people are certainly strange... while i can readily understand the concern with the nukes, i just don't understand how tax returns can generate nearly the same level of concern.

Nuclear meltdown and tax returns biggest worries

by Jo Pettitt Most Americans are only slightly more worried about what the millennium bug will do to nuclear power plants than what effect it may have on their tax returns.

A survey of around 1,000 US citizens revealed that the potential mix up or deletion of tax records ranked just behind the potential malfunctioning of nuclear power plants on a list of fears expressed about Year 2000.

http://www2.vnu.co.uk/y2k/v_y2k_04.htm

-- Anonymous, June 28, 1999

Answers

Not so strange. A survey of 1,000 people (or any other number) will yield the majority being lower middle income because they are the majority. These people normally get a tax refund. They may be concerned about glowing from radiation but they also want to glow with their tax refund in their pocket. Upper middle to high income people are a lesser percentage of the population and fewer of them will be called. They may have to pay taxes so they would just as soon the IRS was lost for a while. These people will be more concerned about nuclear plants. Marcella

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

And some people refuse to use capital letters because they are "elitest letters"

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

now i fancy there is a decided difference between strange and 'eccentric'... but what would you call a *klank*?

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

If all you read was People magazine and all you watched was your local 6 news and the national news, then yeah, you might think Y2K electrical problems were strictly for doomers and wackos.

I live in Arizona and I am constantly amazed at the lack of coverage of our Y2K situation. In fact, some of the only coverage we got was of the Nerc Drill in April. We did have a small segment on the airport once but that's it.....

I spoke to a reporter once and informed him that locals from power companies here were stating that they were less than confident that they would be able to keep the lights on....He shrugged it off... another victim of Kosky's spin and fluff machine.

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

This is why I think that the coverage of electricity and Y2K has been so lackluster. Most Americans don't understand squat about the problem or their utilities to begin with. I would like to see a posting of all the electricity headlines over the last few months/year to demonstrate how daft the coverage has been. As a matter of fact, I think I'll try to do that. My comments are below in brackets [ ]

UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY (USIA).

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

24 June 1999

INFORMATION AN IMPORTANT WEAPON IN FIGHT AGAINST Y2K COMPUTER BUG

(Experts urge public education campaign to explain problem) (990) [experts fear bank run, try to use spin to prevent]

By Judy Aita

USIA United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Public explanation of plans for testing and renovating computer systems and contingency plans to correct Y2K computer failures are critical to the success of efforts to deal with the impending global millennium-change computer problem, according to international computer experts. [why is that? i thought this was really a coding problem?]

Building public confidence that the so-called Y2K computer bug can and will be fixed with a minimum of problems on December 31, 1999 is as important as the work on the computers themselves, experts dealing with Y2K readiness say. [so you're trying to tell me that some geek who is working on mainframe problems thinks that public relations are a problem for him?]That is why one of the main goals of the June 21- 23 international Y2K national coordinators conference at UN headquarters was to impress upon the 173 national coordinators attending it of the key role public awareness will play in increasing Y2K readiness and preventing panic. [Panic, what panic? Why would people panic, I thought everything was fixed?]

The "Y2K bug" is the problem which will affect some older computers, automated control devices and software which use only the last two digits of a year in the year field of their computer codes. Unless these devices are properly reprogrammed, the "Y2K bug" would bite when their internal calendars make the transition from 1999 to the year 2000, which ends in two zeroes. They could just stop working or inaccurately process data, "thinking" that the new year is 1900 instead of 2000. [How sad is it that at this late date, you are still explaining what the godamn problem is?]

The computer experts believe potential public panic, prompting such things as runs on banks and the hoarding of food, water, and fuel the resulting problems could be worse that the Y2K threat itself, the experts said. [That's pretty dumb considering that we're six months out. Any panic would certainly alleviate itself in a month or two]

Therefore, they stressed to national Y2K coordinators at the UN conference that they must gain the general public's confidence regarding the problem while ensuring that all government agencies, industries, public utilities and financial institutions are working to fix it. [Now how are they gonna do that? They seem to be pretty lame when it comes to this computer stuff.]

David Bohrman, executive vice president of CNN, said that the Y2K story is more than just a computer or technology story. "The important part for most journalists ... is this is a social story, it's a cultural story, it's a psychology story, and it's also a story of exploitation or potential exploitation of people. [Um, how are they being exploited? Oh, he must mean those dumb Y2K computer fixer guys, the ones who are buying all the damn food and guns and solar panels]

"It's a really big news story," Bohrman said. And the media have a responsibility to figure out how to get accurate information to the public. [They could start by asking some hard questions instead of accepting bullshit at face value]

As hard as people are working to fix the problem "things are gong to happen on their own, things are going to happen that were forgotten about," Bohrman noted. "The news media needs to play a role in telling people about Y2K problems, what can happen, and that it's not gong [absolutely must be a Fruedian Typo here Gong!] to be the end of the world." [while i don't think the world's gonna end, i don't think it's gonna be a cakewalk either]

