I saw John boy today in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus was one of ten cities chosen for his dog and pony show. Seemingly a nice enough man that I believe has talked to a lot of people over the course of the last year and thinks a lot of progress has been made.

Koskinen shared the stage with a lot of local government officials and captains of industry that wanted to assure all in attendance that everything was pretty ok. An official from American Electric Power (a pretty good size regional utility) informed the crowd that as of today (AEP) is compliant.

Not much in the way of specifics was offered. Koskinen put federal compliancy at 93%. He stressed that the majority of glitches that would occur would be local in nature so we should prepare accordingly. They took a number of questions from the crowd so I got in line and asked mine. I said that I believed there was a lot of conflicting information out there and it was no wonder people are having a difficult time in knowing what to believe. For instance, I related how roughly two weeks ago a front page Wall Street Journal story described how Clinton is planning on throwing a big bash on the Mall on Dec. 31 and in yesterday's Washington Post they ran a story that described the dreadful condition that the district is in.

I then asked why we should assume that everything is alright when the very city that plays host to all of these agencies that have a collective rate of 93% compliance is in such poor shape. Quite honestly, he didn't have a very satisfying answer. He mentioned that certain utilities such as electricity are provided by the private sector, not the district, so even though D.C. is in less than great shape certain services would go uninterrupted.

Prior to my asking my question someone asked about personal preparedness and Koskinen used the time frame of 3 to 5 days of preps. I asked him what the extra two days was all about since three days had been the going mantra for so long. He didn't answer that question. Later when I had the opportunity to speak with an attorney in attendance, who hosts a week-end y2k talk show in Columbus, he stated that at an earlier point in the program Koskinen threw out a 5 to 7 day preparation scenario.

I do not think that Koskinen is the anti-christ or is trying to intentionally mislead anyone. I think he answered the call of our president (worthless cock-sucker that he is) and is trying as best he can to keep a dialog going on the local level to stress personal preparedness. I personally think that 3 to 5 or 5 to 7 is much too low a span for preparedness but in all fairness there was a point when he made the comment that ultimately each individual must prepare for the perio

-- b johnson (youwish@iwaynet.com), June 29, 1999

Answers

...for the period of time they feel most comfortable with.

-- b johnson (youwish@iwaynet.com), June 29, 1999.

Thanks for the post. Good to get insider info. Good questions for Kosky.

PS-The road to hell is paved with good intentions and "Y2K readiness reports" and 93% completion rates.

Wasn't 93% what they reported in March?

Was any mention made of 666 as a Y2K problem? At any point did he begin to speak in tongues? Did you perhaps smell any brimstone? Did the room feel unusually warm?

-- Jim Smith (cyberax@ix.netcom.com), June 29, 1999.

I heard John Koskinen speak in Frankfort, Kentucky on June 17th at the Community Conversation held there. The spin was thick. My impressions of it are on this thread:

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

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 29, 1999.

Thanks for the update.

So who's "managing" Koskinen?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 29, 1999.

Well, let's see.........duh, who's his boss? Oh yes, the one with forked tongue.

-- pat (pat@pat.pat), June 29, 1999.

Mr. Smith stop it. Stop it.

-- nutty (nut@case.nutty), June 29, 1999.

Me too, Smith.......crampin'. Thank you bj. Always love to here the first hand spin-buster. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that Clinton doesn't care which end he's on, or who's or when or where or why or will?.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 30, 1999.

Hey folks--

I think the extra two days has to do with areas already apprised as Level 4 risk have been upgraded to Level 3 or higher, which puts the time frame for *structure* a little farther out than previously planned for. This would mean the Response teams will be delayed from leapfrogging to the next critical area for at least a couple of days, and we'll be on our own for a bit longer. How does this affect the CPM models, only *eyes* really know. A node here, a milestone there, oh well. Just a thought!

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), June 30, 1999.

From Koskinen's perspective the 3-5 day number makes sense, at least from 6 months out. Anyone who prepares for 3-5 days NOW is smart enough to double it in the next few months. It is a much bigger psycological step to go from "nothing" to 3 days than 3 days to a month. It is simply the mindset of realizing "i need to prepare" that has become important. I hope he gets his message across. Each of us needs to stress this to our families even if it means being brutal. br14

-- br14 (br14@bout.done), June 30, 1999.

Bruce...you did a good job trying to keep Kosky on his toes. I saw the quotes in the Columbus "Dogpatch" (note: local daily newpaper). One of my associates went to monitor the meeting. I need to ask his impressions when he gets into work later today. Did AEP really say they were done...finito...100%?

-- Jeff (jdevore@prodigy.net), June 30, 1999.

LOL!.. priceless. Thanks, b and Mr. Smith....

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), June 30, 1999.

Piggy, You deleted me. Now you have to find and delete me again. New game! Guess Squire's weight. over/under is 195. I'll take 'over'. I think I know why Squire hates me above all others. I make her HUNGRY!!

Let me quote our pal Homer "hmmm doughnuts"

I repeat. I think the correct term is cock-suckee.

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@worldnet.att.net), July 05, 1999.

you make it sound like cock sucking is a bad thing

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), July 05, 1999.

The Governor's Office of Emergency Services (California) is recommending three days to a week of supplies in this PDF document:

http://www.oes.ca.gov/OESHomeP.nsf/Images/Y2KNewsletter/ $file/Y2Kn'ltr.pdf

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 05, 1999.