Biggest game in the world is about to start. Everyone will be a contestant. Are you ready to take the playing field? Are you fit? Are you prepared? Do you know your your opponent? Do you have a plan? The game: SURVIVAL

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), June 20, 1999

Answers

Starting time: Sometime in the next six to eight months.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), June 20, 1999.

Or sooner.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 20, 1999.

I hope you don't expect us to play by the rules

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), June 20, 1999.

Rules? Rules in a knife fight?

LM

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), June 20, 1999.

thinkIcan:

I don't know the opponents; they will be the strangers asking for food and water. Some will be discourteous; some will be liars; some will kill to survive.

Got deadbolts?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), June 20, 1999.

I got cut from the roster, so the best I could do was join the band. :-)

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), June 20, 1999.

It sounds as though you've got steam up !!

However I have a question.What qualities do you think you need to win this game - if life or death are the stakes?

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 20, 1999.

Stealth, information, mobility, resilience, resources, relationships.

-- no. 6 (Iam_not_a_number@hotmail.com), June 20, 1999.

No 6,I agree and would add to your list persistence or bloody mindedness & an agressive determination.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 20, 1999.

I think the question: "Do you know your opponent?" isn't as useful as: "Do you realize that it is a team sport?" The reason life is so easy in modern times and developed countries is that our "team" is big and so well organized. (I hear plenty of laughs at the "well- organized" part, but compared to the third world - and the past too from what little I've read - it is well-organized.)

The reason Y2K is so serious is that it threatens that organization.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), June 20, 1999.

Well, at least in this "game" we won't have to put up with any stinkin' commercials. No-waitaminute! What about the army trucks roaming the streets with those loudspeakers blaring...?

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), June 20, 1999.

The qualities to win the game: If it is a few inconveniences------ Patience! If it is a minor interruption of the grid-----preparations and patience. If it is an major interruption of the above----preps and patience and leadership skills, organizational skills,sales skills,love etc. If the whole thing goes (infrastucture)----- Desire to live,strength,courage,power,ability to kill,alpha male qualities with the intellect to run and hide if necessary.

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), June 20, 1999.

LM- The only rule is that this could be a gun fight...and the misconception that this is a knife fight could be a tragic mistake!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), June 20, 1999.

David Butts has absolutely nailed it. The ability to kill is the killer.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), June 20, 1999.

Should we practise on neighbors' pets or something?

-- number six (Iam_not_a_number@hotmail.com), June 21, 1999.

Y2K -- the Olympics of Disasters.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 21, 1999.

We've been into preps for years, and really got on it starting back in feb. 1998. The last couple of months have been dragging, with a temptation to ease back. Thanks for the adrenalin shot ! Honor, Duty, Loyalty, Courage, and Faith !

-- potent (potent308@hotmail.com), June 21, 1999.

David, Alpha Male qualities?I've got an alpha male human & an alpha male dog & I wouldn't care to meet either of them in the dark.Its a kind of invisible strength or menace that's almost tangible.Gives me the shivers.Most of the time though they are just sleepy lions.

Mad Monk, Having led a sheltered life,could you tell me what is the difference between a gun fight & a knife fight...that you referred to in your reply,please ?

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 21, 1999.

In case anyone missed the reference, LM was quoting from a memorable scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which a mutinous member of the gang gets a quick (and painful) lesson in manners from Butch.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), June 21, 1999.

FOrgIVE dIETeR IF THis hAS BEEn poINTeD OUt beFORe!!!!!!!!! dO Any oF YoU IDioTS REaliZE ThaT yOu are TERminAllY MOrbID????? dIETeR WouLD INviTE yOU All tO His NExT PArtY If yOu woULd prOMIse Not tO SLit anYOne'S WRisT!!!!!! exCEpt YoUr OWn, naTURLicH!!!!!!! tHAT mIGHt bE FUn!!!!!!

-- Dieter (questions@toask.com), June 21, 1999.