Have you All Had Enough Of this Nonsense Yet?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

It's September 9, 1999, and nothing has happened to this date. The next big event will be December 31, 1999, at 12:00 p.m. I suspect many of us doomers will be falling off this board and getting on with our lives. Have you all had enough of this nonesense yet? Some lucky food bank will be happy to see me coming.

-- Goldilocks (Goldielocks@Goldilockss.com), September 10, 1999

Answers

Please forward all unneeded supplies to spun@lright@wanna.bet.ok? aka, mikeymac@uswest.net Feel free to take double the normal tax exemption for all donations. (not that anyone will be opening the tax mail next year)

I'll make sure to see that they all get put to good use!!

I'll leave the lights on. Thanks in advance.

PS. NO CODs

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), September 10, 1999.


At this point I will quote Sysman:

"It's called a Y2K problem not a 1999 problem!"

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 10, 1999.


Close enough Chuck. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.

If it's a Y2K problem, then all the 1999 dates were suppose to be a precursor leading up to the BIG ONE. Well, there's no precursor, and anyone's guess is a good as the next as to what is going to happen. All the experts were guessing about what was going to happen on certain dates in 1999 and they have all gone with not a glitch. The guessing game is about to be over and there's no backup proof that anything will happen. Isn't this the truth?

-- Goldilocks (Goldilocks@Goldilockss.com), September 10, 1999.

Goldilocks,

You sound like a regular here, in which case you should know what's going on.

If you're new here, we have almost 200,000 messages in the archive. At lease a few % of those deal with this topic in great detail. I would guess that I have read at least 1000 of them myself.

Do some research. If you want help, just ask.

If you're a troll here to do nothing but break our chops, get lost.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.



Goldilocks,

Well, got any cool Y2K toys that you want to get rid of? My email is my email is my email.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks

You seem to be a date challanged sort.

Here is the latest on the subject from The Gartner Group. This is a must read document for pollies and doomers. The embedded chip section is the clearest understanding on the subject I have read.

 Year 2000 World Status, 2Q99: The Final Countdown
 

A much larger volume of date-forward processing and forecasting is done per
quarter, rather than per year or for multiple years; therefore, beginning in October 1999, we
will see a significant increase in failures.

snip

Failures will occur when typical transactions are run (e.g., five- week financials, six-week
sales forecasts, monthly revenue closures, 16-week order reporting cycle and monthly
revenue shipments to orders) at relatively high volumes.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks sputtereth:

All the experts were guessing about what was going to happen on certain dates in 1999 and they have all gone with not a glitch.

There were glitches on those dates caused by those dates like the cars in Japan for the GPS rollover. Now remember those are the ones that we know about, what ones haven't we seen?

Do some poking and looking around and you will see plenty of documentation on problems that have already happened.

Regards, Simon

-- Simon Richards (simon@wair.com.au), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks,

I seem to remember many stories of companies moving the dates on their computers forward before they starting doing any remediation and there were some disasterous results, enought to get them to spend billions of dollars to make them compliant. I supposed these were all faked so tha these companies could get more money to spend on their computers. I haven't heard of anyone moving their computer forward to the dates you mentioned and having a problem. The year change really has nothing to do with the earlier supposed critical dates. I am surprised you haven't figured that out yet.

-- Rick Rodig (ricnlyn@jps.net), September 10, 1999.


Goldy,

I don't recall any "experts" stating that these dates would any big deal. Some said there may be some sporadic problems here and there. I think you are confusing newspaper reporters for "experts", as the only ones I've seen harping about 9/9/99 is newspaper reporters, who happen to be clueless.

BTW, 12:00 pm is noon. I believe you should have said the next big event will be at 0001 on 1/1/00. I wouldn't totally rule out 10/01/99 for seeing some fireworks, as this is when Fed.Gov rolls over to FY2000, particularly the IRS. Again, not the end of civilization or anything...maybe nothing more than a back room headache for the bean counters. We shall see.

-- Don Wegner (donfmwyo@earthlink.net), September 10, 1999.



