below you will find a copy of my e-mail I sent after going to our counties first y2k meeting, mind you there were no officials there just folks, officials they say will come later??????

............................................. Dear Dan,

If I might be so familiar, remember I am one of the old ladies who was writing to you about the y2k thing just before the holidays,

tonight there was a meeting on Bisso that was supposed to be about y2k community preparedness,

we had hoped you might be there, someone wondered if anyone had met you,

at any rate I took some notes and will describe the meeting for what its worth, my thoughts

in attendance:

bruce-sort of setting this up, rather nice, not much ego in the way, wants to help community, clearly learning as fast as he can, but still far behind, recommends "Awakening:The Upside of Y2K", HELLO, LETS GET REAL HERE

doris-also sort of running meeting, writes on large paper, worried about poor, elderly and disabled, also clueless

julienne-me, y2k aware and prepping for over a year, on scale of 0-10 I think this is going to be an 11 and I only have enough $$$ to prepare for about a 4, most wrenching problem at this minute is water, if it doesn't flow we are toast

harvona- my friend and shadow for the past year preparing

virginia-clueless

marti-at least has plan to have a neighborhood potluck soon, knows about early failure dates

rudy-on CCC Advisory board for elderly I think-really clueless, suggests someone told him "Jesus" was coming in 2000

bob-professor at DVC, worried about nuclear weapons and plants, intelligent

edith-retired physician, lives in Rossmoor, they are earthquake prepared for 72 independent hours, WOW

eileen-retired nurse

john-

catherine-interested in nukes too, passed out flyer about nukes and y2k meeting at WC unitarian church 2/28 at 12:30

mary-wants to coalition with other coalitions??????

brian-young father has actually done some personal prep

mike-brians single brother, nerd/geek works on y2k for Kaiser he thinks they are doing fine, I had not the heart to tell him that I am a personal friend of one of the 2 co-team leaders for Kaiser Y2K who just bought 5 acres in the sierras............

mark-worked for IBM, now has own business, wants us to define compliant...................

joe-county better government task force, is this an oxymoron?

linda-another of my friends, working as y2k information center for Hope Church, they are going to start having y2k film available to public and other info, she has done extensive home prep

patti-all men in her family work in San Jose, needs to be self reliant, practical questions about generators etc

debbi-early stages

that's it out of a county with a population of about 900,000 with 227 work days out of 344 days left in this year

someone said a guy named Steinbrenner with the county said ours is one of the most compliant in the state, aren't you glad, now they can collect the taxes,

the city of concord has a y2k flyer, don't you feel better?

next meeting 2/4/99 7-9pm

I think I am going to be sick now,

julienne

.....................................

I wrote that late last night, in the clear light of morning I am even more upset,

no leadership, no awareness, 6 out of 900,000, give me a break even if it were 6,000 out of 900,000,

I have prepared and stored for our family of 9 and could stretch to perhaps hold on by our fingernails 90,

our community is suburb/edged rural,

this is too too sickmaking, julienne

-- julienne (bootman@value.net), January 21, 1999

Answers

Julienne, I have the same sick feeling this morning. One of a long string of Y2K morning sicknesses. Watching a horrid monster being born. Ashton & I took Diane to our FEMA class last night. Great classes -- of course nobody mentions Y2K, but getting ready for earthquakes.

If you want to really find out what's up, you size up the attendees and talk after class. Turns out I happened upon a shocking dirty little secret: The city is about to start preparation classes and training for employees and their families. The mayor is submitting the first draft of a Y2K announcement. Information is being parsed and spun before the public gets it months down the road, AFTER the govt types get trained and get first grubs at supplies. Funny thing is, these scheming govt folks, who don't even see the exclusiveness of their ways (but we have to pilot the training first), get only 1% of the Y2K picture; they are in no way as informed as Forum readers are. Lots more tidbits for y'all but another meeting coming up in an hour, gotta run.

Ashton & Leska & Diane in Cascadia

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 21, 1999.

>>I maintain that DGI's don't get it for a reason. They are dumb.

Uh huh...and on several forums anyone with a "@aol.com" tag is just as bright.

