With all of the official advise we've heard on the need to query one's bank, utility, etc., on their Y2K remediation efforts, I found this approach refreshing. The quote appeared in a synopsis of a recent utilities forum at which Rick Cowles, among others, appeared:

"Dont ask the utility whether they will be Y2K ready - asked instead what the utility recommends the public should do to prepare."

---Dick Mills

URL

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

FYI, Mills apparently also made mention of Y2K disaster movies scheduled for release in September. (Hollywood at its worst?)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 24, 1999

Answers

if y2k films come out,that will be it for preparations,the sheeple will have awakened and the supply lines cannot support a basic level of preparations for everybody.when y2kpro decides to buy a water filter or camp stove or food,there will be none,he will die,leaving the world no poorer...

-- ZOOBIE (ZOOB@AOL.COM), April 24, 1999.

---unfortunately, most folks always seem to ask the wrong person the wrong questions. You don't go to a hairdresser for carpentry, etc. Utilities don't have a clue on advising someone on preparing, i.e. being a "Survivalist". Once a person has made a decision that they want to be prepared for their own emergencies, rather than just being part of the problem, then just that little mindset/attitude change is most helpful. It doesn't matter a whole lot whether it's y2k or a depression or a storm or whatever, just a few common sense things can make a tremendous difference. It's the attitude that has to change. I've noticed a lot of folks hung up on the time frame for preparing--this is silly, you are either able to switch to maintaining the basic necessities of life, or you are not. There is zero way to "predict" how long or how severe any particular emergency might get or last, but by carefully considering how to be able to constantly upgrade your preps rather than be limited in the actions you can take, you'll be better off. For instance, having a woodstove or fireplace is really good in cold climes, but only having what's on hand for stockpiled wood with no way to replenish it makes it just a short prolongment. I experienced this as a kid when we had just a tremendous blizzard that completely knocked out all transpo, deliveries, electric, etc for two weeks. After a week of using the fireplace for heating(not good), we ran out of cut wood. Lot of folks ran out of food, and helo's dropped food(this was years before universal zillions of snowmobiles). Experiences like that make you aware of having to be in the right place as the most important aspect of survival. You need to be where you can get water 365 days a year with very little effort and the most basic of technology. You have to be able to switch to full scale sustainable agriculture for food. Your shelter should be such that it is adequately designed and prepared to go through a nearby fire, or sustain some storm damage, etc, and still have liveable qualities to it, maybe like a hardened basement, etc. Your security should be such that you are able to maintain actual physical safety with no outside help from police or fire personnel. This is simplistic, but that's the basic idea. Vast majority of houses where people live now are simply not able to be viable places to live even with only a moderate "collapse". The quickest, easiest, and most effective way to insure all the facets of life is to be where those "things" ARE, and not have to rely on any outside sources. If you plan on heating with wood, be near a forest-like to have water, it's a good idea to have a spring or creek or pond on your property, at least as a back up to a well. Want to make dang sure you aren't going to run out of food you need a huge garden up working and producing in advance. Your home should consist of at least two separate buildings, so that if one gets destroyed-the primary-you have an immediate alternative, and some of all your necessities are always kept there(I like underground for the second, as a minimum-root cellar, storm shelter, whatever). Security is just that, can't rely on outside help sometimes, so be prepared to deal with emergencies from predators. I just saw pollyanna after pollyanna coming into the gunstore were I used to work AFTER THE FACT of needing a firearm for protection. Quiet, nervous woemn mostly, who always started out their first firearms purchase with "I never believed in guns before, but...." then there would be some nasty story about a mugging or carjacking or rape or something. It was pitiful. There were HUNDREDS in the two year period I worked there. One store, one metro area. Right now in our area we have a serial rapist who's up over two dozen rapes and robberies, the perp is black, and he's been targeting white women in particular, but it's not being treated as a hate crime here, because the urban area has a black oriented mass media, and a black run governemnt. The other sad part is none of the women have been able to fight back because they weren't armed, or had never considered the most basic of security issues when it comes to driving and being in public or securing their homes adequately. But I bet if you go in their house they got a big color tv and a stereo and plenty of other consumer goodies for "comfort" and "entertainment". And none of the "official" spokes weasels will recommend the most obvious solution, either, especially the cops. Now the average beat or patrol cop fully supports the average joe or josephine having and being proficient in firearms, but you'll never hear it on tv, only when you talk to them in person. Sorry, those little cans of mace just don't cut it. About 5 years ago, I avoided getting robbed/carjacked at a down town intersection because I was armed, and two springs ago avoided getting mugged downtown because I was armed. No shots fired, no police, no tv cameras-AND NO DAMN ROBBERY, EITHER. In an even more enlightened time I would have been even more proactive in protecting my community from these predators, but now have to be "politically correct". The second example, I was able to spot a cop directing traffic and ran to tell him what happened, and was able to point out the robber running away down the street--the cop said "I'm getting paid to direct trafic here, big deal, there's thousands of them"-he was working private, but they are allowed to wear their uniforms here when doing this outside work, which the majority do. He didn't care a bit. That's one of many reasons why crime is so high, but that's another thread sometime.

-- zog (zog@avana.net), April 24, 1999.

You miss the point Zog. In asking the utility rep what you should do for preparation, you are shifting his/her focus from "defense" of the company he represents, perhaps to one of a personal nature. If his/her focus continues to be a defense of the utility, then taken with whatever other information he/she has (or has not) provided, you add yet another level of knowledge about the person not just the message he/she has given. If on the other hand your question prompts a shift in focus to one that indicates he/she may be trying to provide you with their own personal view, then how and what is said may provide you with perspective that you may bring to the real issue at hand - i.e. "am I going to be able to depend on your company or not?"

-- Dave Walden (wprop@concentric.net), April 24, 1999.

---actually, I got the point, I just didn't want anyone to take anything that a utility company spokesperson gives them as "Survival" advice. Although I think most folks would pick up on that, especially on this forum, it's been my experience that most folks have dgi friends and relatives that get given little printed out things that purport to be advice to help them "get it", and I DON'T WANT anyone using the dasng gas or telephone company's advice on this. Telling someone to prepare for "three days" or "like for a storm"(like there's a generic storm) is in my mind extremely dangerous, and will give people a false sense of security. Example, I know a lady, a millionaire-tried to get her a little up to speed on a few things. She goes out buys a genny. That's it-that's her preps-zip anything else, cuz she's got sucked into modern denialist mindset by talking to her other yuppie friends with their peepeecee computers that they can roll the clock forward on. Genny's been sitting in the garage, never started, not hooked up to anything PROPERLY, fuel not stored properly, no storage batteries- NOTHING. But she's got the time and money to fly to miami for lunch and to get her nails done. Oh-anyway, it's a pet peeve of mine, asking computer programmers or utility companies or-heaven forbid-THE GOVERNMENT for "Survival" advice. outta be a law.....mumble..........screw it, let folks suffer, builds character and keeps the pine box carpenters in work.....mumble........

-- zog (zog@avana.net), April 25, 1999.