Goldilocks,

You can find a list containing of some of Y2K-related glitches that have already happened at the following link:

"Year 2000 Problem Sightings"

http://info.cv.nrao.edu/y2k/sighting.htm

Before February 1st, I didn't know one way or another if the Jo Anne Effect was going to cause noticeable problems that would end up being reported. After February 1st, when Wal-Mart and some other companies entered their fiscal year 2000 with no reported problems, I realized that what PNG had been saying on this forum was true...that problems in accounting software aren't nearly as noticeable to outsiders as problems in manufacturing or distribution would be.

We won't hear that much about Y2K-related manufacturing or distribution problems until January 2000. It was clear to me in February that we weren't going to hear much about fiscal year rollover problems in accounting software on April 1st and July 1st. Most people on this forum weren't expecting "show-stoppers" on April 1st and July 1st either, but yet the issue of few reported problems does continue to get raised from time to time here.

Anyone who'd like to learn more about the significance and non- significance of fiscal year rollovers in accounting software, as well as find examples problems that have occured so far can find quite a few relevant links on the following thread:

"Significance of States Fiscal Start"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00122f

Almost all non-accounting software problems, PC BIOS chip and PC operating system problems, and embedded system/process control system problems are still ahead of us. Those are the ones with the potential of being "show-stoppers."

I might also add that the GPS rollover and 9/9/99 are unique types of glitches and are not a subset of the "99" and "00" problem that we usually refer to as Y2K.

Other helpful threads related to your question...

"GPS rollover - August 21/22"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001A9s"> http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001A9s

...and this thread...

"***Submit any GPS failures***"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001HTg

As for September 9, 1999, most felt that any problems that might occur due to a "9999" glitch would be negligible, but U.S. officials at the new $40 million Y2K Information Coordination Center and the United Nations backed International Y2K Cooperation Center decided to monitor 9/9/99 anyway:

"September 9, 1999 and the groups monitoring it"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001Mjr

...and...

"Y2K Chiefs Prepare For Dry Run On 9/9/99"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001J6V

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 10, 1999.


Nonsense? Typical dumb blonde.

There will be no cataclysmic shutdown of the entire world on New Years Eve. And this forum will still be here well into the New Year with most of us still sharing our thoughts and experiences.

But what do you think will happen when oil supply to the U.S. has been diminished for several weeks and gas prices soar? What do you think will happen when the power supply to Asian manufacturers of electronic parts is interrupted, cutting off supplies of parts to just a few minor businesses like Intel or General Motors, who just happen to employ millions of Americans? What do you think will happen to our financial and legal systems when thousands of businesses are forced to file bankruptcy and/or lawsuits? What do you think will happen to the stock markets and the entire global economy when multinational corporations begin losing millions of dollars a day because they cannot receive or deliver their products and services at the same pace they do now? Time is money! Money is jobs! Jobs are our lifeline in today's society. If you haven't figured out how to survive without one, you'd better get serious.

You call this nonsense? You must be the kind of girl that gave blondes a bad name - Goldilocks!

-- @ (@@@.@), September 10, 1999.


I have dibs on her beans!

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.net), September 10, 1999.

Lest we not forget what happened to the real Goldilocks, when drawn into a complacent state by a full belly of porridge.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), September 10, 1999.

"Have you all had enough of this nonesense yet? "

Yes. You are right. Boy do I feel dumb.

Since computers didn't crash in September 9th, 1999, they clearly won't on 1/1/00. I feel better now - thank-you!

What is that address to send my stockpile to again?

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), September 10, 1999.



Goldilocks

NO SHIT! Can't wait till this message board disappears in a few months and I can forget I ever saw this place. Hello food pantry!! Goodbye Yourdon.

-- (sickof this@crap.com), September 10, 1999.


I think it may be time to re-visit some of the prognostications made by the Tinfoil litterati...

"On January 1, 1999 they will experience many more, and it will be much more difficult to sweep them under the rug. On April 1, 1999 we will all watch anxiously as the governments of Japan and Canada, as well as the state of New York, begin their 1999-2000 fiscal year; at that moment, the speculation about Y2K will end, and we will have tangible evidence of whether governmental computer systems work or not."-- Ed Yourdon

"... I believe we'll start seeing [disruptions] by this summer, and I believe they'll continue for at least a year. As many people are now aware, 46 states (along with Australia and New Zealand) will begin their 1999-2000 fiscal year on July 1, 1999; New York (and Canada) will already have gone through their Y2K fiscal rollover on April 1, and the remaining three states begin their new fiscal year on August 1, September 1, and October 1. We also have the GPS rollover problem to look forward to on August 22nd, as well as the Federal government's new fiscal year on October 1st.