-- Anti-prejudice (A_P@nggi.com), January 21, 1999.

er, sorry Arc, but personal experience has shown that DGI's aren't all dumb...I've got direct experience with DGI's who have masters and ph.d.'s! The problem for many of them is that the whole concept of the y2k discontinuity is so completely foriegn to their lives that they have no way of integrating it with the rest of their reality...and the government/mainstream media sure haven't been helping much, have they?

Julienne - are you not endangering yourself and your family by making yourself so high profile in such an obvious DGI community? just wondering how you feel about that, since your post makes it sound like you are planning to attempt to weather the storm in that same community...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), January 21, 1999.

I am encouraged to hear from someone who is working to increase community awareness and to encourage preparation. You have made my day. Please do not give up. We need more leaders like you who are willing to take risks by speaking out for the common good.

-- Sue (Conibear@gateway.net), January 21, 1999.

>>I maintain that DGI's don't get it for a reason. They are dumb.

I too feel that "dumb" is not sufficiently accurate. I am more open to Y2K concerns because I previously spent a great deal of time researching political & demographic issues, and the media/government "spin" on it.

In my opinion, it is not out of stupidity that people are "under the spell" of Political Correctness. I think it depends more on what they spend their time thinking about.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), January 21, 1999.

Hi Arc,

somebody brought up the term 'cognitive dissonance' before - and it seems to me that the for DGI's the c.d. factor is so great that they simply *cannot* perceive the y2k problem...too much noise for them to be able to hear it.

DWGI's on the other hand are openly dysfunctional, in that they are intentionally refusing to deal with reality. It should be noted that a large segment of our society has been raised in a cushioned environment where it is perfectly acceptable to refuse to deal with reality in many cases...so now that I think about it their reaction to something as uncomfortable as y2k shouldn't be too big a surprise, I guess...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), January 21, 1999.

I confess, I didn't get it until I read about the embedded chips. Until then I was confident that the majority of the code could be fixed in time. Since I read about the chips, I became alarmed and really changed my attitude to really seek out the truth. I have learned things (as we all have) that I REALLY didn't want to know. The main one being, I'm a year or two behind most of you. Next, as you all have stated, who do you trust? I have one neighbor that gets it. I don't can't trust any of the others. No one at work believes, and just poo-poo's the whole idea. I am talking about intellegent hard working technically minded people. They laugh because I have a countdown screensaver. BUT when they ask if I am making preps. I say no. I hate to lie, but I don't want them at my front door when it all comes apart.Also being a christian, I have to bring this up, because I believe it will happen. What do we all do, if the powers that be come to us after the calamity, and say we have to be marked to resume living in their society? We (people that won't take being marked or tagged) will be effectively cut off from all resources-rights. We will become the Jews of Germany. I really do believe that after y2k will be much more barbaric then even we have emagined.

-- Robert (Cardinal@rebird.com), January 21, 1999.

JULIENNE...Just keep on....keeping on. All you can do is get the word out at the meetings, the Y2K bug has a life of it's own and the GI's will see to it that the word gets around. In cafe's,kitchen tables, back yard fences, talk shows, plain ol' word of mouth. What they DO with the new found knowledge is now up to them. The meetings may start small, but I'll bet it catches on. Hang in there. Good Luck!! Barb ROBERT:As horrifying a picture as you paint, I'm afraid what you say just may come true!

God help us all!!!

-- Barbara Harpole (BARHAR1@webtv.net), January 21, 1999.

Julienne, I echo Sue and Barbara. Rah rah rah! You're as needed and valuable as Pamela O'Riley! My talents are more of the cheerleader type than leader, so I admire you a lot.

Arc, need help getting your foot out? How about simply saying DWGI are suicidal? ;-)

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 21, 1999.

Did someone say "embedded chips"? Need a link to the previous embedded chips thread??? Here ya go:

Previous Embedded Chips Thread

(Thought I'd get this in before The Usual Pollyanna Response. They are really chipped off today....)

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 21, 1999.

Chris, cherie, that's "Paloma" O'Riley. Means "dove" in Spanish. And yes, I agree wholeheartedly, anyone working to get the word out and create a few more GIs is a hero.