Journalists should also look out for, and write about, unscrupulous individuals or companies who try to take advantage of the problem and sell unnecessary items to unwitting consumers, Bohrman said. [yes these people exist, scum are always out there, but what about all the damn FAA lies? Nobody gives a crap if air travel is safe, but we wanna make damn sure that no one gets fleeced on some gold coins]

"Frankly there are some ridiculous things that are being peddled to the public. There is a Y2K compliant water cooler, for instance," he said. [Duh]

News coverage will shift at the end of December from providing information and giving advice to "looking at what is happening as the Y2K moment wraps around the world," Bohrman said. [sounds like time for international cafe delight to me!]

Eric Auchard, a technology reporter for Reuters news service, questioned whether so much focus should be put on the December 31 moment as a "drop dead date." Computer problems have "cropped up before and will continue to crop up into the new millennium," he said. [hey Eric where do you think the frigging problem came from in the first place? It most assuredly is a drop dead deadline you dope]

Auchard said that "many computer companies here are beginning to express a greater degree of optimism about how they are going to weather this problem. In some cases their optimism is fueled by the fact that they are making a lot of money out of fixing the year 2000 issues" in such ways as providing computer consulting services. [who? Intel? Infomagic? IBM? Microserft?]

Nevertheless, Reuters has instructed editors throughout the world to organize the wire service's news coverage, [that's code for spin baby spin, disco inferno, spin baby spin] he said. "We have many reporters looking at year 2000 issues on the technological side as well as the political and cultural sides."

"The year 2000 is an issue in which a better informed public is a more confident and calm public," Roger Ferguson, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, said. The Y2K bug is "very much now a problem of public confidence," he said. [complete crap, the problem is one of code and chips and whether you have fixed them. while panic will inevitably worsen the eventual impact, the problem is not you and your hair trigger stockpile instincts fair reader]

"Full and comprehensive information is critical in making sure plans are accurate and meaningful," he said. "Inadequate detail in a business environment can well lead to negative perceptions in the marketplace which have pronounced economic consequences." [if the general public knew for a second how bad this stuff really is, they would panic and the economy would collapse right now instead of 6 months from now]

A recent Federal Reserve survey of public perceptions showed that those who had a greater exposure to the year 2000 issue were more likely to believe that any problems that emerge will be short-lived and subject to repair, Ferguson noted. In banking areas, those who were aware of the issues felt that their banks could probably deal with any problems that emerged. [hmm, that doesn't jibe with the one Yardeni did, the one that surveyed the people who know best as to how this whole wonderful project is going]

Ferguson said that since in the public will become aware of and take an interest in Y2K at different times, "it is important to maintain a steady flow of accurate information to the public. [you must reinforce the calm Luke, the Calm....I am your father Luke......]

"In many cases companies, financial institutions, and entire countries seem to be reticent to disclose the degree of their preparedness," he said.[Um, why would that be the case? They're hosed!] "I think that ends up undermining public confidence because it allows for false information to fill the vacuum where good information would be helpful." [so you think they'd step out then and sing the good news wouldn't you? mmm, I don't hear any singing do you?]

Public relations experts indicate that public perceptions will form at some point and be less subject to revision, Ferguson also said. "And since we do not know when that will occur, I think it is important for accurate information to always and continuously be available." [we don't know the exact point at which the public is really gonna stop believing the crap we're feeding them, so keep spooning just in case]

"The media have a special obligation [since when? why? because they believe you? because they're to dumb to know that they're currently part of the problem?] ... to engage in balanced and accurate reportage, not attempting to hide important facts but not seeking out the most sensational coverage either," he said. "A broad synthesis that captures the facts and not the drama of the moment is most useful. [Don't dig to deep, you might scare someone] Link: http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/prod...

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

A klank is the sound of a shift key!

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

gosh... i never heard one.

what's a shift key?

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

Just for giggles I went back and pulled all the Yahoo 2000 news postings for the past year and dumped them into a spreadsheet to try to count up the coverage of the electric industry by Yahoo (a very common source of info for folks out there). I wanted to see how much the average Yahoo reader would have read about Y2K and electric industry.

Now I'm not sure if the keep all articles that they post, but if you were hoping to read up on juice industry Y2K progress over the last year, you'd be pretty uniformed by the time you finished the 26 articles that are posted there. That represents approximately 2% of the 1600 or so articles that are still there. Hmmm. Last time I checked this was our most important sector for remediation. Where o where has our media gone. Oh where o where can they be....... Tommorrow I'm gonna pull a few regional searches on newspapers and post the results of that. Did I mention that only 20 of the articles dealt with the US? Aghhhhh!

-- Anonymous, June 29, 1999

Uncle Wiggily, what kind of keyboard do you have - tin?? My shift key goes "tick" very quietly - a rather soothing sound.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 1999