There is, of course, some finite probability that all of these rollover events will occur without any problems; but there's also a finite probability that pigs will learn to fly."

Ed "Flying Pig" Yourdon

April 1, 1999. On this date, Canada, Japan, and the State of New York begin their fiscal year. This will, of course, include dates beyond Y2K. As a result, planning systems, especially budgets that have not been repaired will fail as they attempt to process Y2K dates. Since New York City is the media capitol of the world, problems there will grab headlines worldwide. Problems in Japan will remind everyone again of how interconnected our world is. The Japanese will also be forced to admit that there systems might not make it. I expect the stock market to react and begin (or continue) its downward spiral. Public confidence will continue to wane and the number of Y2K optimists will continue to dwindle.

July 1, 1999. On this date, forty-four U.S. states begin their fiscal years. The problems that began in New York will now spread exponentially across the country and around the world. The public will feel the global and pervasive nature of the Y2K Problem for the first time. This will be further exacerbated by the fact that many states have not had the resources to adequately address their Millennium Bug problems. Consequently, the failures will be real and widespread.

From the 12 Oct 1998 issue of Westergaard - Michael Hyatt

-- Y2K Pro (y2kpro1@hotmail.com), September 10, 1999.


Will America be ready for Y2K? Will we fare better than victims of the Turkish quake when Y2K failures hit? It depends on who we are listening to and how much we can personally prepare for potential power outages, water shut-offs, food shortages, bank closings, etc. Unfortunately, there is not much time left. But if we heed the warnings of Paul Reveres like Ed Yourdon, programmer and author of "Timebomb 2000" and the "Y2K Home Preparation Guide," we can take responsibility for our own lives and safety. We can prepare for the reasonable worst. If, however, we listen to Y2K Pro and ignore the risks, we may find ourselves repeating questions that were on the lips of the Turkish survivors, "When are they going to help us? When we are all dead?"

If you want to learn more about how to prepare for 14 days of disruptions, click here.

Have you been to Sally's Y2K Kitchen? If not click here.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 10, 1999.


Stan,

Does it not trouble you that the person you hold in such high esteem (Yourdon) has been wrong with EVERY single prediction he has made thus far?

-- Y2K Pro (y2kpro1@hotmail.com), September 10, 1999.


Since you like to quote things so much Y2K Pro, try this:

"They call it the Y2K problem for a very good reason, not the various dates in 1999 problem."

Have a nice day. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


Me thinketh -- Goldilocks doth protesteth too much --

-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 10, 1999.

It was not only Ed Yourdon tooting his horn and selling his Y2K predictions, but Gary North, Cory Hamaski, and several other experts getting the doomers all set for the big fall. Thanks Y2K Pro for the quotes, I was about to post them but you did it first. Someone mentioned Dr. Ravi Batra and his new Y2K depression book last week. Every single book he has ever written on "THE BIG CRASH," has failed to happen. However, one good thing I took his advice on was to pay off debt. The stock market keeps going up, people are still buying houses and cars and nothing earth shattering has failed yet. Some lucky food bank is going to be very happy come Thanksgiving.

-- Goldilocks (Goldilocks@Goldilockss.com), September 10, 1999.

I thought of a couple options that seem logical for you.

1. Why don't you wait until the January rollover, since you've already invested so much, and waited this long? If the supplies you bought were going to store well through the New Year when you still thought there would be a problem, they should still be good to give away if you wait a few short months more. And the homeless and hungry will still be here next year, guaranteed.

2. Why don't you just eat the food like you were planning to anyway if something happened, and hold off on your grocery shopping? Or did you buy stuff you don't like to eat? :(. Hope the people at the food pantry like it better than you, in that case--though "beggars can't be choosers."

