Here is a snip from PREPARE4Y2K.COM on whats been happening at Scott Olmsteads site. His site has several other new and interesting articles plus information on an upcoming Detroit area meeting.

May 16, 1999

Interest In Y2K Falls Off Drastically By Scott Olmsted

Flew to New Zealand last month for a vacation, and what should hit the front page of the New Zealand Herald on the day we arrived but Bug may unleash flood of sewage: "Much of the North Island, including its biggest cities, could have trouble flushing away sewage within four hours of an electricity failure caused by computer problems as the new millennium dawns."

Just can't get away from it. I predicted a year ago that this spring would see the most common cocktail party chatter become some variant of "So what are you doing to prepare for Y2K?". That was true for a short while a few months ago, but now Y2K has almost dropped off the charts--and it was a fast drop.

Interest in this site and its sister site for dehydrated food, Automated Enterprises Outfitters, fell by a factor of 3 to 4 over a period of perhaps 6 weeks. Actual food orders are down 90%. I cannot lay this to a single cause, but the combination of the phony electricity tests, Clinton's announcement that Social Security was finished (when they weren't), de Jager's pronouncement that "the back of Y2K is broken", and the ridicule, explicit and implicit, given by the media to those who have taken preparation to extremes, probably all contributed.

Also, people just get tired of a topic. Hell, I'm tired of this topic. I know there are those who are fascinated by it, but being a professional computer programmer, I see computer bugs all the time. This one (actually a design defect, I see those all the time too) just happens to be the most widespread ever. Its consequences will be the largest ever, but that doesn't make it inherently interesting.

In my opinion, it will take a large failure before 1/1/00 to rekindle interest in the general populace, and I don't that is very likely. One person with egg on his face is likely to be Jim Lord, who has given bank runs in mid-1999 a high probability. I've said before that I don't find bank runs to be at all probable, though it is not impossible. The general public does not understand banking, which means they don't worry about it, they leave that to Greenspan. No worry, no bank runs.

So now it is a waiting game. It still makes sense to prepare, though not necessarily for long infrastructure breakdowns. Personally, I think electricity, phone, or banking interruptions of more than a few days are unlikely, but of course, not impossible. My advice is to prepare for that outside chance that you might have to be completely self-sufficient for a month or two, and to be ready for nothing to happen.

I also recommend thinking about the consequences to you of a bad recession, or a depression. I believe that if there are consequences, the most serious to the average person are likely to be economic: lost jobs, lost businesses, bankruptcies, etc. My favorite financial writer, Mark Skousen, thinks that the market and the economy could take a dive later this year. Are you prepared to bail rather than watch your portfolio take a huge hit? Have you laid a foundation of 5 to 10% in gold bullion coins as insurance against disaster?

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), May 19, 1999

Answers

Big time burn out. People are getting so tired of hearing about it...reading about it...the information...the misinformation. (That, and the reality of it all is really scary)

Personally, I think we would all do well to not put too much stock in what any one individual says...especially if they are at one or the other extreeme ends of the spectrum. Anyone who tells us that "there is no question - (this) is going to happen..." cannot be believed.

-- dan (dbuchner@logistics.calibersys.com), May 19, 1999.

Recession or depression is irrelevant. We will see stagflation because there will still be a lot of money out there, but nothing to buy with it. This is why I bought gold now. It's still very cheap.

-- nothere nothere (nothere@nothere.com), May 19, 1999.

I follow Y2K news articles closely, and there's no question that around the middle of March, Y2K news coverage dropped off sharply. On the other hand, April seemed to be the month that global awareness of Y2K shot way up, just as it had in the U.S. in late November of 1998.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 19, 1999.

I believe that the reason most people are failing to prepare for Y2K is the same reason most have not built a fallout shelter, even though we've been in the shadow of The Bomb for almost half a century. Facing up to an unpleasant possibility is very difficult, and it alleviates a great deal of anxiety to just forget about the possibilities, rather than prepare for them. Any preparations would serve as an unpleasant reminder, so they are not even attempted. Add to that the herd mentality prevalent today, and it's a wonder that anyone's preparing.

-- J.T. (?@?.?), May 19, 1999.

Scott Olmstead is just covering his ass. If nothing happens, he can refer the press to this article of his. Another deJager if you ask me. Scream wolf for two years and then bail out so as not to look like an asshole.

Thanks a lot Peter deJackass and Scott Bumstead.

-- Anti-chainsaw (Tree@hugger.com), May 19, 1999.

I spent the last two weeks abroad speaking about Y2K and doing many radio and TV interviews. US interest has dropped, it's true; widespread overseas concern about Y2K is just starting.

-- Declan McCullagh (declan@y2kculture.com), May 19, 1999.

How many people are SICK of the coverage of Columbine High School??? It's the SAME thing. It's like eating OATMEAL, every day for a month. I am really tired of Y2K already, but I am still preparing. It's like this:

"Too much of anything will make you lose interest in it"

gettin' a drink...

The Dog

-- The Dog (cmpennell@juno.com), May 20, 1999.

With 60 min piece, we may rue the day we complained about a drop in "interest".

we may also rue the day we said that the public absolutely HAS to know. Though, on Diane's document I have helped champion full disclosure NOW, as well as with some other off-forum stuff, I begin to wonder if I should have been more careful about what I prayed for. It may wel be that I/we are about to get exactly what many of us have been praying for. In Spades. (Though that saying REALLY should be "In Notrump")

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 21, 1999.

Any maroons here ever done karate? or judo? repetitive shit, a climax at some point....

y2k

duh?

not too difficult too fathom, but apparently too difficult for the media/circus.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 21, 1999.