Hmmm... GI. Here I thought I was too old to become a GI... 8-}]

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), January 21, 1999.

DGI = DWGI, the effect is the same in the end. While "dumb" may not be the most descriptive term for them, it fits nicely. It's hardly surprising that some who hold masters or doctorate degrees fail to "get it" - such individuals may be educated, but they lack wisdom. Unfortunately, this trait is also applicable to the vast majority of the population who have attended public schools and universities in recent years. I am not in the least optimistic that any sensible portion of the population will "get it" in time to make a real difference'

People who have not been fully informed as to the extent of the Y2K dilemma cannot be placed in the same category as DGI/DWGI's, since they have yet to be presented the full facts of the matter. This can be laid directly at the feet of the media and the government - their failure to inform the citizenry in a timely fashion is going to cost lives. Then again, maybe that was the intent all along... the following quote, attributed to those in the shadows who, it is said, really run things, sums up their view of most of humanity:

"People who fail to use their intelligence are the same as animals which have no intelligence; they are beasts of burden and steaks on the table by choice and consent".

Sleep well.

-- Why2k? (who@knows.com), January 21, 1999.

Arc

In reality it was more like 100 British against the Zulus at Rorkes Drift, still a hell of a feat though.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), January 21, 1999.

Since last May I've been trying to get through to our children, all 4 grown, all but 1 married, 2 families with 3 young children of their own. Nobody was rude, but they clearly weren't interested in getting acquainted with the probable consequences. Finally, just last week my son-in-law started asking questions. Now he wants to know what's going on, and what can be done.

His house is not easy to heat. When our discussion got around to that, he suggested heating it with batteries. I said, it takes a lot of power to heat a big house like this, and batteries run down. He said, all you have to do is line up, say, six batteries, and when one runs down just recharge it from the others. I was amazed, but tried to clue him in. We went round on this idea for a few minutes.

I finally made an analogy with six gallon jugs of milk. When the first one's empty, you can throw it out and start on the second jug, or you can pour the milk in the second jug into the empty jug, and throw away the second one. Either way you only have five gallons of milk left. He gave up trying to convince me his plan would work, but I don't think he really accepted what I was saying. This is an intelligent guy, pushing 40, with a masters in sociology, and manager of a large assisted-living institution.

Baffling! Education ain't what it used to be.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 21, 1999.

Arc

Helps also to have guns (even muzzle loaders) vs. spears ;)

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), January 21, 1999.

Ouch Tom.

What kind of batteries was he talking about? Car batteries? Maybe he assumes they're rechargable on thier own? Like when jumping a car?

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 21, 1999.

Julienne, I live in Martinez. Last night I went to the annual meeting of my PUD (townhouse development) and volunteered to chair a committee to begin to organize our 220-unit development for 'disaster preparedness' for both y2k and the inevitable earthquake. Much to my surprise, I was met with enthusiasm! I talked about y2k, and how we might suddenly find ourselves a village, needing to know our neighbors. I mentioned that FEMA, the RC and NG were asking us to prepare. After the meeting, several people came up. One said a friend's Assoc. had just done this, and she would get their info. Another is on Dis Prep for a 32-story office building in SFO. Another is a Kaiser Nurse Manager, who was in the middle of the Hawaiian hurricane. And the President asked me to take an upcoming vacancy on the board to lend weight to my efforts.

My view is that more and more people are surreptitiously preparing on their own - as I go about getting my supplies, the clerks are usually pretty hip. Nobody is saying much out loud - or going to public meetings - because they don't want to be identified as prepared in the minds of those who aren't.

My church (in another EB town) is having it's third Y2K prep meeting on Sunday. Last one, we formed task forces to gather info. This time, we will divide up into geographical areas/neighborhoods for local support groups. It is happening. Time is short. Supplies will soon be even shorter.

-- (kookoo@cococo.com), January 22, 1999.

<>

Is this house constructed with no possibility of housing a cast iron woodstove : avg cost - $159.00 - $299.00 ?

-- Mr. Kennedy (y2kPCfixes@MotivatedSeller.com), January 22, 1999.