-- S. Kohl (kohl@hcpd.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks, the biggest threat that those pre-Y2K "spike dates" represented was to potentially cause relatively MINOR problems that would result in MAJOR panic on the part of the public towards Y2K; that obviously did not happen. Note that, excepting for the GPS rollover, all previous dates were completely limited to financial applications (not operating systems, embedded chips, etc.). By the way, do you mudwrestle?

Y2K - Its the Year 2000, Stupid.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), September 10, 1999.

Y2KPro, I really like reading your posts and think you are quite bright. I do wonder why all the predictions of widespread disruptions and failures have not occurred. At the same time, I just don't feel like I can possibly gamble with life/health of my son. Do you really think Nothing will happen at all? Do you really think this is all just a fabrication? I would really like to know what you think and if you have any dependents to provide for. The e-mail is real.

-- (y2kfallback@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.

Dear Goldilocks, You might want to check out the following. It was part of a link called "What Do Your Critics Say About This Site" that is posted today (9/10/99) at the Gary North site in the Most Recent/Current Links. I think the following may help you see that your preparations have not been a waste of time:

"Keep asking yourself these questions:

1. Will bad data infect good data?

2. Is the world economy truly interdependent?

3. Is there a single compliant industry?

4. Is there one compliant money center bank?

5. Can banking survive if the compliant banks cut off all computerized data exchanges with noncompliant banks?

6. Do we live in an information economy?

7. Is the information programmed correctly?

8. If y2k is not a big problem, why have governments and businesses spent hundreds of billions of dollars to fix it?

9. Does the fact that a handful of U.S. organizations claim y2k- readiness solve the problem of the rest of the world's computers (over 75%)?

10. Do large-scale software projects normally come in late?

11. What will happen if this one does?

12. Should you bet your future on self-reported information that was not provided under oath?

13. What happened to the full year of testing?

14. How will the auto industry (and all other industries) get delivery of parts from noncompliant firms?

15. Why have the world's leaders remained almost mute on y2k, given the importance ascribed to it by Koskinen?

16. Why did the U.S. government delegate the task of coordinating the power industry's y2k efforts to a tiny, industry-funded outfit that has no power to compel anything?

17. Where will local communities get help for the 72-hour storm when all communities will be facing the same problems?

18. What is your employer's continency plan for computers that do not work?

19. How will you get paid if your employer's bank is closed? If your bank is closed?

20. If the IRS's computer systems go down, what happens to Medicare, Social Security, and the national government?

21. Ditto with the Treasury?

22. How will you spend the print-out of your bank records?

23. How will the U.S. guard Taiwan, South Korea, and the Middle East's oil fields? How do we know that all of our military systems are fixed?

24. Is Saudi Arabia compliant?

25. If your bank's computer goes down, how will you buy anything?

26. How will your neighbors buy anything if their banks' computers go down?

27. How long will it take before non-flushing toilets create a panic?

28. What proof do you have right now that your local sewer system is compliant?

29. For which error would you rather say, "Sorry; I got it wrong"? A. You told someone not to prepare, and he loses everything as a result. B. You told someone to prepare, and he has to use up his inventory over a two-year period intead of three months, and he uses his generator only once, during a blizzard that freezes half the pipes in town."

I have been preparing for about a year and a half and probably, like most, have had my ups & downs about it -- but when I read things like the above, it gets me back on track. Yes, this whole thing is becoming very wearying, but we will know real soon now.

-- cassie (healthy@nauticom.net), September 10, 1999.


Y2K Pro,

I am grateful for Ed Yourdon's many efforts to educate people about the various risks associated with Y2K technology problems. If he got his predictions wrong, I'm really not surprised. Error, especially human error, is to be expected. Such is the nature of opinion and the problematic of human knowledge. As I told Red in another thread, I would be downgrading my estimate of Y2K-related risks (especially risks not related to economics) if it were merely a matter of uneventful critical dates. However, my business is being impacted by Y2K related problems. These problems are Y2K related: the results of the migration to Y2K compliant accounting systems among our clients.

Should I ignore my angry vendors?

