Subject:	Is this Y2K Sweeps Week?
Date:	1999/05/24
Author:	cory hamasaki <kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net>
	Posting History

Is this Y2K Sweeps Week or something?   On last night's 60 minutes, the head of the DeeCee Y2K work said that you have a choice, run for the hills or hide in your apartment with 4 weeks of water.  60 minutes next mentioned the Red Cross's preparedness brochure.   Ko-Skin-em will roll back the stock-up time from 4 weeks to 2 weeks in the press conference later today.  -wait-wait- was I supposed to release that *after* the press conference?   Oh well.   By the way, the 3 days, 7 days, 28 days, and back to 14 days is not based on any reality, analysis, or historic basis.  These are numbers that clueless droolers are pulling out of their butts.    At least with 6 months, there is a reason.  It takes 6 months to turn your yard into a vegetable garden.  When paul milne says 1 year, that's tied to a cycle of nature and the passage of 4 full seasons.  It's also the time period that the Mormons specify.   The drooler days, 7, 28, 14, 3, or whatever are based on the assumption that someone, somewhere, will have the presense of mind to say, golly, we haven't heard from Boston for a while, perhaps we should send an expedition with a trainload of beans just in case they are starving or something.  After all, we have nothing better to do than save them.  I mean, like, we're just lazing around waiting for someone to help out.   The system failures will *not* be fixed in, oh, 3 or 6 hours.  60 minutes mentioned a payroll problem that took 2 months to repair.  Whatever happens, it ain't gonna get fixed.  Get used to that thought. Get over wishing it ain't so.   When the major failures occur, and I'm not talking about things like the payroll problem or the Monkey County construction permits system that failed doing 1 year lookaheads (Yet another Jo Anne Effect sighting.), I'm talking about the critical computing infrastructure, that mess will not be fixed.  It will not be patched and manual contingencies will not work.   Anyway, while the Broomers are conspicuously absent from the discussion about 60 minutes, they will be back tonight after their pin-up boy, Ko-Skin-em, hands out the line about No Problems, 14 days is more than enough, nothing to fear, -clenches fist and shakes it vigorously- we have big-brains,  Y2K won't be a problem.   When the Broomers return, they can restart the debate with their hallucinations about banks "getting it", how simple it is to fix software, the evidence that the work is not being done (available programmers) is proof that the work has been done. (Don't ask them to explain how DeeCee burned though 60 million dollars in less than a month of paying consultants.)   But hey, tomorrow is another day.   cory hamasaki http://www.kiyoinc.com/current.html   I'll have Pollyannna2 in the WRP this week and more strange stories from DeeCee, the land that time forgot. 

-- a (a@a.a), May 24, 1999

Answers

Cory needs to defend his statement, "whatever happens, it ain't gonna get fixed." Considering his deflection of expertise in embedded systems on another post, that's a rather broad conclusion.

-- Joe Seeky (JoeSeeky@aol.com), May 24, 1999.

Even John Koskinen made the following statement. And note that this is about small businesses who may only need a BIOS update or a newer version of a software package...

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000n8Y

[snip]

We are running events in the United States focusing on small businesses, trying to provide them technical information, trying to encourage them to take action in the face of what we find increasingly is a position where many of them are saying they're simply going to wait, see what breaks, and then they will fix it once it's broken. We are trying to tell them that that's a very high risk roll of the dice, because when they go to get the fix, whether it's an upgrade in their software or a replacement for the software or the hardware, it will be obvious what the fix is, everyone will know how to do it, but the risk is, they will be at the end of a very long line of other people who waited to see what broke and then decided to fix it. And the fix will work just fine when it arrives, but it may not arrive until March, April or May of the year 2000, and these companies and governments and those who decided to wait and see may find that they're going to be severely challenged in continuing their operations while they're waiting for that fix to arrive.

[snip]

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 24, 1999.

Mr. K. is going to come out with an INCREASE in food recommendations? OK, lets see if you can hit it with this prediction.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), May 24, 1999.

Paul,

Will this compensate for the prediction you made on this forum as recently as two months ago (could you dig it up for us?) that, during this time frame, scads and scads of enterprises would be announcing compliance? Or even readiness? Or does a handful fit what you meant?

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), May 24, 1999.

BigDog -- are you trying to have a rational discussion with Sayn't Paul? You can't -- not unless you believe in "memes" like he does. (A meme is a mind virus, makes your mind very sick and is contagious to others.) In response to a prodigal polly (who doesn't seem to have been heard from since), Sayn't Paul said --

http://www.smu.edu/cgi-bin/Nova/get/gn/1250/1.html

Forum: Gary North is a Big Fat Idiot Forum

Re: Here to admit my mistake (Stefan Ford)

Date: May 18, 22:03

From: Paul Davis "... Glad to hear you got over the meme infection."

(Quoted by)

-- OutingsR (us@here.yar), May 24, 1999.

7,28,14,3

New lotto numbers. Would anyone care to bet their lives on one of these?

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), May 24, 1999.