anyway, I'm struggling to figure out what my personal role is in Y2K. So, here's my query:

What category do I come under?

-- Critt Jarvis (Wilmington, NC) (critt@critt.com), January 08, 1999.

Whatever it is, it is the same category that Diane Squire comes from, thats for sure. Sheeeesh.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), January 08, 1999.

For newbies, see also PNGs thread on Challenger, Thermodynamics and y2k, and extrapolate the Y2K possibilities:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000D4V

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 08, 1999.

Lon and Tim: you are both miles ahead of the rest of us in understanding what is truly important in life.

Everybody else: what I can't understand is why we keep opening threads that are as goofy and pointlessly provocative as this one. I think I need to organize my garden seeds again...a much more productive pasttime!

Anita E.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), January 08, 1999.

Oooh! A gurlfriend for Jimmy ;-)

Jimmy, I've been trying to be fair to you, so I'd hope you'd be fair to me too. I'm not religious as you know, I don't profit from books either, and I'm certainly not lonely, what with my huge family of 8 brothers and sisters, my husband of 20 years and my 3 kids and all my friends. But still, I see what Gary North the religious nut, Ed Yourdon the book profiteer, and Infomagic the lonely no-lifer, see.

Can you try not to dump everyone in the same kettle? You'll never lose your troll epithet if you keep insisting doing that, and trolls are not listened to, no matter how smart they are.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 08, 1999.

Jimmy's future is being written as we chat. See INVAR's series on Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts and have a good laugh.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), January 08, 1999.

I try to write some serious thoughts on Y2K and get ignored and I have some throw away fun and we're having a Jimmy-thon.

Guess I have to deal with Lon first.

I gave "retard" a lot of thought first. I can't stand politically correct so I figured I'd try it with reservations; see what happens. Wasn't trying to hurt anyone who probably wouldn't be reading this dopey forum anyway. Guess I made a mistake. Sorry. I'm giving you the benifit of the doubt here, as I fail to see how a brave kid and some of the (insert insult) here have anything in common.

Chris, I told Sy not to be so provocative and then I tried to top her. Kind of a writing thing you know. Since you've shown some courage by not dismissing me as a(insert insult), whatever you say I try to see things from your perspective. I'll try not to dump everyone in the same kettle, but remember I'm worried about the 1999 panic thing so naturally I'm after the 7-10's who would by definition be in the same kettle. If you hadn't noticed I've been getting hammered with a lot of incomming lately so maybe my helmet's on too tight.

Next up Anita E. who writes from her bunker:

"Lon and Tim: you are both miles ahead of the rest of us in understanding what is truly important in life."

With all due respect, I'm not so sure Lon and Tim are miles ahead of the rest of us and I think you denigrate what they and their kids have accomplished by sending them to Cliche' World. I think there is courage and goodness in ALL of us. We all worry that when the test comes will we have the courage to do what we have to do? Aparently Lon and Tim have answered a very difficult challenge and dererve our respect and admiration but I think anyone of us as human beings would help our fellow human in need; family, friend or stranger.

Squire, I don't get you and I can't stand you. I think you're a phoney. I think the King of Spain also has a crush on you. Jump at it. That would make you the Queen of Spain.

Critt Jarvis (Wilmington, NC)

No way I'm smart enough to figure out what you're saying. Your category would be "too smart to correspond with a guy named Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts."

It's a new day so Have a Nice One

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@excite.com), January 09, 1999.

Talk about passive aggressive???

Bagga - do see a psychiatrist, you need therapy.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 09, 1999.

Jimmy, I understand even if I don't agree with your position of wanting to help avert a panic at all cost. I understand how you must feel about all the attacks. But you have to understand that the way you shove your point of view in people's face will bounce right back at you 10 times worse.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 09, 1999.

Jimmy,

On behalf of my son, Kit, appology accepted! And, likewise, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and realize that you meant nothing personal, but were just searching for the properly incorrect insult for your antagonists. I know you've caught a lot of flame on this forum, but I might observe that it possibly has been because of your attitude rather than your opinion. After all, even we y2k fanatics were unbelievers once.

I might add that I am preparing for a very serious y2k event. I'm not prepared for TEOTWAWKI, because we can hardly prepare for something we can hardly imagine. But in my last posting I thought about the role my son has played in my decision-making. I know I told you a little about him, and I don't want to turn this into a forum for the handicapped, but just as it applies to y2k preparations. Kit (and many like him) has an innocence and joy for life that is so very beautiful and rare in our fast-lane society. Yet he depends completely and unconditionally upon me for his very day-to-day survival. I suppose if you had someone like him depending on you today, you might not be so amazed or offended by my overreaction to the threat of y2k. It is simply a gamble I did not ask for, with stakes I don't wish to risk. I realize by your standard, I must be quite an old man (almost 50). I no longer sit on the board of the international corporation I founded, I no longer serve as CEO of my US corporation, and I no longer struggle towards a goal of unnessary wealth. I started working when I was twelve, I've been published a few times and I've invented a couple of winning ideas. My point is just this - I've bought my share of pie-in-the-sky, gone around the block, and paid to see the beast. I can afford to be wrong. Can you?

-- Lon Frank (postit@here.com), January 09, 1999.

Jimmy, I'm impressed.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), January 10, 1999.