In other words, the words that come out of Ed Yourdon's keyboard are not necessarily the truth (or untruth). However, I believe him to be sincere and educated in his opinion. I do find it bothersome that some would criticize Ed as profiteering by his book sales. Most times, when I write something for publication I expect to be paid for my opinion. I am not paid for any of my online Y2K opinions or those opinions that appear in minority newspapers, I see this as community service. But this does not change my opinion that writing is work, it takes time and thought, and it is but a contrived ethical dilemma to question the intentions of the author based upon the success or sales of a book.

Shall we hold Aristotle suspect?

It is dishonest to contrive false Y2K related problems in order to debunk concern about the variety of risks that are associated with Y2K technology problems (a la Stephen Poole). It is dishonest to pretend to have prepared for Y2K and now claim that you are going to unload your preparations at the nearest food bank (I want to see recipts!). It is intensely problematic to think that dishonesty in government and business is no big deal-- whether or not it is about Y2K. It is an indifference that comes of false consciousness. It is an act of false consciousness to think, say, or write that there are no meaningful risks associated with the Y2K technology problem or Y2K remediation.

Do the ends justify the means?

No inconvenience or TEOTWAWKI? It seems more likely that the impact of Y2K will be between the extremes. The ability for individuals to make any assessment of the risks and take responsibility for themselves, however, is challenged by the quantitative and qualitative absence of serious and sincere expert opinions (doomer and poly) in mainstream media. Exaggerated fear-mongering about the collapse of our way of life from a pre-Y2K panic has made such a dialogue impossible to this day. However, I would contend that a sincere dialogue would not cause a panic. It may, however, have benefit: a national dialogue may create cohesion and a re-dedication of all Americans to the common good.

Do you believe in America?

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks,

Did you see Sen. Bennett on C-span the past few days? Did you hear the comment that he made?

"There were failures on April 9. You just didn't hear about them"

Nobody is a Y2K expert. People can only guess what's going to happen. There may not have been as many failures as predicted by some, but there have been failures. The problem is real.

You do what you want. You've been warned. Good luck.

It ain't Y2K yet.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


Do you really think this is all just a fabrication?

BWWAHHHAHAHAHAAA!

Yep, I'm sure all the corporations and governments of the entire world are going to spend billions of dollars on a non-existant, unverifiable rumor. oh....sometimes, you pollytypes kill me..... expecially asking Y2KProtrusion for "reasoning".

-- karen (karen@karen.karen), September 10, 1999.


Stan:

I do find it bothersome that some would criticize Ed as profiteering by his book sales.

Sorry, Stan, it's not just "Book Sales".

It's also the rest of the books and videos:

Y2k Books and Videos

And the Y2k "Web Mall":

Y2k Web Mall

And the Y2k MLM:

MLM

To be fair, the MLM has toned down some. The banner used to scream "CASH IN ON THE Y2K CRAZE".

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks, there is something very strange and illogical in your post which makes me doubt its sincerity. Why on earth would anyone unload their preps just 3-1/2 months BEFORE a possible event requiring them? Why would not one hedge her bets and keep them just that much longer? If you are really in that mindframe, then I am concerned for you and add my bit to the consensus that you should keep them at least that long. If you are merely a plant sent here to disrupt the preparations of others, then you will have more than your own life you may be endangering.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), September 10, 1999.

Yes, Elaine, Goldilocks is a plant.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), September 10, 1999.

Stan Fagina,

You are the biggest butt sucker I have ever seen. All you doomers have been whining about 9-9-99 for a long time. As soon as the dates draw near you back off. Gary North did. He is going to be the biggest horses ass that ever lived with absolutely no credibility left. Not that he has any now! bwaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha

-- (sickofthis@crap.com), September 10, 1999.


People, it is time to stop arguing with the pollies. Now we are laughed at. In a short time, we will hear the sound of a million pollies saying "Gee, I guess I was wrong" and turning to us asking what should they do. Let's stop arguing and start figuring out what we are going to have them do when we get to the other side.

Thank you.

-- Amy Leone (leoneamy@aol.com), September 10, 1999.


Ahh, let them have their fun... only a short time now...

scratchin'...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), September 10, 1999.


(sickofthis@crap.com),

Nobody is forcing you to stay here. If you don't like us doomer idiots, just leave. You sound like you would be happier over at deBUNGy. Bye now.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


Stan said: "Do you believe in America?"

I think goldilocks was asking, "How can we believe Ed Yourdon?"

You can't, you can't believe anybody. No one knows but it's becoming all too apparent that those who claim they know are becoming more and more often wrong. My guess is now after hearing all this stuff (thanks Y2K Pro for the reminders)that if ______________ (insert "expert's name here) says it's going to be a 10 then it's almost certaintly going to be a 1. Just a little reverse psychology to keep in mind when dealing with predictions. Also keep in mind that I personally am not predicting anything for the future, and...

-- (Doomers@do.suck.com), September 10, 1999.


"Error, especially human error, is to be expected." Stan Faryna This statement says it all.

"I believe him (Ed Yourdon), to be sincere and educated in his opinion." Sincerity doesn't make it happen or make it so. Ed may be educated, but so are a million other experts that don't have all the answers or a crystal ball.

"It is dishonest to pretend to have prepared for Y2K and now claim you are going to unload your preparations at the nearest food bank." I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I read between the lines, question dates, read "expert," opinions and nothing earth shattering has happened. Here we are near the middle of September. Testing, remediation, etc., started long ago for government and corporations, and nothing has stopped the economy from growing, nothing has caused any disruptions like we were warned to expect. This whole scenario reminds me of a religious barker standing on a corner shouting "THE END OF THE WORLD IS HERE." By the way, whatever happened to the JoAnne Effect? That got a lot of people worried and upset. I have come to the conclusion that we have the blind leading the blind, and all the "experts," opinions are just what they are, opinions that haven't amounted to anything. Isn't there a point in time that you have to stop and think about the predictions of the experts? And, isn't there a point in time when you start to think that maybe, just maybe all the experts are wrong? Nobody twisted my arm to prepare, it all sounded feasible, however, the dates have come and gone, the power hasn't gone out, my ATM card works, gas is readily available, and the store shelves are stocked. Isn't this enough to make you second guess this whole thing?

-- Goldilocks (Goldilocks@Goldilockss.com), September 10, 1999.


No, Goldilocks, it isn't. Quit bothering trying.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), September 10, 1999.

Nope. I live in earthquake country and my preps will stand me (and others) in very good stead should we get a serious 'quake. I'm reducing debt load and economic exposure to a minimum, just in case my current job succumbs to the business cycle or another vagary of modern life (and the preps help here, as well.) If need be, I'll donate some items to missionaries in the Solomons or elsewhere. Nothing will be wasted.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), September 10, 1999.

Have you All Had Enough Of this Nonsense Yet? -- Goldilurky

Not until Koskinen, et. al., starts making some "sense."

Watch what they DO, not just... what "they" say.

Stay tuned. Or not. Your choice. The rest of us will... with or without your attempted non-sensible persuasions.

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldy,

Y2K is the least of my worries. What about:

1) War with Russia, China, N. Korea, Bin Laden, whoever?????

2) The tribulation (just in case it's not a pre-trib rapture).

3) All "hell" breaking loose of whatever kind you want to imagine.

My food and preps will come in mighty handy regardless.....

Anyone who can't see the "handwriting on the wall" is blind as a bat!

-- Vernon Hale (create@premiernet.net), September 10, 1999.


Hey Goldie, got a clue for you. We're all guessing our way through this, doomers and pollies alike. We never did this before. We don't know what's going to happen. That's why we spent a big chunk of 1997 sitting around making lists of dates that MIGHT link to failures, guessing why, trying to imagine it.

Some we got right - we had 99 failures in the start of 99, we've had lots of testing failures (as we predicted) like the 4-odd million gallons of sewage. We guessed that new systems would be crammed into place and cause problems, like they always do. (Have you noticed the sicko SAP installations?) We said those were y2k problems, though some say they're just "new system problems", not y2k at all. You can tint the colors rose or grey, however they work for you.

Some we got wrong. I'm totally amazed at how asleep people are, this late in the game. I thought we'd have full-blown stockpiling going on by now. Oh well, we geeks aren't famous for our social skills, for understanding how REAL people think. We expected more problems on July 1. Nobody I know expected any problems on 9/9/99, but pollies and journalists hyped it up real big.

You see, the big difference between GIs and pollies is that the GI KNOWS he/she's working with odds and guesstimates and multiple levels of duplicity and incompetence. So you'll see GIs say "Oops, got it wrong" and then they go on with their preps and look at the next horizon. But pollies live in a world that seems a narrow and brittle to me, where being wrong is the worst possible thing imaginable. So pollies never admit being wrong, and they use the word "wrong" as if it were a curse, and they're always looking backward at the last thing they guessed right. Boy, that's gonna bite you, one of these days.

There are others out there, too, don't forget. Some smart people aren't pollies, they just don't get it. Some shrivelled souls are hoping for the end of the world for their own twisted reasons. Yuck.

Making it this far with no major bumps is kind of a mixed blessing. It reminds me of some of the early airplane designs, where it looked good in drawings, looked good in the wind tunnel, flew right in early tests, and then killed a hundred or so. Remember the Comet? Blew up because of metal fatigue, and knocked England out of the commercial aircraft lead. Remember the Lockheed Electra? Wings came off because of vibration, plane shoots into the ground at, oh, 600 mph, into a pig pen in Tell City. Oops. Well, maybe you're too young for that. So, was it a really good thing that no problems were found in the Electra in early tests? Do you suppose that they said, like you're saying, we can relax now, nothing bad can happen because we'd have seen it by now?

"Mission Control to Challenger. Throttle up."

-- bw (home@puget.sound), September 10, 1999.


A question for the pollies: Are doomers the only ones wasting money in preparation? I don't think so. The government is spending/wasting even more money, our (doomers and pollies) tax money, on "useless" contingency plans.

-- Am I missing something here? (troll@sucks.com), September 10, 1999.

This is my last post re 1999-09-09. I'm saying again, as I said PRIOR to that date, that all the pollies will say "I told you so," when not much happens. Well, I told you so -- that 1999-09-09 will be a non-event, and don't pay attention to the pollies. That 2000-01-01 and thereafter are the dates to worry about.

BTW, trolls and pollies -- can you tell the difference between "9999" and "19990909" or "990909" or "9/9/1999" or "9/9/99" or "09/09/1999" or "09/09/99" ... ? Hint: "Read" literally, as does a computer.

-- vbProg (vbProg@MicrosoftAndIntelSuck.com), September 10, 1999.


sickofit said:

All you doomers have been whining about 9-9-99 for a long time.

uh no, we've been whining about 01-01-00 for a long time.

Hoff: If you wrote a book, would you pay for a web site then give the book away for free? If you did, how would you feel if people later accused you of profiteering?

bw: Challenger to Mission Control: "Roger. Go for throttle up..."

-- a (a@a.a), September 10, 1999.


Hmmm. Like I said, it's not just the book.

However, if I set up a MLM to "CASH IN ON THE Y2K CRAZE", and people accused me of profiteering, I guess I'd agree.

How about you, 'a'?

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), September 10, 1999.


Goldilocks,

Watch out for the rollover to January 1, 2000--it's gonna be a bear...

-- Don (whytocay@hotmail.com), September 10, 1999.


Yea, I guess I'm guilty of profiteering from Y2K myself. I take home a pay check every week for fixing code. Boy, I sure hope that weekly check is still there next year...

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


Sysman,

You spend more time here than you do fixing code. I guess that tells us a lot. It ain't much of a problem you slackstermeister.

BwaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahBwahahahahahahahahah

-- (sickofthis@crap.com), September 10, 1999.


(sickofthis@crap.com),

Listen genius, as if it's any of your business, my GI boss is quite happy that I spend time on this forum. Part of my job is to figure out what impact Y2K will have on our company. What I do with my personal time is my business. Now, crawl back into your hole.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.


I, for one, will be happly continuing to prepare for whatever life brings if January 1 is a non-event. Many ripple effects will not hit us until February or later, anyway. But we will still continue to have hurricane seasons, shipping/dock strikes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions (this is Hawai'i), tsunamis ("tidal waves"), and downsizing. And, while the forum will change, I hope that most of continue to stay with it...assuming that we have an internet...and are not fleeing for our lives.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 10, 1999.

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